Minerva looked at William and smiled. "Hello there. Don't be scared of the snake it won't hurt you." Minerva wasn't completely sure of this, but she didn't feel the professor would bring something into class that would hurt anyone.

"Oh Alyssa you sit right there. We are fine behind you. Stop running away from us." Minerva got a huge smile on her face at the thought of the eraser not being missing. She leaned over and whispered to her group. "Maybe the snake is the eraser. I read in a book from the library that you can transfigurate things into other things. Like animals into cups and that sort of thing. That would be so cool if we were learning that." Minerva could barely hold in her excitement for the lesson.

Isabelle had been so caught up in trying to find what she'd lost that she had completely forgotten she'd unlocked the door - until the first student came in and spoke to her. Jumping slightly she turned her head to look at the girl and smiled.

"Good morning." Wait, by the door? She didn't put it there. Leaning her head sideways, Issy took a look across towards the door. Ohh. "Thank you, dear, but that's the doorstop, not the eraser. Although they do look a little similar." Of course she could just do it the magical way, but Issy was one to like muggle stuff - and especially using that eraser. She'd had it from when she first started teaching.

"Don't worry, he's not dangerous in the least."

"Morning, Kennedy," another smile spread across her lips. They had her attention now, the eraser could wait. Leaning against her desk she chuckled when he asked about the snake. "Maybe not this one. But who knows."

Another person who thought they'd found her eraser? Oh, but no, unfortunately not. "I'm sorry to say that is a box of sweets, Presley," Issy sighed, opening the box and holding it up for her to see. Same shape, but alas no. "And I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"Well thank you, Beatrice," Isabelle grinned, holding the snake up closer to her face so she could look at him better. "He is rather."

And Kurumi seemed to be quite taken with the snake as well. If her grinning was anything to go by. She had also picked up on one little thing... "They usually are, but then again...so am I." Which might explain how she got the snake.

"Morning, Alyssa," Issy greeted as the Hufflepuff came into the room and started talking about the snake as well. He certainly seemed popular - with most of them anyway. "He's a corn snake, one of the most docile." Holding him up again, Issy smiled at his little face.

Oh yes, and the eraser? "That's very kind of you, but I can make do with using magic for now." Although she still found using one to be cute and traditional.

"Hello, Raven! You won't be working with this particular one, no." But that didn't mean they wouldn't be working with them at all. Hehe.

"Minerva," Issy nodded her head in greeting and smiled. "I'll look again later, don't worry. But thank you. And you may get to hold him later..." Even though you will all be having your own.

And this one seemed to be really excited about her snake. "As long as you're gentle, just down by his tail...his head seems to be working it's way up my sleeve," she laughed, feeling the slithering up her arm.


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"Right everyone, good morning to you all. As you can see I have a little friend with me today." Isabelle held up the snake in her hand and smiled at them all. "His name is Jasper, and he technically belongs to my husband, but I've been given permission to use him for my demonstrations." She flicked her wand at the board and the chalk began to write on it:

"Can anyone tell me the English translation of these spells? It'll help explain what you will be doing today."




OOC: Class has started. Please don't post your character as coming in from now on, just act as if they were there the whole time.

Erm...Latin...

Kurumi felt like slamming her head down on the table when Professor Magnus asked for the English. Kurumi could hardly pronounce some of those words. Her eyes glanced around for Selina, she was the expert on these sorts of things anyway. Some of the words she had seen before, so she could give an educated guess at least. Slowly, Kurumi's hand went up. "Um...verto means to transform or to turn, and I believe that amplus vermis means....big worm..." Which didn't really explain the snake unless worm was another word for snake in this case.

As for that longer S word on the board, she had no idea, but pedes sounded familiar. "Does the pedes mean...on foot, like in the word pedestrian?" Worth a gander, right?

Could she hold Jasper? He was SUPERADORABLE!

Minerva pulled out her English Translating book. She had gotten from the library towards the beginning of the year because of all the new words from other languages that were being talked about in classes. She looked up the words. "Well Amplus Vermis looks like large worm, but I'm not sure with Verto." Minerva said quietly and unsure. She looked up the other words, but didn't say anything since it didn't make sense together.

"You're welcome Professor." Oh, that snake is very cute. And colorful. And beautiful and---oh, well.. She wanted to hold the snake but Professor Magnus seemed excited to start the class so Beezus decided that she could just approach their Professor at the end of class and then maybe, she would let her pet the snake. With a wide grin on her face, the young Ravenclaw returned to her seat.

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WHAAAT? Did she just say her snake's name was Jasper? Oh, Merlin! The same name as her wicked cousin. Whyyyy? Though she have got to admit that the snake and her cousin shared some common qualities such as getting a crowd's attention without absolutely doing anything. Speaking of which, she had not seen her cousin attend any classes so far. The jerk. He's totally slacking off.

With a sigh, Beatrice turned her attention to Professor Magnus speaking and writing some things on the board.AMPLUS VERMIS VERTO and SUCCURRO PEDES? Upon reading it, her eyebrows started arching. They were asked to give its English Translation. And that was tough. For her. With a very confused look on her face, she began massaging her temples. I better just wait for the other students to give out their answers and I'll be jotting down notes, she thought.

Jasper, a cute name for snake. Then she noticed on the spell wrote on the board

Amplus: Large
Vermis: Worm
Verto: Transform...

SO?? "Transform to a large worm??" she tried to translate the first spell. Then the second one

Succuro: to assist
Pedes: walking


"To assist a waliking??" she was confused

JHarvey smiled and looked back at Minnie. "No Alyssa its ok, she will be sitting with William. I have given up on getting her back, look at how happy she is with him. I dont want to take that happiness away from her." he whispered looking at Minnie and then back at Alyssa



Harvey was shocked to hear both girls say that maybe the snake was the eraser! Was THAT EVEN possible!! To change your eraser into a snake or your snake into an eraser. I hope we dont have to hold that snake he thought to himself.



Harvey had no idea what they meant but he started to write them onto his parchment and taking notes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harvey's parchment

AMPLUS VERMIS VERTO =

SUCCURRO PEDES =

Selina rubbed her hands together. Alright Latin here we go. She smiled at the Professor and rose her hand, "Literally amplus vermis verto means I shall transform to big the worm. A more common and understandable translation is I will transform into a big worm." She looked at the second phrase and nodded, "The second phrase is to aid the walking. Pedes is a form of pedis, which is more common in latin. So I guess you could say to aid the walking man, but walking is just find according to the form used here." WOOT LATIN!

Jasper, makes Erin think of a vampire. Hehe. Why would she thought that? The snake was a symbol of fear and hatred and danger, all the negative ones, well, that was just on Erin's point of view. She just hoped, the snake won't bite anyone. Proving its safety was the fact that the Professor was actually him on her hands.

And then, magically, words came out from the board.

AMPLUS VERMIS VERTO? SUCCURRO PEDES? Those were Italian words, huh? She knew, this would happen. Erin tried to translate the first one looking at Jasper, "Does the first one means turning the snake into a large one?"

Hmm. Latin. Gaby had studied Latin, once, and she'd absolutely hated it, mainly because she was no good at it. She could still have a go, though. Vermis was worm. Not that she'd known that, she was just picking it up from other people. She thought she knew the rest of it, though... something about transforming into a big worm. A big worm was a snake.

'Is it a spell to turn yourself into a snake, Professor?' Gaby suggested. It seemed to tie in with the fact that there was indeed a snake, which was still wrapped around the Professor's arm. Freaky... Gaby hated snakes.

THAT THING HAS A NAME???? SERIOUSLY???
Janice tried not to look at the snake, but alas, she failed. She stared at the reptile as she think of an answer.

Janice don't speak French. Nor Swahilian or whatever language those spells are written in. She decided to stay quiet and wrote whatever the older students anwered.

Verto... As in Fera Verto?? Shaw taught them that last year, and she still remember what it means. She raised her hand and answered.

"Verto means 'to turn', right, Professor? I'm not sure about the others, though," she said, still not taking her eyes off the huge snake.

O.O

As with all things Ellie thought she should be wary of - like books - she felt it best to keep her eyes on it at all times. So the snake had the girl's FULL attention. She hardly even dared to blink.

Let alone look at the board for too long. But she did give it a couple quick glances. It didn't take long to realize that she didn't know any of those words. She probably could have guessed that from the fact that Magnus said they weren't English. Merlin knew what language that was, but Ellie would NOT know it.

Her eyes were back on the snake then....it better stay just as it is. Just like that. Just where it was. Far from the Captain.

Alyssa's knowledge of Latin was pretty average but still good enough for her to figure out what the words that the Professor had asked them to translate:

AMPLUS = LARGE

VERMIS = WORM

VERTO = TO TURN

SUCCURRO - AID, ASSIST, HELP

PEDES - ON FOOT

Alyssa looked at what she had written down and then the answer dawned on her. She raised her hand and answered,"Professor, the first group latin words you gave us translates into 'TO CHANGE LARGE WORM' and the second group of latin words translates into "TO ASSIST OR HELP ON FOOT". I think the first phrase means To change a large worm, or snake, but the second phrase has me confused. Does it mean with human assistance or does it mean to help it to walk?"

Elise blinked. Latin?! This was going to be bad.

Flipping open her dictionary, she scanned the words and wrote the translations into her notebook.

Elise double checked her translations. They just didn't make sense!

Raising her hand anyway, she attempted the question. "The first phrase would mean," Elise checked her notebook. "To change large worm. A snake? And the secons phrase would mean to aid on foot."

"Is it something to do with changing a snake to walk?"

That was all she could make of it.

Elise looked at Gaby worriedly. A snake. SNAKE!

"I dunno what I'm talking about!" she muttered, doodling little hearts all over her notebook page.

Gaby giggled at Elise's worried look. Apparently, she hadn't noticed the huge snake yet. 'You haven't noticed?' she asked, still giggling, and pointed discreetly to the front of the classroom, where the Professor was standing. She couldn't believe Elise hadn't noticed.

'Nah, me neither,' she said, sounding worried. 'But the whole snake thing is really creeping me out. I hate snakes!' she whispered back, absently flipping through her notebook to a blank page.

Elise frowned. SNAKE! EeeeEEEEeeeEEEeeeek!

Of course she didn't squeal! She just turned to Gaby and whispered. "I did."

Frowning, she tried to distract herself by doodling a small caricature of Gaby in one corner. "I can't stand 'em. They're terrifying, no matter what Professor says."

She'd done a bit of Latin before. Lilly knew the first but not the second. She scribbled down:

Quote:

Amplus = Large
Vermis = Worm
Verto = To convert/turn

Snakes? Cool. She didn't put her hand up at first because other students had answered, and although she wasn't listening, someone could have found the answer already. But, oh well. 'To transform snakes?' she answered quietly.

After the proposed question, Eino scribbled a few notes, while trying to make some sense of the phrases, then raised his hand. "Verto is in the present, not future, so it can't translate into 'I shall turn.' It's just 'I turn.'

"Also, with vermis having an ambiguous ending it could be in various different cases, but amplus is in the nominative case. That means that vermis is in the nominative, as well, because the case of the adjective always matches the noun it is describing.

"So, that would translate into 'Big worm I turn,' but a better translation would be 'Big worm, I turn you.' It can't mean 'I turn into a big worm' because for the verb to affect the noun it would have to be in the accusative case, making it the direct object. 'Big worm' in this sentence is the subject, and the 'you' is implied as the pronouns often are in Latin. Just like you don't say 'Ego verto,' and just 'verto.'

For it to be 'I turn into a big worm' it would have to be 'In amplum verbem verto.'" That was a rather messy Latin sentence, though, and even's Eino's own translation wasn't entirely grammatically correct, but that wasn't his fault. What was his fault was putting half of the class asleep by talking them all into a coma, but that was only the first sentence, so he had only taken a brief pause to catch his breath.

"As for the second one, it would be 'I help the feet,' but 'I help my feet' is also an acceptable translation."

It was always nice when the kids knew, or tried to understand the meaning behind spells. Sometimes It helped them perform them better - and that was what was going to be needed today, for sure.

Kurumi was the first to put her hand in the air and attempted an answer. "You are correct on the first part. Verto is 'to turn' and Amplus Vermis is 'large worm'....which in this case is referring to the snake." Isabelle held him up again for everyone to see. Although some of them looked a little nervous. That could be interesting when it came to doing practice.

"Pedes is to do with feet, yes, but that isn't it's exact translation. Good guess though."

"You are spot on with that Minerva, well done. And the Verto means to turn," Issy gave her a grin and a nod.

Isabelle wandered around the class, keeping Jasper close just in case the kids didn't want him near them. She looked down at the notes Raven was making, and nodded her head when they were voiced out loud. "Very good. The large worm in the case of this is the snake. And as for the second - translations are correct, now just think what could assist with walking?"

Oh, they had a Latin scholar in the room, did they? Isabelle smiled at the eagerness of Selina to answer. "Very well done, Selina! Although in the case of this particular spell we'll be transforming it FROM a snake and into....." She trailed off. A worm. And back again. Although they'd find that out later.

"Not quite no, because it is already large. In the sense of what this spell does anyway." Issy grinned and moved on.

Goodness, human transfiguration. No, they would not be doing that today. "We won't be turning ourselves into anything, I'm afraid. So, no."

"Correct, Janice, it does."

They were all really rather good when it came to the translating stuff.

"Correct on both, if you take them literally. We'll be changing a LARGE animal into a worm. And it will be for human assistance, yes."

"No, we're going to help the snake itself to walk," Issy shook her head. That would be slightly weird, but then again, this was a magical school. "The snake will be assisting US."

Eino was going very indepth with his answer. Isabelle stood at the front of the class and listened to him, hoping to be able to come out with some reply other than 'correct'. That would seem like a big let down after all the effort he'd put in to describing everything. But she had to admit, complicated words were never really her things. She got where he was going though - sort of.

"Thank you for such a thorough explanation of the words, Eino."

So at least they knew what the words meant. Or most of them did anyway. Now just to explain.

--------------------------------------------

"The purpose of the first spell is to turn a LARGE, worm-like animal, a snake in this case, into a smaller one - an actual worm. This spell doesn't just need to be used on snakes. Any worm-like, or legless creature, be it magical or muggle, could also be turned."

Issy carried on walking around while Jasper continued to coil himself around her arm, trying to get his head back up her sleeve. "When I was younger, and had just left school, I went on a trip around the world. And let me tell you, this spell came in very handy when I found a very large snake in my sleeping bag once. Removing a worm is so much easier, and less dangerous."

And as for the second spell, that was for the younger ones among them. Although how pleased they would be at having to do something different remained to be seen. "Succurro Pedes transforms an animal into a walking stick," she said simply, smiling at everyone, and checking to see if they were making notes. "And because we are working with snakes today - making something long and slim into a stick is much easier."

Isabelle walked to the front, and to her desk. Using her free hand she pulled the tanks closer to the front so hopefully all could see them. "In these tanks are the snakes you shall be working with today. I've kept all years in the same lesson for the simple reason that were will be using the same animal. But the 1st to 3rd years will be doing the walking sticks, and the 4th to 7th will be transforming them into worms."

Turning her back on the tanks, Issy looked around at the kids. "Can anyone tell me why it's harder to do cross-species transformations than it is turning an animal into an object?"

William is competely confused by what the professor wtote on the board. He is still worried about the snake.

Snakes into worms...

That was their tasks though those in the earlier years like Selina would be dealing with snakes to walking sticks. Gideon absently glanced at her , figuring she probably wasn't going to be anymore pleased with the different task then she had the first time. Focusing back on the professor, he listened to the question before raising his hand to express his thought.

"Is it because you're dealing with two differing sentient creatures or one switched from another on either end rather then more simply freezing on one creature into the form whatever object you are transfiguring it into?" he questioned hoping he explained the thoughts in the right words for the professor to understand what he meant. It sounded better in his mind then out loud. Thoiugh the reasoning certainly felt like it was right or at least close.

Elise nodded, jotting everything down into her notebook. Snake helping us to walk. SNAKE?! Helping us to walk?!

But when Elise was sure it couldn't get worse, it did. The professor pulled forward lots of snakes. She wanted to scream, but wouldn't. She wasn't scared. Who was she kidding?! Of course she was.

Raising her hand, she tried to answer. "Would it be because turning an animal into an object would mean that you wouldn't have to err... Keep it alive, but cross-species transformation is something that has to be done so that the animal doesn't die when it's transfigured."

Putting down her hand, she smiled sheepishly. It was probably wrong, but she'd tried.

So they got to work with snakes? Awesome! Although, turning it into a stick wouldn't be as fun as what he would get to do.

Thinking on the question, Keefer thought he may have an answer, but he wasn't sure. The theory of Transfiguration had never been something he could readily grasp.

It was with some trepidation, therefore, that he raised his hand. "I suppose it would be harder simply because what you're attempting to transfigure the animal into is far more complicated. A living creature has all sorts of organs, processes, and matter that comprise the whole. Whereas a worm has 'moving parts,' if you will, the stick is just... a stick." Yeah, not so eloquent, but it made sense to him. "Plants, especially dead ones, have much more simplistic structures, so there's a lot less that can go wrong in the transformation."

And that about summed it up as far as he was concerned.

Lilly raised her eyes at he professor's question. What? She was confused. How did that even make any sense? What were cross-species transformations anyway? Because the animal had to delvelop a new lifestyle. As if. What?

Alyssa quickly wrote down the Professor's explanations and then what they were going to be doing. ' I knew that we were going to be handling snakes today.' Alyssa thought to herself, hoping that she'd be able to do it when the time came to do so.

She pondered on the Professor's question for awhile before raising her hand and answered,"Professor, could it be that it is harder to do cross-species transformations because they are both living creatures and we have to be careful that we don't make a mistake and create a new species, or worse yet, accidentally hurt or kill them?"