Catch The Snitch

OOC: All Third- to Seventh-Year students are welcome to join this thread. As with the DADA class thread, this thread assumes that separate classes are held for students from different levels, so please treat students from other levels as unnamed NPCs. Do feel free to talk about anything specific to your student’s level of study, and reference what other students say where appropriate. For instance, a Seventh-Year NPC student could mention something that was taught during their Fifth Year, or an overachieving Third-Year NPC student could mention something that would only be taught to Fifth-Years.

This lesson takes place in mid-January 2006.

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Professor Nigel Dextera watched with amusement as the students streamed into Classroom 1B, perplexed by the prodigious number of dragon statuettes arrayed on the teacher’s and students’ desks – the very same ones that he had used to teach the Draconifors Spell to the Third-Years. From time to time he would introduce to the students an important concept in Transfiguration – or even magic in general – that wasn’t critical enough to be part of the syllabus, but would nonetheless still prove useful to the students. On the blackboard behind him, a single sentence provided the only other clue (albeit a cryptic one) as to what today’s lesson would be about:


“Form a clear mental picture of the object you are hoping to create before attempting a Transfiguring spell.”
Right on the dot, Nigel commenced his lesson. “As you might have guessed by now, today’s class involves the Draconifors spell,” he began. “But first, I will be nominating two students to assist with a demonstration.” He scanned the classroom, searching for someone well-versed in dragonology, and someone who was the complete opposite. “Miss Bryce McTaggart, and… Mr Kyle Winters. Please cast the Draconifors spell on the statuette in front of you.”

Confidently, Bryce drew her wand and performed a slashing motion as she recited the incantation. “Draconifors!” There was a flash of fiery orange light, and the clay statuette transformed into a tiny dragon, which promptly spread its bat-like wings and took to the air, snapping angrily at the students as it swooped past them. With its dark scales, arrow-tipped tail and aggressive disposition, it strongly resembled a Hebridean Black. An unsurprising choice, for the Scottish witch was an aspiring dragonologist and would likely be familiar with a dragon native to her homeland.

At the back of the classroom, a much more hesitant Kyle aimed his wand at the statuette, pausing for a half-second before casting the spell. “Draconifors!” This time round, the dragon was a bright crimson in colour, with two prominent rearward-pointing horns. It let out a little roar and a tiny tongue of flame, before it took wing and circled the classroom. Unlike the dragon that Bryce had transfigured, this particular specimen did not resemble any known species of dragon, extant or extinct, and its overall form was reminiscent of a Muggle's impression of the magical beast.

“Excellent work, Miss McTaggart and Mr Winters,” Nigel said, glad that the demonstration had turned out exactly the way he had expected. “Whenever we perform a transfiguration, it is imperative for us to have a clear mental picture of the intended result. Miss McTaggart, could you share with us what your mental picture was?”

“Yes, Professor. I had in mind a Hebridean Black.”

“Splendid. Thank you, Miss McTaggart,” Nigel nodded and turned to Kyle. “What about you, Mr Winters?”

“Um…” Kyle had a guilty look on his face as though he had done something wrong. “I had a mental picture of a dragon too, but it wasn’t any species in particular. It was just something that I thought of.”

“That’s perfectly alright. Another question for you, Mr Winters: does the dragon you transfigured match the picture in your mind?” Nigel asked.

“Yes, Professor.”

“Thank you, Mr Winters.” Sliding off the teacher’s desk, Nigel slowly strode down the middle of the classroom as he continued; he never quite liked to root himself behind his desk and distance himself physically from his students. “As we have seen, two people casting the same spell can end up with two different results, simply by virtue of having a different mental picture. This mental picture is an example of a spell parameter, a variable we can change to alter the effects of a spell.”

“Spell parameters exist in all branches of magic,” he continued, watching the reaction from some of his students, especially the faster ones put had already independently put two and two together. “Another common way to alter the effects of a spell is to modify the incantation. For instance, one can use the incantation Protego to cast a basic Shield Charm and protect themselves. By appending the appropriate suffix, one can ward their immediate vicinity with Protego Totalum, or even an extended area with Protego Maxima”

The tiny dragons were still flitting around the classroom. Pointing his wand at the little critters, he continued to speak as he reverted them to their original form and returned them to Bryce’s and Kyle’s desks. “While Transfiguration is a very precise branch of magic, there is ample room for you to exercise your creativity and alter the spell to achieve the desired effect.” That said, it was time to start the practical part of the lesson. “Now, I would like all of you to experiment with the Draconifors spell. It’s a fairly straightforward spell, and as Miss McTaggart and Mr Winters have demonstrated, your dragon may take on whatever form you choose, so long as your mental picture is sufficiently clear.”

Astrid dreaded Transfiguration class, as it was a wand-intensive class, meaning she particularly struggled with it as she was magically weak. Occasionally in such classes, other students would suggest that maybe she'd merely been fitted with an incompatible wand. Sometimes they even offered to let her try casting with their own wands to see if it made any difference, but it never did. She was convinced it had something to do with her half-giant mother's blood messing things up, meaning there a was a limit to what she could do.

Regardless, she took notes as Prof. Dextera spoke. It was easy enough for her to study; she never had a problem with the written parts of exams. It was just the practical portions that she consistently got below-average scores.

When the students were instructed to practice, she stared at the dragon statuette on her desk, and tried to form a clear image in her mind of a Welsh Green dragon.

As her nearby classmates all seemed to be making progress with their spells, she reluctantly drew her wand out and incanted, "Draconifors!". To her frustration, and nobody's surprise, her statue barely flapped its wings before it reverted to being a statue.

She tried again, speaking as clearly as she could through her Scottish accent, but met with the same result.

As the practical portion of the lesson began in earnest, Nigel observed his students and their wandwork as he walked down the middle of the classroom. Having an entire class of youngsters casting spells at the same time was usually a chaotic affair, even without the multitude of tiny dragons flitting around in the air. But there was no cause for concern: as long as the students abided by the safety guidelines he had laid down and ensured that their wands were never pointed in the general direction of their classmates, nobody would be hit by a stray spell.

As for the growing horde of miniature dragons, he had a simple solution. Removing a golden ring that was shaped like a stylised dragon, Nigel tossed it high into the air. Immediately the enchantments placed on the ring flared to life as the ring transformed into a dragon with shimmering golden scales and gemstone-like amethyst eyes. Snapping at the other dragons, it quickly began to herd them into a neat ring. Before long the messy swarm was circling in an orderly fashion overhead, with the occasional individual breaking ranks to return to the students who had transfigured them.

Most of the students were doing well, save for a few who were weaker at Transfiguration. Nigel watched closely as Astrid attempted to cast the spell, only for the statue to move briefly before returning to its original state. As far as he could tell, there was nothing wrong with the way she had cast her spell, and the most likely reason for the spell’s failure was its strength – or more precisely, its lack thereof. “Keep the heid, Miss Osborne,” he encouraged her, his native Edinburgh accent coming out a little more strongly than usual in his bid to get her to lighten up and not stress herself out excessively. “Don’t tense up – relax, take a deep breath, and focus on the image of the dragon in your head.” Drawing his wand, he continued, “When you’re ready, perform the wand movement and recite the incantation confidently like this. Draconifors!”

With a small burst of orange light, the statuette transformed into a tiny Antipodean Opaleye, its pearly scales catching the light and glittering as it stretched its wings and flapped them tentatively a couple of times. Just before it launched itself into the air, Nigel swiftly and wordlessly untransfigured it, reverting it back to an inanimate form. “Your wand movement and incantation were correct, so don’t worry about those,” he said. “If you're ready, would you like to attempt the spell again?”

Astrid had been so focused on her failure that she was startled when Prof. Dextera suddenly addressed her. She looked to him as he offered some advice, and watched as he proceeded to demonstrate the transfiguration on her statuette with such ease.

Astrid straightened up in her oversize desk, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes as she tried to relax her posture and imagine the Welsh Green again, with its prominent horns, yellow eyes, bat-like wings, green skin, scaly texture, and serpentine tail. She pictured the dragon spreading its wings in an aggressive posture and breathing fire.

After holding that picture in her mind for a moment, she opened her eyes and pointed her wand and incanted, "Draconifors!" as she made the requisite wand movements.

Once again, the clay dragon took shape, gained color, and sprang to life. Perhaps due to the mental image she'd formed, it turned to face Prof. Dextera, spread its wings, stomped to the edge of her desk, and started spitting fire at him!

"Och jobby!", Astrid exclaimed as she dropped her wand and instinctively reached out to grab the dragon and pull it back. But just as quickly, the dragon returned to its clay form, its mouth still smouldering a bit.

"Sur, a'm sae sorry, ah didnae mean fur it tae attack ye!", Astrid apologized, deeply embarrassed.

Seeing Astrid jump a little, Nigel made a mental note to make his presence known in future before addressing some of his students. Some of them could get so focused that it rendered them oblivious to their surroundings, and accidentally startling them could result in an accident. Fortunately, Astrid recovered well enough and proceeded to reattempt the Draconifors spell. As her spell struck the statuette with an orange burst of light, the inanimate object transformed into a little Welsh Green, which promptly spun around and stomped away from Astrid. Something was not right about the spell, even though it seemed to be working. He furrowed his brow, deep in thought—

Without warning, the tiny dragon belched a focused jet of fire straight at him. Instinctively he sidestepped as quickly as he could and raised his wand, but held back just in time when he saw that Astrid had already grabbed the little critter by its tail. And as abruptly as the unprovoked attack begun, the dragon reverted to its original form: a lifeless, unmoving statuette.

While no harm at all had been done, the near-mishap had came as a huge shock to Astrid, and she apologised profusely. “Don’t worry about it,” he reassured her. “You reacted quickly, and that is commendable.” Her attempt at the spell was better than her last too, though it did leave a bit to be desired. “Your Transfiguration might not have persisted long enough, but it was a very good effort nonetheless.”

Based on how the spell wore off after mere seconds, and the slightly dimmer flash of orange light Astrid’s wand had emitted when she cast the spell, Nigel was certain that he had identified the root of the problem: her spell had lacked just a wee bit of power. Had the statuette been a tad smaller, the spell would have worked beautifully.

He could give her a smaller statuette to work with, but he would be doing her no favours by offering her an easy way out. Fortunately, Nigel did have another trick up his sleeve: the Imbuing Charm, an obscure but surprisingly simple spell used primarily by metal charmers, and wizarding inventors and craftspersons. The charm allowed one to imbue an object with magical energy to empower any spells placed upon or used against it, and it had proven most useful when he had to work with extremely strong metals and alloys and transfigure them into small and intricate watch components.

With the practiced ease of a skilled metal charmer, he wordlessly cast the spell on the statuette. A thin wisp of white smoke that wafted from his wand to the statuette was the only telltale sign of what he had done, but few, if any, would be able to identify the spell. “I hope this would do the trick,” Nigel said as he returned his gaze to Astrid. “I know it can be quite demoralising for you, but I’d like you to try the spell just one more time.”

Astrid still felt embarrassed, despite Prof. Dextera's assurances. The incident had turned heads in the classroom. There would probably be rumors that she'd attacked her teacher with a dragon circulating by lunchtime. Someone was bound to embellish it further and say that Prof. Dextera was being treated for burns at St. Mungo's. She couldn't help but feel more pressure because of the attention she'd inadvertantly called to herself.

"Whit wis that?", she asked after witnessing the silent casting and white smoke, in a voice small enough that nearby students couldn't overhear. At his insistence that she try again, however, she dropped the question and reluctantly stared at the statuette once more. "Braw, ah will huv a go."

Again, she imagined the welsh green in as much detail as she could recall, though this time, she pictured it standing at ease, instead of aggressively. She didn't want it to attack Prof. Dextera a second time!

"Draconifors!", she incanted once the image had formed in her mind.

The statuette came to life, and thankfully, it stayed put, as it flapped its wings gently. Astrid's eyes widened and her lips parted a bit when it didn't immediately revert to clay.

"Aye ma auntie, mah spell worked?! Whit did ye dae?" She turned to look at her teacher questioningly.

The Imbuing Charm caught Astrid’s attention, and her reaction reminded Nigel of what he had been like when his father first taught him the spell. He had been trying to shape slivers of steel into tiny cogs, and the combination of the metal’s durability and the delicate nature of the work proved too difficult for the young apprentice watchmaker. “Something that you might find useful in the future,” he replied without actually explaining anything, preferring to let the spell speak for itself.

With the clay statuette thus prepared, he encouraged Astrid to try transfiguring it again. Reluctantly she did, and as her spell struck the statuette, the lifeless clay transformed into a tiny Welsh Green and, unlike in her previous attempts, remained in its new form.

Nigel broke into a smile as the results matched his expectations perfectly, even if it came as a surprise to the girl. “That was the Imbuing Charm,” he explained, “a simple charm that charges up an object with magical energy, and empowers the next spell cast on it.” With a quick wave of his wand he summoned another statuette to him and set it down in front of Astrid. “To cast the spell, you simply point your wand at the desired object and trace a tiny circle anticlockwise with the tip of your wand as you recite the incantation,” he said as he began to demonstrate the wand movement. “Afflatus,” he intoned, putting the stress on the second syllable, and right on cue a thin wisp of smoke flowed from his wand into the statuette. Keeping his wand in motion, he continued. “You should feel a slight but steady flow of magic, and if you maintain this spell long enough, you will start to feel a bit of resistance. That’s usually a good time to stop, and you can simply flick your wand away from the centre of the circle to end the spell.”

With his demonstration thus completed, Nigel tapped the statuette with his wand, discharging it with a bright flash of white light, before motioning for Astrid to attempt the new spell. “Would you like to give it a go, Miss Osbourne?”

"Tha sin iongantach!" (1), Astrid exclaimed. Sure, it meant she'd have extra work to do whenever she wanted to cast a spell, but if it made any spell easier to cast, it would be a game-changer for her.

"Aye, ah'll gie it a try, ken." she said, before concentrating and pointing her wand. “Afflatus,” she incanted. Then, "Draconifors." It sprang to life as the little Welsh Green once again, and started flapping its wings. This time, the charm seemed to last longer.

As Astrid watched the creature roam around her desk, she bit her lower lip, and soon tears actually started to well up in her eyes. "Thank ye! Ye dinnae ken hoo much this means tae me!"

(1) "That's amazing!"

“Gu cinnteach,”¹ Nigel replied, heartened that Astrid’s spirits weren’t dampened despite what had happened. He observed carefully as she managed to imbue the statuette with a small reservoir of magic – on her first try no less – and subsequently cast the Draconifors spell. Immediately, the statuette was transformed into a Welsh Green dragon and remained in that form without reverting back.

“Very well done, Miss Osbourne,” he congratulated as he beamed proudly at her. “Remember: when there’s a will, there’s a way. You’re far from the first to encounter such issues, and I assure you, this is something you will be able to overcome with the right methods.”

¹ “Most certainly”