The Sky Is Falling

Harry's Transfiguration Spell is pretty good; he can also use Transfiguration Spell to create several puppets to assist him in battle.

He couldn't help but think, "If someone like me, who has no talent for Transfiguration Spell, can do it, then other classmates must be able to do it too, right?"

but----

Making stationary objects move and fight autonomously does indeed require a bit of skill.

This requires not only magic, but also exquisite control, a clear will, and a deep understanding of the principles of Transfiguration.

but----

To be honest, he doesn't have much talent for lecturing; he relies more on intuition and a lot of practical experience.

So, who should teach the students these advanced applications?

Harry immediately thought of Professor McGonagall.

After class, Harry didn't leave the Transfiguration Class classroom with Ron and the others; instead, he went to the teacher's podium.

Professor McGonagall was using her wand to direct the chalk boxes to sort themselves automatically. Noticing Harry's approach, she half-raised her head, her gaze behind her square glasses calm yet slightly scrutinizing.

"Professor, I'm sorry to bother you—I have a question about the application of Transfiguration," Harry said.

Professor McGonagall adjusted her square glasses, her sharp gaze falling on Harry through the lenses.

"Speak, Mr. Potter."

Harry took a deep breath, organized his thoughts, and then said, "Professor, I have a preliminary idea—it's about my Dueling Club, as you should know—"

"I know," Professor McGonagall said, her expression still serious. "I really don't think that using spider-attracting Potions to play pranks on classmates in the Forbidden Forest is something to be encouraged."

Harry looked embarrassed.

"Speak, what is it?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I was thinking of teaching them advanced Transfiguration techniques," Harry said, scratching his head. "You see, it's so boring to always have them learning Charms. Besides, just knowing Charms won't make them true masters—"

"You're quite right, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall finally smiled. "So what do you want to ask me?"

"You know, Professor," Harry cleared his throat, "While I know a few advanced techniques, I'm not quite good at teaching them. For example, using Transfiguration to bring statues or knights' armor to life in the castle—I know how, but I don't know how to teach others."

"I understand what you mean." Professor McGonagall saw right through her student's thoughts. Her expression turned serious, radiating an unquestionable sense of authority. "Mr. Potter, you should know that this is not ordinary Transfiguration; even many adult wizards cannot perform it."

"They have to be given a try," Harry said with a smile. "I think it's about well-rounded development."

"Very good." Professor McGonagall's voice remained steady. "Your idea is excellent—so, tonight at eight o'clock, you can bring those members of your club who have firmly grasped 0. WLs level Transfiguration and demonstrated sufficient self-control to my office. I will personally explain and demonstrate the basic principles to them."

"Thank you, Professor!" Harry said happily.

"Don't get too excited, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall added sternly. "Remember, I'm only explaining the principles and having you do some demonstrations. Any unauthorized attempts, especially stress tests like the one you did in the Forbidden Forest," are absolutely forbidden. If discovered, not only will the club activity be immediately terminated, but the student involved will also be severely punished. Understand?"

"I understand perfectly, Professor!" Harry assured him immediately. "I will carefully select the members and emphasize discipline."

As he left, Harry was filled with anticipation for the evening's lessons.

Of course, what he was even more looking forward to was the reaction of his classmates when they learned that Professor McGonagall would be giving the lecture.

Just imagine how interesting that would be!

Back in the Great Hall, Harry gathered the members of the Dueling Club together.

When Ron learned that Professor McGonagall would be giving them a lecture that evening, Ron plopped down on the floor.

broken.

The sky is falling!

Professor McGonagall! That's Professor McGonagall! Ron roared inwardly.

But he couldn't say anything; what else could he say?

Shouldn't Professor McGonagall be allowed to teach the class?

You're kidding! Ron swears that if he really said that to Harry, Harry would immediately drag him to Professor McGonagall and give him a piece of his mind.

"I... I have a stomachache, Harry," Ron said with a forced smile.

"I can take you to see Professor Snape," Harry said to Ron.

Ron immediately stood at attention.

"I feel like I'm all better again," he said with a solemn expression.

The surrounding students all laughed, but the students in the Dueling Club couldn't laugh.

Only Hermione remained hopeful; everyone else was as heartbroken as if an owl had died.

Even if they were unwilling, everyone had no choice but to accept this fact.

At exactly eight o'clock in the evening, there was a gentle knock on Professor McGonagall's office door.

The office was more spacious than she had imagined, but it was meticulously arranged, reflecting her own rigorous style.

The bookshelves on the wall reached all the way to the ceiling, crammed with countless magic books and scrolls.

Harry led the group in, and the people followed behind him, their faces showing tension and anticipation.

Professor McGonagall stood in the center of her office, with several sets of medieval knight's armor and a Gargoyle sculpture behind her, appearing particularly solemn in the firelight of the fireplace.

"Good evening," Professor McGonagall's voice made everyone instinctively straighten their backs. "I am delighted to see so many students at Hogwarts eager to explore the deeper mysteries of magic. Mr. Potter has posed a rather challenging topic to me— Awakening in Transfiguration. Tonight, we will have our first encounter with its basic principles and safety protocols. Remember, this is not for entertainment; any negligence could result in a serious magical accident."

Her sharp gaze swept over every student present, ensuring her warning was fully understood.

"First, we must understand a basic concept." Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and a Quill flew off the table, hovering in mid-air. "This is the Levitation Charm. You learned it in your first year. It makes objects move, but the objects themselves are moving passively. You are the one who casts the Charms to make them move."

She waved her wand, and then the Quill slowly landed on the table.

She then pointed to a self-cleaning magic mop in the corner.

"That's a magical item imbued with Permanent Animation Charm; it can repeat simple actions, but it has no judgment whatsoever."

She cleared her throat as she said this.

"And what we're going to discuss tonight," she said, pointing her wand at the armor and Gargoyle sculpture, "Is to give a static object a temporary self-nature and a behavioral logic based on its form. It's not simply movement, but a limited Awakening."

At this point, she began to explain the most basic principles of logic.

The first step is to learn how to use one's own magic to establish a connection with objects and achieve magical resonance.

Next comes the combat logic of how to shape the target using one's own will.

This is the most crucial step; without sufficient willpower, it's impossible to affect the statue in the slightest.

Hermione's Quill flew across the Parchment, almost Mars, and her eyes gleamed with intense excitement.

Neville and Seamus seemed a bit overwhelmed, especially when they saw the complex Ancient Runes.

After the explanation, it was time for the practical demonstration.

"Now, look closely." Professor McGonagall turned to face a set of Winky knight's armor.

She didn't utter a lengthy incantation, but the trajectory of her wand's swing carried a special rhythm, and the magic gushing from the tip of the wand, like invisible threads, instantly connected her to the armor.

"Take five steps forward, raise your shield." Her voice was calm yet powerful.

The next moment, the armor made a creaking sound, and then, like a marionette, the heavy boots actually lifted up.

Thump, thump, thump----

Under Professor McGonagall's command, the armor took five precise steps forward.

Then, it steadily raised its left arm, which was holding the shield, assuming a standard defensive stance.

Although the whole process was slightly stiff, it was full of power.

A murmur of surprise rippled through the office.

Neville's mouth gaped open, almost big enough to fit an egg; Hannah instinctively grabbed Ginny's arm, pulling Ginny into a mask of pain.

After that, Professor McGonagall tapped her wand lightly, and the armor instantly lost its "vitality," returning to a static state.

"Did you notice?" Professor McGonagall looked at the students. "The instructions I gave it were extremely simple and clear. It didn't think about 'how to walk,' it just executed the instructions I set for it to 'move forward' and 'raise its shield.' It couldn't handle anything outside of those instructions."

"Of course, that's not all," Professor McGonagall said again. "This is just the content of our first lesson. Once you've all mastered how to make the armor move, that's when we'll move on to the next lesson."

With that, she waved her wand, and a dozen palm-sized wooden puppets flew down evenly in front of each student.

These dolls are crudely made, with only simple spherical connections at the joints.

"Now, train in pairs! Your goal isn't to fight, but to get these puppets in front of you moving," she said. "Make them walk three steps in a straight line, then stop—remember, just walk and stop."

After saying that, Professor McGonagall walked over and sat down a short distance away to watch them practice.

Hermione was naturally paired with Ron, and she turned to Ron, asking, "Did you understand?"

"Huh? What do you mean, 'understand'?" Ron looked completely bewildered.

Hermione's forehead bulged with a small vein. "I mean, did you understand Professor McGonagall's lecture?"

"I don't quite understand, but it sounds amazing," Ron said, sounding impressed but not quite. Seeing Hermione's displeasure, he quickly corrected himself, "I've memorized the theory, but the practical application remains to be seen—"

Hermione took a deep breath, pointed the tip of her wand at the puppet, and focused her gaze.

"Imagine an invisible thread connecting you and it," she whispered to Ron, while also reinforcing her own thoughts. "The instructions must be clear, absolutely no ambiguity—come on, lift your left leg, move forward, lower it; lift your right leg, move forward, lower it; repeat three times, then stop."

The puppet in front of her twitched twice, then, following her command, stiffly raised its wooden legs, step by step, until it slowly came to a stop.

"Great, Hermione!" Ron whispered with delight, raising his wand to give the puppet the command—exactly the same as Hermione's.

The puppet did indeed start moving, and although it wobbled a bit, it still managed to complete the walk.

"Well done!" Hermione exclaimed happily. "Looks like you do have some talent!"

"That's a must!" Ron said, raising his chin with great pride.

"I think I can do it too," said Neville, standing beside them, waving his wand. "Come on!"

However, his puppet suddenly twitched, one leg suddenly stretched out, and it hopped forward unsteadily like on stilts, then lost its balance and fell face down on the table with a "thud," where it remained motionless.

"Uh, what's wrong with it?" Neville was a little embarrassed. He thought he could make the puppet move a few steps like Ron.

However, to get the puppet moving on the first try is already quite a feat.

Seamus, standing nearby, exclaimed excitedly, "You've made it too stressed, Neville! Watch me, I'll give it some motivation!"

Sure enough, Ron had a bad feeling as soon as he heard the word "power".

Someone was even faster than him. Although he didn't have to participate in the practice of making the puppets move, Harry had already casually picked up a book and held it in front of his face.

Seamus's puppet was indeed very "powerful" - it suddenly sprang up, somersaulted in the air, and then slammed heavily onto the table, breaking off one arm on the spot, which flew out and hit the book blocking Harry's way.

"Mr. Finnegan!" Professor McGonagall's stern voice rang out immediately, "Control! I said control!"

You're not setting it on fire! If you do it again, spend the rest of this class practicing how to make Quill spin at a constant speed!

Seamus shrank back and picked up the puppet's severed arm.

"Seriously," Harry put down the book, flipped it over to look at the marks left by the severed arm, "Tell me the truth, were you coming for me?"

"I didn't expect this either—" Seamus chuckled dryly, "I thought the motivation would be quite strong, but I didn't expect it to go too far—"

"I seriously doubt whether you actually made it move or just put a rocket jetpack on it."

Hermione said with a polite but unfriendly expression.

Seamus was not ashamed of Hermione's teasing; on the contrary, he was proud.

"I think that's a topic worth exploring—let's think about it," Seamus said with a grin. "A giant Gargoyle statue is charging towards its target at an incredible speed—"