Transfiguration Class and Charms Class

After silently criticizing Animagus magic in his heart, the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first-years around him began arriving one after another.

"Hello, Jon."

"Hello, Steven."

"Good morning, Jon."

"Good morning, Eloise."

He greeted the Hufflepuff students one by one... but they had no idea that the tabby cat on the podium was Professor McGonagall. They chatted and played around without restraint.

Steven Lucas even wanted to go up to the podium and pet the tabby cat, but Jon pulled him back and stopped him.

Ginny Weasley had arrived as well. She also sat in the front row, alone, not far to Jon's right.

At half past eight, everyone in the class had arrived... probably no one would be late for the first lesson on the first day.

"Good morning, everyone!" Professor McGonagall's voice suddenly came from the podium, startling most of the students. "Please be quiet!"

The entire classroom immediately fell silent.

"I am Minerva McGonagall, your Transfiguration teacher..." Professor McGonagall briefly introduced herself.

"Turning one thing, or one person, into something else is an extremely dangerous process!" Professor McGonagall's voice was not loud, yet it carried an unusual persuasiveness. "Careless students have turned themselves or others into pigs, sheep, or even worse things. It has happened many times in Hogwarts history!"

"If you are lucky, such a transformation will not be permanent..." Professor McGonagall paused. "But if it is permanent, it will be a disaster!"

"Sixteen known Magical Creatures were created by wizards' failed Transfiguration, including the notorious Five-Legged Monster... In the history of Great Britain, at least three hundred wizards have died from their own failed Transfiguration, while nearly nine hundred have been permanently disabled by it!"

"I hope none of you will become one of them!" Professor McGonagall swept a meaningful gaze over the crowd.

The Transfiguration classroom became so quiet one could hear a pin drop, and the young wizards looked at one another.

"Now that you understand the dangers of Transfiguration, I will show you its complexity and wonder!"

As Professor McGonagall spoke, she waved her wand.

Almost instantly, the podium before her transformed into a huge male lion:

"Roar!" The lion let out an angry roar and leaped in front of Colin Cleever's seat, frightening the small Gryffindor boy so badly that he nearly fell from his chair.

Several students near it hurriedly backed away.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand again.

The lion took two steps forward, then transformed into a small badger, darting back and forth between the desks... It even jumped onto Jon's desk, leaving a paw print on it.

"Squeak... squeak..."

At last, the badger returned to Professor McGonagall's side and transformed back into the podium.

The students, who had just been panicking over Transfiguration, were quickly captivated... they could hardly wait to learn how to do it themselves.

"Of course... transforming furniture into animals is something you will only learn in your upper years!" Professor McGonagall gestured for everyone to quiet down. "We will start with the simplest task: learning how to turn matches into needles!"

She handed each student several matches.

"Picture the shape of a needle in your mind... hold that image in your mind until it becomes fixed, without the slightest change... Now, overlap the match before you with the needle in your mind..."

"The incantation is 'Acus'! Remember, the stress falls on the last syllable... Now, raise your wands..."

"Acus!" Jon raised his wand and shouted without hesitation.

However, the match before him did not seem to change at all.

"Very good, Miss Weasley!" Professor McGonagall's voice sounded to Jon's right. "That is quite an achievement for your first attempt. One point to Gryffindor!"

Everyone in the classroom turned to look at Ginny Weasley.

The tip of the match in her hand had already changed slightly...

Could Voldemort's diary come with the equivalent of an old master at your side? Jon looked at his unchanged match and scratched his head.

After one lesson, four students had managed to alter their matches, and Jon Hart was the fourth.

He had only made the tip of his match slightly sharper, while Ginny Weasley had turned her entire match into the rough outline of a needle... Delighted, Professor McGonagall awarded Gryffindor another point.

This left Jon somewhat frustrated, though not because he had failed to stand out or earn points... after all, he had memorized the entirety of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, while most of his classmates had not even opened their textbooks before term began.

In fact, he already understood all the theory behind the incantation "Acus"... The fundamental reason he could not succeed was that he found it difficult to form an image of a needle in his mind and overlap it with the match.

But he had no time to wallow in self-pity, because Charms class was about to begin.

The Charms classroom was located in the corridor on the left side of the fourth floor. When Jon followed the Hufflepuff crowd there, he found that it was already filled with Ravenclaw students.

The short Professor Filius Flitwick had to stand on a stack of books just to reach the desk... Before beginning class, he took out the register and called attendance.

There was no important figure like Harry Potter among this year's students, so nothing made him fuss.

Like Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick spent half the lesson emphasizing the importance of Charms class... then demonstrated the Viper-రెస్ట్, Reparo, and Accio in front of them.

After that, Professor Flitwick taught them how to cast the "Levitation Charm," a spell that allowed objects to remain suspended in midair for several seconds.

Flitwick also declared that if most of the class could easily master this spell, he would teach them the more advanced, profound, and highly useful "Floating Charm"!

After half a lesson of practice, not a single student from either House, Jon included, managed to cast the Levitation Charm successfully.

Although Flitwick comforted them, saying that the Levitation Charm required extensive practice and that, among all the classes he had taught, only a very few students had mastered it in their first lesson...

Jon was still deeply disappointed on the way to the Great Hall.

Just as in Transfiguration class, he had already figured out all the theory behind the Levitation Charm, even the advanced Floating Charm, yet found it difficult to put it into practice...

His first morning at Hogwarts had clearly gone rather badly!