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"Could I have your attention please? Right, now, today, we will be transforming animals into water goblets. Like so. One, two, three. Vera Verto."
Professor McGonagall to her second years[src]

Vera Verto[1] was the incantation of a spell used to transform an animal into a water goblet. Professor Minerva McGonagall taught this transformation to her second year students, in lesson seven, as noted on her blackboard.

Casting

This spell was moderately difficult to perform, and disastrous if done wrong.[2] Side effects included the goblet being furry or having a tail.[2] Wand movement and posture were both very important for this charm, as Professor McGonagall noted when teaching her class in September of 1992.[2]

To perform the spell, one must tap the targeted animal three times sharply with their wand, and then point their wand directly at the animal, incanting, "Vera Verto".[1][2]

Effects

Scabbers Transfiguration 01

A failed attempt by Ronald Weasley on his rat Scabbers

Once performed, a jet of nearly indiscernible, crystal-clear mist, almost like a spray, would shoot from the caster's wand, engulfing the animal and quickly morph it into a goblet with a quiet whooshing noise.[2]

If performed incorrectly, a spasm of greenish light would shoot from the wand with a crackling, whining noise and the target will be transfigured improperly.[2] It may still be furry, or might possess a tail (or a combination of the two).[2]

Practitioners

Etymology

"Vera Verto" is a Latin phrase meaning "truly exchange".[3] This fits rather well with its effects.

Behind the scenes

VeraVertoBoard

The blackboard on which Professor McGonagall wrote information pertaining to this spell

  • Despite the subtitles saying that the incantation is "Vera Verto", there is a possibility that the subtitles are wrong and that the incantation is "Fera Verto". This makes particular sense when one considers "fera" means "wild" or "wild animal".[4]
  • In the fifth game, during the O.W.L.s, one of the tests is to transform an animal into a water goblet; it is more than likely this was meant to be "Vera Verto".
  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the writing on Minerva McGonagall's blackboard was written backward.
  • It is possible that this incantation is the general transfiguration spell, and its effect is largely dependent on the caster's intentions.

Appearances

Notes and references

Transfiguration (class)
COS Vera Verto demo
Branches of Transfiguration Transformation · Vanishment · Conjuration · Untransfiguration
Notable practitioners Circe · Emeric Switch · Falco Aesalon · Mirabella Plunkett · Thaddeus Thurkell
Professors Albus Dumbledore · Minerva McGonagall · Charles Rookwood · Matilda Weasley
Textbooks A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration · Intermediate Transfiguration · A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration
Transfiguration spells taught at Hogwarts
Colour Change Charm (Colovaria) · Change of hair colour and style (Crinus Muto) · Hardening Charm (Duro) · Mending Charm (Reparo) · Partial Vanishment · Reparifarge · Softening Charm (Spongify) · Switching Spell · Vanishing Spell (Evanesco)
Conjuring Spells Bird-Conjuring Charm (Avis) · Inanimatus Conjurus Spell · Bouquet Spell (Orchideous) · Snake Summons Spell (Serpensortia)
Transforming Spells Animal to water goblet (Vera Verto) · Armadillo to Pillow · Bowling Ball to Balloon · Beetle into Button · Cauldron to badger · Cat to cauldron (Felifors) · Cauldron Cakes to Cabbages · Chair to cat · Cross-Species Switches · Desk Into Pig · Fairy Cakes to Fairies · Feather Duster to Ferret · Ferret to Feather Duster · Gobstone to butterfly · Goldfinch to Golden Snitch · Flobberworm to Fritter · Gnomes to Lawn Gnomes · Guinea fowl to guinea pig · Gobstone to Skunk · Hedgehog to pincushion · King to Rook · Lovebird to Love Note · Match to needle · Meddling Man to Monkey · Mice to Snuffboxes · Owl to Opera Glasses (Strigiforma) · Pawn to Queen · Porcupine to Pin Cushion (Hystrifors) · Puffskein to Paperweight · Rubbish to Raccoon Dog · Small Child to Rat · Small object to dragon (Draconifors) · Snail to Teapot · Target to bird (Avifors) · Target to matchbox (Flintifors) · Target to rabbit (Lapifors) · Teacup into Gerbil · Teacup to Rat · Teapot to Tortoise · Thimble to Thestral · Toad to Toadstool · Tortoise to Trumpet · White rabbits to slippers
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