Transfiguration 1:2

Lesson Two: Transfiguration and the Ministry of Magic
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As he had done last week, Leif was waiting outside of his classroom for his first years to arrive. He leaned against the wall and was counting heads in his mind as the kids made their way into his classroom. Some more on time than others. He was sure all of his students had made it into the room but didn't close the door entirely, just in case.

"Welcome back." He smiled at the kids, flicking his wand towards the blackboard behind him to make a piece of chalk come to life and start writing in a much nicer handwriting than his own. Transfiguration and the Ministry of Magic. "As you might have understood from last week's lesson: transfiguration is a powerful branch of magic. It's complex, but vast in it's capabilities, which is what also makes it dangerous. Especially because there are people who choose to follow darker paths and use Transfiguration as a weapon." Leif explained, pausing for a second to make sure all of his students could keep up with what he was saying. "As such, the Ministry has rules and punishments in place for the misuse of Transfiguration. Using this type of magic on another human, or even an animal, with the purpose of harming them or entertaining yourself will lead to said punishments." He continued, hoping these kids understood this was a serious situation. "There are also laws for using Transfiguration on yourself. People who have mastered Transfiguration to the point of altering their physical selves into an intelligent creature that represents them are known as Animagi. They must be registered with the Ministry of Magic. This registration must include both their Animagus form as well as any special markings that can help identify them."

Leif paused again, waiting until every student that was writing had stopped, meaning they had either caught up or given up. "Even inanimate objects can be dangerous. Most weapons are inanimate objects. There are also some objects that are classed as 'muggle artifacts' - things created by non-magical people that are specific inventions of theirs. Meaning that if we would like something like that, we would have to obtain it the non-magical way. Waving a wand in the hopes of requiring it without any effort given would not work. This muggle class is the reason flying carpets are outlawed in most countries, but broomsticks are not. At the end of the day, there are numerous ways to abuse Transfiguration and each of its branches, which we'll be covering more in-depth in future lessons. Unfortunately, that's all we really have time for today. If you're interested, you can read up on more about it in the library. Class dismissed!"

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Roleplay the lesson for full marks.

 

[Winnie Calida]

Winnie wasn’t sure about whether or not to go to the valentines day dance, she knew that if Vikram asked ehr, she’d feel like she had to say yes, but she also really wanted to keep focused on her work, and such a night out wasn’t going to help that. It was just too early in the semester - though really for Winnie anything other than right at the end of the semester was too early for a night off. She was sure that others would disagree, wouldn’t be thinking this over this much, but she was. She finished getting herself together and then headed out of the room.

Winnie walked into the transfiguration classroom and took the same spot in the room as the week before. Eagerly sitting near the front of the class. She looked up at the professor as the man got started. She looked at the word on the board, and then took out her notes and books, knowing based on that that there was no way they were about to do anything other than a lecture. She took her quill and began writing down what the professor was telling them about the ministry and magic. She made sure to get down that there were rules and punishments. She got down that some inanimate objects could be dangerous and she knew why they didn’t have flying carpets. But with that the lesson was soon after wrapped up and Winnie packed up her things and headed out of the room.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

She's decided, after everything, to write Professor Potter a letter - she supposes at this point she can just call the woman Lyra. She wants to talk to her dad about it first, but he's not really around and she doesn;t know how to deal with that first. She didn't see him at all over the holidays and after finding out that he was about to be a dad again - and he didn't even tell her, she's still a little hurt over it. It's almost like no one really wants to talk about how that's supposed to make her feel with everything. She needs advice and she has no one to ask. She doesn't like to ask her mum about her dad, because it feels weird, maybe she could ask Rory about him but he doesn't know much about her dad either, they have different dads, not that it's ever caused any problems between them.

She listens intently as the professor explains the ministry's role in the regulation of transfiguration. Honestly the more she's hearing about all of this the more weary she becomes about magic. Maybe her mum has the right idea about not really liking it. She does a lot of stuff the muggle way anyway and it's never done her any harm. She hasn't realised until now just how strict some of these rules are, or how much trouble she can get into for using magic recklessly. She hasn't been of course, except when she's been doing silly things, but the idea of someone being able to turn into an animal sends a chill right down her spine. That's kind of crazy, right? She's surely not the only one who thinks this? She tries to look around the room, to catch anyone's eyes but she doesn't seem to and so she turns back to her notes once again. All of this registration does make her feel a little better, but then... why should someone have to register their use of some magics and who is going to keep that information safe? Is that not something that could be used to hurt someone? She shakes her head and closes her notebook as the lesson ends. She certainly has things she needs to think about now.​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos leans forward in his seat, wide-eyed and listening intently at the professor speaks. He doesn't bother to take notes because he's not all that interested in note taking actually, but he pays attention to Winnie as he sits next to her. She's always so studious and he really just doesn't get it to be honest. He's never going to be able to keep up with her so he doesn't see the point in trying really. The idea of people using transfiguration for harm is unnerving, and yet... it's also really fascinating and he finds himself imaging the kind of implications it would come with. He doesn't much care about the whole animals and people turning into them thing, he doesn't care about animagus'. If he wants to turn into something he would rather be a metamorphmagus like his mum. Regulations are a bit sobering though and he's particularly intrigued by the disctinction between magical and non-magical items, making a mental note to research more about those "muggle artefacts" the professor mentions. As class wraps up, he gathers his things and makes a beeline for the library for what is probably the first time ever.​

 

[Esme Styx-Cade]

Esme knew that transfiguration was a powerful type of magic but she didn’t fully comprehend how powerful until Professor Odegard began to explain to them some of the things that could be achieved with it. The idea of transfiguration being used on people or animals as a weapon was horrifying, why would anyone do that? The thought of it shook her to her core and she hoped that once she left the classroom that day she’d never have to think about it again. But she knew that was unlikely. She took notes so she knew the important details for their end of year exam, information about how the ministry regulates use of transfiguration and wondered if they would talk more about punishment in a later lesson. Once the lesson was over they began to wrap up and Esme packed up her notes and made her way out of the classroom once they had been dismissed.