Transfiguration Tutoring

[Solomon Mordaunt]

The new tutoring program some of the students were attempting to set up was, initially, of absolutely no interest to Solomon. Especially since that Charlotte girl was behind the idea, of all people. The sorry excuse for a prefect who thought she could do as she pleased and abuse her privileges was the last person he'd want to help with anything, but when the boy found out he'd be paid for it, he quickly reconsidered. Working at the Apothecary during the holiday periods left him with a decent amount of money to spend, of course, but the holidays were few and far between. If he could take other peoples money for what was essentially revising schoolwork in the meantime, that worked just fine for him.

Finding himself a space in the library, Solomon sat and waited for his student to arrive, some Odette girl he didn't know anything about until he'd been assigned to her. Anyone below his year he simply felt were on par with infants, and weren't worth the trouble of getting to know. The last thing he needed in his life were smaller kids running around and getting in his way. Part of him had hoped he would have been assigned someone in his own grade who were straggling behind, but no. Apparently that was too much to ask for. So, here he was, in a cushioned seat surrounded by stacks of textbooks, waiting for a girl he'd have barely recognised in a crowd and hoping she wasn't going to be as annoying as the rest of her year group.
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[Odette Madison]

Odette had signed up for the tutoring program at urging of her mother to get her grades up. Her Transfiguration grade wasn't her best, she knew, but she didn't even know if she would want to take this subject much longer. Still, she was never very good at not doing what her mother wanted. Her biggest rebellion had been to join the Slytherin Quidditch Team. She still couldn't believe she was part of that team now, and honestly she wanted to spend this time getting in some extra practice. She wanted nothing more than to show the two captains how good she could be in the air. But instead she would have to be in the library with some nerdy tutor to help her with the most boring subject. It wasn't fair.

She vaguely recognized the boy's name when she saw it on the list, and saw the boy she thought might be him sitting in the library when she arrived. The textbooks seemed to confirm this. She sighed, wishing it had been another Slytherin third year boy. Either way, she would have to get through this. She took a seat near him without a smile. Pleasant Odette was absent today. "Look, we can waste each other's time or you could just tell me what was on the exam last year." She told the boy bluntly. "That way we are both on our way again." She paused. "I'm Odette, by the way. In case you couldn't figure that out on your own."

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

Solomon had been adding to finishing touches to his note to Merrill to hang out by the lake later in the day, and carefully creasing it into a paper airplane when Gloria Grimface showed up and took her seat nearby, getting straight to the point. He'd have appreciated the bluntness, if it was coming from anyone but some twelve year old child. The boy lifted the paper plane, taking aim and tossing it past the girls ear to go and find its recipient before even beginning to acknowledge her presence. "You make it sound so easy when, surprise b**ch, the exam isn't a one page test you can finish in a few minutes." He scoffed, leaning back into the comfort of his chair. He wasn't going to just hand her the answers on a silver platter because neither of them wanted to be there. He was getting paid to do a job and revise work,. She could deal with it. "No wonder you need a tutor. Besides, there's almost always a practical portion, which, gasp, requires putting in an effort and studying. Who could have guessed?" His tone was clearly condescending, and his expression matched it equally. Why bother signing up for tutelage if you just wanted test answers? There were other ways to do that. "As a side note, this has been a lovely start to our session, Odette. You can call me...Professor Mordaunt. I suppose I have to ask if you're struggling with any part of Transfiguration in particular or, more likely, if you're just bad at all of it in general?"
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[Odette Madison]

Odette felt slightly disappointed by the response she got from her tutor. Apparently he wasn't the sort of person she could easily get to do her bidding just by insisting on it. Too bad. She rolled her eyes as he told her why he couldn't just give her the answers. She had known it would be too easy, but she really wanted to get this over with. "Fine." She said with a scoff. "But you don't have to start talking to me like you're better than me. I'm not calling you professor, your voice still cracks." She played with her quill. "I'm not bad at it in general, if that were the case I would just drop it next year and be done. It's... the practical part mostly. The stupid objects don't transfigure properly even if I say the spell completely right." It was hard to admit, because she got the feeling this guy wasn't above making fun of someone for not being able to do something. Why sign up for tutoring if you were going to be a jerk about it?

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

Solomon smiled and leaned forward in his seat, pleased to see it wasn't too difficult a task to have her back down with that attitude. He wasn't about to be bossed around by some stereotypical b****y Slytherin girl who barely knew which was the pointy end of her wand. Shrugging as if to say 'worth a try' at her declining to call him professor, the boy didn't bother to argue about it. That was fair, he hadn't really expected her to comply, so he moved on with the actual tutoring. For most practically applied subjects, students struggled more with the theory than the practical, as obviously wizards were more interested in what they could do, over what they knew. It was less effort to perfect a spell from class than it was to write a essay, but with Transfiguration, you needed to really understand the subject to do well in both the written and the wandwork, which perhaps was her problem. "Right." Mordaunt responded, pushing his books to one side. They mightn't be necessary if it was the spells they needed to work on. "Transfiguration isn't the same as charms or offensive slash defensive spells, saying the words right is like, maybe a quarter of whats needed to transfigure something. Didn't Professor Summers stress that you need to concentrate and use your imagination? Your problem could just be a lack of creativity." He suggested, and though it may have sounded insulting, it was the honest truth. Some people simply lacked a broad imagination, and she didn't seem particularly exempt if she was willing to just ask for exam answers. "Were you able to use inanimate to inanimate spells?"
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[Odette Madison]

Odette was glad the boy didn't try to force the Professor thing. He seemed arrogant to her, and it was a relief to at least just focus on the subject he was supposed to be helping her with. He listened to her problem and pushed the books away. At least that was promising. She listened to his explanation, assuming he knew what he was talking about. It sounded just boring enough to be real. "I don't have a lack of creativity." She told him with a frown. "And I don't exactly remember every single word that man says in his lessons. I guess he probably did say that. I could do inanimate to inanimate... but I still made a mistake on my first year exam." She had managed to turn the needle into a match in the end but it had taken more tries than it should have on the final exam in her first year. "I suppose I wasn't at the level I should have been and now I'm behind?" She asked, looking at him. "Can you help me or is it hopeless?" She could just drop it next year. Though she knew her mother would disapprove. She wished she knew what she wanted.

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

Solomon listened to the girl's explanation, nodding his head to show he was listening, while trying to think of how he could help her, though it started to seem like she needed to help herself. "Mmm. I don't know. Some people are good at particular types of magic, whereas others just don't take to them. It's like...sport. Some people are great at Quidditch, others can't stay on a broom without wobbling. Luckily for you, I brought a few items with me to practice on to see." The boy said as she finished speaking, fishing out a box of matchsticks from his bag. If they were going to start somewhere, then recreating her first year exam seemed like a good idea. He took one out and rolled it across the table, before looking at her expectantly. If she could transfigure it into a needle now, they could move on to the actual content of her second year classes.​

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[Odette Madison]

Odette was glad he brought up the sports example. She was sure it wasn't on purpose, but it did remind her of something she was good at, which made her feel more at ease. Being good at quidditch and flying wouldn't help with her transfiguration grade, though, so she had to focus on the boy. She watched him take matchsticks out of his bag and bit back a comment. She was a second year now, why focus on first year spells? But she was honestly tired of arguing, that wasn't going to help anything. "Are you good at quidditch?" She asked quite randomly as she looked at the matchsticks. She then took a match and tried to remember the proper wand movement. "Flammeus Tailora." The match definitely wasn't a needle, though it had changed shape slightly and looked pointier. She scowled at it.

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

Solomon wasn't expecting his pupil to show any interest in conversation outside of why they were there, or ask him any questions not pertaining to the subject, and as such was quite surprised when she did so. He stopped to think about it, watching her wave her wand at the matchsticks in the meantime. Quidditch wasn't a sport he'd been interested in playing. He was more comfortable on the ground than in the air. His skill set wasn't overly physical in nature, preferring more passive subjects that relied on knowledge and patterns. "I don't know. I haven't given it a chance to find out." He admitted with the smallest of shrugs, eyes on the sticks as they failed to become needles. Perhaps toothpicks at best. "Well. We have a lot of catch up to do if you're still struggling with inanimate to inanimate. You won't be able to make much, if any progress in animate to inanimate otherwise. I think what's best now is just to practice as much as you can. The more you do it, the better you'll be." The metamorphmagus rummaged through his bag once more, withdrawing a book and a jar of beetles he asked Professor Summers for, to use in the tutor session. Placing everything on the table, he pushed forward a new match from the previous box. "Can you try it again? Or transfiguring the book into a box. After that we can see what your animate to inanimate looks like."
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[Odette Madison]

Odette took his answer to really mean 'no' and felt a little better, at least this boy wasn't better than her at everything, even if he projected that attitude. She had to admit, though, that he came prepared. She wached as he took out a jar of beetles like the one they had seen in class. She didn't hate bugs like some girls, though she also wasn't a big fan of them either. But it seemed like she had a long way to go before getting to the beetles. "I'll try the needle again first." She told him. She took the match and took a deep breath, doing her best to focus. "Flammeus Tailora." She said again, a little more firmly. This time, the match turned into a needle, it wasn't a perfect one, probably too thin and fragile to be of any use to anyone, but it was definitely metallic now. She smiled a little. "That's better, right?" She didn't know why she was asking him, she could see for herself. "Okay, I want to try the book now." She said, reaching for it. "What was the spell again?" She asked, having forgotten. It wasn't her fault, they were complicated and rarely used outside of class.