argh darnit. The length of the recent pages gave me hope that Santi had updated...and all I find is people discussing the switching thingy in detail. I don't really mind too much that it's not all that groundbreaking.
Possibly the most anticipated tri-wizard tournament in the history of fanfiction, it's gonna be epic!

 

As I see it, your scene has a few basic things wrong with it:

1) There aren't any prior mentions of the transfiguration theories, leading it to not feel particularly established as a topic of interest.

2) The scene takes place in a very short timespan: this makes it feel more spontaneous than it ought to be, and it's hard for the reader to believe that (what feels like) ten minutes of experimentation can lead to a great breakthrough in the field.

3) The breakthrough itself feels insignificant; not enough to warrant the attention it receives.

4) It's hard to believe that the community would not have already discovered it this aspect of transfiguration.

5) There's no difficulty level associated with the experiment; no reason why someone wouldn't have tested it before (not obscure enough) nor any reason those tests would have failed or otherwise.

6) The discovery feels more like luck than academic brilliance on Harry's part, which is sort of disappointing, especially after Harry's intelligence is so well-established. There is, arguably, nothing wrong with using luck as a device for this discovery, but it feels like cheating a little: a discovery purely based on skill would be far more satisfying to read.

If you want the scene to work better you'll need to address at least some of these issues. I can think up a few ways to get around each of them, off the top of my head:

For number one you could add small mentions beforehand of the theory behind the transfiguration experiment and give it some standing for the characters to be interested in. This is useful for explaining points 3, 4, and 5, but not necessary by a long shot if you change elements of the discovery itself.

Two: instead of describing the experiment in a brief scene describe the characters taking their time over it - collecting results and data over a longer time period, thus making it feel more like a project than a discovery through luck.

Points three to five can all be solved through explaining the theory behind the experiment a little more, or changing the experiment itself to better withstand scrutiny. Six can be solved by emphasising the skill level required to make an advancement in the field, or conversely you could go the other way and clarify that it really was just luck on Harry's part.

Personally the angle I would go for would be to establish a set rule or mystery in the transfiguration field, and have Harry investigate this. The discovery would be to find an exception to one of the established rules of transfiguration, to prove/disprove a theory, to raise another theory or mystery, or solve one. You'd have to establish why it hasn't been done before or why it's a challenge.

Hopefully you'll be able to work this into the direction you want to go to in the story: I tried to make this answer as flexible as possible. I'm inclined to agree with keeping it as simple as possible, though. In the end, this discovery won't warrant too much attention from you, but it would be good to improve it a little.

(Oh, and since I haven't commented on the story yet, I'll just congratulate you on a very engaging piece of work. It's great.)

 

Now that I think about it, Harry can even rediscover something. This will still need to be something somewhat complicated and/or obscure -- ideas to fix that have been suggested. But Harry's still a kid, so an advanced rediscovery might be just as impressive and easier to write.

 

This is the route I would go as well. I'll use a bit of linguistics to illustrate:

Jacob Grimm (of the Fairy Tale brothers) discovered that in the process of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) becoming Proto-Germanic (PG--from which English, German and the Scandinavian languages evolved) certain sounds all shifted regularly. This is why Latin had the verb ferre and we have bear--both come from PIE *bher-, where PIE /bh/ became Latin /f/ but PG /b/. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law

However, there were a few exceptions that made no sense: for example, words like "father" didn't follow the rules, even though structurally similar terms like "brother" did. It wasn't until fifty years later that Karl Verner came along and finally realized what the exceptions were, and how they too were regular sound-shifts, that just didn't fall under Grimm's law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verner's_law

This is how I would envision Harry: he's the Karl Verner to the wizarding world's Jacob Grimm. Sure, they've done things with switching spells before, but in the realm of magical theory, no one could explain weird shit exceptions that were occurring. Harry, through his brilliance, puts together the so-called method behind the madness and demonstrates that although they seem like weird shit exceptions, they are in fact regular and follow some underlying set of rules.

Then, to show practical applications, have Harry intuit the implication of the rules to show you can do other things that no one even thought of, or maybe that you can do something much more easily that people had been doing in a hard, round-about way because they didn't understand the underlying rules of the weird shit exceptions.

I don't think that the discovery process necessarily needs to take longer, so much as you need to emphasize Harry's brilliance by having him discover the pattern that the rest of the wizarding world just wasn't intelligent enough to see.

EDIT: Incidentally, unlike the physics analogy, where technological limitations on the ability of physicists to even perform the experiments necessary prevented them from making discovereies, philologists of Grimms day had all the data they needed to figure out Verner's law. However, for about fifty years, they wallowed in chaos, and it was not until Verner, being the genius that he was, recognized the pattern in the chaos.

I'd like to see Harry do that. Maybe they already knew you could do what Harry demonstrated, but have Harry's genius demonstrated by him discovering the underlying pattern that they just couldn't see.

 

Eck, I have an idea, but I don't know how well (or badly) it is going to be received.

The reason that no one else did what Harry did before is simple; it wasn't possible before. Make it so that Transfiguration and other disciplines aren't static, but improving somewhat over time, much like what the sixth book showed Snape doing with Potions. Talented practitioners improve upon their magic and if they become teachers they pass it down to others.

Harry's teacher in this case made some adjustments to his method of Transfiguration that some how allowed Harry to do what no one else was able to do before. That could explain why the professor made such a big deal out of it, because while Harry was the one that made the discovery, it was his method that made it possible. So he publishes the paper and gives some credit to Harry, and this perhaps leads to the teacher apprenticing Harry or getting him as an assistant in his studies. This way Harry is making some waves in the Wizarding World, but is not being god-modded or anything.

This could tie in to the story in some other ways, such as his peers thinking that Harry's new found reputation is simply due to favoritism by the teacher, which encourages him to actually make some novel discoveries of his own, somewhat like a young Dumbledore (or Gindelwald or even Voldemort).

Going back to what I said about the magical disciplines changing... well think about it like martial arts. There is Kempo and Karate and Tae Kwon Do, but within each of them there are a few different styles of them. The Triwizard Tournament could have been an ancient way of finding out who had the best style or most talented wizard/witch as the case may be. It gives some depth to the wizarding world and makes it seem like they are not too ass backwards.

 

That's a very different and interesting way of looking at this, honestly I like the idea quite a bit. It definitely doesn't hurt that it is somewhat based in canon.

Still for something like that it really depends on where The Santi is planning on taking this part of the story and what impact it was actually going to have on down the line.

Personally, this whole topic was in the back of my mind when I read it, but it didn't seem like all that big of a deal to me.

 

Something tells me contributing in the thread isn't terribly useful at this point, but whatever. Anyways, I mostly agree with what Sesc first said. I'm not going to re-read the scene right now, but I thought it was entertaining, and not too unbelievable. I really don't want to have some awkward piece of magical theory shoved down my throat - the simplicity of what happened is what made it work for me, and I like the fact that he was lucky in his discovery. I won't mind if it's made clearer why nobody else figured this out before though.

One thing I really don't want to see though, is Harry dazzling the wizarding world with his brilliant 12 year-old intellect. This isn't KIP or MoR (whatever happens in those stories). Harry in this story has shown to have a good mind to go with his extra-ordinary magical talent; he can wait a few years before destroying the story by becoming a magical scientist.

 

Exceptions. The rest of the wizarding world is more than content to do nothing - which is why a few Death Eaters can make groups of people that outnumber them exponentially run away in fear.

Snape's spells were either a hoarded secret (hence his never, ever teaching his easier methods of potions-making) or a fad (see levicorpus). I don't categorize the magical equivalent of Pogs and slap braclets, or minidiscs as "magical discovery" Lol.

1. They do? Where?
2. Who said it's large - or even important ?

EDIT: Shinysavage has proven my point, cheers.

They have departments for Misuse of Muggle Artifacts and Centaur Liasons - which mean dick-all in canon. That same Ministry also has no problem at all stifling creativity (see Umbridge and her Ministry-approved lesson plan), or keeping new bits of magic as secret as possible. Producing new magic + not sharing = not producing new magic, IMO.

 

From the Lexicon. Only a committee though, so probably not that important.

 

That, and as a committee, they are probably vested with quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers for dealing with experimental charms, as opposed to actually experimenting with charms themselves. Basically, if you want to experiement with charms, you probably have to submit a proposal to this committee for approval, and then follow all the rules they have put into place for experimenting with charms. Finally, if you break one of those rules, you probably get brought before them and dealt with by them so the Wizengamot doesn't have to try your case, unless of course, your experiment ended up saddling you with criminal liabilities as well.

 

I said that. Yes, the general populace is lazy and largely illiterate. That's pretty much the way of all societies, only a minority will be intelligent enough to perpetuate significant amounts of academic discovery.

1. Fine, lawl, a committee.
2. I said it was within a larger department, since I figured it would be part of the Department of Mysteries, which does study forms of magic.

I didn't mean to imply they were constantly discovering new magic or even at a steady rate, but the few intelligent wizards don't let it really stagnate either. The few geniuses like Dumbledore write essays, teach, and try to spread knowledge.

They are exceptions, yes, but they also make up, presumably along with their peers in education, the section of the wizarding world that is forward-thinking about their magic. "Most people" in any society will be retarded, you can't just look at that majority and decide that their attitude reflects the intellectual aptitude of the state when they themselves are not intelligent. The vast majority of idiots is always led by an innovative few.

Snape was perhaps the only person in canon to "hoard" his discoveries, and even he left them behind at school where people could find them. Even if the department I mentioned is just a bureaucracy, it means there are enough experimental charms for them to be needed.

There are also IIRC newer editions of spellbooks, and presumably nearly every child will be familiar with these books, and their evolutionary nature throughout the years. Sure, maybe some of them are just re-prints, but not nearly all of them. New spells are created often enough to warrant entire libraries and bookstores, to warrant repeated changes to the teaching-texts .

I get your point, most wizards are useless, but that's not enough to say that the entire wizarding world as a whole has let their study of magic stagnate.

 

"I bet it sneaked up here from Experimental Charms, they're so careless, remember that poisonous duck? ( Deathly Hallows pg 253)"
-random ministry worker

That would imply not only is there a committee but an actual department or subdepartment whose job it is to experiment with new magic or, at the very least, new charms.

 

I dunno man, I think they do - to an extent.

Dumbledore shows no instance of sharing even a fraction his knowledge (barring the dragon's blood):
- you can't tell me that you were the only one that was violently disappointed when the "study sessions" he planned to have with Harry were just literal trips down memory lane
- He flat-out sat on the Hallows knowledge for years, particularly that of the one he had the longest: the wand. Hogwarts has a flock of thestrals. Maybe, perhaps, YOU COULD HOOK UP OLIVANDER WITH SUM DAT THESTRAL HAIR?!
- He's an alchemist, yet wouldn't devote part of the curriculum to students to learn alchemy? Because Divination matters more ?
- He's "done things with a wand no one had ever seen before" - like what?
- He has a phoenix, yet deals with injured students every single year - can a brother get 12 uses for phoenix tears ?

He also confiscated books with Horcrux knowledge - who knows what else he's cherry-picked in the name of student safety ? Who knows what other knowledge he's been sitting on "for the greater good?"

And he's the epitome of benevolence. The rest of these fuckers do not share, period. Voldemort (obviously) doesn't share a damn thing - and makes sure know one else can find out by killing people. Grindelwald, much the same, unless Rowling backtracks with some supersecret journal that he published (lol). Slughorn, another talented wizard, hides like a bitch at the worst, and has to be bribed to share his knowledge at best. McGonagall's an animagus, but yeah - fuck you if you wanna learn from her, as she has no interest in using the chance to learn the skill as a motivator to get her students to perform better.

Flitwick the duelling champion - nowhere to be seen during the duelling club's reemergence. Sprout has a greenhouse that students have to stay the fuck out of for most of their time at Hogwarts. And hell, I hate to bring it up (since it's such an annoying mindfuck of a canon fact), but if a witch like Molly Weasley is capable enough to kill Bellatrix Lestrange, don't you think her own kids would've grown up ready to rape the Hogwarts curriculum ?

If you think about it, the only magic that gets any sort of regular, noticable advances or improvements are....racing broom charms.

(And how fucking absurd is that, right ?)

As for newer texts, well...if 'Moste Potente Potions' is any indication, even wizards can't ignore the need to update from Ye Olde English to something more current. And adding spells to a book =/= new spells; perhaps they simply trickled down from grade 4 to grade 3 - or some spells fell out of vogue (see 'levicorpus') or were deemed useless. And Snape didn't leave his book to be found, it was in the room of hidden things lol.


tl;dr - the best wizards are selfish.

It also implies that they're a bunch of herp derps lol Hence my second point:

 

Qft and Ftw

 

Actually, it was originally in with the second-hand textbooks in the potions classroom. But, yeah, everything else is oll korrect.

Don't forget the Ministry pamphlets and Slinkhard's book. That's not just failure to educate, but active suppression. Also, the Restricted Section of the library is only accessible to upper years or those clever enough to break the rules without being caught.

 

Heh, okay QFT. But didn't Dumbledore write some transfiguration articles on his way through Hogwarts? He seemed to be a pretty okay guy until he met Grindelwald.

 

I dunno man, I don't think anyone can realistically expect them to be as free with knowledge as say, our society, especially considering the things that even the relatively talentless/unimpressive can accomplish with the right magic. I mean, even in our world we've had books banned and in some cases pretty harmless ones for flimsy reasons; like Huckleberry Finn for example. God, I remember people going nuts about the Anarchists cookbook; magic on the other hand has infinitely more destructive potential.

I doubt anyone can blame Dumbledore for removing a book on say, Horcruxes (supposedly the foulest of the black arts) from a school's library. Imagine every dark/immoral asshole having Horcruxes and what a nightmare that would be for law enforcement.

I totally agree that the 'study sessions' with Harry were woefully disappointing but I think that was more to do with Dumbledore needing Harry of a certain mindset and needing him to ultimately die to destroy the final Horcrux. I'm guessing that he thought if Harry felt he had a reasonable chance in a magical battle with Voldemort he'd be less willing/likely to readily sacrifice himself. I could be wrong though

The hallows... the unbeatable wand... he was supposed to expose his possession of such a thing? Seriously? The number of people who would be interested in reviving the dead, escaping from death and having the most powerful wand does not even bare contemplating.

You couldn't exactly share it with the world; they're three items. More importantly, not only would some people be willing to do anything to possess them, but they don't exactly do what people envision them doing (yet no-one would care).

Don't get me wrong, I agree with a lot of what's been said but some of it just seems a bit unreasonable. Besides, our governments are well known for hiding and surpressing knowledge they don't want public.

As for the restricted section, well, its a magic school, until there's more information on what exactly's in there I think its safe to give them the benefit of the doubt. You can't exactly have the young and ambitious getting ideas above their station and having access to restricted material. I think the idea is pretty simplistic- the older years are far more likely to have sufficient knowledge and be skillfull enough to handle more advanced magic, they would generally be more responsible (I said generally), they'd be far more aware of both the dangers associated with magic and what can and can't be done, they'd need access to restricted material for some of the work they'd be undertaking in their classes.

As for those clever enough to break the rules without being caught- they're clever enough to break the protective magic, they're probably able enough to handle what's in there. Don't forget though its not like they're being endorsed or anything- they're breaking the rules and not being caught.

 

@Sooner: trufax on the potions text, mea culpa.

@afrojack: true about the magazine articles, but then why weren't they ever referenced? And was there a periodicals section in the library (I'm guessing not, as the Prophet had to be ordered individually). Dumbledore's work has been tried, tested, and vetted, yet that fucker Lockhart is the one who's books the students had to waste money on.

@dumblemort: the government has an obligation to keep some things underwraps, sure. But we now know it's better to be knowledgeable of somethings than all-out ignorant of their existence. Teachers, by comparison, have no excuse: if Dumbledore and McGonagall are really that talented at Transfiguration and assuming the role of educator, they should be able to synthesize whatever methods they use to peform magic for their students to benefit from. Snape, for all his faults, knows countless easier methods that far surpass anything published, yet enjoys getting pissed off at students when they waste time/ingredients and blow shit up. It's counterproductive.

As for the Hallows? Hell yeah he should've spilled - at least for the school's sake. That stone by itself is worth its weight in gold as a teaching implement. Wanna learn about who fought during which rebellion ? Summon them, and take notes. Hire it out to people looking for specific lost knowledge, loan it to the government for murder cases (Minority Report stone lol)...I could go on and on. The benefits outweigh the setbacks, IMO.