Transfiguration - Group One

The first class of the day was starting for Transfiguration - the first of the year - and Professor Hayes (it still felt wonderful to be called Professor, even if it wasn't his first time teaching) was prepared. He was grateful for the size of the classes at Hogwarts this year. It meant more one-on-one time with the students, and Keiran was proud to have been made Head of Slytherin this year.

Arranging parchments in his multi-pocketed folder, Keiran closed the container and carried it with him into his classroom. Each of his classes would be experiencing different lessons, something he was very excited about. Setting down his folder and a couple books on his desk, he glanced to the door. Students would be arriving soon.

Flicking his wand at the chalkboard, he wrote the day's lesson with a nonverbal spell, before turning the board around. The element of surprise was always something he rather enjoyed. Taking a seat behind his desk, he pulled out the parchments he had arranged and chose the ones for his first group. He rather hoped the students ended up sitting close to the front - for the Head of Slytherin House, Keiran found that he was really rather friendly towards all of the students. Deciding to do a bit of reading until the students showed up, he leaned back in his chair and read further in his book as he waited.

Romeo had woken rather grumpily that morning, perhaps because he was still full from the evening feast and was rather annoyed that he hadn't made a single girl swoon over him on the train to Hogwarts, which didn't meet records but was something in Zabini record itself. A bad record.

After having a small breakfast (two slices of toast and a goblet of apple juice) he quickly returned to his dormitory where there was a mirror and sink, brushed his teeth and then headed to transfiguration. Romeo had quiet an obsession with his teeth, he simply loved to clean them. Before every meal, after every meal, before sleep, after sleep, before quidditch, after quidditch. Any opportunity where he could clean them he would. It had kind of turned into a bad habit of his.

Opening the wooden door Romeo stepped into the classroom. He was the first to arrive, gosh he really had woken early to brush his teeth, get changed, eat and then brush his teeth - or maybe it was the fact that he had ate a small breakfast.

Romeo made his way to the front of the class and sat down. The Slytherin wasn't usually a front row kind of student, sure he got good grades in subjects he deemed useful but never was he like a Ravenclaw: overly eager. However this lesson was different. This lesson was taught by his head of house and Romeo wanted all he advantages he could get and getting onto close terms with his head of house was one them.

'Morning Professor. I'm glad I'm starting the year with transfiguration, it's beats divination.' Romeo stated. It was no secret he hated that class and little did he know he'd be sharing it with a student he also hated: Hitame Higurashi. Thankfully transfiguration contained no Hitame Higursahi and, truth be told, he was rather looking forward to the class.

Keiran looked up at the entrance of the first student, only slightly surprised to see one of his Slytherin students walk through the door. The boy was oddly awake for a morning class, but Professor Hayes couldn't say he was disappointed. If his Slytherins were taking an interest in classes, he wouldn't complain. He would be glad to help those in his house, as well as any other students.

The Zabini boy was well known around the castle, for one thing or another, but Keiran did his best to avoid judging students. He had a special place in his heart for students who were eager to learn and he wanted to help them. Even as a Slytherin, it was known that Keiran was placed their because of his ambition, not because of any dark tendencies.

"Good morning." He replied, chuckling at Romeo's comment at the end. "Indeed it does." He said, holding back the casual 'mate' that nearly fell from his lips out of habit from meeting with his best mates Avery and Robin, as well as a few others.

Leonara Lynwood, bouncing on the balls of her feet, skipped down the hallway. She hadn't slept a wink - Leo had been far too excited for nonsense such as sleeping. There were just too many things running through her mind. Would she do well in classes? Would she make friends? Would the trees be just as nice here as they were at home?

Of course, the other students in Hufflepuff had gladly answered her questions. According to them, Leo would do well in class, make lots of friends, and spend as much time outside as she wished. And as her housemates had never given her reason to disbelieve them, Leo took their words as gospel.

Breakfast had been an affair - where did all the food come from? It was lovely to be excited all night, then wake to promise of delicious things and a full stomach. But then, of course, she had been so excited that she couldn't bring herself to eat a thing. While the others ate, Leo chatted and asked questions - so by the time breakfast was over, Leo had gorged herself on new knowledge about Hogwarts, yet starved her stomach. She wasn't dishearted, though, because how could one be sad at Hogwarts?

Leo stepped into the classroom. Only the teacher and some older boy were in the room - they seemed friendly enough. She walked to one of the front chairs, and sat, wondering whether she should introduce herself or stay silent.

Romeo smiled as his head of house chuckled at his statement showing his dislike towards divinations. Not only did it contain Hitame Higurashi but it was such a dull, odd subject. The room was heavily polluted with perfume and other sorts of fragrances that, along with the heat, gave Romeo a headache. On top of that the subject was just, foggy, guesswork. He had only signed up for it because there had been rumours the pretty girls like the subejct.

Hitame Higurashi wasn't a pretty girl. Well, she was, but she was a Gryffindor and being a Gryffindor immediatly dropped you four points on Romeo's grading system. Little did he know that Hitame Higurashi was also in his transfiguration class.

At the sound of a student entering Romeo turned his head, hoping to see a beautiful Slytherin who was fond of Romeo's muscular frame and wanted to make pure blooded children - something Romeo would have to start thinking about given the new marriage law. Luckily the Slytherin was only sixteen in June so was hoping by that time enough people would have rebelled against the law, either that or he'd found someone. Well, of course he would have found someone, Romeo found someone four times a day on some occasions. Whether she was right was the question.

Nope. Just a boring old first year Romeo had watched get sorted into Hufflepuff house at the feast. If she was four years older Romeo would have introduced himself but he knew there was no need here. The girl was simply too young for him. Romeo preferred the older, more sophisticated, mature girls. With the expection of Trisha Bates - then again he was only after her to make his rivalry between Baldric Wood even.

'So what are we doing today?' Romeo asked, although he wasn't too bothered. The Slytherin was simply trying to get on his head of house's good side - something that almost every Slytherin tried to do. Saying that, transfiguration was a useful subject for the sophisticated mind and beat astronomy hands down. Who cared about what the stars were doing? Even if the stars and moon collide Romeo would be more interested in Quidditch than 'Astronomy'. What a lame excuse for a subject.

It could perhaps seem like most students wanted to get on the side of their Head of House. But Keiran found that he wasn't so worried about that as he was about his students finding use in his teachings or his advice over their years at Hogwarts. Professor Hayes looked over from his conversation with Romeo to see who had walked in after the first arrival. A girl who appeared to be a first year Hufflepuff had moved to the front of the room and sat down in one of the desks.

"Good morning." Keiran greeted her lightly. Thinking back to his class list, he was fairly sure who the girl would be. "Miss Lynwood, isn't it?" He asked, giving her a nod in greeting.

Romeo asked about the day's lesson, to which Keiran replied, "I'll give it a few minutes, but we'll be working on changing paper," He reached for the stack and lifted it to show them, "into birds." He set the paper back down before shrugging and adding, "Frankly, the spell would work with a multitude of small objects, but today we'll be using paper."

"Just relax or chat for a little while and we'll see if anyone else comes in." He said as he sat down behind his desk once more.

Leo shifted in her seat - the hard wood was stranger and cold. Idly, she looked around the classroom. In one corner, the much older Slytherin sat casually. In the other, the professor settled at this desk, paper in front of him.

Had this been any other day, Leo would be outside - no doubt enjoying a soft summer breeze and a million whispering voices in her head. The wind would be cool, the grass crisp; and so her mind would be.

But enough of her daydreams - real life awaited her. Taking the cue from her professor, Leo turned towards the Slytherin student and waved. "Hi," she smiled. "I'm Leo Lynwood."

Bradley's first week was basically him entering classes late and hoping for no deduction of points.He got angry at his brother but what could he do he loved quidditch too much.He would at least be on average time for the Transfiguration class.Well it was his favorite what kind of Ravenclaw misses his favorite class? he asked himself.He didn't seem to be late which took a big weight off his back.

"Hello professor Hayes."He had actually bothered with learning all the professors' names.He actually enjoyed learning the names because he felt it was cool to know the proffesor's names.There was professor Alden, professor Cooper,professor Hayes, professor Rookwood,and last but not least professor Tiquelle.Wow he did learn them all but he just wanted to be in his favorite class.The only thing is that his transfiguration teacher was a slytherin, and not only that he was the Slytherin Head of House.

Professor Hayes looked up to greet the new student upon their arrival. A young man, the Ravenclaw greeted him first and Keiran smiled. "Morning, Mr. Lander. Please sit in whichever desk you prefer. We will begin shortly."

One student, a Gryffindor, was nearly late by that point, and Keiran began to wonder if she was going to show up on time.

Rather than waiting on the entry of the final student, Keiran sighed mentally and walked to the chalkboard. "Quiet please, class. I hope all of you are ready for a new year of Transfiguration. Before we start I want to mention that I will be holding Transfiguration Club this year. The meetings will be outside of class about once a month, depending on how many students show up. I'll answer any questions you might have about that after class."

He lifted his wand and the board spun around, revealing the class lesson: Avifors.

Keiran picked up the papers he had shown earlier and gave each student one. They were old scrap pages he had used previously for things like announcements and the like. "In order to begin the lesson, I would like you to - raising your hand - tell me what you know about this spell. Do not write on the pages, please."

(Sorry for the slight gmoding it was the only way my post wouldn't be too short.)

Bradley had already read about avifors before.He raised his hand eagerly hoping that he would be given the chance to speak.As he waited he was thinking about how to explain it.When he was given the chance to speak he reviewed it all in his head.

"Avifors is a transforming spell that transforms the target into a bird, a flock of birds or a flock of bats, sir"He always read things beforehand and it was in his book so he of course knew the answer.Hr didn't want to be the smarty pants of the class but it was natural of him to be so since he was a Ravenclaw.