The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 22 Five Exceptions to Gamp's Basic Laws of Transformation

“My cousin attends Ilvermorny,” Jericho said confidently. “This magic school is located on Greylock Hill, and like Hogwarts, it divides students into four different houses.”

The school's attitude towards Muggles is the complete opposite of Durmstrang's, which may be related to the fact that the school's founder was a Muggle.

Interestingly, the young wizards choose their wands upon entering school, or the wands choose their owners, rather than buying them…

Professor McGonagall's stern gaze swept over him, and Jericho swallowed back what he was about to say, opening "The Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration."

Ten minutes later, the Gryffindor lion cubs arrived in droves. Even the most energetic lions dared not misbehave in Professor McGonagall's class; they sat down properly.

However, two Gryffindors were late. When the two little lions stumbled into the classroom, Keith and the others chuckled. Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and deducted ten points from Gryffindor's score.

"Professor McGonagall is really strict." Jericho was clearly surprised that the Head of Gryffindor deducted more points from Gryffindor than he added to Slytherin.

However, the effect was surprisingly good. The little snakes were intimidated and sat obediently, looking like good students.

The little lions felt even more guilty. Percy leaned forward, seemingly preparing to answer a few questions to make up for the lost college points.

Professor McGonagall walked to the center of the classroom, swept her stern gaze around, and said, "Anyone who misbehaves in my class will be asked to leave and never be allowed to come back. I've warned you."

Once the classroom quieted down, McGonagall got to the point: "Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous spell you'll ever learn at Hogwarts, but I also think it's the most interesting, like this."

With that, Professor McGonagall pointed her wand at a desk and turned it into a kitten.

The kitten meowed softly a few times, making the little witches want to hug it tightly, while the little wizards got excited, and several daring Gryffindors picked up their wands, eager to try their luck.

But when they heard Professor McGonagall tell them to turn the matches into needles, the young wizards fell silent.

Moriarty guessed that if Professor McGonagall hadn't been there, they would have let out a wail.

"This is really difficult to do." Jericho pointed his cypress wand at the match, as if he wanted to cast a spell on it, but the match only became a little thinner.

After his first attempt failed, Jericho shook his head: "Transfiguration has no incantation; it's too abstract."

"Oh Merlin's beard! Mr. Moriarty, how did you do that?" Jericho blinked, as if he thought he was seeing a hallucination.

There was a large pin standing upright on Moriarty's desk.

The pin spun around and turned into a thin silver needle. The silver needle then tumbled in the air and turned into a thick needle.

Professor McGonagall walked over: "You are the first student in nearly five years to complete this transformation in the first class, Mr. Moriarty, and you have earned five points for it."

The transformations between the three types of needles are brilliant, for which Slytherin gets an extra five points!

The little snakes exclaimed in admiration, but Moriarty shook his head and said, "Professor McGonagall, when I cast the transformation spell, I found that I was only pouring a huge amount of magic into the match, forcing it to change its shape, but I couldn't change its essence."

In fact, this is a problem that most wizards encounter today. We are simply using magic to force an object, which may be why transfiguration has reached a bottleneck in recent decades.

After listening attentively to what he said, Professor McGonagall raised one index finger.

"This is a question worth exploring, Mr. Moriarty."

Since you've raised this question, I assume you must know about the five exceptions to Gamp's fundamental transformation law?

"I know, Professor," Moriarty replied, "First, I cannot conjure food. Second, I cannot conjure magical items. Third, I cannot change the quantity, for example—"

Moriarty glanced at the desk: "I can turn a match into a needle, but I can't turn a match into two needles."

Fourth, inanimate objects cannot be permanently transformed into living things; fifth, nothing can be created from nothing.

"Perfect!" Professor McGonagall nodded repeatedly. "It's a pity that these are not within the scope of first-year students' studies, otherwise I would be willing to give you an extra fifty points."

So, since you know about the five exceptions, why do you still have questions?

Or rather, do you have questions about the five exceptions to Gamp's fundamental law of transformation?

Professor McGonagall's gaze was serious, and the students stared at Moriarty with their mouths agape. The classroom was eerily quiet.

Moriarty looked Professor McGonagall straight in the eye and said, "I agree with the first four points, but I harbor illusions about creating something out of nothing."

As I just said, you can use magic to force an object to change its shape to achieve a change in appearance, but you cannot change its essence.

But if we can find a way to fundamentally transform something, perhaps we can create something from nothing by changing its essence.

Professor McGonagall frowned: "Your idea is quite bold, but there is one thing you said that is biased. How can you use the word 'forced' to describe the transformation?"

Many powerful wizards have said this: Magic is the miracle produced when one's own will alters nature.

Magic is a miracle, and transformation is a change or alteration that occurs before the miracle is born.

"On this point, I think we can draw an analogy between the Animagus and the Disguise Magus," Moriarty insisted. "We all know that the Animagus becomes a magical creature voluntarily, just as the Disguise Magus becomes another face voluntarily."

And what about inanimate objects like matches? Even though they have no thoughts and can't speak, would they willingly turn into a needle?

I think the first problem lies here: if we find a way to establish a connection with objects, thereby causing them to change voluntarily, and then combine this with our ability to deform their appearance, perhaps we will have found a way to fundamentally transform.

"And the second question, I think, comes from the question of existence and non-existence." Moriarty paused, then looked at Professor McGonagall: "There were only seven registered Animagus in the 20th century, and you, Professor, were one of them. When you became a tabby cat, a cat that had never existed before appeared in this world!"

While cats certainly exist as a species, and you, Professor, certainly exist, that tabby cat does not. This proves that existence and non-existence can be linked through transfiguration.

If we solve these two problems I mentioned, there is no doubt that we can achieve something from nothing, or even truly create something from nothing.

"Mr. Moriarty, you really are... oh..." Professor McGonagall wore an expression of speechlessness. After a long silence, she said, "Bold ideas, brilliant analysis, but unfortunately I can't answer your questions. I suggest you submit your work to 'Transfiguration Today,' which has many Transfiguration masters. You can have in-depth discussions with them."

Moriarty looked disappointed, but still nodded slightly. In fact, when he was teaching himself Transfiguration, he had already begun to question the five exceptions to Gamp's basic Transfiguration laws.

His earlier conjecture was actually aimed at solving a fundamental problem: element deformation.

Moriarty raised his cedarwood wand, and water elemental magic gathered at the tip of the wand, creating a water sphere the size of a fist.

A chill emanated from Moriarty, once again capturing the attention of the students and Professor McGonagall.

They saw the water ball turn into an ice ball.

Moriarty's left hand, which was holding the wand, suddenly trembled. He stared at the ice puck with a sharp, sword-like gaze, but the ice puck did not react.

After a while, Moriarty seemed to give up, put away his wand, and the ice puck disappeared.

The students were baffled, but Professor McGonagall seemed to understand. She walked over to Moriarty and asked, "You want to turn the puck into air?"

"To be precise, it's gaseous," Moriarty said bluntly, without hiding anything. "Water is liquid, and ice is solid. I can easily turn a liquid into a solid, but I can't turn a solid into a gas."

I believe that altering the three states of macroscopic physics can lead to a fundamental transformation.

Professor McGonagall was at a loss for words. She opened her mouth weakly, just as get out of class ended. She tossed out, "Five points for your thirst for knowledge and erudition, Mr. Moriarty."

Then she left in a hurry. Moriarty guessed that she must have gone to report to Dumbledore, but that didn't matter. Moriarty wasn't afraid of attracting Dumbledore's attention.

Because Lockhart portrayed him as a genius, it would only arouse Dumbledore's suspicion if he acted like a mediocre person.

As things stand now, Professor McGonagall must think he's a genius full of brilliant ideas, and Moriarty hasn't revealed his true intentions.

When he found that he could not quickly unlock fire elemental magic, Moriarty thought of polymorphism—elemental polymorphism.

Or rather, it's the switching between elements.

It's impossible for water elemental magic to become fire elemental magic, as there's a fundamental conflict between them. But can water elemental magic be transformed into earth elemental magic?

But perhaps there is no earth element magic at all?

Moriarty didn't know if these ideas could be realized, but he would explore in that direction.

"Perhaps submitting an article to 'Today's Metamorphosis' and exchanging ideas with those old guys wouldn't be bad?"

On his way back to his dormitory, Moriarty thought to himself that wizards disliked the White Lord and disliked the Dark Lord even more, but a scholar who studied magic obviously wouldn't attract much attention.

There are no accurate official settings for the five exceptions to Gamp's basic transformation rules. The only one we know so far is that he cannot transform into food. The other four are my own ideas. Do you have any other ideas?

(End of this chapter)