Fourth Class. Years 3 & 4.

[Orynn Novim]

Orynn sat unprofessionally on his desk. He was cross-legged and facing the door that would soon be admitting his students. His wand was oddly placed in his ear, and it looked very uncharacteristic on the Deputy.

There were various items on each desk (of the students') that surrounded the professor. Some had mirrors, others had rings or lockets, others had leaves stained with colours indicative of call. Others had pebbles laid on their tops, and other various items. Each student would have their own, and soon after; an explanation from their professor.

[Arcturus MacDougal]

Arcturus walked into class about 5 minutes before it was due to start. He had chose to forgo his robes today, wearing only jeans and a T-shirt advertising some Muggle product. He gave the Professor a bit of a strange look as he walked past. Arcturus did not see Professor Novim as the wand-behind-the-ears sort of wizard. It was very disorienting to see him like that, but Arcturus presumed there was explanation. Hopefully there was also an explanation to go with the various objects sitting on the desks. Arcturus took his seat and waited for class to start.

[Orynn Novim]

OOC: It was to my understanding that all students had to wear their robes when attending classes/on weekdays, as Hogwarts is like a Private school and so the robes are like 'uniforms.' If I'm wrong however, feel free to correct me. Orynn won't really care though, but that's just him.[/i]

Orynn jumped off his table as the final students arrived. His leg had obviously healed as he was no longer using his cane to help his walking. He removed his wand from his ear and tapped it against his open palm, pacing in a semi circle to address the entire class.

"Today you will compare your abilities in Transfiguration against your opponents. This is a new excercise I'm trying this year, so both years will participate. Each of you will stand with a partner of your choosing, granted they are in the same year as you, with the item that you have on your desk. Fourth years have already chosen their partner for the term, and that shall remain for this class. Third years need to chose a partner, now." Orynn waited a moment for his students to get themselves together

[Arcturus MacDougal]

((OOC: I'm not sure if it's required for students to wear robes, but it does seem to be the norm. There are at least instances of characters wearing normal clothes under their robes. I guess I'm not sure. I don't think my character would particularly care about a restriction like that, though.))




Arcturus traded glances at the third-year Ravenclaw boy in the seat to his left. The boy, whose name was Oscar, was the only third-year in this class that he knew that well. He knew a couple of the fourth-years, but they were already paired. It was interesting how fourth-years were so much more friendly than third-years. Maybe it was because they felt slightly superior to the third-year.

"Oscar, wanna be partners?"

"Sure."

They grabbed the items on their respective desks and stood up. Arcturus had a pewter goblet, and Oscar a plain bronze ring with interesting engravings on it.

[Orynn Novim]

As everybody had paired up, Orynn moved the desks and chairs off and out of the way. Eventually, the students were lined up, facing their partner on the other side. They were roughly five meters between them.

Orynn paced between them, holding his hands behind his back. "Between you and your partner; choose one of your items to start with. What you are attempting, is to transfigure the same item, both of you; at the same time."[/color] Orynn smiled as some of the students went wide-eyed, and others wore quizzical and confused looks.

"All students on this side will attempt to Transfigure the item into an animate object of their choosing."[/color] Orynn made a wave with his hand to the line of students closest to the roaring fire pit, he then waved his hand to the line closer to the classroom door. "The other side will try to Transfigure the same object into another inanimate object. As you all know, the incantation for this is 'Res Rei Verto.'"[/color]

Orynn was reaching the end of his stroll, so he turned around so that his voice would reach more ears. Walking slowly backwards. "The objective here is to succeed in transfiguring the object into what you want it to be first. What will undoubtedly happen with some, if not most of your cases, is that your partner will interrupt your spell before it is complete. The magical ties you have with the object will be tested and strained, and you must try to finish the spell by sure will, determination, imagination, and concentration. Likewise, if you are the one to interrupt your partners spell, your mission is to revert it back to the original item, cast the spell again to try and complete your own spell.

"So, the student who casts the spell first, will have an easier time as they only have one task to complete. I'd advise that you spend some time with the chosen item, before beginning with this excercise. When you and your partner have chosen the item, please set it on the ground between you, step away, and you may begin."[/color]

{OOC: If that was way too confusing, I'll try again.}

[Arcturus MacDougal]

((OOC: Wasn't too bad, but if I mess up, it probably isn't my fault.))

Arcturus and Oscar practiced a little bit on the object before stepping away.

"You wanna go first?"

"If that's OK."

"Yup."

Oscar concentrated on the pewter goblet they had decided to use. He spoke the spell and the goblet started to change. While it was still a blobby mass, Arcturus cast his spell. He did it as soon as Oscar cast his, because the longer he waited, the harder he thought it would be to interrupt Oscar's spell.

As soon as he yelled "Res Rei Verto" while concentrating on turning the mass in front of him into a pewter goblet, he could feel the struggle. He had to fight every little bit of the way, but finally through sheer determination and stubbornness he had managed to turn it into a pewter goblet again. As soon as it was back in goblet form he cast his next spell, this one to turn it into the first thing that popped into his head, in this case a glove.

Now he was really being tested as Oscar immediately cast his counterspell. Now he could see Oscar's trick. He had put only a cursory effort into Transfiguring the goblet the first time, trying to drain Arcturus' strength, and Oscar now threw his full effort into his spell. The two wizards were equally matched in magical prowess, but Oscar's clever strategy put him at a significant advantage. Arcturus could feel himself losing ground, and he knew there was no way he'd be able to fight Oscar back another time, so he stubbornly held his ground until he could feel Oscar's spell stop gaining ground.

Now he started pushing forward. It was exhausting. Oscar fought him every nanometer of the way. Arcturus' veins stood out on his neck, and he felt his eyesight clouding as he lost contact with the visible world, focusing entirely on his spell. He started to get unreasonably angry. Some small part of his mind, disconnected from the rest of his mind, sighed resignedly. He was going into one of his berserk rages. He started growling deep in his throat as he pushed relentlessly against Oscar's spell, which now seemed pitifully weak. He let loose a yell as he smashed Oscar's now pitiful ties to his spell and the goblet turned instantly into a fuzzy glove.

He panted as he came back to reality. His knees were shaking. He felt like he'd been standing up for the last couple days. The whole class was staring at him. He turned a little red, but lifted his chin.

"I did it, sir."

[Orynn Novim]

Orynn moved to behind one of the rows of students as each of the pairs, one at a time began the excercise.

"Res Rei Verto!"
"Res Rei Verto!"

Miss Devenpeck and Miss Bay cast their spells at seemingly the exact same time at the ornate and dull looking key that was in the center of them. Their faces immediately crunched up slightly in determination. The Gryffindor would be attempting to Transfigure the key into a creature, whereas the Hufflepuff girl would be attempting to Transfigure it into something else inanimate.

Orynn watched as both girls were apparently confused by something, and Miss Bay lost her hold for a moment, and Marie took the advantage. She struck the air with her wand and the key grew legs and antennae, and finally turned into an insect; a walking stick known commonly among muggles. The Hufflepuff girl looked at Orynn quizzically, and he answered her unasked question.

"If the student casting the spell first is not predetermined, and you both attempt to cast your spells at the same time, you will have to determine quickly which one of you has their magic tied to the object. Part of which is intuition, and other parts of which is just knowing. Very rarely will Transfiguration spells hit at the exact same moment, as preference will normally go to the more gifted one in the art." Orynn then broke the line for a moment, waving his wand over the insect. "Converta" He said, and the insect reverted back into a key. "No harm in trying again." He said somewhat flatly, but with a hint of encouragement.

Orynn then moved over to Master MacDougal and his partner. Orynn saw immediately the state the two boys were in, and rolled his eyes and sighed. "So you say." Orynn waved his hand to the glove on the ground and it levitated into his hands. "And was this, your intent... Master MacDougal?"

Orynn turned the glove inside out and it produced a faint and hollow sounding scream. Orynn blinked, apparently not surprised, as the scream shouted incomprehensible words of fury and hatred and frustration. The glove itself looked like a battlefield, as if a muggle board game had been cut out into the shape of a hand. Orynn silenced the angered voice by turning the flove in on itself again, before returning it to the goblet it had been before and placing it down. Orynn approached Acturus, a looked down at him. His facial features cold and unfeeling under the white brows that framed his face. For a moment, it looked like the Professor was angry, but his face then cracked unexpectedly into half a grin. He turned away, but looked back to the student as he spoke.

"A fair attempt Mister MacDougal, but you cannot forget all that you've learned thus far. YOu felt the strings of your partner, and you were able to strategize and confront him and beat him, that much is evident with your results. However, this is not a war you are having. When it comes to Transfiguration, a calmer, steadier mind will always win out one that is hell bent and filled with rage. Granted, you must still be determined, but too much so and you will lose sight on what your original goal was. In this case, you 'won' against Mister Ricketts, but you mind was so filled with thought on how to do so, it was reflected in your final product. Which, in the end, is a failed Transfiguration spell."

Orynn was now standing behind Oscar, and looking at Arcturus. Not in a condescending, but he rather looked pleased. Orynn nodded to the Ravenclaw student and began to pace about to help other students.

[Arcturus MacDougal]

Arcturus nodded, chagrined. He put his arms on his knees and panted. That had taken a lot out of him.

He looked up at Oscar. "You wanna try again?"

"Sure, as long as you're up to it." Oscar looked slightly doubtful. He was panting a little, but not as much as Arcturus.

"I'm fine." Arcturus answered. "But I get to go first this time." he said playfully.

Oscar grinned. "Only fair."

Arcturus took a couple more deep breaths before focusing on the goblet in front of him. He decided to change it into . . . say . . . a trowel. He thought about what Professor Novim had said, and cleared his mind.

He pointed his wand at the glove and imagined a perfect trowel with a wooden handle and a sharp metal base. This time, when he felt Oscar's incantations fighting his, instead of turning it into a fight between the two of them, he continued just to focus calmly on a trowel. Instead of feeling like the two of them were pushing each other back and forth, it felt like walking a tightrope with Oscar trying to push him off. However, enlightened by his earlier failure he was able to hold his concentration and the goblet turned into a trowel.

"Nice." said Oscar as he changed the trowel back to a goblet.

"Thanks!" Arcturus panted. He really should practice more, if this took it out of him so much. "You didn't do bad either."

[Orynn Novim]

Orynn applauded the efforts of his students, as he returned the desks and seats to their original placement.

"Be seated please. First of all, I'd thank you all very much. This was a quite a treat for me. You should give yourselves a round of applause as well, as you all did very well in today's exercises. Are there any questions before I dismiss you all?"[/color]

[Arcturus MacDougal]

Arcturus sat down, flushed with his success and panting. He reviewed what he'd learned this class. Nope, no questions. That was good, because he didn't know if he'd actually be able to talk, he was so out of breath.

[Orynn Novim]

OOC: Unfortunately I have to close this in this informal and lame-arse way. Apologies but I have 2 exams tomorrow and well... yea...

10 points to Arcturus for excellent participation!