"My dear apprentice."
Professor Tella appeared in the back-room chair of the toy shop as if she'd always been sitting there.
Quirrell didn't even blink; he just kept guarding the door, eyes on the wall clock. Ten more minutes until opening time.
Sean tapped the silver brooch on his chest.
"Professor, do you know about soul transfiguration?"
Tella paused, studying the brooch with open curiosity instead of answering right away.
"Clever voice-transfiguration charm, but the willpower anchoring is still rough around the edges… You've already started the Animagus ritual, haven't you?"
"Yes."
"Until you complete it, stay close to Minerva McGonagall," she said softly.
…Or me.
She swallowed the second half of the sentence. Even now the memory of that adoption ritual happening right under her nose, without her ever noticing, still stung.
"As for soul transfiguration… even in Uagadou, very few wizards ever realize what the transfiguration they're performing actually is. Even the ones who've been carried off by dream messengers."
She flicked a finger; several layered privacy spells snapped into place around them.
Then, in her calm, storyteller voice, she began a tale that had been alive in Africa for over a thousand years.
"Spirit doubles. Dream messengers. Knowledge rare in Europe, but older than the hills in Uagadou.
The witches and wizards of Uagadou believe the soul is the most essential part of a person. Even a wandering soul can carry every scrap of a wizard's magic…"
Sean's mind flashed to Voldemort's wraith state, instantly regaining his old power the moment he got a body back.
That would explain a lot.
Tella continued.
"At Uagadou, the magical school in Uganda's Mountains of the Moon, students from all over the continent are chosen through dream messengers.
When the current headmaster decides a child is worthy, their spirit double visits the child in dreams and leaves a token, usually a carved stone with the school's mark.
The child wakes up clutching it.
Surprised?"
Sean nodded. He'd never heard of a school that recruited through literal dreams.
"I was just as shocked when I came to Hogwarts and saw you lot using a quill and a book," she said with a wry smile.
"So, can you guess what a dream messenger is?"
"The headmaster's spirit double."
"Excellent! Exactly. The dream messenger is the headmaster's own spirit double.
And it always in animal form, because in dreams a wizard's soul only ever appears as an animal. Distance and time mean nothing in the dream realm. Spirits, ghosts, and spirit doubles move freely. That's why it's perfect for delivering acceptance messages.
When the connection is made, something big, like being accepted into Uagadou, the wizard's soul naturally undergoes soul transfiguration."
She let that sink in.
"What we call soul transfiguration is nothing more than a wizard transforming into their own spirit double. The soul itself never changes form, so of course the wizard keeps their full mind and memories.
That's why Uagadou animagi can switch so effortlessly: they've simply located and mastered their spirit double.
I've already taught you the method, my apprentice.
Of course, it's not just sleeping and hoping. There's ritual involved.
Some wizards have more than one spirit double in dreams.
And the truly terrifying masters… they're not limited to a single animal shape anymore. Their soul transfiguration is so complete they can become any creature they choose.
I've only ever heard of one wizard who reached that level."
"Merlin," Sean said quietly.
Tella's smile was proud and a little sad.
"What should I even say to praise you?"
Sean suddenly asked, "What about the Druids?"
"Those ancient wizards who could take any animal form? I don't know much about their specific techniques. But magic always finds the same paths in the end. Whether they called it something else, the principle is the same: transformation of the soul itself."
Noise erupted from the front of the shop; invited guests were pouring in, ooh-ing and aah-ing over the lifelike moving animal statues.
Mr. Weasley looking delighted, Mrs. Weasley stunned, and the Uagadou witch who'd once tried to haggle were all in the crowd.
Sean caught sight of them through the crack in the door.
"We're opening soon…" Tella stood. "Since you're interested in soul transfiguration, I'll see about getting you some of the restricted texts.
But listen carefully, apprentice.
Tampering with the deepest secrets, the source of life, the very essence of self, requires you to be ready for the most extreme and dangerous consequences."
She was quoting Magical Theory verbatim.
Sean nodded. He understood. What could possibly be more "you" than your own soul?
"The dangers of soul transfiguration are immense. I'm sure you've heard the famous failures.
The Five-Legged Monster of Drear, for example…"
Sean wasn't surprised. Those XXXXX creatures on a remote Scottish island were wizards who'd botched the process and been permanently trapped in grotesque half-animal bodies.
But the next example actually did catch him off guard.
"…and the Blood-Magic Curse."
"The Blood-Magic Curse?"
"Yes. An obscure, vicious curse. It forces the victim to flip between human and animal form until one day they become the animal forever. Irreversible.
Soul transfiguration gone catastrophically wrong."