The first White Lord of Hogwarts - Chapter 46
“Wizards can’t conjure up delicacies out of thin air, nor can they turn other things into food. Even if you eat it, you can’t absorb the nutrients, but will have indigestion.”
Professor McGonagall ignored the two little ones’ flirting and continued,”But if you already have some food, then you can transform it and make it bigger.”
“Just like at the matriculation dinner, the food on the plates was not conjured up, but cooked by the house-elves and then transferred to the dishes on the table through the”Relocation Charm”.”
Even Hermione didn’t know this, which solved a little confusion in her mind.
As for what house-elves were, Hermione only thought they were employees and cooks hired by Hogwarts, and didn’t think of them as servants at all.
“Second, there is no permanent transformation between living things and dead things.”
McGreg:”We can turn a button into a scarab, but it can’t move forever. Once the magic attached to it dissipates, it will return to being a button.”
“In addition, even though the transformed scarab beetle has a breath of life, its essence is still a button. If you feed it to a bird, it will not fill its stomach, but will choke to death.
This also involves the problem of food deformation.
“Transfiguration cannot create magical items, such as automatic quills, thermostatic cauldrons, etc., even Galleons.”
“The currency circulated among wizards has been enchanted by goblins. It will not oxidize, is not easily destroyed, and has the ability to automatically identify and count.”
After saying so much in a row, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and continued:”Fourth, transfiguration cannot change the quantity, that is, you cannot turn a table into two deer, or three quills into a shovel.”
“But there is an exception. If the connected objects become a ‘whole’, they can be transformed by ‘overall transformation’, and even if they are turned back, the arrangement and attachment of the original objects will not be affected.”
“That is to say, if I were to transform Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, who are wearing clothes, into a wild deer, and then transform him back, his clothes would still not stick to his body like fur.”
Harry and Ron, whose names were called, instantly felt the malice from the older cat lady. They were so scared that they couldn’t help but shrink their heads, and secretly said that they must never be late for the Transfiguration class in the future.
“Finally, and most importantly, Transfiguration cannot be created out of nothing.’”
“Maybe you have seen senior students use their wands to conjure up a flock of birds or a bunch of flowers, but these are definitely not transfiguration spells,” said Mag:”Those things may just be”limited-time entity projections” summoned by magic, or they may have been changed and hidden in the palm of the hand.”
Ivan listened very carefully and summarized his doubts about the five exceptions.
“Does anyone have any questions?”
After McGonagall finished speaking, the classroom was silent. Even Hermione didn’t have any questions.
‘Sure enough, I have to rely on you. ‘
Looking at Dean Mao Mao’s expectant eyes, Ivan knew it was time for him to take action:”Professor, I have a question.”
When the little wizards saw that it was Ivan, their surprised eyes immediately became relieved.
Only two days after the start of school, the first-year wizards already knew Ivan’s talent.
This is a genius, different from their style of painting
“what is the problem?”
“You just said that there is a transformation between living things and dead things.”
Ivan asked:”What I want to know is, if a beetle is transformed into a button, how does the beetle maintain its life during the transformation?””
Not to mention eating and drinking, just breathing, the beetle that has been transformed into a button should suffocate to death.
However, according to the principle of transfiguration, casting a counter-spell on the button can restore the beetle.
Interestingly, even after one or two hours, the beetle is still alive.
So the question is.
Why is the beetle still alive?
“this…”
“Oh, does a beetle that turns into a button not need to breathe?”
The little wizards never seemed to think about this question, even though their parents had performed similar transformations of dead and living things in front of them.
“Good question.”
Professor McGonagall nodded slightly. She appreciated Ivan’s perspective on the problem:”Magic is the power of the mind, and advanced Transfiguration can give emotions to inanimate objects.”
Although transforming a beetle into a button is something that will be learned in the future, McGonagall still gave Ivan the answer in advance.
The answer is simple, because of the idea.
During the transformation process, the wizard’s idea was to transform the beetle into a button, not to kill the beetle.
Magic can read the wizard’s subconscious thoughts and maintain the life of the creature when it becomes an inanimate object.
They don’t need to breathe or eat.
Even after 3 days, when the button turns back into a beetle, the latter’s life state still remains at the moment of transformation.
Of course, it is almost impossible for a Transfiguration to last for several days.
“So that’s it.”
Ivan understood: ‘Magic power and mind, the latter makes demands, the former satisfies wishes.’
The same is true in reverse. When dead things become living things, where do the emotions and vitality of living things come from?
Since magic power can give life to dead things, it can naturally maintain life and prevent them from suffocating or starving to death.
“So, professor, under what circumstances will the transformed things become ineffective?”
Ivan:”I mean, a transformed product, we smash it, burn it, or melt it, where is the boundary here?”
“.…..”
McGonagall thought for a moment and said,”The boundary between living things and dead things is not the same.”
Professor Cat Cat waved her wand and turned a piece of paper on the desk into a vivid owl.
She was not annoyed by Ivan’s question.
On the contrary, Ivan’s question also triggered McGonagall’s thinking.
It must be said that these are two questions worth exploring.
Even a master of Transfiguration like Professor McGonagall can get a lot of insights from it.
“Look, this is an owl made of paper.”
McGonagall cast a repulsive spell at the owl, causing it to stagger in the air and drop a large amount of down feathers.
“Cuckoo~~”
The owl hooted in panic and then fell to the ground.
But soon, the owl stood up again and flew up again.
“Interesting.
Ivan understood the details that Mag wanted to show:”The down feathers on the owl should be a whole with it, but they can fall off and do not affect the transformation.”
Just like turning a glass of water into wine, the wine will not turn back into water just because a few drops of wine are spilled.
This is different from the Gamp’s law of transfiguration that the number of objects cannot be changed.
The inability to change the number is a rule restriction during transformation.
But after the transformation, because the state of things has changed, the paper has become an owl, so the owl can naturally breathe, eat, and drop feathers.
“Yes.”
McGonagall nodded in appreciation, and then cast a crushing spell from her wand, turning the owl in the air into a pile of confetti.
As for the originally scattered down feathers, they disappeared at the moment the owl was shattered.
This scene completely shocked all the little wizards present.
They understood one thing, that is, never offend Professor McGonagall. Look at this decisive spell. Even if it is an owl that she transformed, she would kill it at will. The courage and majesty of the Gryffindor lioness can be seen.
The little lions trembled in front of the lioness.
“Hmm…”
Ivan frowned slightly, thinking about the difference between crushing and repelling.
“Professor, can you turn into a plant again?”
“”Yes.”
Mag smiled. She knew that Ivan had noticed the key to the boundary of the transformation of living things.
A piece of paper on the desk changed. In the blink of an eye, it turned from a bud into a vine that continued to grow towards the ceiling.
This magical transformation was eye-opening.
“Bang!”
Ivan was surprised for a moment, then raised his hand and cast a repulsive spell, hitting the vine.
As the green leaves scattered, the whole vine was broken into two sections by Ivan, and the students could even see the light green juice flowing out from the broken part.
“”Smash to pieces!”
Ivan smashed half of the vine into pieces, turning it into countless pieces of paper.
But what’s interesting is that the remaining vine still maintains its deformation and does not exit the deformation state because the other half is destroyed.
