Lesson 4: Heavy Stones and Bowling Ball's

[Gavril Romanov]

Two students from his class had gone missing. A feeling of insecurity had spread itself from the pit of Gavril's stomach to his entire being within a matter of months since he had been hired on as the Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts. Both Ravenclaw boys, both in their 5th year, and both seemingly got on as friends. He wasn't sure if the other members of staff recognized this to be quite peculiar, but at first, perhaps Gavril thought the two ran away together, thinking that perhaps their friendship had grown into something a bit more and they didn't quite understand it. Those thoughts were quickly cast off, for he felt that he was projecting feelings of his own, and issues of his past onto his pupils.

As of late, his rather muscular form had taken a gaunt appearance. He had not been eating well lately, and his sleep has been interrupted several occasions with nightmares and bad feelings. He was no seer, with no gift of sight prevalent in his family, but there was something at Hogwarts that gave him unrest. The two boys disappearing had been tied to it, he knew it in his soul, but the fact that nobody had anything to show for it, not even when all of the faculty had separated into search parties, scouring the Forbidden Forest and any other dangerous, outlying areas of the grounds for the boys, there was nothing.

His face as he entered the classroom was sullen and and there were signs of sleep deprivation on his face; particularly his eyes. His pallor was something uncharacteristic of a Russian, especially when considered his heritage, and his hair seemed to be dull and non-lustrous as it usually would be. Though he presented himself in his usual manner, dark colored robes, and coiffed hair, he didn't look as exuberant as he usually did.

Taking a seat behind his desk to wait for his students, he clasped his hands together atop the surface, and stared bleakly across the room, the sea of empty desks, and focused on a spot at the back wall.

Today's lesson would be simple, and assuredly easy for everyone in the class to complete. He had given out instructions prior to dismissing everyone last class that they ought to bring a large, heavy stone in for their next in-class assignment.

[Tommy Bryce]

Tommy was surprising himself by being so early to lessons for a change. Not that he was usually late, just never first. But having gotten to breakfast today early anyway, he had found that he wasn't really hungry. He'd taken a few bites out of a slice of toast and then just waited for the owls to arrive. It seemed a forlorn hope that he would get some form of correspondence from his brothers after so long without contact, but one he wasn't ready to give up on just yet.

Pushing open the door, he glanced around a little nervously when he saw no one else had arrived yet, but then just took a seat in the second row, daring to speak to the professor as he did so. [red]"Morning Professor,"[/red] he murmured in a quiet voice. In his bag was the heavy stone they had all been instructed to bring, and he wondered whether he ought to get it out now or leave it until more people arrived and they were instructed to do so.

[Caitlin Collins]

Curled up in her dormitory bed, the light seeping through the window was beginning to make Caitlin stir. She tried to keep her eyes shut and quickly return to a strangely nightmare-free sleep, something she had not gotten in quite a while, but the insistent poking coming from the bottom of her bed was not doing anything to help. Groaning slightly, Caity sat up to see the enchanted shoe she used as an alarm clock steadily kicking her leg under the covers. She groaned again and reached out to grab the trainer, also picking up her wand from the bedside table and disenchanting it. It worked well enough in getting her up in time most days. The trouble came when she forgot to enchant it the night before.

Rolling out of bed and stubbing her toe in the process, she hopped over to where a notebook was lying discarded on the floor and quickly flicked to the back cover to find a copy of her timetable written out. Transfiguration... joy. She did have some degree of natural talent in that area, but at the moment no lesson seemed interesting anyway. At least it was a Friday – no lessons tomorrow. Just a lot of homework instead. Quickly getting dressed, Caity picked up her bag and slowly left the dormitory and then common room, trying not to yawn. She never bothered unpacking her bag and then packing it again for specific days. That just got too complicated. Instead she just kept everything in there and carried around quite a significant weight every day. By this point, though, she hardly noticed – she was used to it.

Although she wasn’t really feeling hungry, she did make her way down to the Great Hall and sneaked in and out unnoticed to get some food. It wasn’t a lot – just an apple – but she’d learnt her lesson on what happened if she didn’t eat at all. She paused near to the Muggle Studies classroom to finish it off and throw the core into a nearby bin, then continued on to the classroom. For once, she was on time; and not just on time, but the second person there. She placed herself in a seat fairly close to the back, nodding at the professor but not really making eye contact, and waited for more people to arrive so it could start. Of course, she had forgotten the rock they had been asked to bring. But honestly, that was no surprise.

[Keaira O'Connell]

Like any other day it would seem that Keaira O’Connell was the model student. She had no issues arriving at her classes with several minutes to spare before the class was scheduled to begin. Well at least that was how things were today. Zane was unfortunately nowhere near her, and as such without him to distract her in between classes Keaira was able to show up to her next lesson promptly. After Arithmancy dismissed Keaira was already prepared for transfiguration, her large sized rock already stowed away in her backpack, and as such she simply made her way to the classroom. It hardly took her more than 2 minutes to travel from the second floor to the first.

As she entered the classroom, she smiled at the professor, vaguely thinking that he didn’t look quite as nice as he had in previous classes. As per her usual seating arrangements Keaira took a seat in the second row, which to her surprise held Tommy Bryce, a younger boy she had met once upon a starry night. Smiling sweetly to him she placed her bag on the floor next to the desk she had chosen, which happened to be beside Tommy’s.

Pulling out the hefty sized rock she had acquired, she set it down on her desk. The thing was mostly a slate color, with a few lighter spots decorating its rough angular edges. There was even one spot that looked like something sharp and pointy had slammed into its surface creating a deep and narrow crevice. The rock itself was roughly the size of a shoe box, and about as tall as one too, with most of its top and bottom being flat, yet pitted. Looking about at the other students and the professor Keaira smiled.

“Good morning Professor Gavril, how are you today?” The question she was sure would be answered in a lie as most people would rather tell pretty lies than admit that they have had better days, but it was still one she asked. When she was done, she turned to regard Cait and Tommy. “Hey Cait, Hey Tommy,” Her gaze stayed on Tommy, a bit longer than Caitlin as she continued to address him, only in a more hushed manor than her first greeting. “So, I guess there haven’t been too many can't miss astrological events of late?”

[Kerridon Paradox]

Kerridon came out from the library with a heavier bag than when he had entered as soon as it had opened, despite having returned a large amount of books. He had just started browsing casually and as always, come across more to read. But now, it was time for class. He didn't have much opinion on Transfiguration, but was the first to admit how useful it was considering his recent acquisition of an animagus form. At times it could be a little unchallenging, but it meant he could apply his mind to other things and still not worry about getting behind.

Walking down the corridor towards the classroom, he felt one of the scars on his shoulder begin to get more painful than usual due to the extra weight in his bag, both from the books and the rock. Normally he hardly noticed the dull ache where the strap of his bag went over one of the larger scars from Gat's torture, but today it was definitely worse than normal. Not bad enough to cause him to show any pain on his face, but enough that he tried not to move too much in case of jarring it any more.

Entering the classroom he sent a polite greeting of [blue]"Good morning"[/blue] to the professor at the front before heading to the back, ignoring the other occupants of the room and heading to the back of the room to take his usual seat. Obviously he knew Keaira, and he was almost certain that the Hufflepuff girl was the Shadow Warrior of Water, but he didn't know the Gryffindor. Some people were just good at staying under the radar.

[Katherine Knightswood]

Katherine had been fighting to have a good morning in spite of the miasma of grief that swirled around her. Everyone in Ravenclaw was torn up with worry over Dylan and Alessandro being missing. And the Lightfighters had yet another of their own who’d had their parents murdered. Katherine bit her lip, her heart going out to Zane. She may have thought he was an insufferable pain in the bum at first, but no one ever deserved that kind of misery. Katherine’s breath hitched, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. Breathe and shield, breathe and shield, she reminded herself. Newly healed wounds were the easiest to set bleeding again.

The Ravenclaw didn’t know whether it was the people around her or the events around her, but the gift of sensing others’ emotions was getting stronger. While it was turning out to be a useful thing to have, it was often painful or just simply a pain. Katherine shrugged and continued down the halls of Hogwarts toward the Transfigurations classroom, distracting herself by thinking about the class ahead. She had thought the requirement for this class odd but interesting. Yesterday she’d gone out to the Quidditch Pitch and found herself a good-sized rock per Professor Romanov’s instructions. Katherine wondered what they’d be turning the hunk of stone into today. A carving, maybe? A statue? She couldn’t wait to find out, eaten alive with the curiosity that had earned her the nickname “Kat” from her childhood friends.

Katherine walked into the classroom and nearly backed out again. The emotional feel in here was not pleasant this morning. Why? She looked around the room and saw Keaira O’Connell up toward the front sitting next to Tommy Bryce. Caitlin Collins was hiding in the back of the classroom, as was Kerridon Paradox from her own House. All of them had been through hell the past few weeks, especially Keaira, since she and Zane were so close. But none of them seemed to match the out-of-sorts and unhappy feel she was getting inside the room. Katherine felt . . . . tired as if she hadn’t slept in days. And along with that bone-weariness there was an uneasiness that made her actually look over her shoulder as she acquired a seat. Katherine slid into a spot in the front row directly in front of Professor Romanov’s desk. She got out her books, her wand and her stone and turned to give “good morning” to her teacher.

Katherine looked up at the Professor and the greeting died on her lips. The Professor was normally a pleasant if not hearty sort of wizard and she’d even seen him sharing a laugh with the other Professors at mealtimes. But now he stared over her head at the back wall, hands locked around each other and lying on the desk. His hair was lackluster and his eyes were paled to cloudy blue-grey from his usual brilliant blue. Even worse, his calm demeanor that Katherine was used to was missing. Katherine had memorized his face in their first class as was her usual bent, and the changes in front of her startled her. She throttled down her reaction out of politeness and protocol. The young Ravenclaw would express her concerns to Professor Romanov after class, in private. Maybe everything that was going on at Hogwarts was hitting the Professors just as hard as the students? That wouldn’t be a surprise. “Good morning, sir,” she said softly, looking up and letting her eyes show the compassion she felt.

[Bryan Kelley]

Entering the classroom, Bryan felt tired. He wasn't sure why but he was. He had slept well enough the night before, despite everything that was now going on in the school and hence in his life. Raising a hand to his face, he covered a small yawn as he walked over to his normal seat. He seated himself down, paying little attention to the students already present in the room. Bryan wasn't someone who normally sought out companionship, but he did welcome it when people decided to interact with him. He was perfectly fine being on his own however.

Once seated, the Gryffindor pulled out the material he would need for the on coming lesson. He was someone relieved to get the rock out of his bag. He could have charmed it to be lighter, but that thought had slipped his mind. Once he was set, he pulled his sketch book out and just started to sketch whatever happened to be in front of him at the moment. He didn't have much of any original idea on things to draw so he decided to go with a still life, well rather, it wasn't so still since there was a fellow student seated a little in front of him, but the concept was similar enough.

He sketched quietly as he waited for the Professor to begin the lesson, trying to ignore his own thoughts on what had been happening in the last few months.

[Ivy Halliwell]

Again, Ivy was dressed to kill, her personally altered school uniform breaking every sort of dress code imposed, yet not one professor had yet to reprimand, dock points, or assign her a detention because of it. She meandered down the hallway, her black pumps clipping softly over the thin carpet that lined the corridors of Hogwarts. She rummaged through her bag as she walked, bumping into students on the way by without so much as an "excuse me" or "terribly sorry". Had she forgotten her stone? She remembered that Professor Romanov had given them all instructions to bring a heavy stone to class for their next lesson, and here she was unprepared! Of course, Ivy would not have it, so before she rounded the corner that would lead her to her transfiguration class, she cast open one of the windows, hoisting herself up on a bench, and leaned out.

Removing her wand from her bag, she flourished it wildly as she took a glance down, realizing the first floor looked higher up than it seemed from the ground. In a matter of moments a round, smooth stone from the lake came hurdling through the air towards her. Not paying strict attention to her wandwork, she had carelessly directed the stone through one of the neighboring windows with a loud shatter, and crash of stained glass.

"Oh dash it all..." She muttered, then silently berating herself for her carelessness. Pulling herself back into the corridor, and hopping down from the bench, she replaced her wand, picked up the stone, securing it in her bag, and then with both hands, tossed her hair back behind her shoulders and trudged on, not giving the shattered window an even considering glance.

She entered the classroom to find many an occupant already at the desks. An acknowledgment was given to no one other than Professor Romanov.

"Romanov." She said casually as she barely looked twice at him, selecting a seat directly in front of his desk in the front row. Setting down her things, she took her seat, crossing her legs, and preparing for the lesson.