"Take this needle. You are being asked to turn it into a matchstick."
"Opposite that, Harry," she corrected
"Whatever. But could you turn this needle into a beetle? Or the beetle into a car? Or the car into lorry? Or the lorry into a road? Or the road into a highway? Or the highway into a runway? Or the runway into a jumbo jet? Or the jet into a plane? Or the plane into luggage? Or the luggage into a bag? Or the bag into a bug? Or the bug into a beetle? Or the beetle into a needle? Or the needle into a matchstick? It's all about association."
"How do you know about it if it's a grownup secret?" she questioned as the wheels within her mind began to assimilate the information.
"Like I said, I overheard a conversation years ago. Then I started thinking about it and forming the right associations within my mind. One day I even looked it up in a transfiguration book. It's a simplified overview of transfiguration, but it is still valid. The book went on to explain that the early years in school were about learning how to make associations and get the magic to work the way you want it to before you start deconstructing matter and turning it into something else. I mean, think of the damage we could cause if we took a toaster plugged into the wall and magically transfigured it into a cat."
"Fried cat? Electrocuted because its tail was still in the wall?" she offered.
"Now you're getting it. There's more to transfiguration than just the association game, but knowing it allows you to create bigger and better things. Faster, too - especially once you create some mental macros to get the association down. After you get the first one down, it then becomes a matter of understanding matter properties and limitations. The summer I thought about this I tried to speed things up with a few good results and a lot of exploded water balloons as not so good results."
Actually, Harry had spent the summer of his 12th birthday locked up at the Dursley's without anything to do (they had not forgotten to lock up his magical supplies like they'd forgotten to feed him for days at a stretch) and had given this a lot of thought. It was all theory until he got back to Hogwarts and began to look things up in the library between classes. He never really had any time to pursue it as he had other spells to learn to keep him alive, but now he had the time, he was going to explore this avenue of magic.
When he had found Jim Dorr's book on transfiguration ( A Monkey isn't Money no matter how hard you try ) and read up on how to do things, damn, but wasn't he spot on with what was going through his mind over that summer. The younger years were spent in school learning to associate. The later years spent learning how not to kill an organic when transfiguring it.
And the NEWT classes covered transfiguring non-associates. Like mood rings into water vapor.
A few minutes later, Hermione calmed herself down and listed to Harry's advice on what she was doing wrong. She focused the stretch of wood into metal and slowly, her match turned into a needle. By the end of the class, they were the only two to have managed to turn a match into a needle the entire way. Others were close, but a sneering Longbottom scoffed at them only to have McGonagall immediately berate him, "At least they managed to turn it into a needle, Mr. Longbottom. You've had tutors supposedly. Why hasn't yours turned yet?"
"Um… I'm charging my magical core with the energy to do it?"
"Well, charge faster because this class ends in a few minutes. And all of you that haven't successfully transfigured your match are to take it with you and continue working on it until next class. I'll evaluate your progress then. Okay, Mr. Longbottom. Your turn. Transfigure."
"I'm not sure I'm ready…"
"Now."
"Yes, ma'am." Neville focused his attention on the matchstick and waved his wand. Harry took the opportunity to send a silent localized heat spell towards the match and was rewarded when the match ignited on Longbottom's fifth wand wave.
The rest of the class laughed.
....
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