Griselda Marchbanks

The next day was Thursday. After Kyle finished breakfast, he and Kanna walked out of the Great Hall together, preparing to go to their next Transfiguration Class.

When they arrived at the classroom, Professor McGonagall was already waiting at the door and stopped the two as they were about to enter.

"Miss Prince, may I ask you to come in first?" she said to Kanna.

"Okay, Professor McGonagall." Kanna didn't ask any further questions, nodded, and went into the classroom.

Professor McGonagall then led Kyle to a side corridor and asked with a smile, "Do you remember the paper you sent me a month ago?"

"The one who Most Promising Newcomer Award in ' Today's Transfiguration '?" Kyle asked. "The results are out so quickly?"

"Not yet, but I've got inside information... good news."

Professor McGonagall seemed to be in a good mood, and said with a smile, "Editor-in-Chief Hells, who is in charge of selecting the newcomer award, is a friend of mine. I asked her about some things when we were corresponding a few days ago."

Although she didn't say it explicitly, she did let me in on a piece of information... "Mrs. Griselda Marchbanks greatly admires your paper."

"Mrs. Marchbanks ..." Kyle for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "Is it Mrs. Marchbanks from the Wizarding Examinations Authority?"

"I didn't expect you to know her."

Professor McGonagall was somewhat surprised, after all, Mrs. Marchbanks was over 120 years old, a person from the last century, and she rarely appeared in public.

She only comes to Hogwarts at the end of each school year to oversee the fifth and seventh year wizarding level exams, also known as OWLs and NEWTs.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, very few wizards below the fifth grade know her.

"Charlie mentioned it before," Kyle explained. "He said that after his OWL exams, he saw Professor Dumbledore personally escorting an old lady out of the school."

"Then Mr. Weasley told us that it was Mrs. Marchbanks, who had worked at the Ministry of Magic for a hundred years and was also Professor Dumbledore's examiner when he graduated."

"That's true, Mrs. Marchbanks did indeed oversee the exams of many people... including Professor Dumbledore."

Professor McGonagall then added, "However, she doesn't only have that one identity."

"Mrs. Marchbanks is best known for her influence in academia. She holds a pivotal position in both the magazine ' Today's Transfiguration ' and the Extraordinary Potioneers Association."

Kyle nodded.

This is not hard to understand. Someone whom even Dumbledore respected must have been respected for more than just being an examiner.

Moreover, the Wizarding Examinations Authority is arguably one of the most tedious and boring jobs in the Ministry of Magic —tedious, monotonous, and with the lowest pay, only about half that of employees in other departments.

For a normal person, three to five years is considered a long time; only Mrs. Marchbanks could stay in this position for a hundred years.

"So you understand now?"

Professor McGonagall continued, "If you get her approval, it means your paper is probably fine."

I estimate that after Christmas, the people from "Today's Transfiguration" will come to the school. They will ask you some questions, which will be the final test.

If you pass, your paper will appear in the next issue of the magazine... and on the front page, in the most prominent position."

Just then, it was time for class to start.

Professor McGonagall quickened her pace, hurriedly telling Kyle as she walked towards the classroom, "Prepare well, their questions won't be easy to answer."

The two entered the classroom at the same time before the school bell rang.

Kanna saved him a seat, and Kyle went over and sat down next to her.

"What happened?" Kanna asked in a low voice, "Did they find out you were selling overpriced jewelry?"

"It has nothing to do with that."

Kyle was about to tell her about the paper when Professor McGonagall spoke up, leaving him only to shake his head and say, "We'll talk about it after class..."

As they entered the classroom, Professor McGonagall's smile vanished almost instantly, replaced by her usual serious expression.

"Fourth grade is very important. Next year is the OWLs exam, and I hope you can all concentrate and not be as carefree as you were the previous two years."

"What we're going to learn today is cross-species conversion, which is a question that will definitely appear in the OWLs exam. Remember, it's not possible, it's certain."

"Because what I learned before was only the most basic content, only by mastering cross-species transformation can one be considered to have truly mastered Transfiguration."

Professor McGonagall's sharp eyes swept across the classroom.

Everyone immediately straightened their backs and dared not breathe.

"Very good, open the book. Let's start with something simple... Unlike static objects, the Transfiguration Spell must be adjusted accordingly when performing cross-species transformations..."

After Professor McGonagall finished explaining the points to note, she took out a guinea fowl and transformed it into a chubby guinea pig.

"This is your task for today's lesson. If there are still feathers on it, you will fail!"

The classroom was soon filled with the sound of guinea fowl flapping their wings, and occasionally one could hear a scream from someone who had been pecked on the hand.

After the Transfiguration Class, only three people had completed the requirements. Most of the guinea pigs they handed in still had thick feathers, which was clearly unacceptable.

Professor McGonagall's expression turned somewhat grim.

Kyle and Kanna left the Transfiguration classroom and headed up the stairs.

On the way, Kyle briefly told her about the thesis.

Kanna was initially surprised, but when she realized it was Kyle, it didn't seem so strange anymore.

Compared to the Order of Order of Merlin, Second Class, and the three Special Award for Services to the School neatly arranged in the Trophy Room, the Most Promising Newcomer Award for "Today's Transfiguration" seems rather insignificant.

"I knew it would be fine..."

Kanna patted Kyle on the shoulder encouragingly and said with a smile, "I'll buy a few more copies of the magazine after the Christmas holidays, as a way of supporting you."

"That's so kind of you..." Kyle asked softly, "How many do you want to order, five hundred copies...? I can Professor McGonagall to have them print more in advance."

"You wish! Five copies at most," Kanna said irritably. "<Today's Transfiguration> is very expensive; I don't have that much money."

Kyle thought about it and realized that made sense; academic magazines like this were definitely much more expensive than the Daily Prophet.

"Alright, but remember to give Professor Snape a copy later," he said. "Nothing much, I just want to hear what the professor thinks of my paper."

Kanna turned her head and glanced at Kyle.

Her intuition told her that this guy had bad intentions, but upon closer inspection, it didn't seem like there was anything wrong with it. Besides, even if Kyle hadn't said anything, she would have shown it to Professor Snape anyway.