Transfiguration

Transfiguration

That afternoon, the Gryffindor First Years still had Transfiguration with Ravenclaw.

Before the first lesson began, Professor McGonagall put on a stern face and gave everyone a Show of Strength: "Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will study at Hogwarts. Anyone who dares to misbehave in my class will be asked to leave, and will never be allowed back in."

That intimidating speech, combined with Professor McGonagall's severe expression, immediately cowed the eleven-year-old students. The classroom fell utterly silent.

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

The display quickly captured everyone's attention, and they could hardly wait to begin learning Transfiguration.

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

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

Albert opened his Skill List, where Transfiguration Theory had indeed appeared. He spent 98 experience points to raise Transfiguration Theory to Level 1.

From the very beginning, he had been staring at the contents of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, pretending to study seriously while actually reviewing the Transfiguration Theory knowledge that had appeared in his mind.

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

"Mr. Anderson?" Professor McGonagall looked at the boy who was daydreaming and frowned slightly. She still remembered him, after all. Anyone would remember someone who had taken apart the door to their office, especially when it had happened so recently.

"Er, Professor, is something wrong?" Albert immediately came back to his senses and looked at Professor McGonagall with a confused expression.

"Everyone is practicing Transfiguration. Why aren't you giving it a try?" Professor McGonagall's gaze passed over Albert and landed 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 spouting nonsense with a straight face. "I just think it's best to remember a few important things before waving your wand."

However, Professor McGonagall had no intention of leaving right away. Instead, she turned her attention back to Albert and watched, ready to see him cast the spell.

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

The match changed rapidly, turning into a slender silver needle.

"Very good. Everyone, look—Mr. Anderson has succeeded." Professor McGonagall showed the class the silver needle the match had become, then gave Albert a rare smile. Before leaving, she even awarded Gryffindor five points.

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

Several students nearby pricked up their ears to listen, seemingly eager to learn 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, searching for the notes they had just written down.

"You think I'd believe that?" Fred shot Albert a contemptuous glare, clearly not buying that rubbish.

Still, he did not press further, because Professor McGonagall was looking their way again.

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

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

"In one go? Ahem, actually, I practiced beforehand, which is why I succeeded." Albert cleared his throat. He did not mention his own shortcut. It was best not to be treated like some kind of genius.

"Failure is normal. I don't even remember how many times I failed before I finally managed to turn a match into a needle."

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

Katrina could naturally guess as much. After all, no one could succeed on their first try. The fact that her match had changed meant she had practiced Transfiguration beforehand as well.

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

However, for Albert, who had already succeeded at turning a match into a needle, the remaining time was terribly boring. So he found something to do for himself, lest Professor McGonagall catch him slacking off.

"Reparo!"

The silver needle turned back into a match. Professor McGonagall had already taught them the spell, and the book contained relevant notes as well. Incomplete transformations were difficult to correct, but saying "Reparo!" would return an object or creature to its original state.

Resting his chin on one hand and holding his wand in the other, Albert began transforming the match 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 transformation became.

After transforming it, he changed it back again, using the process to gain experience in Reparo.

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

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

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

"Just as Professor McGonagall said: make your wand movements clean and decisive, 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 following his advice, they still failed to make their matches change before class ended.

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

To Albert, that was only natural.

After all, as someone who had been through it, he knew perfectly well how difficult Transfiguration was. Did they think they could master it without practicing hard for several days? Did they think their talent for Transfiguration was simply heaven-defying?

Making an object change for the first time was the hardest part. But once they succeeded once, further practice would become much easier.

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

But how many students would actually practice patiently was impossible to say.

Still, judging from the contents of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, the only Transfiguration magic First Years learned was Transfiguration itself. The only difference was the size and type of object they were transforming.