An Introduction to Transfiguration
We are all aware (or at least I hope that we are) that transfiguration is a subject taught from years 1-7 at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We are aware that this subject wasn't a particulary easy one either as many students had much difficulty in mastering the spells during transfiguration lessons and we are also aware that during the time of Harry Potter, this subject was taught by Professor Minerva McGonagall. Something that many wouldn't know about transfiguration however is the fact that animagi are actually a part of Transfiguration.
If we were after a definition for what this subject is all about, we would go for one of the most simplest and most common ones. "Transfiguration is the art of changing and transforming objects as well as the vanishing of objects." Just from reading that one small sentence, we can get a great insight into this marvelous subject and what knowledge we can gain from studying it. Having the skills and knowledge of how to change your annoying younger sister into an ugly cane toad or that history assignment which has been bugging you just lying around vanishing with a flick of a wand would be amazing wouldn't it?
There is more to transfiguration than just that! There are other branches of transfiguration such as conjuration, human transfiguration and cross species transfiguration.
Lets have a better look at these and see what they are all about.
Conjuration: Conjuration spells can be particulary difficult. Although some spells can be considered simple and can easily be picked up and learnt by a young witch or wizard, most of them are taught to students in their sixth year or older. Conjuration is where an object is created just like that with a flick of a wand out of thin air. This branch of transfiguration is governed most out of all branches by Gamps Law of Elemental Transfiguration. Some examples of where conjuration has occured during the Harry Potter series are:
- The Peverell brothers conjuring a bridge to cross the river in Beedle the Bards 'Tale of Three Brothers'.
- Professor Flitwick conjuring christmas baubles to decorate the tree over the holiday season.
- Draco Malfoy conjuring a snake using the serpensortia spell during his second year whilst duelling Harry Potter.
There are many more examples of when conjuration was used but if I were to list them all, this lesson would go on forever!
Human Transfiguration: Human transfiguration is extremely difficult also. Because of this reason it is only taught to students in sixth years and above. Human Transfiguration involves the transformation of a human or human body parts into another form. Although humans can transfigure themselves into inanimate objects, it is sometimes not recommended because they are then unable to transfigure themselves back without the aid of another witch or wizard.
Examples of human transfiguration include:
- Professor Horace Slughorn transfiguring himself into an armchair in order to disguise himself.
- Viktor Krum half transfiguring himself into a shark for the second TriWizard Tournament task.
- Professor Moody transfiguring Draco Malfoy into a white ferret.
Cross Species Transfiguration: Cross Species transfiguration is probably the easiest of these three particular branches of transfiguration. This particular branch involves transfiguring one species of animals into another species. Because this is the simplest out of the three discussed in the lesson, it is taught before the other two and is a part of students O.W.L exams.
An example of cross species transfiguration is:
- Hannah Abbott transfiguring a ferret into a flock of flamingos accidently during her Transfiguration O.W.L exam.
Hopefully you have all found it interesting learning about these three different types of transfiguration and next month we can learn about how we can perform the spells and such required to do these exciting things! But for now, lets get this months assignment done.
