Transfiguration

That afternoon, the Gryffindor first-years had their Transfiguration class together with Ravenclaw again.

Before the first lesson began, Professor McGonagall put on a stern face and gave everyone a warning:

Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will study at Hogwarts. Anyone who dares to fool around in my classroom will be asked to leave and never allowed back in.

That intimidating speech, coupled with Professor McGonagall's severe expression, instantly cowed the eleven-year-olds. The classroom fell completely silent.

In fact, Professor McGonagall's teaching style was much the same as Professor Flitwick's. She turned the desk into a pig, then changed it back again.

The demonstration quickly captured everyone's attention. They all wished they could begin learning Transfiguration immediately.

The Gryffindor students who had just attended Charms class understood that it would still be a long time before they could turn furniture into animals.

Sure enough, once class began, Professor McGonagall started explaining Transfiguration Theory, and they hurriedly copied down a large pile of complicated notes.

Albert opened his skill list, and as expected, Transfiguration Theory had appeared there as well. He spent 98 experience points to raise Transfiguration Theory to Level 1.

From the very beginning, he had been staring at the contents of Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, pretending to read seriously. In reality, he was reviewing the Transfiguration Theory knowledge that had appeared in his mind.

After the theoretical explanation, Professor McGonagall handed each of them a matchstick and had them try to turn it into a needle.

"Mr. Anderson?" Professor McGonagall looked at the boy who was daydreaming, frowning slightly. She still remembered him. After all, anyone who saw someone take apart the door to their office would remember it clearly, especially when it had happened so recently.

"Uh, Professor, is something wrong?" Albert immediately snapped back to attention and looked at Professor McGonagall with a puzzled expression.

"Everyone is practicing Transfiguration. Why aren't you giving it a try?" Professor McGonagall's gaze passed over Albert and settled on Fred beside him. "Mr. Weasley, if I were you, I would concentrate before casting the spell."

Fred looked innocent, but Professor McGonagall standing beside him put him under considerable pressure.

Albert glanced at Fred and began talking nonsense with a straight face. "I just thought that before waving my wand, I should remember a few important things."

However, Professor McGonagall did not leave immediately. Instead, she withdrew her gaze and continued watching Albert, waiting to see him cast the spell.

"Ahem!" Albert cleared his throat, raised his wand, and pointed it at the matchstick on the table. At the same time, he incanted, "Vera Verto."

The matchstick changed rapidly, becoming a slender silver needle.

"Excellent. Everyone, look—Mr. Anderson has succeeded," Professor McGonagall said, showing the class the silver needle the matchstick had become. She even gave Albert a rare smile, and before leaving, she awarded Gryffindor five points.

"I knew this wouldn't be hard for you." Fred picked up the silver needle, examined it, and asked, "How did you do it? Is there some trick?"

Several students nearby pricked up their ears, seemingly wanting to know Albert's secret to succeeding immediately.

Albert lowered his voice. "Didn't Professor McGonagall have us take notes earlier? The trick is in there."

The group immediately began flipping through their books, looking for the notes they had just written down.

"You think I'd believe that?" Fred shot Albert a disdainful glare, clearly not buying his nonsense.

Still, he did not press the matter further, because Professor McGonagall looked over again.

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall announced again, "Look, Miss McDougal's matchstick has changed as well."

"Transfiguration is so difficult. How did you succeed in one go?" Katrina could not help asking. For some reason, she was sitting next to Albert again.

"Succeed in one go? Ahem, actually, I practiced before, so that's why I succeeded." Albert cleared his throat. He did not reveal the trick to his success. Being regarded as some kind of genius was best avoided.

"Failure is normal. I don't even remember how many times I failed before I successfully turned a matchstick into a needle."

"Still, those points Professor McGonagall had us write down are also the key to success." That last sentence was meant for the people listening in nearby.

Katrina could naturally guess as much. After all, no one could succeed in one attempt. The fact that her matchstick had changed meant she had practiced Transfiguration beforehand as well.

For the rest of the Transfiguration class, everyone practiced turning matchsticks into needles. Professor McGonagall walked back and forth through the classroom, guiding the other students.

However, the remaining time was truly boring for Albert, who had already successfully turned his matchstick into a needle. So he found something to do for himself, lest Professor McGonagall catch him slacking off.

"Restore to Original Form!"

The silver needle turned back into a matchstick. Professor McGonagall had already explained the spell, and the book contained related notes as well. Incomplete transfigurations were difficult to correct, but saying "Restore to Original Form!" would return an object or creature to its original state.

With one hand propping up his chin and the other holding his wand, Albert began transfiguring the matchstick on the table into all sorts of strange things. The incantation was always Vera Verto, but the closer the transformed object's shape was to the original object, the easier the Transfiguration became.

After changing it, he restored it again, using this to gain experience in Restore to Original Form.

"How did you do that?" Fred beside him was dumbfounded.

This guy's Transfiguration was already miles ahead of theirs.

"How did I do it? Like this!" Albert raised his wand and gave it a tap. The button on the table turned into a toy mouse.

"Just as Professor McGonagall said: be clean and decisive when you wave your wand, picture clearly what you want to transform it into beforehand, and pronounce the incantation clearly and accurately."

The twins looked at each other. Although Albert had said that, and they tried doing as he instructed, they still failed to make their matchsticks change before class ended.

In fact, aside from Albert and Katrina, no one else's matchstick changed at all.

To Albert, though, that was only natural.

After all, as someone who had been through it, he understood the difficulty of Transfiguration all too well. Without practicing hard for several days, they wanted to successfully complete a Transfiguration? Did they think their talent for Transfiguration was heaven-defying?

Making an object change for the first time was the hardest part, but once they had that first success, further practice would become much easier.

The homework for Transfiguration was similar to that for Charms class: they were to go back and practice turning matchsticks into needles.

But how many students would patiently practice was anyone's guess.

Still, judging from the contents of Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, first-year students learned only one kind of Transfiguration magic: Transfiguration itself. The only difference was the size and type of the objects they had to transform.