CHAPTER 30 - Don’t Say a Word!

As the last piece of pudding vanished from the plate, lunch came to an end. The three of them stood up from the table, and Robert stuffed the peppermint hard candies he had grabbed before the meal into his pocket, following the twins as they left the hall. 

Just then, Fred seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead. "Oh, right, Robert, we were actually planning to tell you something very important."

"What?" Robert asked curiously. "Is it about the cursed Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

"Of course not," George grumbled. "That was just a way to start the conversation."

"Good thing we have good memories!" Fred said with a mischievous grin. "At least we remembered it before the class started."

"Otherwise, Mum might have sent us a Howler." George exaggerated dramatically, looking horrified. "Alright, mate, I know you're dying to know what it is. Want to take a guess?"

Robert was a bit confused, unsure of any recent celebrations. "Are you getting a little sister?"

The twins instantly lost their smiles.

"Oh, of course not." Fred said, his eyes going blank. "Why would you think that?"

"Bill, Charlie, Percy, you two, Ron, Ginny..." Robert started counting off on his fingers, "Don't you think there's been quite a gap since Ginny?"

He patted Fred and George on the shoulder encouragingly. "It's about time you suggested to Mrs. Weasley that she have another little sister. That way Ginny won't be so lonely, right? You're all boys, and she could always use a few girl secrets."

"Well, this suggestion doesn't sound too bad," George said, looking at his brother. "Should we write to Mum?"

Fred nodded in agreement, and they walked off.

And then… Robert was left standing there, utterly baffled.

You… weren't you going to tell me something very important?!

Rubbing his temples, Robert still couldn't catch up to the twins' pace. He had Transfiguration class next, and Professor McGonagall was as strict as ever. After the recent Snowball Duel, it seemed like she had raised the bar for students' Transfiguration skills. What used to be a final exam where students only needed to turn a mouse into a snuffbox was now in danger of including rabbits instead! And rabbits were much bigger than mice! Robert could already imagine how many students would curse him in the exam after it was over.

Transfiguration was a fairly advanced skill, and even wizards of Dumbledore's caliber would frequently use Transfiguration in battle. Both charms and Transfiguration required a lot of energy and practice, but Transfiguration was considered even more challenging.

From Robert's own experience, he had broken down Transfiguration into four stages:

The first stage was transforming one object into another. For instance, Professor McGonagall would typically ask students in the first lesson to turn a matchstick into a needle. This was a simple object-to-object transformation. Since both the matchstick and the needle were small objects, as long as students understood the principles of the transformation spell and practiced, it was easy to achieve.

The second stage was turning a living creature into an object. For example, turning a beetle into a button. Again, the beetle and the button were both small, so this transformation was relatively easy. As long as the spell worked without incidents, the beetle would stay still and motionless.

Next came turning an object into a living creature. The difficulty here lay in making sure the newly transformed creature could move. For instance, in the third-year exam, students were asked to turn a teapot into a turtle. After three years of magical education, the students' magical powers were generally strong enough to support the spell's energy consumption. Turtles also moved slowly, so if students practiced diligently, the spell wasn't as difficult as it seemed.

Finally, there was transforming one living creature into another. This involved cross-species transformation, which required more knowledge. For example, turning a mouse into a raven meant changing the mouse's four legs into wings, and its front legs into claws. Only then could the raven have strong enough wings to support flight. 

Once students passed through these four stages, they could consider themselves proficient in Transfiguration. 

After these four stages, students would learn a more difficult spell—the Vanishing Charm. According to Professor McGonagall, "The things that disappear become nothing." In simpler terms, it turned objects into air. For this spell, Professor Snape, who specialized in cleaning up disastrous potions brewed by students, was practically an expert. It was a common sight in his class to see him with his usual grim expression, waving his wand, and making cauldrons disappear into thin air. 

There was also another charm with a similar effect—the Cleansing Charm, also known as the "Clean-Up" charm. It was considered a charm, not a Transfiguration spell, because it didn't just make something vanish; it made the object clean and tidy. Most wizards, who didn't have particularly strong Transfiguration skills, found this charm extremely useful for everyday tasks.

These were the basics of Transfiguration that students needed to know for their O.W.L. exams. To continue learning, they needed to score either an E or an O on their exams.

The N.E.W.T.-level Transfiguration course mostly dealt with human transfigurations, and the most famous example was the Animagus transformation. Rumor had it that if a student succeeded in becoming an Animagus during the N.E.W.T. exams, they could receive an O.

Of course, the most important thing for Transfiguration was magical power. Without enough magical strength, transforming anything was futile. But if a student had enough power, they could transform water into nine dragons and have them perform the "Nine Dragons Playing with a Pearl" trick in their home—just as long as they didn't flood the house.

That was Transfiguration in a nutshell.

After Transfiguration class, Robert endured Professor Binns' sleepy lecture on the history of magic, and finally spotted the angry twins back in the hall.

As Robert was about to greet them, Fred spoke first. "Robert, don't say anything yet. Wait until we're done!"

"Every time, you lead us off-topic!" George said, looking furious. "We're here on a mission!"

Robert immediately raised both hands in surrender, his expression innocent, as if saying, "This isn't my fault! You two forgot!"

"So here's the thing," Fred continued. "The final is earlier this year, on July 5th. Dad wants to know if you'd like to stay and watch the match with us before heading to the Flower Country. There should be plenty of time."

Robert thought for a moment. "Hmm, I need to check Elsa's flight dates."

"Flight?" The twins looked at him curiously. "You mean the thing that gets us from London to the Flower Country?"

"Huh?" Robert was equally confused. "Are you saying we're flying?"

"Yep!" They both replied in unison.

Fred elaborated, "It's just that traveling by magical means would require too many transfers, so we decided to fly instead."

"Well, whatever works," Robert said. "As long as Mr. Weasley isn't getting into trouble again."

(End of Chapter)