The case for thinking seriously about Partial Transfiguration:
1) Partial transfiguration is wordless, but wanded.
2) it’s a power Riddle doesn’t know as per the prophecy.
3) Harry still holding his wand is a Chekov’s Gun for a wanded spell such as transfiguration.
4) Yes, that does seems too obvious, but I don’t think Eliezer wants to end the story here so he wouldn’t want an extremely subtle puzzle.
5) The only evidence against is that Quirrell might have ripped it from Hermione’s mind...but he wouldn’t know what to look for, would he? And Dumbledore may well have obliviated it away.
Constraints
1) Only very small amounts of matter can be transfigured
2) The want must not be raised, so Harry must transfigure the ground he’s pointing at. No transfiguring people’s bodies or anything fancy. The air can also be transfigured.
3) Outright explosives will kill Harry as well, so you can’t just make a small patch of antimatter or airborne lethal toxin unless you can find a way to shield Harry.
So, guys—any ideas as to what thimbleful of tiny molecules, placed in the earth a few feet away from Harry, can save him?
EDIT: The case against partial transfiguration as a solution
1) Too obvious
2) Harry holding the wand not Chekov’s gun. Riddle is aware that he aught to have disarmed Harry. Not disarming Harry means that somehow Riddle has contingency plans or even actively wants Harry to use the wand.
3) Any combat oriented action almost certainly involves death, regardless of head starts and discreteness, even if we manage to take down Riddle’s current body.
I’m not too sure about your #4, but #2 definitely cannot be counted upon to be true.
In Chapter 92, in a conversation between McG and LV:
“Are you mad? You think that Mr. Potter could—this is ridiculous.
Mr. Potter cannot possibly—”
A wordless image crossed her mind of a patch of glass on a steel ball.
“—Mr. Potter would not do such a thing!”
It has been pointed out that if LV discarded treating this as a game, which does appear to be the case, then he may well have been using Legilimency on McG, in which case he would know of it, at least.
Which isn’t to say that we couldn’t use it to bargain for the lives of others, or whatnot. But you can’t trust that it’s still unknown to LV.
Furthermore, have we seen Harry transfigure the air? I remember him speculating that he could, trying, and failing. I don’t remember him succeeding at a different time.
One of the transfiguration safety rules: Never transfigure something into anything that might be eaten or breathed. Is it possible to demonstrate partial transfiguration (on, for example, his father’s rock) while transforming much of its substance very temporarily into a breathable gas?
I think those are just safety rules, rather than laws of transfiguration magic, so it should be possible.
(in any case, I don’t really think partial transfiguration is actually the solution, since anything which involves combat is necessarily a long shot with too many magical unknown unknowns to count).
Immediate Idea #1: Take deep breath. Transform tiny piece of ground into a gas. Start explaining secret in parseltongue, do not inhale. Voldemort inhales some of the gas, causing magical resonance. Voldemort hopefully dis-corporates. Harry and death eaters comes down with probably curable transfiguration sickness, Harry less so for not having inhaled.
Harry still dies because the death eater’s fire on him, so this idea fails :(
Still, in Harry’s place, with as much time to think as Harry has had, this is what I would do. (Followed by casting the patronus charm ASAP to block the incoming barrage of AK, ducking, Bubblehead charm, and massive, lethal-to-anyone-that-breathes transfigurations. It’s probably too much to hope that at least one death eater was a spy, but that would also help. It sucks that Harry can’t Apparate.)
The case for thinking seriously about Partial Transfiguration:
1) Partial transfiguration is wordless, but wanded.
2) it’s a power Riddle doesn’t know as per the prophecy.
3) Harry still holding his wand is a Chekov’s Gun for a wanded spell such as transfiguration.
4) Yes, that does seems too obvious, but I don’t think Eliezer wants to end the story here so he wouldn’t want an extremely subtle puzzle.
5) The only evidence against is that Quirrell might have ripped it from Hermione’s mind...but he wouldn’t know what to look for, would he? And Dumbledore may well have obliviated it away.
Constraints
1) Only very small amounts of matter can be transfigured
2) The want must not be raised, so Harry must transfigure the ground he’s pointing at. No transfiguring people’s bodies or anything fancy. The air can also be transfigured.
3) Outright explosives will kill Harry as well, so you can’t just make a small patch of antimatter or airborne lethal toxin unless you can find a way to shield Harry.
So, guys—any ideas as to what thimbleful of tiny molecules, placed in the earth a few feet away from Harry, can save him?
EDIT: The case against partial transfiguration as a solution
1) Too obvious
2) Harry holding the wand not Chekov’s gun. Riddle is aware that he aught to have disarmed Harry. Not disarming Harry means that somehow Riddle has contingency plans or even actively wants Harry to use the wand.
3) Any combat oriented action almost certainly involves death, regardless of head starts and discreteness, even if we manage to take down Riddle’s current body.
I’m not too sure about your #4, but #2 definitely cannot be counted upon to be true.
In Chapter 92, in a conversation between McG and LV:
It has been pointed out that if LV discarded treating this as a game, which does appear to be the case, then he may well have been using Legilimency on McG, in which case he would know of it, at least.
Which isn’t to say that we couldn’t use it to bargain for the lives of others, or whatnot. But you can’t trust that it’s still unknown to LV.
Furthermore, have we seen Harry transfigure the air? I remember him speculating that he could, trying, and failing. I don’t remember him succeeding at a different time.
One of the transfiguration safety rules: Never transfigure something into anything that might be eaten or breathed. Is it possible to demonstrate partial transfiguration (on, for example, his father’s rock) while transforming much of its substance very temporarily into a breathable gas?
I think those are just safety rules, rather than laws of transfiguration magic, so it should be possible.
(in any case, I don’t really think partial transfiguration is actually the solution, since anything which involves combat is necessarily a long shot with too many magical unknown unknowns to count).
Immediate Idea #1: Take deep breath. Transform tiny piece of ground into a gas. Start explaining secret in parseltongue, do not inhale. Voldemort inhales some of the gas, causing magical resonance. Voldemort hopefully dis-corporates. Harry and death eaters comes down with probably curable transfiguration sickness, Harry less so for not having inhaled.
Harry still dies because the death eater’s fire on him, so this idea fails :(
Still, in Harry’s place, with as much time to think as Harry has had, this is what I would do. (Followed by casting the patronus charm ASAP to block the incoming barrage of AK, ducking, Bubblehead charm, and massive, lethal-to-anyone-that-breathes transfigurations. It’s probably too much to hope that at least one death eater was a spy, but that would also help. It sucks that Harry can’t Apparate.)