17 Jun 2025, 05:55
Different Than Usual
@Ellie Randensmith
@Makaio Kāne
Sorry I am SO late, I just got really busy.
Time: June 2025
It was June, and Exams were coming up. Important ones too, because if Lillian was remembering correctly, if you bombed these you could get kicked out. Or at least be marked as 'dummy' for all the rest of your time at Hogwarts. Six years was a long time to be 'dummy'.
That was why she was studying at the library today. Or mabie studying wasn't the right word, Lillian mused. Generally when she studied she was at a table, with a few books, intending to be alone, but eventually talking to someone or more than one someone.
This time she was sitting on the floor in a corner with a pile of what used to be matches. This time she was defiantly not going to talk to anyone. ( Anyway, no one would even see her! ) This time she was doing some hands-on practice.
She had looked for matches everywhere. Lillian snuck one or two from a dorm-mate. She 'borrowed' a couple more from class, even though she knew it was bad. She found a few on the floor. And one more outside. Someone gave her one or two when Lillian asked. All total, Lillian had about a dozen for practicing.
"Conmutocus" Lillian said, softly to a match about six inches in front of her, while scribbling in air. It turned into a needle. She put it beside her left side.
Then Lillian picked up another match from her right side. "Comotocus" she told it. But she said it wrong. It now had some needle-like qualities and some match-like qualities. Oops! she thought, putting the match-needle behind her with three other hybrids. Lillian sat the bad ones behind her as not to distract her from casting the spell correctly, and not to accidently cast the spell on the weird ones. Some bad side-effect would probably happen if she were to do that.
When she got finished with turning matches into needles, she would reverse it. She would take the good needles, ( Lillian didn't know how to do anything with the match-needles, and she didn't dare try. ) and turn them back into matches. Lillian would keep it up until 1.) she ran out of good matches or needles, or 2) she learned the spell.
Last edited by Lillian McMason on 20 Jun 2025, 21:43, edited 1 time in total.
18 Jun 2025, 03:57
Different Than Usual
One of the places Makaio avoided like the plague was the library. It was the very opposite of being outside. He spent time in these places only because his then-girlfriend, now-wife, Leilani liked to go to the one in Tenūsa when they were students. They were stuffy, smelled weird, and were always places that pretentious people like to hang out at - not saying anything about his wife, of course!
However, Hogwarts was a famed library of many rare and valuable manuscripts and he would be a fool not to take advantage of the resource. So, off to the library he went, mostly in search of some book that he needed to read for research.
The Transfiguration professor was walking through the aisle when he thought he heard whispering. He ignored it for awhile but the unmistakable sound of a spell being cast drew his attention. Were they allowed to cast magic in a library? That sounded quite dangerous, what with all these flammable objects around.
“Why, McMason!” Makaio greeted as he rounded a shelf to see one of his students practicing in a lone corner. She was practicing matchstick to needle and doing quite the bang up job at it too! “Love to see my students practicing!” He continued as he approached her, stopping several feet away and then kneeling down. “These are quite good. You should be proud of yourself!”
He smiled warmly and waited to see if she might invite him to join or perhaps ask him for advice.
@Lillian McMason
However, Hogwarts was a famed library of many rare and valuable manuscripts and he would be a fool not to take advantage of the resource. So, off to the library he went, mostly in search of some book that he needed to read for research.
The Transfiguration professor was walking through the aisle when he thought he heard whispering. He ignored it for awhile but the unmistakable sound of a spell being cast drew his attention. Were they allowed to cast magic in a library? That sounded quite dangerous, what with all these flammable objects around.
“Why, McMason!” Makaio greeted as he rounded a shelf to see one of his students practicing in a lone corner. She was practicing matchstick to needle and doing quite the bang up job at it too! “Love to see my students practicing!” He continued as he approached her, stopping several feet away and then kneeling down. “These are quite good. You should be proud of yourself!”
He smiled warmly and waited to see if she might invite him to join or perhaps ask him for advice.
@Lillian McMason
PC: Dennis Tumberton | iNPC: Maria Leung de Almeida
19 Jun 2025, 06:10
Different Than Usual
@Ellie Randensmith
@Makaio Kāne
Lillian looked up startled at his greeting. Her first reaction was a little pride mixed with embarrassment. What student got caught studying on the floor by their teacher? Her, that's who. But Professor Kāne seemed pleased with how well he thought she was doing. That was a good thing. But, mabie not so good, when he found out about the match-needles.
But, Lillian was pretty surprised. For one, she rarely saw him, or other teachers in the library when she was there. For two, Lillian didn't think anyone would find her, here. But he was here, and Lillian could probably use a bit of help.
Her second reaction was a relief. If he didn't mind helping her, she could defiantly use some. Hesitating a little, Lillian reached for the hybrid match-needles ( five now ) from behind her and showed them to Professor Kāne. "So, umm... This sometimes happens if I am not focusing well enough. I could use a little help, since this is my worst subject." she said a little bit shyly.
Then she thought-continued on to what she had said, a very bad habit of hers. Mabie, you don't know I am bad at Transfiguration. Mabie, I do such a good job hiding it. Lillian did care very much about pleasing her teachers and not looking stupid. Mabie practicing on the library's floor was stupid? Most other people didn't do things like that. Was she weird? Speaking about practicing in the library, was it even allowed? Lillian shook her head slightly, like usual, to better listen to her professor's answer. She should pay very close attention, because he was way better at this kind of stuff than her, hence being the Transfiguration teacher.
20 Jun 2025, 08:55
Different Than Usual
Makaio continued to smile as she showed him her work. It seemed she did a great job but there seemed to be something she was worried about. Seeing as how she was on the floor, the transfiguration professor sat cross legged opposite her so that he could get a good look at her handiwork. She offered him her half transfigurations as proof that she wasn’t very good.
“Those are great for practice!” He said, with a wave of his wand, and a whispered “Reparifarge,” he turned the five remaining back into matchsticks. “Even I don’t get my spells right from time to time. That doesn’t mean you aren’t very good. It just means you should practice more. That’s exactly what you are doing!”
She went on to say that she was actually quite bad at transfiguration. He nodded to this, everyone was allowed to feel how they wanted about their subjects. It was a sentiment that almost every student at Hogwarts bemoaned but honestly the professor thought Transfiguration was by far the most creative of all the subjects! “Transfiguration is quite difficult,” he said softly, and then continued, “but really all it takes is a little bit of imagination!”
He offered the matchsticks back to her. “Do you mind if I watch? Can you turned these into needles for me?”
“Those are great for practice!” He said, with a wave of his wand, and a whispered “Reparifarge,” he turned the five remaining back into matchsticks. “Even I don’t get my spells right from time to time. That doesn’t mean you aren’t very good. It just means you should practice more. That’s exactly what you are doing!”
She went on to say that she was actually quite bad at transfiguration. He nodded to this, everyone was allowed to feel how they wanted about their subjects. It was a sentiment that almost every student at Hogwarts bemoaned but honestly the professor thought Transfiguration was by far the most creative of all the subjects! “Transfiguration is quite difficult,” he said softly, and then continued, “but really all it takes is a little bit of imagination!”
He offered the matchsticks back to her. “Do you mind if I watch? Can you turned these into needles for me?”
@Lillian McMason
PC: Dennis Tumberton | iNPC: Maria Leung de Almeida
21 Jun 2025, 06:02
Different Than Usual
@Ellie Randensmith
@Makaio Kāne
Lillian didn't know if she minded him watching or not, but she would do her best to show that she was at least a little good at it. But mabie, like Professor Kāne said, she was better than she thought. She did have enough sense to practice. Mabie Lillian was better at the subject than she first thought.
Like usual she was thinking things through to much. Lillian quickly picked up the matchsticks Professor Kāne handed her, ready to cast the spell, before she realized what she was doing. She was very nervous, hoping that she didn't mess up, while she had her teachers 100% attention. There were no other kids ( or other people for that matter, ) for Professor Kāne to pay attention to. Just her.
She was nervous, so she took a deep breath. That helped a little. "Commoutcus" Lillian said fumbling the spell, over nervousness. Unsurprisingly that match turned into a hybrid. She took another deep breath with her eyes close this time. Then scribbling in the air she said
'Conmutocus' correctly this time. But for some reason another match-needle emerged! Then, it happened again! She had tried three times, and the last two times she did it, she had done it correctly!
'I can't do this for some reason' Lillian was about to say. But then she remembered Professor Kāne's words, ghostlike in her head, Even I don’t get my spells right from time to time. That gave her a little bit of strength. "Commoutcus," Lillian then said to her next match. It worked! She grinned at Professor Kāne and celebrated by turning five needles back into matches, because by then she had turned all the matches that she had into needles. "Thanks!" she said to him grinning again. She might finally understand the spell now!