Chapter 421: Decomposition Plus Transfiguration, Is There Anything in It
Regulus sat down, hands on his knees, posture correct.
McGonagall pushed the parchment aside to clear a stretch of desk, folded her hands on it, and looked at him.
"Go on, Mr. Black. What's your question?"
"It concerns permanent transfiguration, Professor."
Her eyebrows shifted a fraction and something flickered behind her eyes.
No surprise showed on her face. Nothing young Black asked would surprise her. But this particular question meant he hadn't spent the past weeks idle.
She nodded for him to continue.
"Once an object has been transfigured, it carries a standing inclination to return to its original form," he said without preamble. "The more complete its structure, the stronger that pull. My understanding is that sustaining a transfiguration is, at bottom, using magic to continuously suppress that return."
His tone stayed that of a student seeking instruction. "What I'd like to ask is where that inclination originates. Whether it can be eliminated at the root. And whether eliminating it produces Permanent Transfiguration."