Study Conjurations for romantic applications

Franziska had already decided she wouldn't be doing anything else too forward today...

A feast was an event where you sat next to your lover, not where you tried to meet someone new - at least, not a Leontes feast. You can't help but feel like you are caught in a bit of a Morton's Fork; no-strings-attatched liasons were looked down on, especially by the leaders and upperclassmen in the house, but how could you ever find a steady partner who was right for you unless you blew on those embers of passion whenever you spotted them? Blushing, Franziska started wondering if that Gillian girl from this morning had cast some kind of spell on her - it seemed as if she'd been thinking about nothing but se- errr, romance since she got up this morning. Her rough lovemaking with Tucker hadn't 'gotten it out of her system', just the opposite. It was the same principle as an appetizer... you didn't know just how hungry you were until you had a nibble of something.

At least now you can get changed. Taking off your stained vest and blouse and leaving them for the laundry hamper, you finally slip into a pair of white cotton undies even as you're slipping everything else off. Maybe it wasn't Gillian but the school itself that was getting inside your head and turning you into a pervert. Or maybe it was one of those self-fulfilling prophecies - if you're invited to an academy where everyone is always whispering and giggling about how much sex they're sure to be getting, you can't put it out of your mind even if you try. But that was the thing - it clearly wasn't going to be an easy stroll in the park! With dirty books more common than ever, a lot of students had a very exaggerated idea of what a pretty young woman's measurements ought to be. What was worse, there were some girls here who actually had bodies that lived up to those fantasies. Permanent body-altering transformations were forbidden spells but you had your suspicions that some of them were cheaters. All the same... with that kind of beauty, you yourself found them pretty attractive to look at.

You sniff; of course, that's no real consolation. Even if you're willing to broaden your horizons, beautiful girls would be even harder to hook up with. Winnie was right; you need to think, and study, and develop your magic. But oh, there was a trick, too. Part of your conversation with Winnie had been that so many first-years thought that studies in magic would make matters of romance as easy as a flick of the wrist... but as they always say, the Dark Arts are in the details. The most obvious application, making someone love (or "love") you, be it with a wand or potion, was an extremely forbidden spell that would get you in prison. Charm spells were much less illegal but still quite rude, only worked one-on-one, and overusing them would make you very unpopular very fast.. Besides, they weren't powerful enough for convincing someone who wasn't attracted to you anyway to go on and jump in bed even if a quick romp was all you wanted. Academic subjects like herbology, history or magical theory were only good if you wanted to put your date to sleep. Transformation spells were all well and good, but were only really suited for spicing up a relationship that you already had. Divinations had their place, like charms, but again, made people suspicious and could all-too-easily make you look like a scary stalker.

That left the surprising default winners of potions and conjurations. Potions was the most obvious, but on the downside, it was also the most... obvious, which is to say, sexual. There are many potions for sexual enhancement, prophylactics, and most importantly, minor enhancements to the appearance - giving your skin that healthy glow, making your hair more lustrous, and so on. Not to mention that more than a few brews called for sexual fluids as ingredients. Then... there was conjurations. That type of magic was associated with, one might say, a purer and more innocent kind of romance, at least, it had been in the past. Conjurations weren't as applicable to things directly to do with love but were ideal for gestures of affection, or impressing someone with flashy displays of skill. Of course, there were also other, crasser, kinkier things to be done with it, particularly for those with an exhibitionist streak, as it required a lot of raw energy and arousal was good for generating that (plus it could help you hide or quickly replace your clothes)...

"Gah!" you squeak to yourself as Gillian bursts in through the door. "Hiiiiya there Franziska! You cute dove, hanging out with Winnie all day in the hall, trying to get noticed... Well done! I'm glad you didn't get in over your head with any of those narsty other houses." You breathe a sigh of relief - thankfully, the smell of sex on you has finally subsided. "Going to where the food is... well, that's not a turrible idea love, but next time you might have more luck bringing food out to where the geezers 'stead of waiting for them to trickle past you! Ahh, speaking of which, it's almost time - you ready to go back down in a quarter or so, Fran? Always good to get first in li- oooooh." she gives a curious coo as s she spots you reading under the covers. "What you lookin into there, love?"

"Conjuration," you reply dryly, "Which I'm going to need if you are going to keep on barging in without bothering to ask if I'm dressed."

Gillian comes up to the bed and waggles her fingers at you menacingly. "Oooh, prickly! That kind of talk is going to get you a vicious tickling in MY room, missy! Don't make me get cruel to convince you to help me bring in my bags~"

The rest of the night passes uneventfully. Gillian is getting more tolerable to hang around - you sit next to her at the dinner since you're not in the first-years section with Winnie - but you wouldn't exactly call her a friend yet. On the contrary, you have a hunch that she's likely to bungle anything you invite her to.

Much of the next day is spent catching up on chores you'd neglected on Saturday and studying up for the coming week. After all, during the week was the best time to meet people, and you wanted to keep your schedule free for any spontaneous meetings. As it turns out, you not only remember last year's conjuration schooling excellently, but you find the second year conjurations easy to pick up as well. They're simpler than other spells, but also tiring to cast and dangerous to miscast. Gillian has a more intellectual side than she seems, and apparently prefers history - who would have thought?

Another day passes. History and herbology classes - you're so bored that you get warned harshly by both professors for having the wrong books open and trying to doze, respectively. What's so important about making a case study of the Greater Blood-fang Vine? If you ever see a plant with a giant jaw trying to eat your flesh, do you really need a 3-hour class to teach you "burn it"? During breaks and in the evening you keep studying up. You catch up with Winnie and Berthold again briefly during supper but it seems the prefect is really ramping up demands of the first-years this week, and pushing the most undesirable chores onto them. You pleasure yourself with your fingers in your bed that night while Gillian is out. Frustratingly, you're not able to get yourself off, and the hot ache of suddenly awakened lust stays with your lower body all evening. It's only been two days - are these lusty cravings going to be permanent now? It's a thought that worries you. Best to not let yourself get **** enough to make a real mistake.

At last Tuesday rolls around. Your transfigurations professor is... well, a bit of a flake to be quite honest, a young teacher who doesn't take his work too seriously and mostly just encourages the students to go at their own pace and spend their hours in his classroom playing around with incantations and seeing what they can do. As far as you're concerned, you already know the most important transformation that lets you shrink and resize your dueling saber.

And then it's conjurations class. There is a noticeable preponderance of Leontes students and a lack of Draconis students, who typically put off their conjuration classes as long as possible (they would rather have someone else fetch them what they need than call it up themselves, or so the stereotype goes). You actually quite like the professor here too, a Mrs. Travers; a greying-haired, noble-looking woman in her 50s whose flesh-and-blood hands have been completely replaced from the wrist down with intricate clockwork hands made of silver. Even magic couldn't heal some injuries - but it could compensate. Almost fully functional, these constructs lacked some finesse, and her aim was often rather off. She refused to admit any fault when one of her demonstrated conjurations came too close (or straight out hit) one of her pupils - which you couldn't help but find quite amusing.

There was a Leontes second-year by the name of Albert Cordwhistle, an average-sized young man with a jolly, somewhat mischievous smirk permanently plastered across his features and enchanting green eyes, who sat next to you. When Mrs. Travers unleashed a waterspout of vegetable oil in her demonstration of the laws of conjuration, the two of your eyes met for a moment when you ducked beneath the desks. He whispered a joke too quiet for you to hear clearly but you giggled anyway.

You were already thinking about how you could impress him when the time for practical experiments came, but the moment Mrs. Travers announced that the students had 10 minutes to find a partner, a curvaceous, exotic, tan-skinned Minerval woman by the name of Chen flounced over with a seductive walk, gave you a sly lick of her lips, and then wrapped her hands around Albert's and asked if he wanted to be her partner, since things were 'awkward' with the Minerval partner she'd worked with last week.

Naturally, you're not about to stand for this. Clearing your throat aggressively, you give Chen a poke in the chest (which is difficult to do without touching the D-cup mounds straining against her over-tight sweatervest). "Pardon me, Miss, but I do not believe that you are qualified for an equal academic partnership with a Leontes! Have you even practiced any of the conjurations we shall try now? Because I have already mastered them all."

"Whoah, rrrrreow!" Albert makes a claw gesture with his hand and steps back. You stomp on his foot but keep your eyes on Chen. "Well? We have time - I challenge you to demonstrate the most advanced small-scale conjuration you know, and I shall do the same!"

(Note: Depending on how she does, Franziska will then ENCOUNTER either Albert or Chen, or GET OUT OF TROUBLE again.)