Chapter 128
The first week of November quickly passed.
The first transfiguration class of the second week of November.
Professor McGonagall was on the podium explaining the principles of interspecies transformation.
The difficulty of Transfiguration in the fourth year had significantly increased compared to the previous three years, and even Daphne and Hermione were starting to find it challenging.
What? You say Soren? He's cheating, that doesn't count!
In Soren's view, the Transfiguration courses from first to third year were really just laying a foundation for the young wizards.
The first two years were spent learning Transformation and Reversal of Transformation, such as turning a matchstick into a needle, a mouse into a snuffbox, a beetle into a button, a rabbit into a slipper, and the spells to revert them back to their original forms.
As long as one has a solid grasp of the theory and pays attention to the details of visualizations, the rest is just a matter of unwavering confidence and determination. If these three points are mastered, there's not much difficulty, after all, the purpose of this part of the course is to familiarize young wizards with the basic requirements and processes of transformation.
Don't be fooled by how simple they sound; many young wizards lacking patience and perseverance have stumbled at this stage, like Neville and Ron.
In the third year, Transfiguration classes began to introduce some basic uses of Animation within material transformation. "teapot turning into turtle" as an example, the turtle must exhibit some signs of being a living creature, such as crawling and retracting into its shell.
It's important to note that one of the exceptions in Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration is that magic cannot create a soul.
Thus, those pseudo-living beings subjected to the Animation spell can run and jump, react correctly to stimuli around them, and may appear to have a soul, but in reality, these are just illusions.
The truth is—this is merely a behavior pattern preset by the wizard through magic.
The more skilled the Transfiguration master, the more complex behavior patterns they can preset during the casting process.
For example, Professor McGonagall's giant chessboard can embody the caster's own chess skills and strategic abilities; the armors, character statues, and monster statues left in Hogwarts by the four founders are even more impressive, possessing a degree of cognitive ability. They not only understand various combat techniques and use weapons in battle but also autonomously strategize to defend the castle and engage in group combat, like an unyielding ironclad army.
In contrast, Voldemort's use of the Animation spell seems rather crude; he focuses too much on the power of magic. Therefore, although he can turn thousands of corpses into aggressive Inferi, these Inferi, despite their numbers, strength, and high defense, lack any cognitive ability and can only attack based on instinct, resulting in Dumbledore easily scaring them off with a fire spell.
Of course, Soren wouldn't underestimate this boss character from the original work. After all, Voldemort's true power is built on dark magic and combat spells, and the level of his Transfiguration is already quite terrifying.
Starting from the fourth-year curriculum, the content of Transfiguration classes gradually became more profound, involving some uses of Switching Spells, which means simultaneously transforming two items into each other's forms.
Look, it's already been two months since the semester began, and Professor McGonagall is still stuck on the content of the first class. Goyle, Crabbe, and Hufflepuff's Justin occasionally grafted their ears onto a cactus, causing Professor McGonagall to angrily shout at them. Of course, these three are not alone; it's said that in another class, Gryffindor's Neville and Ron, as well as Ravenclaw's Michael, are experiencing similar situations.
Daphne and Draco, who performed relatively well, managed to make the cactus and rose swap places, but they still couldn't achieve a light and flowing execution.
As for Soren? In front of everyone, he gently tapped his wizard hat, and it swapped with Professor McGonagall's witch hat, which not only didn't anger her but even made her happily award points to Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall was quite worried about the learning progress of this class of students, as there were many Switching Spells to learn this year, and this part was really just the foundational Switching Spells.
There are still many more difficult parts waiting for this group of young wizards, and among them, the most challenging must be cross-species switches.
Taking the example of "transforming a guinea fowl into a guinea pig," this involves two species with completely different physiological structures and life habits, so the caster cannot rely solely on simple visualization of appearance to succeed. A deep understanding and memory of the internal structures of the species themselves are also required. For instance, in the case of transforming a guinea fowl into a guinea pig, one must visualize which bone of the guinea fowl corresponds to which bone of the guinea pig for the transformation, and then other parts must correspond one by one.
If this step is not done well, the skeleton, joints, and organs will not correspond properly, making it easy to end up with hind legs of a guinea pig that are not conducive to running (like chicken feet without joints), or a jaw that is not suitable for biting, or even a deformed guinea pig that retains wing bones. Completing the above steps is not the end; finally, one must eliminate the avian habits of the guinea fowl in their mind and outline the various habits of the guinea pig, otherwise, it is easy to end up with a guinea pig that attempts to fly or peck at insects, exhibiting strange behaviors.
However, for Soren, he had already mastered OWL-level Transfiguration entirely through self-study from Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration Notes obtained in his first year. Even the Vanishment spell, which is only required in the fifth year, Soren could cast proficiently.
To put it bluntly, Soren is more than ready to take the OWL exam now. His focus is already on NEWT-level Transfiguration—Conjuration and Human Transfiguration. Among these, Human Transfiguration is the magic that Soren covets the most.
First, let's talk about Conjuration.
Conjuration, as mentioned earlier, is a type of magic that creates something out of nothing through magical power. For example, "Avis" and "The Draconifors Spell" are two of the easiest to perform and have the most stable effects in Conjuration.
To be honest, most wizards use Conjuration simply to create convenience in their lives. Just like the Peverell brothers in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," who conjured a bridge when they encountered a river, saving themselves a journey; Quirrell conjured a rope to tie up Harry; Professor Flitwick conjured many golden bubbles for Christmas decorations; and during the search for Black, Dumbledore conjured hundreds of purple sleeping bags in the hall...
So, what do you think? Doesn't Conjuration seem useless?
But the fact is, the ceiling for Conjuration is extremely high. Those who truly excel in this field can basically be considered elite Aurors, and among the top tier, capable of holding their own even against a dark wizard.
Before 1984, there was a tradition among supporters of the Appleby Arrows to shoot arrows into the sky when their seeker scored a goal. Imagine the scene of arrows raining down from the sky!
Well, even if the meteor conjuration spell has other unknown limitations, there are also thundercloud conjuration spells and tornado conjuration spells!
In the Dartmoor wilderness of 1379, during the European Duelling Championship.
In the final battle between the second and third place wizards, the third place wizard conjured a large thundercloud that not only rained down icy droplets but also combined with thunder and lightning to attack! The second place wizard used the tornado conjuration spell to blow away the thundercloud, his opponent, the referee, the audience, and nearby trees all at once!
This doesn't sound like a low-magic world, does it?
Why didn't these spells appear in the original plot? Please, there are very few group battles in the original work. Even if there are, they are just chaotic fights with fewer than 20 people. Why bother using area spells? It would be better to just go for the big prize!
Another battle-related conjuration spell comes from Voldemort, specifically from the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort in the fifth book—
Dumbledore cast a spell at Voldemort that made Harry, who was watching from the sidelines, feel all the hair on his body stand on end. Voldemort did not choose to use the Shield Charm, probably guessing that it wouldn't hold up against this attack. In the end, he used a Shield Transfiguration spell to conjure a silver shield to block Dumbledore's attack, demonstrating the importance of Transfiguration spells in actual combat.
As for the Human Transfiguration, Soren was envious because he had activated the talent of the Disguise Magus. He was very curious about what effect combining the two would have.
As usual, Professor McGonagall announced the end of class after assigning homework on cross-species transformation.
Without waiting for everyone to leave, Soren walked up to the podium and requested to learn Human Transfiguration from Professor McGonagall.
Professor McGonagall was somewhat surprised, staring at Soren for a few seconds. Once the young witches and wizards had left the classroom, she carefully organized her words and said, "Soren, I know your learning progress is far ahead of your peers, but learning Human Transfiguration in your fourth year is still too early for you. That is a seventh-year course..."
Professor McGonagall had a high opinion of Soren, and she said this sincerely for his own good.
Perhaps Soren had indeed mastered the Transformation and Cross-Species Transformation spells. But after that, there was the Vanishing Spell, and after the Vanishing Spell, there was the Transfiguration Spell. Human Transfiguration was a more advanced, more difficult, and more dangerous magic than Transfiguration spells.
Soren's eagerness to rush ahead could easily lead to accidents. This was something Professor McGonagall was keen to avoid.
Soren helplessly spread his hands and smiled, "Professor, I'm just preparing for the Triwizard Tournament! The champions from the other two schools are all seventh-year students!"
Professor McGonagall looked at him skeptically, about to refuse again, but then she saw Soren's wrist flick, and his wand emitted a glimmer that landed on a desk.
The desk seemed to shake for a moment, then silently transformed into Soren's likeness, even the uniform and wand looked identical. Although the expression on its face was somewhat blank, its eyes were bright and lively. If one only glanced quickly, it would be hard to tell it was a dummy. Finally, Soren used a perfect Vanishing Spell to make it disappear completely— the entire process involved four O.W.L. level branches of Transfiguration: material transformation, activation spell, transformation spell, and vanishing spell, all demonstrating impeccable performance.
Professor McGonagall's gaze sharpened; she knew this boy was showcasing his Transfiguration level to her. She could achieve this level of Transfiguration herself, but certainly not at the age of 14.
This was a true genius! Among her many students, the previous Transfiguration prodigy, James Potter, couldn't even compare to him.
"Come with me," she said, the serious lines on her face softening a bit as she walked out of the classroom.
Soren's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly followed her.
Once they reached her office, Professor McGonagall accurately pulled out a book from the shelf and handed it to Soren.
Soren glanced at the title—"The Secrets of Human Transfiguration."
He opened the cover, and every page was filled with Professor McGonagall's notes. Soren's heart leaped with joy; he had seen this book in the library, but it only contained the steps for practicing Human Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall's book had extremely detailed precautions and methods to improve the success rate, which was exactly what he needed.
"To clarify, Human Transfiguration is completely different from the Transfiguration you've learned before. It involves many large and complex factors, and if the spell is cast incorrectly, it could lead to serious consequences."
"You can take this book for now, read it carefully, and when you're ready to start practicing, you must tell me in advance. I will be there the entire time to ensure your safety; you absolutely cannot practice secretly, understand?" Professor McGonagall's smile gradually faded, and she said sternly.
"Professor, please don't worry. I assure you I will never do anything to put myself in danger or disappoint you," Soren quickly promised.
Professor McGonagall then nodded in satisfaction, "I know you are generally reliable, and with the Triwizard Tournament coming up, I am making an exception to teach you this advanced knowledge early. But to deepen your impression and prove I'm not joking, let me give you two examples—"
"The ancient Egyptian shapeshifting master Sphinx can be said to be a legendary figure in the field of human transformation during that era, yet she still made a mistake—she confused the difference between structure and essence. It was this fatal error that turned her into the monster with the body of a lion and the face of a human, losing her emotions and reason."
"The famous witch Siren from ancient Greece spent her life pursuing flight, only to become a monster of the harpy after a single accidental transformation, during which she inadvertently sacrificed her sanity. It is said that even today, people still see her descendants, the Harpies, wandering the Mediterranean."
Soren was somewhat surprised. He guessed that there would be significant risks involved in human transformation, but he didn't expect it to be so perilous. He thought for a moment and asked, "Professor, what is the difference between structure and essence?"
Professor McGonagall replied, "The answer to this question varies from person to person, but in my opinion, essence is the goal you pursue. Changing structure is merely a means, not the result. Only by being guided by the initial goal can the spell-caster avoid losing their way."
Soren quietly reflected on her words, no longer asking questions, and softly said, "Thank you, Professor."
[Professor McGonagall's "Secrets of Human Transformation" obtained!]
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