The Point-Scoring Demon, George

After History of Magic ended, George was no longer alone. He was surrounded by young wizards.

"Did you really memorize that many magic books?"

"Yes. My memory is fairly good."

"I heard you're going to win the House Cup for Slytherin?"

"That goes without saying."

On the way back, faced with questions from the Slytherin young wizards in his year, George handled them with ease, always coming across as confident but not arrogant. Very soon, he had blended right in with them.

Even the three roommates he had beaten up before now looked at him with a little more admiration.

That was Slytherin. As long as you were Slytherin, as long as you were outstanding enough, and could win honor and benefits for them, they would instinctively gather around you.

As a new First Year, George had earned an exaggerated fifty points for Slytherin in the very first lesson after school began. For all the First Years, this was something they could share pride in.

Of course, if George wanted to truly become Slytherin's leading figure, this bit of achievement was still far from enough.

But at the very least, it was a good start.

The news that he had earned fifty points for Slytherin from Professor Binns in History of Magic was quickly spread by the young wizards, and soon most of the teachers and students in the school knew about it.

Under normal circumstances, it would not have spread that fast. The main reason was that Professor Binns was famously stingy with points. Add to that the fact that the buzz from George's speech that morning had not yet died down, and the two things collided perfectly.

The benefit was that when he sat reading in the Slytherin Common Room that night, older Slytherins already came over from time to time to greet him and get to know him.

Even when Malfoy wanted to make trouble for him, he was stopped by the Prefect.

The next day, both morning lessons were Transfiguration, held together with the Hufflepuff First Years.

As soon as George walked into the classroom, the young wizards of Hufflepuff all stared at him. Clearly, they had also heard about George earning fifty points for Slytherin yesterday.

However, they did not provoke him with words. Most of the young wizards in Hufflepuff had fairly good temperaments; they were simply a little curious.

"Meow!"

Just as Transfiguration was about to begin, a tabby cat walked in through the doorway, then, amid the startled cries of the young wizards, transformed into Professor McGonagall, who was wearing a dark green robe.

"Animagus Transformation."

When George saw Professor McGonagall change from a cat into a person, his eyes could not help but gleam faintly.

This was an extremely advanced form of Transfiguration. It allowed one to transform into a fixed animal. Although it could not be a Magical Creature, and it could only be one kind of animal, he still felt it was very useful.

Because no matter what kind of animal it was, as long as it was not too conspicuous, it made for an excellent disguise.

This kind of disguise was extremely useful whether for gathering intelligence, escaping, or tracking.

Imagine that you were being hunted by a large group of agents, monitored by satellite, with countless sniper rifles in the distance, leaving you no way out at all.

But if you had mastered Animagus Transformation, you could simply find a house, go inside, turn into an ordinary creature, hide, and escape.

If it were something like a cat, that might still arouse some suspicion. But if it were something like a fly, a mosquito, or a ladybug, then you could truly move about unhindered.

"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic among all the courses you will study at Hogwarts. If anyone misbehaves in my class, I will ask him to leave, and he will never be allowed back in.

I have warned you!"

Professor McGonagall walked up to the lectern and first gave them a stern warning. Then she waved her wand and easily turned the teacher's desk into a pig, before changing it back again.

At the sight, every student was captivated, wishing they could immediately begin learning this wondrous magic.

Only after a full lesson of theoretical explanation from Professor McGonagall did they realize just how difficult it was to turn such a large desk into a pig.

"As expected, a famous teacher really is different."

After listening to the theory lesson, George was filled with emotion.

The fact that Transfiguration had been singled out from all spells and made into its own subject showed that this field was much more profound than other forms of magic.

Although he himself had spent time researching it, and had even truly memorized the entire textbook—History of Magic mainly relied on cheating with a computer—there were still many, many parts he did not understand.

Even after he had asked Tonks for guidance several times, he still could not quite understand it under Tonks's explanations.

It was like studying an advanced mathematics textbook. Even if you memorized the entire book, it did not mean you would score many points on the exam.

As a top Transfiguration master with many years of teaching experience, Professor McGonagall's explanations immediately gave George a breakthrough in his understanding of Transfiguration.

"Five points to Slytherin!"

Before the end of the first lesson, there was naturally a question-and-answer segment, and George, as expected, claimed five points without yielding to anyone.

There was no helping it. Two heads already had strong memories to begin with, and besides, the other side was still using a computer to take notes. Forget proper knowledge points—even Professor McGonagall's scolding had been recorded word for word.

Moreover, Professor McGonagall was different from Professor Snape. She valued fairness above all in how she did things, and treated students equally. She would not deliberately make things difficult for George and refuse to give him points just because he was a Slytherin.

On the contrary, seeing that George had answered perfectly and even had some of his own understanding of Transfiguration, a rare trace of a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

After the first lesson of theory, the second was naturally practical class.

Professor McGonagall gave each of them a match and had them use a basic Transfiguration spell to turn it into a needle.

But this was clearly not easy for the young wizards. They chanted the incantation again and again, waved their wands again and again, yet the matches remained matches. Only a small number of talented young wizards managed to make their matches change a little, but they were still some distance away from becoming needles.

"Do not give up. Practice more. Think about the key points I taught you last lesson: the speed and rhythm of the incantation, the angle of your wand movements, and most importantly, your heart. You must firmly believe that you can turn it into a needle."

Professor McGonagall walked back and forth through the classroom, constantly correcting some of the young wizards' mistakes in spellcasting.

But when she reached George's seat, her eyes couldn't help lighting up.

"Slytherin, another five points!"

Because she had seen a perfect needle. Not only was the point extremely sharp, even the eye at the end for threading had not the slightest flaw.

Hearing Professor McGonagall award points, the young wizards all turned their gazes toward Qiaozhi. When they saw the perfect needle on his desk, they also revealed looks of envy and admiration.

At that moment, George only smiled and did not say anything astonishing again.

In truth, after that first class, he had already grasped one key point of Transfiguration—or rather, the key point of most spells.

That was the power of the mind, the power of belief.

When learning a new spell, the incantation and wand were only aids. Otherwise, there would not be wizards capable of casting spells silently and wandlessly.

The most important thing was still the mind—in other words, mental power. That was the foundation of how complete a spell could be.

People said the magic of the Harry Potter world was very dependent on the mind, and it was not without reason.

He happened to have a great advantage in this regard, because aside from being a wizard, he also possessed the mental power of a level-two mutant.

So after learning the theory from Professor McGonagall, he succeeded in turning the match into a needle after only a few tries.

Most importantly, he felt that with his mental power, perhaps this was not all he could do.

He might not be able to turn the lectern into a pig, but transforming something a little larger—something about the size of a fist—should already be within his ability now.