Disclaimer the usual.
As Monday came, the group found themselves making their way to the lecture hall early. Maddie was twirling the collar on her finger when Cassandra appeared and snatched, setting it on the desk. Ozma was sat on top of it, doing her best to fit in. Maddie had quickly made her an outfit over Sunday to fit in with the school uniform. As it stood, she wouldn't have been completely out of place. The getup was more of the white than navy blue, but it seemed to fit her pretty well. she sat on top of the big desk at the front of the room, her legs swinging off it crossed at the ankles. As the rest of the students began to file in, Cassandra called dorothy to the front, she walked over and jumped onto Ozma's lap.
Whispers immediately filled the lecture hall as this time only Lady Angela and The Jester joined as speakers. Alex could hear all of them, he scowled a bit and grunted, taking off his own ring and sword knowing full well he would be asked to come up and provide a demonstration. His sister joined him in Dorothy's usual seat, she was nervous as well.
Emma had stayed with Polly to keep her company, she had tried to glance at Cassandra's thoughts only to find her mind guarded, but she did however see Yookoohoo on the surface and realized she would be called to speak.
"Transformations." Cassandra said loudly, silencing everyone, "now, I know for a fact I don't need to explain what these are, you all have witnessed many over the years, whether you live by 'the village' or just happened to be part of the crowd that watched Princess Dorothy shift and morph into the cat that is sitting on the queen's lap at this very moment, transformations are changing things into something else that is not its natural form."
"Admittedly with Dorothy, she's been changed to a cat and kitten so many times, Feline may as well be her natural state." Rose said walking over and scratching under her chin
"Oh don't even joke like thaaaaat." Dorothy said starting to purr loudly
It echoed through the room, if dorothy could have blushed with embarrassment she would have but that was not in the cards today. She moved off Ozma's lap and shook her head rapidly.
"Now, Miss Gale, you've had Many, Many forms put on you over the years, would you care to list them for us?" Cassandra asked curiously.
Dorothy sat there for a moment, and let out a long sigh.
"In order, I've been turned to stone, changed into a cat, a puppet, a sort of half rabbit, a whole rabbit, gifted the collar for a more consistent cat transformation, and a doll." Dorothy said her gaze going to the scepter, "its quite the list."
"now, can someone tell me what the general differences are for transformations?" Cassandra asked looking around, her gaze fell on Emma.
Emma winced, afraid that this was coming, she stood and took a deep breath.
"well, all transformations are physical." Emma said fingering the amulet around her neck "case in point, this is not my natural size, I am actually naturally large enough that I could carry dorothy on my shoulder" she said looking over at her.
"its true, she can be that big." Dorothy said, she would have smiled if she could
Emma giggled a bit at that, picking up her notebook and tearing a page from it. she crumpled it up and rolled it in her hand, moving from her desk to join them up front.
"Miss Yoop I did not prompt you to leave your desk." Cassandra said firmly.
"but I may as well, as a Yookoohoo I have the advantage." She said tossing the ball of paper, "Yookoohoos have a special affinity for transformations, the biggest difference is our transformations are a choice of will, if we will something to change it cannot change back unless we wish it. the only kind of magic that can reverse it, is faerie magic." She said whipping the ball of paper at the ground
It turned into a rubber ball at that point and bounced, it bounced over to alex who caught it.
"Now that was something, I didn't know about you guys." Alex said.
"And when you guys asked me to help you as back up incase the spell you crafted for Annabella went terribly wrong, it was the reason I was unsure if there was going to be anything I could do under pressure." She said looking at her friend, "unlike my mother, I'm not fully confident in my abilities but I am getting more adept at them." she said with a warm smile.
"And Yookoohoos are quite powerful on their own." The jester said walking over to them, "it's the reason I tried to ally with your mother once."
"Then we decided to turn that on its head." Dorothy chimed in.
"Now changing objects into other objects is one thing." Cassandra said picking up the collar from the desk, "Changing people into other creatures or other forms is quite another, typically for the purposes of concealment."
"you can change a person into an object, such as a vase, or as dorothy mentioned, a stone statue." The Jester said, "or even a marionette, though there are some interesting limitations to that."
"case in point." Dorothy added, "when I sacrificed myself and you turned me into a puppet, I was allowed to stay conscious, compared to the rest of the puppets you had made."
"it was like falling asleep, when he did it to me, Glinda, and a host of others." Ellie said shuddering
"and being turned into a stone statue was rather painful and incredibly terrifying." Dorothy said shaking out her fur.
"yes, well I think that can be accounted to the scepter, unwillingly to harm her mistress." Alex said looking at the scepter and leaning back in his chair.
"Now, of course, for people like the scarecrow or tin man, or even the China princess and marshall mallow, changing their physical forms is relatively easy compared to a regular person, as its easy enough to change their constructed bodies into else." Emma said giggling now
"but to do it en-masse like we had to do when the imps attacked last year was quite the calculation." Cassandra added picking up the collar, "It is generally easier to enchant an object change someone's form, case in point this collar that the Hatter had made for the purposes of disguising dorothy to get her passed Evanora"
"and something I have abused in the past for the purposes of relaxing." Dorothy added sighing, "part of the reason I'm stuck like this now."
"indeed Miss Gale." Cassandra said handing the collar to Ozma, "your majesty, if you would."
Ozma smiled wide and nodded, as much respect as she had for Glinda, she also wanted to have a bit of fun herself. She put the collar around her neck and rapidly changed once more into a very puffy white cat. She moved over to dorothy on the desk and rubbed her head against hers, purring loudly.
The result of this was dorothy purring loudly and a few giggles and chuckles from their fellow students. Even alex couldn't help but crack a smile.
"now the collar." Madeline said with a giggle, "will transform the wearer into whatever cat shape fits the wearer the most. Dorothy typically turns into a calico of some description, a rather unique type of cat, Alex becomes a short haired black cat, Ozma as you can see becomes a rather fluffy white haired cat." She said with a giggle as she appeared at next to the desk.
As she reached around to unhook the collar from Ozma, she suddenly got quite thoughtful. She stopped and turned to look at Alex and Annabella, her curiosity piqued.
"you know, I know you've use it, and like I said, became a shorthaired black cat." Madeline said her eyes now focusing on Annabella, "but now I'm curious as to what kind of cat Annabella would become, and yes, I know that both of you will just default to the wolf after a while, nature of the curse on you and the spell you crafted for her…but it is an interesting question seeing as you two are siblings."
"Maddie, no, we aren't experimenting with this now." Dorothy said looking at her, "The last thing we need is to start giving Annabella ideas."
"hey, I'm old enough and responsible enough to speak for myself." Annabella said, almost whining.
"Annabella, we've already got one person stuck in a relapse, the last thing we need is for you to potentially get stuck." Alex said firmly.
"Brother, I can make my own decisions, and honestly I'd be lying if I said I weren't interested to find out." She said bounding over the desks, transforming into her wolf shape as she did so to land on her feet.
This resulted in some applause as the grey wolf that Annabella had taken the shape of padded to the large desk.
"Speaking of Relapse, who can tell me what that is?" Cassandra asked curiously, "No one of the main group, I'd like a student who hasn't had one or more experiences with transformations answering."
There was a silence as textbooks opened and the sound of pages flipping were heard. Students reading off the page on transformations. One student finally piped up
"when one constantly transforms, there is a build up of magical energy, imperceptible but there, over time it will build up til eventually the transformation happens of its own accord, relapses are generally more unpleasant than the general transformation itself. The transformation will remain for an indeterminate period of time, and during that time the transformation itself is generally unbreakable, though there have been known exceptions, none of which are pleasant, see glossary for details."
"Thank you, that will be all." Cassandra said turning her attention back to dorothy, Ozma, Madeline, Emma and Annabella, "Boy, you may as well join them up here, you're next up."
He pinched the bridge of his nose and grabbed the scepter, heading up to the front and letting the scepter float next to the desk. he looked at his sister and sighed, much as he disapproved of an experiment here and now, he couldn't, he wouldn't try to shelter her. he saw the affects that had on Ellie, and he was determined not to let that happen to her, he didn't want to drive her away, he'd rather her emulate his less destructive behaviors than letting her own version of the beast come out to play.
Annabella removed the collar from Ozma, who rapidly resumed her normal shape. She took a deep breath and put the collar on. Rapidly she shrunk to the size of a cat, becoming a short haired black cat as well. she jumped up onto the table quickly getting her bearings. She looked around and then jumped down again, shaking out her fur.
"usually, the fur color is based off of either hair color or what you happen to be wearing, Alex typically wears black so I'm not surprised he comes off as a black or dark grey, but I am a tiny bit surprised you did Annabella." Cassandra said genuinely, as she looked down at the cat.
Alex crouched down and removed the collar from his sister. In a moment she transformed into her grey wolf form again, then shifted back to her natural shape. Alex sighed in relief at this as he set the collar back on the desk.
"Now, your transformation was bestowed on you as part of a curse." Cassandra said addressing alex directly, "a curse is interesting with transformations because most are quite easily reversible if you know what you're doing, a curse in itself can only really be repressed."
Alex nodded and for demonstration purposes began to transform, growing into a 6 foot tall grey wolf this time. everyone at the front took a step back to avoid being knocked over by his general movements.
"It also provided me with an alternate version of my self who can occasionally take over." He said looking at windy.
She pinged and sent a ball of light into the blackboard which shifted into a mirror. The image of the wolf reflected back, those this one looked more vicious than alex did on a normal basis.
"Great, now I'm a demonstration as well." The beast said growling, "thanks"
"He's all the aspects of me that I hate, my more aggressive side as it were." Alex added as he shifted back and straightened his cuffs "we work together because we have to, we're one in the same"
"and we do our best to help you get through it" Dorothy said moving to the edge of the desk "that said I think you ended up larger this time." she added.
"Probably because of me" The beast said causing everyone to look up "there was every chance something could have gone wrong with Annabella's demonstration."
"but you didn't stop her?" Ellie pointed out
"Ellie that's something we can talk about outside class." Alex and the beast said in unison,
Ellie nodded and sat back in her seat, taking Jude's hand in her own.
"Now, this is your only warnings, while I am teaching you the rudimentary points, I would advise you all against experimenting with this kind of magic, even when we get to practicing actual spell casting, I teach the rudiments as more of a caution, and yes some of you may excel at transformations, but actual practice of it wont be taught until next school year." She said pacing around,
"now, the marionette spell that I created was brutally effective, and rather difficult to change." The jester said sheepishly, "But Dorothy and Alex from what I've been told were the ones to reverse it themselves."
"Oh dorothy gets most of the credit." Alex said chuckling "I just instructed her to use plurals in order to reverse it on a larger scale, and the scepter listened."
"not to interrupt but what was it actually like being a puppet?" One of the students asked curiously.
"In general?" Dorothy asked curiously, turning in the direction of the voice.
"specifically for you because you said you were able to remain conscious." The student said.
"Honestly, very boring." Dorothy said sighing, shaking out her fur, "I could move if I wanted to, though it was a bit of an ordeal, I could move my eyes, my eyebrows, I could see I could hear, but I was basically enslaved to what he wanted me to do, always repeating the last thing he said."
"and I still feel guilty about that." The jester said thinking about that for a moment, he would address the question of why she never said anything after the class was dismissed.
"Now transformations are not just limited to spells, if you know what ingredients to choose, then you can make potions with the same effects of certain spells." Cassandra said firmly "those might be taught next school year…" she said thinking about that for a moment, "it will really depend on how many of you will still be taking this course next year, as number one, I am only allowed to keep a limited number of ingredients on campus for safety, number two, the amount of cauldrons are limited as well, and we cannot use the dining commons, my predecessor years ago tried that, needless to say theres a reason why theres a repression barrier around the Cantine."
"okay, somehow I never noticed that…" Madeline blurted out, then thought about it for a moment "wait a tick, then how big are the dining commons? because for a repression barrier to be unnoticeable it needs to be spread quite thin indeed." She added concerned.
"It is refreshed once a month." Cassandra said firmly, "now the most common potion for transformation that many of you would be aware if not by name, is the liquid of petrifaction, a potion of which, so much as a little drop of it will turn you into a marble statue, making it is more complicated than reversing the process of it" Cassandra added.
"which honestly is quite a rarity, typically potions that have a transformation effect will usually need another potion to reverse them, but the Liquid of Petrifaction is an odd outlier." Angela said taking over for a moment, "That being said, as my sister has warned, don't try any of this if you do manage to find the books that will teach it, year 1 is always the rudiments with a little practical, year two onward is always more practical."
There was some murmuring with this, nothing that the three with heightened senses could make out anyways. There were scribblings as well, as many worked to get this all down. They heard Ellie's wand tap against her desk however, that was a sound that was fully recognizable.
"now, transformation falls into intent as well, looping back around, a transformation doesn't have to be unpleasant, if you're willing enough it can be rather euphoric." Angela added.
"because, as much as we give them labels, there really isn't such a thing as dark or light magic, its all about how its used at the end of the day, on the whole there is magic that is considered evil, most of it lost to time, but it could be weaponized for good as well if you knew what you were doing, its more a matter of consequences." The Jester said aloud, looking at the group at the front, "knowledge that some of us have, some of us don't, and that some of us have given up."
"Knowledge in of itself is not power." Cassandra said firmly, "the ability to apply that knowledge practically however is."
"case in point, I could tell Ozma here how to make a chair step by step, without magic." Alex said butting into the conversation, "But it would be foolish to hand her the tools and the materials and tell her to demonstrate based off the instructions I gave."
"which is a very bad example considering that I built many thing when I was younger and hidden" Ozma said teasingly
"Fair enough, but the principle remains the same, say Dorothy tried to teach you some drawing skills." He said starting to loop that point around.
"or set up a chess board in front of you with no knowledge of how to play and just asked you to play it." Annabella added
"or that." Alex said chuckling "fair point Annabella."
"All fine examples." Cassandra said nodding, picking up the discarded ball from earlier and handing it to Emma, "Emma not long ago from my perspective that ball would have still had properties of paper to it, considering a rubber ball is a far cry from a piece of paper."
"Oh I know, that is the practice makes perfect mentality at work." She said with a giggle, bouncing it up into the air and catching it.
Cassandra nodded "as it stands presently, its looking to be about that time, so, Class dismissed." She said firmly, "Assignment is to read the next three chapters of the textbook."
"no essay?" Angela asked curiously.
"from where we left off, no." Cassandra said shaking her head "because it means they have to go backward to go forward."
Angela nodded and vanished, soon all the students had filed out save for their group. Madeline scooped up the collar and pocketed it for the time being. She sighed a long sigh.
"she's right you know, there really isn't such a think as black or white magic, the intent matters and the consequences of the knock-on effect do." Madeline said with a sigh, "difference between a curse and a charm"
"its not about what you do, its how, what, and why." Angela said nodding, looking around.
Cassandra had stepped out and vanished. And soon they were filing out. Heading back to the dormitory now, having gathered up all their things. Ozma carried Dorothy in her arms. She didn't mind this much, but she didn't exactly approve either. It pleased Ozma to do it however so she wasn't one to argue. she purred as she nuzzled against her.
"Honestly, I could get used to being a cat, I don't want to, but I could." Dorothy said purring loudly.
"we wouldn't want you too, who would share a dance with me in the full moon." Alex asked with a chuckle.
"And who would help me with the paperwork required of a ruler?" ozma asked with a giggle.
"that being said, theres not much we can do about your current state either." Alex added with a long sigh, "who knows how long you'll be stuck"
"hopefully she's transformed back in time for the big holiday dance before break, I really want to see you two share a dance where its actually pretty appropriate." Ellie said giggling, "and not as part of a practical demonstration."
"Oh I'm sure she'll be back to her regular form by then, alex's didn't last that long in the grand scheme of things." Came Glinda's voice as they walked into the dormitory.
"Oh great, what do you want now sis?" Ellie asked, sounding quite annoyed.
"Oh nothing, I just wasn't allowed to sit in on the lecture, so I figured I'd just wait in my old dorm area for everything to be done." Glinda said sounding honest about that.
"of course you weren't allowed, you'd have thrown a fit at watching the demonstrations in question." Ellie said, scowling a little at her sister.
"I know the risks of transformations, and there's a reason I don't like them." Glinda said plainly, "but that's a story for another day, Ozma are you planning on staying around a little longer?" she asked curiously.
"that was my intentions, yes, these passed few days have been quite interesting, a lovely break from the royal duties, though I only might return tonight." She said with a warm smile as she set Dorothy down on the floor.
Glinda simply nodded at this, taking a deep breath in, she walked out of the dorm passed them and summoned a bubble around her. in an instant she was gone. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief at this.
"I was worried she was going to give us a much sterner lecture." Dorothy said jumping up onto a table.
"me too." Ozma said reaching over the scratch behind her ears.
"I think we all were." Alyssa added with a nod.
Ellie said nothing, she simply excused herself to her room with Jude. Sitting on her bed, she took several deep breaths and laid back on the bed. Every time she saw her now, she saw red, and she knew why, she just didn't know why the feelings were that strong. She was used to her sister keeping things from her, this wasn't wholly unusual. But it was as if some other form of understanding had been bestowed upon her which left her feeling even more angry towards her sister. She began to feel that Jude was right, maybe they should just run off…but she couldn't do that to the others. She felt she definitely didn't have it in her.