OOC: Feel free to disrupt the class, have an accident and the like. Also feel free to have your character ask a question or comment, but they may be penalised if they don't raise their hand.

May 4th, 2009. 10:00 AM

Gryffindor		Hufflepuff		Ravenclaw		Slytherin
Erik Collins Mairead ó Fearghail Tynan MacFusty Adley Rothwell		Heliotrope LeJean Dahlia Collins Pax Wintergreen Peter Marcolf		Eirene Antonopoulos Cyhirae Trishna Philo Falkin Ashley Henry		Aglaia Knight Noriko Wakahisa Euphemia Grissom-Dolohoh

The first year students will arrive soon, so my entry must be brief. It is my first day today and I think everything it going well. A few students were surprised by my small size but most were fine with it, especially the Hufflepuffs of course. The tea is done now, so i'm going to go and make a mug of it before my next students arrived Didymus put his quill down and with his small hands closed the leather bound diary. Like most things he owned the diary was shockingly coloured. Right then it appeared to be bright blue, however the Professor had enchanted it to change colour each hour and to turn red if someone else read it without his permission.

He proceeded to pour himself a cup of tea, adding milk and three sugars. Before he sat back at his desk and waited the first years. He wondered how the lesson would go. He wanted his first lesson with the youngest students to be rather light hearted, but his main aim today was to gain some understanding of where each student was in his subject.

News of the Professors arrival had spread through the castle, after all the 4'2'' colourfully dressed wizard was rather noticeable. Today he was wearing wizard robes, very bright red wizard robes, and a pointed hat that was Hufflepuff yellow. As he took a sip of his tea his students began to file into the class room. They would notice that everything was more or less the same in the class room, as Didymus had not had time to stamp his personal taste on the room- yet!

"Welcome, welcome students. Please come in, come in." Didymus had a large and welcoming smile on his face, though only his head was visible above the desk. He climbed onto the chair behind his desk and stood on it so the students could see him. "I am your new Transfiguration Professor, and I intend to be here for many years to come. Hopefully we will all become good friends, but first thing first, each of you will find information about rules and the like on your desk." He took another sip before he continued. "Know before we start I will answer any questions, well within reason, that you have,"[/color]  He burst out laughing for no apparent reason. "My name is Professor Didymus Tawse; if any of you were wondering."

"First however I have a question for you all. Did your former Transfiguration Professors have any sort of seating plan? If so disregard this, from now on you may sit where ever you wish each lesson."

Transfiguration Class Rules and Regulations

• Be courteous and kind to everyone
• Transfiguration is DANGEROUS. Please be careful and listen to any and all warnings
• If you have questions don't be afraid to ask
• You will need to bring a quill, wand, any assigned home work and a Beginners Guide to Transfiguration, if you don't have the book today I have spare copies.
• +5 House Points will be awarded for attending

Dahlia entered the classroom with a skeptical look upon her face. She had been rather fond of Professor Ramsey and wasn't quite sure how she felt about having someone else take the position. Though Dahlia knew she'd do just fine in the class regardless of the Professor she didn't feel that this dramatic of a change was healthy for the students so close to exam time. However her skepticism turned to a soft smile when she saw the small head poke out from behind the desk. She was a small girl for her age, had always been a small girl but even at 4'10" Dahlia was almost head and shoulders taller than the new Professor.

She sat down at her desk and took out her usual accouterments, her quill, ink bottle, roll of parchment and textbook. Dahlia had always been what Professor's liked to call a model student. She never had to be asked to do what was expecting of her, she always handed her work in on time and despite her after school activities she got into with her brother was not a disruptive presence within the classroom. She could only hope the new Professor had not met her older sister yet and she'd be able to make a fresh impression for the Collins family (though Erik was likely to squash that the moment he walked into the classroom)

Eirene sat in the front row as usual, her hands clasped on her desk, giving the new professor her full attention. He looked very nice; smiled easily, though a part of her wanted to giggle at the sight of his head peeking up over the desk. Eirene restrained herself. She decided it was some kind of trick, and that at the end of the lesson, the professor would ask them to cast a spell that would make him tall again.

The man wore colorful, but contrasting clothes. Eirene saw the cup of tea, and made a mental note to include tea in the welcome basket she'd give him later.

She needed to make a good impression since this professor was coming in so late in the year, and because she still had an 'E' in the class instead of an 'O'. Eirene nervously glanced down at the list of rules, both thrilled and worried that they had new rules to learn. Luckily, the rules seemed basic and easy to follow.

It only took her a moment to throw her hand in the air.

"Professor Tawse?" She smiled brightly. "Hello! I'm Eirene Antonopoulos. Ravenclaw. I was wondering, will our exams be affected in June? Will we only be tested on new spells that you teach, or everything we've learned during the year?"

Eirene poised her quill over a fresh sheet of parchment, ready to jot down his answer.

Pax had been just about to start unpacking his things at his usual desk in the second row, when the new Transfiguration teacher informed them they could disregard the seating plan. He grinned a little, and swiftly moved his backpack one row forward, to a desk next to Eirene's. He was sometimes a little uncertain about sitting at the front of a class when he didn't yet know the teacher, but Professor Tawse had to be the least intimidating person Pax had ever seen, from the bright yellow hat and red robes, to the infectious smile, to the easily welcoming and friendly manner.

As a result of the last-minute desk switch, Pax was still digging his parchment, textbook and quill out of his bag while the ever-organised Eirene was already asking her first question. Pax shot a sheepish smile in the direction of Professor Tawse as if to apologise for not being better prepared, and proceeded to set up his things as quickly and quietly as he could-- which wasn't terribly quickly or quietly, in fact-- so he could be ready to take down notes like Dahlia and Eirene. He'd barely had the chance to check the class rules on his desk, but he'd get to that soon enough.

Another new professor. This one was amazingly short, however, and so instead of the usual resigned groan he got a nervously teasing smirk. Tynan had thought Hallet was tiny, but Tawse took the cake. Tynan's own towering 5'6 meant he was extremely tall compared to the professor.

No seating arrangement suited him just fine, but the sarcastic bit of him felt the teacher would soon come to realize exactly why they'd had one in the first place. He sat down by Mairead, Erik and Keegan, bag thudding on the floor and his plain birch wand tapping on his desktop. At least this man seemed less of a tight-arse than Hallet.

Eirene's question earned her his usual 'Eirene' look. "O' course not, ye bint," he said, from where he sat a few desks away. "The 'exam'd be three spells long if 'e did that." His heavy Scottish brogue rolled with sarcasm. "On second thought, that's a guid idea. Maybe'd ye'd pass it then."

They could sit wherever they wanted!  It didn't matter that they had this same arrangement in some of their other classes; this newfound burst of freedom left Noriko sprinting for the front of the room, where she claimed the desk on the other side of Pax.  She was grinning from ear to ear; she didn't even have the heart to be suspicious of this new professor, who was very possibly a monster in disguise who had already digested their last one (although considering how small he was, Noriko considered that to be unlikely).

As she slung her bag onto her desk and shot Pax and Eirene a shy grin, the new professor's name finally registered.  Tawse!  Like Xavier Tawse!  The not-quite-seventh-year-but-still-extremely-smart older Slytherin whom Noriko had been secretly hoping to impress ever since he'd let her help with his egg project.  Suddenly, the urge to sit up a little straighter and fold her hands in front of her seemed much more imperative.  Maybe this was Xavier's cousin?  Or his little brother?

Tynan Macfusty's mean comment about Eirene was loud enough to carry through the entire room.  Noriko, hoping to impress now that she was under the eye of a Tawse, shot him a look over her shoulder that was much more reminiscent of her Ravenclaw friend.

"Shh!" she told him loudly, before slanting the girl two desks down a loyal look.  "That's not nice.  Of course Eirene will pass."

Erik had been sitting as his desk in a state of boredom with an elbow parked on his desk, and a fist digging into his cheek, he could only imagine how 'fun' switching teachers and teaching styles could be, it got really repetitive and tiresome at times. Although, he did find amusement in how short their new professor was, he could sit there and ponder the multitude of reasons he'd be so short.

Then he could only run his mouth at the tensing conversation breaking out in the room, "We can only hope," Erik finally interjected with a creeping smile towards Wakawaka, "or we might all face a worse fear than an inflated rear."

The boy really couldn't help himself sometimes.

OOC: If any other students wish to participate you can post as if you have been here the entire time or RP your student as arriving late.

Didymus examined the students as they entered. He found it strange seeing people that looked much younger than him and yet even the smallest of them were quite a bit taller. He expected a few giggles and he wouldn't of cared if their was. However he was rather surprised. He first noticed the Hufflepuff students, his own house afterall, and he was happily impressed by the way she organized her equipment quickly and efficiently.

It was quite the contrast to the Hufflepuff boy who had switched seats when he had heard that Didymus didn't have a seating plan. He smiled in his direction in an attempt to reassure the young boy that he didn't mind the extra seconds it took him to get his things ready. His eyes were then drawn to a young Gryffindor who seemed to have lost one of his eyes. Didymus felt sorry for the boy but made no comment of it; for obvious reasons. He then noticed the Slytherin girl, her face beaming, which only made him smile again.

"Hello! I'm Eirene Antonopoulos. Ravenclaw. I was wondering, will our exams be affected in June? Will we only be tested on new spells that you teach, or everything we've learned during the year?"

The Professor's attention was drawn to the young girl at the front. He noted that she seemed very attentive and was ready to take notes within seconds of arriving. An eager student I see, like the Hufflepuff girl he thought silently. He was about to answer her question when the Gryffindor boy spoke first. His comment was both rude and disrespectful and Didymus' wide and bright smile evaporated immediately.

"Excuse me! I understand that my rules are new; however I doubt any Professor accepts such language in their class rooms. I would rather you had set fire to my hat than insulted a fellow student. I have no choice but to take 3 points from Gryffindor and ask you to appologise."

He shook his head. Not at the boy, but at himself. He didn't like taking points from people and there were not many things that would make him do so. However he believed no student should be insulted. He turned to the rest of the class and addressed them all.

"You will find me to be a rather happy and easy going man. Not many things will cause me to punish you. But what is done is done and I don't hold grudges. And to answer your question Miss Antonopoulos your examinations in June will be based on everything you have learned this past year. Now on with the class"

His smile returned as he continued. "Your former teacher gave me a report on each of you before she left so I have a rough idea where you are all at. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is at the end of the lesson I will assign home work that will give me a better idea of each of your abilities in this subject. The good news is this lesson should be quite fun...and tasty."

With that he raised his wand and conjured a box of Bertie Bots Every Flavour Beans infront of each student and two in his hand.

"Today I shall teach you a simple spell to transform one type of food into another, before you practice I will demonstrate. Today we shall turn one of these delightful sweets into another flavour." He held up both of the beans to show the class. "Now I shall eat one of them and attempt to turn the other into the same flavour. If done correctly the remanning bean will take on the properties of the bean I will eat."

In the Professor's small hands were two beans. One was red and the other was green. After a second or two of deliberation he ate the green sweet. His face twisted and bent as the flavour touched his tongue after he had swallowed he spoke. "Coffee, I hate Coffee." He then place the small bean on the table infront of him and pointed his wand at the bean.

"If done correctly your wand should end up in the place it started, if not the spell won't work at all. First I will demonstrate the wand movements. Up diagonally, Down diagonally and then back along to the starting point. Now with the incantation." He repeated then movement while clearly saying "Inflecto Gusto." Once he had finished the red sweet transformed to green.

"Now. Open your boxes and choose two sweets. I want you to practice the wand movements first, at least five times, when you think you have that correct try it with the incantation. But take your time. No need to rush."

Face a fear...worse than...inflated...

Noriko's eyes widened.  Suddenly, impressing their new professor who may-or-may-not-have-been related to her favorite older Slytherin or even getting to sit next to Eirene and Pax in class seemed a shadow of its former importance.  Erik had mentioned...he'd brought up her...her...

There was only one incident that had shamed the first year girl into utter, automatic humiliation.  She hadn't talked to Eirene for a month afterwards, and not even her constant fumblings in class were anywhere near to as humiliating as The Bum Inflation had been.  Even thinking about it made her lower lip start to wobble.  Having it flung unexpectedly in her face was a surefire trigger for waterworks.

She sat there quietly while the professor began to talk, trying to hold it in.  Seeing the board was impossible with the pools of water forming in her eyes, and she couldn't concentrate on anything that Professor Tawse was saying.  Her bum!  Her face was burning bright red, and in her shame, Noriko didn't dare look at Pax or Eirene.

Finally, the introduction was done and they were told to pull out two sweets.  The expectation of personal initiative was too much after holding in her emotions for so long.   Without any warning, Noriko let out a muffled sob, and then burst into very loud tears.

Tynan just nodded curtly to the Professor's scolding. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before. However, if the man expected him to apologize to Eirene, he was bloody mental. Tawse, clearly, had a lot to learn about his class of students.

Still, the Professor's speech and handing out of candy seemed to have everything simmer down. He inspected one of the beans thoughtfully. If this spell worked on food, he wondered if he could use it to fix Bertie Bott's packs of beans. They were mostly good, but the bizarre flavors made them downright dangerous for anyone wanting to enjoy them...

A pause in the Professor's speech was punctuated by Noriko finally bursting into tears, her cries loud in the momentary silence. Tynan stared at her, then to the professor, and then finally his gaze turned to Erik, where he grunted as he realized the source of Noriko's tears. Then, with an apparently casual stance on the whole thing, he swung his arm back and punched Erik hard on the nose.

Eirene was one thing. Noriko was another. Eirene deserved the teasing she got, and her reactions made it worth it and funny. Wakahisa, however, really hadn't done much.

"Don't make girls cry," he said, stoically. 

Turning beans into a different flavor, sounded so exciting... So from the verbal reprimand to assignment, to the sudden punch to the nose, Erik fell back in his seat and looked at Tynan liked he hit his head up against the bloody Hogwarts Express.

"What?" without warning he sent a punch back at Tynan's jaw, "Eirene's the one who can't cast a cushioning charm, hell Tynan you're just mental sometimes." Erik was small, but he wasn't someone to turn down a fight and would brawl with the best of them, even his friends. He caught his hand under his nose as it started to bleed and ache a bit. Erik then looked at Wakahisa sobbing as he realized what she might be crying over, noticing that his insult of Eirene's skills had upset the Slytherin for whatever reason, "Merlin, you're fine, if it bothers you so much just go on and inflate her bum or something," Erik waved a bloody finger at Eirene as if it were that easy of a solution to solve.

Didymus put his wand back in his pocket, and forgot about his lesson for a second, as he stepped off the large table and headed toward the crying Slytherin. For the first time since he was shrunk he saw an advantage in being short; he didn't have to kneel down to talk to those younger than him. Standing beside the young Slytherin he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok Dear?" Really Didymus? She is bawling her eyes out and you ask her if she is ok "Off course your not," he added before she could answer, "what is wrong? Do you want to go to the Girls Rest Room; take as long as you like."

As he was attempting to comfort the young girl he heard the one eyed Gryffindor, he also realised he should get their names, say something. It was not until he turned around that he saw another younger boy was bleeding from the nose. Then he saw the injured Gryffindor punch his attacker in the jaw. "Stop that at ONCE!" He yelled, his voice considerably louder than one would expect. He pulled his wand out, ready to stop either boy from hitting the other again. "Twenty points from Gryffindor, ten for each of you. Both of you will spend Saturday in my first detention."

He pointed his wand at Erik "Tergeo," The spell would take away the blood. "Are either of you hurt? If so you shall need to visit the hospital wing."

Eirene sat very still in the front seat, gaze down, shoulders stiff, and a miserable, pinched look on her face. She hated so many people in their class right now! Erik and Tynan most of all, for their unnecessary insults, mentioning the cushioning charm in front of the new professor, doubting her ability to pass the class, and making Noriko cry. She was even angry at Noriko, despite her friend standing up for her earlier. All the Slytherin had to do was burst into tears, and she got positive attention, both from the professor and Tynan!

It wasn't fair! She did all the things girls were supposed to do. She wore nice clothes, said please and thank you (most of the time), and refrained from hitting her peers. But Tynan and the Gryffindors just didn't care!

In the middle of the fighting and chaos, Eirene opened up her box of Bertie Botts and plucked out two beans. She ate one - a toffee flavor, and swallowed it past the lump in her throat. Then she started practicing the wand movements, but was too upset to remember them properly. Was it down diagonally and up diagonally? Inflector Gusto?

After a few seconds, she slapped her wand on her desk and let out a loud sniffle.   

Not even the twenty points from Gryffindor improved her mood!

Effie walked into class with a bit of a grim look on her face, she was not pleased with yet another replacement. Would there ever be a sense of normalcy to their education? With this constant change of professors she wasn’t so sure about it. She took her new seat and shuffled around her belongs while she got ready. She heard Eirene ask her first question, and normally she would roll her eyes but this question was a legitimate one and one she was pleased was asked. As her eyes turned to the professor she almost laughed at his small stature, was he half dwarf? Were there dwarves? Effie was rather curious but she was more interested in his answer to the question.

All worry about the question vanished as Tyann spoke. She narrowed her eyes into a glare in his direction. “Don’t speak of Eirene like that.” Nobody could insult Eirene but her, or that was what she liked to think. Eirene didn’t deserve such things said about her from the likes of MacFusty and his disgusting face. She had to admit she was a bit satisfied and amused when he got some points deducted, at this rate she sort of like this new Professor Tawse.

She then tried to let the entire thought of how annoying MacFusty was leave her mind and focus on the Professor. She was concerned about her end of year exams and was anticipating the end of the year. She wanted to do a good job, but then didn’t every student? But a smile tugged at her lips as Collins brought up the inflated rear episode from classes before, and it did make her amused. Effie could not even focus on the professor properly because she could sense Noriko was going to rise to the occasion emotions and all.

Effie’s eyes went wide as punches were thrown and blood arrived on the scene. “Are we savages?” She muttered to herself. Why was it that they could not have a normal class, ever.

She rolled her eyes and went for the box to pull out two beans. She looked at them with distaste, never particularly fond of these sweets. She peeked over at her friend Eirene wondering if she was okay. It was not Effie’s style to ask but her eyes were on her rather than focusing on the wand movements she was trying. She had not really been paying any attention earlier and she hoped the Professor demonstrated again. If she had actually liked her sweets she probably would have sat just eating them.

Pax looked from Noriko on his one side and Eirene on his other and felt rather close to tears himself. Five minutes into their first class with the new teacher, and already it had all gone south. Pax tried to like everyone, really he did. Tynan had guts and Erik was a laugh. But they way they treated some of the other students sometimes, especially Eirene... And Eirene was basically the best friend he had. What good was he if he didn't stand up for her, or Noriko? Maybe it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the way the others acted-- probably nothing Pax said could stop Tynan or Mairead or Keegan from calling people like Eirene names. But that didn't mean they had to just sit there and take it.

After clenching and unclenching his fists for a few moments while Professor Tawse went to break up the fight between Tynan and Erik, Pax stood up a bit to suddenly, sending his chair scooting back with a screech, and rounded on Tynan. Erik had made Noriko cry, but it was Tynan's hypocrisy that really got to Pax. 'Really Tynan?' he said heatedly. 'So it's okay to call Eirene names just because she doesn't cry? What's wrong with you? You shouldn't be mean to anyone! So just leave them alone, both of them, okay?!' He turned his glare to Erik at that.

He stopped there, uncomfortably aware that he was shaking and that his voice had grown louder than he'd intended. 'S-sorry Professor. Sorry to interrupt.' He was grateful for the Professor stepping in, taking points and discouraging the bad behaviour, but he still felt like he needed to say it himself. Eirene and Noriko were his friends. He turned back to the two of them, glancing between them, unsure of who to comfort first.