"Maybe if you wanted to understand something about an animal, how they moved or fought or felt about something, then you could transfigure yourself or someone else into that animal for a while. And then take notes on it when you changed back to human. For animal research, you see." Violet thought it would be great to find out why a magpie thought it was such a good idea to steal shiny things and hide them, for example. Then maybe she could control her pet's thieving tendencies--if her pet magpie was still alive, that is.

And just think of finding out what it felt like to fly like a bird!