Lesson 7 - N.E.W.T. Level

Another school year, another bunch of new and old students... Every year the same, but every one of those years he enters these classrooms with a smile on his face and joy in his heart because of the classes and the opportunity to teach new wizards and witches what he knows. The lesson plan and the working methods are still the same, the classroom is still empty... but the latter will soon change. Professor McCoy took his seat at the front desk and waited, scrolling through papers.

Today, Ariel fancied a walk. So it was a walk he went on. To be precise, it was a walk up to the Owlery to see if he had a letter from Rise, a walk to the Great Hall for breakfast and a walk up to the Transfiguration classroom. And yes, more than a few midgets had been trampled in the process. Ariel couldn't help it, they were just so small and unlike his siblings, they didn't know to get out of the way. They'd learned the hard way though and now, little children were avoiding Ariel like the plague.

Good. He liked it better that way.

So, the arrogant werewolf, appeared in the doorway of the Transfiguration classroom. He was absolutely shattered. Sleep would do him right now. He didn't want to do Transfiguration at all, frankly. Still, he put on a brave face and managed a half-smirk, half-grimace in the Professor's direction.

Picking his seat, Ariel all but fell into it. He let his bag fall off of his shoulder and winced when he heard a crash. Right now, Ariel didn't want to know what had been broken. Actually, he didn't ever want to know what had been broken.

"Sir, do you think turning first years into animals would be classed as bullying or assault?" He asked, out of the blue, sitting up a little. "Just...out of curiosity. It interests me. What do you think?" Then, he added the standard, "How are you by the way?"

Elijah had woken up with the desire to fly. With all of these bizarre desires, he was beginning to wonder whether he was the one carrying his daughter. He wanted this, he wanted that and so he bloody well did this and that. Today he'd wanted to fly so he dug out a broom and did just that. He landed just before breakfast and had a quick shower before heading up to the Great Hall. There, he'd written a letter home and sent it off with Ziva.

It was the usual requests: pictures of Fauve and Thierry to go in his scrap book, how they were doing and, of course, when he could get out to see them. He wanted his children with him. Hogwarts wasn't going to permit that though so he was going to bend the rules whether his father liked it or not. The twins seemed to support their, quote, "ickle Lee-Lee" breaking the rules. Elder cousins or not, they had no right to take the mick.

With those thoughts in mind, Elijah entered the Transfiguration classroom to find Ariel already there. Deciding against sitting with irritable little B****, Elijah strode over to one of the middle desks and took up residence there. He took his sketch book from his bag, his pencil from behind his ear and set to work. But not before saying good morning to the Professor.

Rafael's pleasant mood hadn't disappeared. He was still happy and in the right frame of mind to learn. He'd been using his time wisely (although some would disagree) by reading up on various different subjects and he felt prepared for the class. He was ready for the day ahead and he couldn't wait to just be a part of it. Now he sounded cheesy but quite frankly, Rafael didn't care. He was loving every second he spent in the castle now.

This suggested that something bad was probably going to happen to him. Regardless of that, Rafael was looking forward to today's class.

Wandering through the door after Elijah, who he seemed to be seeing often lately, Rafael closed the door behind him. He too said good morning to the Professor and took his own seat. He dropped his bag onto the floor and slid his feet out of his shoes. They were new. Mynah had sent them over the weekend and they were rubbing. He'd need to see the matron before the end of the day. Deep, joy.

All morning, Trowa had been rushed off of his feet. He didn't know whether he was coming or going but somehow, he ended up outside the Transfiguration classroom. He re-opened the door seconds after Rafael had closed it, flustered and dishevelled. He patted his hair down and managed a smile as he said,

"Good Morning Professor."

Still patting his hair, Trowa made his way to the seat he'd spotted a few rows behind Elijah. He tossed his bag underneath and took his robes off, desperate to relieve his tired body of the heat the robes supplied. He draped them over the back of the chair, careful to treat the newly stitched parts with respect, and tumbled into his seat.

Yawning loudly, Trowa took his sketch book from his bag. He needed to continue with the sketches. He wasn't going to be ale to do it for long but after the shock orders that had been misplaced, he had to work like he was five people in one.

Yumi walked to class slowly, as she had been doing for some reason. She hadn't been sleeping well and getting up early because of nightmares and other things of the sort wasn't helping. She had nightmares about her parents murder and other things. She sighed and continued walking to the class.

"Good morning Professor." she said as she walked into the class. She smiled slightly and walked toward the back of the class. She was like the fifth one there. She looked around the class as she sat down, only boys were in the class except herself.

She laughed softly and put her head down. She felt as though she was going to fall asleep at any minute. She didn't feel like herself though she knew this would be normal in a few days. She was becoming a sort of insomniac, not getting enough sleep with problems she had.

Natasha swung her ballet shoes over her shoulder and walked out of the needing room. She loved that this room existed. It was the only place Natasha could dance properly without breaking anything.

Everytime Natasha went there, the room changed itself into a form of an amazingly big ballet class room. It had mirrors on all of the walls,barres and everything she needed for her stretching, including a little water fountain in the corner.

The room was her favorite place, and after taking a very short shower, and putting her hair into a messy bun,she made her way to the Transfiguration room. Natasha actually thought about ditching Transfiguration to dance more, but she decided that she could train herself later.

So Natasha ran into the Transfiguration classroom to find 5 students and the professor. "Good morning sir." she said into a polite voice, as she slowed down.
She walked over to the table were her follow Slytherin Elijah was sitting. "Do you mind?" she asked pointing to the chair

''Oh my dear... I think I saw students... yes, I really did'', McCoy said as he noticed the lot coming in. It was a long time since he had such a turn-out in class. Most of the previous classes ended in him dismissing the two and a half people that actually decided to join the lesson. But, he tried not to bother himself with all of that... much. ''Moody tried it once... never had any problems though, but I do doubt you will be able to perform it successfully Greyback. My advice is... stick with quills and pebbles... it won't do you any harm... and them, also.'', McCoy said.

''Now, good morning to the lot. As for those who don't know, or have forgotten, my name is William Winston McCoy and the class you are currently attending is called Transfiguration. This may even be a new information for some. Now, to finish up with what we call Non-verbal transfiguration, we shall deal with transforming animals today. Behind my desk, you will see a number of closed, wooden crates. In each of them, you will find an animal. Even I don't know what animal you will meet. As for your task, after you examine and deal with your animal, you will have to transfigure it, non-verbally, into a Greek vase and then, turn it back into that same animal, again non-verbally. Since this is our fifth class dealing with non-verbal transfiguration, I presume you do not need any instructions. So, go ahead and pick a crate'', he said.

(NOTE: You can choose any animal you want, but keep it realistic... you won't find a Siberian Tiger or an elephant inside them)

((Sorry I got a late start to this thread. If no one minds, I am going to write myself as having been here. It is one thing to make Amelia late to one class... it is quite another for her to be late to two classes. The horror. ))

Amelia had been sitting quietly, almost invisibly, at the back of the classroom, her nose in a book as usual. Except this time, she was reading a book that wouldn't usually have crossed her mind. It was a thick book, much thicker than Amelia would have anticipated considering what a trivial sport she thought it was, but apparently, The Rules of Quidditch was quite an undertaking of a topic to write about.

It was slow going with the book, having to stop nearly every page to mark a word she didn't recognize. It was probably a foolish endeavour, in actuality, Amelia trying to understand a game in which she had so very little interest, but she was getting tired of constantly looking foolish. It seemed the entire world liked and understood this god-forsaken sport in which individuals flew around on things meant for cleaning, but still, the entire world did like it, and thus expected Amelia to be able to talk about it. This was most recently prompted by a run in she had with an old friend of her brother's, but there were many other examples to cite when her lack of understanding of quidditch had contributed to her social awkwardness.

Amelia was all too pleased when the professor spoke up to start the class, putting the quidditch book aside gratefully. Transfiguration would be a breeze after quidditch. It seemed Ariel must have asked a question of the professor, because McCoy was answering it, but he wasn't answering very politely. Maybe he had been spending too much time drinking whatever KoolAid it was that the headmaster drank.

Your mother would slap you right on the mouth if she heard you thinking that, Amelia's subconscious scolded her, knowing her mother would not want her even thinking anything offensive about her professors. Amelia shook her head to clear it and paid close attention when McCoy gave his directions.

Interesting... Amelia thought, waiting for a moment to see if anyone else would stand up first, but when they didn't, Amelia slid out of her seat to fetch one of the crates from behind McCoy's desk, nodding respectfully to him as she passed. After bringing the crate back to her desk, Amelia took out her wand and opened the top slowly to find a white ferret peering up at her from the corner of the crate.

Fantastic, I would get the least vase-like animal that ever existed, Amelia thought, decided how best to go about turning the rodent in her box into a Grecian vase.

Sketching, Elijah realised, was awfully boring without a subject, which was why he was pleased when Natasha appeared beside him. Elijah smiled and nudged the chair out, gesturing for her to sit down. Immediately, be began to draw from the person before him. The empty oval was now being guided into Natasha's face shape. He started with her eyes, deeming them the best place the begin after the shape of her face. He was only really half listening to McCoy but he got the gist of it.

Elijah sat up, put the sketch book down and leaned across to kiss Natasha on the cheek. He winked at her and rose from his seat. He stretched and shed his robes before walking out down the aisle. He reached the mass of crates and Elijah picked the first one he laid eyes on for himself. Then, he took the one to the right of that for Natasha. After picking the crates, Elijah returned to the seat and set her crate down in front of her.

Elijah put his crate down on the table and took the lid off. He peered inside and heard a familiar mew of a kitten. Pursing his lips and thinking of the irony, Elijah leaned into the box and took the cat out. He lifted the little animal into the air and smiled, allowing it to paw gently at his face. He nudged his nose gently against the animal's in a rather...cat-like way of displaying affection, and the animal mewed again.

Chucking, Elijah put the tabby down on the table. He took his seat again and watched as she began sniff the parchment. She opened her mouth and clamped her teeth down on the corner of a piece. She tore it off and spat it out, much to Elijah's amusement. He chuckled again and patted the kitten on the head before running his hand across her back.

Elijah brought his fingers down and ticked her belly. She mewed and dropped herself down onto the desk, rolling onto the back so Elijah had better access. This time, he laughed heartily and indulged the animal, deciding it deserved a bit of happiness before being turned into a vase.