[Transfiguration] T:II L:I

[Deputy Head Morley]

Imelda Morley sat in her recently remodeled classroom with a bright smile on her face. She had just finished hanging a red beaded curtain over the doorway and was now resting in a bean bag chair in the corner, flipping through the latest issue of Witch Weekly. There were still fifteen minutes before class started and she had to be all... professional, and she was going to take them for all their worth.

Her classroom was a bit... unusual looking. The walls were painted bright red and there were bright silk scarves hanging from the ceiling, and sure that doesn't so extreme, but none of the chairs in the classroom matched. Some were wooden with desks attached, others were silver with golden symbols etched into them, still others were antiques that looked like they might break just by touching them.Various others were scattered about the room as well, and none of them were in lines of any sort.
It wasn't conventional, but something learned very quickly in this class was nothing about Professor Imelda Morley is conventional.

She looked up at the clock, "Five minutes to go." She sighed, then stood up and walked toward her desk, which was really less of a desk, and more of a brass jungle gym with convenient compartments for pencil holders and text books, wondering what kind of class she was going to get. "Cheery folks, I hope..." she said, raising an eyebrow as she thought about the students that would, any minute, begin streaming through the door.
She smiled and sat down on the dark silver, throne-like apparatus which found itself behind her "desk". It was a very tall chair with a high back and red crystals encrusted on the arm and head rests. It also had unusual strings of wire that coiled around the legs and back of the chair, curly-cueing out to make it look rather like a metal acacia bush. Now that it was almost time for her students to arrive she could wipe a childish smile from her face. She was so looking forward to seeing how they took to Transfiguration and her teaching practices. Today was really just going to be about how far advanced the students really were, and from there she'd see just how much pressure she could put on the as far as assignments went.

[Jerred Boneman]

Jerred walked into the bizzare room and blinked several times. He shook his head as his eyes began to water and with a yawn he set about finding a desk. He looked over at the Professor as he found a desk and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

'Eccentricity seems to run in the staff here, I don't doubt that continues on with you as well?' Jerred asked. 'I'm Jerred, Slytherin House Extraordinaire.'

[Deputy Head Morley]

"M'fraid so. But if you aren't fond of eccentrics you ought to get along well with one... Professor Flagrin? From what I hear at least... That is the Muggle Studies Professor, no? I'm horrible with names," she smiled and shrugged before introducing herself, "Anyways, I'm Professor Imelda Morley, but as I think it's rather stuffy to be called "Professor" all the time, feel free to leave that part out when addressing me... unless you're one of those that just feels awkward to call a teacher by their name, but I get the idea that you're not often awkward doing anything." She snickered, "So, the Slytherin Extraordinaire, are you? Well, since I've been away from Hogwarts such a long time, how about catching me up on your exploits? Woudl be a shame not to know the goings on of my workplace, now wouldn't it?"

[Zachary Daniels]

As soon as Zachary stepped into the Transfiguration classroom, he had to suppress the urge of walking right back out again. The room looked as if it had been decorated by a swarm of Hufflepuff first years, and there wasn't a hint of class in any of the objects loitering around the floor.

Finally walking inside, he took the seat furthest to the left which was attached to an old wooden desk. There were plenty of former student's names carved into the desk, and it was obvious the Professor didn't care to magic them away.

He turned to Jerred, the only other student in the room, and shared a grimace. [/color]

[Deputy Head Morley]

She couldn't help but laugh at the two of them, so disgruntled because she wasn't some stick in the mud that might chance to hand out house points for hooliganism. "Well, I must say I'm sorry for not being what you expected in a Transfigurations Professor, but perhaps this might help make it up to you," she poked around in her desk for a moment before pulling out a large stained glass jar. She reached into it and pulled out two bags of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, then tossed one to each of the scowling students in front of her. "I'm not up to date with current trends, but these were a favorite candy of all students when I went here. Everyone was always trying to top each other with the best and worst flavors they'd eaten. I usually won the best, got a chocolate danish flavor once. I had a buddy named Gregory who had the sad fate of finding a sour milk flavor. He was in the infirmary for a week, not because it made him ill but because after eating it he couldn't put his tongue back in his mouth. It was quite an unusual affliction..." she stared up at the ceiling remembering.

[Professor Lauretta Mericcini]

"Looks like Slytherins are the only ones who care about something as important as transfiguration." Lauretta said walking into the room. Seeing that Jerred and Zachary were the only other ones there. Walking over them she smirked. "Slytherin extrodainare?" L.C questioned making fun of Jerred's statement in a teasing way.

[Deputy Head Morley]

"So it seems," she said with a thoughtful nod to the Slytherin newcomer. Three students, she'd been hoping for a better turn out, but this would have to do. She stood up and strode around to the front of her desk, "Today is going to be a theory class. Not very exciting, I know, but it helps me out so we can get on to more interesting subjects. So without further ado I ask, what is Transfiguration? And I don't want the regular old textbook answer: the transformation of one thing into another. I want to know how you yourself see Transfiguration with practical application." With such a small class she was hoping for more participation than in some of the larger groups, but you could never be quite sure.

[Professor Lauretta Mericcini]

"Transfiguration is one of the bast ways to use magic and one of the most used spells are based on transfiguration in my opinion. The charms for configuration can make your mostvaluable possession look horrid, who would wan't to steal it then? The charms are also good for disguising yourself, when in need." L.C said matter-of-factly taking a deep breath.

This is how she viewed transfiguration. It was very important to her, transfiguration was her specialty.

[Deputy Head Morley]

"Hmm..." was all she said right away. She walked behind her complicated desk and brought forth a scroll of blank parchment and a vivid purple dictation quill. As it began scribbling Immi smiled and turned back the class. She couldn't help but smirk something fierce. This slytherin girl seemed to be quite enthusiastic about Transfiguration. She smiled and nodded, "Now which 'most used spell' were you thinking of Miss... Um, I'm afraid I didn't get your name?" it was quite embarassing not to know one of your own students names, but what could you expect honestly?

[Zachary Daniels]

Zachary lounged in his chair, playing absentmindedly with his quill. Raising his hand, he looked over at Mericinni with a raised eyebrow, "I believe the best way to make Transfiguration useful is combining it with Potions." He said knowingly, sitting up in his chair and smirking slightly. "Like the Polyjuice potion."[/color]

[Deputy Head Morley]

"You must be Zach, yes? I remember your picture from the posters they've put up everywhere. Quite an honor to be chosen Slytherins Quadwaizard Champion, and indeed you do seem like the perfect candidate; particular, self-promoting, willful, a potions fanatic, not to mention that very chair you're sitting is covered in the carved names of past Slytherin trouble makers. See there, Heriberto Fulvius, better known as Herpo the Foul; Gregory Smirit the third, his great-great-great grandfather was Gregory the Smarmy; Musetta Barkwith, great niece of Musidora. She blew up the west tower using only her family's exploding charm and a bagpipe; and last but not least, Hesper Starkey. Potion analysist first-class," she smiled, "I keep it for sell value when I decide to retire. Feel free to read all the other names on it instead of paying attention to my lesson when you get bored. It'll make your test answers all the more amusing for me to read in the future."

"Now where were we..." she scratched her head. "La di da... uh-huh... oh, right. You pose a very interesting point Zach, Transfiguration combined with other forms of magic. Potions is one of the most commonly used, but others include Herbology, Arithmancy, and even Defense Against the Dark Arts. How about someone give me an example of how transfiguration can be used with one of the three other forms of magic I just mentioned?"

[Zachary Daniels]

Zachary peered down at his desk, beaming with the flattery he'd received. Indeed the names the Professor had mentioned were glinting dully, carved into the wood, and he trailed his fingers across "Herpo the Foul".

Deciding he liked the professor, if only just a little, he raised his hand once more. "Would the patronus be an example of transfiguration at all?" He said, not truly expecting them to be related, but hoping to break the silence of the bizarrely decorated room. "I suppose you're transfiguring your own happy thoughts into a form of protection." He made a face at his answer, his eyes retreating back to the desk-- which he found to be more fascinating than anything else in the classroom.[/color]

[Deputy Head Morley]

She tilted her head thoughtfully, "I had never quite thought of patronusses... patroni... um... a patronus, in quite that manner, but yes. Really your happy thoughts are turned into the power for a patronus... Think of it this way, you can hit a bludger with your hand and although it will jostle the ball a good bit, you get hurt twice as badly in the process. However, if you take a bat to a bludger you can knock someone else out instead of fainting yourself from the pain. That's kind of how patro.. the patronus spell works. Happiness is the bat that takes out whatever you're fighting."

"I tend to think of Transfiguration and the patronus in a different manner. A patronus is the embodiment of a persons soul protector. Whenever a major life change occurs, a persons soul changes slightly, and whenever something really, really major happens, often times a persons patronus changes with them," she nodded, "Very good answer though, Zach. Five points for slytherin. Any other examples of how Transfiguration ties into other stems of magic?"

[Loren Hayes]

Loren skittered through the door at the back of the room, fully aware that she was terribly late and probably in a lot of trouble. She dived down into the closest chair, breathless, her brow beaded with sweat from running all the way from her common room. She would have apologised to Professor Morley immediately, but from experience Loren's tardiness was going to have to be something she would have to get used to.

Regaining her composure, Loren looked about and was surprised to see that only three other students - by the looks of it, Slytherins - had arrived so far.

[Deputy Head Morley]

"Ahh, I wasn't expecting it to be someone from the self-proclaimed 'most studioius house' that was late for my lesson... but to be honest I find it refreshing," she said with a grin. "Early, participative Slytherins and a late, winded Ravenclaw. IT's good to see there are some people that break the confines of what people expect of them, simply based on what dormitory they're put in," she nodded, "That in and of itself is a Transfiguration."

"But back to my question, other than Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, how can Transfiguration tie into other threads of magic?"