Chapter 479: The True Disillusionment Charm
Chapter 479: The True Disillusionment Charm
During lunch, Cedric eagerly asked Professor Moody about his teaching style.
"It was amazing!" Mikael exclaimed, "I have a feeling that this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class will be much better than previous years, even compared to Professor Lupin... Of course, I'm not saying Professor Lupin is bad, but compared to dealing with curses, those dark creatures are a bit boring."
"Oh... I can't wait to experience it..."
Listening to his description, Kael felt an itch to try it out, but they had to wait until Friday for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Now, he had to go outside for Herbology.
Cedric hurriedly left, and Kyle entered the classroom to prepare the textbooks for the upcoming lesson.
When class started, Professor McGonagall rushed in.
Instead of starting the lesson immediately, she spent nearly fifteen minutes emphasizing the importance of the O.W.L. exams to the entire class.
"You must remember that this exam may affect your future for many years to come!" Professor McGonagall said sternly from the podium, "But I believe that with time and effort, every student in this class has no reason to not obtain an O.W.L. certificate in Transfiguration..."
First emphasizing the importance of the exam, then affirming the students' abilities... Well, that's Professor McGonagall for you.
After fifteen minutes, she finally stopped and picked up the textbook.
"Today's lesson is very important. I hope everyone is fully focused because we are learning the most challenging magic in the O.W.L. exams—the Vanishing Charm..."
She then demonstrated, successfully making a snail disappear from the podium.
"Ah..."
Before Professor McGonagall could speak, Mikael suddenly laughed strangely, as if he had taken the wrong potion.
"Mr. Drake!"
Professor McGonagall spoke sternly, "If you find my words amusing..."
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall, my apologies..." Mikael hurriedly apologized, but his face still showed a hint of smugness.
"In the last class, Professor Moody asked us to list dark arts, and I mentioned the Vanishing Charm, but he told me there was no such magic... He must have been wrong, right?"
For the first time, he felt a sense of triumph over a professor, and a famous one at that. Mikael was indescribably excited.
Professor McGonagall was a bit confused, so she walked over to Kyle, the student closest to her, to find out what had happened in the previous class.
A few minutes later, she stood up again and said to Mikael, "Mr. Drake, I think Alastor is right. The Vanishing Charm does not belong to the dark arts."
"What?" Mikael blurted out instinctively, "But that snail just now..."
Before he could finish, Professor McGonagall waved her wand again, and the previously vanished snail reappeared on the podium.
"First, you must understand why the Vanishing Charm belongs to Transfiguration..."
Professor McGonagall explained, "It doesn't directly make objects disappear like the Cleaning Charm; instead, it transforms them into a state of nothingness, which you can think of as an invisible ghost or air.
However, in essence, the object itself still exists, and as long as you use the appropriate counter-charm, such as the Revivification Charm or the Reversal Charm, it can be rendered ineffective."
"Oh?" Mikael stood there with his mouth agape, looking dazed.
"Alright, take your seats." Professor McGonagall waved her hand, "I won't deduct points this time, but next time, I hope you'll be more careful and understand the definition of dark arts.
Of course, this task requires your spare time, and don't ask me. Remember, this is Transfiguration class time."
After that, Professor McGonagall distributed a snail to each student as practice props.
Kyle stared at the snail on the table, deep in thought.
To be honest, his attention had been on cross-species transformation and multiple transformations recently, and with all the events that happened during the holidays, he had genuinely forgotten about the Vanishing Charm in Transfiguration.
Everyone started attempting the spell, and Kyle also picked up his wand, mimicking Professor McGonagall's previous gesture towards the snail.
However, instead of vanishing, the snail turned from its original grayish-brown to grayish-white. Kyle waved his wand again, and this time, the snail disappeared.
It took him two attempts to succeed, and Kyle felt that the difficulty of the Vanishing Charm was almost comparable to that of the fifth transformation.
Professor McGonagall, who had been standing by the students since the start of the practice, couldn't help but nod.
"Very good, someone has completed it!"
Her voice drew everyone's attention.
"As a reward, Hufflepuff gets ten points!"
There wasn't much surprise in the classroom, and when everyone heard it was Hufflepuff, and then saw Kyle standing next to Professor McGonagall, they all looked down again, feeling it was only natural.
Having been classmates with Kyle for five years, they were used to this situation.
Professor McGonagall didn't say anything further and proceeded to award the points before moving on to observe others.
"Professor McGonagall, I have a question!" Kyle suddenly called out to her.
"What is it?" Professor McGonagall turned around.
Kyle thought for a moment and asked, "Can the Vanishing Charm be used on oneself?"
Ever since Professor McGonagall explained the principle of the Vanishing Charm, he had been pondering this question.
Turning an object into nothingness without completely erasing it—this was the true Invisibility Charm.
In other words, if he could use the Vanishing Charm on himself, he could appear and disappear at will in any place.
Unless faced with a large-scale Universal Termination Charm, neither the Slaughter Charm, Fiery Charm, nor Boggarts, Dragons, or any other creature would be able to affect him.
More importantly, this spell had no time limit; he could stay as long as he wanted.
This was essentially another form of invincibility, and Kyle couldn't help but be tempted.
"Oh?" Professor McGonagall glanced at him, her eyes sparkling.
"When I first came across the Vanishing Charm, I had the same thought as you." She said, "In theory... it's possible, but it's extremely difficult, far beyond your imagination. Even I can't do it now."
"You can't do it either?" Kyle frowned, "Is it that hard?"
"The difficulty of the Vanishing Charm increases with the complexity of the object."
Professor McGonagall explained gently, "Snails and caterpillars are the simplest, but even so, most people still need a long time to learn. By Christmas, or even after the Easter holiday, they'll be able to progress to mice.
And by seventh year, if you can make a crested lizard disappear, you'll easily obtain an N.E.W.T. in Transfiguration."
Additionally, a wizard's magic power also significantly influences the Vanishing Charm, especially when used on oneself. The stronger the magic power, the greater the impact.
This is because our bodies instinctively resist such transformations; it's uncontrollable."
"So, is it impossible for us to use the Vanishing Charm on ourselves?" Kyle asked, furrowing his brows.
Humans are far more complex than crested lizards; it's understandable that using the Vanishing Charm on oneself requires a strong foundation of magic power.
But correspondingly, this magic power also affects the Vanishing Charm, which then requires more magic power... forming an insoluble cycle between the two.
"No, it's still possible; I just didn't succeed." Professor McGonagall smiled, "But I really hope you can achieve it."
...
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
