Paying Damages

"Revere Transfiguration."

As soon as those words were spoken, all the freshmen fell silent, not daring to utter a sound. Sean unexpectedly experienced the same Transfiguration atmosphere as Professor McGonagall.

Of course, this is exactly the effect Sean wanted to achieve.

He calmly and seriously scanned each person.

"Repeat what I said," Sean said softly.

"Revere Transfiguration." The students reacted immediately, their voices not in unison and varying in volume, but Sean clearly saw that everyone spoke up.

"Very good—" Sean immediately smiled again. He didn't make the students repeat it loudly and in unison many more times. He felt that the purpose of today's lesson had been achieved.

Below the podium, the freshmen secretly exchanged glances.

Professor Wallop transformed back into his kind, patient, and gentle teacher persona, which, combined with his handsome face, truly gave people a refreshing feeling.

However, the image of the monster that failed to Transfiguration and the extremely stern warning words left a very deep impression on me.

Many students even felt a sense of absurdity—wasn't Professor Wallop's change of attitude a little too fast?

Sean clapped his hands in satisfaction, his smile widening.

"It seems everyone has remembered this lesson, very good—by the way, I have a question for you."

As the students cast questioning glances his way, Sean waved his wand, and the twisted, half-human, half-dragon monster image reappeared in mid-air.

Many people instinctively stepped back.

Sean pointed to the monster's image. "This is a failed Transfiguration I simulated with a spell. Can someone tell me what the specific manifestations of a failed Transfiguration are? Don't rush to answer the surface-level questions; try to think about it from the perspective of Transfiguration."

Upon hearing this, the students who were about to raise their hands lowered their arms and then, despite their discomfort, carefully observed the monster's appearance.

A moment later, a dark-skinned, thin boy raised his hand.

"Yes, please, Mr. Axston."

Sean was somewhat surprised and called on Axston to answer. He found that this France -American boy from the Muggle Family had a rather open mind.

Moreover, during his previous Illusion Charm, the child suppressed his fear and tried to wake himself up, which is enough to prove that he is very courageous and a child of good character.

"Worth nurturing properly... "Sean thought to himself.

"Sir, I've thought about this for a long time, and then I think it might be related to your understanding of Transfiguration... The monster that appears when Transfiguration fails is a creature that doesn't have a specific form and doesn't actually exist in the world? It might just have some characteristics of other creatures... Um, I mean, it can't be classified into any general category..."

Axston stammered as he explained his views using his meager knowledge of magic.

The more Sean listened, the brighter Sean eyes became.

This child has a very keen sense for Transfiguration...

"Very good, Mr. Axston, correct answer. Five points for Ravenclaw." Sean did not hold back his praise.

Axston, who had earned quite a few extra points in his first Transfiguration, blushed slightly.

Sean gestured for him to sit down, then explained, "Mr. Axston is right. A common characteristic of failed Transfiguration is that the monster's image must not have existed in the previous world. It may combine features of certain creatures, but it certainly has never existed before. And this touches on a key point of Transfiguration —the mental image construction."

"Transfiguration is a magic that requires multitasking. You must construct a specific image in your mind, then overlap it with the object to Transfiguration, and input your magic power when it is exactly the same until the object in reality is completely Transfiguration —only then is it a correct and successful Transfiguration."

Sean turned around and wrote a line of large characters on the blackboard.

(The spellcaster uses) a specific substance through a specific medium to produce a knowable reality in an unknown form.

"I call this the macroscopic essence of magic—" Sean tapped the blackboard, "As for how to understand it?"

"A specific substance is the substance that induces magic. We cannot always understand this kind of thing. To be less precise, we can use 'magic power' to refer to it."

"And what about a specific medium? This is what carries out the magical process. What is the most obvious thing about it?"

Someone raised their hand and answered, "Spells and wands?"

"That's right, what else?" Sean asked patiently.

The students racked their brains, and after a while, it was Axston who raised his hand again.

"Sir, your parentheses say '(for the caster),' does that mean that in some cases, the caster is also a specific medium?"

"Smart, Mr. Axston," Sean praised.

Sean had never realized that he had a certain "teacher-like" quality. Sean found the feeling of imparting knowledge and resolving doubts very enjoyable.

He was so engrossed in his lecture that he didn't even realize that get out of class had ended and a large crowd had gathered outside the first-year classroom.

The freshmen didn't notice this either.

"Why is it that Sean always manages to create big news, but we can't?"

"Perhaps we just can't generate the Dragon Roar?"

Fred and George used Levitation Charm to float up and observed the situation inside through the highest window, occasionally offering their comments.

"Mr. Weasley, spellcasting is not permitted in the hallways during recess," Professor McGonagall's stern voice rang out, and the Weasley twins immediately tumbled down.

The diminutive Professor Flitwick also stood to the side, floating quietly, chin in hand, looking into the classroom, nodding in admiration every now and then.

"This isn't fair!" The twins mouthed secretly, but still obediently stood on their tiptoes.

Inside the classroom, Sean's teaching continued.

"Just now, we talked about specific substances and specific media. Now, let's talk about the unknown and the knowable—" he said, waving his wand cheerfully.

"The unknown is because we know very little about the principles of magic, or even nothing at all, and can only infer and continue to explore. On the other hand, if there were no unknown, it would be called science, not magic. Moreover, this unknown is the Mystery Side we talked about earlier, which is why I find magic so fascinating."

"Do you know?" Sean floated himself up, pointing to his floating body. "We know because we can clearly perceive the results of magic, such as using Levitation Charm to make something float—even if we don't know why your Professor Wallop can defy gravity and float in front of you, even I don't know! But the fact that he floats is knowable and objectively exists."

Sean made himself feel as if he were walking on air in the classroom, his voice growing increasingly joyful.

"Think back carefully, isn't this back to the point we made at the very beginning— Transfiguration best embodies the miracle of magic because its process and result are so consistent with the macroscopic essence of this magic."

"But why have the images resulting from failed Transfiguration never appeared?"

Some students, already engrossed, answered without raising their hands, "Because this is not a known phenomenon!"

"That's right! So why should we be clear, rigorous, and accurate when constructing an image in our minds?"

"Because it has to conform to known phenomena!" the students answered eagerly.

Outside the classroom, more and more students gathered around. Someone must have cast a spell, because Sean's voice could be clearly heard in the hallway from inside the classroom.

Ravenclaw students were already nodding in agreement. "Such a clear and intuitive explanation..."

Why didn't we think of that before?

"Did Sean figure this out on his own?"

"No wonder Professor McGonagall invited him to be a teaching assistant..."

Professor McGonagall, who had been listening silently, put away her wand, raised her head slightly, and couldn't hide the smile on her lips.

Even Fred and George, who were sitting obediently behind her, nodded to each other. "That does sound very profound and makes a lot of sense..."

At the far end of the corridor, Professor Flitwick, floating at the top, remained silent, offering no opinion. No one could even see his expression; all that could be noticed was the dwarf professor frequently tapping on the wall, appearing to be deep in thought.

Sean's lecture echoed in the corridor, and more and more students joined the ranks of those listening. Even the top students who usually had better grades looked thoughtful.

Meanwhile, the poor students who didn't do well in class and were too lazy to listen to lectures pretended to nod in agreement to avoid embarrassment.

Just then, Filch's distinctive huffing and puffing footsteps came from one end of the corridor.

He limped over, then glared angrily at the students gathered outside the classroom, his hoarse voice emitting a sharp and excited sound.

"Get out of class time is over! Students are no longer in class!"

"Get out of class time is over! Students are no longer in class!"

He even spotted two professors, then excitedly ran over, pointing at the students and shouting, "Professors! Class is starting! It's them!"

"Shut up!" came a shrill voice from Filch.

Professor Flitwick lost his usual elegance and affability. He angrily gave Filch the middle finger, glared at him, and then immediately turned away.

Filch opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

"Hey, Sean." A pretty sixth-grade girl greeted him warmly as she passed by. Her female companions held hands and giggled, occasionally casting bold glances at her.

"Oh—hello." Sean nodded politely.

After a few bold kisses and flirtatious glances, the senior female students left amidst laughter and chatter.

"Hey~~~~Sean—" Beside her, Little White Flower blinked her beautiful big eyes hard while imitating the words of the senior students in an exaggerated and charming voice, "How many is this? Let me think, oh—the twenty-sixth girl has already come to chat up our Professor Wallerup ~~~ What enviable popularity~~~"

Sean rolled his eyes at her, annoyed, and tapped her on the head. "Be normal, are you really going to count for me?"

"Well, this really made a splash. Professor Flitwick was so engrossed in his lecture that he even scolded Filch. The famous Professor Wallop!" Hermione, mimicking Daisy's tone as she vigorously cut her steak.

Sean sighed helplessly, "You're coming too?"

"Am I not telling the truth?" Hermione winked at him, then gestured toward Daisy with her chin. "Besides, Daisy is counting so seriously, shouldn't she give some feedback?"

Little White Flower's face flushed almost imperceptibly.

Sean shrugged. "It was just an accident. I didn't even intend to go overtime."

"But now, the first and second-year students are already talking about Professor Wallop Professor Wallop all the time. You should really see how much the students admire you—and how much the girls like you."

"They just love Sean's strict yet gentle nature, oh, Sean is also very rich," Daisy nodded frantically.

"Why am I starting to regret it..." Sean shook his head helplessly.

Originally, after the start of his second-year teaching duties, Sean's reputation at Hogwarts had been growing rapidly. If before it was recognition of an outstanding peer, after the first Transfiguration in his first year and the performance of Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall, everyone's mindset had gradually shifted to deep admiration.

This also led to a surge in Sean's romantic luck. Even though he was usually with Hermione and Daisy, bold girls would still flirt with him and give him hints.

Sean hadn't expected his passionate lecture to have such a great effect; his only intention was to leave a deep impression on the new students who were just learning Transfiguration.

Now that's great, the impression has been left on the entire Hogwarts...

In fact, during this period, many eager-to-learn older students have come to him to ask for Transfiguration.

This lesson during his free time actually solidified Sean's belief that his approach was correct—were these fifth and sixth graders' basic Transfiguration really that poor...?

Professor McGonagall certainly couldn't give everyone individual tutoring, but Sean thought the professor of Transfiguration's classes were already excellent.

This only proves that many people don't review or practice properly after class...

Fortunately, under my guidance, the first and second-year students were extremely serious in the Transfiguration, not only rigorous but also very careful—even a little too careful.

First-graders now have to mentally rehearse the Transfiguration steps of a matchstick into a silver needle more than ten times.

Of course, the results were also excellent. Although no one showed talent comparable to Sean's, the freshmen's performance was much better than the average level of their class.

Well, not bad... Sean shrugged rather optimistically amid Hermione and Daisy's sarcastic remarks.

Just as he was arguing with the two, a petite silver-haired girl suddenly appeared in front of him.

It's Stephanie.

Sean greeted her with a smile, "Good day, Stephanie."

Hermione and Daisy exchanged a glance.

"Good day, Sean," Stephanie nodded gracefully, then said expressionlessly, "Today is the end-of-month inventory, and Professor McGonagall asked me to tell you—"

"What?" Sean asked curiously, and Daisy and Hermione also perked up their ears.

The Silver-haired Girl pushed up her glasses.

"The table that flew off the plane needs to be compensated."