Seasonal theme lessons were not something that Effie often did; but with the current holiday looming before them and the little dark rain cloud that had been following the petite professor for the last month… it felt like time for a lesson that was both challenging and a little light hearted. Standing before her desk she fussed over a large vase of daisies, humming to herself as she waited for the students to start trickling in.

Orchideous (and it’s sister spells as she liked to think of them) had been a very good spell to know around mother’s day when she’d been a skint-just-out-of-Hogwarts-we’re-in-the-middle-of-a-war eighteen year old. It had always cheered Brynn up too, and every once blue men when Effie felt the need for a treat she’d conjure herself up some flowers of her own. It required an intricate kind of wand work, though the degrees of difficultly was rather varied. She was rather excited for everyone to show up.

When the warm (though maybe dead-eyed) bodies began filling the room Effie smiled and offered them a salute, and gave a clap of her hands to get their attention for a moment “If you’ll all take your seats, I think todays lesson will be rather interesting. If you have any extra credit to turn in or would like to schedule some tutoring time now is the time to speak up, if not chatter amongst yourselves until everyone’s here”.

1.	You will receive 5 points for showing up to the lesson, you will not lose points if you don't, and there will be ample chance to earn extra points for participation.
2.	A great deal of thanks goes to Miss Thea for helping me plan this lesson.

Figaro couldn't wait for classes to be out for the day so he could get busy getting crazy.  It was Valentine's weekend, and they all had a pass to Hogsmeade and he and Sophie were going to hit the shops in grand array.  And Transfiguration was the last class of his Friday, but also one of the most challenging.  The spells were just getting more and more complex and he didn't count on having the concentration for it today.

But he did have a monocle.  He had it lodged between his cheek and his brow, as you do, and strutted into class as Professor Finnigan announced she was collecting extra credit.  He paused in front of her and began rummaging through his bag.

"Haven't got the extra credit," he said, "my dear woman, but I have got... a relic!"  He produced a crumpled, stained length of parchment dated for January. 

An old assignment. 

"Sure this will have some value? Fetch a fine mark at Sotheby's?"

It took all of Thea's meager resolve to heave herself to Transfiguration. Not because the class was difficult--although it was, but as she refused to admit to herself that she was struggling, her denial kept this from being a factor. No, her problem was exhaustion. Thea had been up until the sun the past few nights, ironically, because she had been toiling away at the extra credit Professor Finnigan had just mentioned, in hopes of bolstering what she was certain was a dismal grade.

Sniffing at the antics of her monocled classmate with some distaste, Thea extracted the smoothly rolled parchment from her back and placed a hand daintily in the air.

Unfortunately, the moment she chose to call attention to herself happened to also be the one in which a monstrous yawn chose to overtake her. Eyes watering, she emitted a noise halfway between a foghorn and a scream. To her it seemed to last for hours, and when she finally found her breathing returning to normal, Thea was fighting the urge to duck under the table. "Erm, excuse me," she managed. "And I have the extra credit, Professor."

Effie glanced up from the daisies on her desk and bit back a barking laugh. Despite the numerous warning she had gotten to keep a strict eye on Figaro she actually found him endlessly funny. His homework skills amused her less of course, and she quickly masked the amusement in her eyes and she took the crumpled piece of parchment, "this 'n pocket full of lint might get you fed to the Giant Squid if I were a less benevolent dictator, Sellaphix. Do try to get the next assignment in on time or I may have to to ask Storm to take you on one of his fabulous detentions, or maybe talk to Professor Locksley about having you muck out the animal pens".

The threat suggestion was punctuated with a sweet smile as she turned her eyes to Thea, expression shifting from tormentingly sacchrine to genuine as she took the girl's extra credit, "Brilliant Miss. Darby. I can't wait to read it". Thea wasn't a bad student, but she often seemed overly tired and unable to keep the razor focus one needed for Transfiguration. Effie made a mental note to catch a moment with the girl between lessons to be sure everything was alright. She was more concerned with Absinthe's well being than her grades at the moment, but she didn't want to be a fussy mother hen in front of everyone, "Make yourselves comfortable while we wait for the others. If you've done the reading today's lesson will be infinitely easier," she paused and looked at Fig pointedly, "you might want to brush up while you've got the chance".

Nicholas was antsy for the day to be over.  A feeling which somehow made him get to classes with much more time to spare than was usual for the Gryffindor.  He was ready for the weekend and to get out of the castle.  There was that annoyance of Valentine's day to deal with but he would do his best to ignore it like he'd mostly done in the past.  He was digging around in his bag for the extra credit that he was pretty sure he'd done when the Professor mentioned something about reading making the lesson easier.  "Good thing it wasn't required then," he muttered, before exclaiming, "Yes, I did it."

Pulling the rolled piece of parchment out of the bag, he moved toward the Professor's desk.  "I've got the extra credit for you."  Nicholas said with his best smile.  He'd spent all of about half an hour on it while he'd eaten lunch earlier in the day. He wouldn't normally have done anything considered extra that didn't involve a wand, but it wasn't like he'd had to go to the library to do it.  Or spend an evening working on it.  And it might make up a bit for the assignment he'd forgotten earlier in the week.  Though given the worn piece of parchment Fig had turned, Finnigan was taking late assignments.

It was Friday, which was always a favorite day of the week for most students. Even the Head Girl enjoyed weekends too.  For Liza, weekends involved going on duty for rounds about the castle, reading, and doing homework.  It shouldn’t be too eventful, considering it was Valentines weekend and there was a trip to Hogsmeade.  She’d decided she would make a short trip there because she’d been wanting to get a few more sweets to send home, as well and just do a bit of shopping.  Then she would come back and likely do the usual.

Transfiguration was in the middle of the day, just after Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was also one of Elizabeth’s favorite classes.  After having done the reading, she was excited for the lesson Professor Finnigan had planned.  Seeing the flowers at the front of the class had confirmed her suspicions, too.

Even though she didn’t really need to do it, Elizabeth had completed the extra credit work. She did it partially because she found it interesting, and the other part because she thought it was never bad to do extra work. Just in case. So she walked it up with a smile and turned it in. “I suppose it’s not necessary, but I wanted to do it anyways.”

As far as stereotypes went, Liza definitely fit the traditional Ravenclaw one.  She was that one who would do the work, and extra work, and always be studying.  But she just really enjoyed learning and couldn’t help it.

Chloe grumbled into the classroom. The weekend was coming. And the weekend brought couples. Stupid couples. With their stupid kisses. And stupid holidays. It was all so stupid. Chloe's hair was pulled up in a messy bun, as she walked into the classroom, and dropped in the bonus assignment into the bin, walking up to Thea's desk, and plopping down. She didn't care what day it was. It was stupid. And Chloe was tired.

"Theaaa, I don't wanna go to classss." She wined from her arms, her head on the desk. She knew Thea had been sleep deprived as well, and Chloe was having none of this learning thing. It may have been her favorite class. But her favorite class needed to start on another day. In a different month. At least.

Thea managed a wry smile as Chloe plunked unceremoniously into the seat beside her. "I hate to break it to you, Chloe, but we're already here." The smile soon faded as she realized that part of her friend's gloomy mood could likely be attributed to the holiday that was fast approaching. A holiday which Thea had just remembered.

The realization that it was almost Valentine's Day was like the last straw, flashing a metaphorical "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" sign in Thea's face and leading her to collapse against the desk as well. In years past, her, Mason, Chloe, and sometimes Rowan would spend the day decrying relationships and eating chocolate, their laughter only slightly bitter. This year, with Chloe recently having ended a relationship, and Mason with that Katherine girl, promised to be far less entertaining.

"Chlo?" Thea asked in a small voice, "Can we just skip Valentine's Day?"

After hanging back, briefly, to speak with Professor Storm, Sasha had had to hurry to reach his next class on time.  Luckily, the Transfigurations and Defense classrooms were not too far apart - nothing near as irksome as his trek from the Astronomy Tower to the History classroom on the first floor at the very end of the day.  And, luckily, class was still gathering and turning in their extra credit assignments when Sasha finally ducked through the door. 

"It's...here you go," Sasha offered as set his report The Retention of Functional Traits in Intra-mammalian Transfiguration - Part 1: Heartrate and Respiratory Rate on the professor's desk.  He hoisted his bag, again (still grateful for the weight neutralizing charm) and weaved amongst the desks to find his seat. 

From overheard snippets of conversation, it seemed Absinthe was in the depths of an anti-Valentine's Day session with one of the Gryffindors.  As Sasha was (he hoped) once again looking forward to Valentine's Day, the Ravenclaw settled in a seat next to his other housemate. 

"Do you think we're going to have another holiday-themed class?" Sasha asked Elizabeth as he set his bag in his lap and started pulling out his supplies.  "Changing cupids into doves or something?" 

On her way through the door, Katherine was already searching through her bag for the extra credit she'd completed. She knew it was in here, she'd placed it inside her leather notebook right before breakfast and... ah. There it was! She pulled out the parchment, quite the length of extensive reporting on Conjuration and the restrictions it contained. Conjuration was truly a thing to be proud of, when one could achieve it; and by knowing the restrictions and difficulties of the task, one was more apt to perfect their techniques. "I have my extra credit, professor." She said with a grin. She loved handing in extra credit, there was something about it that made one feel accomplished.

She supposed with the incredible amount of Ravenclaw's in the room though that extra credit wasn't too special anymore. And by their age and level of experience, it was expected of them.

She sat down by herself in the front row and set her bag on the floor beside her, admiring the flowers in the vase. Considering what they had been working on, reporting of conjuration would probably come in handy for this lesson, and Katherine was looking forward to learning something new.

"Shocking, madam," Figaro gasped in mock horror at Professor Finnigan's suggestion that he be sent out with Professor Storm on one of his life-or-death excursions.  Last time that had happened, they'd all nearly been devoured by a werewolf.[1]  And that was about as seriously as he took the threat.  As he turned to leave, he nearly bumped into Bevans and his monocle fell out into his hand.

On his way to a seat, he passed Sasha and Katherine Beckett, solid Ravenclaw chums.  And Chloe and Thea had their heads together as usual. 

"Head Girl! Up top!" he said by way of congratulations to Liz Edwards, and offered her a high five.  There'd been a little shifting in the ranks of the esteemed student leadership - even Sophie had finally achieved the shiny badge of prefect.  Even though Figaro didn't give a flying frisbee about things like that, a subtly sarcastic high five was always in season. 

1.	March 11, 2009, A Bit of Real World Applicaton

Transfiguration was one of the classes which Carys found more difficult. She worked hard, and had managed to get into the NEWT level class, and continued to study and put an extra effort into the class. She had a much easier time with charms, but if she was going to be a healer some day she was going to need all of the wand skills she could manage to learn. (Which was why she had the extra credit work for Transfiguration ready to turn in.)

It was hard to resist the urge to slink her way into the classroom. Carys- tall for a girl of her age, which would likely make her taller than most women she knew once she was fully grown- stood more than half a foot taller than the professor. She hated this fact, and wished she could make herself appear smaller. Perfect posture, however, had been instilled in her at a young age. Carys dropped off her extra credit work with the professor. Her pace was swift as she moved to sit nearer the back, in the hopes of not blocking anybody's view of the professor or the blackboard up front.

Once settled in her seat, Carys extracted the necessary items for class. Her wand was resting parallel to the left side of her desk (so that her writing arm would not knock it to the floor). Next to this she carefully placed parchment, quill, and inkpot. Carys fiddled with these items a few moments longer, perfecting their position on the desk before looking up and toward the front attentively.

Transfiguration time! Mysti really enjoyed Transfiguration.  Then again, any classes a sixth or seventh year student was taking, hopefully they liked.  Granted, they had to get good marks on it as well in order to continue the classes to NEWT levels. Mysti was still taking 7 classes, which was quite a few more than some of the other students.  Of course, her parents also wanted her to keep taking some of the classes she wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to continue with.  But this was one that she did indeed want to keep.

Walking into the classroom, she saw some of her friends already there.  And they were handing in the extra credit work.  Mysti may have forgotten one or two of the previous homework assignments, and had made sure to complete the extra credit work.  She put her bag down on her desk, and fished in her satchel for the assignment.

“Here you are!” She said, as she handed over the slightly wrinkled piece of parchment. “Sorry it’s a bit wrinkled.  I think my Defense book squished it a little.”

Unlike Carys, Mysti hadn’t really thought about her height blocking those behind her.  But she settled at her desk somewhat in the middle, near Figaro. He was always an interesting one to be near, and she thought it would definitely make the lesson interesting. She watched as he high-fived the Head Girl, and took her seat.

“What’s with the monocle, Fig? I don’t think I remember that last time I saw you. New look?” Mysti asked, a small laugh following.  It’d been a while since she’d seen a monocle.

"Reading is always required Mr. Bevans, despite what you may have been lead to believe I don't suggest pages for my own health. Chin up, today won't be so bad! Doesn't involve bugs after all," her tone was chipper as she collected the extra assignments that were offered and waited for everyone to drift toward their seats, shooing Sellaphix with one hand as she came 'round to the front of her desk and again clapped her hands (it felt like a much more effective way of gaining their attention than trying to talk over the top of a room full of sixteen to eighteen year old's.

"Right then, I am terrible sorry to disappoint Mr. Schlagenweit, but we will not be turning violent cherubs with arrows into disease infested birds. I don't fancy staying behind and cleaning up the inevitable the day before Valentines," rubbing her hands together she waited for the very last straggler to situate themselves[1] before she began, "Now, given your extra credit and the previous reading I assigned at the beginning of the week; who feels qualified to tell me what they know about the magic of conjuring and what sets it apart from the usual rules of transfiguration? Bonus points you can think of a specific spell example that might have transfiguration counter part".

1.	Though the lesson has started please feel free to still join the thread as though your character has been there the entire time. Remember if you have them arrive late they have one free pass and then points will be lost!

Having turned in his assignment, too busy with his club planning to pay attention to the lesson so far, Bran finally returned to the classroom when he heard Finnigan's annoyingly cheery voice asking a question. What was it with the hype about Valentine's? Apart from having the opportunity to finally wear some shade of pink and laugh and laugh and laugh at all the pathetic little lovebirds, there wasn't much to it... The love potion pranks and accidents were always a welcome amusement, however.

Bran eyed the Hufflepuff oddball and his monocle with a disturbing sort of fascination as he slowly raised his hand to answer the question. "While most branches of Transfiguration focus on altering the form of an object, conjuration refers to the types of magic able to transfigure an object without having a basis to start from—out of thin air, one could say" he explained, finally turning his eyes from the monocled spectacle to smile at the professor. "No bonus points here, Professor" he let out a dramatic little sigh, before smiling with a pretty little blush.

"Her flats make me want to roll on the floor in misery while crying my eyes out" he whispered as silently as possible to Livi, rolling his eyes with an exasperated scowl. "Such a shame" he tutted, turning to give a one over to Finnigan. Her ensemble was pretty enough, but the shoes were a positively atrocious sort of crime. "She could use some heels" he said, still whispering, letting out a small giggle.