Chapter 100: Easter’s Discussion on Transfiguration
The warm spring sunshine had graced the castle for less than two weeks. After a heavy rain, the recently warmed temperature plummeted once again. The Easter holiday arrived with a cool breeze.
No students left Hogwarts for Easter, and the professors, as usual, assigned a mountain of essays. This made it difficult for Anthony to find a seat in the library without venturing into the Restricted Section, which he wished to avoid for the time being.
So, he found himself in the staff room, sipping tea and watching Professor McGonagall grade papers. For her, this might have been considered a relaxing holiday activity. She had opted to recline in her chair amidst the aroma of black tea, frowning at the selection of Transfiguration essays before her, rather than swiftly correcting student mistakes with her quill in her office.
Professor Sprout was tending to a "sensitive and suspicious vine" in the greenhouse, while most other professors were using the break for magical research in their offices. Anthony had intended to visit Hagrid, but found his hut empty. He was likely out enjoying a drink during his time off.
Maintaining his reputation for never assigning homework, Anthony had received a round of applause when he dismissed his class and wished everyone a happy holiday. He was enjoying a genuinely relaxing break himself.
As he read "Twenty-Five Common Transfigurations" and nibbled on his fifth light green biscuit, Professor McGonagall finally spoke without looking up. "Could you pass me one of those, Henry?"
Anthony levitated the entire plate towards her. "Have you tried these? Pomona isn't too fond of them herself."
The cookies, perfectly colored for Easter, were Professor Sprout's creation. She had accidentally added mint extract, meant for chocolate, to the dough colored with spinach juice, resulting in mint-flavored butter cookies with a unique taste. Anthony quite enjoyed them and had traded the remaining batch for a straw puppy.
Professor McGonagall picked up a cookie. Whether it was due to the essays or the biscuits, her frown deepened.
"Something else, Minerva?" Anthony asked, rising and opening the staff room snack cabinet. "I believe we have ah, yes, we also have new Easter treats."
Honeydukes had released special Easter egg chocolates for the holiday. Cracking the shell revealed a chocolate bunny inside. The white chocolate eggs contained red-eyed bunnies adorned with dried cranberries, while the dark chocolate ones had black currant eyes.
Dumbledore had changed his office password just in time and filled the cabinet with these Easter egg chocolates.
"No, thank you," Professor McGonagall declined, taking a sip of tea and pursing her lips disapprovingly at an essay, as if the student were standing right in front of her.
Anthony picked up an Easter egg and cracked it open. He quickly pinched the bunny's ears to prevent it from hopping away, then looked at the dark chocolate creature with a grimace.
"This feels too lifelike," he complained. "Did they have to make it move?"
He had no appetite for eating seemingly alive rabbits.
Professor McGonagall glanced at him from behind her stack of essays and flicked her wand, transforming the Easter bunny back into a still piece of chocolate. The rabbit remained frozen mid-hop, as if petrified.
"Transfiguration, Henry," the Transfiguration professor stated matter-of-factly.
This reminded Anthony of something. "Speaking of which, I've never been able to master Transfiguration involving living creatures. Whether it's turning inanimate objects into living beings or vice versa, it's simply impossible for me."
"But you have no other questions?" Professor McGonagall asked, intrigued, setting down her papers.
Anthony glanced at the essay she had been reading. In large letters, it proclaimed: "As we all know, Transfiguration is crucial to the magical lives of wizards. Its importance is self-evident, not only because it impacts every aspect of our lives, but also because it plays a vital role in various productions."
He understood why Professor McGonagall felt his question deserved special attention.
"Not really," he replied, looking away. He tapped the round table in front of him with his wand, transforming it into a small, brown square table, and adjusted the size of the empty chair beside it.
"Very skillful," Professor McGonagall commented. "Now try turning this table into a pig."
Anthony began to perform the "Wand Staring at the Table" routine until Professor McGonagall shook her head and told him to stop.
"What's bothering you, Henry?" she inquired. "Do you not believe you can do it at all, or do you simply not want to perform the transformation? You're acting like a first-year afraid of making a mistake."
Anthony turned his head and pondered for a moment, then said hesitantly, "I don't have anything to worry about. The best Transfiguration master in the wizarding world is sitting right across from me. What could I possibly worry about?"
"What was the first Transfiguration you couldn't perform, no matter how hard you tried?"
"A beetle into a button, or a button into a beetle, I can't quite remember," Anthony replied.
Professor McGonagall nodded. "Beetle into a button, second-year's first lesson." She took a sip of tea. "Did you have any concerns at the time? Like, what if the beetle suddenly flew away, or anything that made you feel it was a completely irrational idea?" In her teaching career, she had clearly encountered many students hindered by their own anxieties.
"Not really, wait, oh." Anthony's memory sparked. "I was wondering what would happen after the transformation."
He elaborated, "I was thinking, if the beetle turned into a button and was sewn onto, say, my shirt, would it hurt? If it was sewn on and couldn't transform back, where would the thread go through the beetle? And how would it feel? If it changed back into a beetle, would the hole remain in the same place, or would I have a button with the thread fused into it?"
Professor McGonagall nodded. "I see the problem." She looked at Anthony. "I didn't realize you were a fan of horror stories, Henry. I can't imagine where you get your inspiration."
"If that's your concern, you have my word: even if you sew the button onto Albus' hat, the beetle will be perfectly fine once it's Transfigured back. As long as you don't capture it again, it will fly away freely."
"What?"
Professor McGonagall pointed to the book in his hand. "If you look further back, there's probably a section on the magical theoretical model of Transfiguration in the last chapter. Generally, I lean towards the Spatio-Temporal Theory of Woffling, a fairly orthodox theory."
"In your example, the thread only interacts with the button and fabric, not the beetle. So when you reverse the transformation, the button disappears, the beetle reappears, and the thread remains attached to the fabric. Your beetle has nothing to worry about, Henry."
...
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