Lux sat next to Caleb, along with three other classmates from different houses he didn’t recognize. He glanced over at his fellow Hufflepuff, his fingers tapping the desk in front of them, leg bouncing up and down with excitement. This was their first time taking their elective class, Magical Artifact - The Basics

The professor was a tall, skinny man. His hair was a neat buzzcut, with a set of goggles resting on his forehead. His robe hung at the end of the classroom, not in use, and instead wore a simple outfit of jeans and a plain black t-shirt underneath a heavy leather apron.

“My name is Professor Ringhorn, I’ll be your Magical Artifacts teacher.” He said awkwardly, clearing his throat. “This is my first year teaching this class, and uh, well… I have never taught before so, yeah. Anyways.” He cleared his throat again and began writing on the board. Lux looked over at Caleb, not bothered in the slightest by the man’s uncomfortable social skills.

Oh my god, they are meant for each other.

They all sat in awkward silence, their parchment out in front of them and endless-ink quills in hand to copy down what he was writing on the board.

Important factors to consider when using Transfiguration Magic

Intended Transformation

Weight/Size

Viciousness

Wand power

Concentration

Desire? Material? Familiarity? Unknown 6th component

“So, uh, you haven’t had Transfiguration yet?” Ringhorn asked the class, to which everyone shook their heads. “Right, not sure why I asked the question, Headmaster Blas just told me before you showed up.” He scratched the back of his head in confusion. “Right, okay. So Transfiguration and Charms will be important when making magical artifacts.”

He looked up at the class and everyone but Caleb avoided eye contact, the conversation becoming increasingly awkward. “So, who can tell me why those two are important?”

Caleb raised his hand immediately and began speaking before being called on, “They are two most common spell types to be used in Magical Artifacts. You need to have a housing container for the spell, which usually consists of a combination of Charms and Transfiguration in order to house the spell in the first place. But then you also need to make it so the artifact is self-sustaining, otherwise, we would have to recharge it all the time which would be a huge waste of time. I know some artifacts need period recharging, but it needs to be efficient and the very least since a lot of our artifacts are used by muggles and they obviously don’t have magic. So now that the housing is done, you now need to make sure you can cast the spell you want to use in the first place, sometimes multiple spells. But you can’t just cast it normally, you have to cast it in a way where you give it intent and purpose to be stored and used when the device is activated, so it needs a ‘trigger’. Thus, you need to not only be able to manipulate items or create parts for the artifact to work in the first place but you need to be able to alter the base spell in order for it to even work in the artifact in the first place.”

Lux stared at Caleb. The other students stared. Instead of going from point A to point B, he took a few detours at point E, L, and Z, before looping back around to point B.

“Uh, yup. That’s right.” The professor went back up on the board to write more information for them to copy down.

“I’m going to need you to explain that to me, again, after class. With fewer words and a little slower, so I can write it down.” Lux whispered to Caleb, who nodded while staring up at the board.

Food

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Love

Life

Money

Information

Ringhorn wrote a big ‘X’ next to the five words that he wrote on the board. “So, again this will be something taught in Transfiguration, but these are the five exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elementary Transfiguration.”

He pointed to food. “So, you can’t transfigure good food. You can, however, produce a lot of different liquids like wine or water. So, don’t make a steak, but you can make steak sauce.”

He continued down the list. “You can’t make someone fall in love. Love potions are temporary and superficial. You can’t transfigure someone’s brain permanently to love someone. Next, you can’t bring someone back to life. You also can’t make more money. And lastly, you can’t just learn more information by willing it into your brain.”

He looked up at the class and waited for them to write everything down. “Don’t ever, ever, attempt to replicate these things in an artifact… okay? Promise.” He said rather seriously, to which everyone responded with a nod or a mumble of a promise.

“So, for this first class, I wanted to show you something that Aurors and Bodyguards use on a regular basis.” He took out a ring from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of him.

“Who knows which alloy Metal-Charmers or Artifact makers like to work with the most, at least in this situation.”

Shockingly, not even Caleb raised his hand.

“Right. First class, second day of school. You don’t know anything yet…” he said, trailing off. “Titanium is preferred. Its low density makes it easier for any Transfiguration spells, and it still is lightweight and strong enough to not break easily.”

He picked the ring up in his hand, holding it out for them to see. “This here was forged by a Magical Blacksmith. They are like Metal-Charmers, except they make the metal rather than manipulate it in post-production. I really like working with metals that have been enhanced with magic because it tends to accept changes much more readily than metals made from non-magical means.”

Like Caleb, this professor seemed to get into his groove when talking about his passion.

He brought the ring over to our table that the five of us sat at and placed the ring.

“For this example, we will be turning this ring into a ring of spell storage.”

Lux actually snickered out loud, which received looks from everyone.

Oops.

“I didn’t say anything funny.” The professor commented, confused.

“You didn’t, sorry I was distracted.” Lux lied, not wanting to explain that he was basically recreating an item in so many different video games he had played over his lifetime.

Shaking his head, the professor continued to explain. “You all may have heard of them, and the fairly expensive cost for an item like this. The reason is, even with a simple charm, it doesn’t always work. Once it fails the first time, rarely will the item let you have a second chance. It learns you tried to manipulate it and doesn’t respond to a second attempt very often. Thus, you have to start over.” He motioned toward the ring. “Even with this magically made titanium, which in its own right is more expensive anyways having gone through an extra step, the chance of success is around sixty percent with a weak version of a simple charm, like Lumos, for example.”

Ringhorn held his hands over the ring and closed his eyes. The light slowly began to emit from his hands, the brightness increasing with every passing second.

“Et suscipe benedictionem hanc spell.”

The professor’s words rang in the air like someone plucking the cords of a harp, the sound pleasant to listen to and echoed throughout the room.

He’s doing nonverbal spells, without a wand, while infusing Latin words with magic!

Ringhorn touched the ring, eyes still closed in concentration with his lips moving slightly to inaudible words. The ring began to glow, the light slowly transferring from his hands into the ring.

“Signati.” Ringhorn said, the same whimsical quality to the word Lux had heard earlier. The ring ceased to glow quickly, and everyone sat wide-eyed at the spectacle. This kind of magic, at least the explanation Lux had been given by the Headmaster just a day ago, was extremely advanced and incredibly rare.

The professor looked at Lux and said, “Try it on, and cast the spell in the same way you would with your wand.”

Oh no. No, nope, no thanks. Lux had no idea how the ring would interact with his natural wandless abilities, and it was not something he wanted to test out in front of a crowd.

“Um, I know Caleb was probably the most excited for this class, I would like to give him to the chance to try the first one.”

Not needing to be told twice, Caleb snatched the ring from the table and put it on.

“Lumos.”

Caleb extended his hand in a fist, pointing the ring in a direction away from them. The light that emitted from the ring was soft, not even as strong as some of the casts Lux had seen by first-years from their Charm’s class, but it still a spell that was cast by a ring and not a wand.

Lux looked at the professor. “I have so many questions.”

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"The history behind magical artifacts is limited. Over the centuries, there were several examples of strong, reality-bending artifacts like the Time-Turner. Other artifacts, like the Golden Snitch in Qudditch, much more mundane. However, until The Pact and the time period we now refer to as 'The Fall', our needs for such things were trivial. Now, not only do we need them to supplement our abilities, we need them to try and save billions of lives. Thus, the work done by people like Frederick Gibbons and Lloyd Ringhorn has provided some of the most influential and life-changing pieces of artifacts in our history. Between the two, over eighty percent of discoveries regarding artifacts have been credited to their names. - Grim Bagshot, The History of Magic ed. 3