Discussion: The Impossible Magic

Time passed quickly. Once Professor McGonagall saw that all the students had finished reading the paper, she flicked the wand in her hand.

The wand emitted a series of crisp crackling sounds, drawing everyone's attention.

"I see that all the students have finished reading this paper."

Professor McGonagall lowered her right hand, which had been holding the wand.

"Now, let us begin an open discussion. Everyone is welcome to share their thoughts on the content of this paper."

"It's very imaginative, Professor."

Angelina spoke first, looking at her notebook as she talked.

Scott noticed that the page in her notebook was already filled with messy, scribbled words.

"A very bold idea, and quite interesting too," Angelina said, then shook her head. "But I must say, Mr. Weasley's ideas are perhaps a bit too fanciful."

She drew a few circles on her notebook with her quill.

"Although I have only verified it from a theoretical standpoint, I don't seem to see any possibility of these ideas being realized."

After hearing her statement, Professor McGonagall simply nodded without offering an opinion.

"What about the others? Does anyone have a different perspective from Miss Johnson?"

"I would like to share my thoughts, Professor."

Scott looked over at the sound and saw that it was Percy Weasley who had stood up.

"Please go ahead, Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall gestured for him to continue.

"It is not because Bill is my brother that I say this, but I believe the ideas presented in this paper are not entirely impossible to achieve."

Percy then listed several pieces of supporting evidence provided in the paper.

"The mysterious Egyptian magical world hides much ancient magical knowledge that is unfamiliar to us. I think that although we cannot verify the conjectures in the paper with the magical knowledge we currently possess, it is very likely that the Egyptians achieved it in ancient times."

Watching Percy's performance, Scott felt surprised once again.

He could tell that Percy actually admired his eldest brother a great deal. Thinking of Percy's personality, it was clear that Bill Weasley was truly remarkable.

"Hmm."

Professor McGonagall nodded again, signaling for Percy to sit down.

"What about the others?" Her gaze swept across the other students in the classroom.

Following this, the other members of the Transfiguration Club stood up one by one to express their views.

However, the vast majority of the students' comments were much the same as Angelina's.

They believed that the conjectures in the paper were indeed interesting and could provide them with some inspiration, but they felt that these conjectures would ultimately remain just that—conjectures.

Even the few students who offered different opinions were merely echoing Percy's words. They believed that such magic might indeed have existed in ancient times, but they also felt that it was impossible to recreate in the modern era, where so much ancient magic had lost its transmission.

"I think the conjecture presented in this paper is essentially using Transfiguration to replace the role of Alchemy."

Cedric was speaking eloquently.

"On the foundation of Transfiguration, simultaneously using Ancient Runes and spells to enhance the power of the transformation—while such a concept is not one hundred percent impossible in rigorous theory, I feel the difficulty involved is something no wizard could achieve."

"We all know that in the process of using magic, even the superposition of two simple spells can stump most wizards."

"Not to mention merging different systems of magic like Transfiguration, spells, and Ancient Runes together; I think such a level of difficulty would make one feel hopeless."

He held up his notebook, showing the dense handwriting on it.

"I have only listed the magical knowledge required to achieve this conjecture from a theoretical perspective, and of course, this is only what I could think of," he said helplessly. "I don't know how to implement the rest of it."

He put down his notebook.

"To be honest, just thinking about this much already makes me feel intimidated." He looked up at Professor McGonagall again. "Assuming that all the theoretical problems were solved, I don't think anyone could successfully use it in practice."

"Perhaps if it were Merlin?" He finished with a joke and laughed to himself.

Professor McGonagall's lips curled into a smile at his words. She nodded at Cedric and then looked at Scott.

"The last one. What are your thoughts, Mr. Trollope?"

"I am very interested in this paper and its author, Professor."

Scott stood up and said with a smile.

"I will write a letter to the author of the paper, Mr. Weasley." He looked back at Percy. "There are five Weasleys in Gryffindor now, any one of them will do; I hope someone can introduce me."

Many people in the classroom laughed, and even Percy chuckled, giving Scott a thumbs-up to show it was no problem.

"I believe what you need to do is express your own views on this paper, Mr. Trollope," Professor McGonagall said, "rather than stating your plan to pursue the author of the paper."

"Hahahaha..."

At this, the others couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Uh..."

Scott looked resentfully at the amused glint in Professor McGonagall's eyes; he had been well and truly stumped.

I never expected you to be this kind of Professor McGonagall!

Hmph! As expected of you, England!

"Fine."

Once the laughter died down, Scott continued, "To be honest, I once had the same idea as the one in this paper."

A few boos immediately rang out in the classroom.

Scott ignored them, "Of course, that was just a fantasy of mine, without any actual basis."

"So when I saw this paper, I felt very excited. After all, Mr. Weasley's paper is much better than my daydream; at the very least, he listed some supporting evidence."

Scott paused here.

"The magical artifacts left behind in those ancient Egyptian pyramids—theoretical alchemy truly cannot achieve such seamless effects, but a theoretically perfect Transfiguration can."

As he spoke, his eyes revealed intense emotion—a greed and thirst for knowledge.

"I understand your excitement, Mr. Trollope." The smile on Professor McGonagall's face had already vanished, "However, I suggest you use other people's papers only to broaden your horizons and gain some inspiration; I do not think it is a good thing for you to become obsessed with this."

She no longer wanted to hear Scott continue, so she raised her hand to press down, signaling for Scott to sit.

"Yes, Professor."

Scott obediently shut his mouth and sat down.

The discussion regarding this paper came to an end just like that.

Next, Professor McGonagall began to teach the members of the Transfiguration Club some useful little tricks for using Transfiguration.

Scott hurriedly cast the paper aside and began to listen attentively.

When the club activity ended for the day, Professor McGonagall asked Scott to stay behind.