(Strikethrough denotes inactive characters - this notation makes it easier for me)

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Morrigan watched as the students filed in one by one.  Over the course of the past month she had gotten to know the first year students a bit, and many were starting to come along nicely after a month of class.  In many ways she preferred the first years.  They often surprised her the most and were the easiest to influence.  Watching the wonder as many of them discovered their talents for the first time was always rewarding in her mind.

On each desk sat a feather that would be used for the day’s lesson.  The plain white feathers were hopefully soon be colorful variations of flowers, if the students succeeded in what she was about to ask them to do.  If not she would be using her arsenal of cleaning charms to pick up the mess that would surely be left behind.  She was seriously wishing for the former.

“Good morning class,” she said, standing and moving around the desk.  “Today we will be continuing with the Transfiguration of intimate objects.  On your desks you will find a feather.  In the next hour I would like you to work on turning it into a flower.

“This will be a bit more challenging the some of the other assignments we have attempted in class.  Unlike the first assignment of turning a match into a needle, a flower does not share as many properties with a feather.  Please observe.”  Wand in hand, perfect flower in mind, she gave a flick and the feather became a perfect red rose. 

“Extra points will be given for color and the complexity of the flower,” she stated.  “I do not expect too many variations today.  You will work independently, and I expect if assistance is needed hands will be raised.  You will have until the end of class.”

Directions:  Please post your roleplay of coming into class by January 8, 2010.  You may post more then once based on what is going on around you, but your first post should include entering the classroom, whether it be on time or not. If you’d like me to help you please PM me and let me know as I will be out of town for a few days.

It was a good thing that Transfiguration was one of the more active and involved classes.  One would have to be a raving nutter if they expected Mairead to be able to sit though more than an hour of some old lady wagging their tongue incessantly at them.  What, exactly, did Professor Lumper-kins, or whatever her name was, expect of them?  Miracles?  Eirene really seemed to be the only first year capable of showing any interest in the old woman's lectures and she was hardly a decent representative of the class.  Mairead wasn't convinced the Ravenclaw wasn't possessed by something that made her so ... abnormal. 

In fact, Mairead was convinced she'd seen a shadow of the thing possessing Eirene when the girl had shot a crude glance and exaggerated shhhh in Mairead's direction.  Whatever had taken residence in Eirene sure was ugly.  And it wasn't like it was Mairead's fault - she'd only been humming because the lecture had been so dull.  Actually - Mairead wasn't even sure it had been Eirene that had shhshed her.  She'd just assumed.

Most days, Mairead was well on her way to enjoying the entertainment of dreams by the time they were released from the shackles of History of Magic class.  At least, unless Professor Ramsey had a lecture planned for them, at least she could count on Transfiguration being interesting enough to hold her attention.  Hoping (and, to some extent, expecting) a higher degree of entertainment in this period than the previous, Mairead slipped into the classroom and plopped into her usual seat. 

Feathers into flowers?  It even sounded difficult.  "Do ye think we need to know what kind of flower we want it to be?" Mairead asked the person sitting next to her.  "I mean, like some curly rose would be harder than some puny little daisy."  Mairead took a feather and settled herself in her seat, tugging out her wand.

Pax had scurried into the classroom in a rather flustered manner, mercifully a whole few seconds before class officially started. The young Hufflepuff wasn't having the best of days. He'd overslept this morning, so much so that even forgoing breakfast, he was still struggling to make it to class on time. He continued to feel harried and out of sync even now. Having collapsed into his assigned seat and dropping his bag so heavily that the text books slid out of it slightly, he spent much of Professor Ramsay's preamble about the day's lesson nervously tidying his supplies back into his backpack.

Transfiguration was one of the most difficult subjects for Pax, along with Herbology and Charms. They tended to require, or so it felt to Pax, some innate talent for magic that he apparently did not possess. He put in maybe twice as much work as some of the other pupils, for maybe half the result. Or so it felt to Pax. He tried not to let himself be disheartened, and tried to put in some practice outside of class, for all the good it did. At least it had got past the stage where he hadn't managed to transfigure anything by the end of class, most of the time, anyway.

Fishing his wand out of his bag, Pax attempted to put his rusty mind in gear, considering the best angle of coming at this flower problem. Never mind extra points for colour and complexity, Pax needed the simplest approach to just make this work. Two desks over from him, he heard Mairead voice a thought not far from his own mind. He had noted Professor Ramsay has instructed them to work independently, but a little conferring never hurt. Besides, with any luck she wouldn't hear him over the rustle of wands and feathers if he kept his voice down.

'I think picturing what you want it to look like is s'posed to help,' he muttered, leaning towards Mairead under the guise of rummaging for something in his bag. 'I think something like a daisy's a good idea, I haven't got a chance at a rose like the Professor did.' Pax was already turning his mind to what kinds of flowers were white like the feather so he wouldn't have to worry too much about the colour, roughly the same size, and simple in design. It didn't have to be a beautiful, unique or interesting flower. It just had to be a flower. He held up the feather, took a deep breath, and flicked his wand at it. As expected, the first attempt did nothing. It always did. He just had to keep trying.

It was true- Eirene did take some perverse pleasure in shushing Mairead during classes. That was why, when Mairead commented on the assignment right after the professor had asked them to raise their hand with questions, Eirene turned in her seat to give her a stern look and put her finger to her lips. Then she turned her attention back to her feather and stared at it intently.

Somehow, she had to make this turn into a flower. Her mind raced ahead, trying to figure out how to make the flower look perfect, yet exotic and detailed. She wanted it to be just as good if not better than the professor’s red rose!

A picture formed in her mind. Bluebells! She’d turn the feather into one of the bluebells she’d seen in the gardens at home, with the long petals that curved up at the ends. Eirene imagined the flower in her mind, aimed her wand at the feather, and flicked.

The feather turned a lavender color, but then, to her immense disappointment, the vane of the feather drooped and began to fall off the stem. It looked like it had been trampled over by centaurs. As bits of the blue feather floated down to the floor, Eirene covered up the disaster with one arm and raised her hand.

“Professor?” She said quietly, hoping not to draw too much attention from the other students. “Is it better to transform the feather in steps, like focus on a green stem first, or to try to change it all at once?”

Hearing murmurs from a couple students, Morrigan turned in the direction of the sound offering a stern glare before starting to move around the room.  It was unlikely anyone would get it on the first try.  This was more an exercise for building concentration then anything.  If one could learn to visualize successfully what they wanted it would only make the subjects taught over their time at Hogwarts easier.

"Focus, Mr. Wintergreen," she said somewhat gently as she passed Pax.  "The more you focus and can see what you want to happen in your mind's eye, the easier it will become."

“Professor?”

Moving towards Eirene, she looked at the remains of the feather on her desk.  Taking out her wand she quickly cast a spell to untransfigure the feather, returning it to it's original shape as the girl asked her question.  It would be best for her to try again from the beginning.

"I would attempt to transfigure it all at once," she told her.  "Take your time, really focus on what you are doing.  Don't try to aim to high on your first try, a simple flower will do.  The point is to make the transfiguration successfully and work up from there."

((Well, sorry for the double post, but the deadline was the 8th.  If you'd like to post so you don't lose house points you may up until the homework due date.))

She continued around the class helping where she could.  It was nearing the end of the hour and they would soon be moving on to the next thing.  A few managed to grasp the concept of the assignment as the class progressed.  Most of the successful transfiguration's were simple flowers, but a couple of the students had done some impressive work.

Moving back to the front of the room, she waved her wand at the board, the assignment appearing below where the title of the class had been.  The majority of the students hadn't noticed it yet as they continued to work on their flowers.  The few that did already had their quills out and were copying down the instructions.

How did you go about transfiguring the feather into a flower?  Please give specific details as what you were thinking about and what you did.  Were you successful?  What might you do differently in the future?

"I would like an essay at least three paragraphs in length answering the questions on the board," she told them.  "I am interested in your personal experience with this assignment, not with facts and the regurgitation of information with have previously gone over in class.  I will expect it to be on my desk by the next class."

Those who hadn't copied down the questions before began to now.  Her homework was to be taken seriously and they all knew that.  There was no excuse for anything to be turned in late, and she expected a stack of papers on her desk the following class.  Checking the clock it was time for them to leave, and time for her to prepare for office hours in case anyone had questions.

"Class dismissed," she said.  "If you need help or have any questions you know where to find me."

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This officially brings the class to an end.  If you would like to post you still may, however it will only be to avoid losing house points.

Homework must be turned in to the homework drop box by January 31st.  Please follow the link to turn it in.

I'd like you to roleplay your character writing the essay, include the essay itself, and then roleplay turning it in to my desk.  If you have questions please let me know.