Professor Mitchell

Lesson 2) The Four Types

-the 4 branches of Transfiguration are vanishment, transformation, conjuration, and untransfiguration.

-Defined in 1651 by a German transfigurist

Years 1-4: transformation

Year 5: vanishment

Year 6: conjuration

Year 7: untransfiguration

Transformation:

-most common branch of transfiguration

-form of magic that causes things to change from their original state into another or alters the form of them

-transformation is broken down into 3 sub-branches: human transfiguration, trans-species transformation, and switching

-some sub-branches do have fuzzy distinguishing lines

-those who consider general transformation a sub-branch of transformation, it breaks down further into four general categories that are inanimate to inanimate, inanimate to animate, animate to inanimate, and animate to animate transformation. 

-Switching spells are spells that either change one essential detail of an object or swap the physical location of two items. This will be discussed in detail in Year Four.

-A trans-species transformation is a transformation that to some degree changes the species of the target. 

-Human transfiguration is the act of transforming the human body. This is an extremely complex form of transformation, and thus will not be discussed until your Seventh Year if you chose to take N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration.

-There are several different types of human transfiguration, such as cross-species switches directed at human targets. 

-There are more specific types of human transfiguration as well, such as the animagus, metamorphmagus, and werewolf transformations.

-Animagi are wizards with the capability of fully turning themselves into an animal at will while keeping their human sentience. This is a completely voluntary and learned skill, one that is extremely difficult to master. 

-Each person is only able to turn into one form of animal, and this animal will bear some identifying mark related to their human features.  

-Animagi are required to register with the Ministry of Magic.

-Metamorphmagi are people with the ability to change parts of their appearance at will. While considered a part of human transfiguration, this is not a skill that can be learned. It is a trait that certain witches and wizards are born with that is believed to be genetic.

-Werewolves are different from the above two forms of human transfiguration as they do not have a choice in their transformations. They are forced into the body of a wolf at every full moon. Normally when this happens, the person does not keep their human mind. 

-That being said, there is a potion that allows someone to keep their human mind during the full moon, though the transformation will still take place. This is called the Wolfsbane Potion.

Vanishment:

-Vanishment is a branch of transfiguration encompassing magic that causes an object to disappear from the world. There are many theories on what happens to items that have vanished. Some believe that they disappear all together and can never be returned. The most popular opinion is that the objects are disassembled and the particles scattered throughout the world. They are broken down into such small pieces that they appear to “no longer exist.”

-The more complex the object, the harder it is to vanish.

-There’s technically only one spell required to make something vanish

Conjuration:

-Conjured items are formed by pulling together the particles around us to create the object we desire, essentially opposite to the way in which items are vanished.  Accomplishing this requires the transfigurist to take into account all of the details of the object they are trying to conjure.

-whatever you wish to conjure must first exist in the world.

Untransfiguration:

-Untransfiguration is a series of spells that allow you to undo previous transfigurations. This is mostly for transformations.