Led by the Iron Hat King, a few Hufflepuff girls were restless but had yet to make a decision. As the time for class approached, they felt that Professor McGonagall was about to arrive.
To seize this rare opportunity, Hannah, along with Bones and several other girls, gathered together, each holding some snacks.
"Goodness."
Wayne widened his eyes.
"Miranda, where did you get that catnip?"
At that moment, the tabby cat surrounded by the girls suddenly displayed a human-like smile, leaped back, and transformed into Professor McGonagall—stern as ever.
"Miss Ivor, Miss Livingston, do not engage in such reckless behavior in the wizarding world, especially when you cannot even distinguish what creature is in front of you."
Glancing at the catnip, Professor McGonagall's lips twitched slightly.
"Only Hufflepuff students could come up with something as odd as this."
"P-Professor McGonagall," the little witches stammered, clearly frightened.
"Alright, class is about to begin, please return to your seats."
Upon hearing this, the girls felt relieved and quickly ran back to their seats, their faces still reflecting their lingering fear. Even the other students who were watching were startled, now sitting up straight and waiting for class to start.
This was one of McGonagall's usual tactics—transforming into her Animagus form to frighten the first-year students, establishing her authority, a method that never failed.
Soon, the class bell rang, and Professor McGonagall shifted into teaching mode.
"Transfiguration is the most dangerous and complex magic you will learn at Hogwarts."
"Anyone who dares to misbehave in my class will be asked to leave and never return."
The vice principal's aura filled the room, and it fell silent, with Draco Malfoy and his two followers shrinking back slightly. Even though Slytherin had Snape to protect them, no one could save them if Professor McGonagall got angry.
At the podium, McGonagall waved her wand, and intricate writing appeared on the blackboard—Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, renowned throughout the wizarding world. This is the foundation of all Transfiguration, an unbreakable rule. Anyone wishing to learn must remember this information to avoid causing irreversible harm.
The little wizards diligently took notes, including Wayne, but he selectively noted things, as he had already mastered much of the material and did not want to waste ink.
Once they finished, McGonagall pointed her wand at the desk, transforming it into a pig.
This immediately captured the little wizards' attention, and excited gasps filled the room as their expressions shifted from boredom to anticipation.
As an old professor with decades of teaching experience, McGonagall certainly knew what the little wizards looked forward to most.
Each student was given a matchstick, and in this lesson, even throughout the month, the goal was to transform the matchstick into a needle.
Transfiguration is categorized by difficulty: from easy to hard, the order is inanimate to inanimate, living to inanimate, inanimate to living, and living to living. The further you progress, the greater the difficulty.
Uh, don't even talk about further lessons; just this first class had everyone stumped.
Hannah was about to break her toothpick with her wand, yet it remained unchanged. Her desk partner, Susan, fared somewhat better—within five minutes, she successfully turned her matchstick... into a green one.
"Transform! Change for me!" Malfoy ground his teeth, waving his wand dramatically.
Bang!
A burst of fireworks shot from the tip, nearly blowing up his desk.
"Mr. Malfoy, I said to focus. Anger is meaningless," McGonagall critiqued with a frown. "Slytherin loses one point because of your recklessness."
"Yes, Professor, I understand," Malfoy replied, too afraid to argue back.
"This is too hard." Toby's matchstick flashed silver, and at first, he thought he had succeeded, but then he realized it had not changed at all.
"It's alright, just concentrate. Keep your attention solely on the matchstick, and don't think about the potential success or failure," Wayne casually suggested. With a flick of his wand, his matchstick transformed into a silver needle, varying in thickness, with delicate patterns on the thicker end.
Just then, McGonagall walked by and was both surprised and pleased to see his success.
"Perfect, Mr. Lawrence!"
This single feat was something many little wizards couldn't accomplish in a term. She looked at Wayne with admiration, "You have a talent for Transfiguration. Keep it up, Mr. Lawrence. Hufflepuff gains five points."
"Thank you, Professor," Wayne replied politely.
Toby and his front-row companion, Norman, looked at Wayne as if he were a traitor.
"Weren't you saying you've never touched magic before? How did you succeed all of a sudden?"
"You fraud!"
Wayne replied confidently, "I did a bit of review out of boredom during the summer. What's the problem with that?"
Toby grumbled, "What kind of proper person prepares in advance? That shows a complete lack of trust in the professor's teaching abilities!"
Alright, you sure know how to talk.
Many students looked enviously at Wayne, while Slytherin students felt more jealousy.
How did this Muggle-born wizard manage to succeed at something that pure-bloods couldn't even do?
It was a slap in the face.
Unfortunately, until the class ended, no other student managed to achieve success; the closest was a student who only slightly altered the shape of their matchstick while the material remained unchanged.
However, with Wayne as the only successful one, Professor McGonagall was already delighted and excused him from homework for Transfiguration class that week.
This left Toby and Norman visibly frustrated.
Nonetheless, no matter what happened, badgers would always flock to food.
As soon as class ended, the little wizards rushed towards the dining hall, while Wayne's unhurried pace made him stand out.
He slowly made his way toward the dining hall, contemplating ways to earn money.
Thanks to last night's information gathering, he had figured out how much pocket money many of the little wizards had.
Right now was the most prosperous time for their wallets since school had just started, but it wouldn't take long for those funds to vanish.
Time was of the essence.
So immersed in his thoughts and staring at the ground, Wayne didn't notice a girl coming around the corner.
They bumped into each other.
"Ouch!"
The clear voice startled Wayne.
"Sorry, are you alright?"
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