Katherine Greenwood: The Hidden World #22

Instructions

Katherine's POV: After Charms, Nina, Ella, and I made our way through the castle toward our next class, Transfiguration. I held my books against my chest as we walked, trying to remember which staircase we had taken. Hogwarts seemed even bigger during the day, with students moving through the corridors in every direction. When we reached the Transfiguration classroom, we found seats near the middle of the room and placed our books on the desks. I looked around at the classroom, noticing the desks, the blackboard, and the large windows that let sunlight into the room. A few minutes later, the door opened and Professor McGonagall walked inside. I recognized her immediately. She was the professor who had brought us into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony and who had announced the beginning of term. “Good morning,” she said. Everyone became quiet. “I am Professor McGonagall, and I will be teaching you Transfiguration.” She explained that Transfiguration was a branch of magic that involved changing one thing into another. She warned us that it was a complicated form of magic and that we needed to pay close attention to every detail. I listened carefully as she demonstrated a simple spell, changing a small matchstick into a needle. The transformation happened so quickly that I almost missed it. “Now,” Professor McGonagall said, “you will attempt the same exercise.” She gave each of us a matchstick and explained the wand movement we needed to use. I picked up my wand and looked at the tiny piece of wood on my desk. I had never tried Transfiguration before, and unlike the charm we had practiced earlier, this seemed much more difficult. I carefully copied Professor McGonagall's wand movement and said the spell. At first, nothing happened. I tried again, concentrating on the matchstick and making sure my wand movement was exactly right. This time, the matchstick changed. It didn't become a perfect needle, but part of it had transformed into silver metal. I stared at it in surprise. Professor McGonagall noticed and walked over to my desk. She examined the matchstick for a moment. “Very good, Miss Greenwood,” she said. “You have managed a partial transformation on your first attempt.” “Thank you, Professor,” I said quietly. “I thought it was supposed to be harder.” Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow slightly. “It is harder. Which is why I am impressed.” I smiled a little and looked back at my matchstick. “Try again,” she instructed. I nodded and carefully repeated the spell. This time, the entire matchstick transformed into a thin silver needle. I stared at it, hardly believing what I had done. Nina looked over from her desk. “Katherine, you did it.” Ella smiled. “That's amazing.” Professor McGonagall looked at my needle and gave a small approving nod. “Excellent work. You appear to have a natural understanding of Transfiguration.” I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so I simply thanked her. We continued practicing for the rest of the lesson. Some students managed to change their matchsticks completely, while others only changed parts of them. I helped Nina when she couldn't quite get hers to transform, and Ella eventually managed to change hers too. By the end of class, I had successfully turned my matchstick into a needle several times. As we packed our things, I looked down at my wand. I had only known it existed for a few weeks, and yet somehow, magic already felt strangely natural to me.