Hogwarts MOO

Transfiguration I – 1909

(OOC: 1909-1910 school year. Certain points, particularly those relating to human (and animal) transfiguration and transfiguring food, reflect the all-powerful magic then common on the MOO, and are no longer ICly accurate.)

,-[ Hogwarts - Transfiguration Classroom ]------------------------------------.

Culpepper Vert says, "I am not sure. I got here early because I was told it was a hard class room to find and have been reading ever since. "

A bell rings, signaling the start of Transfiguration I.

Aramis Dominic enters at a hasty scuffle, trying to look inconspicuous.

Billy MacGregor walks in with his book and othe supplies. He gives a friendly nod and smile to the teacher and the ohter early arrivals as he takes a seat near the front and opens his book to catch up on last minute things.

Grahm Syezac says, "Well, it obviously is, judging by the number of people here."

Culpepper Vert nods. "I fear so. Still the text makes this sound like one of the most intersting classes, so long as we are really careful. I wonder hjow hard it will be compared to Potions."

Lucia diCrowley hurries in, with her toad squished in one hand, and a satchel of books bumping against her shoulder as she runs.

Aramis Dominic makes his way across to sit by Culpepper, beckoning Lucia to join him.

Rowena Greenlaw apologizes ferverently to Prof. Winters, and takes a seat.

Grahm Syezac says, "I hope it isn't as tough as it sounds." Looking at the fellw Ravenclaw, he breathes a sign of relief. "At least I won't be the only one." He then takes out a scroll of parchment and a quill, and gets ready for class.

Sylvie Winters sits in the front of the room, watching the students come in. She gives a slight nod toward the whole group in general, and stands up quietly. "Let's all take a seat, shall we, and we'll get started."

Lucia diCrowley takes a moment to get her breath back and waves to the other Hufflepuff people she recognises. She finds a desk by the others, and plonks her toad on it, saying "Sit. Stay."

Rowena Greenlaw slips into a seat next to Grahm.

Jordan Osserman plops out book, and takes a random slimy looking seat

Billy MacGregor closes his book and pulls out a quill and parchment scroll.

Jordan Osserman pets his owl sporril, hushing it from disturbing the class

Culpepper Vert wipes his nose and gets out a clean quill, settling down to listen intently.

Aramis Dominic readies himself to take notes, quill in hand, battered parchment in front of him.

Rowena Greenlaw takes out a quill and paper for notes.

Grahm Syezac fishes out his book from the jumble of various items on his desk and opens it, ready to begin his notetaking.

Sylvie Winters waits a moment, then continues. "Make sure you have something to write with. This class is only notes, unless we get through the information quickly." She pauses, as if she might glance at a sheet of parchment she's picked up, but doesn't look at it. "We will be going over casting factors."

Jordan Osserman sloppily writes down and underlines "Casting Factors"

Sylvie Winters looks over the class. "Tell me, someone... Without looking in the book.. What do you think might cause something to be harder to transfigure?"

Grahm Syezac bites his lip and raises his hand.

Rowena Greenlaw raises her hand tentitively.

Aramis Dominic raises his hand quickly.

Culpepper Vert raises his hand, his eyes staring up at the ceiling away from his text which was siotting opened on his desk as he closes it.

Billy MacGregor ponders then raises his hand.

Sylvie Winters motions with her free hand toward Rowena. "Go ahead."

Lucia diCrowley chews on her lip and raises her hand slowly.

Rowena Greenlaw murmurs "Perhaps if it were larger, or living?"

Sylvie Winters smiles a bit. "Right, and right. Anyone else think of something different? There are a couple more."

Jordan Osserman raises his hand, half confident about his answer

Grahm Syezac raises his hand a little higher, hrpmphing at the fact that his was up first anyway.

Aramis Dominic waves his hand hopefully.

Billy MacGregor raises his hand again half confidently.

Tadd Clayton stumbles in, somewhat out of breath and praying he didn't miss much...

Culpepper Vert keeps his hand up, looking entirely tenative. He wipes his nose with hsi other hand.

Sylvie Winters turns toward Grahm, giving him a nod. "Say it."

Grahm Syezac says, "Could it be if something looks entirely different than what you want to, er, change it to?"

Tadd Clayton is pretty sure he knows what the question is, so he raises his hand when he sits.

Jordan Osserman patiently waits with his hand hoisted in the air to be called on

Sylvie Winters glances toward Tadd for a second, watching him as she responds to Grahm. "Yes, partly. Someone else?" She turns back to face the whole class.

Brenna Grey rushes in, hair a mess, robes twisted askew as she hurries, wild-eyed. Framed in the doorway for a moment, acute embarrassment on her face, she screeches to a halt and eyes the crowd with a rapidly reddening face. "Um," the girl comments, "Er, I'm, uh, sorry I'm late.. I couldn't find the classroom.." She hurries to a seat somewhere in the middle of the classroom, red as a beet and attempting to keep her eyes on the desk.

Aramis Dominic waves his hand in a way that tries to be restrained and fails dismally.

Billy MacGregor raises his hand again, half confident.

Lucia diCrowley waves absently, distracted by Brenna's late entry.

Tadd Clayton can't apparently wait to be called upon, "How about lack of concentration?"

Jordan Osserman is shocked that Tadd had the confidence to answer without being called on, and doesn't dare do same

Sylvie Winters nods to Brenna. "That's fine. I don't punish lateness for the first part of the year.." In case anyone gets ideas, she adds, "That's assuming there is a good excuse. Now.. Lack of concentration /will/ keep you from being able to transfigure something, but I'm looking for outside forces, not what /you/ are doing, and please raise you hand next time." She motions to Aramis, "You look excited.. go ahead and give your answer."

Aramis Dominic says, "Er, ma'am, resistance to change in the subject being changed, usually related to, um, intelligence or self-image or both of the above. So it's easy to change something that doesn't have a mind to object but hard to change someone like a human who can want not to."

Brenna Grey smiles gratefully at Sylvie. "Thank ye, Miss," she says, then concentrates on getting her parchment unrolled and settled in place. Meanwhile, she attempts to catch up on the pace of the lesson, pallid eyes focusing on the Professor's face momentarily.

Tadd Clayton takes notes... 'easy to change something that doesn't have a mind to object. Remember to test this theory on Todd.'

Culpepper Vert [:nods his head and wips his nose again, his hand slipping down some. Not quite willing to give up his status as an early hand up but not sure there is much left to say. STill its not down yet, so there must be something.

Sylvie Winters grins a tiny bit. "Very good. You've basically covered the resistance factor, with that answer. There's one factor left that no one has touched on, so I'll give you a hint.. It's the target factor, and there are two parts to it. Can anyone name one, or both, of those parts?"

Jordan Osserman is read to explode now, hand becoming numb in the air

Culpepper Vert wips his nose again and drops his hand lest Jordan blow up completely and obscure his notes.

Aramis Dominic grins, scribbling down the comment, but frowns as he thinks.

Lucia diCrowley leaves her hand in the air, but looks a bit more unsure.

Grahm Syezac scribbles down notes hurriedly, copying everything down.

Sylvie Winters motions toward Lucia. "Go ahead. And Jordan, you next if you have something different."

Lucia diCrowley says hopefully, "You have to know what the thing you want to turn it into looks like, miss?"

Jordan Osserman exstatic he can finnaly answer, and that he has a different answer, speaks loudly "Could it be if what it trying to be transfigured has a spell on it, or has already been tranfigured?"

Jordan Osserman looks up at the teacher, and crosses his fingers hoping to be right as he scribbles the notes he forgot to earlier

Sylvie Winters responds to Lucia first, "That's true, but not what I'm looking for. Jordan, that.. sometimes effects it. But also not what I want." She pauses, to look over the class again. "The target factor has two components, which are as follows. The sight element, and the movement element."

Tadd Clayton looks confused by those terms, but dilligently copies them down anyway.

Lucia diCrowley scribbles notes as quickly as she can.

Aramis Dominic mutters to Tadd, "If it's running away it's harder."

Jordan Osserman stares blankly at the teacher

Billy MacGregor nods and copies down, "Sight and movement."

Rowena Greenlaw writes all of this down, making a mental note as well

Jordan Osserman overhears aramis and quotes aramis in his notes

Tadd Clayton ohs softly and makes the note, "Remember to get element of suprise on Todd."

It seems that Jordan Osserman is looking at Tadd Clayton.

Sylvie Winters continues, "The sight element involves how well you can see the object. Anything that is obscured, shadowy, or otherwise hidden from sight are harder to target and therefore harder to transfigure. The movement element deals with the movement of the object; if something is moving, it will be harder to target."

Aramis Dominic scribbles industriously, spattering ink.

Grahm Syezac writes: "site element - how well you see object, easier seen makes it easier to transfigure, movement - if something is moving, harder to target."

Sylvie Winters waits for a minute to give the class a chance to write, then launches into an explanation of a different factor. "Next, we have the size factor. This one is relatively simple.. something with more mass will have more resistance to being transfigured."

Grahm Syezac writes that comment down, rolling up the scroll a bit for a fresh section of parchment.

Culpepper Vert finishes writing down what he has been told and looks at the list. Then nods and wipes his nose.

Sylvie Winters pauses for another few moments, then smiles toward Aramis. "The third factor has already been nicely explained, but I'll restate it. It is the resistance factor. Everything, living and non-living, has some amount of resistance to being transfigured. There are various explanations for this, which we will not get into today. Put simply, objects tend to.. rebel.. at the thought of being transfigured, animals have more resistance than non-living objects, and humans have more resistance than animals. Are there any questions?"

Aramis Dominic grins as he writes it down.

Grahm Syezac raises his hand, having a question he wants answered.

Tadd Clayton also raises his hand, with some hesitation.

Jordan Osserman raises his hand, using his book to support his question

Sylvie Winters nods toward Grahm. "You, first. What's the question?"

Grahm Syezac puts his hand down and pipes up. "How can a nonliving object have resistance? It has no mind to resist with."

Alanna Tisel says, " I'm sorry I'm late proffesser I was in the Libary"

Sylvie Winters nods. "There are.. Alanna, thank you for joining us now, but class is nearly over. To answer the question, there are many different theories, ranging from the idea that everything, living or non, has a soul, to some rather detailed equations meant to calculate it. I'm afraid it would take more time then we have left to explain all of that today."

Grahm Syezac nods, and writes that down.

Alanna Tisel eyes begin tearing and sits down in one of the chairs

Sylvie Winters asks to the rest of the room, "Who else had questions?"

Tadd Clayton continues to raise his hand trepidatiously.

Jordan Osserman says in a normal tone to the teacher "I had a question"

Sylvie Winters motions to Tadd first, "Go ahead." She nods to Jordan, to show she heard him.

Tadd Clayton says, "Is it possible to, say, turn something unintelligent into something intelligent? Like turn a button into a person or even just a squirel? I know it'd be hard and all, but could it be done?"

Alanna Tisel trys to keep her self from crying but is unsucssfull and buries her face in her hands crying silently

Grahm Syezac glances at Alanna, but, not being able to do anything, turns back to his notes.

Aramis Dominic shifts unwillingly in his seat. He pulls a rumpled handkerchief out of a pocket of his robe, and passes it down the row of pupils toward Alanna.

Jordan Osserman whispers to Alanna "Don't worry, you didn't miss too much"

Rowena Greenlaw looks pityingly at Alanna, but keeps her mouth shut.

Alanna Tisel continues to cry she didn't try to be late as the professer made it seem

Sylvie Winters nods. "I can't imagine turning a button into a person, simply because of the size difference, but it could be done if you were able to get enough strength behind the spell. Certainly non-living things can be turned into living things, although as you said, it would be very hard." She glances at Alanna, and presses her lips together silently. At least class is almost over, she'll talk to her after. "Jordan, what was your question?"

Jordan Osserman scans his book once more "As I just read, it is theriozied to become immortal from constant transfiguration. If someone desires to be transfigured for immortality or other reasons, is resitance still existant to the being?"

Tadd Clayton hrms inwardly, his question being technically answered, but perhaps not to his satisfaction. He scribbles in his notes, "What is the personality of a button transformed into a person? Would it be easier to transform a statue, it being the same size and shape? Try to find 'safe' way to experiment on this principle..."

Jordan Osserman whispers to Tadd "Saw your notes, answer is in the first 3 pages of the book"

Tadd Clayton ohs queitly again, "Thanks!"

Sylvie Winters raises an eyebrow. "In the first place, immortality is illegal. But, if someone did try for that effect, resistance would very much be a factor. In fact, it would built up over the years to make continued transfigurations almost impossible."

Jordan Osserman scribbles into notes Resitance builds up without the will of the "resistee"

Sylvie Winters nods slightly. "Anyone else?"

Aramis Dominic shakes his head, and starts to stack his books.

Alanna Tisel takes the handkerechief being offered to her and wipes her eyes and sits up, her eyes and nose a bright pink

Grahm Syezac wonders where Alanna got the kerchief...

Alanna Tisel begins to pass the hankie back to Aramis

Culpepper Vert wipes his nose with his handkerchief again and finishes his notes. he shakes his head.

Tadd Clayton finishes his notes and sits quietly.

Aramis Dominic takes the hanky, with a smile for Alanna. "Cheer up," he whispers. "It'll be okay."

Sylvie Winters nods one last time, seeing no other hands. She pulls out her wand, aiming it towards what at first seemed an innocent book sitting on her desk.. and it changes into a plate of cookies. "That's what we'll be doing next time, with much smaller objects, of course. If you get the urge to.. try.. it before then, keep in mind that you should never transfigure anyone else's belongings without permission, and likely no one can tranfigure much more than a button yet." She motions toward the plate. "Take one, if you wish, and you are all dismissed."

Culpepper Vert tries to smile encouragingly at Alanna. The effect is a little spoit by having to wipe his nose again.

Tadd Clayton smiles, hops up, and grabs a cookie. He then thinks about it, "This won't change back after I eat it, will it?"

Alanna Tisel gets up and walks out refusing to take the cookie offered to her

Culpepper Vert looks at the cookies, then slowly starts to grin. "Nah Tadd. Thats why she did it. TRo prove it to us."

Aramis Dominic grins. He scoops up a cookie, grabs his books, and heads for the door. "This I need to learn how to do..."

Jordan Osserman starved, takes a cookie, stares at it a little scared, the eats it and returns to the hufflepuff room

Tadd Clayton ooohs and hands a cookie to Culpepper, "Smashing! Thanks for the cookies, professor!"

Sylvie Winters smiles. "That's right. Although, it was originally a cookie to begin with, anyway. You're welcome."

Culpepper Vert gets up and head for the cookies. "It would be great it we could absorb the contents of a book by eating it."

Tadd Clayton thinks for a moment, "Edible books. I'll have to talk to the potions professor about that..."

Alanna Tisel mutters under her breath " Thanks for nothing Proffeser"

Sylvie Winters puts her wand back into her pocket, and moves quietly toward Alanna, whispering, "Could you stay for a minute or two?" Louder, in response to Culpepper, she says, "You can try it, but I wouldn't count on remembering much."

Culpepper Vert pauses and ponders Sylvie's answer, then looks at his notes. "Then it does matter if something isn't what it started as?"

Culpepper Vert heads for the door pausing only to see if he gets an answer.

Alanna Tisel walks out through `(W)est'.

Tadd Clayton happily munches his cookie and heads out, realizing that Alanna and Sylvie may want a moment in private.

Rowena Greenlaw takes a cookie, and smiles her thanks at the professor.

Sylvie Winters shakes her head. "Even if it had not started as a cookie, it would not change back unless someone cast at it to turn it back into it's original form."