Transfiguration Lesson 2
 

With a classroom located safely up on the sixth floor and out of the mist’s reach, there was no need for Transfiguration lessons to be relocated which meant no excuse for confusion or tardiness. The view from the classroom windows was usually a pleasant one, especially this time of year, but a glance out of the window nowadays was enough to leave anyone with an ominous feeling.

Having given the instruction at the end of the previous lesson, he was looking forward to seeing what inanimate items everyone brought along with them to class this afternoon. It could be anything. Something personal or something random found within the castle walls.

Barlow double-checked that all windows were securely closed before moving to open the classroom door for this afternoon's lesson. And yes, he still looked tired and bedraggled but by now everyone was surely used to it.

OOC: Hello and welcome back! As mentioned in the post, Barlow asked your kiddos to bring an item with them to this lesson. It can literally be ANYTHING so let your imaginations run wild. You've got approx. 24 hours to post your greetings before we crack on. :)

Class Progression
Greetings + Question 1
Replies + Mini Activity
Main Activity

A benefit (if you could call it that) of being in the Ravenclaw common room was that the Transfiguration classroom was a short distance away so Daisy arrived rather quickly to class. "Good afternoon, Professor Barlow," she greeted with a small and sympathetic smile as she gazed at his face. she totally understood how he felt as she felt exactly the same way.

Daisy had safely tucked inside her bag, a silver bracelet that was decorated with purple butterflies and every now and then, she'd peek inside her bag as she made her way to a desk and sat down. Daisy began to get ready for the lesson which included retrieving the bracelet from her bag and placing it in front of her.

Austin walked into the classroom.
"Afternoon professor," he said quietly. He noticed he didn't look in the best of moods either. Nobody did nowadays. Austin shrugged and sat on a chair. Reaching into his bag, he took out a small teddy bear that he decided to bring.

“Afternoon to you too, Daisy.” Barlow greeted back, stepping aside to make way for the first of the students to arrive. He was anticipating a few kids would forget to bring an item along with them, but so far so good he was glad to note as he spotted the Hufflepuff set a bracelet down. At least he hoped it was her item.



“An old copy I assume,” Barlow commented, nodding at the Daily Prophet Jackson had brought along. You know, seeing as the delivery owls weren’t able to navigate the mist and all that jazz. “My magazine subscriptions haven’t arrived for bloomin’ weeks….. absolute nightmare!!!” But anyway. “Nice to see you, Mr Thomas.”



“Good day, Cor----”

His words trailed off and he watched with mild curiosity as the young Gryffindor pulled from her bag the most peculiar item. Good job he wasn’t easily grossed out because… well, it looked gross. “I really hope that’s for the task and not a post-lunch snack, Miss Winklebleck.”




The Slytherin Prefect looked down in the dumps and honestly, Barlow couldn’t really say he blamed the boy. “It’s not all bad, Paddy…” Except it kind of really was but optimism, right?



This one looked down in the dumps too, but he was sort of used to it from this particular Slytherin. Was it Slytherins in general? Or just this one? She was a good student and he supposed really, that’s all that mattered but it’d be nice to see her smile once in a while.

“Turn that frown upside down, Miss Castillo.”



When it came to students, he obviously didn’t have favourites. He would never. It would be wrong to have favourites. He was a Professor. He was here to be unbiased and neutral and to make sure these kids all learnt a thing or two that might help them some day.

Except if he absolutely had to pick a favourite young Mr Dakest would definitely be in the running. Shhh.

“Lucas!” He offered the youngster a smile right back. “Nice elephant you’ve got there!”



“How do you do, Tina?” Barlow welcomed the Ravenclaw with a cheery wave. Despite his usual dishevelled appearance he was in a chipper mood. “You didn’t take a wrong turn did you? This is Transfiguration, not Quidditch practice.” You know, because of the beater’s bat. Haha, he was so funny.



The look of panic that masked Analiese’s face didn’t go unnoticed and Barlow was juuuuust about to assure the first year that it was okay. He figured there would be kids that would forget items so he had brought along a few random bits and bobs just in case, but alas. She had a ribbon.

“That’ll work well with what we have planned for today,” he said kindly, “good job.”



“Welcome to class, Austin.” Another sad kid? It was an epidemic!

And as for the teddy bear? Well, Barlow frowned a little. He hadn’t anticipated anyone bringing a stuffed toy and wasn’t entirely sure if that would work but….. they’d cross that bridge later.



Eloise seemed to be in good spirits he was glad to see and Barlow cracked a grin at her cheeky greeting. Some professors may have given her a scolding but he appreciated her wisecracks. “As a matter of fact I did sneak a quick forty winks so better be on your best behaviour today, Miss Fairfield!”

And at least Nina had a friend now. Maybe the other Slytherin girl would cheer up a little.



But ANYWAY.

It was time to get going and after having closed the door (sorry stragglers, no sneaking in), Barlow moved to face the class. “Seems like most of you remembered to bring an item to class with you today,” he started, taking his usual spot and hopping up to sit on the edge of his desk. His legs swung a little. “Transfiguration is a broad subject and there’s a LOT we could do with the items you’ve brought along. Even with an assortment as random as this. Who’s got any examples of what we could do?”

Any takers?

OOC: Thanks guys! Class has officially started so if you wanna play, have your character react as if they’ve been here all along OR have them face the consequences if they roll in late. ;) Another 24 hours or so before we move on!

Daisy rested her hand on her chin as she thought about the various forms of Transfiguration. She raised her hand and answered. "There is the incantation 'Scribblifors' which is used to transfigure objects into quills."

The frown the professor had didn't go unnoticed. What was wrong with a mundane teddy bear? Austin didn't say anything about that though.
--
As for the question...he raised his hand.
"I suppose...you could make the teddy bear, not alive, but sentient." Austin answered.

“Right you are, Daisy. Always a handy spell to know, that one is.” He was prone to losing quills at that pivotal moment you really needed one so he found it especially useful.



“Well, ‘sentience’ would imply that we can give the object sensation… the ability to feel things,” he commented thoughtfully. “But no amount of transfiguration can achieve that. Animation on the other hand… certainly! We could have that teddy bear tap dancing in no time.”



He was grateful to learn that Cordelia wasn’t about to start munching on the world’s most disgusting lollipop in the middle of class. Her answer wasn’t a bad one either and Barlow nodded. “Right. When transfiguring one object into another, it’s always more successful if they have similar features to start with. Like a hedgehog into a pin cushion or in this case a lollipop into a spoon. Good one!”



Anything?

Anything at all?

He was even open to one word answers but…..

Nope. Well then. As long as she was still paying attention at the very least.



He was oblivious to any whispers because at that particular, very precise moment, Barlow let out an almighty sneeze. So almighty he was sure his bottom lifted off the desk for a split second. A sure sign he needed to get dusting in here, huh?

“WHEW!” With about as much elegance as a mountain troll, he unceremoniously wiped his nose with the sleeve of his robe and nodded at Eloise’s answer. “Reparo would be considered a charm but vanishing, yes! Indeed!”



“I reckon you’re right, Céline,” he responded, still a little fuzzy headed from what felt like the world’s largest sneeze. “Most would consider engorgement a charm but as it’s used to change the form of an object, I think it fits well in the transfiguration column. A football the size of a hippogriff, imagine that!”



“Not necessarily to swap one person’s item completely with another’s…. But switching spells! Yes, indeed!” Huzzah!!

Could you tell he was excited about that answer? Because he was.

Had Tina hijacked his lesson plans?



“A favourite of mine!” Because who wouldn’t want the ability to transfigure objects into small dragons??? “Not on the agenda for today, unfortunately, but I like your thinking!”



“That’s the one, you’ve got it,” Barlow encouraged the Ravenclaw who for a moment seemed to have a little difficulty, but she got there in the end! “That particular spell is commonly used on outfits so it wouldn’t work on many of the items that are here right now, but it’s a super handy one!”

And probably one he could make use of considering his drab wardrobe.



A peculiar name for an elephant, he thought. But then again, what were the specifications for a GOOD elephant name? He supposed Dani the elephant was as good as any. Huh.

“Conjuration is definitely considered a type of transfiguration. And it IS considered the hardest type of transfiguration, you’re right about that…” Barlow agreed, legs still swinging. “But we’ve already got our items here so we’ve haven’t got anything to conjure!” O for effort though!




“Good job from everyone. Lots of great ideas but Tina hit the nail on the head! Today we’re going to be covering switching spells! Switching literally does what it says on the tin… it swaps one characteristic of an item with that of another item so that both objects take on the physical traits of one another.” He paused to make sure that everyone understood because he appreciated it could take a moment to get your head around it.

“This is where YOUR items come into it… they’re going to be one of the ingredients in said switcheroo.” Still following? Hopefully. “Before we get to the practical stuff, I want you all to study your items. Get a proper feel for them. What material is it made of? What texture? Are they flexible or firm? Colours…. patterns…? Switching is simple enough but it can be tough if you don’t know your subject matter so go ahead and take some time to get familiar with your objects and write down three defining characteristics. Feel free to discuss it amongst yourselves and help eachother out.”

OOC: This is the mini activity, guys and you’ve got about 72 hours to complete it in however many posts you want. Like Barlow said, kiddos need to study their items and write down three defining characterstics - eg. texture/colour/pattern/size/flexibility. Any questions, hit me up!

Daisy placed her notebook and quill next to her before grabbing her bracelet in her hands so she could inspect it thoroughly. She felt the weight of the item to determine if it was a solid object. She held it close to her eyes to have a real good look at its finer details such as colours, patterns etc. After a number of minutes, Daisy put her bracelet down and wrote down her notes.

After finishing her notes, Daisy reviewed them to see if she had missed anything.

Normally, Avalon enjoyed Transfiguration. She found the subject fascinating and complex - the two most important aspects for a class, in her opinion. But for some reason, she didn't feel quite herself today. The first year felt sleepier than usual and had a bizarre, noticeable lack of motivation for learning. Perhaps it had something to do with everything happening around the castle. Or maybe it was that they were covering switching spells, which was something that Avalon didn't quite understand. Why would you ever need to give one object the characteristics of another? It just seemed silly.

She ran her fingers absentmindedly over her object (a fashionable neckerchief scarf) as she tried to focus on Professor Barlow's lecture. At least the first activity was pretty straightforward. She wouldn't have to exert too much energy to come up with some characteristics for her scarf. Avalon pulled out a piece of parchment and her quill to write down a few of her thoughts.

The Ravenclaw finished up writing down his examinations of his personal object that he had gotten from his grandfather for his thirteenth birthday and turned his head to look at the obstacle course that had been set up at the back of the classroom. While he listened to the instructions, he re-opened his notebook and wrote down the incantation together with the wand movement for future reference. He read his notes one last time before he grabbed his compass



Rolling up the sleeves on his robe, Dorian stood up from his seat walked over to the first station while taking his acacia wand out of his pocket. Once he reached it and stood before it, he examined the feathers and he made a face when he realised that a feather actually had some poop on it. He shook his head. Being extra careful to pick out a good feather, Dorian decided on a feather that he recognized from it coming from a brown owl. Cause it was brown. Genius he was. He took in the details as much as possible as visualisation was key in performing this transfiguration successfull.

He concentrated on the shape of the feather, it had short white fluffy feathers on the bottom and light brown spots over the rest. He looked back at his compass which he held in his hand now and made the choice of changing the small black arrow that pointed the right direction with a brown feather. He moved his wand upwards with a quick motion and flicked it sideways as he said the incantation "Mutatis Mutandi" while he concentrated on switching the components. Immediately, he saw that the black arrow started to change in to a brownish color but that was all that happened. There was no feather shape or any of the other characteristics it was supposed to have except for that it turned brown.A difference that only he would be able to notice.

He sighed and moment he lost concentration the brown color transformed back in to its original state. He was used with failing at the first try after six years though but he still did not like it. He concentrated again, visualizing the small arrow switching with the feather. He flicked his wand again with a "Mutatis Mutandi" and watched as the arrow changed shape in front of him. Where the arrow once was was now an owl feather. The problem was. The feather was black instead of brown and it was pointy... Scratching his head, Dorian looked around to see if this was acceptable enough. They couldn't all succeed in one day right?

Workstation #1
 

Daisy grabbed her notebook and quill and wrote down some notes.

When she had completed her notetaking, Daisy practiced the incantation's pronunciation under her breath, sans wand, followed by practicing the wand movement alone until she felt ready to attempt the "obstacle course".

Daisy headed for the first workstation with her bracelet in her hand and carefully selected a tawny brown feather that wasn't covered in anything disgusting. She then placed it away from the pile of feathers and sat her bracelet next to it.

Daisy closed her eyes for the briefest of moments as she visualised the characteristics of her bracelet with the features of the feather she had selected. After opening her eyes, she moved her wand quickly upwards and finishing with a sideways flick as she said clearly, "Mutatis Mutandi!"

She looked at her bracelet and saw that one of her dark purple butterflies had turned into a tawny brown feather and that the feather was now a soft dark purple butterfly. Daisy grinned inwardly as she moved to the next workstation.

Barlow was oblivious at the best of times, but when it came to drama…. specifically teenage girl drama, he was the most oblivious. A brief glance at the Slytherin girls and all he saw, in his eyes, was them having a gossip. Y’know, typical teen stuff.

“I don’t mind you chatting with your friends, Miss Fairfield,” see, he was a cool professor. “As long as you’re working hard at the task as well.”

He was glad to see Nina prioritising the task over the gossip at least, and stood back to observe her first attempt. Well then. “Remember, Miss Castillo. Concentration and focus. Give it another go.” Or several.



Gunnar’s attempts seemed to be more successful. Well, the socks definitely looked somewhat feathery at least. Barlow nodded his approval. “That’s it, make sure you visualise the end result of the feather too.” Which would be what? A feather made of cotton? Interesting.



He wasn’t really sure what Lucas had been visualising to achieve such a switch but hey, it was something! And something was always better than nothing in his professional opinion.

“A simple reverto charm will have it back to its original state if you want to give it another go,” he offered kindly, “you’re almost there! Try to clear your mind of any other distractions. Did you eat enough at lunch?” A random question maybe, but there was a reason he’d scheduled this class for after lunch. It was hard concentrating on an empty tummy.



It was a pretty good attempt as far as he was concerned, and Barlow offered the Ravenclaw boy his best most encouraging smile. “You’re definitely on the right track! When switching, you’re essentially moving particles from one object to the other and vice versa so it can be tricky getting the hang of doing it simultaneously to begin with.” But definitely on the right track! “Good job.”



He expected the seventh years to be able to the master switching the feather at the first workstation without much difficulty, and Daisy went ahead and did just that. “The next object is a bit larger so it will require more concentration but keep up the great work, Miss Swann!”

Good stuff, good stuff. He liked what he was seeing! Even from those who hadn’t quite mastered it yet. Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it?

“Keep it up everyone, we’ve got about thirty minutes of this task left.” Plenty of time to get moving through those workstations but he also had another question to keep them busy. “Being able to switch objects in this manner is a useful skill to have. How would you use this in every day life? What scenarios would it be handy to use in?”

OOC: You guys are awesome, thanks for still playing along! <3 Question 2 is in this post and you’ve still got until the 26th until we wrap everything up! (:

ooc: I'm imagining the mannequin is wooden
 

Daisy thanked Professor Barlow when he praised her worked and informed her of the difficulty of the next workstation as she made her way to it. She thought about the question Professor Barlow had just asked and raised her hand. "I am not sure if this is a correct answer. Say you are wearing a short-sleeved shirt and the weather turns a bit cooler. You could use a Switching Spell to change the short-sleeved shirt for one with long sleeves."

When she had given her answer, the seventeen-year-old placed her bracelet down next to the pile of stuffed animals and selected a green frog. Concentrating on the colour of the frog and her bracelet, she moved her wand upwards and ended it with a sideways flick, saying, "Mutatis Mutandi!" a bit louder than she did when she was at the first workstation. Nothing happened so she really concentrated and again said, "Mutatis Mutandi!". This time the frog was silver and the bracelet's main part was green in colour.

Daisy took in a small breath and exhaled as she made her way to the final workstation. She had to admit that she was rather nervous about this one. After carefully inspecting the mannequin's attributes, Daisy set her bracelet next to it and took a minute or so to visualise. "Mutatis Mutandi!" she said as she moved her wand upwards, finishing with the sideways flick. To her slight frustration, nothing happened. "Mutatis Mutandi!" Daisy repeated, her eyes narrowed in concentration. The mannequin's left hand was now metallic like it had a gauntlet on, whereas the bracelet resembled a wooden circle.

"How was that, Professor?"

Dorian listened to the Professor as he came to look at his work. Personally, he did not think he had done a good job because the feather was still black and pointy like an arrow but he guessed that for a first try, it looked good enough. Did that mean he could go to the next station? Holding on to the feather, Dorian walked over to the next station which held fluffy stuffed animals. But before he could choose one, he turned his gaze away from the station to the Professor. He thought for a moment and a scenario came to mind he had been in before. "What if you're alone in the bathroom and no one is around and you realise that the toilet paper is out? You can use the switching spell to switch any random object with a roll" anyone who said they had never been in a situation like that before was a liar.

Lowering his arm after answering, he grinned when he looked over the station table and saw a duck plushy between them all and picked it up. He knew his father had an obsession with ducks when he had been a student and although it had calmed down now, he noticed that his eyes still seemed to shine whenever he saw one. Only now he didn't act upon his feelings of going 'alkfwgklhawgio'. Personally, he did not see the fascination about ducks. Seriously, they were just....ducks....what was so special about them?

Deciding on using the duck plushy mainly because this was probably the only chance he'd get to transfigure a duck no matter if it was a stuffed animal,Dorian immediately pointed his wand at it because he knew that he wanted to change the beak of the duck with that he was currently visualising. He concentrated on the shape of the chain on his antique compass, fake gold . He moved his wand upwards with a quick motion and flicked it sideways as he said the incantation "Mutatis Mutandi" while he concentrated on switching the components. Immediately, the orange beak started to change in to a golden color and the chain on the compass turned orange.

He frowned as this was not the desired result he had planned and reversed the spell, placing it back in order. He tried a couple of times more and at the seventh try, he was able to change half of the beak of the duck in to a chain and he looked down at the compass on the table and saw that the end of the chain had a small plushy beak. It looked weird.

So much catchup!
 

“Not bad, Rosie!” Not exactly great either, but definitely not bad. But even if it HAD been bad, Barlow would’ve been ready to deliver all the encouragement because that's just how he rolled.



“Sounds like you’re referencing something more along the lines of an extension charm,” Barlow mused thoughtfully while Daisy absolutely ACED the second and last workstations. He especially liked the silver gauntlet-like hand the mannequin was now sporting. “But switching could also work. Good work, Miss Swann.”



He didn’t pry into what exactly those ‘reasons’ were but nodded and continued to observe the young Gryffindor’s work. “Word of advice - Transfiguration is always easier on a full tummy. Nothing more distracting than an empty stomach, huh?”

And as for his switching in everyday use example??

“It’s much trickier to perform a switch when one or both of the objects aren’t close by… waaay further for those particles to travel. And that would require switching a lot of pages, it’d be easier to switch the covers but well, that wouldn’t be much use I suppose.” But otherwise, yes! He definitely had the right idea!

And look at that, seemed he was getting the hang of it!



Well, that was a very specific scenario, wasn’t it? “Rookie mistake, Mr Katharos, you should ALWAYS check before you go.” HOWEVER. “I don’t see why that wouldn’t work… providing that you have something in the stall that you can use as the switch of course.” And if you didn’t mind said object getting….. ruined. “OR just switch the empty one for a full one.” Thank you, Archer, yes. “Good work both of you!”



The Ravenclaw’s enthusiasm was clear as day and Barlow was just glad it wasn’t ALL gloom. Hey, as long as you didn’t glance out of the window this could almost pass as an average class on an average day in an average term where there wasn’t any mist of impending doom!

“Feathers as wings, good vision!”



“Quite the aptitude you’ve got for Transfiguration it seems, Miss Dantes!” He exclaimed enthusiastically when she made her way through the workstations with apparent ease. She was a natural and it was refreshing to see!



AHHH. Right. Gunter.

Gunter, Gunter, Gunter.

He repeated the name several times in his head, trying to get it to stick. It was hard enough trying to remember the names of all the kids in this place as it was, let alone with the name changes!

The rainbow gradient on the feather was a neat effect and Barlow moved closer to admire the handiwork. Very exotic.

And great example there too!

“There are colour changing spells that would accomplish the same but if you had something around in the same shade of blue, a switching spell could definitely save the day! Well done, Mr Gunter.” Nailed it.



……………….. um what?

Barlow the oblivious fool was still very much oblivious. And now you could add confused to the mix too. Is this how kids cracked jokes nowadays or….? He had absolutely zero idea what was going on between the two Slytherin girls but if there was one thing he wasn’t equipped to deal with, it was waterworks. Which meant…

“Alright everyone, I think that’s enough for today! Switching isn’t the easiest form of Transfiguration so don’t be disheartened if you didn’t get it first go round. I want you all to take one of the stuffed toys from workstation two and your homework is to KEEP. PRACTICING!” No essays, no assignments, just practice! Easy peasy!

OOC: Thanks guys, that’s a wrap! I’ll leave the thread open for another 24 hours so you can finish up if you want to. (: