Star Wars: Lost and Longing.

Harry blinked at the question and hurt in her tone. He looked up from his examination of the rodent that was squirming slightly in his hands and shook his head.

"Not at all. I just… realized I didn't specify that you should change it to something inanimate," Harry said, sounding both abashed at his own oversight and amused at the situation. "I was assuming you were just trying to change it to a geometric shape..."

Ahsoka winced, thinking she had done something she shouldn't have. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just remembered what you did at the bar in Nar Shaddaa, and thought I would try a smaller version of that."

"No no, you did nothing wrong. Just the opposite in fact," Harry reassured her as shook his head quickly and a grin appeared on it. "Turning an inanimate object to an animate object is actually way way harder. Normally you would transfigure inanimate to inanimate, and then animate to inanimate first. The third step in transfiguration is turning inanimate objects to animate ones. The only thing harder is changing one animate object into another."

"Merlin-forsaken over-achievers … " Harry grumbled playfully, though it was clear he was pleased, "I thought I was making it challenging by making you change something the size of a rock rather than a pebble… and it only took you two tries... My first transfiguration class I couldn't even turn a match into a needle."

Ahsoka actually beamed a bit with pride once she understood Harry's words before her attention returned to the mouse squirming in Harry's hand, "How long will it last?" "Mm. It depends on how much power is put into the cast," Harry answered as he examined the mouse thoughtfully. "You were a bit tentative rather than trying to overpower your cast. Usually beginners have the exact opposite problem."

"Intent, will and power," Harry explained further, seeing her expression, "You had the first two, but you probably used just the bare minimum power required. Generous estimate is that there are probably no more than 10 minutes before it reverts back to a rock."

"Is… it alive?" Ahsoka inquired tentatively, in a worried tone as she looked at the now calming mouse in Harry's hands.

Harry smiled and shook his head, "No, you were picturing this rodent, and it's acting the way you consciously or subconsciously pictured it; which was probably like a rodent would act."

Harry pointed his finger at another rock sitting in a pile and narrowed his eyes slightly. Ahsoka and the two Jedi Masters felt a slight and brief surge in the Force and the rock transformed into a mouse similar to the one that Ahsoka had transfigured. Only this mouse was wearing the top of a suit, and had a top hat and a cane. It immediately began to dance in a circle in a complicated little dance, swinging the cane and top hat.

"It's acting that way because I pictured it acting that way. The transfiguration is simply responding to the commands of my conscious and subconscious," he explained as he chuckled a little bit. Harry held up his hand with the other mouse still squirming in it. "If I were to cut this mouse open, I doubt you'd find anything resembling organs on the inside. Unless your focus was so detailed as to provide them. While my transfiguration might simulate organs and blood, it's neither alive nor does it have a soul."

As he was speaking the mouse in his hand gave a little quiver and shifted back into the form of the rock it was initially. Harry then presented the rock back to Ahsoka, and said in a very snooty voice, with his nose in the air, "And that, my dear Miss Tano, is Transfiguration! Ten points to you for such a fine job especially on only your second attempt."

She tilted her head slightly at the odd phrase but definitely beamed at his praise. Harry smiled and then gestured his dancing rodent turned back into a rock, and at the same time a section of the ground next to the rocks sloped downward and changed into a bowl with steep walls.

"I want you to change the rest of these rocks into something," Harry said.

"Into what?" an eager Ahsoka inquired.

"Anything. I would like to see a mix of animate and inanimate objects. Otherwise… surprise me," Harry said as he grinned and pushed himself from lying on his stomach up to a standing position with surprising grace. "Your imagination is your only limiter here."

Ahsoka watched him stand and then turned her attention back to focus on the rocks with a look of determination on her face.

Harry turned toward Aayla and Shaak Ti. Shaak Ti was staring down at the rocks, though her facial expression was completely blank. Her eyes were seeing without sight

She was obviously reaching out with every sense at her disposal. Sight. Hearing. Echolocation. And above all the Force.

She was focused intently and didn't miss a single thing as Ahsoka narrowed her eyes in concentration. A wave of her wand and she turned another rock into a miniature Nerf. The nerf only had three legs and balanced awkwardly but otherwise seemed to be fairly accurate.

Her eyes couldn't help but widening at the third confirmation of what she had seen, that her senses weren't fooling her. Shaak Ti had a rare moment of complete shock showing on her face. "That's... not possible."

"Oh?" inquired Harry as he walked over. "What exactly isn't possible?"

"Matter cannot just change it's state like this," Shaak Ti replied as she continued to stare at Ahsoka. "Only a particle destructor can unmake matter, and nothing I know of can reconstitute it into another form."

She turned her gaze from Ahsoka to Harry and fixed him with a glare that would melt transparisteel. "What kind of mind trick is this? I am not amused."

"You know, the only thing better than looking at an angry woman is the angry make-up sex that follows." In contrast to the togruta's tone Harry's was amused and it was obvious that he was completely unconcerned with the gaze of a Jedi Master that had intimidated entire groups before.

He was getting very used to the reaction of surprise by now. And honestly, he hadn't had this much fun in quite some time. Both Ahsoka and Aayla had said something similar, in the same tone even.

Of course Aayla was once more bearing a similar look on her face. Only this time she was staring at Harry in shock because of the bluntness and outrageousness of his statements and not something 'impossible' he had done. Ahsoka had simply glanced up at the Togrutan Jedi Master with a cold look before returning her focus to the stones in front of her.

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