Today's... next topic?
How to use knowledge from the non-magical world to improve Transfiguration teaching?
Sitting in the audience, Erina paused, instinctively turning to look at Dumbledore.
"Professor Dumbledore, this is—"
"Not me."
Dumbledore frowned, shaking his head slightly, appearing somewhat surprised as well.
"Clearly, Minerva is more accomplished than I am in Transfiguration."
In the original plan, today was merely Professor McGonagall's first public lecture at the institute, mainly focused on Q&A and getting to know each other, with no plans for deep collaboration—at least, Transfiguration wasn't that high of a priority at the moment.
The Hogwarts electromagnetic field and magic energy conversion, these two topics occupied almost all of the institute's resources.
Because of this, Erina had specifically set a time limit during the Q&A portion of today's presentation:
Each person only had five minutes for questions.
From the beginning, she hadn't expected any in-depth exchange to occur.
Unlike Quirrell and Lockhart, Professor McGonagall was almost a symbol of the inheritance of magical civilization.
Erina wasn't arrogant enough to believe that science could completely conquer and explain all the mysteries of magic. This wasn't some magical industrial collaboration project. When it came to teaching how to cast spells, she didn't think wizards would be willing to condescend to listen to muggles.
It was like Soviet scholars wouldn't ask wizards for their opinions on nuclear physics.
In any field, the accumulation of prerequisite skills is extremely important.
Without a foundation of basic knowledge, the conversation between the two parties would forever be like cross-server chatting. Perhaps they could simultaneously understand and explain a phenomenon, but it would inevitably be from their own fields, rather than a mutually integrated one.
Therefore, Erina never expected Professor McGonagall to actively seek the opinions of non-magical scholars.
Meanwhile, after a brief moment of silence, the lecture hall gradually filled with a stir.
"W-Wait a minute—"
Arkhipovna took a deep breath, frowning, "Professor McGonagall, did you mean... that you hope we can offer suggestions to help Hogwarts students better master Transfiguration magic?"
"That's right, you can understand it that way." McGonagall said, nodding with a smile.
"We are happy to participate in it, if we can help. But there is another problem..."
Arkhipovna exchanged glances with the scholars around her, pondered for a few seconds, and then asked seriously.
"You just said that this theory has not been practically tested in the magical world, and we can only give suggestions based on your description - but before that, there is a place to confirm, how do you determine that this theory can cast spells successfully? Unlike our calculations and experiments, this kind of concept existing in the mind is difficult to judge what is extracted..."
"Oh, this..." Professor McGonagall said, "First of all, it was not me who put forward this theory, but an ordinary lower grade student in Hogwarts, she—" McGonagall glanced at Erina, "She successfully cast the Transfiguration spell."
"Then there shouldn't be any problem, at least it constitutes the elements for establishing the experiment."
Arkhipovna nodded, she knew very well what this meant for wizards.
During this period of time, Quirinus Quirrell roughly described some of the states of wizards when casting spells.
The most important of these is undoubtedly the subjective consciousness. If a wizard has a problem in cognition, then no matter how he waves his wand and chants spells, he will most likely not get the correct result - in the magical world, this is the truth.
"If that student really completed the spell and was not affected by traditional theory. Then we can conceive from this perspective, sort out the methodology, and conduct more teaching attempts. As long as there are a second and third student who succeed, it can prove that this theory is established. If it is established, then it must be superior to the previous incomplete theory."
Professor McGonagall walked down from the podium, looked around at the excited scholars around her, and her expression was not as serious as before.
"So, Ms. Arkhipovna. How long will it take to formulate a teaching plan? I was originally going to try it myself, but I found that I couldn't objectively find loopholes from outside the 'box' - it might change everything about Transfiguration..."
A hint of helplessness flashed across the corner of Professor McGonagall's mouth.
As one of the Transfiguration professors who has taught at Hogwarts for the longest time, in terms of the field of Transfiguration teaching alone, she may be better than her former teacher Albus Dumbledore - she has worked in this position for thirty-six years.
Since leaving the Ministry of Magic in 1956, Minerva McGonagall has been working as a Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts.
McGonagall can recite all Transfiguration textbooks by heart, can rewrite hundreds of articles on *Today's Transfiguration*, and can comment on all Transfiguration techniques like a housewife counting seasoning jars. But that's it.
In the early 20th century, modern Transfiguration entered a golden age.
Ordinary Transfiguration, Human Transfiguration, Reverse Transfiguration, Switching Spell, Cross-species Transfiguration, Vanishing Spell, Summoning Spell, and Animagi are closely and orderly combined to construct a gorgeous and majestic hall of Transfiguration magic.
Even wizards as amazing as Dumbledore could not achieve exciting results in the field of Transfiguration - Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and Emeric Switch's *A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration* almost revealed all the secrets of Transfiguration.
The magical society began to believe that the mysteries of Transfiguration magic had been completely mastered by wizards, and there was no place left out.
Transfiguration masters have come to the conclusion that all Transfiguration magic classifications in this world have been discovered. Transfiguration magic has reached perfection. It has reached its limit and end, and there can no longer be any breakthrough progress.
If there is anything else to do, it is to make some detailed optimizations and supplements.
For example, imitating fresh things for deformation; or making the deformed buttons and boxes more beautiful and beautiful; or new applications in the field of dark curses and anti-dark curses...
In short, the wizarding world began to generally believe that there was no more mystery in Transfiguration.
All problems can ultimately be attributed to the amount of magic power and the merits of casting ability.
The magic hall of Transfiguration has been capped. The five exceptions of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration are just a few small dark clouds floating in the sunny sky of Transfiguration. As time goes by, wizards will eventually find results in other magic fields.
Not long ago, McGonagall Minerva also thought so.
Until last night, she was horrified to discover that perhaps the "box" of Transfiguration had just been opened a crack.
"This will subvert the understanding of Transfiguration magic for thousands of years, and overthrow it from the cornerstone—"
Professor McGonagall said softly, her eyes shining brighter than anyone else present.
"If possible, I hope to discuss it before Christmas, and try the course simultaneously, so that before the first wave of questions arrives at Hogwarts, perhaps Hogwarts can hand in an answer sheet - an answer sheet to open a new world."
"Christmas? It doesn't take that long at all..."
Arkhipovna was stunned for half a second, and shook her head confidently with a smile.
"If you don't mind, we can start now - but we may need some paper and pens, blackboards and other recording tools to... Well, thank you very much—" She looked at the things that suddenly appeared in the auditorium, shrugged her shoulders noncommittally. The convenience of magic in life is sometimes really enviable to an indescribable extent.
"First—"
Arkhipovna simply wrote on the blackboard.
"The common point is the bridge between the state of the object before and after the Transfiguration magic acts on it, that is, the closer the initial state of the cursed object is to the target state of the Transfiguration, the simpler the Transfiguration process - this is the most fundamental and easiest place to start."
"This means that in addition to the magic principle, spells and wand hand movements, many variable factors need to be considered to complete precise Transfiguration. Therefore, beginners are encouraged to list the mathematical formulas of variable factors, formula variables, physical parameters..."
"Mathematical formulas, formula variables, physical parameters?" Professor McGonagall frowned and repeated.
"That's right. It's like establishing two sets and then mapping and associating them—"
Arkhipovna picked up the chalk and listed the content on the blackboard, explaining quickly.
"Mainly including the mass and size of the object being cursed, the mass and size of the cursing result, the amount of magic power, and the unknowable variables within a controllable range - constructing models of the front and rear states in the mind, and replacing them logically..."
"I see, do a rough calculation simulation before Transfiguration..."
Professor McGonagall nodded thoughtfully, which is a bit similar to the orbital calculation of astronomy.
"So, can you talk about that mapping association and set in detail? Of course, what are the physical parameters, I'll see how to integrate them into the course arrangement later - as for the replacement, I will provide some gestures for reference later..."
…………
"...Okay, we can almost go back. It's almost lunch time."
Erina looked at the people who were immersed in academic discussion, scratched her cheeks with a wry smile and stood up.
"Professor, I'll leave this to you, I'll notify the kitchen to deliver food..."
The little wizards of Hogwarts do not yet know what kind of wonderful classroom they will be welcoming soon.
But as someone who has experienced the "scientific" theory baptism, she knows it too well, especially under the brainstorming of a group of top scholars from the former Soviet Union, the Transfiguration classroom will soon become one of the most terrifying places in the entire Hogwarts.
On the other hand, if Professor McGonagall starts to speak out, the wave triggered may be no less than the Gringotts incident before.
After all—
Transfiguration is just the beginning.
Once this ancient and all-powerful course blows the horn, there will soon be a second and third discipline trying to integrate new elements, eventually sweeping the entire Hogwarts and even the entire magic world. Erina is convinced of this.
And before that...
She still wants to go back to the hall and enjoy her last carefree lunch.
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Yay!