Human Transfiguration

The first week of November passed quickly.

The first Transfiguration of the second week of November.

Professor McGonagall is explaining the principles of Cross-species Switches from the podium.

The fourth year of Transfiguration was significantly more difficult than the first three years, and even Daphne and Hermione began to find it challenging.

What? You mean Skylar? He used cheat codes, that doesn't count!

In Skylar's view, the Transfiguration courses from grades 1 to 3 were, frankly, just laying a foundation for the young wizards.

For the past two years, I've been learning Transfiguration and Reverse Transfiguration (that is, restoring things to their original state), such as turning a match into a needle, a mouse into a snuffbox, a beetle into a button, a rabbit into a slipper, and the spells to restore them to their original state.

In fact, as long as you have a solid grasp of the theory and do the details of visualization well, all that's left is unwavering confidence and determination. As long as you do these three things well, there's nothing difficult about it. After all, the purpose of this part of the course is to familiarize young wizards with the basic requirements and procedures of Transfiguration.

Don't be fooled by their seemingly simple appearance; many impatient and unskilled young wizards have failed at this level, such as Neville and Ron.

In the third grade, the Transfiguration introduced some rudimentary use of Animation Charm in the transformation of matter. Taking "teapot to turtle" as an example, the turtle had to show some signs of life, such as crawling and retracting into its shell.

It is important to note that one of the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration is that magic cannot create souls.

Therefore, those pseudo-life forms that have been enchanted with the Animation Charm can run and jump, and can respond correctly to the stimuli around them, making people think that they have a soul, but in fact, these are all just illusions.

The truth is—this is merely a behavioral pattern that the wizard programmed for it using magic.

The more skilled the Transfiguration, the more complex the behavioral patterns they can pre-set during the spellcasting process.

For example, Professor McGonagall's Giant Chessboard can embody the caster's chess skills and strategic abilities; the armor, statues of figures, and statues of monsters left in the castle by the Four Founders of Hogwarts are even more advanced, possessing a degree of thinking ability. They not only understand various fighting techniques and use weapons in battle, but also know how to autonomously rely on strategy to defend the castle and conduct group battles, just like an iron-blooded army that is not afraid of death.

In comparison, Voldemort's use of the Animation Charm was far too crude. He focused too much on the power of the magic, so although he could turn thousands of corpses into aggressive Inferius, these Inferius, apart from being numerous, strong, and highly defensive, had no ability to think and could only attack on instinct. As a result Dumbledore scared them away with a single fire.

Of course, Skylar wouldn't underestimate this boss from the original story. After all, Voldemort's true strength was based on Dark Arts and combat magic, and his Transfiguration was already quite terrifying.

Starting from the fourth grade, the Transfiguration course gradually becomes more advanced, involving the use of Switching Spell, which involve simultaneously exchanging two items to resemble the other.

Look at this! It's been two months since school started, and Professor McGonagall is still stuck on the first lesson's content. Goyle, Crabbe, and Justin from Hufflepuff —these three even keep attaching their ears to a cactus, causing Professor McGonagall to yell and scream in anger. Of course, they're not isolated cases. I heard that in another lesson, Neville and Ron from Gryffindor, and Michael from Ravenclaw, were in similar situations.

Daphne and Draco, who performed relatively well, were able to swap the flowers of the cactus and the rose, but they still couldn't do it with effortless grace.

As for Skylar? In front of everyone, he lightly tapped his own wizard's hat and exchanged it with Professor McGonagall's witch's hat. This did not anger Professor McGonagall at all; in fact, she happily added ten points to Slytherin.

Professor McGonagall was quite worried about the students' learning progress, after all, there were many Switching Spell to learn this year, and this part was really just a basic Switching Spell.

Many more challenging parts await these young wizards, the most difficult of which will undoubtedly be Cross-species Switches.

Taking the transformation of a guinea fowl into a guinea pig as an example, this involves the completely different physiological structures and life habits of the two species. Therefore, the practitioner cannot succeed by simply visualizing the appearance. They must also have a deep understanding and memory of the internal structure of the species. For example, in the case of transforming a guinea fowl into a guinea pig, one must imagine which bone in the guinea fowl corresponds to which bone in the guinea pig for the transformation, and then the other parts must also correspond one by one.

If this step isn't done correctly, the skeleton, joints, and organs won't change in a complete and corresponding way. It's easy to end up with a guinea pig whose hind legs are not good for running (like chicken feet without joints), or a guinea pig's jaw that's not good for biting, or even a deformed guinea pig that retains the wing skeleton. Completing the above steps is not the end. Finally, you also need to remove the bird-like habits of guinea fowl from your mind and sketch out the various living habits of a guinea pig. Otherwise, it's easy to end up with a guinea pig that keeps trying to fly or pecking at insects, etc., exhibiting strange behaviors.

However, for Skylar, he had already mastered all of the OWL-level Transfiguration through self-study from the <McGonagall's Transfiguration Notes> he obtained in his first year. Even the Vanishment Vanishing Spell, which was only required in the fifth year Skylar could skillfully cast.

Frankly speaking, Skylar is now more than qualified to take the Owl exam. Skylar sights are already set on New World level Transfiguration — Conjuring Spell and Human Transfiguration. Among them, Human Transfiguration is the magic Skylar covets the most.

Let's start with the Conjuring Spell.

As mentioned earlier, the Conjuring Spell is a magic that creates something from nothing using magical power. For example, "Avis" and "Serpensortia" are the two easiest Conjuring Spell to cast, and their effects are also the most stable.

Frankly, most wizards use the Conjuring Spell simply to create convenience in their lives. Like the Peverell brothers in * the Tales of Beedle the Bard *, who conjured a bridge over a river to save time; Quirrell who conjured a rope to tie Harry up; Professor Flitwick who conjured countless golden bubbles while decorating for Christmas; Dumbledore conjured hundreds of purple sleeping bags in the Great Hall during the search of Black ...

So, what do you think? Doesn't the Conjuring Spell seem pretty useless?

But the truth is, the potential of the Conjuring Spell is extremely high. Those who are truly skilled in this spell are basically elite Auror, and the very best of them. They can even hold their own against Grand Sorcerer.

Before 1984, Appleby Arrows supporters had a tradition of shooting arrows into the sky whenever the Chaser scored. Imagine the rain of arrows falling from the sky! (Note: From Quidditch Through the Ages; this tradition was later banned because it was considered too dangerous.)

In the first chapter of the first book, De Diggle conjured a meteor shower in the Kent sky! Imagine what would happen if he redirected the meteors' trajectories toward Earth? Would any reader still dare to say that Harry Potter is a low-magic world? Of course, even if Diggle had the madness to destroy the world, whether he had enough magic is another matter.

Okay, even if the Meteor Conjuring Spell has other unknown limitations, there's still the Thundercloud Conjuring Spell and the Tornado Conjuring Spell!

In 1379, at the Dartmoor, during the European Dueling Championship, the runner-up wizard and the third-place wizard faced off. The third-place wizard conjured a vast thundercloud, unleashing a torrent of cold rain accompanied by thunder and lightning! The runner-up wizard used a tornado Conjuring Spell, blowing away the thundercloud, his opponent, the referee, the audience, and nearby trees all at once! (Note: From the Book of Spells, the champion ultimately won with Expelliarmus, becoming a classic dueling lesson on "avoiding area-of-effect attacks in one-on-one combat.")

This isn't a low-magic world anymore, is it?

Why didn't these spells appear in the original story? Come on, there are very few group battles in the original work, and even if there are, it's just a chaotic fight with fewer than 20 people. Why use area-of-effect skills? You might as well just Avada Kedavra!

Another combat-use Conjuring Spell originated with Voldemort. In the fifth book of the original series, during the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort, Dumbledore cast a spell on Voldemort that made even Harry, who was watching from the sidelines, feel his hair stand on end. Voldemort didn't choose to use the Shield Charm, presumably because he knew it wouldn't be able to withstand the Shield Charm. Ultimately, he used the Shield Conjuring Spell to conjure a silver shield and block Dumbledore's attack, demonstrating the importance of Conjuring Spell in actual combat.

As for Human Transfiguration, Skylar was envious because he had activated the talent of Metamorphmagus, and he was eager to know what the effect would be if the two were combined.

As usual, Professor McGonagall dismissed the class after assigning homework on Cross-species Switches.

Before everyone had left, Skylar walked to the podium and asked Professor McGonagall to teach him Human Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall looked at Skylar with some surprise for a few seconds. Once the young wizards had left the classroom, she carefully chose her words and said, "Skylar, I know your learning pace is far ahead of your peers, but learning Human Transfiguration in fourth grade is still too early for you. That's seventh-grade material..."

Professor McGonagall thought highly of Skylar, and she said this genuinely for Skylar's benefit.

Perhaps Skylar had truly mastered the Switching Spell and the Cross-species Switches. But after that, there's the Vanishing Spell, and after that, there's the Vanishing Spell Conjuring Spell. Human Transfiguration is a more advanced, more difficult, and more dangerous form of magic than the Conjuring Spell.

Skylar's eagerness for quick success and recklessness could easily lead to unforeseen problems, something Professor McGonagall was trying her best to avoid.

Skylar shrugged helplessly and chuckled, "Professor, I'm just preparing for the Triwizard Tournament! The Champion from the other two schools are all seventh-year students!"

Professor McGonagall looked at him suspiciously, and was about to refuse again when she saw Skylar flick his wrist, and his wand emitted a stream of light, landing on a desk.

The desk seemed to shake slightly, then silently transformed into Skylar's likeness, even his uniform and wand looked exactly the same. Although his expression was slightly blank, his eyes were already bright and piercing. If you only glanced at him, you really couldn't tell that he was a fake doll. Finally, Skylar used a perfect Vanishing Spell to make him disappear completely—the whole process involved four OWL-level branches of Transfiguration: Matter Transfiguration, Animation Charm, Switching Spell, and Vanishing Spell, and all of them were performed flawlessly.

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed; she knew the boy was demonstrating his Transfiguration skills to her. She herself could perform this level of Transfiguration, but certainly not when she was 14.

This is a true genius!

Of all her students, the previous Transfiguration prodigy, James Potter, couldn't even come close to her.

(Note: Although James successfully mastered Animagus in his 5th year, it took him 3 years to learn the Transfiguration spell Amato Animo Animato Animagus. The spell is not like what is described in other fan fiction, where you just need to pronounce it correctly. It requires a very high level of Transfiguration.)

"Come with me." The serious lines on her face softened a little as she walked out of the classroom.

Skylar's face lit up with joy, and he quickly followed.

Upon arriving at her office, Professor McGonagall precisely selected a book from the bookshelf and handed it to Skylar.

Skylar glanced at the title—<The Secrets of Human Transfiguration>. He opened the cover, and every page was filled with Professor McGonagall's notes. Skylar was delighted. He had seen this book in the library before, but it only contained the steps for practicing Human Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall's book, however, contained extremely detailed precautions and methods to improve the success rate—this was exactly what he needed.

"Let me make it clear beforehand, Human Transfiguration is an extremely dangerous Transfiguration spell. I don't allow anyone to practice it secretly. Go back and read this book carefully. After you finish reading it, you must let me know in advance when you want to start practicing. I will be there the whole time to ensure your safety." Professor McGonagall's smile gradually faded, and she said seriously, "To make sure you remember this well and to prove I'm not joking, I'll give you a few examples."

"The Sphinx, the ancient Egypt master of Transfiguration, reached the pinnacle of her art in her pursuit of Transfiguration. Unfortunately, she ultimately confused structure with essence. In one Transfiguration, she turned herself into a sphinx-like monster, losing all emotion and reason."

"The famous ancient Greece witch, the Siren, sacrificed her sanity and humanity in her pursuit of flight, transforming into Harpy. It is said that even today, some people see her descendant, the Harpy, wandering in the Mediterranean Sea."

(Note: In the Harry Potter world, the Harpy is a legendary creature whose existence has never been proven. However, every wizard knows the meaning of "harpy" and is familiar with the legendary appearance and personality of the harpy. In the original books, Ginny describes an angry Veela as "harpy-like." Gwenog Jones' Holyhead Harpies are named after the Harpy.)

Skylar was somewhat surprised. He had guessed that Human Transfiguration would involve great risks, but he hadn't expected it to be this dangerous. He thought for a moment and then asked, "So, Professor, what exactly is the difference between structure and essence? If you change the structure, won't the essence change accordingly?"

Professor McGonagall smiled and said, "A crucial question. The answer to this question actually varies from person to person, but in my view, the essence lies in your purpose and inner self. Changing the structure is merely a means for the Transfiguration, not the desired outcome. Only by taking the initial purpose as a guiding light will the Transfiguration not lose their mind. This applies to any Transfiguration."

Skylar quietly pondered her words, asked no further questions, and softly said, "Thank you, Professor."

[Professor McGonagall's <The Secrets of Human Transfiguration> has been obtained!]