TNFG-301 Lessons

 Objects and Frogs

 Welcome
Professor Mitchell had an array of objects on her desk as the Third Years filed in.  Among them was a grape, some ice, a glass of water, and a mesh container of some sort.  The professor was nowhere to be seen until the students heard a croaking sound coming from beneath the bookcase in the corner of the room, at which point she appeared from what seemed to be thin air and yelled “Gotcha!” She got up with a triumphant look on her face, accidentally knocking over some books in the process, and put whatever was squirming in her hands back in the mesh container on the desk. She smiled as she turned to face the class.  Once all was quiet, she began the lecture.

Introduction
Welcome back to your fourth lesson of Third Year Transfiguration. Today we will be discussing some natural transformations that you may encounter throughout your life and learning the Ranafors transformation, which turns a small object into a frog. We will also go into some detail about our fourth animal class of the year: amphibians. So without any further ado, let’s hop to it!

Natural Transformations
Over the last two and a half years, I’ve taught you all about a multitude of transformations, like how to turn a beetle into a button or a hedgehog into a pincushion.  There do exist, however, transformations of a non-magical variety. You’ve all probably encountered these throughout your life without even noticing them. Everyone’s seen ice melt, I presume? Or water boil? These are transformations called phase changes that are induced by a change in either temperature or pressure. Other natural transformations can be induced by radiation, such as the tan (or burn) you get from spending too much time in the sun, or a change in moisture content, such as that which occurs when grapes turn to raisins. As intriguing as these transformations are, today we will be focusing on the natural transformations that take place within certain kinds of creatures.

All living things go through natural development and change. That is what makes them living: the fact that they can grow and require nutrients to do so. Different types of animals develop in different ways, but we do not have the time to go through all of these today.  Instead, we’re just going to cover the two that go through the most drastic transformations: insects and amphibians.

We discussed insects in detail back in Lesson One with the Paper to Butterfly Transformation. There are two kinds of transformations that insects can go through. Hemimetabolism, or incomplete metamorphosis, consists of a series of molts in which the insect will shed its outer layer of skin as it grows. Complete metamorphosis is called Holometabolism and is the developmental process that insects such as butterflies, moths, and mosquitoes go through. There are four life stages, which begin with the embryo or the egg. After that comes the larva stage, in which the creature is a worm, caterpillar, maggot, or otherwise grub-like in appearance. The third stage of Holometabolism is the pupa stage. Here, the grub builds itself a cocoon out of silk or other material that hardens so it may protect the creature. Typically this stage consists of very little movement, though there are exceptions to that rule. The imago stage is the final stage of development in which the insect is a full adult, usually with a set of wings and a functioning reproductive system. 

Amphibians go through a slightly different developmental transformation. They go through a three part transformation that takes them from the water to the land.  They begin as eggs, laid and hatched in the water. Once hatched, the creatures are larvae. The larvae have gills and fins, allowing them to live and breathe in the water. As they grow, they develop legs and lungs that allow them to live out their final adult stage of life on land.

You may be wondering why in the world I’m teaching you about all of this as it has nothing to do with casting a transfiguration spell. Though yes, these transformations are not caused by magic, they can still teach us about the ways in which things change, which is at the core of all transfigurative research. By studying how things around us transform by themselves, we can figure out how to use our magic to cause similar transfigurations. We know that our magic acts as an energy source, similar to things like heat, pressure, calories, or radiation. Taking the simple example of turning ice into water, we know from research that the heat that is added to the ice excites its molecules, giving them the energy to move a little faster, eventually causing them to slip from their crystalline structure and turn to water. Knowing how this process works naturally on the molecular level means that creating a spell to complete a similar task, like turning a solid into a liquid, is significantly easier, since we know that the magic needs to cause the molecules to move faster. This same line of thinking, drawing parallels between natural and magical transformations, has helped many researchers in creating new spells.

Amphibians
The class of Amphibia contains many animals commonly seen throughout the wizarding world, including frogs, toads, and salamanders. With over 6,000 species, these amphibians are ectothermic, or cold blooded, vertebrates that lack scales, differentiating them from some of our other animal groups like fish and reptiles, which we shall discuss in a couple weeks. They are tetrapods, meaning they have four legs or are descended from four legged creatures, and generally undergo metamorphosis as I have described earlier. Most amphibians live out half their lives in the water and half their lives on land, though even as adults, they still need to keep their skin damp to avoid dehydration. You see, amphibians’ skin is very thin, allowing it to act as a second respiratory surface when they’re in the water, but also being prone to drying out. Another reason they need to remain close to water, even after they have developed legs and lungs, is that they require it to breed and lay their eggs.

The Transformation
You all know the drill by now. The spell details are on the board and you can pick whatever handheld object you wish to practice on. When you are successful, call me over to check you off and untransfigure your frog. The last thing I need in this classroom is more loose critters after the Second Years let all the beetles free a couple weeks back.

If performed incorrectly, this spell may produce an object that croaks or a stone frog. You may also end up with an underdeveloped frog that looks more like a tadpole. As this is your fourth inanimate to animate transformation, I expect you all to be able to produce a frog that, at the very least, has the ability to hop from one side of your desk to the other. If you do happen to get stuck with a frog that continually does backflips, you’re focusing a little too much on musculature and not enough on direction.

Where did this come from? Why do I care?
The Ranafors transformation was invented by Tansia Tuft back in 1895. Tansia was a researcher and animal activist who was working on creating new inanimate to animate transformation spells given the groundwork laid by both Lidia Lincoln, inventor of the Avifors transformation, and Alan Simon, whom we discussed two weeks ago with the Piscifors transformation. Her goal was to create transformation spells for as many creatures as she could, intending to one day free all of the animals kept in Muggle zoos and swap them out for transfigured animals, believing the Muggles would never be able to know the difference so long as she kept track of when each was supposed to die. Unfortunately she was arrested before she was able to accomplish her goal when she hexed a Muggle in broad daylight because he stepped on a bee. We will encounter a couple more of her transformations before the term’s end, however.

The practical applications of this spell are few and far between, however many have found it a fun way to prank a younger sibling while they’re opening a box of cereal. Some have attempted to use this spell in order to harvest parts for potions without having to kill a real frog, but, as we have discussed, all of these attempts have met disastrous ends.  

Conclusion
Thank you for your magnificent attention throughout today’s lesson! Do remember that next week marks the halfway point of your Third Year, meaning you will be sitting your midterm examination. All of the information and spells that we have learned thus far will be tested on your midterm, so be sure to study and practice! Until then!

*Holometabolism image credit: http://1000awesomethings.com/*
*Amphibian metamorphosis image credit: http://www.ourclassweb.com/webquests_frogs_tasks.htm*
*Amphibian image credit: http://www.animalsworlds.com/amphibians.html*