Lesson Four - First Years

Richard had been up early this morning working out the final touches on the spell he was going to teach the first years in their last lesson of the year. It was one he'd just finished creating himself not hours ago. And, if he said so himself, it was one hell of a spell for a first year to be able to do. But if his calculations regarding the amount of power and the amount of control were correct, along with the safe guards he'd written into the spell itself, then it would work for each and every student by the end of the lesson.

Haley walked into the Transfiguration classroom, realizing she was pretty early. But she didn't mind. She nodded with a smile to professor Romain and then sat down at a random desk. She started reading in her book, and wrote down some notes along the way. She had realized that the best place to study with exception of the library, was in fact the classrooms because it was so silent usually and it was easier to work there. So, she had showed up a little early just to be able to use her time on studying cautiously.

Airen walked into the Transfiguration classroom. He saw Haley was already there. Smiling at her, he took a seat at the front of the classroom. He quietly took out his quill, ink, and parchment. Noting the professor's happy state, Airen decided that today was going to be a good day.

Once again Charlotte opened the door to the classroom and saw that the same two students were there ahead of her, she grinned and walked into the room properly shutting the door behind her, with a wave to her uncle Charlotte sat down next to Airen and got out her papers and quills ready to write anything down.

Darren walked into class, cheerful and smiling, and sat in a corner of the class.

Parker was trying to hurry so that he made sure he would not be late, he didn't want that to happen again. He also didn't want the teacher to point him out for any talking again, knowing that Prof. Romain would probably keep an eye on him after that. He walked into the room, head a bit raised, very glad he was in fact, not late. He took his seat a couple seats back from the front, eagerly awaiting the lesson to begin. He wanted to do better this time, maybe even get it right the first time.

"Transfiguration!" he yelled in the hallway. He was sooo excited for the last lesson of the year. It was his favorite class by far and he was a registered Animagus before coming to Hogwarts. Possibly the first Muggleborn to teach himself without any assistance how to fully transform into a flawless animagus. His animal shape was that of a large Hippogriff. "this is my favorite class, and I am a registered Animagus. What is the last lesson of the year Professor Romain?" he asked.

When Victoria entered the classroom she was worried that she was late, but it looked like the lesson hadn't started yet. She let go of the breath she didn't know she had been holding. She walked over to the front row and took a seat. She knew she was behind some of the other students, not having been raised in a magical family, but was bound and determined to do the best she could. Years in a public school had taught her to compare progress only to herself and to be proud of her achievements, but she couldn't help being worried she would fail miserably. She took out a piece of parchment and ink and opened up the textbook to skim over the content, hoping the class would start soon.

Richard yawned a little bit before standing up, rubbing at his tired eyes. He held up a hand and waved lazily in greeting,

"Yo." he greeted them simply before moving over to the blackboard with a piece of chalk. He wrote on the board as he spoke, "Look, I stayed up all night modifying a spell so that you firsties could do it without permanently damaging your magical cores. So you better like this..."

Synixis

Yawning again he pointed to the word,

"This is the spell you will be learning." he looked at his students, suddenly deathly serious, "This is a watered down version of another spell. I warn you now... do NOT go looking for the spell it is a part of. Without question, if any of you tried to perform it before you complete your magical maturity at at 17 you will break your magical core. The magic will bleed out into your body and you will explode."

He clapped his hands and smiled lazily again,

"Right!" he smirked at their faces, "The spell is pronounced Sie-Nick-Sis. Sie-Nick-Sis."

He waved his wand and a pile of metal sewing needles appeared in piles on each desk. He held his wand at the ready,

"The wand movements are easy." he waved his wand in a clockwise spin before jabbing at the pile, "One clockwise motion followed by a hard jabbing motion. NO ONE WILL PRACTICE THE SPELL TOGETHER UNTIL I DECIDE. No begin to practice just the word and then just the movement."

Victoria eagerly wrote down the word and the directions of the wand movement. Clockwise and jab! She carefully tried pronouncing the word with her wand on the desk. Victoria normally liked to take risks, but the wizarding world was proving more dangerous consequences than the muggle world. After she felt she knew how to pronounce it, she took up her wand to practice silently. Her wand was moving in the right direction but she was unsure if her clockwise motion was supposed to be perfectly circular or not.

Parker paid very close attention to everything he said, knowing from last time, that transfiguration was a very exact magic and he had to get it perfectly right. Not to mention it was a bit unnerving to have him mention that the spell was very complex. The whole breaking the magical core thing was scary to think about as well.

He wondered what it would do, he also was curious of the original spell, he wanted to try to look it up, but knew if he did he would be in a lot of trouble. Not that he'd ever dare attempt it, but he just wanted to know. He was quietly off in his own thoughts, as he practiced the wand movement a few times. After feeling he got a hold on it, he made sure that he was pronouncing it correctly.

Airen noted the movements carefully. He noted the pronunciation on his parchment. Synixis. Sie-Nick-sis.

Taking a deep breath, he pronounced the word carefully. "Sie...Nick...Sis, Sie-Nick-sis, Synixis," he said. When he felt that he got the pronunciation down, took out his wand. He remembered the tip his friend had taught him. 12...3...6...9...12, he thought, each time circling his wand to the position on the imaginary clock. He did this faster each time. When he thought that he was rotating fast enough, he jabbed his wand at his desk.

"Synixis," he repeated to himself. He waited a minute before doing a clockwise turn, and jabbing his wand forward. Smiling slightly, he set his wand back on his desk.

"Synixis, Sie-Nick-Sis. Synixis!" he repeated. He then practiced the clockwise spin and the jab ten times. Then he combined the to movement with the though of Synixis! But he waited until the teacher gave the okay for them to say it out loud with the wand movement...

"Sie-Nick-Sis. Sie-Nick-Sis. Synixis. Sie-Nick-Sis. Synixis," Haley muttered silently.

Then she took out her wand and made a clockwise turn and a jab, each time making the turn more and more circled.

"Sounds and looks good, Haley. You're good at Transfiguration aren't you?" he asked her.

Charlotte smiled as Tabi sat next to her and she turned to face her once the professor had done telling them what they were going to be doing in today's lesson, she was very nervous about doing this spell even if Professor Romain had modified it to make it safe for them to use, she didn't want to get it wrong and break her magical core.

"Hey Tabi, are you okay? You seem a little sad recently I hope that there's nothing wrong." biting her lip Charlotte decided to get on with the incantation.

"Synixis. Synixis. Synixis." once again feeling stupid for saying it out loud in front of the whole class Charlotte ducked her head sheepishly.

Deciding that now would be a good time to practice the movements for the spell Charlotte took out her wand and made a swift clowise circle and then jabbed the wand sharply in the air, her circle was a bit wonky at first so she tried it again and thought that was a lot better.

"Howdy, Charlotte. How are you doing today?" he asked her.

"Ha-ha, Humphrey," Haley laughed, slightly humored. She wasn't the best in Transfiguration, but she could do okay if she tried hard enough.

"Thanks, anyways. And likeways," she said with a smile.

"Well, this is my favorite class..." he said. "Besides, I am a complete and total nerd. I practically memorized all of the course books and read through them all before I even arrived at Hogwarts. So I should be pretty good, right?" he asked.

Haley smiled. "Probably," she said.

She then tuned out from the rest of the class, seriously practicing the spell and making it even better as time went along.

What could he do except shrug his shoulders. He went back to practicing the pronunciation and wand movements. When he had done it fifty times he felt confident he would get it right first time.

Deciding that they were about as ready as they were ever going to be, Richard clapped his hands and the sound echoed loudly throughout the room. When he had everyone's attention he pointed his wand at a pile of sewing neddles,

"Synixis." he pronouced clearly after doing his clockwise circle and jabbing motion. Immediately the pile of needles began to glow so brightly that everyone had to avert their eyes. When the light died down there was a little hedgehog on the table. The little creature sniffed around a bit before deeming the environment safe and standing on it's hide legs, facing Richard,

"Alrigh' Richie?" he hedgehog asked, surprisingly speaking with a cockney accent, "Was tha' yer wan' now geeza?"

Richard chuckled a little bit,

"Not much Teddy." he told the talking hedgehog, "I'm teaching my little students here how to conjure some talking hedgehogs of their own."

The talking hedgehog, turned to face the class,

"Oi! You muppets!" he scolded the class, "Ain't cha ever see a hedgehog before? You'd best be makin' me some mates or I'll be havin' a righ' go atcha!"

Richard smirked, amused,

"You heard the hedgehog, get to trying kids."