WEEEEEEEE.

"Lemurs it is!" Hehe it WAS a rawking idea after all but he was a BIT surprised on the next sentence. A lot harder to kill than a butterfly?! Why would people even TRY to kill animals? It was true but his thoughts led to animal abuse and animals getting hurt, getting completely distracted from the whole class. He wanted those animal abusers to ... to...--the professor started talking again so he put his attention back to reality, again.

He put his wand down like the professor said and first started practicing the incantation in his head. Hmm it wasn't so hard at all really! HE'D GET THIS IN NO TIME!!! Cam was excited. Lemurs lemurs lemurssss! "Besteeeyar. Bestiar bestahrrrr..." he practiced.

Questions? Cam raised his hand. "About how long would this spell last aaaaand... could you use this spell on other people or only on yourself?" Hehe he had an idea of giving Reese a pig tail. MWAHAHA.

William actually grinned, bouncing on his feet as he looked at his partner. How cool would having dolphin fins be? Like seriously, no more fingers or wrists but actual gray dolphin fins! It would be like the coolest thing ever! but since they had practically agreed on a tiger he thought of what appendage he'd want to have. Sure the speed would be cool but he wanted the eyes for some reason. Tiger eyes were cool, slant like a cats but so much more different!

Okay, so practice time. Placing his wand in his pocket he turned to his partner and threw her a grin before saying "Bestiar eyes." no wait, that didn't sound right. "Bestiar eyes...Bestiar eyes." okay so it wasn't THAT hard to learn but he knew in his excitement he'd mess up and end up with an elephants trunk. Wait, that's be AWESOME!

Questions... well he did have a question. "Let's say you wanted to transfigure your vocal cords, you know to sound like an animal. Would it work the same way?" He asked curiously glancing up at the professor. In his mind he was already chanting the spell, trying to get the pronunciation down before he tried it with his wand, which was in his pocket.

Bestiar and some concentration? That was it? Kiri was suspicious of this. It sounded far too easy. Which only meant that the concentration part was that much more important. And... she wasn't at all sure she would be able to focus enough to make it work. She would probably be too bent on concentrating - and making sure she was doing so - to actually get to the important bit, which was the transformation.

The mechanical part, anyway, was something she could study. Kiri watched the professor closely, then took out her wand and waved it in repetition of the teacher's movements. Without saying the incantation, of course.
Because that was next. She put her wand back into her trusty hip holster and intoned with the rest of the class: "Bestiar. Bestiar. Bess-tee-aar."
She waved her arm around vaguely at the same time, feeling slightly weird.

Lyra turned her back on Kiri for a moment so that she could concentrate on what the professor was explaining and placed her wand back in her wristholster.

'ok Lyra you can't mess this up' she thought 'well, you can actually, its pretty easy to mess it up but still ...Lyra focus!' she said to herself and closed her eyes for a few seconds to calm herself and opened them again.

She now started to mutter the incantation "Bestiah..no wait. Bestia..' that can't be right' she thought and looked at the chalkboard "Bestiar" she said , sounded right. "Bestiar , Bestiar...yea" she finally got the incantation and turned back to Kiri again who was waving her arm around and started to giggle at the sight.

Nia blinked, appearing to mimic Elizabeth. "I'm sure there is cream, I've just got to find some. That's affordable." Sure Nia got pocket money, but not a lot. But she definitely got plenty of bruises last year. "She is," Nia agreed with the comment about Mariel. "Though fortunately we're good friends now. I'm guessing there'll still be on pitch rivalry, but no risk of leaping at each other's throats off the pitch!" She laughed, sure that was what their captain had been expecting them to do after every practice last term. Ah, they could have some good fun when Nia finally got back on the pitch competitively. "Important?" Nia said, with a mock look of shock as the subject turned back to Willow's yelling. "I can sometimes block it," she admitted, "if I'm at the other end of the pitch - but I try to listen to it now and then." Her eyes twinkled.

"Steering, I think," Nia replied after a moment of thought. "Though wings would be more practical for wanting to get somewhere without much planning. No need for anything extra. Just spread you wings and off you go!" She tilted her head thoughfully. "I guess the knowledge of wind comes into things more with wings, like uplift and stuff. How to conserve energy by knowing the conditions. It's there with brooms, but you could still fly without that knowledge."

A Elizabeth spoke more, Nia realised how helpful it was working with the older girl. It was making her reflect a bit more about the world, and not just consider them straight on. "Size could be something. Wing span perhaps. And I guess being predators means they have to fly and search for prey - perhaps leading to a different style of flight or something?" Nia wasn't overly sure. She was just trying to think things through relatively logically. As she was about the question the conceptual thing, the professor spoke.
"I'm guessing physical then," Nia said quietly to Elizabeth. "Wings, then? We could try for the 'majestic' bit ourselves..."

Nia frowned at the sparks everywhere, before looking relieved when Professor Svesson's wand was put safely behind his ear. She did not want her hair set alight or similar just because someone was waving their wand around. Listening carefully to the incantation (for she did not want this to go wrong and have to have feathers for ever more) Nia thought about how to visualise the wings. She had quite a vivid imagination, so keeping things realistic mgiht be hard.

Looking back at Elizabeth, Nia put down her wand as instructed, and look doubtful as she pictured an eagle's wing in her mind for practice. "Bestiar wing!" she said, her confidence wavering again.


ooc: I'm on vacation for 2 weeks from tomorrow, and won't be able to get online. If you need Nia to be able to do the task, I give permission for you to RP with her even though I won't be around - since I'm guessing class won't last that long!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dingDong

Questions? Cam raised his hand. "About how long would this spell last aaaaand... could you use this spell on other people or only on yourself?" Hehe he had an idea of giving Reese a pig tail. MWAHAHA.

Trick question! The honest answer to the boy's second question was yes, but Lars was certain that if students knew that, they would go around trying to give each other rabbit ears or monkey feet or something. "When performed with perfect accuracy, the spell generally lasts until it is reversed," Professor Svensson said. "But I would not be surprised if, while learning the spell, it wears off before being reversed. And as for using the spell on other people, it is possible. But doing so would earn you a detention, at the very least. I must advise you against it."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monkey Princess

Questions... well he did have a question. "Let's say you wanted to transfigure your vocal cords, you know to sound like an animal. Would it work the same way?" He asked curiously glancing up at the professor. In his mind he was already chanting the spell, trying to get the pronunciation down before he tried it with his wand, which was in his pocket.

"Well, you could transfigure your vocal chords. But I think--and correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know much about anatomy--it might also be necessary to transfigure your mouth or something, depending on how exactly the animal you wish to sound like creates its sound," Professor Svensson answered. Eh...he knew next to nothing about animal anatomy. But his answer sounded intelligent, he hoped. "Keep in mind that you would want to either be able to perform the reverse transfiguration nonverbally or have someone present who can transfigure your vocal chords and such back into that of a human."

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermygirl

Looking back at Elizabeth, Nia put down her wand as instructed, and look doubtful as she pictured an eagle's wing in her mind for practice. "Bestiar wing!" she said, her confidence wavering again.

As he took to strolling around the room, Professor Svensson paused when he overheard an incantation that was not quite right. "Ah--careful, young lady," he said. "After bestiar, you say what you're transfiguring from. If you're transfiguring your arm into a wing, you would say arm and not wing; the wing is all in your concentration."

Elizabeth let the Quidditch talk fade off, assuming Professor Svensson probably would like them to focus on class more so than idle chatter. Although, she found Nia's concepts of rivalry and the ability to ignore Willow fascinating. Especially since she was fairly certain that even if she was on the opposite side of the pitch, she'd still hear the captain yelling. But then, maybe that was just because she was older, and more aware of the consequences.

But then the discussion had gone back to wings vs. brooms, and she grinned. "Wings would definitely make flying easier. But it would make quite a few other things more difficult. Like Quidditch. It would be kind of difficult playing with wings as opposed to arms." Not to mention the issue of throwing or hitting while staying aloft. "And you can fly in a lot of different ways than just brooms. Winged horses, I'm sure there's at least one spell that you can cast to levitate." She wasn't entirely sure Wingardium Leviosa worked on people, so she wasn't about to say it specifically. She thought about the younger girl's contemplation of eagles and other birds of prey having different flight styles than other birds for a second, before speaking again. "Don't they glide more than fly, to be more specific? You don't see eagles flapping their wings a lot, at least. Not like smaller birds." She glanced toward the front of the room then, hearing the professor speak again, and grinned as Nia spoke about their question of physical versus conceptual.

"Yep. Looks like physical," she agreed, before flinching at the sparks flying out of the professor's wand. Couldn't he control that? She took a breath as he conjured a chalkboard to give them a visual representation of the incantation, then stowed his wand again. There was enough chaos going on at Hogwarts with the flooding, they didn't need fires as well.

Choosing to practice the charm nonverbally, she nodded as Nia decided on wings. "How about you do wings, and I'll do eyes? Make things a little different," she suggested, starting to go ver the incantation mentally as she spoke. Bestiar eyes. Bestiar eyes . . . She skipped over the concentration part for now, knowing she'd be able to focus on it once it was needed, not wanting to risk accidentally casting it even though she had laid her wand on the desk in front of her. But as Nia said her charm, she opened her mouth, preparing to say something when suddenly the professor corrected her. Definitely didn't want to make that mistake, and she'd make sure Nia didn't either. She didn't want to see the girl do who knows what to herself while she was her partner. Even if she had the slightest curiosity about what exactly would happen.

"Ok I'm gonna try this on my legs." she told Anna. Demetria thought long and hard about rabbits while saying, "Bestiar legs." As she cast the incantation, she could feel the spell working. "Lets's try this out shall we?" she said.

Demetria started running, but began going too fast for her body to handle. She ran full speed into a wall, then rebounded off and onto the floor. "Owwwww." she rubbed her head and tried standing back up. "Too much power." she sighed. Ok one more time, not so fast though.

This time Demetria started off at a walking pase, and sped up to a good speed. Now she was so fast (and under control) if someone blinked they would miss her running, just like a rabbit. "This is my new favorite thing! It's so cool." she squealed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredsgirl81293

"Ok I'm gonna try this on my legs." she told Anna. Demetria thought long and hard about rabbits while saying, "Bestiar legs." As she cast the incantation, she could feel the spell working. "Lets's try this out shall we?" she said.

Demetria started running, but began going too fast for her body to handle. She ran full speed into a wall, then rebounded off and onto the floor. "Owwwww." she rubbed her head and tried standing back up. "Too much power." she sighed. Ok one more time, not so fast though.

This time Demetria started off at a walking pase, and sped up to a good speed. Now she was so fast (and under control) if someone blinked they would miss her running, just like a rabbit. "This is my new favorite thing! It's so cool." she squealed.

Lars flinched as he spotted the Gryffindor girl heading for the wall. A Gryffindor with what seemed to be... rabbit legs? That couldn't be right--he had never told them to perform the spell. Why, he hadn't even taught them the wand movement necessary for it to work correctly! Professor Svensson walked quickly over to the girl and attempted to intercept her.

"Young lady, you have not been given permission to attempt the spell. You were told to practice the incantation," Svensson said sternly, pointing his wand in her direction and muttering the spell necessary to retransfigure her legs into human legs. "Homini legs," he said under his breath, hoping that the girl would be at least remorseful about trying the spell without permission.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Dominic. Should. Not. Be. Allowed. To. Daydream.

Like ever. Professor Svensson was a nice man. A good teacher and wizard; Dominic was certain of that. But why couldn't he keep his mind away from the pitch and shiny red leather balls and wooden broomsticks for just one lesson? Sure the Championships were just around the corner and sure he didn't have any major Wizarding exams this year, but if he flunked his classes, then his eleven OWLs would have been for nothing.

Everyone was partnered though? Pout. Maybe he could just slide into the group next to him; surely the Head Boy wouldn't notice him joining his group. Nope. Besides him and Clifford generally got along alright, didn't they? He hoped so.

Because they were going to be practicing human transfiguration now. And though Dominic wasn't really sure about this process, he should practice anyway. All he needed was an animal he liked, except . . . he didn't know which that was.

Jarvey. That will do; he silently agreed as he recalled his baby creature from Magical Creatures last term.

Bestiar.. Bestiar.. concentrate on what you want to transform into. Okay, that sounded easy enough. That didn't mean he wouldn't mess up though. Clifford ALWAYS messed up. Yup, because he was a failure.

Siiiigh.

"What are you planning to transform, Denton?" The seventh year asked, only now noticing the Hufflepuff was there. Had he been there the whole time? Weird.

Hmm. What would happen if he transformed Denton's big head into a donut? Hah.

Dominic looked over at the head boy when he suddenly startled him with a question. Okay, truth be told, he shouldn't have been startled; it wasn't like Clifford asked him to sit there next to him.

"Jarvey." The sixth year told him, but then frowned. Real intelligent, Denton. You're a NEWT student. Not a bimbo, "Well let me clarify; last term I looked after a Jarvey in Magical Creatures..." and did a ruddy terrible job at it, but that's besides the point "My Jarvey had this habit of being VERY rude and insulting. Like that's all it said. But Jarveys are also good gnome chasers, so actually I was thinking that maybe if I could somehow obtain the agility of a jarvey before this upcoming championship match," Cool it with the Quidditch talk, Denton, no one cares. "Then yea... So what are you planning to transform?"

Natka scrunched up her nose. Changing her body parts was a... disturbing thought, to say the least.

Nevertheless, she tried out the incantation.

"Bestiar... Bestiar head. Bestiar arm. Bestiar leg," that seemed easy enough. Now... what could she change about herself when the time came to try the spell out?

Daniel listened attentively to the professor as he was discussing how he can change a body part into an animals'. He then thinks about the parts of the body he wished to transfigure.

Eyes, nose, feet, ears... So many parts, so little time...

He then wondered if it is possible to use it as a disguise.

He then raised his and and asked, "Professor is it possible that we can change the whole body into an animal?" he said.

Allllrighty then, so they were supposed to practice saying the incantation. Melanie swigged her legs back and forth, impatient to do the spell, even if she knew that it would require a bit more practice before she started.

Or she could end up with the face of a blobfish or something equally repulsing...

"BEASTIE-er. Best-TIAR. BEsttear. Beastiar. Best-Be-Bestiar. Bestiar." Ah-HA. That sounded right. Or at least close enough...now all she had to do was add the arm, leg, *insert whatever body part you want to change here* part. "Bestiar legs...Bestiar legs...Bestiar legs..." she trailed off, content with her pronunciation...but then another thought occurred to her.

The second year's hand shot into the air, and she glanced up to address the professor. "Sir, if we wanted to change our legs would we just say 'Bestiar legs' and think of it happening to both legs or would we have to do it one limb at a time?" she asked curiously, letting her hand drop to her side as she finished her inquiry.

Best to ask now than regret it later.

Oo, practising the incantation. Nice, yes, but not as nice as doing it. Wondering when they would do it, Grace joined the choir who said "Bestiar!" She said it again and again, ("Bestiar, bestiar, bestiar.") She said it like ten times, when she thought it would be enough. Hope that would end good.

Waiit, if it'd done properly, it'd last until reversed? Then what was that spell? Probably again "Bestiar", but better to be sure, right? The first year rose her hand. "Professor, is the reversing spell again 'bestiar something'?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan arjay

Daniel listened attentively to the professor as he was discussing how he can change a body part into an animals'. He then thinks about the parts of the body he wished to transfigure.

Eyes, nose, feet, ears... So many parts, so little time...

He then wondered if it is possible to use it as a disguise.

He then raised his and and asked, "Professor is it possible that we can change the whole body into an animal?" he said.

"It is possible, but for today, please only change one set of limbs," Professor Svensson said, turning his attention from the girl who had been overeager to attempt the spell, to the other students. He would keep an eye on the girl to be certain she would not try it again, but the other students deserved his attentiveness as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonyroxs

Allllrighty then, so they were supposed to practice saying the incantation. Melanie swigged her legs back and forth, impatient to do the spell, even if she knew that it would require a bit more practice before she started.

Or she could end up with the face of a blobfish or something equally repulsing...

"BEASTIE-er. Best-TIAR. BEsttear. Beastiar. Best-Be-Bestiar. Bestiar." Ah-HA. That sounded right. Or at least close enough...now all she had to do was add the arm, leg, *insert whatever body part you want to change here* part. "Bestiar legs...Bestiar legs...Bestiar legs..." she trailed off, content with her pronunciation...but then another thought occurred to her.

The second year's hand shot into the air, and she glanced up to address the professor. "Sir, if we wanted to change our legs would we just say 'Bestiar legs' and think of it happening to both legs or would we have to do it one limb at a time?" she asked curiously, letting her hand drop to her side as she finished her inquiry.

Best to ask now than regret it later.

"If you think of it happening to both legs at the same time, that should work," Lars replied pensively. "However, if your spell is not strong enough, you may have to change one limb at a time. But you can just think of it as more practice!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deniiz

Oo, practising the incantation. Nice, yes, but not as nice as doing it. Wondering when they would do it, Grace joined the choir who said "Bestiar!" She said it again and again, ("Bestiar, bestiar, bestiar.") She said it like ten times, when she thought it would be enough. Hope that would end good.

Waiit, if it'd done properly, it'd last until reversed? Then what was that spell? Probably again "Bestiar", but better to be sure, right? The first year rose her hand. "Professor, is the reversing spell again 'bestiar something'?"

Lars shook his head. "Generally, the reversing spell used is 'homini something'," he explained. "To ensure that you regain your usual human limbs and such." It was possible, of course, to use the same spell in reverse, but the other spell was much simpler to return to being a full human being.

Daniel nodded for he understood what the Professor meant. Now is the time to practice the spell.

Bestiar arms,

Bestiar foot,

Bestiar limbs...

This could be easy, with my memory and determination, he can ace this class. he thought. And then he remembered that he is an Animagus. Not many knows that he is but he is a licensed one.

"Bestiar. Homini." Celandine repeated both incantations and sat quietly with Jack and Daphne. She leaned back on the heels of her hands and repeated the two incantations, "Bestiar. Homini."

She raised her hand, "Professor Svensson? If I wanted to change skin, would I say Bestair Skin or Bestiar Epidermis?"

Wow, that was a pretty neat idea. Being good at chasing gnomes away would be REAL handy. Especially for him.. he was suuure the chief gnome had ordered the entire gnome army to stalk and attack. He wasn't paranoid at all.

But Dominic was thinking of that skill with Quidditch in mind? Smart. "That's an awesome idea and all.. but that would be magically enhancing your skills, no? Which is ... cheating and against Quidditch rules?" Not to burst his bubble or anything. Bwaha.

"My favourite animal is a sloth," he then answered, glancing toward Professor Svensson. He wanted to start with the Transfiguring already! "But since they don't really do... anything.." Well, nothing he couldn't do already, "I'm thinking I'd like a pair of wings." Hm.

As Demetria stopped, she noticed her legs had changed back....and she didn't do it. Uh oh. She turned around to see an angry professor staring down at her. "Professor, I am so sorry." she apologized. "I-I missunderstood. I'm sorry." she began fighting back tears. How could she do such a thing? She had gotten so excited about learning the spell she misunderstood "practice". In her mind 'practice' meant 'do'. Dem immediatly put her wand on her desk. It probably wasn't a good idea to be holding a wand when the professor is yelling at you for performing a spell when you shouldn't have.

"I'm extremely sorry professor. I can't believe I did such a thing. I missunderstood." Demetria frowned, still holding back tears the best she could. "Is there anything you want me to do to make up for it?" she murmered. '*Sigh* I probably just got myself a weeks detention.' she thought to herself. 'There goes my good-girl record.'

Carr had been sitting in the back of the classroom away from the teacher, a fact that belied her Ravenclaw roots, but she found that she always absorbed information more easily when she was out of the way and firmly set on listening intently. A small muscle in her jaw was twitching slightly as she pulled in all of the words the professor was saying and committed them to memory. She imagined she must look a little strange, staring unblinkingly as the words filled her ears.

She took a deep breath and stood up when the professor began speaking about practicing the incantation to the spell, her trance finally broken as she was sure she'd memorized all of the facts correctly. Standing off in her corner, she placed her new wand delicately on her desk, closed her eyes, and began to softly chant the incantation to herself.

"Bestiar," she said under her breath. "Bestiar," she repeated, letting her lips and teeth find their way around the Latin word. She took deep breaths as she concentrated on the word and the thought behind it.

A nagging voice in the back of her mind made something she could only equate to a fangirl squee and said, Oh. My. God. I'm leaning magic!

Her concentrated expression gave a half-smile as she pushed the voice of her internal Muggle and tried to be serious.

"Bestiar."

Diane practiced the wording for a couple of times but had enough of listening others say it to get the gist of it without further practice. She had been caught listening to her former mate discuss with somebody else about the nature of jarveys, she thought that sounded intriguing... but right now she was rather wondering why were they paired up to begin with. The minds of the professors worked in ways Diane could not quite phantom.

Raising her hand, she addressed a question to the professor, "Sir, so, would this kind of spell be a partial tranfiguration? I am begining to wonder... if somebody lost a limb to some kind of accidents, with the lizard regenerative nature, we would be able to replace the severed limb tissue with lizard skin using this spell. It would have healing properties." (ooc: read, too much spiderman).

So in her mind's eye, she needed a clear picture of...what? Herself with the wings of an owl, or the actual wings? The professor had said an image of what was needed to be transfigured, so that'd be her arms changing into wings. So with that in mind, and her intent focused clearly on what she'd like to do and why, Anna laid her wand on her desk then began practicing the incantation. "Bestiar Arm," she said aloud. Hmm...so that sounded easy enough, but perhaps she should say it with a little more intent. "Bestiar Arm." The last time she spoke the incantation, she pictured an owl flying high, its wings spread widely and flapping up and down...up and down. "Bestiar Arm," she said again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celandine

"Bestiar. Homini." Celandine repeated both incantations and sat quietly with Jack and Daphne. She leaned back on the heels of her hands and repeated the two incantations, "Bestiar. Homini."

She raised her hand, "Professor Svensson? If I wanted to change skin, would I say Bestair Skin or Bestiar Epidermis?"

"It should not matter which term you use. If epidermis is the term for skin that comes most naturally to you, use that word. If you think of skin as simply skin, then the word skin will be adequate," Professor Svensson said after a moment's thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredsgirl81293

As Demetria stopped, she noticed her legs had changed back....and she didn't do it. Uh oh. She turned around to see an angry professor staring down at her. "Professor, I am so sorry." she apologized. "I-I missunderstood. I'm sorry." she began fighting back tears. How could she do such a thing? She had gotten so excited about learning the spell she misunderstood "practice". In her mind 'practice' meant 'do'. Dem immediatly put her wand on her desk. It probably wasn't a good idea to be holding a wand when the professor is yelling at you for performing a spell when you shouldn't have.

"I'm extremely sorry professor. I can't believe I did such a thing. I missunderstood." Demetria frowned, still holding back tears the best she could. "Is there anything you want me to do to make up for it?" she murmered. '*Sigh* I probably just got myself a weeks detention.' she thought to herself. 'There goes my good-girl record.'

Well, to the girl's credit, she seemed to be legitimately sorry for trying the spell before being instructed to do so. And as no harm had come of it, Professor Svensson decided to punish the girl lightly for now. Then maybe she would not cry.

"Be sure it does not happen again. If you are unsure of what I mean, it's best to ask questions to avoid misunderstandings," Svensson said sternly. "And since you have already attempted the spell, when the rest of the class moves on to transfiguring, you'll simply be observing. I see no reason for you to get another chance since you were successful at your first try."

Quote:

Originally Posted by She-Who-Is-Not-To-Be-Psycho!

Diane practiced the wording for a couple of times but had enough of listening others say it to get the gist of it without further practice. She had been caught listening to her former mate discuss with somebody else about the nature of jarveys, she thought that sounded intriguing... but right now she was rather wondering why were they paired up to begin with. The minds of the professors worked in ways Diane could not quite phantom.

Raising her hand, she addressed a question to the professor, "Sir, so, would this kind of spell be a partial transfiguration? I am beginning to wonder... if somebody lost a limb to some kind of accidents, with the lizard regenerative nature, we would be able to replace the severed limb tissue with lizard skin using this spell. It would have healing properties.".

"I may be mistaken, but I thought that lizards could only regenerate their tails. Who would want to have a lizard tail to replace a lost arm or leg?" After asking the rhetorical question, Lars blinked at the girl, thoroughly perplexed by the idea she presented.



Returning his attention to the rest of the class, Professor Svensson decided it was time to move on. "The wand movement for the 'Bestiar' partial transfiguration is quite simple--and the reverse spell's wand movement is identical. Watch closely, now," he said, rolling up his sleeves. Holding his wand carefully in his hand, Lars simply pointed at his right foot and gave a dramatic swish of the wand in the foot's direction. Nothing happened, but then, he had not intended for anything to happen.

"See? A simple swish of the wand, aimed at the limb or body part you intend to transfigure. It's so simple that I doubt you need to practice it separately from the spell. Now, pay close attention. To successfully execute this spell, you must pronounce the incantation correctly, be quite dramatic as you do the wand movement, and keep the desired transfiguration in the front of your mind." Lars glanced around at the pairs of students. "You're all paired up? Good. I want the older student in each pair to practice the spell. Younger students, keep your wands out and be prepared to perform the reverse spell, which is 'homini' followed by whichever body part is transfigured. If you need any help at all, tell me immediately."

A swift glance around the room, then Lars nodded and strolled among the students. "Proceed!"