Lesson 1 (Years 3, 4, 5)

[viola]

The school had downsized. So much so that Annemarie was afraid of what the magical world was coming to. Between parents not allowing their students to return to school, or just transferring them away from Hogwarts just in general, it continuously made Annemarie believe that she should have gotten out while she was ahead.

With an exasperated sigh, the red haired woman shook her recently cut and dyed hair and shook the thoughts away. Was that what God wanted for her? To quit and affect no one's lives? She hardly doubted it, but at the same time, she almost felt as if her work was out somewhere more in the field, rather than sitting at a silly old oak desk. Annemarie thought about Xander and how exciting his life probably was before Hogwarts... sure, he'd said he'd gotten into trouble and such...

...but anything had to be better than this.

Looking up at the doorway, Annemarie didn't hold her breath as her students trickled in. Three years grouped together was disgusting... how was she supposed to work under these conditions?! Gritting her teeth, the woman smiled as best she could without losing her temper before the students even got through the door. She was bound to have a talk with that Raynor woman... and when she did, Annemarie was sure she wouldn't be going to Heaven after all she had to say to the woman.

(Years 3, 4, and 5 can begin posting.)

[Jeremy Taylor]

Feet of lead dragged across the stone floors and through the door of the Transfiguration room. Hardly the student either of his cousins had been while at Hogwarts, Jeremy was especially weak in any class that required a wand. He could usually fake his way through exams by reading the book, but rumor was that his standard cheats wouldn't fly in Professor Van Aller's class.

He had also heard a few other things about the woman, and suspected that sneaking into the class trying to go unnoticed would probably make things worse for himself. Forcing himself to at least attempt to look at the Professor in her eye, he greeted her with a tentative "Good day, Professor," before skittering into his seat, and pulling out his notes in the hopes that she'd ignore him for the rest of the hour.

[viola]

One student walked in diligently, and as much as she really didn't feel like smiling, she couldn't help but smile at how shy the poor boy looked. Head almost painfully rising to meet her gaze, Annemarie crossed her arms and her sneer slowly turned upward into a smirk. It was about as much as she could give any of the students at this point in time, and yet, she could feel within her some of the hope she'd lost over the last school year. It must have been the red hair dye. That was all she could figure.

"And a very good day to you as well, Mr..." Annemarie was very behind in her work, and with more students names to memorize, knowing all of the students names was proving to be more difficult than normal. Again, she blamed it on the chemicals she's purposely had doused all over her skull cap. "...well, then... come now? I'm Professor van Aller. And you are?" She picked up her quill and was at the ready to mark off the name of the student whom had entered. Though she wasn't taking which seats they sat in, she still had to call role... how else was she to award house points for attendance?

[Jeremy Taylor]

He was going to kill Drew for suggesting he say good morning to the new Transfiguration professor. Now she had seen him and worse... was speaking to him. So much for hoping he'd be ignored.

"J... Jeremy ... T... Taylor," he stuttered, forcing himself to keep eye contact. With any luck, she'd note his name and leave him alone. "I'm in Ravenclaw. I'm a th... third year," he finished, thought she hadn't asked him for that information. If anything, it would possibly keep her from asking him anything else.

[viola]

Annemarie's smirk turned into more of a soft smile as the child tried to spit out exactly what it was that she wanted. It was cute in a way. Much like the children she'd seen in her new neighborhood she'd moved into. All shy, and on the meek side. None of them really slytherin material, and with the way the boy was obviously shaking... she would have pinned him for a huffle, but Ravenclaw suited him as well she supposed.

"Ah, very well then. Ten points to Ravenclaw then, Mr. Taylor. Well done..." she muttered the last few words as she checked down his name on the roster and then placed the clip board and quill down on her desk. He was one of the older students to be in the class and Annemarie felt sorry for him having to be stuck with those who knew more, and ultimately those who knew less. It was a trying time for sure, and for that Annemarie sighted, her smile fading slightly. "Do you like to play games?" Annemarie asked the young Ravenclaw.

[+10 Ravenclaw]

[Jeremy Taylor]

Ten points? Had he actually earned ten points? Jeremy didn't think he had ever earned that many points in one day, much less in the first five minutes of one class. It probably didn't matter considering he was doomed to lose ten times that much once the woman saw his wandwork.

He was hoping for the conversation to end, but there would be no such luck. A question and one that Jeremy thought might be a trick. He knew that the answer the woman was probably expecting was an affirmative one, but he couldn't honestly give one.

"N... not particularly... Professor Van Aller," he answered, hoping the use of her name in his response would keep him from sounding too cheeky.

[viola]

It was a shame the boy didn't like to play games and as he said no, her smile didn't fade, but her brows furrowed slightly as she was a bit disappointed. It could be seen on her face, something she'd never been too good at doing... hiding any emotion. It was no matter. If the boy didn't like to play any games than she would not force him. However... "Not even when it comes to earning easy house points?" Again, she was used to dealing with her own house. Any snake would jump at the opportunity, but she was sure to see hesitation in the boy's eyes. She asked the question nonchalant like. What did she mean? She was quick to inform.

"Everyone who comes through that door, you'll probably know better than I would. Or at least a name, be it last or first... for every name you give me... even if it's just saying 'Hi, so-and-so' as they walk in will earn you one point. If you don't know the name, you of course wouldn't have to say anything. But if you say one, you get one house point. But, that's if you'd like to help an old biddy like me out." Annemarie laughed a little, and gave the kid a wink before picking up her quill again and her board. "It will be fun. Almost like the child's game of Memory." If the kid said anything to anyone about what she was doing, Annemarie knew that they'd never believe him.

After all... after the last year and all the things she'd done to even her own house to earn respect and suck the fun out of everything... who would believe the sheep that sat in front of her that she was just giving away house points? Annemarie laughed to herself. She was having fun... and being cruel at the same time. It was almost as if she could feel God's eyes drilling into her back... and yet... at that moment, she didn't care.

[Claire Desrosiers]

Claire didn't hate Transfiguration nor did she really enjoy. Charms was more up her alley but even though transforming things was cool it was not very easy. Not really knowing what to expect the Slytherin shuffled out from the dungeons and up stairs to the fourth floor. At least this journey was not as bad as most around the castle. When it came to getting to class Claire was sometimes jealous of the people who lived in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Of course she was proud of be in her own house so that was that.

Strolling into the classroom Claire was not quite prepared for what she saw. Jeremy was already inside but he was in her year and that was not the surprise. Inside was van Aller, the Slytherin house head. Wait...didn't she teach another subject last year? Claire couldn't really recall but she was almost certain that her head did not teach Transfiguration last year. Deciding it was best not to say anything the girl just smiled, "Hi professor." The girl was not quite aware that she was talking about something to Jeremy.

[Jeremy Taylor]

Jeremy's first thought was she wasn't as big of a *itch as Drew had said she was. If he understood her right, he would get a point if he knew someone's name, but it sounded like he wouldn't lose any if he didn't. Well, that was easy. He hardly knew anyone's name to begin with, so he wouldn't have to say anything and he wouldn't get in trouble.

He was about to say as much to the Professor when Brenton's girlfriend came in. Playing the game the way he wanted to, he went back to his notes, glancing up briefly to gauge the woman's reaction to his refusal to play. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That was how Jeremy liked it.

[viola]

So it seemed that Jeremy Taylor wasn't much for games at all. Not even when he couldn't lose anything from it. Annemarie sighed, sad to see what could be such a bright mind go to waste because of shyness. No matter. A young Slytherin walked through the door, one in which of course van Aller knew and she smiled brightly. "Ah, Miss Desrosiers," Annemarie said excitedly. "I'm so happy you could join us. Fifteen points to Slytherin for doing so today." Annemarie looked at Jeremy and just shrugged. He could have easily earned points, and yet, he refused. No, he didn't lose anything, but he didn't gain anything either.

"Alright, we'll wait for the others but in the mean time. Do you like to play games Miss Desrosiers?" Anneamarie asked of her young Slytherin.

[+15 Slytherin]

[Derrick Breckenridge]

Derrick stretched from his chair in the library. He had been reviewing all of his Transfiguration books and notes from previous year and brushing up on some previous wand work. It was something he enjoyed throughly being able to change one thing into another and then back again. It was the reason it was his favorite class last year because of the mystery and intrigue behind the whole method of this particular magic. This year would be a bit different then last though as from what he gathered there was a new professor. It was fine with him as long as in at the end of the day he was learning something. Standing he swiped his bag from the table and headed out for the class.

Striding into the room Derrick noted that per usual Jeremy had beat him to the room. He was already actively in conversation with the new Professor, who he noticed, was the Slytherin Head of House. Not positive on her name he simply trotted to a seat near the middle of the class and sat down setting his bag down on the table. Derrick looked himself over once and decided he would tidy up a bit. Straighting out his robes he attempted to tidy his hair but he knew that was a lost cause. Sighing he stuck a smile on his face and just hoped his professor wouldn't judge him to heavily by this. Fiddling with his wand he waited for class to start he didn't want to interrupt the conversation but if spoken to then he would respond.

[Jeremy Taylor]

Jeremy noted that the Slytherin girl had gotten more points for walking through the door, but it really didn't phase him. Nor did the obvious switch of the game from him to the Snake. The only thing Jeremy really cared about was no one was talking to him anymore.

That Huffle boy came in and took his seat and Jeremy slumped down even lower, now feeling that the place was getting too crowded for his liking. He realized that once again, he had chosen a seat away from the wall and wondered if he would draw too much attention by moving somewhere else. He decided to stick it out in the hopes that no one would want to sit by the weirdo from Ravenclaw.

[Claire Desrosiers]

Claire stood there a bit dumbfound, was she really just awarded fifteen points just for walking in? That had to be a first. She didn't know that Jeremy had gotten any points for Ravenclaw so the third year thought that she was the only one. Guess the Head of Slytherin really liked her students. Of course Claire was not expecting her professor's next question. What in the world did that mean did she like to play games? Games were fun but that all depended on what the game was. However considering that van Aller seemed rather excited over all of this, what would go wrong?

"Er...sure, I like games." Claire answered. She wasn't sure where this was going but hopefully nowhere horrible.

[Trixi Turner]

Transfiguration was a class that Trixi did actually quite like, if only because she got to wave her wand and change things to other things. She hoped one day she would be able to change her younger siblings into frogs. That'd show them. Although she was sure her step mother would not be very impressed by that particular idea. But that didn't phase Trixi, her step mother was never too impressed by Trixi's wonderful idea's, like bringing the snake into the house and putting it in her younger siblings bedrooms. That had been a wonderful idea. However the yelling her step mother had done because of it showed that she was not impressed in the slightest.

Trixi entered the Transfiguration lesson just in time to hear her friends voice say 'sure, I like games'. Trixi headed over to where Claire was with, unfortunately, the professor. "What kind of games?" Trixi asked Claire and the Professor, not sure what the conversation was about. However she would stick with Claire for the meantime, especially seeing as the Professor was talking to her. Professors talking to students were generally not a good thing and if the professor was going to accuse Claire of doing something perhaps Trixi could back her up and say she didn't. This was of course a very visible option considering the conversation was about games. Perhaps Claire had already caused some trouble?

However Trixi didn't know so she took a seat next to her friend and waited to see what it was exactly that the professor wanted with her best friend.

[viola]

Annemarie smiled widely, almost as if she were a spider attracting flies into her parlor for a bite to eat. It was even better when another one of her younger snakes walked into the classroom and became as interested about the games. "Seven points for your interest, Miss Turner." Annemarie wasn't usually fond of giving out house points left and right, but today, she felt overly generous. Maybe it was to set them up for when she began to take points away... the younger years always seemed to cause the most mischief. The idea was to reward them for doing good, and when they were upsetting, to reprimand them even worse. Annemarie just loved her train of thinking...

Of course, living around witches whom took care of children for a living had helped her mindset. It wasn't that she was setting the children up like in her mind it sounded, but instead, she was showing them what happened when they proved themselves respectable, rather than juvenile delinquents. It was all about respect and proving one's respectability. But she'd give that lecture when class really began.

"What kind of game I'm thinking of at this moment, my dear snakes, is one of a scavenger hunt." Turning toward her desk, Annemarie picked up a piece of parchment that looked to have nothing written on it what so ever. Taking out of her pocket that of her wand, Annemarie waved it over the sheet of parchment, mumbling a few words to herself. After she was done, she looked over the class and walked up to the two Slytherin girls, setting down the parchment in front of them. It was still blank.

"For every item on the list you bring back to me before the end of this weeks last class, you'll get one point each for your house. Why I'm doing this is that I like games. More so now than I ever have I think, and when it comes to intellect, I like to reward people for it. Intellect leads to knowing how to be respectful, and present yourselves in such a manner." Annemarie looked up at the entire class that was there at the moment and smiled. "That goes for everyone." And here was the beginning of her speech... but one more thing was first. "Miss Turner, Miss Desrosiers..." she paused. "The list will show up only when your eyes look at the page, or my own. If anyone else looks at the list, it shows up as nothing but a piece of blank parchment... go ahead and look," Annemarie encouraged, then walking up to the boy whom entered that she didn't know.

"And you are?" Annemarie said to the boy sitting in the middle of the classroom with very neat robes. He looked highly presentable for a young student, and already, Annemarie was slightly impressed... but only just slightly. "I'm trying to learn everyone's names..." Annemarie said holding her hand out, and then pointing her wand at her desk. "Accio roster," she said, allowing the roster to fly and land in her hand rather nicely. If there was one thing she'd always excelled at when it came to magic, it was summoning, and elemental spells.

Looking back at the boy, she waited. After his name was had, then she'd give her lecture on respect. Same old story, same old Annemarie, just a bit more giving before she bit the heads off of those whom defied her. Same old Slytherin Head of House.

[+7 Slytherin]