Second Years, Lesson Two

Second Years, Lesson Two: Learning Praepilatus (beetles into buttons)
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Edward stood at the front of the classroom, a clear glass jar in his hands. Inside was a mass of rainbow coloured beetles that were crawling over one another, they didn't know it yet, but they would be the subject of today's lesson.

"Good morning, now who remembered their wand today?" Edward looked around, not expecting anyone to have forgotten the most important tool for this lesson. "Good. Today we are going to work on our first transfiguration spell of this year." He continued, drawing attention to the jar he was holding. "In the last lesson we learned about Animate to Inanimate Transfiguration, and that's what we are going to do today with these beetles." He explained "We are going to transfigure them into coat buttons. Small objects. especially insects, are easiest to transfigure, because you don't have as much detail to worry about," He said, handing the jar to a student in the front row. "Keep one beetle with you, and pass out the others among the rest."

The students took a long time to choose a beetle of their choice. There was quite the variety, colours, spots, sizes, so he couldn't blame them. As the jar was being handed around, Edward continued to give instructions, "Hold onto your beetles, don't let them escape. Be gentle though, we don't want them dead either. Really, please try not to kill them."

Once everyone had a beetles, Edward took back the jar and removed a blue beetle for himself, then continued the lesson, "Now, you will find in transfiguration that it is easier to change items that are closer in size to each other. Matchsticks and needles are of the same size, shape, and weight. Essentially all you had to transfigure was the material and colour. The same with beetles. They are small and similar in size to buttons, so all you need to do is to change the shape. Remember, that doesn't mean that it's easy. You still need the proper wand movement and concentration. Now," He explained as he took out his own wand, "Animate to Inanimate Transfiguration uses the 'three tap' method of wand waving. Then visualise the outcome."

"The incantation for this transfiguration is Praepilatus. Repeat it after me. Praepilatus." Edward said, nodding along as they did. "Good. Now, first you must picture a button in your mind. I want all of you to picture a button with the same colouring as your beetle. That will make it a lot easier for you. As I said, we're mostly focusing on the shape. Once you're comfortable, you may attempt to alter other features. Visualise the beetle turning into the button. When you are ready, tap the beetle three times with your wand, and say Praepilatus!" At his words, the chunky beetle on his desk flattened into a round, glittering button with a similar blue shee.

"Now perform the transfiguration on your beetle. I want to see buttons good enough to line my coat with." Edward beamed. "If you have any problems, feel free to ask. And don't worry - this won't hurt the beetles, I promise."

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Homework: Roleplay successfully transfiguring a beetle into a button for full marks. Feel free to roleplay myself helping you. If you would like further interaction with your character, tag @Professor Edward Pirrip

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan was glad this year they'd been doing more real magic than the introductory first year, and the Ravenclaw took his usual seat near the back of the room. This was the lesson he would tend to leave Lilith to it, since she enjoyed it so much he didn't want to distract her. He listened as the professor told them they'd be turning beetles into buttons, and while Eoghan was happy to try out the spell, he was still struggling to work out why that was something anyone would want to do? Was there a shortage of buttons in the stores? Perhaps it was just an example of what was possible, on the smallest scale, and maybe they'd learn to transfigure something more useful in the future.

He moved to the front to pick up his purple beetle, careful to carry it back to his desk without dropping it or losing it under a table. He wasn't overly keen on holding it with his bare hands, but he'd also done enough Herbology not to care too much about bugs. Eoghan cleared his throat after putting his beetle down, but knew he was going to have to be quick if didn't want it to escape. He tapped it three times, careful not to knock it out, "Praepilatus," he missed. The beetle was making a beeline for the edge of the table, and it wouldn't be long until it fell off. He quickly tapped it again, visualising the button in his head. "Praepilatus!" he repeated. Relief washed through him when it transformed in front of his eyes, and he sat back in his chair, glad that he'd managed not to lose it. He didn't enjoy transfiguration much, but he was still proud of himself for doing it.

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith loved transfiguration and last lesson she had stopped to ask her professor a question who had only encouraged her love for the subject. It was safe to say she felt rather excited as she walked into the room. "Good morning Professor Pirrip," She said with a smile before taking a seat. As the lesson began she noticed the Professor had been holding a whole jar full of what looked like colourful insects. Soon they were told they were beetles and that today's objective was to turn one of those into a button.

As the jar was passed around Lilith waited for her turn and then looked at the beetles, pondering on which one to take. There was one that seemed to be curious about those around itself and that was when the Ravenclaw decided that it would be her little beetle. She'd call it Bobby the beetle Bob for short. Lilith held Bob in her hand gently as she followed every instruction Professor Pirrip was giving them, she mouthed out the incantation after the man and only when he stopped talking and told them to go ahead with it did she return her eyes to Bob who was still curiously roaming her hands. "Bob this is going to get very weird very soon for you, but just know that you are safe and I will do my best to make it as fast as possible for you. You'll make a pretty button and I am sure we can get you back into your original form in no time." She whispered gently to the beetle, silly as it might have been she too would have appreciated a little heads up before someone tapped her with their wand and turned her into an inanimate object.

Setting the beetle on her desk Lilith held onto her wand and took a deep breath. She imagined the form of a button she wanted her beetle to turn into before tapping the insect thrice and saying the incantation. "Praepilatus." In the blink of an eye her beetle had indeed turned into a button, even though it was a small object and the Professor had said it to be easy one Lilith still felt pride fluttering in her chest at the fact that she'd done it. Though as Lilith looked closer the button had two antlers, but it added its own charisma to it. As the lesson came to its end Lilith was more than happy with her success that day and so it was rather easy to pack her things up and leave, though before she could she turned around remembering the promise she made to poor Bob. "Sir, could you show me how to turn him back into his original form? Or are we going to do that later on? I sort of promised my beetlebutton Bob I'd return him back to himself..." The Ravenclaw held out the button with antlers in her hand, still proud of her creation.


( @Professor Edward Pirrip , I fear Lilith has yet another question for you...)

 

[Elijah Edogawa]

Eli settled quietly into the class, trying not to think about dueling, valentines, the dance, his friends, any of it. He eyed the jar of beetles with some reluctance when it came time and eventually plucked out a small green one with faint black speckles. Turning beetles into buttons seemed a little cruel if he was being honest, but it was one of those things they needed to learn. After all, it wasn’t like they were killing the beetle, just putting it’s life on pause. He wondered how long one could keep a beetle a button before it wasn’t a beetle anymore. And what about inanimate to animate, did it have thoughts, feelings? Sometimes transfiguration was so strange to him. How did something that once never had thoughts suddenly have thoughts? Did id feel hunger for the first time? He shook his head, that wasn’t what they were learning about today, he needed to stop reading ahead.

He took a steadying breath, keeping his mind as clear as he could so he could work out what he needed to do. He pictured the beetle becoming a button of similar size and shape, imagining the change in his head. The legs becoming the sides and the little holes in the top poking through. The surface polished and crisp. He tapped his wand three times and said “Praepilatus.“ Nothing happend at first and he tried again a couple of more times before the button slowly started to conform to the image in his mind. He watched it with slight shock on his face, imagining all the other things they could do with these kinds of spells and nodded. This was only solidifying things in his mind. He definitely wanted to become an animagus.​

 

[Primrose Kaster]

As far as lessons went, Transfiguration wasn’t the worst. Prim tried to ignore the beetles as they were passed around in the jar. She wasn’t exactly squeamish but there was something a little off putting about selecting a beetle to practice magic on in any capacity. She was used to beetles and bugs of course in her capacity with Herbology and Potions, but that didn’t mean she liked it. She quickly picked out a reddish-brown beetle, not caring to take her time to select the correct one as some of her classmates seemed to be doing. She wrinkled her nose when the tiny feet tickled against her palm. “Praepilatus,” she muttered under her breath, testing the incantation before setting the beetle down on her desk. She could imagine the beetle becoming a button easily enough she just hoped that her imagination was good enough for this. One really did need quite a good imagination for this sort of thing she supposed. She gripped her wand a little tighter and imagined it again, tapped the beetle three times and then, “Praepilatus!” The beetle slowly shifted into a similar sort of button as the one in her head and she happily counted it as a success.​

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice shuddered as the professor held up a jar of beetles. Was it too late to slip out of class? Why did they have such disgusting classes this semester? First the dirty dishes. And now insects. She wrinkled her nose at it, thank Merlin she was sitting next to Eli. When the jar finally reached her, she pushed the jar towards Eli with her wand, refusing to touch the thing. Thankfully, her cousin had gotten her a beetle and settled it on the table. The bad thing was that the beetle started moving as soon as it was let down and made its way towards her which made her stand up and scream and then cast a spell on it in her panic. "STUPEFY!" Oops? She pursed her lips as she stared at the stunned beetle in disgust and pushed it away with the tip of her wand. Soon enough, it was time to transfigure the beetle. She focused on it, visualizing a button. She tapped her wand three times, "Praepilatus." Nothing happened. It took a couple more tries, each one more frustrated than the last before the beetle twitched and transformed into a lumpy, uneven button that she refused to touch. Nope. She hated this semester.

@Elijah Edogawa ​