Jan 4th, 1893 - Transfiguration Classroom, "Intro to Transformation pt. II"
With the beginning of a new term finally settling into the castle and students returning from their various exploits around the globe, Basil found himself lulled by the soothing academia that promised him little minds to fill with new learning. He, himself, had experienced quite a versatile holiday and was glad to be back in the familiar. Hogwarts was, and always would be, his respite from the dramatics of family and interpersonal relationships. (Even if, now, they seemed to blend together in some ways.)
As Basil scribbled something on the board of his classroom, awaiting the remainder of the intro class to take their seats, he felt at ease. Outside a fresh snow had fallen overnight and even though it was just after breakfast, it seemed few footprints had marred it as yet. Basil opened the window of his classroom letting in a brisk chill. He’d hate for the students to fall asleep during his lecture this early in the morning. As the remainder of the intros trickled in, he cleared his throat and began.
“Welcome back class, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Today we will be introducing the concept of color transformation. We spent the majority of the fall term learning about Gamp’s Law and what can, and cannot be changed by Transfigurative magic. As such, there are similar rules and properties that apply to spells that transform, such as the color changing spell.
On each desk you will find there is a small white button. The task for today shall be to transform the white button into either red, yellow, green or blue, depending on your house. Before we begin, can anybody tell me what the incantation for the color changing spell might be?”
RE: rainbow veins;; [intro transfiguration, 1st & 2nd years] - Lincoln Dashwood - January 11, 2023
As a general, personal rule, Lincoln did not like to draw too much attention to himself. He fiddled with his quill as his cousin spoke about color changing spells. He eyed the white button, wondering if he would manage to get his to turn blue. The window was open so he pulled his cloak a little tighter against himself since he could practically feel the chill on his bones. Even so, he timidly rose his hand to try and answer the question. "Is the incantation colovaria?" The only reason he even had any gumption do so was that he had never known or heard of Cousin Basil being cruel.
RE: rainbow veins;; [intro transfiguration, 1st & 2nd years] - Eros Mohr - January 11, 2023
It was back to school and lessons for them all. He had filed into class, sat at his desk and had indeed taken notice of the white button. Eros wasn't sure about the answer himself. He thought he knew it but he was not one hundred percent. It did not matter much anyway was a tiny Ravenclaw had already piped up.
Admittedly, once professor Foxwood had offered the topic of today's lecture to be color changing spells, Rowan had promptly turned to stare instead out the window. She did like the class and the professor too once she'd gotten over his use of big words and given up attempting to spell them in her notes but really he'd said color-changing charms and this was an intro-level class. She saw her mother use color-changing charms all the time. What more was he going to tell them?
Transfiguration was much more enjoyable than potions, Kitty had discovered in the fall. Potions required skills she had never had reason to learn, things left to the cook and kitchen maids, but here they had all started on equal ground. That said she much preferred trying spells than listening to lectures. Still she sat as primly as she could while waiting until they could start trying out the spell.
Basil leaned against the front of his desk gently as the class settled and seemed to refocus. He nodded as his baby cousin timidly answered and gave the child an encouraging wink. “Excellent, Lincoln, five points to Ravenclaw,” he replied.
“Colorvaria: simple enough to remember. It is merely the melding of the word ‘colour’ and ‘variance.’ Now the incantation is only half the job.” Here Basil tugged his wand from his inner waistcoat pocket and held out a button in his palm. With an intentional gesture, he demonstrated the wand movement. Once, twice, then the third time: “Colorvaria,” and the thing turned purple in his palm.
“Take the rest of today’s lesson to try your hand with your buttons. I will walk around the room to aid those who may need. When you have managed to change your button to the appropriate house color, you may deposit your assignment on the desk and be excused. Please begin!”
That was another difference between potions and wandwork: many of the spells were based in Latin. Her governess had drilled Latin into her at a young age. Prefixes, suffixes, all of it. It made remembering incantations that much easier, Kitty had discovered.
When the button landed on her desk Kitty focused her gaze on it. Full of determination she clearly spoke the incantation and followed Professor Foxwood's gesture, "Colorvaria."
RE: rainbow veins;; [intro transfiguration, 1st & 2nd years] - Eros Mohr - March 4, 2023
Eros listened as the professor continued speaking. He watched the demonstration and took out his wand. Murmuring the incantation to himself to be sure that he had it right, he started trying to change the colour of his button.
Transfiguration was an interesting class. She could never imagine getting into the more advanced work that those such as the professor practiced, but she was only a first year. Observing the lesson, she mouthed the incantation a few times. Then she kept her mouth shut as she tried practicing the motion that the professor had demonstrated. After a couple of minutes, she held out her button and started attempting to practice. Her first attempt came with a blue spark from her wand.
As she continued to practice, she failed to notice the roots of her hair began turning the color of her house due to her deep concentration of the color and no real focus towards how that would affect her metamorphmagi abilities.
The sisters of Circe table was front and centre of the transfiguration classroom, their blue feather quills poised and ready. Honoria began scribbling her notes as soon as the Professor had started to speak, her well-made clothing, and their infused heat charm gaurding her against the chilled January air as it blew in the window.
She traded smiles with the other girls, they had been practicing enchanting quills to change colour only a few days before, deciding that they wanted to pick the prettiest feathers and change the colour, rather than being limited only those feathers which were blue. There wasn't a huge selection in the price range that was supported by their various pin money - and they were not allowed to go into Hogsmeade, which limited their selection a great deal.
Honoria's hand shot into the air, alongside some others, 'Colovaria' she answered, quietly but with confidence in her answer. She had already succeeded in making headway in some of her quills. She wondered if the professor was going to show them a trick that would advance their efforts.
Callum Finnegan had decided he was not good at Transfiguration. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the subject, because he did rather— he just couldn’t seem to get the hang of it? He listened attentively as the others answered questions and Professor Foxwood made notes on the board. By the time he had his button and his wand out, Callum was determined to get this right! He muttered the incantation and tapped the button with the tip of his wand. Nothing happened. He tapped it again, this time with more oomph behind his sentiment. The button shivered but didn’t so much as change hue. Irritated now, the little redhead sucked in a sharp breath.
“Colorvaria!” He exclaimed a third time, louder perhaps than was warranted. There was a pop as smoke billowed from the tip of his wand and his button - looking charred - turned black instead of red. Callum blushed deeper than his hair color as the professor turned in his direction. Oh great. Now he was going to fail his first class of his second semester, ever!
RE: rainbow veins;; [intro transfiguration, 1st & 2nd years] - Elisabeth Rosier - April 21, 2023
Elisabeth wasn't quite happy to be back from the winter holidays and back at Hogwarts, but at least she got to start with Transfiguration, a class she found interesting. When Professor Foxwood told them they were going to work on color transformation, she was thrilled as it could easily be used for fashion and therefore she'd be practicing it quite regularly, though she had to admit she didn't actually know the incantation he was looking for. Nevertheless, she raised her hand not wanting anyone else to know she didn't know, and was instantly relieved when he called on Lincoln Dashwood instead. Writing the answer down, she began to say it in her head dozens of times before it was time to attempt the incantation for real. "Colorvaria," she said in a confident tone, tapping her elm wand to her button. Unfortunately, despite her confidence, instead of rich emerald she ended up with a mild panache. A pinched face made her try again, albeit a bit more forcefully than she should have, which caused a spark to bounce the button off the table and roll, causing her own face to a flush an embarrassed rosy pink as she slid out of her chair to go get it.
It took a moment for Rowan to realize that the professor had stopped talking and that they were supposed to move on to trying the spell. It then took her a few more seconds of rummaging through her bag to actually locate her wand before she could start. Colorvaria wasn't a spell she'd tried before but again, she saw her mother and aunt use it quite often. How hard could it be? Surely she'd picked up the motion and pronunciation just from seeing and hearing it so many times. Grinning, she flicked her wand in the direction of her button, picturing the dark maroon.
As buttons and spells rolled and popped, Basil couldn’t help the small smile that settled across his face. If ever there was a single thing that could distract him from his own woes it was teaching. He schooled his features to keep from grinning in any particular direction, lest a student think he’s laughing at them. Instead, the brunette turned towards the most dire case - a smoking button on Mr. Finnegan’s desk - and put the small flame out without a word.
“Keep practicing,” he encouraged the class as a whole, aloud. He continued making the rounds. “The first person to succeed shall start this term off with five housepoints to their name!” Maybe a little extra incentive would keep them focused.
RE: rainbow veins;; [intro transfiguration, 1st & 2nd years] - Eros Mohr - May 6, 2023
Eros was briefly distracted as Callum Finnigans button seemed to be on fire. He turned back to his own button and tried again. "Colorvaria," he cast. Hopefully, he would have better luck than his housemate.
RE: rainbow veins;; [intro transfiguration, 1st & 2nd years] - Lincoln Dashwood - May 6, 2023
Oh my. Link hoped he wouldn't cause his button to blow up or something. The tiny Claw focused on his button before incanting the spell. Had he phrased it correctly? Was he holding his wand right? He kept at it. If he tried long enough, it would eventually work right?