Herbology
The room is full of corpses...it smells of death and despair...the odor makes you want to turn right around and leave again. Sound familiar? If yes, then you clearly attended Professor Myers’ Herbology lesson on dissecting mandrakes. Perhaps the initial description was a bit hyperbolical but the corpses were very much present and very much, well, dead. Along with a scalpel and other items one might need for an autopsy, each of the students’ workstations was equipped with a dead adult mandrake on a tray. One Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne apparently didn’t get the memo about this lesson being about dissecting mandrakes (which would clearly be dead beforehand) and was, thus, sporting some very pink and very big earmuffs. Considering what was going to happen next, maybe he should have left those on, nonetheless. Along with a blindfold maybe. But we’re skipping ahead…
First, it was established that while mandrakes do in fact look humanoid on the outside they are merely a branched root and look like one on the inside, most resembling a carrot. It’s highly doubtful that a carrot has ever tried to kill anyone but this is obviously just about their texture. As Miss Zoryn Spinnet pointed out, mandrakes - like their distant relative, the carrot - are in fact edible, however, only in the form of potions. So remember, carrots: yes; mandrakes: no. Consequently, the so anticipated (or dreaded?) dissecting of said mandrakes was about to begin. While some seemed so excited that they wanted to take the whole mandrake or parts of them home with them (why??), Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne unfortunately did not heed the previously stated warning of physically blocking out the ordeal and instead….started to cry. Professor Myers tried to keep the class on track despite the Hufflepuff’s tears, for instance trying to discuss how the mandrakes’ screeching sounds nasal when they didn’t in fact breathe, but it was apparently to no avail and eventually the lesson ended, if not in utter, at least in some form of chaos.
The students were in for MORE tears in one of the following lessons. However, this time they originated not from someone in their midst but instead...from a tree. The Whomping Willow’s “lacrimoneous” (©Paul Myers) cousin, in fact. Legend has it that in Greek Mythology Apollo’s son Paethon tried to drive his father’s chariot on Earth but clearly did not possess the skill or knowledge to do so (a driver’s license might have come in handy). To save the Earth from total destruction, Zeus was forced to strike Paethon down and his sisters mourned his death so bitterly, they wept for him, their tears turning into amber, which in turn created the...Weeping Willow. Naturally, the next step was to show the students how to make the Willow cry which is most commonly done with the help of the Sadness Charm. Although perhaps showing it the amount of homework assigned by Professor Stewart (thank you, Miss Spinnet) might also do the trick. The tears, if harvested, are generally used as a potions ingredient as well as letting the Weeping Willow have little Willow babies when the tears are are dried and hence, turn into amber seedlings. This term, it appears, Professor Myers provided the students with tears, education, fun, confetti...and more tears. Stay tuned for more (tears) lessons next term.
First, it was established that while mandrakes do in fact look humanoid on the outside they are merely a branched root and look like one on the inside, most resembling a carrot. It’s highly doubtful that a carrot has ever tried to kill anyone but this is obviously just about their texture. As Miss Zoryn Spinnet pointed out, mandrakes - like their distant relative, the carrot - are in fact edible, however, only in the form of potions. So remember, carrots: yes; mandrakes: no. Consequently, the so anticipated (or dreaded?) dissecting of said mandrakes was about to begin. While some seemed so excited that they wanted to take the whole mandrake or parts of them home with them (why??), Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne unfortunately did not heed the previously stated warning of physically blocking out the ordeal and instead….started to cry. Professor Myers tried to keep the class on track despite the Hufflepuff’s tears, for instance trying to discuss how the mandrakes’ screeching sounds nasal when they didn’t in fact breathe, but it was apparently to no avail and eventually the lesson ended, if not in utter, at least in some form of chaos.
The students were in for MORE tears in one of the following lessons. However, this time they originated not from someone in their midst but instead...from a tree. The Whomping Willow’s “lacrimoneous” (©Paul Myers) cousin, in fact. Legend has it that in Greek Mythology Apollo’s son Paethon tried to drive his father’s chariot on Earth but clearly did not possess the skill or knowledge to do so (a driver’s license might have come in handy). To save the Earth from total destruction, Zeus was forced to strike Paethon down and his sisters mourned his death so bitterly, they wept for him, their tears turning into amber, which in turn created the...Weeping Willow. Naturally, the next step was to show the students how to make the Willow cry which is most commonly done with the help of the Sadness Charm. Although perhaps showing it the amount of homework assigned by Professor Stewart (thank you, Miss Spinnet) might also do the trick. The tears, if harvested, are generally used as a potions ingredient as well as letting the Weeping Willow have little Willow babies when the tears are are dried and hence, turn into amber seedlings. This term, it appears, Professor Myers provided the students with tears, education, fun, confetti...and more tears. Stay tuned for more (tears) lessons next term.
History of Magic
Presumably, history keeps us from making the same mistakes over and over again. It can also help us make informed decisions that can not just better our daily life but the wizarding world in general. This was one of the lessons of choice Professor Newton gave us this term; history as a tool to positively shape the world around us. There were a great many ideas; Olivia Phillips and Emmeline Sparkes seemed to agree that more creature sanctuaries were needed. Althea Kenning mentioned that before we can think of better the world we should focus on more immediate concerns, such as the treatment of house elves, a topic Professor Newton seemed particularly keen on. Now, we know Hogwarts elves are remunerated because because we are not in the the 1990s anymore, but are everyone's? Are yours? How can we better the world if we can't even start in our own house?
But it was all about more bigger, obvious concerns for some. Jessa Cambridge suggested helping muggles with their research. Meanwhile, Kitty Valentine, Ravenclaw prefect, took it one step further; she suggested we remove the statue of secrecy in its entirety to help muggles. This should have opened a whole can of flobberworms but Professor Newton was quick to quench the fires before they even started, fortunately. Or unfortunately, perhaps?
Thankfully, this was not the last we'd hear of muggle and wizard relations or even the similarities between muggle society and ours. Our Ilvermorny visitors were the talk of the town the whole term and with it came a lesson on MACUSA. As Noelle Summers mentioned, the American government was a direct result of not just the Statue of Secrecy but also of the Salem Witch trials. Kane Westwood explained that MACUSA's leader is called President instead of Minister. Nicholas Tate talked about Rappaport's Law need to segregate muggles and wizards altogether, which was obviously a really, really great idea, all the sarcasm implied. On the other hand, Head Girl Botros and Professor Newton both agreed that witch hunts essentially kept MACUSA from having permanent offices anywhere for too long before they finally settled in the Woolworth Building in Manhattan.
It was an interesting, informative class that would highlight the ways in which our society mirrors that of muggles'. Or no-majs', I should say. And it was not the last we'd hear of our non-magical brethren either. The joint History of Magic and Muggle Studies lesson covered the Statue of Secrecy as well and Kitty Valentine was the first to pipe up as one has come to expect. Zoryn Spinnet reminded us not to use magic in front of muggles and before anyone else could comment any further, Professor Newton remarked to keep things simple which I suspect was because she wanted to avoid another debate. Unfortunately. Moving on! To the surprise of no one, Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne brought up magical creatures and Professor Newton elaborated by mentioning clause 73. Emmeline Sparkes took care to remind everyone that the statue was not just for our benefit but for muggles, too; it keeps them safe, or should, from less than savory magical folk. Carlotta Pinkstone was brought up and while there was an obvious fan in there, Katherine Toussaint dismissed the woman as selfish and more concerned with her own agenda than anything else. It was a different class, and it raised several good points that we'll hopefully get to continue exploring next term.
But it was all about more bigger, obvious concerns for some. Jessa Cambridge suggested helping muggles with their research. Meanwhile, Kitty Valentine, Ravenclaw prefect, took it one step further; she suggested we remove the statue of secrecy in its entirety to help muggles. This should have opened a whole can of flobberworms but Professor Newton was quick to quench the fires before they even started, fortunately. Or unfortunately, perhaps?
Thankfully, this was not the last we'd hear of muggle and wizard relations or even the similarities between muggle society and ours. Our Ilvermorny visitors were the talk of the town the whole term and with it came a lesson on MACUSA. As Noelle Summers mentioned, the American government was a direct result of not just the Statue of Secrecy but also of the Salem Witch trials. Kane Westwood explained that MACUSA's leader is called President instead of Minister. Nicholas Tate talked about Rappaport's Law need to segregate muggles and wizards altogether, which was obviously a really, really great idea, all the sarcasm implied. On the other hand, Head Girl Botros and Professor Newton both agreed that witch hunts essentially kept MACUSA from having permanent offices anywhere for too long before they finally settled in the Woolworth Building in Manhattan.
It was an interesting, informative class that would highlight the ways in which our society mirrors that of muggles'. Or no-majs', I should say. And it was not the last we'd hear of our non-magical brethren either. The joint History of Magic and Muggle Studies lesson covered the Statue of Secrecy as well and Kitty Valentine was the first to pipe up as one has come to expect. Zoryn Spinnet reminded us not to use magic in front of muggles and before anyone else could comment any further, Professor Newton remarked to keep things simple which I suspect was because she wanted to avoid another debate. Unfortunately. Moving on! To the surprise of no one, Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne brought up magical creatures and Professor Newton elaborated by mentioning clause 73. Emmeline Sparkes took care to remind everyone that the statue was not just for our benefit but for muggles, too; it keeps them safe, or should, from less than savory magical folk. Carlotta Pinkstone was brought up and while there was an obvious fan in there, Katherine Toussaint dismissed the woman as selfish and more concerned with her own agenda than anything else. It was a different class, and it raised several good points that we'll hopefully get to continue exploring next term.
Muggle Studies
Professor Stewart has always managed to make her lessons interesting, irrespective of the students’ interest in the subject. She has been successful in her teaching methods, trying to maintain the perfect balance between theory and practical, even if the theory part of the lesson gets a little overwhelming at times. Personally speaking, my liking for the subject has considerably grown over the years.
Starting off with her lesson on the evolution of American music over the years, stu were expected to contribute with their knowledge based on American musicians and their contribution to music overall. Not surprisingly, most of the students were well-aware. Music is an universal language, right? She went on to talk about how music has helped people, but also how lyrics can be a bad influence. Needless to say, students came up with some pretty apt answers, one of them being that of Mr. Salander who pointed out that good music was a form of self-expression and that music transcends not only languages but also time, giving an example of the legendary musician Mozart. Later on, Professor Kay talked about how music styles had changed over the years and how music from other cultures had merged with the American pop-music culture. It was a lot to take in but it provided the students with a new insight into something they had never really considered or thought about before. But, not everything was theory-based! She wrapped up the lesson with a karaoke singing session which was exciting to say the least. People could sing whatever they wanted to with the lyrics projected on the screen before them. Needless to say, everyone had a great time. ( including me! Even if I don’t have the greatest singing voice. ) Another lesson that was rather interesting and different was her class on - be surprised - English! Right? A proper English lesson, who would have thought? Once again, there was quite a bit of theory involved but the students did get to learn or realise that there’s a lot more to the language than they assumed. She talked about the spelling of British words that are spelt differently to American words but refer to the same object and the meaning of certain American slang. Once again, students came up with some answers, making it a great interactive session.. although I’m sure Miss Zoryn wouldn’t agree, who seemed rather tired. The professor ended the lesson with an activity, which was to find hidden words among a jumble of letters, also called a wordsearch.
The combined History of Magic and Muggle Studies lesson was based on the subject of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Kitty was one of the first to respond, with a point of view that the statute needed to be revoked but a discussion wasn’t encouraged. However, there were some very important points mentioned. Miss Sparkes reminded everyone that the muggles are protected under the Statute as well whereas Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne mentioned magical creatures which was an important aspect of the Statute. Moving on, professor Kay continued with the lesson, talking about wizards and witches who have opposed the Statute, Carlotta Pinkstone among them. However, after hearing some some very different responses, she established that the Statute must be upheld. She wrapped up the lesson with an activity that was basically designed to figure out the students’ understanding of how necessary the Statute is for the wizardingkind.
Starting off with her lesson on the evolution of American music over the years, stu were expected to contribute with their knowledge based on American musicians and their contribution to music overall. Not surprisingly, most of the students were well-aware. Music is an universal language, right? She went on to talk about how music has helped people, but also how lyrics can be a bad influence. Needless to say, students came up with some pretty apt answers, one of them being that of Mr. Salander who pointed out that good music was a form of self-expression and that music transcends not only languages but also time, giving an example of the legendary musician Mozart. Later on, Professor Kay talked about how music styles had changed over the years and how music from other cultures had merged with the American pop-music culture. It was a lot to take in but it provided the students with a new insight into something they had never really considered or thought about before. But, not everything was theory-based! She wrapped up the lesson with a karaoke singing session which was exciting to say the least. People could sing whatever they wanted to with the lyrics projected on the screen before them. Needless to say, everyone had a great time. ( including me! Even if I don’t have the greatest singing voice. ) Another lesson that was rather interesting and different was her class on - be surprised - English! Right? A proper English lesson, who would have thought? Once again, there was quite a bit of theory involved but the students did get to learn or realise that there’s a lot more to the language than they assumed. She talked about the spelling of British words that are spelt differently to American words but refer to the same object and the meaning of certain American slang. Once again, students came up with some answers, making it a great interactive session.. although I’m sure Miss Zoryn wouldn’t agree, who seemed rather tired. The professor ended the lesson with an activity, which was to find hidden words among a jumble of letters, also called a wordsearch.
The combined History of Magic and Muggle Studies lesson was based on the subject of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Kitty was one of the first to respond, with a point of view that the statute needed to be revoked but a discussion wasn’t encouraged. However, there were some very important points mentioned. Miss Sparkes reminded everyone that the muggles are protected under the Statute as well whereas Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne mentioned magical creatures which was an important aspect of the Statute. Moving on, professor Kay continued with the lesson, talking about wizards and witches who have opposed the Statute, Carlotta Pinkstone among them. However, after hearing some some very different responses, she established that the Statute must be upheld. She wrapped up the lesson with an activity that was basically designed to figure out the students’ understanding of how necessary the Statute is for the wizardingkind.
Potions
Among the influx of new Staff this term was one Miss Ciara Canterbury, a young potions mistress who replaced the elderly Arthur Newton. Let's hope the school doesn't put her through as many trials as it did the former potions master.
In one potions lesson in early September, the kids filed in to find vials of potions ingredients sitting on their workstations, one full of a clear liquid and the other filled with a white dust like substance. Most of the students left them alone, though a few kids decided to try what was in the vials, (we are looking at you Jessa Cambridge and Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne) Thankfully there was nothing harmful in the vials, but the Professor still made sure they knew never to do that again. That incident behind her, the Professor started the kids off making invisible notes, the clear vial was full of Tincture of Demiguise and the dust was Pearl powder. Sprinkle the pearl powder over your note made with Demiguise fluid and bang! The words appear in a flash. Halfway through this exercise though, poor Mister Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne lost his stomach contents all over Miss Cambridge. There was a flurry of activity as kids tried to clean up the vomit and help out the sickly second year Hufflepuff. Thankfully Levi Kenning helped clean it up and a Miss Charlotte Kettleburn helped out with the smell and the class got back on track. Mostly at least. The Professor then tasked them all with making an invisibility potion and the students got down to work. Before you could say “Now you see me, now you don't.” The invisibility potions were done, labeled and the students were heading out the door and onto their next class.
Another potions class that took place in the middle of February, students walked into the potions classroom to find that it had been fully lit up, hoping to combat not only the chill and darkness of the dungeons but also the cold that was freezing the air outside. Placed on the student's desk was something covered in a sheet, which of course made all the kids curious, but most of them were good about waiting until the proper time to see what was under them. After a question about healing potions, the sheets were removed to reveal dummies lying there, each with their own ailment, and the task? Try to figure out what is ailing your dummy and heal them using healing potions. The students instantly got to work on diagnosing their dummies and then making the proper potions to cure them. Some dummies were missing bones, others were burned, had boils or even bad cases of acne! The kids quickly got to brewing their potions, and soon enough they were giving the potions to their dummies and healing them of all their various illnesses (hopefully at least). Once done, the students were heading out of the door, wondering if careers in healing were in their futures.
In one potions lesson in early September, the kids filed in to find vials of potions ingredients sitting on their workstations, one full of a clear liquid and the other filled with a white dust like substance. Most of the students left them alone, though a few kids decided to try what was in the vials, (we are looking at you Jessa Cambridge and Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne) Thankfully there was nothing harmful in the vials, but the Professor still made sure they knew never to do that again. That incident behind her, the Professor started the kids off making invisible notes, the clear vial was full of Tincture of Demiguise and the dust was Pearl powder. Sprinkle the pearl powder over your note made with Demiguise fluid and bang! The words appear in a flash. Halfway through this exercise though, poor Mister Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne lost his stomach contents all over Miss Cambridge. There was a flurry of activity as kids tried to clean up the vomit and help out the sickly second year Hufflepuff. Thankfully Levi Kenning helped clean it up and a Miss Charlotte Kettleburn helped out with the smell and the class got back on track. Mostly at least. The Professor then tasked them all with making an invisibility potion and the students got down to work. Before you could say “Now you see me, now you don't.” The invisibility potions were done, labeled and the students were heading out the door and onto their next class.
Another potions class that took place in the middle of February, students walked into the potions classroom to find that it had been fully lit up, hoping to combat not only the chill and darkness of the dungeons but also the cold that was freezing the air outside. Placed on the student's desk was something covered in a sheet, which of course made all the kids curious, but most of them were good about waiting until the proper time to see what was under them. After a question about healing potions, the sheets were removed to reveal dummies lying there, each with their own ailment, and the task? Try to figure out what is ailing your dummy and heal them using healing potions. The students instantly got to work on diagnosing their dummies and then making the proper potions to cure them. Some dummies were missing bones, others were burned, had boils or even bad cases of acne! The kids quickly got to brewing their potions, and soon enough they were giving the potions to their dummies and healing them of all their various illnesses (hopefully at least). Once done, the students were heading out of the door, wondering if careers in healing were in their futures.
Transfiguration
The coolest lesson we had in Transfiguration last term was in early December; this was when half the professors in the school were OBSESSED with having their lessons outside, and everyone was freezing all the time! Luckily for us, Professor Camilla Stewart decided to have her lesson inside her classroom, but she changed it up a LOT. When we came in, there were no chairs or desks or anything anywhere in the classroom. Instead, the professor had made some HUGE fire pits scattered around the room with cushions for students to sit on. I’m pretty sure they were magical fires, too, ‘cause there was plenty of smoke but the classroom didn’t smell like smoke at ALL, and there were no sparks near the fires or anything.
Professor Stewart started the lesson off in an interesting way by passing around a fancy dagger in a sheath that she had, and asking us questions about smoke. It wasn’t long before she announced that she was going to teach us how to MAKE daggers from smoke! Which is a super cool spell, even if some students didn’t think it would be too useful for defense if you had a wand. To cast the spell, you have to look at the smoke and focus realllllllly hard on picturing the dagger and sheath you want to make in your mind before you even get your wand out. The wand movement is just a simple circle around the bit of smoke you’re picturing your dagger in; the spell itself is “Fumus Lamina.” It sounds easy, but the spell took even the older students a few tries to master! Once everybody had made a dagger, Professor Stewart announced the main activity: to play a sort of bean bag toss game WITH OUR DAGGERS!! The game board had four colors (red, blue, yellow, and green) and numbers from 1-10 over each hole; to win, you had to throw your dagger through the hole with your House color. The number assigned to that hole would be the number of points you win for your House! A lot of students were kind of nervous about this throwing daggers business, but almost everyone tried the game anyway. Plus, it was even harder than it would’ve been with just throwing, ‘cause you had to make a new dagger each time you came up to play. Miss Etta Kramer from Hufflepuff was the first person to throw her dagger into the correct hole! Hufflepuff ended up winning the game, with Gryffindor in second place, Slytherin in third place, and Ravenclaw in fourth place. The end of the lesson was pretty upsetting, though, ‘cause an older girl got upset and started crying and had to LEAVE without playing the game. After the lesson officially ended, Professor Stewart conjured a load of marshmallows and sticks for everyone to make snacks. This made a group of Slytherin girls SUPER happy, ‘cause they’d been talking about roasting marshmallows all lesson!
Another big Transfiguration lesson we had was way less exciting than the daggers one, but it was important because we learned TWO new spells that day, and they were super useful in every day life. This lesson took place in early March some time, and the classroom was pretty normal when students came in – except that all of the desks were set up in groups of four. Professor Stewart moved through this lesson pretty quickly, ‘cause there was a LOT to teach. The first new spell that she taught us is used to erase writing on parchment. The wand movement is super simple – you just wave your wand in a straight line over the words you want to erase on the parchment. The word for this spell is “Induco”, and you have to focus super hard on making the parchment blank in your mind while you cast it, or it won’t work at all. The second new spell that we learned that day was “Stilus Tabella”, which CREATES text – any color, font, or other kind of words – on a blank area of parchment. This spell’s wand movement is just a straight line over the blank area of parchment while the witch or wizard focuses super hard on the text they want to make appear, and on exactly HOW they want the text to look.
Professor Stewart wrote the spells and wand movements on the board and set us all to practicing the spell. Only, it didn’t work out so well for some people. Miss Noelle Summers, Gryffindor prefect, was sick or something that day, and she set her parchment on FIRE while she was trying to practice the spells. She was able to put the fire out all by herself pretty easily, but a few minutes later, second year Hufflepuff Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne set his textbook on fire too! He just had to shut his book to put the tiny fire out, but it was cool how erasing and writing spells could cause a FIRE. After that, it was time for the activity; Professor Stewart had a big stack of pieces of parchment with different words on them and loads of scribbles. Our job was to get rid of the scribbles and make a flier or poster about the big, theme-type word written on the parchment. It was pretty cool to do art-type stuff in Transfiguration; I never expected something like that to come up in that class. Everyone had fun making their posters, and they looked really pretty at the end of class. Slytherin fifth year Mr. Jonas Emery drew a NIFFLER and wrote stuff on his poster, which was super cool! Some people even tried to make theirs IMPS-themed, like Slytherin fourth year Miss Skylar Diggory. She made a pretty poster with all of the IMPS champions’ names and Houses, and it had a picture of a dementor on it for the first task and everything! The lesson pretty much ended there, but it was so cool to see how people made their posters different and creative!
Professor Stewart started the lesson off in an interesting way by passing around a fancy dagger in a sheath that she had, and asking us questions about smoke. It wasn’t long before she announced that she was going to teach us how to MAKE daggers from smoke! Which is a super cool spell, even if some students didn’t think it would be too useful for defense if you had a wand. To cast the spell, you have to look at the smoke and focus realllllllly hard on picturing the dagger and sheath you want to make in your mind before you even get your wand out. The wand movement is just a simple circle around the bit of smoke you’re picturing your dagger in; the spell itself is “Fumus Lamina.” It sounds easy, but the spell took even the older students a few tries to master! Once everybody had made a dagger, Professor Stewart announced the main activity: to play a sort of bean bag toss game WITH OUR DAGGERS!! The game board had four colors (red, blue, yellow, and green) and numbers from 1-10 over each hole; to win, you had to throw your dagger through the hole with your House color. The number assigned to that hole would be the number of points you win for your House! A lot of students were kind of nervous about this throwing daggers business, but almost everyone tried the game anyway. Plus, it was even harder than it would’ve been with just throwing, ‘cause you had to make a new dagger each time you came up to play. Miss Etta Kramer from Hufflepuff was the first person to throw her dagger into the correct hole! Hufflepuff ended up winning the game, with Gryffindor in second place, Slytherin in third place, and Ravenclaw in fourth place. The end of the lesson was pretty upsetting, though, ‘cause an older girl got upset and started crying and had to LEAVE without playing the game. After the lesson officially ended, Professor Stewart conjured a load of marshmallows and sticks for everyone to make snacks. This made a group of Slytherin girls SUPER happy, ‘cause they’d been talking about roasting marshmallows all lesson!
Another big Transfiguration lesson we had was way less exciting than the daggers one, but it was important because we learned TWO new spells that day, and they were super useful in every day life. This lesson took place in early March some time, and the classroom was pretty normal when students came in – except that all of the desks were set up in groups of four. Professor Stewart moved through this lesson pretty quickly, ‘cause there was a LOT to teach. The first new spell that she taught us is used to erase writing on parchment. The wand movement is super simple – you just wave your wand in a straight line over the words you want to erase on the parchment. The word for this spell is “Induco”, and you have to focus super hard on making the parchment blank in your mind while you cast it, or it won’t work at all. The second new spell that we learned that day was “Stilus Tabella”, which CREATES text – any color, font, or other kind of words – on a blank area of parchment. This spell’s wand movement is just a straight line over the blank area of parchment while the witch or wizard focuses super hard on the text they want to make appear, and on exactly HOW they want the text to look.
Professor Stewart wrote the spells and wand movements on the board and set us all to practicing the spell. Only, it didn’t work out so well for some people. Miss Noelle Summers, Gryffindor prefect, was sick or something that day, and she set her parchment on FIRE while she was trying to practice the spells. She was able to put the fire out all by herself pretty easily, but a few minutes later, second year Hufflepuff Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne set his textbook on fire too! He just had to shut his book to put the tiny fire out, but it was cool how erasing and writing spells could cause a FIRE. After that, it was time for the activity; Professor Stewart had a big stack of pieces of parchment with different words on them and loads of scribbles. Our job was to get rid of the scribbles and make a flier or poster about the big, theme-type word written on the parchment. It was pretty cool to do art-type stuff in Transfiguration; I never expected something like that to come up in that class. Everyone had fun making their posters, and they looked really pretty at the end of class. Slytherin fifth year Mr. Jonas Emery drew a NIFFLER and wrote stuff on his poster, which was super cool! Some people even tried to make theirs IMPS-themed, like Slytherin fourth year Miss Skylar Diggory. She made a pretty poster with all of the IMPS champions’ names and Houses, and it had a picture of a dementor on it for the first task and everything! The lesson pretty much ended there, but it was so cool to see how people made their posters different and creative!