Transfiguration 4:3

Lesson Three: Using the Switching Spell on Quills​

"We'll be getting straight into things today and starting with our first switching spell," Leif was looking forward to the lesson and seeing how her students did. Especially since these spells would be a little trickier than what they had done before. "Switching Spells are some of the most common types of transfiguration spells, and yet some of the most complex to explain or understand. The initial concept seems simple enough; you take one item and simply switch it out for something else..." He shook his head, indicating that this was not the case. "But no. Once we dive deeper into the mystery of these spells, you will certainly find that they are complex in their simplicity."

Leif produced a black and a white quill from his desk and placed them on the desk in view of the students. He took out his wand and pointed it at the space between the two quills, targeting neither of them specifically. He swished his wand at the space between the two quills and they both began to change. The white quill slowly began to slowly darken as it took on the appearance of the black quill and the black quill began to slowly lighten. After a few moments, the two quills had effectively changed places. Professor Odegard picked up the white-turned-black quill to show to the class. "With most switching spells you'll find there is no incantation." He let the comment settle with the students as she suspected most would find it quite a daunting prospect, glancing over their faces to see if he could spot anyone looking nervous. "When casting a switching spell you can no longer rely on correct pronunciation, your ability to concentrate and focus on the items you are switching will determine your success."

"The items I just switched were close together and in plain sight, while this might make the spell simpler it doesn't have to be the case, for example," Leif moved his wand once more and the white quill slowly turned into a black one after which he produced a white quill from his desk drawer. "I heard the previous professors usually used the white feather in the drawer for his example so why mess with a classic, huh?" He grinned. If someone before him had come up with a solid example, why should he change a winning team?

"For the rest of the lesson I want you to attempt switching spells, take a couple of quills from the front and see what you can do and we can work our way up from there. Remember, visualisation and wand movements only, I want to see that each of your quills has changed colour by the end of the lesson, you may begin."

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Roleplay attempting the switching spell for full marks. This is a complicated type of magic beyond anything students have learned up to this point. I encourage students to struggle or even fail.

 

[Teddy Pirrip]

Teddy was winning this semester. Gryffindor had won their Quidditch match, the Brotherhood won tug of war, and most importantly, he’d taken the dueling title second year running. Win after win had put him in a great mood, some might say an insufferably great mood, although Teddy himself wouldn't put it like that. Feeling confident, he was happy to take on the switching spell in Transfigurations even if it was supposed to be difficult.

Wand in hand, Teddy focused on the two quills. He pictured the dark quill turning white, the white one darkening. He took a deep breath, pointed his wand between the quills, but nothing. The quills did not switch. "Oh!" This stumped him, but he gave it another go and still nothing. Heat rose to his cheeks as he struggled. At one point, he got excited because one quill started to darken, but the other didn’t lighten. After a full lesson of trying, he only managed to partially switch them, far from what he’d hoped. Frustrated, Teddy packed up his things and left the classroom in a strop when the class were dismissed.

 

[Callie Cardoso]

Callie walked into the transfiguration classroom and took her usual spot in the room. Her gaze moved to the professor at the front of the room as he got started. They were continuing on with switching spells, which she was happy to do. Callie took her quill and took down a few of the notes from what the professor was saying about how to do the switching spells, the details about it. She was then able to try it with the two quills in front of her. She visualised it and did the wand movement, she had to really focus and do it a few times but they did eventually switch and she was very very pleased with herself when they did. She was then able to head out of the room.

 

[Enoch Goldewyn]

Enoch walked into the transfiguration classroom and took his usual spot in the room. He glanced up at the professor as the man got started. He wasn’t that interested in switching spells, but he knew they were important to learn about. He vaguely listened to what the professor was saying, but was mostly eager for when the professor then just let them do the spell themselves. He took the two quills and laid them out on his desk, he pointed his and and did the motion but it took almost the entire lesson for him to get it. Frustratingly so. He had no time to practice the spell more than once. He just had to do it the once and then the lesson was wrapped up. He packed up his things and then headed out of the room.

 

[Veronica Walden-Cade]

The idea of switching spells sounded simple enough, but everything else Professor Odegard said about them suggested they were anything but. Veronica suspected she might struggle despite doing pretty well in Transfiguration up to that point. Settled into her seat Veronica watched as Professor Odegard explained and then demonstrated the switching spell, successfully making a black and white quill switch places. They were given the rest of the lesson to practice the spell themselves, Veronica took out her wand and looked down at the two quills on her desk. She tried to visualise the two quills switching places, or switching colours as it would appear. Veronica held her wand over the two quills and attempted to perform the spell. It was proving to be difficult and after a handful of attempts the two quills were still in their original place.

By the end of the lesson Veronica had managed to turn both quills into a mix of both black and white which was incredibly frustrating. She’d need to practice a lot more in order to get better at switching spells. Once they were dismissed she put away her wand and made her way out of the classroom.

 

[Elodie Wynshaw]

Elodie was still little nervous about her classes, but she was sure it'd be fine- the first week had been lectures but she was hoping to get some spellwork soon. She could figure this out, she was sure- eventually. It'd just take a bit of time to get on top of her wand and be strong enough as a witch to handle it.

She'd decided to start taking it as a challenge, and found more satisfaction when she managed to get the spells to work. Or at least, she was sure she would. She grabbed her things and walked to class, taking her seat and turning to the Professor, eager to start. She was still a little nervous, but she was willing to give it her best shot. She closed her eyes, doing her best to focus on the non-verbal spell. She felt exhausted by the time class was ended- she hadn't managed it at all. She'd only gotten a few stripes of color into each quill. Frustrated, she took off, meaning to practice the spell the rest of the week.

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy listened attentively, knowing transfiguration was a trickier subject - at least to her. Switching spells sounded reasonably simple, but she was probably mislead. She didn't know that much after all. After listening to the professor, she decided to give it a go. It wasn't as easy as it looked. Lucy tried and tried, concentrating harder and harder, until finally she let go a little and then - suddenly, it...sort of worked. There was a slight change of colour but nothing that said she'd completed the spell properly. It was a lot of work, and not for much, and consequently Lucy was a little disheartened and vowed to practice outside of class hours.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey was down, but she wasn't out. There wasn't anything she could do about Quidditch, apart from maybe hit Savannah with a few more bludgers so she'd catch the snitch and maybe stop putting her up against Teddy in duelling in the first round. Audrey would've beaten anyone else easily. Despite everything, she was still very good at magic and she knew it. So she was just going to do what she did best and nail this classwork.

Audrey picked up two quills, brown and black, and started boring holes into them with her eyes as she concentrated. She put the colour, the shape, the size, all of that in her mind. She wanted a clear image of both the quills so she could mentally swap them before physically doing so. It took a couple attempts of nothing happening before she broke through the mental barrier of casting the spell without an incantation, but eventually Audrey managed to do it. She wiped a drop of blood from her nose - the hard concentration magic was new to her and a little painful - but she was very pleased with her efforts.