Lesson No.1 (Welcome to Transfiguration!)

Professor Harcourt placed name tags on the desk. He always started off the year with a seating chart,guessing who would get along better with each other. He hated inner class drama. He looked at his chalk board and waved his wand.

Welcome to Transfiguration. I am Professor Harcourt,your teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House. Today,we will begin with Lessons No.1 in your textbook,which starts on page 15. But,before we begin,you must find me. I have transfigured myself into an item in this room. 15 points will be awarded to the house of the first student that guesses what I have changed into. Good luck. You have ten minutes after the first student has arrived.he thought to himself,the chalk writing the instructions on the board.

Professor Harcourt smiled to himself. He enjoyed riddles and games. And, hopefully,this class will too. He looked at the clock. He had about 15 minutes before class began. Meaning the students will be here soon. He waved his wand and small statues of humans landed on each desk. He sighed when he remembered that he forgot to add this to the instructions. He waved his wand again.

Also,do not touch your statue. It will be part of our lesson.he thought,the chalk writing it. He sighed happily and looked at the clock. 10 minutes. He closed his eyes and thought to himself. Did he remember everything?

Oh yes. The seating chart. I'll need my other chalk board.he said,bringing in the chalk board. He waved his wand and wrote down the pairs.

"Adelaine Beaumont with Marigold Belet. Morgana Delecoeur with Aleksander Grenchenkov. Nadia Murray with Arya Lannister. Kolby Parry and Mitri Montgomery."he said out loud. Most pairs were grouped with someone else in their house. He worried about the Slytherin and Gryffindor pair but he could always move them if it was necessary.

Professor Harcourt looked at the clock. 3 minutes! He smiled and put his wand on top of his head. He muttered his incantation and became his "secret" object. He then waited for his students to arrive.

(OOC: If I left you out,I'll find you a pair or a group of three. I'm sorry,but I only paired the people who on the site often. Sorry.)

Arya wandered through the bustling corridors and finally found the Transfiguration classroom. Honestly, this school needed a map on every wall. She had been so focused on making a plan for her revenge, with Marigold's help, that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings as it was.

"Good afternoon, prof--" she came to a stop when she noticed the professor wasn't there.

It had become such a custom to bid her professors good day that she didn't even bother looking when she entered the rooms, she just nodded and said her piece. Clearly, this teacher was different. Reading the instructions on the board, she rolled her eyes before remembering that Harcourt could be right in front of her watching. Subdued, she studied the seating chart on the other board.

"Nadia?!" she couldn't believe her eyes. "With all due respect, wherever you are professor, this arrangement is impossible."

"Well then, I suppose I'll just find my seat..." she announced with a loud sigh, to no one in particular seeing as she was the first student there. Swiftly, she grabbed up a large, rusted fire stoke and shouted "Professor?!" With any luck, she might win Gryffindor 15 points yet..

Nadia strutted into the class, gift in tow, and called out a greeting, "Hello Professor."

With a start she noticed the Professor was not to be seen and looked at the board for instruction. She noticed with disgust she was assigned to sit next to a Gryffindor. The name, didn't ring a bell, but then again all the lions were practically clones of each other. Nadia decided then to begin her search for the Professor. Now of the imbeciles in the room were worth her time.

'If I were a Professor where would I hide? In plain sight!'

Nadia approached a table a picked up a rather unremarkable quill.

"Hello, might you be the Professor?" she asked it quietly. She sincerely wished to get the house points, as if Slytherin won House Cup it would show all who mocked her, who really was the best. Nadia Murray.

Deirdre ran quickly through the corridors to Transfiguration class. She had gotten lost near the Potions classroom and was nearly doused in a fifth year's failed Beautification Potion as she passed. Now she was almost late to her Head of House's class!
"Good afternoon, Profes..." Deirdre's voice trailed off as she entered.
Her fellow classmates were all searching about the room. It was then that she noticed the writing on one of the chalkboards.
We have to find him? She thought, a smile forming. This should be fun!
Deirdre put a finger to her chin as she eyed the things around the room.
If I were to hide myself in this way, I would transfigure myself into... Something noticeable, but that few people would think to look at.
She looked at the hourglass, which showed they had maybe five minutes to find him. She looked a little closer, tapped at the glass and whispered, "Is that you, Professor?"

Professor Harcourt watched his students and smiled to himself. They were clever kids. Arya guess a fire stoke, yelling at it. He chuckled at that, finding the girl amusing. Marigold, he assumed, guessed a book. She mainly wandered around the room looking for clues. Nadia guess his favorite quill, which was griffin feathers accented with silver strands. Smart, picking something personal. Kolby, the lazy boy, took a nap. The professor agreed that it was early in the morning but that's no excuse for not trying. He smiled when a Hufflepuff girl came up and tapped the glass. She guessed correctly. They had five minutes left so he waited patiently.

The five minutes was up and he untransformed himself. The students gasped and stared at him. He smiled.

"Good morning class. I am Professor Harcourt and yes, I was indeed the hourglass on my desk. So, 15 points to Hufflepuff. And,two points for every incorrect guess, resulting in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw having two points and Slytherin earning one, as a certain prince decided to take a nap instead of help his fellow classmates."he said, calling Kolby out. He sighed and turned to the board, erasing it clean.

"As you can plainly see, I am a very reasonable man. I try to be fair and just. And,I also like riddles, games, and the outdoors. But, I would advise to not get on my bad side. Now, let me explain the statues."he said, grabbing his own statue. "Unlike most other subjects, Transfiguration requires what we will call an original object. This is the object before you transform it. So, these statues are to aid you in homework, classroom, quizzes, and test. These are very important. Do not lose them." He couldn't stress this point enough. He glanced at Kolby. He would likely be the first to lose his statue.

"Now, open your book to page 15. Your textbook goes in alphabetical order but does not contain the spells you will learn in later years. So, we will start with the Avifors spell. This spell turns small objects into birds. It's very simple. Watch closely."he said, pointing his wand at his statue.

"Avifors."the professor said plainly. A stream of blue light flowed from his wand and birds flew around the room. Students gazed in amazement. He chuckled and untransfigured the birds back into the statue.

"Very simple. Very basic. Once you have completed the spell, raise your hand and I will transform it back into a statue. 10 points to the first person to perform the spell correctly. 5 points for the second person. 2 for the third. Everyone will get one point if they perform it correctly but are behind the third person. Keep in mind of the formula on the opposite page, which reads that the intended transformation, which is t, is directly influenced by body weight ,which is a, viciousness, which is v, wand power, which is w, concentration,which is c, and a fifth unknown variable, which is Z. Good luck."he explained, writing the movement, which is just pointing at the statue, the formula, and the incantation. He then sat at his desk and watched his students work.

(OOC: If you come in late, pretend you've been here. The picture is what the formula looks like.)

Kolby sighed in annoyance and sat up in his desk. If your were fair and just, Professor Harcourt, you would allow me to sleep. Honestly, waking up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast is outrageous. Starting classes an hour later is ridiculous. Kolby ranted in his head, watching the Professor's example. He shrugged. Amateur. The court's jester performed better magic then him. he thought, yawning and stretching.

A Ravenclaw girl looked back and glared at him. He sneered at her and she promptly turned back around. Nadia was talking about her earlier. Marigold. Filthy Halfblood. I shall teach her a lesson or two. he thought, smiling evilly. Turning statues into birds. Hmm......interesting. he thought, looking at the biscuit he stuck in from the great hall. He chuckled. This'll be fun. he thought, looking at Marigold's light brown hair.

(OOC: This'll be fun for me to RP as three people. Don't worry. I volunteer as tribute. Although, we should get a Headmistress office so certain Slytherins can be punished.)

Morgana sighed and shuffled nervously, watching the Professor's example. she looked down at her statue blinking confused slightly.

as a halfblood posing as a normal muggle family,she had not seen such magic before and just hoped she could perform it correctly and not make a fool of herself and her house she blushed a deep red looking at the floor.

Arya sat in her seat and watched as the other students (save for the Slytherin snob, Kolby) made fools of themselves by shouting at, talking to, and/or trying to scare random objects in the room. Luckily for her, she had been the first person there and no one saw her shout at the fire stoke.

She sighed quietly as the Professor revealed himself; it would have been nice to win Gryffindor some points, especially since professors didn't usually offer so many. Next time, old girl, she thought to herself. Arya studied the statue in front of her; some lad in ridiculous costume playing a lute. Rolling her eyes, she put her attention back on Harcourt.

"Are we supposed to understand any of that?" she whispered to a Hufflepuff girl a couple feet away from where she sat. T, W, X, Z, blah blah blah. All she needed to know was the word Avifors.

"Well then, here goes nothing," she said, pulling out her wand. So far magic had come quite easily to her. Confidence probably helped. "Avifors.."

Arya watched in mild amazement as the bard seemed to melt into a small group of bright blue baby birds who proceeded to circle around her head rather annoyingly.

Way to make it bloody complicated. If Nadia hadn't already known how to cast the spell she might have been confused, or actually wish to listen to the Professor. However she did know it. Nadia sent a glare in Arya's direction for completing the spell first and set upon her own.

"Avifors." Nadia stifled a yawn.

Her statue quickly transformed into a flock of electric blue birds. It was almost pretty, if only she could say the same for Arya. The poor girl was in dire need for some sort of bathing and at the very least, some fragrance to mask the stench that reeked off of her. In a way Nadia pitied the girl, she didn't know any better. Maybe it would be in her favor to grant the girl some of her favorite soap. Spare the girl the humiliation, and Nadia the rank smell.

Nadia quickly made up her mind to gift Arya as soon as possible. Who said she couldn't be nice? Nadia was rather pleasant if she did say so herself.

Adele fidgeted in her seat as the students filed in and the professor showed himself. She had guessed the teacup on his desk; if one enjoys tea, why shouldn't one transfigure into it? Unfortunately, a Hufflepuff girl had guessed correctly. Adelaine wasn't too worried, though; Ravenclaw was ahead in points at the moment anyway.

"Blast it all, I forgot my book," she muttered under her breath as she searched through her bag.

All she could find was a book on flying techniques (from her adventure with Marigold and Morgana in the library), a roll of parchment, her wand, and the little black book her father had gotten for her at Flourish and Blotts. None of these things would help her turn to page 15.

"Could I look in on yours, Marigold?"

She scooted her seat a bit closer to her housemate's and scanned the page. A handful of formulas that made no sense and an incantation. That was good enough for her. She whispered the word a few times as practice, then turned to her statue. It was a maiden with a ring of flowers on her head; quite lovely.

"Avifors," she chanted, watching as the maiden evaporated into one beautiful, majestic looking sparrow that sat on her desk and flapped its wings.

Morgana looked at her book and then back at the formula slightly confused, trying her hardest to work as best she could.
pleased with her final readings she raised her wand pointing it at the statue "Avifors" she spoke clearly watching, eyes wide as 3 little electric bluebirds appeared and began circling her head* "yes" she whispered, smiling at her success.

Had there ever been as unlucky a student at Hogwarts as Mitri? She sincerely doubted it. The amount of prejudice bigots in Hogwarts never failed to astound her, and now she was to work with the worst of them all! Even Nadia was not near as nasty as the vile Kolby Parry.

The boy was so pathetically lazy and rude that he didn't greet Mitri when she sat next to him. Seeing him squint those beady eyes at Marigold, Mitri knew he was up to no good. His sickening sweet tone with Marigold was mighty suspicious.

Seeing Kolby target Marigold's hair with his birds, Mitri quickly transfigured her own in effort to stop him. With control of her birds, she had her own attack Kolby's.

"You idiot, call off your bloody birds. Do you want to be expelled?" Mitri berated him under her breath.

Professor Harcourt smiled in delight as his students quickly got the hang of the spell. It was quite amazing to see birds flying everywhere.

"Arya, take 10 points for Gryffindor. Nadia gets 5 points for getting 2nd and Adelaine gets 2 points for 3rd place. Everyone else gets a point. And, Kolby....I'm deducting 10 point from Slytherin for unfriendly conduct. Another mishap like this and I'll send you to the Headmistress' Office. Class dismissed. Have a great day!"he said, cheerfully turning birds back in statues.

He locked up his classroom and left for Hogsmeade. He was the supervisor for the 3rd years field trip.

(OOC: Add you're exit and Lesson No. 1 is over.)

The Transfiguration professor could not have started with a better lesson. The classroom was alive with the sounds of birds chirping, kids laughing, and even a few owls hooting. The noise was beautiful. Adele was having so much fun with her sparrow that she didn’t even realize how much time had passed.

“Is it really the end of the lesson already?” she frowned, running her finger over the bird’s soft feathers. “I expect I won’t be seeing you again, friend.”

Adelaine reached below her seat and gathered her things, stood up, and stretched. She grinned at Arya for having gotten 10 points for Gryffindor; they were rather far behind Ravenclaw for the Cup. What had the professor been talking about when he took points from Slytherin? Probably some mischief of Kolby’s. Adele wanted to wait at the door for her friends, but she had to rush to get to her Charms lesson, so she waved goodbye and stepped out into the busy hallway.

Arya hated Transfiguration. Well, not the subject necessarily, just this lesson. The room smelled like birds, the noise was giving her a headache, and her little flock of bluebirds were flying restlessly around her head. She didn’t even have the sense to pay attention to whatever trouble Kolby was stirring up.

“This is ridiculous,” she muttered as she swatted a bird out of her hair.

Finally, Harcourt called an end to the lesson. He cheerfully named the students who earned points, and she was quite pleased to have won the bulk of them for Gryffindor. Of course, she mustn’t let it show; it was difficult not to grin back and Adelaine, though. Arya lazily tossed her bag over her shoulder and headed out of the classroom.

Nadia felt accomplished when she gathered points for her house, that feeling was lost when she heard how the idiot that was Kolby had got their house deducted points. Clearly someone needed to show him the ropes on how to dominate Hogwarts, and Nadia wasn't afraid to be the one that knocked some sense into him. Perhaps, if she felt generous and he proved worthy, she might even form an alliance with him. Nadia strided out the door, plans being made.

Mitri felt as if she hadn't even been in class for how fast it had zoomed by. Arya had gathered points for their house which was good, but lit a small amount of a challenge in Mitri. She didn't want to be the one not contributing to House Cup, she'd just have to try harder next time. That irritating Kolby Perry needed to stop messing with her friends or he would see the nasty side of Mitri. While the class was uneventful for her, Mitri enjoyed it and bounded out of the room with a smile.