Originally Posted by MeredithRodneyMckay

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.

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"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?"