“Good afternoon!” Adelebert greeted his students as they got settled into their seats. He had been teaching int his position for about a month now, and he was finally getting the hang of things. His lessons were always very practical—with any written work being kept to a minimum. In his opinion, the best way to learn spells was to attempt them—not just read about the concepts. His poor reading and literary skills weren’t exactly things he shared with his students, but that could’ve easily been gathered by those observant enough to notice his misspellings on the chalkboard.

“Today, we shall be focusing on the art of untransfiguration.” Professor Hughes stated clearly. The students were grouped into pairs. For every two students, there was one ball of yarn on a table.

“Each of these balls of yarn were once something else.  Next to each of them is another object—that object is a clue that hints towards what your ball of yarn used to be. Your task? To change the yarn back to it’s original form.” He picked up a ball of yarn off his desk—“Verto Authenticus!”  His yarn shifted into the form of… A rather fluffy little bunny. “I expect you, since you are all NEWT students—to perform the spells nonverbally by the end of class.”

“You may begin.”

---

Please assume that your students are already present and ready for class, unless they are late.  This original post will also show the amount of points each student has earned as they join in. Whatever your character's yarn originally was is up to you, just make sure it's something that is at a NEWT level. If you're uncertain, please send me a PM to my Maiko account.

Without eating breakfast, Zia darted towards Transfiguration class while quickly attempting to tie her hair up in a ponytail with a long pink ribbon. Concentration was much easier without a big mane, Zia had come to find. Transfiguration was one of her favorite classes, too, not that it was particularly difficult to become one of her favorites. She was the type of person to get excited in response to just about anything.

She took a seat towards the front of the classroom where she could closely pay attention, and greeted the professor. There was a bunch of -- was that yarn? Zia's aunt was a big fan of crocheting scarves and blankets, so Zia wondered if that's what they were going to have to do that with magic somehow. What else could you really do with yarn? Zia's interest was peaked. The other students began shuffling in, and once the class was full, Professor Hughes began to talk.

“Each of these balls of yarn were once something else.  Next to each of them is another object—that object is a clue that hints towards what your ball of yarn used to be. Your task? To change the yarn back to it’s original form.” He picked up a ball of yarn off his desk—“Verto Authenticus!”  His yarn shifted into the form of… A rather fluffy little bunny. “I expect you, since you are all NEWT students—to perform the spells nonverbally by the end of class.”

When the yarn turned into a bunny, Zia's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. It was just so fluffy. She'd never held a bunny before, but suddenly it was the only thing she wanted to do. She turned to the person next to her and smiled. "Partners?"

Figaro was late.  He used to be late more often, but now that he was older and presumably more responsible, it happened less and less.  Detentions tended to stack up and accomplish their intended purpose.  But despite what might be an improvement, he walked in late today.  Hughes didn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of young wizards, so he didn't seem to be bothered.

"Howler business," he explained to the professor without shame or further explanation, and then sat on Zia Piselli's desk.  He smiled at her. 

"How you doing," he said.  Fig picked up the ball of yarn on her desk and rolled it around in his palm.  "Nice shirt."  Some blue leopard print was peaking out from under her uniform.  Rulebreaker. 

Asher had been sitting near the back of the class and was taking notes of what the professor said and then sat his quill down on the desk and watched as the professor's ball of yarn turned into a bunny.  He'd have to think about this, he may have a good grasp on spells by now, but he was no where near ready to try them non-verbally.

His magic may have been strong, but there was sort of a block when it came to him trying to do anything without speaking.  He hadn't been able to do it yet, but maybe, just maybe, this would be the class where that would start working for him and he would be able to stop feeling so self-conscious in front of his peers.

Transfiguration was a great class. Though it wasn’t always great when you kept having teachers switching around. But their new teacher was previously an auror, and presumably knew a fair amount about transfiguration.  It was pretty nice having Mr. Hughes as the new professor, because he let them do a lot of wandwork.  Mysti definitely preferred to try things instead of just reading or writing about them. How else could students be expected to learn if they can’t actually try what they were studying?

Today’s lesson was a pretty exciting one. Granted, Mysti tended to find most transfiguration lessons exciting. She’d read the chapters of untransfiguring things after they’d been transfigured, so it would be fun to actually try. When Mr. Hughes turned the ball of yarn back into a bunny, Mysti’s face lit up with surprise. These were going to be some interesting items they’d have to untransfigure!

At her table, she examined the ball of yarn and the item that was next to it. It looked like a seed. She was a little relieved that it hopefully wouldn’t be an animal. Plant might be a bit easier. But she was excited nonetheless.

“Mind if I try first?” She asked her classmate next to her. “I think I might be able to do this! Well, verbally first, then hopefully nonverbally.”

She didn’t give the other student much time to reply before she had her wand in her hand.  There was enough time in the class to try both ways.  And it was usually easier to do a spell nonverbally after she’d done it verbally. With the thought in mind that it was some sort of plant, she tried envisioning the ball turning into a plant.

Wand at the ready, she focused on the ball of yarn and recited the incantation “Verto Authenticus!”

Slowly, the ball of yarn started shifting. It got taller and was turning green. It started sprouting yellow buds and Mysti realized they were daffodils! They were very pretty… but then they also became noisy. They started honking somewhat loudly. Honking daffodils. She’d remembered hearing about them in herbology but hadn’t actually encountered them.  But the loud honking was gathering attention from the other students and she laughed a little nervously, unsure if she should turn them back into the ball of yarn or let Mr. Hughes do that.

As Figaro entered late, Bertie frowned. What was it with the Sellaphix brothers and tardiness? “Five points from Hufflepuff.” He said almost apologetically. He approached Zia and Figaro and leaned down, speaking in a low voice as to prevent others from overhearing. Adelebert wanted to spare him as much embarrassment as possible. “I’d  like to speak to you after class.” He stood up straight and watched as students attempted to untransfigure their balls of yarn. Some seemed hesitant, while some faced their task with absolute confidence.

Suddenly, a loud honking noise came from one of the desks.  Bertie let out a loud guffaw and flicked his wand at the honking daffodils, transfiguring them back into a ball of yarn—this yarn much fluffier than before. “Five points to Hufflepuff." She had already earned back the house points that Figaro lost.  "Now, Ms. Ketteridge, I would like you to try the spell nonverbally.”

Asher looked down at his ball of yarn, it was a rather unremarkable color, kind of like a puce.  His upper lip curled a bit at the sight of such a color, but then he looked next to it for the clue of what his yarn originally was.  What he saw confused him, it was a bean.   He had no clue as to what that would mean, but he hoped it wasn't too large, or too loud like the honking daffodils.

He straightened up and pointed his wand at the ball of yarn and after thinking for a moment, said the spell, "Verto Authenticus." He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened.  Not one to get discouraged on the first try, he tried again, "Verto Authenticus."  This time he was rewarded by the ball of yarn beginning to move.

The round shape of the ball was lengthening and developing corners, the ugly puce color turning a bright red, and some gold embellishments began to appear as well.  When the ball of yarn stopped moving Asher realized that it was a box of something, but the wording on the box was of a language that Asher didn't know, but it looked foreign.  Looking around to see if anyone was watching him, he carefully opened the lid in case something jumped out at him, but nothing did and he opened it the rest of the way. 

It was a box of chocolate, expensive ones it looked like, but then again, what did Asher know about chocolate.  He used his wand tip to push the box as far away as he could possibly push it without knocking it off of his desk.  Typical, he would get the ball of yarn that used to be a box of something he had a minor allergy to.  Now, to avoid the temptation of tasting some of the sweet smelling chocolate. 

Before the student sitting next to her could even respond to her partner request, a tornado of noise and attention rumbled through the room and sat on her desk. It was hard not to notice Figaro Sellaphix, who was constantly vying for attention from professors. Or, at least that was the way it seemed - he was always getting into trouble, or being told to be quiet, or whatever. That was certainly something that Zia could understand; at home, her family was constantly telling her to quiet down. It seemed like everything she did garnered criticism sometimes, because a dozen siblings had been 16 already.

"How you doing," he said. "Nice shirt."

Zia looked down at her clothes. Her robes were open, and underneath she was wearing a bright blue, leopard-printed shirt. Perhaps everyone knew that Zia liked to wear bright colors simply because she had bright pink hair, so she hoped the stricter professors would be more lenient about her uniform. The grey sweaters just didn't do it for her.

"Thanks," Zia responded brightly, turning her attention back to the ball of yarn on the table, which was a lovely shade of purple. She wondered giddily what cute animal this yarn would turn into, and hoped Fig would give her a chance to try it first. She was about to ask him when Professor Hughes wandered over to their table and took points from Hufflepuff and demanded that Figaro stay after class. Zia blushed and awkwardly looked away. She didn't want him to feel embarrassed that she had heard him get in trouble, but he had been late. And also, maybe he wasn't supposed to be sitting on a desk. Luckily, the professor's attention was quickly diverted by another student -- who, Zia heard, gained back the points that Figaro had lost.

Feeling better, she looked over at Figaro, her face cheerful and friendly. "Can I try this first?" Zia asked. Transfiguration was one of her best classes.

Figaro restrained a cheeky response to Professor Hughes's gentle admonishment, and slid off Zia's desk into a chair adjacent.  Instead he just rolled his eyes.  He had a vague idea what this might be about.  He had yet to return Professor Hughes's head. He'd been avoiding the reason as to why he hadn't returned it by citing he needed it for more studying.  (Yea, that's likely.) But seemed like the issue had come finally to a head.

"Go for it," Fig said, turning his attention towards their task.  It felt like a puzzle really - figure out what the yarn was and then return it back.  Fig found that an active imagination was more useful than an analytical mind and the previous coursework in this area had suited him actually.

"Hughes and his yarn," he had to grin.  His little brother Frank had talked his ear off about a first year class that involved yarn.  Hughes was a knitter apparently?  He'd seen the cozies.

Next to Figaros thick course bundle of yarn was a tarnished silver spoon.  It was small and had a cute little decorative end in the shape of a round-bodied owl.  He picked it up and held it at eye level, squinting his eyes and willing it to bend.

"What do you think?" he asked Zia.  "What's your clue?"

Bertie walked up to Asher and peered over the student’s shoulder. He clapped his hands enthusiastically and pulled out hiswand, pointing it at the box of chocolates. “Good job, Mr. Chance. Five points to Slytherin.” With a flick of his wand, the box of chocolates morphed into a rather hideous, green teapot. “Now, try it nonverbally.”

He let out a sigh, staring at the transfigured object with longing. “It’s almost a shame.  That is a lovely teapot.”

Nicholas managed to not blurt out a congratulations to Fig as he  lost points for his house, and had the Professor whisper in his ear  within moments of walking into the room.   But given that with the general easing of written work Transfiguration, already a favorite area of magic, had quickly become his favorite class.  And today's lesson was another example of why, with the class revolving around actually using magic instead of talking about it, or worse reading about it.

He looked at the ball of yarn sitting in front of him, and the clue next to it.  A whistle.  Which could mean his ball of yarn was originally any number of things, though what exactly Nicholas wasn't sure.  Some kind of sport related object.  Something that whistled.  Maybe it was that annoying first year who was always whistling.  Though somehow he doubted the last one.

He looked at his partner before pointing his wand at the yarn and attempting the spell non-verbally to start.  Because, why not, he thought, he'd done non-verbal magic before, and at least with a couple spells had been doing them non-verbally for a long time.  The yarn seemed to vibrate but nothing happened.  Staring harder and repeating the incantation in his head, nothing happened again at all the second time. 

He took a moment to let the oxygen get to his brain again and then with another impassioned thought of Verto Authenticus, his ball of yarn shook before turning into a kettle, made of steel colored yarn.  Which with a sigh, Nicholas figured was not the exact original form of the object.

Bertie made his rounds about the classroom, offering advice, encouragement, and checking on the general progress of the individual students.

Performing spells nonverbally was no easy task, especially if it was your first time . Although Bevans didn’t untransfigure it perfectly, he was halfway there. Plus, it was easier when he knew exactly what the original form was. “Good try,  Nicholas.” Bertie nodded approvingly. He picked up the warped kettle and tapped it with his wand. It shifted into a stuffed alpaca plush.

“Focus, and try again.” He said, putting the stuffed alpaca down on Bevans' desk.

As the professor chanced the box of chocolates into a very weird teapot and then made a comment about it being a shame, Asher shuddered, that color of green should never be used in any decorating.... ever.   Nevertheless, he pulled the teapot in front of him and concentrated on changing the teapot's shape without saying a word.  Fiv3e minutes later all he had was a headache from holding his breath.  He'd never been good at the nonverbal spells, at least not yet, he obviously needed more practice.

Though Charms was her best subject, Transfiguration wasn't too far behind in terms of Zia's skills. She thought this lesson was very cool, and as Figaro admired his tiny little spoon. Zia hadn't looked at her own clue yet, so she picked it up. A small little bunny figurine. Did Professor Hughes have this just lying around? It was a little odd. He also seemed to have a lot of yarn- well, Zia didn't mind that, she actually enjoyed crocheting her own scarves. They made good gifts for friends and family and since she didn't like to stay still, it was always good to have something she could do with her hands.

Zia refocused her attention back to the purple ball of yarn before her, which obviously must have come from a bunny. She looked over at Figaro, now noticing that his spoon had an owl on it. Did Hughes have that lying around too? Where on earth could you get such a cute spoon?! Zia's eyes lit up and her lips curled. "I have this," She held up her small rabbit. It seemed to be made of porcelain but was a little lighter and softer... it was almost furry. She placed it back on the table and pursed her lips, closing her eyes to focus on the spell. Whenever she did a spell for the first time, it always helped her to close her eyes for a moment and picture the result she wanted- particularly in Transfiguration.

With a wave of her wand and a confident verbal spell, a small 'poof' occurred and Zia opened her eyes. Immediately she let out a high-pitched squeal and grabbed for the live bunny before her, which was a lovely shade of lavender. She snuggled it close to her and scratched behind its ears. Zia looked over at Figaro. "Do you think Professor Hughes will let me keep him?!" Her face clearly expressed the fact that she was ecstatic.

Aw, wicked! Zia was good! She both figured out her clue and untransfigured it into a living thing without grusome results.  He hoped Hughes hadn't given him an animal - he really didn't want to be put in the position to curse a hamster to life with a bundle of yarn for a tail.

"Nice," he marveled and reached to pet the little rabbit now wiggling its little nose in Zia's arms.

"You've got to name her Dominik Weidman," he suggested after his favorite Quidditch player.  It was a serious suggestion.

But back to his own yarn and spoon.  It didn't look like spoon for cereal or soup.  Looked more like a chinzy souvenier or something in his nan's cupboard.  "Maybe a cuppa tea..." he wondered.

A good a guess as any!  He made ready to cast the spell focusing on Hughes's instructions.  Soon the ball of yarn appeared to be melting together becoming smooth.  A loop of yarn began loosening from the bundle and hardening into a handle...!  He could see the shape coming together - white porceline with an owl motif, but the top wasn't changing right and half a side stayed yarn-y.  The transformation slowed and then re-fuzzed back to normal.

"Piss.  That was close, right?"  What was almost a teacup?