Lesson 1 (Years 6 & 7)

[viola]

Two years jumbled into one, yet again. It wasn't as if there was not enough to have two classes, but such was the scheduling and frankly, Annemarie was just as unpleased with this set up as she was the last. At least it wasn't three years together, but at the same time, now she had to figure out how to teach one year, and keep it a review class for the Newt level. Annemarie's eyes narrowed as she wrote notes on the board behind her, still using the muggle way rather than picking up her wand, as she probably should have in a wand work class. At least it kept her mind off of things.

When she was finished with the notes on the board, she turned around and rounded her desk, leaning on it with her ankles and arms crossed as she did so. Wearing jeans was weird, and they bunched in all sorts of places, but Annemarie resisted the urge to pull the denim fabric out from the crevasses of her body where fabric should never be. Biting her lip, she knew she would have to deal, and therefore to get her mind off of it, she started to rearrange her green blouse, smoothing wrinkles that were not really there.

There would only be a few moments now, and then there would be students filtering in. She wondered just how many would show.... and then she wondered.... if she actually cared all that much anymore.

(Years 6 and 7 can begin posting.)

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matilda had been both looking forward to, and not looking forward to her daily dose of lessons this term. Both sides had a good amount of reason behind them, too. For starters, one of the perks about being back at school, not just back in lessons, was the fact that she god to see all her friends again. Well, what was left of them, anyway. She had lost a good handful of them with the last graduating year, and come her sixth year at Hogwarts, Matty was only just learning to not get too emotional over losing graduating friends. By now, she had learned that contact was still possible and all. Another plus was the satisfaction in which she would be able to see her boyfriend practically every day. Now that was a gain for sure. Aside from that, it was nice to have a distraction, and lessons always filled in space.

As Matty made the transaction from her previous class to Transfiguration, she was aware of the main reasons why she wasn't looking forward to classes. More and more homework with this coming year. Fifth year had been stressful enough with OWLS, but now she was in her second last year of schooling. It was as exciting as it was daunting. The teenager also knew she no longer had the freedom to do what she wanted, when she wanted, now that summer was over. Matilda had more responsibilities in that school than she did at home, being Quidditch Captain for the second year running, the girl was determined to make a good start.

The teenager entered her classroom, a quaint smile on her face. "Hey there, Professor." she said in a friendly tone, giving a small nod as well. Being the first to enter, the sixth year took her favorite pick of seat, that being in the second row from the back. She got out her gear, before relaxing back into her chair and glancing around. Wait. Hold on. When had Professor Van Aller started teaching this class? Matilda made a mental note to pay more attention to things in future.

[viola]

A familiar face walked into the room and Annemarie smiled warmly at the girl. Matilda Wentworth. Well, a Hufflepuff first in her class was rare just in general, but it was still a decent change. Annemarie made a mental note on giving Hufflepuff five house points for the pleasant surprise. "Ah, Miss Wentworth. I do hope you enjoyed your summer holiday," she commented rather than asking if she had or not. When it came to such conversations, Annemarie wasn't much to discuss what was done over holidays. Waste of time, and of course she didn't want to exchange stories so not initiating them always worked wonders.

Wondering if the young girl would be more enthusiastic about class this year than the last term, Annemarie smirked and decided that the game she had tried to play with one of her younger students would be fun, not to mention, Annemarie still hadn't gotten down all the names with faces of all the students she had to newly teach this year. "Would you like to earn some easy housepoints?" Annemarie asked casually as she marked down Miss Wentworth's presence on the roster.

[+5 Hufflepuff]

[Sophia Crawford]

Learning how to transfigure items and objects was probably the most stereotypical wizarding trick in the book, but Sophia loved it. There were so many things about her wand that mystified her, like how so much power could be stored in a single branch. It was fantastic. She clutched her wand that sat in her pocket as she climbed the stairs to the Fourth Floor where she would be lucky enough to learn how to wield that magic. She wondered what this year would hold for her, what new things she would learn and what old things she would have to relearn...hopefully not too much. It was true that her memory was a little sketchy, but once she had learned something, she never forgot it.

She reached the classroom and walked inside to see Professor Van Aller. She was little surprised, but realized that a lot of teachers had been shuffled around and added. At least it would make class interesting. "Hello, Professor," she smiled as she took her seat. "Hi Matty." She nodded at the Hufflepuff seated near her. Matty and the professor seemed to be having a conversation, so Sophia swiftly grabbed her sketchbook from her bag and began to doodle, not wanting to seem intrusive.

[Delilah Morine]

Delilah was wondering how much longer she'd be able to handle this whole Head Girl stuff. She really couldn't believe that she was wandering the halls nowadays, making sure that the students of Hogwarts didn't misbehave, and when they did, she had the authority to take points, and when they were being good, for whatever reason, she could award points. It's wasn't the fact that she had this power that was bothing her, it was the fact that students here though because she was Slytherin, that she'd be awarding only point to her own House. Morons...

While most actually knew Delilah wouldn't do that, they just assumed it, and the younger years in her house expected it. It was annoying really, didn't they know she had a best friend in Gryffindor? Shouldn't that speak volumes? Speak of the devil... Delilah thought to herself walking into her first Transfigurations classroom. She spotted Sophia and grinned. Delilah looked to her professor, and head of house, and offered her a hello, before joining Sohpia and Matty. "Hey ladies." She said, smoothing down her robes before sitting. "How's it going?" She asked, trying to get her mind off the prejudices in this school.

[Connor Manning]

Connor had to double check the face of the woman who was casually leaning against the teacher's desk at the head of the class. His head of house was now teaching Transfiguration? He quirked his head to the side, slowly recalling that he had heard about the change but had forgotten about it completely. " Professor, " Connor began with a cordial nod of his head, " So I finally get to see what it's like to have you as a teacher. " He took several more steps in the room so he wasn't just looming in the doorway like a loon.

Connor had much respect for the woman, she was his Head of House, and did seem to know what she was talking about. The question of who had taken over Muggle Studies arose in the back of Connor's mind, but he pushed it aside as he spotted a few familiar faces.. well, three familiar faces in fact. " Yullo, ladies. " He said with a slightly cheeky smile as he sat down in his usual seat and looked around at Sophia, Delilah and Matty.

[Sophia Crawford]

Two snakes entered the room and slithered into their seats. Sophia looked down at her sketchpad. She drew a beautiful peacock, feathers all extended, shading in just the right places. It was a very good picture for one drawn in the last minute. The peacock seemed to be wearing a mystified look, a questioning look as if to say "How did I end up on this sheet of paper??" She smiled down at her creation and slid the sketchpad back into her bag.

Her focus turned to Delilah and Connor. "Hello there, Head Boy & Girl." She saluted them, feigning a very serious countenance. "How goes everything on the Western Front?" She tried to stay as serious as possible, but her mouth quivered back into a smile and she couldn't stop herself from giggling. "I can never keep a straight face, not ever!" she exclaimed, regaining her normal composure. "Anyway, how are we all today?"

[Anna Becket]

At least Transfiguration would be something to keep the Gryffindor awake today. It was one of her favorite classes since it contained wand work and turning something into a rat or whatever. Well, it was always a fun trick to pull on her cousins at least. Anyway, climbing down to the fourth floor Anna strolled into the room a little more awake than she had been for most of the day. Already there were a bunch of people inside including the Slytherin head who Anna never remembered teaching this class. Though the professor seemed busy talking to Matty right now so it was best to leave them be.

"Hiya everyone." She said picking a seat close to Sophia, though the girl seemed to be giggling over something. "What do you need to keep a straight face for Sophia?"

[Felicity Hjort]

Bag over her shoulder, the blonde paced herself on her walk to class that day. Transfiguration was the one wand class where she didn't need help, and she loved that little fact, though she wasn't necessarily looking forward to this particular lesson. Felicity had heard van Aller took over the class that term, and though Felicity hadn't ever had a really big problem with the woman's teachings of Muggle Studies, she wasn't fond of her. Ever since the incident two springs ago, Felicity and van Aller had been on somewhat iffy terms.

Dragging feet into the room, the Gryffindor didn't bother looking up, and instead slumped into a seat toward the back where she could hide, hopefully. Though she could answer questions and could easily pay attention and likely perform in the class, she didn't want to be pointed out in any way, shape, or form by the older woman, who, if Felicity had bothered to glance around, she would have noticed looked different...

[Delilah Morine]

Delilah said her hello to Connor, and then tried hard not to laugh at Sophia. Delilah looked back to Connor and smirked, "The Western Front's going pretty smoothly for now, don't you think Connor?" She asked, shaking her head. The year was off to a good start it would seem. Delilah nodded her head towards Anna after she said hello, and was happy to follow along with what she said, "Yeah Sophy, you're allowed to be your goofy self." She said with a smirk. Delilah had never met Anna, but that didn't mean she couldn't start some where.

Delilah's eyes averted to the pretty blonde that entered the room, Felicity seemed pretty down. Delilah did offer a smile her way, if she cared to look, but mostly, she simply hoped that the girl would be ok.

[viola]

As the classroom grew with the amount of students she had, most of which she'd never had in classes before or only knew from them being in he own house, Annemarie greeted and nodded, awaiting Miss Wentworth's response. Unfortunately, now said, it would only interest others as well, and too many housepoints given out for nothing would only show to the students that she'd gone soft... rather than she was trying to reward them for their intellect and respectability. "Actually, Miss Wentworth," Annemarie said, before the girl could spit too much out, if anything at all. "...we'll discuss this further at a later time. Meet with me in my office after class, per say? That's if you're interested. If not, that is fine as well."

Watching the class, both Heads that were in her house came in, one after another and Annemarie smiled brightly, but even more so when Connor Manning entered the room. He was an excellent choice for the position of Head Boy and Annemarie couldn't have been prouder. Yes, there were some things that had happened the year before, but like the snake he was, he was sticking up for what he believed and that was just that. Griffiths or not, her Snakes had what it took to be respectable and self righteous. As for Miss Morine, well, Raynor had her own thoughts about that and van Aller knew it better not to disagree with the Head Mistress.

"And I finally get to see what it's like to have you as a student, Mr. Manning," Annemarie chided and smirked almost deviously. Pushing a lock of her red hair behind her ear, she then uncrossed her arms picking up the roster and marking names down one by one as students entered. Lifting her eyes to the Head Boy she then continued. "Let's just hope our experience together is much more gratifying and successful than that of previous professors you've had." She chuckled, hitting the Snake a bit below the belt, and yet making herself quite clear. If he walked out, he didn't walk back in.

Somehow though, Annemarie didn't ever see that becoming a problem, and so marked down next to the Head Boy's name eleven points to Slytherin. He was cunning, respected her as professor and Head of House, and above all else, knew how to keep things casual without being overly dramatic. Unlike the girls, whom couldn't keep their giggles and exclamations to themselves. Annemarie's eyes looked directly at Miss Crawford as she yelled out excitedly about things Annemarie could have cared less about. If anything she had learned over the summer was to come in handy, it was that she must have patience with the youth. Annemarie exhaled a breath and then looked back to her roster board. The class hadn't started yet, so no rules had been broken. Patience was a virtue the hot headed red head just didn't ever have in her life.

More entered, including Miss Hjort herself and thought van Aller knew the girl was definitely a challenge all by herself, it seemed that she'd calmed down a bit from the first time Annemarie had met the girl. Good. She didn't need things transforming into vulgar sort of creatures out of fun in her classroom, and the ex-prefect would sure to be the one to do that. Annemarie knew of all the Prefect changes, but the reasons behind them were skewed. However, after Felicity Hjorts behavinor, it didn't even surprise her.

Annemarie didn't say anything for a few more minutes allowing other students to show up. This was going to be an interesting class. She could feel it.

[+11 Slytherin]

[Celina Jedynak]

Torn between where to sit, Celina looked at where Felicity sat and then to where Connor sat. Felicity was in the back, Connor in their usual seatings but further up near a few of the other girls who'd entered the class before she had. Sighing, the choice was obvious, and sad that all of her friends were not sitting together, Celina chose to sit by Felicity. Setting her bag down, she too said nothing to the professor or gave her any look up. She'd never met the woman, and therefore, could not judge based on that. All she heard was that she was a stickler for respect and housepoint earnings and takings. Either way, it didn't sound to appealing.

Looking over at Felicity when she sat down, Celina gave a small and polite smile. "You look unsure of yourself, Felicity," Celina observed. Celina figured that it was because Felicity didn't know her proper place in the world, and therefore it must have put a lot of stress on her during normal days. Celina wished she could help the girl find her way, as she had found hers... but not only was it not her place, it wasn't the time. "Have you talked to Alfonz recently?" Celina asked Felicity, knowing that if anyone could straighten her out, it was her brother. Her brother had always been good with setting people straight... maybe then, her friend wouldn't look so down or unsettled as she did just then.

[Felicity Hjort]

"Unsure?" the blonde questioned, turning to look at her best friend. Felicity wasn't feeling unsure, more rather depressed that a class she actually succeeded in was being taught by a woman who she wasn't extremely fond of, would that make her unsure? The lioness wasn't sure. Of course, the fact van Aller had no problem taking points from any House didn't help matters, in fact, van Aller was quite sure of herself in making it quite clear who she favoured and didn't, and even more sure of the fact she didn't like the blonde Gryffindor who had dared to challenge the Head Mistress. Though, Felicity was quite sure of what she'd been doing when she questioned the sincerity and capability of the leader of the school on her sureness in the situation a few January's prior.

All the sureness and unsurenesses were hurting her head.

But something Felicity was very sure of was Alfonz.

"No, I haven't seen him since Diagon Alley. How is your brother?" Alfonz hadn't ever really frightened Felicity, only made her nervous around him. And he was quite sure of himself, sometimes full of himself, too, but she didn't mind. Maybe after class, since Felicity had a free period, she'd go see if the Quidditch referee was in his office.

Keeping her voice low, Felicity found a pen and parchment for notes that class, knowing they hadn't a book for that term, something about notes and learning... "Do you know what he's up to the rest of the day?" Maybe she'd actually feel better if she went to see him.

[Connor Manning]

Connor gave a slightly cheeky grin to the red haired woman. His diligent student side began to wonder if Professor van Aller would think less of him as a student due to events that had taken place last year, while the Slytherin student in him knew she would hold no grudges.

' Let's just hope our experience together is much more gratifying and successful than that of previous professors you've had. ' He feigned a wince, as if the comment had hurt him. " I'll give you no trouble, I can assure you that. " He nodded his head just so as he spoke. He knew he would be true to his word, there was too much riding on this class for him to mess it up. Not only that, but seeing as how it was being taught by his head of house, he figured it would be best to stay out of trouble. For the most part.

He glanced back to Sophia, catching something about a... western front? What was she going on about? He gave a small wave over at Anna as she joined them, then heard Delilah's response to what Sophia said. He put the two comments together and decided that his Gryffindor friend had been joking around, as per usual. " I'd have to agree, the Western Front is good. " He turned and directed his next comment to Anna. " How's the team shaping up? " Technically Anna was ' the enemy, ' but she had done the job before, so Connor figured she might have some pointers on how to run a Quidditch team.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Tianne wasn't usually late to lessons, no, she was usually great at keeping on time. Sure, there had been the odd incident that she was caught up helping someone with their homework last minute so that the didn't get fire breathed at them, or helping the find their classes, but usually Tianne could just sprint to her class. She didn't enjoy being tardy, that was a definite, but she had never really suffered any consequences. Sure there was only about two occasions, that she had been helping first years, but other than that, nothing.

Which was what worried her so much about being late on this day. Her reputation, her prefect badge, they could all go down that drain with some stupid tardy warning. "Okay, so are you right with that now? ... I got to go!" Tianne grinned to her housemate, before rounding the corner and running her way to the fourth floor. It was transfiguration, a good subject, so Tianne didn't have anything to worry about; if she wasn't late that was.

Entering the door, a bright smile eagerly finding her face as she realized she was not late, Tianne spotted her best friend in the corner. "Hello, professor." She greeted her professor politely, still smiling happily. Tianne made her way up to the girl, offering everybody on her way a greeting, whether it was a friendly smile, a wave, or a small hello. "Matty!" Tianne exclaimed, taking a seat next to the girl.