Transfiguration

**Transfiguration** was a branch of magic that focused on the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, animal or person, via the alteration of their molecular structure. Transfiguration could be done to most (if not all) objects and, as with most forms of magic, it included — but was hardly limited to — Transfiguration spells.

Transfiguration was regarded as hard work and more scientific than any other form of magic, i.e. the practising witch or wizard had to get it exactly right for the transfiguration to be successful.

## Nature

Transfiguration was a very systematic, exact magical discipline, working best for the scientifically-inclined mind and, as such, was deemed exceptionally hard work, especially in comparison to Charms, which afforded a much larger margin for personal creativity. Furthermore, "*when transfiguring, it is important to make firm and decisive wand movements. Do not wiggle or twirl your wand unnecessarily, or the Transfiguration will certainly be unsuccessful*" as stated by Emeric Switch in *A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration*.

There were a number of factors a wizard had to take into account when carrying out Transfiguration spells. The intended transformation (t) was directly influenced by body weight (a), viciousness (v), wand power (w), concentration (c) and a fifth unknown variable (Z), as described by the following mathematical formula (as taught to first-years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry).

### Limitations

Whilst Transfiguration was an exceedingly useful branch of magic, it naturally had its own set of limitations.

Usually, a wizard or witch attempting to perform a Transfiguration spell would often find it easier to transfigure one thing into something else provided that the state it was originally in had something in common to what it would be coverted into (i.e. a statue of a dragon turning into an actual dragon, albeit the same size as it was when it was a statue). The overall mass and size of the object or entity to be transfigured into something else must also be considered, since it was stated by Hermione Granger that it was extremely difficult to transfigure something as large as a dragon, even by a skilled transfiguration expert like McGonagall.

Furthermore, Transformation was limited by the fact that the dead could not be revived via magic and hence one could not "transfigure" the dead back to life, no matter how recently the death occurred.

Conjuration was principally limited by the Five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. The first (and only known) of these was the restriction that one could not conjure food (though, pre-existing food could be charmed in certain ways — such as by summoning and multiplication — and transfigured by the other branches). Similarly, Wizarding law set legal limitations on what one was and wasn't allowed to conjure. Finally, even if it was both possible and legal to conjure something, it would ultimately never last.

Strangely, whilst there were a variety of limits placed on Conjuration, the branch referred to as Vanishment seemed to be completely unrestricted (this also appears true of Untransfiguration).

The branch of Transfiguration known as transformation magic had the largest number of restrictions placed upon it (both natural and legal). Firstly, even before one became an Animagus (both a Trans-species transformation and Human transfiguration) one was monitored closely, as attempting to become such a thing was highly dangerous, and even if one succeeded, one had to register oneself at the Ministry of Magic (or face trial), due to the many potential uses of this kind of transfiguration in criminal activity. An Animagus was also limited by the fact that they could only transfigure into one kind of animal this way.

Conversely, general Human Transfiguration was more varied in that it allowed one to transform another into a plethora of different animals but, on the other hand, the object of transfiguration would then possess the intelligence of the creature they became (unlike Animagi, who retained all their mental faculties in animal form). If this was an animal of lower intelligence (which was more likely than not) then one would, by extension, be entirely dependent on the caster to untransfigure them, which could potentially cause someone to be stuck in that form forever (which is why it was not recommended to cast this type of transfiguration on oneself).

### Dangers

Due to the applied, precise nature of Transfiguration magic, there was a large potential for it to go disastrously wrong, even for the experts. This was especially true if the practitioner wasn't taking things seriously and/or punching above their weight (with respect to the magic they are attempting to perform).

If it was done improperly, the Transfigured object could become half-Transfigured or permanently stuck in one state (whether fully or partially Transfigured). For example, Viktor Krum once half-Transfigured himself into a shark in the Second Task of The Triwizard Tournament in 1994, although he wasn't stuck in that form, so it may have been intentional in his case.

## Classification

Transfiguration was divided into four branches (though — whilst based on canonical information — the typology is conjectural). In these main four branches there were also sub-branches, such as human Transfiguration and Switching, which would be in the branch of Transformation. They were, in ascending order of difficulty: **Transformation**, **Untransfiguration**, **Vanishment**, and **Conjuration**. They are described below.

### Transformation

This referred to any Transfiguration that deformed or altered the target in some way.

It should be noted that whilst this branch of transfiguration was the first covered in the Hogwarts curriculum, containing simple transfigurations such as Match to needle, it also pertained to the most complex and dangerous forms of transfiguration too.

Transformation was divided into three sub-types, each with their own divisions and all of which overlapped with one another to some degree:

#### Human Transfiguration

*Main article: Human Transfiguration*
Human Transfiguration was a sub-branch of Transfiguration and a form of transformation in which one transfigured human body parts or an entire human being into another form. This branch was more difficult than any other and is only taught at N.E.W.T.-level. One of the spells learned in sixth year at Hogwarts was the transfiguration of the colour of one's eyebrows.

Many general human Transfiguration spells existed, this category housed the following type of Transformation magic as well: Animagus (a wizard that elected to turn into an animal), Metamorphmagus (the rare ability to change physical appearance at will), and werewolves (they however had no choice).

### Untransfiguration

*Main article: Untransfiguration*
Untransfiguration was the art of reversing a previous transfiguration, being therefore considered both a transfiguration and a counter-spell. It was a mysterious branch of transfiguration. It was known that untransfiguration for failed transformations was taught early.

*Reparifarge* was a general spell used to counter the effects of a Transformation spell that was poorly performed and only partially transfigured the object in question. This spell was covered in *A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration*.

### Switching

*Main article: Switching*
Switching was another sub-type of transformation magic. During switching, a physical feature from one of the two targets was switched with that of another, hence the name. It differed from a straight transformation in two ways: firstly, switching targets affected two objects simultaneously; secondly, the change in one of the pair was dependent on a change in the other.

It is difficult to gauge the relative difficulty of switches exactly compared to other types of transfiguration because the exact year in which they were learned isn't known. However, Professor McGonagall was impressed when Hermione knew about switches as a first year student, but was disappointed in Neville for not being able to perform even simple switches by fourth year. Therefore, students must have started learning switches in second, third, or (early) fourth year (most likely third), earlier than almost all the other branches of transfiguration apart from transformation.

#### Trans-Species Transformation

*Main article: Trans-Species Transformation*
Trans-Species Transformation was a sub-branch of transformation magic in which one organism was transformed into something of a different species. This is a term which referred to transformation magic that (partially or completely) changed the target organism into a new species. It included Cross-species Switches and hence had some overlap with switching magic. The only noted sub-branch to be more difficult was Human Transfiguration.

### Vanishment

*Main article: Vanishment*
Vanishment was the art of causing things to **Vanish**; to *"make things go into non-being".* The difficulty of the Vanishment to be performed positively correlated with the complexity of the organism to be Vanished (for example, snails, as invertebrates, were easier to Vanish than mice, which are mammals). Vanishment was moderately difficult — learned in fifth year — and was considered one of the hardest transfigurations to be tested on in one's O.W.L.

Strangely, only one incantation was needed to Vanish any object - *Evanesco* , Latin for "disappear" (with the intent of the caster alone directing it), unlike conjurations (which could require a variety of complicated incantations)

### Conjuration

*Main article: Conjuration*
Conjuration was the art of conjuring things (*"bringing things into being"*) and hence was the opposite of Vanishment. It was harder than its counterpart, being a N.E.W.T.-level feat, and was taught to sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts. It was also considered to be very advanced magic, though some conjurations were considered simpler then others.

There were numerous restrictions (both in Law and Nature) placed on the art of Conjuration, unlike Vanishment which appeared to be unrestricted. For example, something that was conjured would not last (or, *"remain in being"*), but it is unknown whether or not something that was vanished could forever remain in non-being if left to its own devices.