Details for Transfiguration Class, 6th Year |
Summary: | Transfiguration Class. Things are, you know, transfigured. |
Date: | 1938-10-16 |
Location: | Transfiguration Classroom, Hogwarts |
Related: | Stealing The Show |
Characters |
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Alphard leaned towards Andromena, who happened to be the lucky student seated next to him in Transfiguration (because everybody loved being stuck with Black), and gave her notes a critical look. His nose wrinkled and his lips pursed; a thin little line that spoke volumes. It said: Don't mess this up for us!
They were to be working in groups, doing theoretical prepwork for that most awesome of spells: Desk into Pig, and the reversal: Pig into Desk. The exact usefulness of said spell could be debated, but at least it did teach the advanced transfiguration knowledge required to make -useful- magic.
Niko wasn't really paying attention today, a rather odd shift from his normal warm and happy self. He looks up at Alphard and then at Andromena, his wand tapping against his leg slowly, his gaze moves back down to the desk, not really seeming to care much about this spell or class today. He was bracing himself for what was to come, he knew Black would have something to say.
Andromena glanced toward Alphard, her eyes coolly appraising. He had said nothing, of course, but she -felt- as if he was about to. If anything, it was she who worried that he would mess things up for her. After all…Andromena knew she was more than capable, but everyone else? Ugh! Group projects were always such a chore.
Naturally, the girl had nothing personal against either Alphard or the seemingly distracted Niko, but she was - how to put it politely? - a bit neurotic about school work.
A terrible chore. When Andromena looked up he met her gaze, caught it, held it, fixed it into that special time-warp moment of challenged wills where the whole outside world seems to fade into nothing. "Obviously I'm in charge," he said finally, breaking the silence. "I'm delegating Meanie to do all the writing." The only way to get things done proper was to issue all the orders. It was something Alphard had learned at an early age.
He glanced at Niko. "If you can avoid ruining this like you're determined to ruin everything else you touch, I'd be -real- grateful, Casanova."
Niko just taps his wand against his leg as he listed to Alphard, "Yeap, you are in charge Black." he says softly, not even looking up, "I will do my best…" he says with his mind absent, "What do we do first?" he asks
She suppressed a heavy sigh. Meanie? It was really quite banal. Hardly imaginative. What was to be gained by making a fuss over it, however? Andromena surmised it would only get worse and so she let the matter slide. After Alphard addressed Niko, she pushed forward her notes, tapping them with a long finger.
"If you both would open your books to the appropriate page…" The history between Alphard and Niko, as it were, was not unknown to her, but she was not going to bring it up. She just wanted the three of them to get this project done.
Alphard gave Niko a suspicious look, like he couldn't believe his little barb had been accepted without a hint of a fuss. Once or twice he opened his mouth to say something, but didn't, instead chewing on it instead. Finally he sighed, slumped back into his chair and opened the page of his book. "Well. Let's not say I can't let a defeated foe surrender." With a dramatic little fourish he gestured in Niko's direction, as if accepting said 'surrender' that had never been actually uttered. After that he went all business.
"Alright! First thing is to write down the theorem of inanimate to animate transfiguration and how it applies to desks and pigs!" And thus he went into a lengthy lecture mode, obviously assuming Meanie would just act as his secretary for the whole project and write down exactly what he said.
Niko nodded, "Yeah books…" he says slowly, his hand running through his hair before he reached over and picked up his book, "What page… which spell are we doing?" he asked slowly, looking up at Alphard, he says as he looks down at clearly the wrong book is in front of him, as it is his N.E.W.T. level Charms book. He listens to Alphard, looking back down at his book, "Oh… wrong book…" he says slowly before putting this one away and getting his Transfiguration book out, not commenting at all about the 'surrender'.
Andromena's lips pursed into a thin line. She had no sympathy for people that let their emotions or personal events get in the way of their academic life. Maybe that was because she herself had never really encountered much to upset her social life. (What little of one she had). Plainly, it would fall on her to get their group through this assignment with a passing grade.
As Alphard talked, she did indeed play secretary, but not as the Black youth might believe. Twice she interrupted him to correct what he said, staring levelly so that Alphard understood she would not stand for any argument on his part. Still, she tried to correct him in such a way as so he did not feel stupid for it. People seemed to take offense to that. Especially the truly stupid ones.
Alphard let out a deep and drawn out sigh when Niko admitted to not even having the right book out, and while he didn't actually make any of his usual crass comments, the maglin look he gave the other boy suggested this was not acceptable behavior! But as he talked - and occasionally got interrupted, how RUDE! - by Andromena, he seemed to forget that Niko was even there. Give Alphard Pollux Black one little thing; he genuinely did love his magic. Even when it appeared in a dry theoretical form rather than just instinctual wand waving. Those pale hands of his started to get animated, waving around as he talked.
"What?! NO!" That to Andromena, on a particular point. "You're wrong! We're going with my version, dammit. -Mine-. I don't care what books you've read. Denholm! Tell her I'm right!"
Niko shakes his head slightly, "Umm… I think she is right…" he says slowly, flipping pages in his book, still trying to figure out where they are, "but I could be wrong… more then likely…" he says slowly, looking up at the two, "Maybe you both are right… Alphard is in charge though after all, maybe we should just take his lead." he says slowly with a small wave of his hand, the warm smile that normally on his face gone.
Andromena attempted to smooth things over with Alphard. "Look, it's alright," she said with a small smile. "I once made this same mistake, it's very easy to do." She glanced to the professor, who nodded his agreement. Finally, Andromena looked to Niko. What to do about him?
"Niko, no matter who is in charge, it is only right to correct a person if they err - no matter who they are. I am sure Alphard is happier now to know he is truly right." As opposed to someone else at a latter time using it to throw it in his face. Maybe there were people that would -like- to do that, but Andromena believed in helping anyone to become more educated. Well…for the most part.
"Please. Both could be right? Bah. That's just wishy-washy nonsense all around," Alphard grumbled, rolling his eyes at Niko. He turned to face Andromena instead, focusing his attentions on turning her around. "Listen, I know you're all.. into reading and studying and being a real pretty little Ravenclaw know-it-all Princess of the Bookworms. But I'm—" not right this time, because Dumbledore was there and giving the nod to Andromena.
Alphard blinked once, twice. Baffled. Mouth open. For a moment he deflated, but it was brief. His arrogance had a way of recovering as if by miracle. "Oh, fine. Whatever. I've done most of the work on this project already, it's not like I can do -everything-." He cleared his voice. "So.. let's just continue." Shifty-eye.
Niko shrugs, "Sorry we are not more help Black." he says slowly still trying to find that page, "Yeah… what page are we one?" he says slowly tilting his head a bit to the right, "I can't seem to find it…" he sayss looking at Andromena then Alphard, "Sorry not feeling myself today." he says with a shrug.
"Yes, of course…" Andromena agreed quietly. Princess of the Bookworms is a sight better than Meanie, she supposed. Getting up from her seat, Andromena stepped over to Niko, peering toward his book and opening it to the right page for him. "We're about…" she tapped toward the bottom of the page. "Here." Reseating herself, she cast Alphard a surreptitious glance. "Please continue, Alphard."
So maybe they weren't doomed to failure like she first feared, and to be honest, she -had- been worried Alphard would react badly to being corrected. Points to him for that. The only piece on the table that needed work was Niko. He appeared very lethargic.
"I'm sure.." Alphard's drawl was a quiet little murmur, not a hint of malice in his tone. In fact it sounded almost friendly. Mr Sympathetic. "Must be hard staying up all night snogging your new mudblood girlfriend. Soul sucking business." He cracked a thin smile. "Don't worry about it. It's not as if we actually need your help. Lay your head down. Catch up on your beauty sleep."
"Oh just leave him be," he told Andromena exasperately. "We can do this just the two of us. Now!" And from the look of him, he totally intended to go back to dictating to Meanie.
Niko shakes his head, "Leave Kimiko out of this Black." he says slowly, his gaze moving up to Alphard, "Kimiko is just a friend." he says slowly shaking his head, "Just lay off Black…" he says slowly with a sigh. Looking up at the Ravenclaw girl, "Thanks." he says slowly, his finger moving across the page slowly.
She had no desire to get in the middle of whatever the two boys had going on. Unfortunately, it seemed an unlikely hope. "Come now, get back to what you were saying," she suggested to Alphard. Niko better not sleep. It would reflect on /her/ in the eyes of others. Regardless of whether that was actually true or not hardly mattered! There was little she felt she could say to Niko at that point. He was not well known to her, nor was this Kimiko. Friend or otherwise.
The trio were working on the infamous project that was 'desk-to-pig' and so on and so forth. As yet, they were only in the note-taking stage. Or, if you were Alphard, the talking stage. If one were to glance upon them, they would spy a beleaguered-looking Niko and a note-taking Andromena.
"Oh, whatever. It's not even any fun when you're this pathetic," Alphard admitted with a long suffering sigh. As if him not getting any pleasure out of bullying Niko at the moment was something Niko should be ashamed of. He popped his neck once, then twice, before looking out across the classroom to see how the other groups were fairing with the project. When his eyes landed on Professor Dumbledore, there was a glint in them. His attentions swung back to Andromena. "Let's take a little break. I think we're ahead of things, anyway."
Augustin has not been here the whole time. In fact, he only walks into class just now with a note, which he hands to Professor Dumbledore. They confer very quietly for a couple of seconds and then Dumbledore points Augustin toward Alphard. The Hufflepuff boy opens his mouth like he's going to protest, but the old wizard merely looks at him, and Gus closes his mouth and stalks sullenly toward the group. "Hello," he mutters, putting his books on a nearby desk. "Professor said I'm to work with you." He takes out his wand with a resigned sort of air.
Boys presented their own problems when one was forced to work with them. Andromena was sure some girls would prefer being grouped with other girls, but to be honest the dark-haired girl saw drawbacks when saddled with a gaggle of gossiping hens, too. "I've been taking notes," she informed Augustin. Normally she would get her socks all in a bunch over a latecomer, but she had seen him approach the professor with a note. Exceptions could be made.
"Take a look over them, if you please. Alphard has just suggested a break." And maybe the boys would break, but for Andromena, such a thing was a pointless waste of time. It was not that the girl was desperate for good grades - Andromena was quite confident in herself - it was just that she kept a very strict schedule.
"Hey Rousseau, have a seat." It was a friendly enough greeting, almost uncharacteristically so from the notorious bully. Not even any sort of whine about a late comer getting to coast on all their hard work. "We're doing the theory part of Desk-to-Pig Transfiguration. We've got it pretty much wrapped up, I think. I did most of it, but Meanie helped." While Niko just got another eye-roll, to say what Alphard thought of -his- contribution so far. "So why are you late, anyway?" Casual hushed conversation while he waited for Augustin to catch up on their notes so far. All of it written by Meanie, as arrogantly dictated by Alphard.
Alphard went back to dictating what he expected Andromena to write down, until the class ended, with whatever input that the other two coughed up.
FADE TO BLACK.