Alex carried the pillow chicken to the front, "Reverto." Alex chanted turning it back into a chicken, "Go free." Alex told it before going back to her desk and rose her hand, "Well the fact that the chickens move is generally difficult because we could of easily hit someone or something else which is why feeding the chicken was a good idea- so it didn't move too much." Alex told the Professor.. it most certainly wasn't her only other idea of why it was hard.. for everyone else.

Once back at the tavle with the ugly chicken Marie set it on the desk. "Stay, don't move," she said as if the thing would listen to her. But it did listen, it didn't move. Good now she could change it without chasing it around.

Taking out her wand she pointed it at he chicken, "Pulvinus!" she said with a swish and a flick of her wand. She watched as the chicken turned into an even uglier pillow... with feet.

GAH!

It didn't work. "Reverto" she said pointing her wand at the pillow with feet turning it back into a chicken. "Okay chicken, this time you will become a pillow... without feet." Pointing her wand at the chicken once more she closed her eyes and concentrated on a pillow... that didn't have feet. "PULVINUS!" she said loudly as she gave her wand a swish and a flick. Opening her eyes she seen that there was a pillow laying there... and it had NO feet on it.

However now it still had a beak. GAH! What was with this chicken? Why was it being so difficult? "Reverto!" she said once again changing the pillow back to a chicken. "Now listen here you ugly little thing, you better change to a pillow this time, with no chicken parts showing or you get no more food from me." Not that she had anymore to give it right now, but the chicken didn't need to know that.

So once again pointing her wand at the ugly little thing she closed her eyes and concentrated really hard on a nice fluffy pillow, with no chicken parts showing. "PULVINUS!" she said a bit louder than last time giving her wand a swich and a flick... with emphasis on the flick. Opening her eyes... again she looked at her desk and seen the chicken was gone. She picked up the pillow to inspect it and make sure there was nothing there that shouldn't be there.

"YES! I did it!" she shouted. She had changed the ugly chicken into a fluffy pillow.

Now what to do.

Oh, they had to turn it back to a chicken and take it back to the front. Well crap, what if she wanted to take a nap and use this pillow? Nah, she didn't want to do that. Without any hesitation she turned the pillow back to its original form... that ugly chicken.

After putting it back in the caged area with the other chickens she grabbed a handful of food and placed it in front of the chicken, then went back to her desk.

Thinking about what had been the hardest part of the transfiguration for her she raised her hand, "The hardest part for me was getting the pillow to NOT have any chicken parts sticking out of it."

The chicken didn't bother to respond to her greeting. Correction: the chicken couldn't respond to her greeting. Because, next thing Gold knew, Xylon had gathered the chicken in his arms. The domesticated animal seemed to be pecking at him, but Mr. Muscles didn't seem to mind.

Gold, who was quickly regaining her composure [and trying to assure herself that it hadn't been a foolish decision, to revert the half-chicken, half-pillow thing into a proper chickeh] gave him a little nod. "It's okay," she said, in what she hoped was a normal voice. "Things like that are bound to happen, once in a while. Don't worry."

Because the poor guy [Xylon, the poor guy? YEAH, RIGHT!] looked pretty embarrassed at what he had managed to do.

Once Xylon had gone, Gold turned her attention back to her own chicken. It was still there, pecking at its feed and clearly undisturbed by the whole runaway chicken!pillow event. Grinning at the thought, Gold swished and flicked her wand, and pointed it at Mr. Peckerz.

Pulvinus.

Score! Because, this time round, the pillow that the chicken turned into was a perfect one, soft and full of feathers, and devoid of any chicky!arms or chicky!legs. Excited, Gold reverted it back into Mr. Peckerz, who looked a little fazed, and tried again. ZOMG! She could do the spell non-verbally, now. This called for a celebration of some sort, no doubt.

Aww. Now that she had to take Mr. Peckerz back to the front of the classroom, Gold felt like she would miss him.

"You've been a good boy, Mr. Peckerz," she told him, petting him again. Chickens like to be petted, don't they? Gold hoped they did, because she didn't want to annoy Mr. Peckerz. He hadn't actually been a bad Mr. Peckerz, and run away like Xylon's chicken!pillow, after all.

See?

Mr. Peckerz was a nice Mr. Peckerz.

"It wasn't very hard for me when attempted verbally, sir," she said, raising a hand to answer Professor Kingsley's question. "Non-verbally, however, I wasn't able to transfigure the chicken properly until I concentrated solely on what I wanted. My mind was on how chickens sometimes peck at people, and I think that's why I kept getting a pillow with a beak. But when I figured that out, and focused on the kind of pillow I wanted, the transfiguration became much easier, and far more natural."

"I think the key to executing the spell perfectly is knowing exactly what you want the outcome to be. Deter from that, focus on something else, and you might not get precisely what you want, especially if the transfiguration you're aiming at is animate to inanimate, because that's far more complex than inanimate-to-inanimate transfiguration."

Keefer returned to his seat after saying goodbye to Chicken Little. Hmm... What had been difficult about this exercise.. Besides the threat of death by chicken pecking, you mean?

"Well, I found the whole thing to be difficult. But specifically, I think getting the chickens to stay put! Once I took some time to be gentle, talk to my chicken, give him a name, and feed him, Chicken Little seemed to calm down. The first time I tried the spell, I was still half wondering whether my bird would run away. Like Gold said, if you're not fully concentrating it won't work. In fact, kind of like her, my pillow had feet the first time since I was worried about it running away."

Stupid chickens were just being difficult and Mina just needed to at least turn the chicken to a pillow once. Picking up tcast he chicken, she quickly set it a top her desk and pulled her wand out.

She would have to make it quick. Glacing about she took a breath and set aim. With a clear voice she cast Pulvinus! with a smooth swish and flick of her wand.

Just before her the chicken slowly started to turn. Starting from its toes up toward its head.

Blink

Well, it wasn't a live chicken but it wasn't really a pillow completely either. It was closer, but she still needed to make a pillow not a plushie!

Shaking her head, she quickly cast Reverto.

The plushie turned back to a live chicken. Bitting her lip softly, she tapped her wand on her knee and thought for a moment. Focus, yes that what she was lacking.

Thinking about a pillow, she closed her eyes and envisioned one. Opening her eyes, she stared at the chicken and nodded. One last try.

Aiming her wand, she cast Pulvinus! again with a smooth swish and flick of her wand. Setting her wand down, she watched what happened.

Success!

There was now a pillow before her!

Okay, it wasn't exactly what she wanted but it would work and she needed to clean up.

Giving the 'pillow' a last look, she tapped it once and cast Reverto!

Live chicken again and it was staring at her with those eyes again! Seriously, she had enough of its staring and stared it down.

Uh huh...practice. Yea, she was going to need a lot of practice in Transfiguration class.

Waiting until the Professor moved away, the Slytherin took one more peak at the beak that was protruding from the bottom part of the pillow, causing her to slightly roll her eyes. Of course she wouldn't be able to get it right. Glancing around, Evelyn narrowed her eyes and her expression became somewhat angry when she saw Lufoy mastering the spell rather quickly. Pffft. Whatever.

What she also saw was Rae being...really weird. Hopefully, she wasn't like that all the time. Was really starting to creep Evelyn out. She was, almost acting like Destiny. Nooo! They only needed one of those!

Oh no, class was ending! Or just this task was ending. NO! She'd never walked away from a class before without getting a spell right. She was GOING to get this right. If Lufoy could do it, she could do it! "Reverto." she muttered, pointing her wand at the pillow once more to find it now a chicken instead of a pillow.

A chicken that immediately went back to eating the feed. Wasn't it mad or angry that it was just a pillow moments before?! Or maybe there really was nothing going on in it's mind and was just focusing on the feed. Whatever. Easier for her to concentrate then.

Alright! "Pulvinus." she said, trying to be as confident as ever, and trying to get the 'swish and flick' of the wand movement as precise as ever. Seeing the chicken turn into the tan-ish colored pillow once more, she was suspicious that there was indeed, something wrong with it. Hmm, well, it didn't have any beaks, or wings...or feet...so that was a good sign. Buuut, it was too squishy for her liking. Pffft. Squishy...

And lumpy.

"Reverto." she said with a sigh, deciding that the spell still wasn't as perfect as she'd like it to be. Perhaps she could ask the Professor if she was able to come back later and try it. Not getting a spell right bothered her to no end! Oh jeez... Now how to get the chicken back into the pen?!

It already ate all the feed on her desk, not surprisingly, and looked as if it was staring expectantly at her. "I don't have anymore." she whispered, staring RIGHT BACK at the dang chicken. It...did not like that answer. EEEP! Stalker Chicken was chasing her again! Dashing towards the pen with the chicken hot on her heels, Evelyn quickly opened the door to the pen and 'slightly nudged' the chicken in with her foot before hastily shutting it. Phew! YES! Take THAT chicken!

Smirking, and turning away to go back to her desk, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention once more.

O____O

What was with that one chicken and staring at her?! She swore that if it could, it would have stared at least three holes in her head already. And probably one in her arm. Moving back to her seat, Evelyn took a deep breathe and sat down before quietly answering the question. Well, it was definitely an exercise... "Getting the chicken to the desk was hard." Bahaha! Yes, it was. "And making sure it didn't have a beak, or eat the feed once it was a pillow." OR wasn't so lumpy! She did NOT want to know what was inside the pillow on that last attempt she made.

"Come on, Mr. Peckerz."

But the words had no effect whatsoever, on the chicken. He had seen some of the students putting their chickens 'away,' and had realized she intended to do the same. Now Mr. Peckerz, he was a clever chicken!dude, and he realized this girl was going to get rid of him.

Oh the horror, the horror!

So he flapped his chicken!wings, and didn't listen to her.

Gold was obviously exasperated. Half a minute ago, she had been a little sad that she would have to leave Mr. Peckerz, but she had thought that maybe she could ask Professor Kingsley what he intended to do with the chickens and, if they were still going to be around Hogwarts, she could pay Mr. Peckerz a visit or two. Now, however, she was having second thoughts about the whole thing. Because the chicken wouldn't listen.

"Class is over, Mr. Peckerz, you have to - OUCH."

He had pecked at her, and hard.

Le sigh.

She tried to lure him away with the help of some feed, but failed. Because Mr. Peckerz's gaze darted around, as if he was looking for routes via which he could make a quick escape. "Professor?" Gold raised a small, white hand. "I've changed my mind. The difficult bit about this is convincing the chicken that he needs to get back into his pen."

And with those words, Gold swish-and-flicked her wand and pointed it at Mr. Peckerz.

Pulvinus.

Picking up the big, fluffy pillow that now sat on the floor, Gold headed to the front of the classroom, where she could put the chicken [well, pillow, but basically a chicken] back where he belonged, into his pen, and then revert him back to his original form of chicken!dom.

Ingenious, right?

....

Sort of.

Carter had been so busy looking for a suitable chicken he didn't realize the class was almost over. He quickly grabbed one and headed back to his desk.

Okay... think pillow... swish, flick... got it?

He didn't have time to think much more about it. Aiming his wand at the chicken he swished and flicked his wand while saying "Pulvinus!".

And now he has a squawking pillow with wings. Whoops.

With a quick "Reverto" it was turned back into a chicken. An angry chicken, but still a chicken.

It started to make a run for it. Oh no you don't. "Pulvinus!!" he exclaimed aiming at the chicken that was trying to get away. A swish and a flick of his wand later he was looking at a pillow. An embarrassing pillow. But a pillow none-the-less. And really, who cared if there was a chicken design on it. That wouldn't matter if you were really in need of a pillow.

He looked over the pillow one last time. He decided that he'd be pleased with the results. He used Reverto to turn in back in to a chicken. He then placed it back into the pen. He also lay down a handful of feed in front of her. (The poor little chicken deserved a little bit of a reward.)

He then returned to his desk and listened to the professor's question. "I think it was difficult working with something that was alive." Especially since his wanted to escape after his first attempt.

"Right." Ellie answered.

Looking back at the odd chicken-pillow thing. "Reverto!" she said. Why was it easier to put it back than it was to change? Okay, so one last time, eh? Ellie concentrated with all her might, and flicked and swished and said "Pulvinus!" And then there it was. A pillow. Right where the chicken was just a moment ago. Hmph. She did it!

Basically, she was just happy she did it once the whole lesson, even if it took the entirety of class to do.

"The chicken's too big." she said, in answer to Professor Kingsley's question. "And detailed..what with the beak and stuff. It's hard to get all the elements to go away." But it was already fluffy. She supposed that might make it a little easier.

Preston nodded his approval as the boy brought the chicken back to the front.

Preston nodded again. "Yes, part of the difficulty of live transfigurations is sometimes that your subject is uncooperative. I think most of you could attest to that, yes?"

Preston took note of the girl's attempts and nodded when she added her thoughts. "Yes, I noticed a number of your classmates having that same difficulty. Perhaps some of you have thoughts as to why?"

"Exactly! Distractions or too much focus on one element of the chicken could have been why some of you had pillows with beaks - if you were worried about it pecking you - or feet, if you were worried about it running away."

Preston turned to the next student. "Yes, exactly. This happens with any number of other spells, too. That's why this term I've been talking so much about focus and imagining what it is you want the outcome to be."

Preston nodded as Miss Bennett completed her transformation.

That was... quite an interesting way of getting a chicken back into the pen. "Yes... thank you," he said hesitantly.

Preston watched Miss Laksh struggle with the chicken and then do what he had been surprised that not more students had done. "Excellent demonstration of why this could be useful, Miss Laksh. Much easier to carry a pillow than a chicken, yes?"

"In addition to being squirmy, live creatures require far more concentration."

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

"Excellent work, everyone. Class is dismissed, though if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Make sure you leave your chicken in the pen before you leave. I will know." He looked sternly at the rest of the class.

"No homework for this lesson because I want you to be able to spend time on your final, but you are welcome to take a stuffed chicken toy on which to practice the spell if you'd like."

Preston stood and moved toward the door, to make sure no one left with a pillow... or a chicken.

Alex nodded made sure she had everything down in her notes and got everything ready, she dropped the toy in the box, she got the spell down Alex knew. "Great Lesson Professor." Alex told him smiling as she left the classroom.

Keefer gathered up his belongings and stowed his wand back into the handy pocket in his robes. He walked over to where the Professor stood.

"Actually, Professor, I do have a question. Is there any way to modify the spell so that the pillow is different? For instance, what if I wanted a purple pillow, or a pillow actually shaped like a chicken? I mean, I know I could use a color-change charm for the purple part, but I didn't know if there was a way to combine it all."

SPOILER!!: Kingy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmbiguouslyMe

"For now, you would need to cast the spell twice. There are ways to modify it - which I won't get into now - that would allow you to cast the spell at a whole group of chickens and transform them at the same time, however." But the last thing Professor Kingsley needed right now was someone trying it out on others' chickens.
----------------------
Preston turned to address the class. "Finish up your last attempt and then revert your chicken or toy and bring them back up to the front. If you'd like to feed your chicken after you put it back, you may do that, as well. But be quick about it."

Preston returned to his desk.

"As we're doing that, who wants to share what was difficult about this exercise?"

Patroclus was pleased with the answer he recieved, it would be sometime before he would be as good as a Transfiguration professor, and be able to convert mulitple chickens....but a boy could dream.

Oh No! It was time to part ways.
"Reverto!" Mr Feathers returned to the table, but Patroclus could not bring himself to stare his fluffy friend in the eyes, "I have to put you back now, Its been great..." his voice flattered as the picked up his friend and began to walk him over to the pen.

Placing Mr Feathers, done, Patroclus could only mutter a small goodbye, "I will never forget you!"

As he turned his back, Patroclus swore he heard the chicken cluck in protest, however the boy didn't look back, he returned to his desk, determined to remember the chicken forever.

"Sir I found the hardest part to be the pronounciation of the spell, however it grew on me!", as had Mr Feathers

Ohhh yes! They could leave!

Packing up her things, and feeling slightly more good about her day when it was said there wouldn't be any homework, Evelyn stood up and...noticed all the chicken feed around her desk. Awww...she thought the chicken ate all of it! Yea, she knew what he was up to. He didn't eat these particular ones on purpose! PFFFT!

Rolling her eyes, the Slytherin dropped her bag down back on her seat, and took out he wand. Wait...crud! She couldn't remember any cleaning spells!! Her weakness! She was soooo hoping she could have left class just like everyone else, but noooo. The Professor probably totally noticed the mess too, so it's not like she could sneak out.

Hanging her head slightly, the black eyed Slytherin glared at the floor before moving towards the professor. "D'you have a broom?"

*sigh*

"Good work, today," Professor Kingsley said as she left the room.

Turning to the next student, Preston smiled. "Excellent question. A good portion of it is your concentration. Some of your students made chicken-shaped pillows today because they weren't concentrating [I]enough/I] on the shape of the pillow. But, by that same token, you could do it on purpose. Color, you're probably best off using a color-change charm in this case, after. Though, with some practice, you might be able to manage it all at once."

Preston nodded. "Good observation. That's why it's best to practice before you wield your wand."

His attention was taken by the young slytherin asking for a broom. "A broom? Why would I make you clean up the room like a muggle? Cleaning is an excellent opportunity to practice your spellwork. This isn't a punishment"

Carter gathered his belongings. He was happy that there was another lesson without any homework. The professors must be eager for the summer too.

"Thanks Professor. Great Lesson." he said heading toward the door. He grabbed one of the chicken toys before heading out the door.

Working with chickens had made him hungry.

Like...seriously?

Cleaning WAS a punishment. Obviously he was like Destiny and enjoyed the torturous task.

"Oh, well in that case...do you know any cleaning spells?" Mmhmm, because she knew none. Or at least, she did, and forgot. Didn't she use one in Charms class? Speaking of forgetting things, Evelyn moved back over to her bag and pulled out her notebook so she could write the spell down.

Mwaha! Now she couldn't forget! Unless she misplaced her notebook somewhere in the future.

Preston nodded. It was good to see him grab a toy to practice with.

Didn't know any... oh dear.

"Hm. Well, in this case, I think tergeo would be a good choice to just siphon it up. If it were mushy or stuck, scourgify might be better, but since it's still dry, tergeo should suck it up just fine."

No cleaning spells? Really?

Hmm tergeo. Sounded easy enough. Oh yes! She had heard of scourgify before! It was too bad he already suggested using tergeo though, because she knew how to do the other one.

Hehe.

Oh well. Nodding, Evelyn quickly wrote down the two spells just in case in her notebook, and what they both did, before pointing her wand at the chicken feed. Time to disappear!! And since this totally wasn't a transfiguration spell, it should be simple enough. "Tergeo." she said, completely confident about the spell. Aw yes, now she remembered. She had done this spell in Charms class. It worked then too.

Soon enough, the feed around her desk was gone. Hehe. Perhaps she could get away with not doing the little trail by the chicken pen? Aw no, he'd probably notice. "Tergeo." she said once more, moving up the length of the trail to clean it. However, once she was by the cage, she could feel beady little EYES on her.

How she hated that one chicken. "This good enough Professor?" she mumbled as she went back to her bag and packed it up. As far as she could tell, she had cleaned the mess that she created. She made no promises for the mess that the others had made.

Preston smiled as she wrote down the spells and what they did. Everything was a teaching moment, as far as he was concerned, and he was glad to see her take note, rather than just do the spell and leave.

He nodded at her appreciatively as she made her way back to her bag. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate your willingness to clean up after yourself."

Looking past her, then, he flicked his wand, vanishing the rest of the scattered feed -- off desk tops, off the floor, and a bit off of students' personal belongings.

"You did well, given the difficulty you were having with the chicken. You may want to take a toy to practice with?"

Placing her bag on her shoulder, and putting her wand back up her sleeve, Evelyn looked over to the Professor and smiled sweetly after he spoke. That is, until she saw him vanish all the other feed that was scattered everywhere else with one flick of his wand.

Her mouth dropped as a look of disbelief fell across her face. SERIOUSLY?! He could've just did that, and then her own mess would've been gone, and she wouldn't have had to clean it herself.

Taking a deep breath to keep herself from speaking for the moment, the Slytherin stared at the desk in front of her for a moment before turning back to the Professor with a small...forced smile. "Anything to make a Professor's life easier here." Uh huh... yea right.

Pfft, there was no way she was going to take a toy to practice with. If she could get a LIVE chicken ninety-five percent of the way turned into a pillow, then she could easily do it with a fake toy chicken. "Oh, umm...actually, I'm pretty busy with studying and such and..." No, she needed the practice.

"Alright. Thanks Professor." Stupid chickens and their reluctance to turn into pillows. Meh.

Preston could not suppress a smile. "Not about making my life easier, Miss Flores. It is about personal responsibility."

He stepped out of the way to let her exit. "Have a good day. You're doing well. Really."

Even if she didn't think so.

EWWW! The dreaded R word! He really was a Professor! BLEH!

"Mmhmm." she muttered, moving to the pile of chicken toys before grabbing one and quickly stuffing it in her bag. There was no way she was going to be seen walking around with this. Especially seen by Lufoy. That would be embarrassing. "Bye, Professor."

Time to leeeaaaave!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmbiguouslyMe

Preston nodded. "Good observation. That's why it's best to practice before you wield your wand."

The boy nodded, as he began to collect his things.

Making his way to the door, he took one last glance as his beloved chicken, then turned to the professor, "Enjoyable Lesson Sir, look after Mr Feathers for me, I trust you!"

The boy squared his shoulders and head for the door, it was hard not to look back, but he had to be strong.

"Yes, sir," Gold agreed. Professor Kingsley was right - it was much easier to carry a pillow, than a chicken.

She propped the pillow into a pen and, having gently shut the door, pointed her wand at it. Re-ver-TOE. The pillow disappeared, to be replaced by a chicken that was - there could be no doubt about it - a Mr. Peckerz who stared at her. Literally stared at her.

Eep.

"Um, bye Mr. Peckerz," Gold said, a little sheepishly. It wasn't her fault they had had to practice on the chickens, and then leave them there. Beside, knowing Professor Kingsley, Mr. Peckerz probably got the best care under the sun, around here. There was no need for him to eye her.

Turning round, she went back to her seat where, wand back in its holster, she began to gather her things.

There were quite a few students, still in class. Gold used quick spell-work to clean up the area around her seat of feed, feathers and the like, as students trickled out of the class, or lingered behind to ask questions. She cleaned up the other vacant desks too, if certain that the student who had been taking it up had left the class without doing so.

There. Now the class looked much better. Cleaner.

Satisfied, she wandered up to Professor Kingsley. "Professor, I wanted to ask what's going to happen to the chickens after this lesson," she said, politely. Had Professor Kingsley borrowed them from a farm? It was possible. Then she added more quietly, "Thanks for a wonderful year, sir."