The Classroom of Transfiguration was labelled 1B, and it was located on the castle's ground floor, near the courtyard, where they generally practise transfiguration there also. The room was well-lit; sunlight streamed in through the windows, striking the tables and chairs strewn around the room for the students. There were minimal things, surprisingly: only shelves of books by the side, cages of birds for possible transfiguration into non-living things, and drawers that stored needles, ropes, and a lot of random things.
Professor McGonagall stepped in front of the class, and I noticed quills writing on the desk by themselves, filling parchments with words and grades and periodically dipping themselves to replenish the ink. There was also the headmaster himself, Dumbledore, clad in his typical grey wizard robe and with his beard reaching to cover his own chest.
"Good, you're here." As Professor McGonagall saw me enter the classroom, she exclaimed. She strolled up to her desk, dropping her conversation with the headmaster and grabbed a few parchments.
While she's doing it, the headmaster gives me a kind smile. "I hope you're getting adjusted to life at Hogwarts, Abraham. I trust your first classes have gone well?"
"The castle is enormous, Headmaster, and my legs are aching." I let out a sigh, that's definitely true, the stairs alone are a nightmare...
"It implies you need to keep your body healthy," he explained calmly. "A healthy body always leads to a healthy mind. How are the professors' assignments doing for you? Are you confident?"
"I believe so," I hummed. "Professor Flitwick simply assigned me the duty of studying the charms I'd missed, whereas Professor Moody instructed me to meet with him once a week."
"Excellent. Now, if you fear you won't be able to handle it, know that you are not alone in this school, Abraham." The headmaster stated. "Many of your colleagues would gladly assist you with your tasks. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
The classic line...
"I'll keep that in mind, Headmaster." I agreed by nodding.
Dumbledore smiled again as he approached me and patted my shoulder. He then whispered. "On the seventh floor, you'll discover something with which it can cater to your needs, whether it's for your education or for other reasons."
As I heard what he said, all I could do was raise my brow. Is he referring to the Room of Requirement?
He eventually let go of my shoulder before turning to face McGonagall. "Now, if you'll excuse me. Minerva, I'll be going first."
The headmaster then left the room, leaving me and the deputy headmistress alone. McGonagall soon brought me bundles of parchments and handed them to me.
"These are the assignments you must complete; the deadline is at the end of the semester," she said. "First, you must complete three theoretical assignments: a 10-inch essay on the Transfiguration alphabet, an 11-inch essay on Animagus, and a 12-inch essay on the transformation formula. After that, you will have to show me that you can do a switching spell, a vanishing spell, turn a non-living item into another non-living item, turn a living being into a non-living item, and turn a non-living item into a living being."
Oookay….
"A living being to a non-living item, professor? You mean humans?"
McGonagall just chuckled at my words. "That's NEWT level transfiguration, Mr. Ashworth. No, a beetle would suffice."
"Oh, alright, thank you, professor." I sighed. "But, could I request that the deadline be pushed to the next—"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Ashworth." She quickly cut me off. "Your assignments must be done this semester, as for next year, you have to focus on OWLs."
Well, that sucks, at least I tried.
"Very well, professor. Is there anything else that you want me to know?"
"Ah, yes, could you show me your schedule?" She walked over to her desk and sat in her chair, quickly putting on her glasses. Seeing this, I also walked towards the desk, sitting on the chair in front of her. I gave her the field guide, opening it to the page with the to-do list and schedule.
She looked at it for a while before she added some things to it, specifically a flying lesson on Friday.
"Concerning electives, Mr. Ashworth, I need you to choose two of the five classes: divination, ancient runes, care of magical creatures, muggle studies, and arithmancy. Though, I suggest that you choose the easier ones, as I already know the load of your studies this semester is already heavy."
Electives, huh. I need to think about it a little. I don't want any more humongous workload that I need to deal with…
"Could you give me some time to think, professor?" I asked calmly.
"Very well, I want your answer by the end of the week," she said, closing the book before giving it back to me. "Continue to fill your field guide as soon as possible, so you can be at your peers' level in no time. If you think you are ready to submit your assignments that I have given to you, then you can come to my office after your class is over for the day."
"I'll keep that in mind, professor." I nodded, taking the book from the table. "Thank you."
======
As meeting Professor McGonagall was my last agenda item today, I decided to just explore the castle. I would occasionally find the scattered pages and claim them, reading them as soon as I got them. I continued wandering around the school's halls, admiring the paintings and learning about their history. Walking around Hogwarts itself is rather entertaining; the ever-changing stairs made me stop a bit, forcing me to hear the banter of the moving portraits that are hung on the walls around the tower.
As I continued towards the upper floors, I could see two ghosts seemingly chasing one another; one was a male, and the other was a female. It appears they were fighting, as the female was practically crying, her face filled with rage, and she was chasing the male ghost, showing no signs of stopping.
The plea of the male ghosts was quite amusing; he was practically screaming: "It was a long time ago, dear!," "It meant nothing!," "Please, forgive me!" over and over again, yet the female ghost still chased him.
Nonetheless, I continued my journey to the seventh floor, passing through Flitwick's office and making my way to the Barnabas the Barmy tapestry. Of course, I didn't come to see the tapestry alone. Well, there's a page hidden here, so I took it, but that's not really what I came for.
I came here for the thing that is opposite of the tapestry. The Room of Requirement.
At first glance, the wall appeared to be very normal; it was simply a grey wall with nothing hanging on it. Then, as I walked back and forth, slowly but steadily, thinking of something, specifically of a room where I could hide something, a pretty ordinary-looking door appeared in front of me.
Seeing this, I of course opened the door.
The overwhelming scent of dust hit me as soon as I opened the door to the room, activating my allergies. I sneezed uncontrollably as I moved around to scatter the dust, spreading my not-so-clean gunk all over the room.
After I was finally done sneezing, as I snorted back the phlegm that was building inside my nose, I quickly waved my wand and activated a wand-lighting charm.
"Lumos."
My wand's light scattered, lighting up the place I was in. To say the least, it was a sight to behold. I could see piles of seats and tables on one side of the room, strange items scattered across the floor, dusty stacks of books in every corner of a block, and even more random items like a still-working toilet and a lighted up fireplace in the centre of the room, divided only by a muddy carpet.
While there is little doubt that I could find anything intriguing here, I could definitely request a more useful room for my current circumstances. I struggled to think of what kind of place I wanted until a sudden inspiration struck me.
What if I asked for the room used by the protagonist of that wizard game a century ago? Will his potions and herbology supplies still be available? Will the vivariums still exist? Will the beasts be present?
Oh god, if that's true, perhaps I could exploit it... The products of magical creatures are presumably quite expensive to market; I'm sure there are some extinct beasts there, and shouldn't I be wealthy if I could farm them?
That would be absolutely brilliant, not to mention the ease of access to potions and their ingredients.
So I made up my mind. I quickly thought of the words that had just popped into my head repeatedly, trying to make them appear in front of me.
And suddenly, the room shook. The ceilings and walls were being slowly dismantled and flying away to the hole that had been created above. The random things that I saw earlier were being sucked up as well—the dust disappearing, the space ever-shrinking.
The scenery quickly started to change, from a rather gloomy and dusty room, to a clean, well-lit, and tidy room. It was certainly a change in atmosphere, I could see the sky from the dome above, even though the room is inside Hogwarts, and I know that the sky above Hogwarts isn't that bright and clear. The smell of plants and dirt instantly hit my nostrils, long and robust planting tables filled the room, bags of seeds were knocked down in the corner, spilling the contents inside, stacks of fertilisers filled the other corner, but I could only see one vivarium opposite of my position.
To be honest, I was half expecting my theory to fail, but it appears that I was mistaken. I'm not sure how this works, but can the seeds still be used? Will the beasts still be alive?
As I began to take a step towards the planting tables, I suddenly stumbled as my foot hit something. I turned towards what I had hit and saw that it was a normal-looking brown knapsack.
Is this the ever-useful Nab-Sack?
I swiftly grasped the handle and studied it. When I opened it, there was this golden energy gushing out of it, generating some sort of sucking force towards the dark-looking hole inside the sack.
This is probably the Nab-Sack. I have no use for this at the moment, though, so I stored it in my pouch. After that, I continued to approach the single vivarium inside the room. I don't know why it's only one though; the game has four; maybe I have to unlock it or think of it? Or did the game's protagonist simply find a way to combine them?
As I opened the door to the vivarium, a flare of dazzling light dazzled my eyes for a few seconds. When my vision returned, I saw a beach and ocean stretching as far as the eye could see. It was certainly uncanny; this is definitely still inside Hogwarts, but an area as vast as this exists inside the building.
I was now standing on a shallow pool of salt water within a cave opening, and I noticed a pedestal with a book on top near the cavern's exit.
I approached the book, and opened it. There, it was a list of what beasts are inside the vivarium, and what biomes are in here.
[Grasslands, 5 miles away]
[Swamp, 10 miles away]
[Forest, 15 miles away]
Hm… so the protagonist did combine it.
[Swamp: Thestrals, Giant Purple Toad, Niffler]
[Forest: Unicorn, Hippogriff, Mooncalf, Puffskein]
[Grassland: Phoenix, Fwooper, Diricrawl, Kneazle, Jobberknoll]
[Beach: Graphorn, Mooncalf, Kneazlle, Fwooper, Puffskein]
"A Graphorn, that sounds… dangerous…"
As soon as I said that, I could hear a roar just outside the entrance. I instantly turned around and saw a pack of Graphorn—two adults and two smaller ones—staring at me. The biggest of the four was glaring at me with anger; its two main horns are so gigantic that I don't even know how its head could support them.
The big Graphorn was scratching the sand underneath, its head aimed at me. Wait, I have to subdue it?!
The Graphorn instantly charged at the cavern, horns first, and the ground shook as it rushed towards me. When I saw this, I dashed towards the vivarium's entrance, jumping inside the portal as the Graphorn's head collided with the cavern's rocks, causing a minor earthquake.
Thankfully, I managed to get out of the place before that thing could actually do something to me. I threw myself on the planting tables, splattering dirt all over the place.
"Oh bloody hell…" I groaned, massaging my head that had hit the table. "Fucking Graphorn…"
I stood up quickly from the ground, cleaned myself and the floor, and then moved towards the stairs, sitting again to contemplate. It appears I couldn't enter the vivarium, at least for now. I should check whether or not the Graphorn is guarding the entry again, if not, I'll try to sneak away from the entrance as soon as possible. But it can't go on for quite long, I have to subdue them somehow, and that means I have to fight him, at least according to the game anyway, which I am not in a position to do so at the moment.
When I sat on the stairwell, I noticed another room below; it appears to be the potion room. I decided to stand up and move towards the room, down the stairs, to clear my head of the dizziness.
Unlike the herbology room, the room was rather gloomy and hardly illuminated, so I had to apply the wand-lighting spell again. I could see rows of u-shaped stoves with empty pots on top, obviously used for the potions that would be brewed here. When I looked around again, I noticed a shelf, and when I opened it, it was packed with ingredients: a couple of claws that appeared to be half whole, but the other half had been transformed into powder; dried leaves that appeared to be rotten; and hairs of all colours.
"Nice…" I muttered something. If I sell some of this, it could be valuable; but, I must first identify it.
For now, I decided to close the drawer and walk around to see what was in this room again.
At the other end of the room, I could see a table, with a rather old-looking book on top of it, just placed there, collecting dust. I was instantly curious about that book and approached it carefully. Again, it appears that the book was covered in dragonhide, at least I believe so, because I could hear whispers and wisps of light surrounding it, just like those who had ancient magic imbued into them.
But once I touched its cover, it didn't feel like a dragonhide at all. I frowned at the sight and decided to open it. The book turned out to be completely empty; there was not a single word inside, and the pages were blank.
"Well, that's disappointing." I murmured. But then, when I picked it up, something dropped from the inbetween of the binding of the book and the pages—it was some sort of locket, with a glow of silvery blue emanating from it, a sign of ancient magic.
This is definitely a portkey...
While it could be a trap, and I might not be able to return to Hogwarts for a while, I was still curious what was on the other side of the portkey.Maybe something could teach me how to use ancient magic? I know I can see them, so that means I'm good at using them too.
So, as curiosity got the best of me once again, I touched the locket, and as predicted, it transported me to another place, disappearing from the room.
======
As a loud cracking sound entered my ears, I could feel my knees hitting the ground, with me stumbling and unable to balance my body, making me roll on the floor. It was cold and smooth, not rough and dirty, meaning I must be transported to a room that has some kind of marble flooring or something similar. As I groaned lightly on the floor, I quickly stood up from the spot, activating my wand-lighting charm to light up the place.
However, once the light from my wand was dispersed throughout the room, everything became bright. There were magical torches that emitted a bluish light that filled the entire room, rendering my charm useless.
I could see where I was now. The structure was basically built with marbles or something similar, and I recognise the architectural style. The floor was aquamarine and dark blue in colour, with a hint of green on the stone's gradient, and a golden and silver metal lining coated the entire building, reflecting the blue light surrounding it.
I noticed statues of knights holding a greatsword made of white stone of various sizes positioned along the walls, which, based on what I saw in the games, is not a positive omen.
There was neither an exit nor any door whatsoever; however, there was something in the middle of the room that looked to be a pensieve. On top of the pensieve, I could see a small bottle that was beautifully decorated with gold and aquamarine glass.
Seeing nothing else, I approached the pensieve, taking the bottle that was floating above it. As I did that, I swear to god, I could hear the statues slightly moving and the lights flickering for a quick second.
That definitely made me alarmed. I held my wand tightly as I looked at the statues one by one. I noticed that the heads of the knights had turned in my direction, seemingly watching me closely, but they did nothing else but stare.
While still staring at the statues, I carefully opened the cap of the bottle I had grabbed earlier, and with it, I could see the statues gripping their greatswords more strongly, as if bracing for something.
I'm utterly screwed.
Finally, I poured the bottle's contents into the pensieve. When the memories spread across the pensieve, the pool's originally silvery blue colour became polluted black. Still looking at the statues around me that looked positively more alert, I breathed in deeply before dipping my head on the device, changing my vision to that of the memory.