Preston nodded at each student who answered. "Conjured items do not last, correct." Looking to the first year, he addressed her specific comments, first.

"It certainly depends on the parchment, but muggles managed for hundreds of years with ink and parchment and no magic. But yes, in some cases, if one weren't careful, too much ink would make for a soggy page." He gave her a kind smile before moving to Mister Phillips.

"It both can and will, eventually. When certainly depends on the caster, as Mister Kururugi implies." Turning to the prefect, then, he continued.

"The duration that a conjured or transfigured item remains as it is depends on the caster's skill, focus and intent. The more practiced you are, the longer your items will remain in existence. You don't need to focus on keeping them in existence once they are, though, as the intent and strength is determined when you cast."

Stepping away from the table, he gathered some parchment and distributed it. "If a first year were to conjure paper, for example, the likelihood of their notes still being around to revise for exams would be small. A sixth year, however, could conceivably still have those notes for NEWTs. But that's an awfully large chance to take."

Nodding at the Head Girl, he continued, pacing just slightly. "Miss Toussaint is correct, of course, that these two spells need not be used together, though I don't believe I said they needed to be. I apologize if that was the meaning that you all took. There are some situations where you would need both, as when you're without either. There are some situations where you would need or want one or the other. However it is useful to know both. And yes, there are some charmed parchments that will retain an imprint, though unless you know you have them, it's best not to assume your notes will remain."

Walking away again, he grabbed a handful of locks and set them down at the end of the table where those wanting to practice horolos again had gathered.

"You can conjure different colors of ink, depending on your focus. Those of you wanting to work with the new spell, conjure both quill and ink and then, to see how long your ink remains, you may use the parchment to write or draw something. Those of you wanting to work on horolos, I've provided the locks again."

Sitting down, then among his sixth and seventh years, Preston cast a look about the room. "Now, are there particulars you all would like to work on? Review of past material? Or a particular spell you'd like to learn? I have no doubt you've all done a fair bit of independent study and I wouldn't want to duplicate."

Cela listened to all this and took a few notes then smiled as the professor joined them.

"I wanted to get an idea of old NEWT exams. Like, the questions and stuff. Is there a way we can get hold of old exams to practice on? Or like, at least the practical tasks to practice?" That'd be useful. "Of course, anything new is good too." She was a sucker for new stuff.

Patroclus returned his focus to the Professor, his eyes widening as a quill and ink pot materialized before the class. So cool! he thought to himself!

"Professor, it would be not such a great idea, because the magic would eventually fade, however at the same time that could be a good thing too. Especailly say if the message was secret, and was to be viewed only once, it could fade and then there would be nothing left for pryng eyes to find."

Patroclus always liked to see both sides of the coins, and this particular coin could be great for spies, he laughted to himself.

He removed his wand and prepared to have ago at the Quill and Ink Pot spells

Rae watched as Professor Kingsley showed them the two Transfiguration charms then he addressed the group reviewing Horolos and walked to the NEWT group. Rae felt confident that she could do this on the first try. Rae did not know that confidence helped your performance tremendously either. She only was confident because she had done the last one on the first try so she could do any Transfiguration on the first try. That made sense right? She got out some parchment and her wand, she set the parchment on the table. Nonverbally, she attempted the next spell, Calamus she thought it, and there it was, a quill... YES! now for the ink, the professor said that the ink could be a different color if she focused enough, okay, she could do this she could do this. Encaustum SILVER INK!!! Yes! Exactly what she wanted! Rae took her quill and started to draw

Arya was sitting with her legs crossed in the chair, nibbling on a cookie as she listened to the group disscussion from the 'we wanna learn a new spell' side of the table. She wrote down a few notes occasionally, and when he demonstrated the new spells, she perked up a bit, watching attentively.

All her note taking had caused her to miss out on answering the question asked, but she did get the responses jotted down as well. Then when it was time for them to preform the spell, she pulled out her wand and twirled it between her fingers while she finished off her cookie.

Taking the paper, and giving the professor a grateful smile she looked down at the parchement and began to concentrate. First she focused on the ink, not really the color but the ink itself. After a moment, she pointed her wand at the table, making a small circular motion and said. "Encaustum."

Slowly but surely a small container of black ink appeared on the table beside her parchement. Picking it up, she examined the small ink container before placing it back down. Now she began to focus on conjuring a quill. That took another moment before she motioned downward on the table and said. "Calamus."

A small brown quill appeared after a slow moment. Stowing her wand in her robes, she picked up the quill with her wand hand and a cookie with the other. Taking a bite out of the cookie she examined the quill before pulling the parchement close and dipping the quill in her ink.

The young girl began to draw animals on her parchement while she ate the cookie. Thinking about all her pets and assigned creatures while she did. All the while not realizing that the creatures were slowly dissapearing from the parchement.

Moving to the side of the table for those wishing to practice Horolos Alex waited for the professor to finish speaking. He should be with the other sixth and seventh years but he did need to practice the spell and therefore do his homework.

Seeing the girl that was standing near him Alex sent her a small smile while removing his wand from the holster on his wrist. It slid easily into his right hand before he changed it to his left. To do this properly though he would need to master both Horolos and Reverto, which he hadn't yet done.

Alex definitely needed help.

Alexandrie looked at the older student hardly believing someone as old as him needed help on Horolos. She gave him a kind sort of smile removing her wand from behind her ear. She was..now having to remember the wand movement..and she had just realised she forgot her notes on Horolos.. She was certainly acting like her old hair color. "Professor, I sort of forgot the wand movement for Horolos, can you tell me what it is?" Alex said raising her hand, that thankfully wasn't holding her wand, that would be embarassing, well more embarassing anyway.

Dianna grabbed another cookie while getting her wand.
After eating the cookie she concentrated with all her might as she did a letter L on the table. "Calamus." and a quill appeared out of nowhere.
"Awesome!" Dianna said as she tried the next spell.
She did a small circular motion on the table and muttered "Encaustum."
Out came a bottle of plain black ink. Dianna smiled at herself for doing a job well done.

Preston frowned as he tapped his fingers together. "Since the exams are handled by the Ministry and the instructors here are not involved, I'm afraid I don't have access to those materials," he said, simply. "What I can do is give you what I feel are the ways in which you should prepare."

Dropping a hand to drum lightly on the table, he looked thoughtful. "As for new things, we could do more advanced self transfigurations, or if the thought of practicing on yourself is not of interest, then perhaps some more advanced conjurations."

Pausing when he heard himself called, he excused himself and stood.


Stepping beside her, Preston crouched down, wand in his hand. "It's three clockwise circles, with a flick at the end," he said, demonstrating the motion for her slowly. "Go ahead and let me see you try it."

--

As he waited for her to do so, he looked around at those attempting the spell and smiled. "Very good, very good. If you're having success, perhaps try altering your intent with different colors and see at what different times your ink disappears."

Amy turned to see Maddie, hey Maddie, what are you here for, help or..? Amy looked for the professor, she had listened to him, but stil wasn't sure what to do

Maddie smiled and pulled out her wand. This could be interesting.
'Calamus!' she said, and a pretty simple quill appeared. Yay! Next, she waved her wand in a circular shape, and muttered the incantation 'Encaustum!' and and inkpot apppeared. Well, this was fun! Next she needed paper... but the Proffessor would get to that later, she was sure. How about making coloured ink? 'Encaustm!' she said again, thinking of pink ink. Hehe, that rhymed! Ooops, she'd distracted herself, and the ink came out plain black. Trying again, she said the spell, this time focusing on lavender ink. 'Encaustum!' she said, and somehow, she'd done it right. Because lavender ink was filling her inkpot... and overflowing. 'Proffesor, is there a spell to clean this up?' she said timidly, after the ink had stopped spreading, but had left a large lavender pool on the desk

Amy looked at Maddie and her spell, well that had worked-sort of, it's evansco, I think, Amy said doubtfully, what are we meant to be doing though?

Preston walked over to the students and crouched down near them. "Evanesco will vanish it, but to clean a spill, tergeo might be better. Both are just a quick point with your wand. If you're not precise with evanesco, you might vanish the thing you're trying to clean the spill from." He paused, considering their ages. "Give tergeo a try, and if you can't get it, I'll clean it up."

He turned to Miss Samson then. "You can work on whatever you'd like. It's not a class. Homework, the two spells I taught, you can ask me other questions about transfiguration. This is open time for you."

Alex nodded she had almost mixed DADA with Transfiguration confusing the spell of Horolos with the shield charm. She moved her wand three clockwise circles ending it with a flick on the end at the lock thinking of the lock turning into a simple watch. "Horolos." She spoke firmly the lock shifted half way, the lock now having a hands and a single strap, the color of black the lock handle loop was also partially sunk. Alex nodded shocked, she hadn't done that well on her first attempt last time. "Wow I didn't do that well last time." She muttered lowly.

Dianna now tried to think of colors.
"Let's see.. how about purple..?" she concentrated on purple very hard.
"Encaustum!" still thinking of purple she did the exact wand movements and out came a more on bluish color of ink.
Dianna tried again. "Encaustum.." Purple,purple,purple!
"Yay!" she exclaimed as the ink turned her favorite shade pf purple.

Ellie walked in late. Very very late, it seemed. She was running late to everything today it seemed. Thank Merlin's attractive (not) pointy hat, she wasn't late to any actual classes.

She saw bestie Amy and friend Maddie and walked over to them. Then she saw Alex. Awkward. Were they friends? Hmmm.... Oh what people miss when they're late.

"Hey!" she gave Bestie a hug. And smiled at Maddie. And smiled at Alex too. She was completely confused, but didn't let it show. Hopefully Amy will do some 'splainin. Did Amy even know about her and Alex's quarrel thingy. And detention... And such.

Did Ellie just smile at her? Alex looked in confusion. "Uh Hi Ellie." Alex greeted getting ready to fully transfigure her lock.

Oo how she hated conjuring spells. But, perhaps they would be a little more easier then the transfiguring spells like turning something into a watch. Meh.

Watching the demonstrations, the Slytherin wrote down the spell, wand movement, and what it did down in her notebook before just, staring at the words. Well, these were actually useful spells she needed to learn. She always needed something to write with when she didn't have anything, so this was like....perfect!

Taking out her dark ash wand, she moved her notebook in her lap so she was able to see the words and still practice the spells. Alrighty then! "Calamus." she said with the straight downward motion of the wand. Nothing. This is why she rather didn't like Transfiguration class. Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to imagine a quill and all it's properties.

Try again! "Calamus!" she said, opening her eyes to...nothing. Grrrr. "Calamus." Third time the charm right?! Seeing the white quill suddenly laying there on the desk, Evelyn stared in shock for a moment before a smirk appeared on her face. Pfft, of course she could do the spell. Even though the quill was not the right color, it was still a quill.

Mwahaha! Lifting it up for a moment, she placed it down next to her on the table before turning her attention to her notebook. Ink spell thing? Creates black ink. But she remembered the professor saying something of how they could create different colored ink instead of black.

Hmm...now to just think of a color...

It had taken her a few minutes, but once she had stoped daydreaming she realized that all of her drawings were dissapearing. And she only noticed this when her quill began to quickly dissolve in her hand. Frowning she picked up the ink bottle and gave it a shake. Nothin. Pulling her wand out she concentrated on a simple brown feathered quill, making a downward motion. "Calamus."

A small quill appeared on the table beside her blank parchement. Picking it up, she twirled the quill between her fingers and placed it back on the table. Then she moved her wand a circular motion. "Encaustum." Slowly appearing beside her quill was a small bottle of black ink.

"And now to see how long they last..." Picking up her quill, she dipped it into the ink and began to draw more creatures. This time making sure to see how long they lasted.

Carter took his wand and made a straight downward motion. "Calamus!" he said. An object then appeared out of nowhere. Picking it up he looked it over. It was a quill. A quill that appeared out of nowhere!

Now to conjure the ink. "Encaustum" he said making a circular motion with his wand. A small amount of blank ink appeared. Except it wasn't in the bottle. Using his parchment be blotted up the ink. It would disappear off his parchment shortly... so really, it shouldn't be a problem.

Picking up his wand he tried again. This time focusing on scarlet ink and a bottle that would contain it. "Encaustum!" he said. This time red ink appeared. And this ink was contained in a bottle.

He picked up his quill, dipped it in the ink and began writing on the parchment. 1... 2... 3... This would be an easy way to see how long the ink and quill lasted.

Mina busied herself with writing everything down she could. She did want to make she had everything down before she tried to attempt them.

Pulling out her wand, she practised the movements and then the incantations in her head. Straight downward motion.....calamus....circular motion...encaustum

After practicing for a few minutes, she attempted it for real. Clearing her mind, she raised her wand and made a clean downward motion. "Calamus!" Before her a simple quill appeared. Picking it up with her other hand, she checked it. Looked just like a quill and felt like one as well.

Now it was time to try out the next one. Setting the quill back down, she raised her wand again and moved it in a circular motion. "Encaustum!" On the table beside the quill, a bottle appeared. An empty bottle! Well that wasn't what she expected. Shaking her head, she raised her wand again and tried it again. Thinking just about ink, she raised her wand again moved it in a circular motion. "Encaustum!" This time a bottle appeared with ink. Yes, that was progress.

Marie watched as Carter conjured a quill, on his first try. Wow, he was good. She then watched him conjure some ink... without a bottle. Okay, maybe he wasn't that good. She laughed a little as she watched him clean up the spilled ink... with his parchment. "Well, I guess that is one way to get rid of the evidence," she said smiling at him.

He did get the ink... in a bottle, on his second try. "Nice job," she said to him. Now it was her turn to try. She would do hers while Carter was busy writing with his quill, that way if she messed up maybe he wouldn't notice it.

Holding her wand out she made the downward motion, "Calamus!" she said thinking about a green and silver quill.

Nothing!

Maybe she was trying to conjure something too difficult, maybe she just needed to think about one color instead of two. Holding her wand up again she thought about a plain green quill this time. "Calamus!" she said as she performed the downward motion with her wand. She smiled when she seen a simple green quill laying there on her desk. She picked it up and looked it over. Yep, it was a quill.

Now to attempt the ink. Knowing right away what color ink she wanted she waved her wand in a circular motion, "Encaustum!" she said thinking about a bottle of green ink. To her surprise there sat the ink, in the bottle, right next to the quill she had just conjured.

She took the lid off the ink, grabbed the quill and started to doodle on her parchement. Before she knew it she had drawn several hearts with Carter's name in them. She knew they would disappear soon but that was okay with her because she would just draw them all over again.

Alex moved her wands in three circles and flicked clearly stating, "Horolos." the lock finally turned into a simple watch with black straps, and it seemed to be telling the correct time.

Amy grinned as she watched Ellie make her way over and gave her a hug back, yo! she laughed, how are you? Amy asked as she grabbed her hair grip, Holoros! she said, thinking of an old fashioned 1980s style clock and poof, there it was, she smiled as she adjusted the time, waiting for Ellie to talk

"I'm great! How's yourself?" Ellie said. She watched Amy transfigure the watch. Oh, is that what they're supposed to do? "Good job."