Class 1 (Apples to Oranges)

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Breathe, Dare reminded himself, not for the first time. He felt like a massive poser standing in the front of the class, his book bag slumped against the side of the professors' desk. Yeah, he could Transfigure like a boggart, but they were letting him teach?

While the students were filing in, he did a lot of pacing. He knew almost everyone in the class, and how weird was it that he was going to be teaching Brindle? Maybe not so weird, on second thought, but Annabelle?

When everyone had settled, he cleared his throat, then went balls out into his speech.

"When you think Transfiguration, a lot of people think of bunny slippers. They think it's easy, it's just charms on Pepperup Potion. It's fun, you give your friend a goat's tail and see how long until they notice, right?" He shifted on his feet, then took a deep breath, dead serious as he went on.

"Transfiguration is dangerous. It can be used in battles along with defensive spells, and once, it saved my life." He looked the students over, his nerves forgotten.

"Imagine you've just thrown the harshest spell you've got, and suddenly you can't breathe. Is your first thought, dammit, he transfigured my head into a fish!" He waited for the inevitable snickers. "Yeah, probably not. It's going to take you a minute to figure out what happened, and how long can you function well enough to use your wand when you aren't getting any oxygen?

"Human transfiguration is extreme, but it starts somewhere. You can have fun with it, but be careful."

He picked up a box from his desk and started walking around the room, talking as he placed either an apple or an orange on each student's desk. "Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration says that there are things magic can't do. These exceptions are love, life, food, money, and knowledge. You can't make them out of nothing. But we're not going to. We're going to change what already exists."

When he got back to the front of the classroom, he pulled a spare orange out of the box and held it up with his right hand, then drew his wand with his left. "Today we're making apples and oranges." He demonstrated, looking down at the fruit as he drew his wand along its bumpy rind. It smoothed, darkened, and began to contract, shifting into a bright red apple. "It's trickier than it looks," he assured them. "We'll be cutting them open to see how you did."

He tucked his wand away again. "Get going," he said. "Call me if you've got any questions." He took a bite of crisp apple and sat on the edge of his desk to watch.

[Robbie Falconer]

Robbie swore as he looked down at his orange. He hadn't done this in a donkey's and he was supposed to transfigure this into something edible? He bashed on, first poking at it with his wand, then rubbing at it like the vaguely familiar professor had, but did poorly even by his own reckoning. It was apple-shaped, and it was green, but it was still bumpy. When he cut it open, it squirted a burst of juice at the person on his left. "Sorry about that," he said.

[Brindle Sterling]

"Ow!" Brindle glared aside at the guy with the eye that hadn't gotten squirted, but only for a moment. He was cute! And all those tattoos! Was he really a student? She tried to force a smile, to questionable results, and said, "It's all right. It was an accident." Her smile worked this time, and maybe her cheeks heated a bit as she turned back to her own apple. She was trying to make it into an orange, and it looked right, but it still didn't feel squishy enough, so she prodded it a few more times before calling it done. She peeled back the skin and pulled a wedge out, grinning in victory before she took a bite. It still tasted like apple, but would he really notice?

[Robbie Falconer]

"That's smashing!" Robbie said, looking at the girl's orange. "Would you give ol' Robbie a hand here? Mine's a bit ropey at best." He gave her his best smile. If this worked out, maybe he could catch her outside class as well. She wasn't half bad to look at. "What's your name, luv?"

[Brindle Sterling]

Brindle's smile returned, and she did a quick check of her teeth before actually looking aside at the boy. Robbie, he'd said. "Brindle," she told him. "Yeah, I'll help." She glanced up at Dare, hoping he wasn't paying attention, then scooted closer to Robbie. "You have to really concentrate," she said.

[Robbie Falconer]

"I am, luv," Robbie said, his green eyes meeting her bright blue ones. "But I reckon you'll want me to think about the orange a bit before class ends." He moved closer to her. "You got a boyfriend?" Subtlety was for guys who liked to play solitaire. He wasn't one of them, if he could help it.

[Brindle Sterling]

"Oh!" Brindle giggled, though she tried to stifle the sound behind her hand. "Shut up!" she chuckled. She glanced up at Dare again before looking back at Robbie. He was so flattering her, but she couldn't help responding, and he kept calling her love! Somehow it affected her, even if she knew he was just messing around. "Concentrate on your orange," she said. "Unless you're making an apple." She really wasn't sure by looking at it.

[Robbie Falconer]

No boyfriend, Robbie decided. Or if she had one, she wasn't much interested in the bloke. "It'd take a Troll on it to get to know you better," he said. He moved a bit closer to the bird, abandoning his work for a good chat-up.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

That was more than enough of that, Dare thought. He set aside the remainder of his apple and made his way to Brindle and the guy he recognized as Markise's friend. He stopped right in front of the guy's desk and leaned down, lowering his voice. "This is a classroom, not a club," he said. He threw a look over at Brindle, then gestured for them to separate their desks again. He had a brief thought that he could take away points, but decided not to.

[Brindle Sterling]

Brindle turned red at the implication, no matter how true it might have been, and scooted her desk back to where it had been before. At least she'd gotten her work done. She threw an almost apologetic look at Robbie, then did her best not to glare at Dare. Was he pissed because this was his class, or because he thought he was protecting her? Either way, he needed to get over his big brother complex.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity had noticed that familiar flaming red hair the moment she stepped into the classroom. She had gotten there early and she wasn't sure if Leo was going to be in the same class. Her cheeks flushed a little as a smirk made its way across her lips. The memories from that night at the club only brought emotions that crossed somewhere between amusement and regret. She shot him an uncertain look, aimed at the back of his head, before averting her eyes and taking her seat on the other side of the classroom towards the back.

Verity ran her fingers of the bumpy skin of the orange before sliding her wand out. She needed to focus this term. It was her final year and she intended to end it on a high note. On her first try, the skin of the orange went from being orange, rough, and bumpy to being orange, smooth, and hard. On her second try, the orange/apple sprouted a stem and the color began to darken to a nice, deep, red. Before Verity could attempt the transfiguration a third time, her head shot up when she heard hushed voices. Her eyes narrowed as she observed the professor, one who looked far too familiar, tell off that boy and some girl he was sitting with. She let out a little snicker and pulled her attention back to whatever fruit was currently in front of her.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Transfiguration was Annabelle's favorite subject. Upon arriving back from her extended absence, she'd spent most of her free time in the remaining summer weeks studying her books, especially for her Transfiguration class. She'd been so excited to be back learning and couldn't wait for classes to start, all until last night. At the sorting feast the new teachers were introduced and Annabelle was shocked to see the changes. Two of her former classmates were now teachers and she had them both. She was worried about having Dare as a professor for her favorite subject, afraid she'd somehow not live up to her own expectations. What was even worse, is that she couldn't take her mind off the class she had later, with Dare's husband, and her ex-boyfriend. It would be horrible having him as a teacher, especially since Defense against the Dark Arts was probably her worst subject. She needed to concentrate on Transfiguration class but her stomach was upset with dread for the afternoon.

Anna had managed to take a seat off to the side of the classroom, in the second row. She'd managed so far not to make eye contact with Dare and sat staring at her large green apple. She was ignoring the other students in the class as well, lost in thought until the movement of Dare passing on his way back to the front of the class caught her attention. She tried to focus on the apple, imagined it turning into a juicy orange. With her nerves strung high, her wand shook a little as she traced it down the smooth surface.

Disappointment set in as the color and shape changed, but not the texture. Come on, you've studied this, you've never failed at a transfiguration before. Anna berated herself for her lack of concentration before taking a deep breath. with narrowed eyebrows, she focused on the apple/orange and tried again. This time small bumps and lines formed, the stem sunk in to form a small white circle on top, and when she held it close, a faint citrus scent could be smelled. She set the orange down, knowing she'd have to cut it open, but still worried that she wouldn't find an orange within.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare had noticed how nervous Annabelle seemed to be, and for a while he tried to ignore it, to give her whatever space she might need. As the class wore on, however, it didn't seem to be getting any better for her. When she stopped transfiguring he gave her another few minutes, then crossed the room in long, loping strides, finally stopping at her side. He leaned low for just a moment to murmur, "Can I talk to you after class?" If it had anything to do with him as professor, he wanted to know.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle had no choice but turn to Dare when he spoke. Her eyes widened at his request and she nodded. She wasn't sure if she wanted this to be from a personal or an academic level. Several other student's attempts had turned out far worse then her own transfiguration so she didn't think she was in trouble already, but she couldn't think of any reason for Dare to want to talk to her, he'd never sought her out before. At the last minute Anna remembered her place and responded with, "Yes...Sir."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's eyes closed briefly, and he tensed. He'd talk to her after class. He forced himself to breathe, then straightened and moved back toward the front of the classroom without looking back. There were still a few students who weren't finished yet, or he'd have gladly ended class early.