Transfiguration - A Horse of a Different Color

[Professor Romani]

Professor Romani loved the outdoors, as was evident by the state of her classroom which was configured to emulate a mountainside wood clearing. It was a beautiful setting, but at times, she preferred the reality of the school grounds.

When the first of her students began to trickle in and seat themselves randomly about the room, she greeted each of them with a warm, welcoming smile in turn, and waited serenely until the last of them had taken a seat on a tuft of grass near the willow tree in the back.

"Good afternoon everyone, today, we'll be doing a few exercises which may seem a little repetitious for some of you, but I hope that it's a challenge to you none the less. Go ahead and leave your books, quills, and parchment here, but you might want to bring your cloaks, it could be a little chilly outside." Astraea, of course, heeded her own advice, not wanting to take the chance of catching another cold.

She led them out to the grounds and to the western side of the castle where a long rectangular table was set up, upon which was a large box. Scratching noises and squeeks shook the container as the students approached it. A tall, regal black stallion stood off to the side, watching them approach warily, side stepping away from the growing crowd. Professor Romani motioned for everyone to gather around the table while she went to the horse, gently placing a calming hand on his defined jaw. The wind could barely carry her soft whispers of reassurance, but it was loud enough that the horse visibly relaxed, raising a front hoof to rest and lean into her touch, gently nuzzling her shoulder. Her porcelein form next to the inky darkness of the horse was a drastic contrast, emphasizing their extremities with dramatic clarity.

"To avoid a crowd, everyone please use accio rodent to select a mouse from the box. Once you have your mouse, please proceed to use the words rodentia cor and the color that you wish to change it to, for example, rodentia cor green. All of them should be white, so this exercise should be relatively easy, however, as soon as you have altered their color enough times to feel comfortable... I would like you to turn them into a clear vase. Size does not matter, however, the larger it is, the more difficult it is. The incantation is formus retainum and remember... use your mind to imagine the form you wish to transfigure."

The stallion gave her a slight nudge on the shoulder before lowering his head to the side of hers.

"After you have successfully accomplished that, come here and using the same form of incantation equinas cor whatever color you'll attempt to change the color of this... horse. Now, he is black, as you can see, so it will take more concentration to alter his color.

"The extra credit for this class will be awarded to only one student. Whoever is the most ambitious and endeavorous will utilize every tool available to them, whether it is obvious or not, to discover the secret of this big guy here." She motioned to the horse with her head and smiled. "If it is not discovered by the end of the class, I'll reveal it before you're dismissed."

With a motion, she signaled for all of them to get started, and brushed her hair away from her face, noting that the wind had started to pick up.

[Aylen Hawkins]

Aylen followed the rest of the students outside, nearly jumping with excitement. It was a wonderful day out with blue skies, the sun out, the works. Had they had to do bookwork inside, it would be hard to say that his extra energy would be used constructively.

He breathed in the fresh air deeply, grinning. It was slightly chilly out and he hadn’t brought his cloak, but otherwise, it was perfect. A nickering sound caught his attention, and he swiveled around. It was a black stallion, and though this redhead was better versed about birds, it was easy for him to tell this was a magnificent horse.

The professor’s voice broke into his thoughts, giving directions. As soon as Professor Romani gave a hint of being finished, Aylen summoned a mouse. It flew, squeaking with terror as it flew through the air. “There, there,” he whispered to the animal in a soothing voice. As soon as it had calmed down, he tapped his wand lightly against its soft fur. “Rodentia cor blue,” he said. The mouse morphed into a periwinkle blue. The Gryffindor frowned. He had meant for it to be a darker blue. He sighed and continued practicing. He wanted to be the first to change that horse’s color!

[Xarian Heart]

"Accio Rodent." Xarian wasn't like most girls. She pet her mouse in between the ears. "Aww! You almost don't want to change his colour."

She sighed, and imagined her favorite shade of purple. "Rodentia cor purple!" The rodent changed to purple, slowly, but it worked. She sighed happy, but trying to change it to red only produced a red and purple rodent.

"I'll never get the extra credit..."

[Ashlle G. Rainier]

Ashlle, wrapped herself warmly in her cloak and followed her teacher out onto the school lawn. As she listened to the directions she began to panic.
We only just covered the Summoning Charm! My quaffle totally rolled halfway to me! Well Professor Divine did say practice.
Still just to be sure, Ashlee got as close to the box as she could.

Accio Rodent

Said Ashlle firmly. A lttle white mouse came flying out of the box and into her hand. Ashlle cupped it in a fold of her cloak to be sure it wouldn't bite her after such a shocking flight though the air. After letting it calm itself for a few moments (this wind was making her hair go everywhere), She concentrated on a fine golden color she'd seen in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Rodentia Cor Gold

Ashlle pronounced pointing her wand at the mouse's back. The mouse shivered and turned a slight shade of yellow. Screwing up her face Ashlle concentrated harder.

Rodentia Cor Gold

She reiterated. The mouse again flattened his ears and grew a deeper shade of yellow. Ashlle decided to let the mouse rest before trying again and looked around at her fellow students attempts.

[Teagan]

As soon as class had begun, Professor Romani gave out instructions for what they were to do. She began talking in her sweet voice, and deftly put on her cloak.
"Good afternoon, everyone. Today, we'll be doing a few exercises which may seem a little repetitious for some of you, but I hope that it's a challenge to you none the less. Go ahead and leave your books, quills, and parchment here, but you might want to bring your cloaks, it could be a little chilly outside."

Teagan quietly stood up, and left her black bag of school supplies laying near the large root she had recently been sitting on. With the simple movement, some of the strands of Teagan's hair quietly rotated themselves to the front of her face, rather than the side. She calmly traced one of her index fingers to the front of them, and pushed the strings back to where they were meant to stay. Unfortunately, she hadn't bothered bringing her cloak to class, and didn't intend to until the temperatures actually began to irritate her.

Professor Romani's lovely silver-blonde hair gracefully flowed behind her as she was followed by Teagan and the rest of the class through the maze of corridors, and outside onto the school grounds. The grass was unpleasantly bent with the student's feet, but the strands quickly popped up a few minutes after the last person to step on them left.

Teagan walked delicately upon the chilled chlorophyll-filled organisms until the professor stopped at a powerful black horse. It was easily taller than most of the students. After noticing this, she walked over to the rectangular table that held a box with many strange noise trying to break or nimble through their containment. Teagan ignored this as she quietly watched their transfiguration teacher walk over to the stallion and calm him down.

Soon after, the professor gave them further instructions. "To avoid a crowd, everyone please use 'accio rodent' to select a mouse from the box. Once you have your mouse, please proceed to use the words 'rodentia cor' and the color that you wish to change it to. For example, 'rodentia cor green.' All of them should be white, so this exercise should be relatively easy, however, as soon as you have altered their color enough times to feel comfortable... I would like you to turn them into a clear vase. Size does not matter, however, the larger it is, the more difficult it is. The incantation is 'formus retainum' and remember... use your mind to imagine the form you wish to transfigure," the teacher paused. "After you have successfully accomplished that, come here and--using the same form of incantation 'equinas cor' whatever color--you'll attempt to change the color of this... horse. Now, he is black, as you can see, so it will take more concentration to alter his color.

"The extra credit for this class will be awarded to only one student." There would be extra credit given to merely one of the students? That would be hard to achieve. "Whoever is the most ambitious and endeavorous will utilize every tool available to them, whether it is obvious or not, to discover the secret of this big guy here. If it is not discovered by the end of the class, I'll reveal it before you're dismissed."

Well, that was a lot of help, thought Teagan silently with slight sarcasm. At least they were learning something she didn't already know. "Accio rodent," she whispered and swiftly flicked her wand. A pure white mouse suddenly stopped squealing as it found itself flying out of the box it had been confined to. Teagan calmly caught the mouse with her left hand, and firmly gripped her fingers under the rodents shoulder blades. By now, it had begun shrieking, and was trying to escape the girl's not so releasing touch.

The prefect was now ready to preform the second spell required. "Rodentia cor pale pink." So what if she had an extreme distaste of pink? This peach-ish color was a very simple form of the spell they were learning. The mouse's fur pinkened slightly.

For a first try, her spell had been a success. Now was time for some darker tones. The rodent wriggled its tiny body some more, but Teagan's grip didn't weaken. She swished her wand and gave it a light flick as she said, "Rodentia cor dark blue." The roots of the mouse's fur darkened, and then the color spread throughout the soft, pale ends transforming them into steady blue.

The color was a slightly darker shade than that of regular blue, but it remained a few tints lighter than Teagan had intended. She adjusted the direction of the mouse, and preformed the same enchantment once more. The rodent kept the bluish color. Dang it. For once, she was having a little difficulty with a charm.

"Rodentia cor dark green." The rodent's color altered into a deep green shade similar to that of a pine tree's, if only marginally darker. This time, the fur had changed to the color Teagan had desired. Now, why couldn't the dark blue simply work like that?

For a few more minutes, the ravenclaw prefect practiced the spell with choice colors ranging from a faint orange to dull black. Still, the rodent wouldn't change into a dark blue. Oh well. I might as well try out a few more color adaptations.

This time, she was to preform something she had yet to practice. "Rodentia cor clear," softly came her voice quite legibly. The mouse and its small hairs faded into a light gray as Teagan continued feeding magic into the spell. After a few more seconds, the rodent lost all of its color. There were still shines where the light hit it and shadows where not as much light got through, but it was indeed clear. Clear was different that invisible, so that charm had succeeded as well.

Deciding to avoid the dark blue coloring, the prefect chose to go on and transfigure her mouse into a vase. "Formus retainum," she cooed. Teagan greatly focused on preforming this one. The furry figure's squirming came to an end as its front end smoothed and widened into a vase opening of four inches, and the rest of the figure splendidly curved at careful slopes around toward the base. In Teagan's hands, she positioned the object, and it appeared to be about ten inches tall. Slowly, draped her fingers over the finished project and checked for all misshapen shapes. Fortunately, the vase was unruffled and unindented.

Next, it was time to try changing the horse's color. Teagan's red eyes were faintly tinged with purple as they glanced up to the large animal. Maybe she would wait and observe some other students' attempts...

I am quite impressed Teagan. 5 for the color, 5 for the vase, interesting method by the way, and another 2 for the effort placed in your post. No attempt on the horse? 12 pts. for Ravenclaw.

[Spiral Jones]

Spiral tried his best to lose himself in the crowd following their pale teacher, but with his awkward height, it wasn't easy. He had always been a tall, gangly boy and at 11, he was often mistaken for someone much older than he was. Professor Romani's transfiguration class was his first class here at this magic school and he was, needless to say, surprised. He had been utterly confused when he walked through her door. He could've sworn that this was were his schedule had said his class was, but as soon as he stepped through the door, he was back outside again! Well... that's what he thought anyway. Grudgingly, he took a seat near a large toad stool and watched with wide eyes as everyone else came in, seemingly used to this sort of classroom setting. Spiral had had nothing but cinderblock walls and metal and wood desks back home. Using a giant mushroom or a tree root as a seat or desk was incredible! For the first time, he felt what it was like to be one of his cows on his ranch, as they were all herded out of the "classroom" and outside the castle.

The young American boy was very curious about his teacher. She was incredibly pale and fragile looking, like his little sister's dolls. Spiral found himself slightly blushing as watched her tend to the black horse. He caught himself and slammed his gaze to the ground, blushing like mad. He hoped with all his heart that she hadn't seen his face suddenly redden like a big tomato.

Like the others, he easily found a small spot around the table and watched with wide bemused eyes as everyone took out their wands and pronounced accio rodent, while flicking their wands in the direction of the large box. He repeated their actions hesitantly and was amazed as a white mouse suddenly elevated from the box and came flying straight towards his face! Spiral caught the mouse just in time, half cringing and ducking at the suddenness of it. He gulped and laughed nervously. Surely he could still go back home and enroll at his orginial school before the cows came home?

"Rodentia cor... blue" He said softly, thinking back to the great expanses of clear blue sky back home in Missouri. Spiral visibly relaxed and smiled as the mouse in his hand slowly turned a bright blue. He gently rubbed his finger along the mouse's head, feeling the small creature's racing heart against his hand. "It's ok little guy, I'm not going to try and hurt you." He tried to assure the rodent truthfully. "Rodentia cor green" Once again, he thought back of his home and pictured the prairie grass in the spring time, grinning now as his mouse turned green. "You know, I'm gonna call you Bill."

Noticing that the girl next to him had already changed her mouse into a clear vase, Spiral inwardly kicked himself and uttered Formus retainum and widened his eyes as the mouse began to expand into a long, cylinder like vase.... a green... furry... and soft vase... "Oh man..." He groaned and looked at the girl's product sitting gracefully next to him on the table.

Very nice effort Mr. Jones. Take 8.5 pts for Gryffindor. 5 for the color, 3.5 for the vase... perhaps a few more tries?

[Professor Romani]

Romani uttered a few more words to her equine friend before joining the rest of her students and watching their progress. A clipboard and quill magically materialized in her hands as she walked about the table, taking note of how each student was doing and writing down what they had accomplished.

At the end of class, she'd perform a reversing spell to see exactly what they had done to their mice and how many times it had taken them to reach the assigned form. Professor Romani was not a hard teacher and was most definitely not strict when it came to points. She was quite fair and mostly cared that they attained the proper finished form.

Her deep blue eyes darkened with concern as she noticed that a few people seemed to have trouble with certain colors. "When you say the color, try to visual in your head of the exact shade that you want. Usually memories of a certain object help."

[Ashlle G. Rainier]

Ashlle listened to the Professor carefully and decided that perhaps she'd not been thinking very clearly of the Golden part of the Tapestry in the Common Room.
She concentrated anew and then pointing her wand at the little Yellow Mouse

Rodentia Cor Gold

She said clearly and the mouse shivered and turned a glittering gold. Ashlle giggled at her triumph. Then she cast about for a good shape to concentrate on for her clear vase. there were many nice Vases at Rainier Castle some new some old, but all were a bit too big. The mass of the mouse and the mass of the vases at home simply didn't mesh.

Finally she did remember a vase that was small enough to turn the mouse into yet impressive enough to get her a goos grade. It she'd seen it in a store window some time ago and it was displaying sugar quills for sale.

It was clear but part of it was tinted a deep gold, and had a beautiful Phoenix etched on the side.

Ashlle thought hard on this image till it was almost more real behind her eyes that what was before them.
"Stay still little mouse now and I'll turn you into something elegant." she told it softly. The mouse couldn't understand her for Ashlle could only speak Parseltongue not Mouseltongue. However her soothing tone calmed the poor creature as Ashlle cased her spell.

Formus Retainum

The mouse grew clear as glass then elongated and grew into Ashlle's beautiful crystal vase.
"Oh yes!" exclaimed Ashlle happily. "See Professor, come see what I've made!"

A VERY beautiful vase Ashlle. It looks quite like a goblet I once seen in Professor McGonagal's office. 5 for the color change, 5 for the vase, despite it not being clear, the effort you placed in having a picture in your post makes up for it. But no try of the horse? 10 pts

[Kira]

Kira made her way carefully through the school. The talking cane in her right hand would occasionally pipe up to warn her of a group of ill-meaning students, but otherwise remained silent. A slight draft invaded the hall and she pulled her cloak more tightly around her thin frame. Her left hand ghosted over the Gryffindor patch on the front of the robes, smiling slightly at the feel of the newly added decal. It had taken a bit of investigation, but she had eventually followed through on the suggestion that she ask one of the house elves for help. The squeaky-voiced creature had been more than happy to help her, and had even patched up some of her rattier clothes.

“There is a large group of students five point eight feet away,” the Speaking Cane’s voice drew her out of her thoughts and back to the present. Coming up to the rear of the group, she listened idly to the various nearby conversations, preferring to remain in a standing position. Just as the girl to her right was exclaiming over the cuteness of one of the boys in the class for the umpteenth time in the past three minutes, the Professor began to explain the lesson. She listened intently, nodding occasionally amongst the murmurs of understanding. When the time came to actually perform the incantation, however, she blanched.

Colors? Her mind reeled. How am I supposed to do that?

Her hands shook slightly as she reached for her wand, closing her eyes as her hand slipped around the smooth wood. Dropping the Speaking Cane to the ground at her feet, she hissed a quick “shut up” at its bemoaning her “mistreatment” of it.

“Accio rodent,” she murmured, holder out her left hand. Moments later, a wriggling fuzzball landed in her hand. Reaching over with her other hand she rubbed the rodent gently, feeling it relax and still.

“OK, now for the colors,” she murmured, eyes still closed. “Let’s try…. Pink.”

Brow furrowed in concentration, she pointed her wand at the mouse, muttering, “Rodentia cor pink.”

The rat squeaked at her, but otherwise she felt no change. Blue eyes opening slowly, she reached over to rub the rodent once more. She sighed, realizing there was no way she could complete this assignment on her own.

“Excuse me,” she said, turning to the person beside her. “This is gonna sound weird, but, um… Could you tell me what color my mouse is?”

“Um, it’s kind of a pink color,” the girl responded hesitantly. After a moment she continue, “Are you sure you should be doing this? I mean, you are blind. What if you miss and turn someone into a bird or something?”

Kira had been about to thank the girl when the final comment had been added. The syllables died in her throat and her mouth snapped shut as a scowl appeared on her face.

“Thanks for your concern, but I see no reason why I can’t,” she snipped irritably. Snatching up her cane, she moved a few paces away from the girl before turning her attention back to the creature in her hand.

“Let’s try again, shall we?” she asked the pink mouse. “What color? Oh, I know. Rodentia cor blue.”

Once more, the rodent made no indication that anything had changed. Debating whether she should ask for help again, Kira stroked the mouse thoughtfully.

“Maybe you can tell me,” she suggested to the mouse. “What color are you?”

[Xarian Heart]

Xarian closed her eyes, picutering a vase that her mom had in their living room that used to hold a bunch of beautiful flowers. It was a nice vase, and she liked it. "Formus retainum!"

The mouse changed into a vase in a flash, a very very tiny vase. it was green and made of glass, a very detailed doll house vase. Xarian growled in frustration, but slipped the small thing away, then she looked at the horse. "I'm not good at this..."

[Aylen Hawkins]

"Yes!" The shout of triumph was from Aylen. After Professor Romani's tip, he had a more clear idea of what color he wanted it to be. The poor mouse's color now matched the hue of the redhead's hair. It squeaked madly as it tried to get away from this unnatural being who was messing with it's fur. "Pipe down, you little--Ouch! Stupid rat!" The mouse had bitten him in its desperation to get away. Not only was this person tweaking its fur, he smelled of hawk. The mouse had had quite enough, thank you very much.

The little red streak leaped out of Aylen's hands, rolling softly on the grass. "Formus Retainium!" the Gryffindor roared. The spell hit it before it could get away. It slowly stretched into a dumpy vase made of red clay. Aylen thought he could feel a vein pulsing near his temple. He muttered darkly as he went to retrieve his mouse/vase. Transfiguration was definitely not his best subject.

A very good effort, Mr. Hawkins. Effort is what I look for, as well as results. 5 for the color, 3.5 for the vase, perhaps a few more tries?, and no attempt on the horse? 8.5 for Gryffindor

[Ashlle G. Rainier]

Ashlle had heard Kira's question and the very rude answer. She quickly moved over to where Kira had walked to.

"It's a beautiful sky blue." she whispered. Not rain nor snow nor Mad Lycans would have kept Ashlle from her classes. Still she now wore double the weapons, and certainly concealed them better than before.

[Xarian Heart]

Xarian looked at Aylen's work and was glad she wasn't the nly one not coming up with good results. "How are we supposed to change that horse?"

[Kira]

A relieved sigh escaped Kira's throat as she heard Ashlle's voice from behind her.

"It's a beautiful sky blue."

She smiled at the knowledge, pleased that she had managed to perform the spell correctly twice in a row. All thoughts of the previous comments directed at her forgotten, she turned to face Ashlle.

"Thanks," she said quietly, trying not to disturb the students around them. "Why can't everyone be as helpful as you?"

With a grin, she turned her attention back to the mouse in her hand, rubbing its fur gently and cooing nonsensical things to it. The rodent curled up in her hand contentedly, the occasional squeak rising from its small mouth. Settling herself on the ground, she positioned the mouse in her lap, resting her left hand on it to make sure the creature didn't stray too far.

"OK, now I have to turn you into a vase," she informed the mouse, ignoring the rest of the class around her. She took a deep breath and, pointing her wand at the mouse in her lap, muttered "Formus retainum."

The being in her lap shifted slightly, molding to form a new shape. She reached out to feel the newly formed vase, frowning as her fingers contacted a rather rough blob of cool material.

"Use your mind to imagine the form you wish to transfigure," the professor's words rang through her mind and she nodded at the memory's voice.

She thought to a simple vase her mother used to put flowers in, focusing on the image until it was as sharply in focus as the last time she had seen the vase.

"Formus retainum," she uttered once more, vase still clearly in her mind's eye. She felt the blob in her lap shift shape and reached out once more, smiling as she felt the smooth glass of the vase she was imagining.

The vase was about twice as wide at the bottom as at the top, rounded sides curving in after a short distance to form a straight stem. In its entirety, the vase was about eleven inches tall and, if she had performed the incantation correctly, a peach color.

Smiling triumphantly, she listened carefully to the students around her and their attempts at the spells.

5 pts. for the color transformation, 3.5 for the vase, I asked for a clear one, and no attempt of the horse? 8.5 pts.

[Carmen]

Upon standing at the door to the classroom, Carmen didn’t expect to be led straight back out again. Before the rest of the class bustled over her, she chucked her books and biro onto the closest table, and swivelled around so she wouldn’t get run over by her classmates. How strange! Carmen thought. But she didn’t dwell on it, and allowed everyone to pass her as she followed on behind the group.

When they had arrived around one side of the castle, which really caught her eye in landscape (she hadn’t explored this part), she took note of a very long wooden table, probably redwood for protection against any wild spells, with a little box in the middle, accompanied with a few little scurrying sounds. The girl raised a blue eyebrow to this. What could it be? But the eyebrow was lowered as soon as she noticed the beautiful black horse standing with the professor. My, he was a stunning beast. Carmen used to read up on animals for fun, and just sit there and watch them all day. But there was definitely something… not right about this one. He couldn’t be a horse. His flanks were a little small for his stature.

But now wasn’t the time for such a thing. The teacher begun to inform the class of what they were supposed to complete. First, summon a rodent. A mouse. “Accio rodent,” muttered the girl, and quickly as possible, a white mouse came flying out of the box and straight into her hands. She looked down at it and smiled approvingly. Her spell-casting was improving. But what colour? “AH!” Of course. The girl pictured herself in the mirror, and focused on her hair. “Rodentia cor blue!” cried Carmen.

Her wand sparked strangely, but soon enough the mouse’s fur grew blue from the roots, and seeped through to the ends of his fur. Yes! She thought triumphantly. Now what else? Instantaneously, the girl thought of her badge of her house. “Rodentia cor yellow!” And once again, the rodent changed into a wavering summer yellow. She did the same few colours over and over again about six or seven times, then changed it to a flaming red colour, matching the phoenix that was on Professor Windwaltz’s desk.