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Act II - The Warlock of Hogwarts
Chapter 12 - Transfiguration
No one ever underestimated Minerva McGonagall. Not on purpose. Everyone knew what to expect of her, the Transfiguration Professor of Hogwarts, the Head of Gryffindor House and the Deputy Headmistress that managed the school administration as Albus Dumbledore's right hand. She was also fair in discipline, in that she treated all Houses evenly. If anything, she tended to be harder on her own house than the three others. It was why she received a special kind of respect from everyone, especially other purebloods. Those raised in a muggle environment simply feared her strict demeanor.
"Class," she said, her voice easily carrying over without the use of the sonic amplifying charm, "In the last four years, we have covered basic and advanced transformations, and Switching. This year, we will be learning Trans-Species transformations and untransfiguration. As you know, Transfiguration is affected by the object's body weight, your own viciousness, magical power, concentration and a fifth unknown variable. You will find that Trans-species transformations will place greater emphasis on viciousness and the fifth unknown variable over the others. However," she gave a wide look at the class, "a flawless trans-species transfiguration is often enough to score an Outstanding in your OWLs."
Harry sat down next to Ron, with Hermione sharing her seat with Padma Patil. They were having transfiguration with Ravenclaws, and McGonagall looked all set to push them through a rigorous schedule right off the bat. Well, for everyone but Harry.
Following her orders, Harry had walked into the transfiguration class, knowing very well that this was his first and last class of the year, and possibly forever. But McGonagall had told him that she'd witness his performance first and then make her decision, and he had respected that. Unfortunately, that also meant having to try transfiguring something with Ron sitting right next to him. Given what had happened the last time he had tried transfiguring something, he really wasn't looking forward to it.
"You will remember the Avifors spell, which several of you mastered last year, transforms objects into birds. Another spell, Lapifors, as Miss Patil had demonstrated in your third year, transforms objects to rabbits. You have also performed switching of body parts in your fourth year. All of that will come into use as we delve into trans-species transformation. I should tell you that nothing short of absolute focus will guarantee you success in this field. Even the slightest fall in any of the five parameters will result in abysmal failure. For now, we will start with practicing the two spells and proceed from there." She looked around the room in silent anticipation. "Any questions?"
Finding none, she proceeded to flick her wand at the black board, where formulations for trans-species transformation began to appear. As everyone began to note those down, Ron gave him a slight nudge.
"What's going on, mate?" Ron asked.
Harry narrowed his eyes. "About what?"
"All this," said Ron, glancing at Hermione just to make sure she wasn't looking at them. "Everything that's been happening since your birthday. Greengrass, that veela birdโ"
"Fleur," Harry emphasized.
"Same," Ron continued unfazed. "Like Bill comes home, all angry and ranting to Mum about this veela chick he was seeing. Like I didn't know it was Delacour from last year, but I knew he was interested in someone at work. He even mentioned something about marriage. It drove Mum crazy. And then he comes home that day, telling Mum how she was right all along, and how this chick would've got her claws on you if not forโฆ" He lowered his voice, "you know."
Harry nodded.
"And then Ginny tells me about you and Greengrass, and then Bones gets all cute with you. Like, what's going on, mate?"
Harry regarded his best friend for a minute, before letting out a breath he was holding. "It's complicated."
"I thought you and Greengrass were family, not likeโฆ getting married. You didn't strike me as one of those types."
"Those types?"
"You know," Ron shrugged, "like the Black family? They marry their own blood."
Harry frowned. "Daphne and I are second cousins, Ron. And there's a reason why we've got into thisโฆ thing. And plus, you've got Black blood in you too."
"Yeah. Cedrella Black. But she was formally disowned after her marriage."
Harry arched his brow. He didn't know about that particular titbit.
"Well?"
"I justโฆ look, there are reasons behind whatever is going on. Just don't ask me to tell you everything right now. I've like a hundred and forty six things I'm trying to juggle at the moment. Let me get some breathing room and I'll get back to you, yeah?"
Ron was silent for a bit, mulling it over. After a quiet minute, he spoke again. "Are you sure about this, Harry?"
Harry blinked. "This?"
"All of this. Greengrass and you being an item. And then whatever's going on between you and Delacour and Bones."
"Nothing's going on between me and Boneโ Susan."
If Ron noticed that he omitted Fleur out of it, he didn't comment on it.
"And you're sure about this?"
"Eh, not really."
Ron looked at him like he had grown two heads. "You're telling me that you're not sure about this life-changing decision you're making?"
"You're making it sound way more terrible than it is, mate."
Ron ignored him, and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. You had me almost worried there."
"..." Harry looked at him, confused. "Wait, you're happy I'm unsure?"
"Mate, remember every single time you've been sure of something? You've been wrong and shit's hit the fan."
Harry was feeling distinctly uncomfortable. "That's a bit of an exaggeration.."
"Lemme see. You thought Snape was after the stone in the first year. You thought Lokhart was the right guy to go to, to get Ginny back. Third yearโ"
Alright, alright!" Harry said, his face growing red by the second. "But it's different this time."
"Yeah, everyone says that. And then things get buggered up."
He really had nothing to say to that.
"Honestly mate, dunno what's cooking up in that head of yours, but just don't be a dick."
"Errrโฆ. Wot?"
"All this," said Ron, "dating two people at the same time. The veela bird and Greengrass. And given how Bones moons all over you, I think you're gonna end up looking like a dick."
"I'm notโ" Harry began heatedly. Seriously, what was with people and thinking he had anything going on with Susan?
"I get it mate," said Ron, opening his hands as a show of backing off. "It's just, I've seen Ginny act around you for years, you know. Girl pines for you but I know she doesn't know you. Not the Harry as I do. That's why I think she's barmy for thinking you might notice her someday."
"Andโฆ you think that Susanโ"
"No clue mate," said Ron, "but if you're not interested, you should just tell her. Or elseโI mean, I get it that you wouldn't do things without a reason, butโฆ"
"Yeah," said Harry, wondering how Ron had suddenly become this observant over the summer, or if he was simply too blinded to notice it before.
"Whatever. It's your life. Still, be careful, mate. That's all."
Harry sat there, gobsmacked. "That's all?"
Ron looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Iโฆ I don't know," Harry said, feeling stupid, "I expected more resistance from you. You know, Daphne's a Slytherin. And Fleur'sโฆ well, a veela."
Ron made an odd noise from his throat. "Yeah, but she's smoking hot, and I know you aren't affected by the allure, mate. And as for Greengrass, have you looked at her arse?"
Harry stared at his friend, flabbergasted for a second, before shaking his head. Why had he expected anything else?
โฆ
The class ended exactly how he had thought it would. Poorly.
They had each been given a hedgehog, and told to transform it into a parakeet. The Avifors spell had spectacularly gone wrong. Not only had it not transformed into a parakeet, the innocent creature had practically exploded in some kind of kamikaze attack, its entrails splashing all over himself and Ron. McGonagall had instantly vanished the remains and forbade him from trying any new spells until the class was over.
"I do not understand, Potter," said McGonagall, "You can cast almost every other form of magic with varying degrees of success. Yet every single attempt at transfiguration leads to abysmal failure at best and a detonation at worst?"
And wasn't she right? After the class was over, she had personally made him cast a wide variety of spells, ranging from elemental charms to regular housekeeping ones to curses, both benign and outright malicious, before making him go through a quick display of his battle-magic arsenal and finishing it with a general counter-spell. But every single time she had tried to make him transfigure, it had ended horribly, except when she had attempted to make him vanish the remains of a shattered vase, only to turn it to hyperfine sand.
"I told you, professor," said Harry, "transfiguration doesn't work for me. My magic innately repels it."
"And that is what I cannot understand," said the Scottish woman, "I understand that your Family Magic is attuned to Death and its related elements, but somehow, it allows for all branches of magic but transfiguration? This is the most scientific of all disciplines, Potter and magicโ"
"Professor, I don't think you're looking at it right away," said Harry. "It's precisely the scientific nature of transfiguration that makes it difficult for me."
McGonagall cocked her head. "Enlighten me."
He pursed his lips. "It's like this, Professor. Consider this vase," he pointed at the object on the floor that she had repaired back to its original form. "It's a complete object. Unless we do anything to it, it will undergo no change in shape, size, density, or in any of its natural attributes. Even if we forget about it for years to come, it will not affect this vase. Not unless something from the outside affects it."
McGonagall didn't seem enlightened.
"You taught us that transfiguration is an induced transformation brought about in an object using the help of magic. So magic here is the change, a mutating force that changes this vaseโ a complete objectโ to forcefully become something else."
"Viciousness," McGonagall prompted.
"Yes, that. The caster needs to beโฆ vicious enough to force his or her will upon the object's natural state and change it into something elseโ living or inanimate. But that in itself is unnatural, so when the magic dissipates away, the object reverts back to its original form, which is whyโ"
"Transfiguration is always temporary," said the woman.
"...Yes." Harry nodded. "But my power does not allow any deviation from anything's natural state. Hence when I try to transfigure anythingโ"
"It disturbs the spell and whatever magic you put into it, and the object explodes," said the professor. "It makes sense. However, that does present one major quandary."
Harry blinked. "What is that, professor?"
"You," said Minerva McGonagall. "You are also a body. So this power that is within you, should also stop you from casting any kind of magic, whether upon yourself or others. Yet it doesn't."
Harry frowned, staring at her in apprehension. He had never quite considered things that way. But McGonagall was right. He shouldn't have been able to use any magic at all. By all rights, he should've been reduced to a squib capable of casting only Death, or worse, dead, from having this power extinguish his own life.
But before he could voice his thoughts, McGonagall clapped her hands in earnest.
"Oh, I see it now. Yes, that makes complete sense."
He blinked again. "Ermโ"
"It's simple, Potter. You were right. Your Family Magic innately prevents anything that causes a forceful change of one's natural state. But you're not just a human being, aren't you?" Her eyes shone with a frightening intensity. "You are a wizard."
Harry gaped at her.
"You're a wizard. And that means that your magic, and all of its mutative powers, are part of your system. Part of the natural state. Or maybe you consider yourself a wizard first and a person second, and that is how your powers have begun to see it as well. Magic is all about willpower after all. Granted, it's only a theory, but it is the only one that makes sense to me."
He could see the excitement radiate off her. McGonagall practically shone, though he could also spot signs of tiredness. This was the second time he had seen a professor in such high spirits upon discussing his strange powers, but whatever it was, he decided to let her savor it.
"Yes! Yes, that would definitely work!"
"Errโฆ What, Professor?"
Minerva McGonagall drew herself to her full height. "It seems I was hasty in making my verdict, Potter. You might have a chance to continue studying transfiguration after all."
He blinked. He did? But how?
"The answer lies in yourself. Or rather, your being a wizard."
That made no sense whatsoever.
"You were right. Any magic that you release tends to alter the natural state of an object. I originally wondered why it wouldn't affect charms, but it makes sense in retrospect. The entire concept of charmwork involves adding or removing attributes from an object while keeping it otherwise stable. Transfiguration on the other hand, is to alter that stability to make it something it naturally cannot be. And that is why your transfigurations do not work, while your charmswork has varying degrees of success. But that also means, Potter, that your magic will allow for all kinds of magical change so long as the object is yourself."
Harry widened his eyes. Did she meanโ?
"Say, Potter," asked Minerva McGonagall. "Have you tried your luck at Self-Transfiguration?"
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