Transfiguration Class

After leaving the library, Tierra went straight to the Transfiguration Classroom located between the third and second floors.

It was only five past eight, and the Transfiguration Classroom was quite empty. Aside from Tierra, there was only one Little Witch.

There was no need to guess who it was.

"Hi, Tierra." When she saw Tierra enter, the Little Witch greeted him. It was Hermione Granger.

"I heard from the portraits that you left just after six this morning. I didn't see you in the Great Hall. Where have you been?"

"I went to the library." As he spoke, Tierra sat beside Hermione and took three books from his bag. One was A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, which they would be studying in this lesson. The other two were Principles of Potions and Introduction to Alchemy, which he had just borrowed.

"Principles of Potions? Introduction to Alchemy? Tierra, those are books for upper-year students. You shouldn't be reading them at this stage!" Hermione cried out, somewhat shrill.

"Um... I'm just interested. I'm only looking through them, not studying them. If they aren't suitable, I'll return them," Tierra said somewhat awkwardly, feeling that the Little Witch in front of him was being a little too nosy.

"That's good." The Little Witch seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Being overly ambitious is no good when it comes to studying. I understand that you want to learn magic well, but we should start with the most basic books. Look at this one of mine, Great Discoveries of Modern Magic. It's very suitable for our year." Hermione spoke with grave earnestness and showed Tierra the cover of the thick book in her hands.

"Alright, thank you for the advice," Tierra replied with a smile.

Though he found Hermione a little irritating, he respected every intelligent student.

At the very least, Tierra knew that when he had been Hermione's age, he had not possessed the ability to hold a thick book and study it so diligently.

So although Tierra felt that Hermione was meddling too much, he still responded politely.

He thanked Hermione for her advice with politeness and distance.

The two of them quietly read their books.

Hermione was previewing A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, while Tierra was reading Principles of Potions.

Until the young wizards gradually filled the room.

Yet even when class began and McGonagall stepped into the classroom, two seats remained empty.

This was a magical castle. Every classroom adjusted itself automatically for each lesson, with exactly enough desks and seats for every student.

"It seems we have students late again," Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"Preview the material first." With that, Professor McGonagall transformed on the spot into a tabby cat and climbed onto the teacher's desk.

"Phew..." A few minutes later, Harry and Ron rushed into the classroom.

"Good thing we made it. Can you imagine what Professor McGonagall's expression would be if she saw us late?"

The moment Ron finished speaking, the tabby cat lying on the teacher's desk gave a light leap. By the time it landed, it had become an elderly witch in emerald-green robes, wearing a stern expression.

"That was bloody cool," Ron said in awe.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall smiled through gritted teeth. "Perhaps I should turn you and Mr. Potter into a pocket watch. That way, at least one of you might be able to keep time."

"We got lost," Harry protested.

"Then perhaps I should turn you into a map?" McGonagall said. "Surely you don't need a map to find your own seats?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, then hurriedly found the only two empty seats in the classroom and sat down.

Having just learned some old stories about Professor McGonagall from Pince, Tierra looked at Harry and Ron with a little pity.

The two poor things had no idea how close they had just come to being turned into a pocket watch.

"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will study at Hogwarts." Once everyone was seated, Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the classroom and cleared her throat. "Anyone who misbehaves in my class will be asked to leave and never allowed back in. I have warned you."

Then she turned her desk into a pig, and turned it back again.

Every student was captivated, longing to begin at once, but they soon realized that it would be quite a long time before they could turn furniture into animals.

After having them copy down a great many complicated and profound notes, she handed each of them a match and had them try to turn it into a needle.

Those notes were difficult for young wizards at this stage.

But to Tierra, they were merely junior high school physics and chemistry.

Though the descriptions differed, Tierra could still tell from the numbers in the notes and the so-called "magical models" that they described the atomic structure and atomic mass of iron, as well as an analysis of a needle's spatial structure.

Of course, they were described in a literary manner that could inspire the imaginations of young wizards, rather than through rigorous mathematical and chemical formulas.

But this knowledge had long been in Tierra's mind.

Or rather, anyone who had gone to university would have these things in their mind.

So when Tierra waved his wand, recited the incantation, and thought about this knowledge, the match on his desk easily transformed into a slender iron needle.

"Excellent, Tierra, excellent." Professor McGonagall gave Tierra a rare smile. "Five points to Gryffindor."

The class the whole class truly looked forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

But Professor Quirrell's lesson was almost a joke.

His classroom was filled with the smell of garlic. Everyone said it was meant to ward off a vampire he had encountered in Romania, because he feared the vampire would come back for him.

Quirrell told them that his large turban had been a gift from an African Prince, who had given it to him in gratitude for helping him escape the pursuit of a reanimated zombie. But no one could say they truly believed that story.

First, when Seamus Finnegan impatiently asked Professor Quirrell how he had defeated the reanimated zombie, the professor's face turned bright red. He hemmed and hawed, then began talking about the weather.

Second, they discovered that his large turban gave off a strange smell as well. The Weasley twins insisted that it must be stuffed with garlic too.

That way, no matter where Professor Quirrell went, he had protection.

Quirrell's class was filled with laughter.

Nearly all the young wizards were mocking the cowardly, timid, slightly stuttering Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

But Tierra did not laugh.

Tierra was not a brat. University life had taught him one thing: no matter how incompetent, amusing, or annoying a teacher was, never put your conflict with a teacher out in the open.

Besides, this teacher was not without real ability.

At the back of his head was the most terrifying and brutal Dark Lord in the present British Wizarding World.

Thinking of that, Tierra could not laugh even if he wanted to.

Classes for Hogwarts lower-year students ended at half past three in the afternoon. Their flying lesson was not until Tuesday, so with all that free time, Tierra did not choose to run around causing trouble with that bunch of brats. He had long passed that age.

Instead, he went to the library to read with the little adult Hermione.

He also brought Ron and Harry along.

After a full day of classes, Harry realized that although many of the children came from wizarding families, everyone was just as mediocre as he was.

This greatly relieved Harry, but Tierra's attitude began to concern him again.

Only after classes began did he realize that Tierra seemed like a different person.

Unlike the witty, humorous, considerate, warm older-brother figure he had been when they first met, once class began, once Tierra had exercise books and assignments in his hands, he became terrifyingly serious.

When he was meticulous, his expression looked just like Professor McGonagall's or Pince's in the library.