Beneath the moonlight glints a tiny fragment of silver, a fraction of a line… (black robes, falling) …blood spills out in litres, and someone screams a word.
I’m relatively confident that this quote is a part of the solution. Maybe Harry partially transfigures a monofilament blade and starts cutting down everything.
Combine this quote, partial transfiguration as the power Voldemort knows not (both true and foreshadowed by Dumbledore’s reaction when Harry first revealed it), the previous weaponization of partial transfiguration when Harry transfigured a cross-section of the troll’s brain into acid, the shaping exercises as a Chekov’s Gun, and another Chekov’s gun being Harry’s resolution to drop the Batman “no killing” stance if the enemy killed again.
Harry wordlessly transfigures an atomic-thickness line of material from the tip of his wand through his clothes and the ground to all Death Eaters and Voldemort, let’s say transfiguring their skins to acid. That would cause blood to spill in litres, a fraction of a line of silver, and probably a scream.
Carbon nanotubes have poor sheer strength, and would not make a good cutting weapon. Presumably diamons cannot break sheilds, as someone would have tried that by now. Plus, carbon nanotubes are black, not silver.
Indeed, the only obvious “power” Harry has that is (as far as we know) unique to him is Partial Transfiguration. I’m not sure if Voldie “knows it not”; as someone mentioned last chapter, Harry used it to cut trees when he had his angry outburst in the Forbidden Forest, and in Azkhaban as well. In the first case Voldie was nearby, allegedly to watch out for Harry, but far enough that to be undetectable via their bond, so it’s possible he didn’t see what exact technique Harry used. In Azkhaban as well he was allegedly unconscious.
I can’t tell if he could have deduced the technique only by examining the results. (At least for the forest occasion he could have made time to examine the scene carefully, and I imagine that given the circumstances he’d have been very interested to look into anything unusual Harry seemed to be able to do.)
On the plus side, Harry performed PT by essentially knowing that objects don’t exist; so it could well be possible to transfigure a thin slice of thread of air into something strong enough to cut. For that matter, that “illusion of objects” thing should allow a sort of “reverse-Partial” transfiguration, i.e. transfigure (parts of) many objects into a single thing. Sort of like what he did to the troll’s head, but applied simultaneously to a slice of air, wands, and Death Eaters. Dumbledore explicitly considers it as a candidate against Voldemort (hint, Minerva remembers Dumbledore using transfiguration in combat). And, interestingly, it’s a wordless spell (I’m not even sure if Harry can cast anything* else wordlessly), and Harry wouldn’t need to raise his wand, or even move at all, to cast it on air (or on the time-space continuum, or world wave-function, whatever).
On the minus side, I’m not sure if he could do it fast enough to kill the Death Eaters before he’s stopped. He did get lots of transfiguration training, and using it in anger in the forest suggests he can do it pretty fast, but he is watched, and IIRC transfiguration is not instantaneous. He probably can’t cast it on Voldie nor on his wand, though he might be able to destroy the gun. And Voldemort can certainly find lots of ways to kill him without magic or touching him directly; hell, he probably knows kung fu and such. And even if Harry managed to kill this body, he’d have to find a way to get rid of the Horcruxes. (I still don’t understand exactly what the deal is with those. Would breaking the Resurrection Stone help?)
It has been established that air can’t be Transfigured due to the constant motion of its particles; they don’t hold still long enough for you to Transfigure them.
It has been established that air can’t be Transfigured due to the constant motion of its particles; they don’t hold still long enough for you to Transfigure them.
Is there an easy-to-link-to source for this? Not that I don’t believe you, I just want to make sure there aren’t any non-obvious or obvious-in-hindsight alternative interpretations.
Harry’s knuckles had gone white on his wand by the time he stopped trying to Transfigure the air in front of his wand into a paperclip. It wouldn’t have been safe to Transfigure the paperclip into gas, of course, but Harry didn’t see any reason why it would be unsafe the other way around. It just wasn’t supposed to be possible. But why not? Air was as real a substance as anything else...
Well, maybe that limitation did make sense. Air was disorganized, all the molecules constantly changing their relation to each other. Maybe you couldn’t impose a new form on substance unless the substance was staying still long enough for you to master it, even though the atoms in solids were also constantly vibrating all the time...
This isn’t conclusive, though. That failed attempt is before he sorts out partial transfiguration. However:
Harry may only use capabilities the story has already mentioned;
he cannot develop wordless wandless Legilimency in the next 60 seconds.
Of course, Harry may find more clever ways to use abilities
he has already been established to have.
It would need to be fairly clear, I think, that Harry was re-purposing an old technique and not doing something new.
The first rule of Transfiguration: you do not guess.
Harry proposed a hypothesis, but no further testing was committed. Without knowledge of PT, I’d rate the inability to transfigure all air (as a conceptually-singular entity) as an equally (or more) probable explanation.
I’m relatively confident that this quote is a part of the solution. Maybe Harry partially transfigures a monofilament blade and starts cutting down everything.
Combine this quote, partial transfiguration as the power Voldemort knows not (both true and foreshadowed by Dumbledore’s reaction when Harry first revealed it), the previous weaponization of partial transfiguration when Harry transfigured a cross-section of the troll’s brain into acid, the shaping exercises as a Chekov’s Gun, and another Chekov’s gun being Harry’s resolution to drop the Batman “no killing” stance if the enemy killed again.
Harry wordlessly transfigures an atomic-thickness line of material from the tip of his wand through his clothes and the ground to all Death Eaters and Voldemort, let’s say transfiguring their skins to acid. That would cause blood to spill in litres, a fraction of a line of silver, and probably a scream.
Some pieces that maybe got put together over in the Reddit thread: We’ve SEEN Harry transfigure carbon nanotubes before.
Carbon nanotubes have poor sheer strength, and would not make a good cutting weapon. Presumably diamons cannot break sheilds, as someone would have tried that by now. Plus, carbon nanotubes are black, not silver.
I’m pretty sure that was Hermione.
Indeed, the only obvious “power” Harry has that is (as far as we know) unique to him is Partial Transfiguration. I’m not sure if Voldie “knows it not”; as someone mentioned last chapter, Harry used it to cut trees when he had his angry outburst in the Forbidden Forest, and in Azkhaban as well. In the first case Voldie was nearby, allegedly to watch out for Harry, but far enough that to be undetectable via their bond, so it’s possible he didn’t see what exact technique Harry used. In Azkhaban as well he was allegedly unconscious.
I can’t tell if he could have deduced the technique only by examining the results. (At least for the forest occasion he could have made time to examine the scene carefully, and I imagine that given the circumstances he’d have been very interested to look into anything unusual Harry seemed to be able to do.)
On the plus side, Harry performed PT by essentially knowing that objects don’t exist; so it could well be possible to transfigure a thin slice of thread of air into something strong enough to cut. For that matter, that “illusion of objects” thing should allow a sort of “reverse-Partial” transfiguration, i.e. transfigure (parts of) many objects into a single thing. Sort of like what he did to the troll’s head, but applied simultaneously to a slice of air, wands, and Death Eaters. Dumbledore explicitly considers it as a candidate against Voldemort (hint, Minerva remembers Dumbledore using transfiguration in combat). And, interestingly, it’s a wordless spell (I’m not even sure if Harry can cast anything* else wordlessly), and Harry wouldn’t need to raise his wand, or even move at all, to cast it on air (or on the time-space continuum, or world wave-function, whatever).
On the minus side, I’m not sure if he could do it fast enough to kill the Death Eaters before he’s stopped. He did get lots of transfiguration training, and using it in anger in the forest suggests he can do it pretty fast, but he is watched, and IIRC transfiguration is not instantaneous. He probably can’t cast it on Voldie nor on his wand, though he might be able to destroy the gun. And Voldemort can certainly find lots of ways to kill him without magic or touching him directly; hell, he probably knows kung fu and such. And even if Harry managed to kill this body, he’d have to find a way to get rid of the Horcruxes. (I still don’t understand exactly what the deal is with those. Would breaking the Resurrection Stone help?)
It has been established that air can’t be Transfigured due to the constant motion of its particles; they don’t hold still long enough for you to Transfigure them.
Is there an easy-to-link-to source for this? Not that I don’t believe you, I just want to make sure there aren’t any non-obvious or obvious-in-hindsight alternative interpretations.
Ch. 28:
This isn’t conclusive, though. That failed attempt is before he sorts out partial transfiguration. However:
It would need to be fairly clear, I think, that Harry was re-purposing an old technique and not doing something new.
The first rule of Transfiguration: you do not guess.
Harry proposed a hypothesis, but no further testing was committed. Without knowledge of PT, I’d rate the inability to transfigure all air (as a conceptually-singular entity) as an equally (or more) probable explanation.