Transfiguration (class)

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

- Professor McGonagall introducing Transfiguration to her new students

Transfiguration is a subject taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It teaches the art of changing of the form and appearance of an object. This type of magic is commonly referred to as "transfiguration." There are limits to transfiguration, which are governed by Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.

Class Information
Transfiguration is a required subject for all First Year students, with the option of a N.E.W.T. course in the sixth and seventh years. Minerva McGonagall was the Transfiguration professor from 1956 until 1998, year in which she became Headmistress of the school. Before her, Albus Dumbledore taught Transfiguration. It is unknown who became Transfiguration professor after McGonagall became Headmistress of Hogwarts. McGonagall believes Transfiguration to be more elegant and superior to other types of magic.

Like Charmwork, Transfiguration is achieved through concentration, precise wand movements and the proper pronunciation of an incantation. However it is generally more difficult than Charms and it requires great effort.

Students practice actual transfigurations during Transfiguration classes. Accidents sometimes result in partial transfigurations. Hermione is one of the best students in Transfiguration; therefore, she is a favourite with Professor McGonagall.



Textbooks

 * A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, by Emeric Switch, used by first-years.
 * Intermediate Transfiguration
 * Guide to Advanced Transfiguration

Known O.W.L.s

 * Lavender Brown
 * Seamus Finnigan
 * Hermione Granger
 * Neville Longbottom (did not qualify for N.E.W.T. level)
 * Draco Malfoy
 * Parvati Patil
 * Harry Potter
 * Dean Thomas
 * Ron Weasley
 * Bill Weasley
 * Percy Weasley
 * Barty Crouch Jr
 * Minerva McGonagall

List of transfigurations in the books



 * McGonagall's Animagus Transfiguration


 * Hagrid tries to change Dudley into a pig




 * McGonagall changes her desk into a pig




 * Students try to change match into a needle




 * Hermione earning House points in class for knowing about Switching Spells


 * Students trying to turn a mouse into a snuffbox for their end of term Transfiguration practical - extra points for how pretty the snuffbox was, points off if it still has whiskers


 * McGonagall Transfigured the chessmen guarding the Philosopher's Stone to make them 'come alive'


 * Students turning a beetle into a button


 * Testimonial of a man able to turn his wife into a yak after a Kwikspell course


 * Gargoyle statues outside Dumbledore's office 'coming to life' when password is spoken


 * Students turning pairs of white rabbits into slippers (maybe you have to be familiar with bunny slippers to think this is funny)


 * Student accidentally changes his friend into a badger in class


 * Fat white rabbit changing into a top silk hat and back in the Magical Menagerie


 * Fred and George change Percy's badge to read 'Bighead Boy'


 * McGonagall's first lecture on Animagi, with demonstration


 * Transfiguration practical: transforming a teapot into a tortoise, concerned over whether they had spouts for tails, breathed steam, or still had willow-patterned shells


 * Animagus transfigurations of the Marauders


 * Wormtail transfigured into a human


 * Padfoot Transfigures back and forth from Animagus form


 * 'Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret'


 * Ron fantasizes about Moody Transfiguring Snape into a horned toad


 * Changing a hedgehog into a pincushion


 * Considering using Switching Spells to change a dragon's teeth into wine-gums


 * Transfiguring oneself to acquire extra powers (post-O.W.L. level)


 * Cedric Transfigures a rock into a Labrador retriever to distract the Swedish Short-Snout


 * Students changing guinea fowl into guinea pigs


 * Cross-species switches


 * Wishing to be an Animagus to be able to breathe underwater as a goldfish or a frog


 * Krum's partial Transfiguration into a shark


 * Sirius' Animagus transfiguration


 * Crouch having been transfigured into a bone


 * Rita Skeeter revealed as unregistered Animagus


 * Learning human transfiguration in the sixth year at Hogwarts


 * Sirius' Animagus transfiguration


 * Vanishing Spells, among the most difficult O.W.L. material - working on invertebrates (snails)


 * Conjuring Spells mentioned as N.E.W.T. level


 * Long essay for McGonagall on the Inanimatus Conjurus spell


 * Vanishing Spells, starting on vertebrates


 * Lupin studying for Transfiguration O.W.L.


 * Healing requires at least an E on a student's Transfiguration O.W.L.


 * After Mad-Eye Moody's death, Harry imagines that he was probably "transfigured [and] stuffed"