| Mooncalf
Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Boston
Posts: 6,676
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Hazel Martin-Pryce
First Year
Diagon Alley Proprietor:
Scout MacIntyre
Daily Prophet Reporter  x4
|  Granddaddy Ravenclaw | | Jermione Granger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris  Alex frowned at the teacher compared to what she prized most of all her necklace was not something she cared for at all. Her father had given it to her back when she was six after all it was too small for her now. Not to mention if she didn't use the necklace then she would have to use her books she loved dearly. Alex listened to people discribe Transfiguration to the teacher. She decided of course against answering. She sighed changing her mind raising her hand before speaking, "Transfiguration requires you to think of what you want to happen to actually focus on it making the change to one thing to another." She offered up. Quote:
Originally Posted by sarahb Jackie raises her hand. "By transfiguring I mean changing. To transfigure is to change." she explains. She spins her silver braclet around her wrist nervously. Preston nodded at both girls, but was begining to wonder if he had confused his students... Quote:
Originally Posted by Dances_With_Potter Cadence squirmed a bit in her seat, feeling uneasy. She didn't understand, and she did not like that. She thought she DID explain how it worked. But apparently she didn't. And that thoroughly upset her. Raising her hand into the air, her face blushed bright red. "Professor," she began quietly, "I don't understand. How is what Transfiguration IS and how it WORKS any different?" she asked in a voice that plainly said her brain was not happy. And indeed he had. He smiled kindly. "It's a subtle difference and a 'how' can be included in the 'what'. To answer your question, let me use an example. If I were to ask how a watch works, you might tell me about gears and motors, but if I were to ask what it is, you might simply tell me that it is something that tells time." Clearer?
"Your answer about properties was getting at the 'how' level of Transfiguration, so you were there, even if you didn't realize it." Quote:
Originally Posted by HaRoHeGiNeLu Ellie smiled. Of course she knew Gamp. When her father taught her about Transfiguration, she'd always ask 'why can't we make food appear'. She wanted chocolate! And he'd always say, 'Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, that's why'. She sighed. Who knew her persistence would help her in school.
How it works? You say a spell and it changes? Was it that hard to understand?
She put her hand up...
Then took it back down. She couldn't think of something that would not make her look like a fool... How it works? What kind of question was that? It changed the object, duh. Preston noticed the hand raise and then lower. Dear. He had confused them, hadn't he. Quote:
Originally Posted by individual "Transfiguration, like others have said, is a type of magic that transforms one object into another." she said after raising her hand before really thinking about it for just a moment. "Wouldn't it just be, bending and twisting the object to look like another? I mean, it's the same object, but it looks like something else. Like an illusion. Working as an illusion to make it seem like an object has been transfigured into something else...or something."
And now, she couldn't decide of she was confusing herself or not. Definitely not her strong point...explaining things. "You're almost there, Miss Flores. Almost. Bending and twisting are good words. Illusion isn't quiiiite what I'm getting at, but you're close." Quote:
Originally Posted by xiiWishiWasYours Selena blushed. Gah. She was so stupid sometimes. She wanted to tell him what to turn her into but decided it was a bit odd. She wanted to know what it would be like to be an animal. What an odd request. She thought about it some more. Nope. no answer. Preston gave the girl a kind smile. It was ok. Not everyone always knew all the answers. Quote:
Originally Posted by cedricdiggory Cedric raised his hand after rummaging his mind for what Transfiguration really is or how it really works. He hadn't come up with something interesting and precise though but he felt the urged to answer and so he did, "Change is probably the best word that could be linked with Transfiguration. And with that being said, Transfiguration is to change something into a completely another thing but if it's done improperly, you may get poor transfiguration results and the transfigured object can become half-transfigured or permanently transfigured.
"It requires vast and pure concentration and with the proper incantation and performance of spell, Transfiguration works." There. Done. And he wasn't really sure about his answer but he was ready for the professors' informative explanation 'cause the guy pretty do know much everything 'bout the subject, right? Preston nodded. "Yes, incorrectly performed spells can have consequences, which is why I've asked for you to not use items you are worried about harming." Quote:
Originally Posted by Lockhartian Hmmmm. No idea.
"I think, well-" he stopped for a second after raising his hand, "-how it works..." another moment, he's gathering his thoughts, "...pertaining to a wizard or witch, would be the correct spell and his use to transfigure what is required...but as far as 'Transfiguration' goes, I believe it to alter the conditions of one object or anything into the ones with the thing you're changing it to" he began to say, "So, it works as trying to (or just doing that) mimic the properties or conditions of the object one tries to change the other one into....I think" because he really didn't know if that's the answer Professor Kinsgley was looking for. Preston had to blink a few times before answering the boy. "I think you probably understand a piece if it," he started encouragingly, "but are having trouble articulating that idea." Quote:
Originally Posted by Dianna Malfoy Dianna thought very hard about the question.
She raised her hand very slowly but thought twice and placed it down. She couldn't think of any answer that can compete with the others.. Preston frowned at another hand raised and then put down. He wouldn't press them, but he hoped they would aske questions if they had them. Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs. Weasley Sidney raises her hand. "Transfiguration uses magic to change a living creature into an inanimate object. It also can conjure things out of thin air. I imagine it transfigures things by changing their molecular structure." Preston began to walk the front of the room again. "Yes and no, Miss Marlowe. Yes and no. You can conjure things, though they aren't out of 'thin air' so to speak, and the field is broader." He paused. "And molecules are the domain of muggles. We'll be speaking of something different." Quote:
Originally Posted by brave-at-heart-xo Adelyn stared at the Professor from her seat towards the back of the room. Her parchment read:
Adelyn Bennett-Black
First year Gryffindor
Personal item: silver bracelet
She was having a rather difficult day and was simply ready to go back to the dormitories, but alas, she could not. After deciding to remain quiet for the class, she glanced down at the bracelet in her hand. The Professor said that they'd be transfiguring it; did she really want to go get something else? Sure, Shawn had given it to her, but he'd given her loads of other things, as well. She shrugged; this would be fine. After all, it was just a simple, silver bracelet.
Adelyn raised her hand. "Transfiguration, as everyone else has pointed out, basically means changing one object into another, right?" She said quietly, feeling her cheeks turn pink. Preston smiled, nodding at the girl's answer. Quote:
Originally Posted by SenoritaMaxie Gold eyed her tag a bit.
Then she raised a hand. "Professor, would it not be the actual change that matters?" She offered, a little shyly. Shy. She had somewhat grown that, since the end of last term. Maybe a little less cheerful. But not overall. She was still the same old Gold, most of the time. But when she wasn't, even if it was not all that often, the change was remarkable.
"I mean, if you take charms. They alter an object too, but the transition is purely superficial. The cup is still a cup, whether smaller or larger or repaired or snapped into two. Transfiguration changes the nature of an object, so to speak. We give it both the physical and chemical set of properties, of something else. If you transfigure a cup - correctly - into a mouse, it is no longer a cup. It won't look like a cup, not feel like a cup, not act like a cup. It will be a mouse - it can breathe, twitch its whiskers, chew through things, and very well end up being a parent mouse, because we've changed the nature of the object."
Then she added, still shyly, "I guess my point is that Transfiguration works on total conversion. When you transfigure, the change is actual. Not on the surface, but in the system. Of course, that's only my understanding of the subject." She looked down at her hands. She needed to stop rambling. Or at least get her old confidence of rambling back. Soon.
Ah! Prefect Laksh. Preston paused and listened to her intently. "You are mostly correct. Excellent explanation." Preston gave her a nod. She had done the kind of study she had claimed.
"But, be careful when talking about nature. If I were to transfigure you, at this moment, into a cat. Would you cease to be you? You would look like a cat, feel like a cat, and act like a cat."
He paused. "But would you BE a cat? A philosophical question, to be sure. But, in some cases, we are dealing solely with surface appearances."
----
Preston walked over to the corner of the room, picked up a small wooden box, lined with towels. Setting it on the desk in the front of the room, he picked up a small calico kitten.
"Perhaps a demonstration?" He stroked the kitten behind the ears. "This... is Princess. Take a look at her. What properties, to use the language Miss Ballard used, does she have?" Preston held his cat up for all to see.
"Now, when I transfigure her into, say, a rabbit," Preston sat her down, extracted his wand, and did just that, "What's happened to her? What properties changed? Is she still my cat?"
Tapping her lightly with his wand, she shifted back. Picking her up again, and stroking her behind the ear. "In other words, when I ask how transfiguration works, I've asked what happened to my cat that changed her. But, I maintain that she always remained, in essence, my cat. That is why changing her back is called untransfiguration. Something of her remains her, so she is able to be changed back, instead of changed again."
Preston looked up at the class, kitten still in his arms. "Does anyone want to elaborate on an answer? Or maybe you have questions?"
He smiled kindly. "It's ok to be confused. This isn't easy. But understanding, or trying to, will make actually casting these spells easier."
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