"Yes, Magical Beast Transfiguration," Tiara nodded. One limitation of Transformation is that it's impossible to transform any magical creatures due to their size and magical prowess, but this development might be the key that has been missing.
"Let's try it immediately," Christian said before immediately pausing, "Where are we going to find the anatomy of a magical creature? I don't think I saw this in any of my books. Do they teach biology at Hogwarts?"
"No, they don't," Tiara replied with a grunt.
"Then, we might have to buy a book at Flourish and Blotts."
"It's not as simple as you say."
"Anatomy—especially of magical animals—is often associated with Necromancy, a form of magic associated with the Dark Arts. As such, few people would publicly study biology, let alone publish books on this topic."
"So, no books?" Christian could not believe their research was stuck on such an essential requirement.
"There are no published books, but some wizards should have them in their private library. Hmm? Private. I remember now. I kept a journal about an Egyptian Necromancer. It's in another private vault at Gringotts; he studied the anatomy of many magical creatures to turn them into undead creatures like Inferi. Hold on, I will get it.``
With a crackling sound, Tiara apparated away, leaving the confused Christian. A little over thirty minutes later, she reappeared with two pages in her hand.
"Only two pages were useful," she said as she handed them to Christian, who immediately recognized the two creatures: Nifflers and Acromantulas.
"Sadly, yes. The other creatures in the book are extinct, or I have never heard of them.
"Well, it's better than nothing. Plus, it seems we don't have to worry about the translation," commented Christian, who saw the small translation underneath the ancient Egyptian words.
So, they immediately started the experiment with the Niffler. The result was hard to intercept. Christian failed to transform his matchstick into anything, while his mother succeeded after several attempts. He accepted that his Transfiguration Skills were not up to par for this job and observed.
"Something feels wrong," Christian commented as he looked at the Niffler; technically, they had succeeded in changing into a magical creature, bringing the field of Transfiguration to a higher level, but he had an odd feeling that something was wrong.
"If it were a true transfiguration, the creature should have the same magical ability as the genuine Niffler," Tiara pointed out before taking a large coin from her bag and handing it to the Niffler. The creature took it with its small hands and sniffed it before putting it into its pocket.
However, the coin was obviously too big for its pocket, and Christian immediately knew they had failed. Niffler's pocket essentially contained an Extension Charm and could hold many things, but this one only looked like a Niffler but did not have its magical abilities.
"I guess this is a failure," commented Christian.
"No, merely incomplete," rebutted Tiara. Magic has never been able to transfigure anything into magical creatures, even if it's form — unless she used a spell like Draconifors. So, their methods had value but needed longer research.
"So, what are we missing?"
"I have an idea, but let's try the Acromantula first," she replied before experimenting on this creature; her attempt failed without any changes in the creature's shape.
"Now, we are moving backward."
"You're too impatient. So what if we fail? What truly matters is exploring and understanding magic. Don't get too attached to success and failure."
"You're…right," Christian replied, a little embarrassed about how he's been acting. "So, what now?"
"We will repeat the experiment and see if we missed something," replied Tiara, who repeated everything from scratch, including the Frog Experiment. The results were similar to their first attempt. As she was about to say something to her son, Christian suddenly added, "What if we didn't consider the mass?"
"Acromontula are sizable creatures, so what if we need something of similar size for transfiguration?"
"You may be right," nodded Tiara. The transfiguration of large creatures was possible for people as skilled as those in the field, but the casting time was long and required intense focus, making it unsuitable for direct confrontations.
Tiara walked to a decent-sized boulder near their mansion and began a second round of experiments.
Christian watched in shock as the boulder turned into an Acramantula the size of a lion. Then, his shock was followed by ecstasy.
"Happy too soon," said Tiara as she took a vial from her bag along with gloves. "Acramantual are known for their poison. Let's see if this one only has the shape and not the essence." Acting like she had done this countless times, she began to take out the creature's poison.
"As expected, nothing."
"So, it's another incomplete spell," commented Christian. "However, the good news is this can be easily used in battle."
"That's true." With this knowledge, Transfiguration will become a more battle-focused magical field, but only for those truly accomplished in the field.
"What do you think we're missing?" asked Christian.
"Why don't you tell your thoughts first?"
"I think we might be missing more knowledge on whatever subject we're trying to transform," explained Christian. "If we knew the creature's anatomy down to its cellular level, we might be able to replicate its magical abilities."
Tiara nodded, "I partially agree with you."
"The crux of the problem is the spell," she explained. "Just like some potions require different spells for their concoction, I think it will be the same for this branch of Transfiguration."
"A spell? What makes you say that? I don't know any precedent."
"That's because our lessons haven't gotten there yet," replied Tiara, taking a small rock on the ground. "Draconifor!" The rock turned into a small, animated dragon smaller than her palm.
"Your idea involved the [Intent] behind the spell, but we also need the correct incantation."
"The wand movement?" asked Christian.
"For spells that require a certain [Intent], wand or hand movements can be skipped."
"Incantation? That should be easy."
"No, it's not," replied Tiara. "You've just started your magical study and think inventing spells is easy. That's like a baby thinking they can run a marathon before even learning to crawl." Tiara knew creating could be simple and difficult, depending on the individual and the type of spells involved. She had seen children creating new spells, but she also attended a few funerals of powerful witches and wizards who died in horrific accidents while experimenting with newly created spells.
"I understand," nodded Christian seriously. "So, what do we do with our research? Is there a place to publish it?"
"Transfiguration Today would be glad to publish this thing. However, I would love for you to hold up publishing as of yet."
"Why? Wouldn't it be good for more people to study and develop this idea of ours? After all, we are only two individuals. I'm sure with more people studying this form of Transfiguration, great progress would be made."
"You're correct, but I want you to keep this knowledge for yourself until you're older: to protect yourself better." Tiara had selfish motives but had no choice; Papa Tounde's prophecy rang in her head every night, and she wanted her son to have some advantage of whatever danger was coming his way.
"Hmm?" Tiara thought her son would require more persuading. Such a discovery would bring him fame, which a child could not resist the temptation of. More importantly, his arguments made sense. Little did she know that Christian knew about his prophecy and realized why his mother wanted him to keep this a secret.
"I'm glad you understand," nodded Tiara. "I will see if I can find a professional to help me dissect the magical creatures and learn of their anatomy."
Christian gave her a strange look; he felt she was about to do many illegal things. Tiara caught the odd looks and stared at him as if she knew what he was thinking. Sadly, he was correct.