Transfiguration vs. charms (Was: Is Harry a Metamorphmagus?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 117189


Finwitch wrote:
> >Also: how did he turn his teacher's wig blue? What area of magic
does that belong, or was it Harry at all (I sure can imagine Dudley to
put dye into it and blame Harry)?  ... He made the sweater shrink.<
> 
> Kim responded:
> 
> Wouldn't those be examples of transfiguration, like when Harry made 
> the glass in the snake's cage disappear in SS/PS?  He "transfigured" 
> an inanimate object into something else, as in making a brown(?) wig 
> into a blue wig, a big sweater into a smaller sweater, or turning a 
> sheet of glass into air.  If you can transfigure your own 
> appearance at will, you're a Metamorphmagus.  If you can transfigure 
> yourself into an animal, you're an Animagus.  They all seem to be 
> part of the same basic ability.  And some folks are just naturally 
> better at it than others.

Carol notes:
I agree that the last two examples are clearly transfiguration,
turning something into something else. Both are unusual in not
requiring a wand or a spell and are very advanced magic, the first
apparently requiring natural ability, the second a lot of practice
(and quite possibly natural talent as well--note that James's wand
seems to have chosen him for his skill in Transfiguration.)

But turning a wig blue or shrinking a sweater doesn't change the
nature of the object, only some property like its color or size. I
think that Harry in those cases was performing the wandless equivalent
of a charm, much less difficult than even elementary Transfiguration,
such as changing a hedgehog into a pincushion, as far as I can
determine. (There are, of course, complex charms like the Fidelius
Charm and the protective magic performed on Baby Harry, but that's not
what we're talking about here.)

Transfiguration turns something into something else; Charms act on the
object without changing its essence: hover charm, summoning charm,
banishing charm, etc. IMO, changes in size and color fit the second
category rather than the first. (Tonks, however, changes the *shape*
of her nose, which remains a nose but not her own nose, so that would
probably qualify as Transfiguration, not a wandless Charm.)

Carol, who thought she had it all figured out but now is not entirely
sure where Transfiguration begins and Charms leaves off