Week 1, Task 2 - You Make the Change

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

We know that Prof. McGonagall was an incredible witch, and even more incredible at teaching and performing transfiguration. We also know that transfiguration is a branch of magic focused the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, animal or person. Many of us have even learned how to perform some of those spells by now in our HOL education!

So now, it's your turn to invent in a transfiguration spell or charm. In 100 words or more, you're asked to describe your spell's name, incantation, wand movement, and purpose. You can, of course, include any other interesting details that come to mind. Maybe there was a humorous mishap that occurred while practicing your spell? Post your story below.

This task is worth 10 beans/sapphires if you submit it by December 31st and 11:59 HOL time. Remember that if you submit all 4 tasks for week one during this week (by Saturday night at 11:59 HOL time), you will be given the bonus word to unscramble for an additional 10 beans/sapphires.

[Galena May]

Spell's name - The Chess Soldiers spell

Incantation - Mutatiomiles

Wand movement - Jab at target

Purpose - It changes chess pieces to soldier (human version) toys.

When I was young, I had two weird urges. One was to use my fingers to propel my chess pieces like carrom coins towards the opponent's pieces and make them fight as if on a real battlefield (an urge I had well into adulthood until I read about magical chess pieces in the Harry Potter books). The other was to use my box of tin soldiers in formation, and strategize battle moves and move them around like puppets to enact the moves. Combining the two, I always wanted to change my chess pieces into moving soldiers. When I discovered that I am a witch, and that magical chess pieces that move indeed do exist, I engaged in an indeed foolish experiment. I attempted to use a charm to make my old Muggle chess pieces come alive on the board. After a couple of failed attempts, I attempted to transfigure my tin soldiers into chess pieces, just as a distraction. This gave me an idea, I could attempt to transfigure my Muggle chess pieces into soldiers and hope that they would move. I used the Latinised version of my wish to design a provisional incantation for the spell I wanted, following traditional spell language protocol. I got out a Latin dictionary, and came up with "Mutatiomiles", where "Mutatio" means to transform or change and "miles" means soldier. I jabbed my wand impatiently (tired after lots of experimenting all day) at my black knight from my plastic Muggle chess set, with a resigned attitude, and chanted "Mutatiomiles". I wasn't really thinking, because I wanted live moving soldiers. The spell worked to my greatest delight and surprise, but the effect was something else entirely. Instead of a live soldier, I found a plastic miniature human knight mounted on horseback galloping diagonally to the next square on my Muggle chessboard. I gave the spell a name, and tried it on one of my pawns. The spell worked again, and a miniature human foot soldier replaced my pawn. On command, he took a step forward across the chessboard. I was delighted. I went over all my pieces. I think that my white queen turned out the prettiest, she was like a plastic doll wearing a crown. The castles weren't human but miniature plastic castles. I had turned my Muggle chess board to a magical version with miniature plastic replicas of human soldiers embodying the spirit of each chess piece. So, here I am, to share this spell.

[River Fenwick]

The new transfiguration spell I created is what I call the painting spell, having the incantation of "pictura," which is a Latin word quite literally meaning "painting," and the wand movement of sweeping one's wand from left to right and then following it with a swift flick of the wrist. The purpose of this spell is to turn an object into a two-dimensional shape, making it into a painting/drawing of itself. It can be used for multiple things, such as making objects smaller for storage, showcasing the items in an artistic form, or even hiding the object in plain sight if necessary.