Chapter 33: Crafting Spells
He closed his eyes to feel the two melodies of the spell. Their structure was very similar; order, chaos, and finally order once more. He tried to combine the two melodies of order, the preparation phase into a single one. The two spells combined seamlessly.
However, it was in the chaos phase when something was wrong. The chaos was simply hard to combine with a similar element. After a few tries, Harry decided to simply follow the rest of the magic in the castle and simply turn the chaotic aspect into two melodies instead of a combined one. He compressed and stretched the tempo slightly until it just seemed to click. The final order phase was easily done.
With that done, Harry grabbed his wand and waved it with the same tempo as the symphony in his mind, and spoke the words, "Muto Verto."
The matchstick then turned into a needle with a simple spell. The wood became pointier while turning into metal at the same time. Harry grinned at his accomplishment before stiffening when he noticed the Professor standing in front of him and the look of awe Blaise was giving him.
He looked up to see the deputy headmistress with a small smile on her face, "Well done, Mr Potter. It seems like you have a gift for Transfiguration. Very impressive indeed. Twenty points to Slytherin!"
The entire classroom had stopped talking or trying to cast and was just looking at him with looks of awe and envy on their faces. Hermione Granger seemed to try to disintegrate him with her glare and Neville Longbottom was glaring hatefully at him for some reason.
Harry simply shrugged. He didn't care what they thought of him. As the professor walked back to her desk, Blaise gave him a curious look, "How did you do that?"
Shrugging, Harry answered, "I just followed the instructions. Incantations and wand movements, until I got used to it."
Ignoring his grumbling roommate, Harry looked at McGonagall who was telling him to come to see her at her desk. When he arrived there, she waved her wand, and the entire class became silent.
He looked around in confusion before the professor answered his unspoken question, "A simply privacy charm, Mr Potter. They cannot hear us, and we cannot hear them."
"You asked to see me, Professor?"
"Yes, I did. Do you realize what you were doing in the end?" said Professor McGonagall.
"I combined the two spells together. I wanted to change the shape and the material of the matchstick at the same time."
The professor raised an eyebrow, "Yes, and in the meantime, you created a spell. You made up the wand movements and changed the incantation. Sure, it was a simple combination of effects, it is impressive, and also dangerous."
"I don't understand, it worked as it should have." Harry protested.
"Accidents during spell creation are very common, and they can be fatal. There's a reason it's a NEWT elective, after all. Many brilliant wizards and witches have lost their lives trying out spells that rebounded and killed them. In trying out what you did today, you could have accidentally not only injured yourself but your classmates as well," she explained with a severe tone.
Harry looked down, embarrassed, "I didn't know that. I'm sorry."
The woman huffed in amusement, "I'm not admonishing you, Mr Potter, but try to be more careful next time. Speaking of this, how did you even do it without using any arithmancy?"
"I guess it just came to me naturally, professor," Harry replied.
The professor grumbled something about prodigies and released a chuckle, "Well, I know that you will try to do that again. Although, I insist that you do it in the company of a professor or at the very least a prefect, in case you hurt yourself. Do not be afraid to experiment Mr Potter but remember that your safety is more important than whatever spell you're trying to create."
The young Potter gave her a bright smile but then asked, "Professor, I had a question."
"What is it?"
"I read our textbooks and I never saw any of the spells we did today…"
The Professor gave him a slight smile, "You probably won't find them in any recent textbook. They were standard when I was a student, but the ministry tends to regulate which books are allowed to be on the recommended reading list. Not one of them had the appropriate spells inside, choosing to rely mostly on the theory, with the spells that are necessary for students to complete their OWLS. I always give my first years this challenge to teach them the foundations of transfiguration books."
Harry decided to ask her another question, "I have to ask, are there any limitations to these two spells? Because I don't think I mastered transfiguration in a single spell."
The Professor had mirth in her eyes, "I would be out of a job if you did, Mr Potter. Yes, there are many limitations to these two spells. The alteration spell can only change solid structures with similar mass, and the mutation spell can only alter solid materials, and even then, a lot of materials cannot be turned into, like gold, silver, and copper, although there are certain transfiguration laws involved. Your achievement may be notable, but there are many similar spells, that are more efficient, that have been created. You're not a transfiguration master yet, Mr Potter, although, I can certainly see the potential for you to do so. Now, get back to your desk and help your classmates."
Harry gave the professor a smile and walked back to his desk. Blaise gave him a curious look, "What did she want?"
"She just congratulated me and answered a few questions I had regarding the spells she gave us."
"Like what?" Malfoy asked with a sneer on his face.
Harry shrugged, "Like why they were not in the required books for the class. Apparently, she can only recommend certain books because of the ministry, and none of them had these spells in there."
Finding no interesting gossip, they all returned to their assignments, while far more subdued since the prize was already taken by Harry. As for the young Potter, he simply practised his new spell trying to make the change occur faster and more efficiently magically. He was quite proud of the results.
He also tried to help Blaise, but it didn't seem to work. By the end of the class, the only other person who had any results was Hermione Granger, whose match was slightly pointy with a silver tinge. It wasn't anything close to even Harry's first attempt, but McGonagall seemed to think it was impressive, considering the small smile on her face when she awarded the young Gryffindor five points. The girl had given him smug looks after that, for some reason. Even in this life, he couldn't understand girls.
Afterwards, Harry and the rest of the Slytherins made their way to the charms classroom for their first lesson. Considering Professor Flitwick's reputation as a charms master and a former duelling champion, Harry was especially excited about this lesson.