Transition

When old Dumbledore asked, Vaughn neither agreed nor refused.

He suspected the old man might be trying to steer him toward something—Dumbledore's reputation in that regard was hardly stellar.

At the same time, he did not want to give up the chance to get acquainted with Newt.

A well-traveled expert on magical creatures would be of great help in broadening Vaughn's horizons.

In a sense, Vaughn was also a magical creature... materials expert!

Demiguise hair, Erumpent explosive fluid and horns, dragon blood, Niffler belly pouches... He knew these potion ingredients sourced from magical creatures like the back of his hand, but he had never seen the living creatures before.

As his research into the Magic Extraction Method deepened, Vaughn sometimes wondered what the materials from which he extracted traits had been like when they were still alive. How had they formed within magical creatures?

This even led him to a profound, scalp-tingling question:

How had the first wizard in this world come into being? Were magical creatures the source of magic? If one dissected them and observed their magic and physical structures, could one find the answer directly?

Just thinking about it made him interested!

After returning to the Slytherin common room, Vaughn excitedly recorded what he had seen and thought about that day in a diary.

The fragrance of knowledge and truth was so intoxicating. Surely Mr. Newt would support his work, too?

Far away in Dorset, Newt, who was preparing fruit for the Unicorn Herd in the basement, suddenly sneezed.

"Strange, have I caught a cold?"

Tina said irritably, "Maybe Dumbledore is talking about you again!"

It was unclear whether Newt had caught a cold, but the next day, a sudden flu outbreak swept through Hogwarts.

Large numbers of young wizards, their eyes red and their noses running, lined up on the second floor of Hogwarts.

Based on previous years' experience, the seasoned Madam Pomfrey made an accurate judgment and prepared a huge cauldron of Pepperup Potion in advance.

This potion was highly effective against the flu, but like all potions, in order to balance its properties and complete the ritual, its supplementary ingredients gave it a small side effect.

It made smoke pour from people's ears!

The moment Vaughn entered the Great Hall the next day, he saw a spectacular sight—

The little heads of several hundred young wizards resembled boiling teapots, puffing out steam.

The long tables of all four Houses were shrouded in mist.

Fred and George happily darted through the crowd, using their wands to turn the steam into all sorts of ridiculous shapes.

Even the professors at the teachers' table were not spared. Professor Flitwick's pointed ears, likely inherited from goblins, let out shrill, prolonged whistles as steam poured from them due to their peculiar structure.

"That's fascinating, Filius!" Dumbledore cried happily. He took a sip of Pepperup Potion too, then covered his mouth and tried to imitate him.

Then Snape, seated between the two, was the unlucky one. Rolling smoke completely obscured his face, leaving only those pitch-black eyes visible as they glared icily at Dumbledore, as though he wanted to kill him!

When Vaughn reached the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron were sneaking glances at Snape and stifling laughter.

"Look, he wants to eat Dumbledore alive," Ron whispered. "What a shame the flu didn't go after that awful old bat."

Then he saw Vaughn sit down across from him and point a finger at him. "Fruit Tea, bring Scabbers to me!"

"Meow—"

Fruit Tea, who had not had a toy in ages, leaped onto the table in excitement and pounced on Ron as his face suddenly turned pale.

"Don't catch Scabbers, you rotten cat... Help—"

Watching Ron scream as the "little kitty" pinned him to the floor, clutching his pocket and scrambling away in terror, Harry suddenly felt fortunate that he had just taken a sip of pumpkin juice and had not had time to say anything bad about Snape.

Hermione had caught the flu too.

White smoke curled through her bushy hair from her ears, making one suspect she might be a steamer.

She hugged a thick tome and moved close to Vaughn, asking him about Transfiguration.

After getting an answer, she hurriedly asked another question.

Vaughn had more talent for Transfiguration than she did and naturally learned it faster. He also received extra lessons at Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration Club, so answering her questions took little effort.

As he had said before, he was very patient with cute little girls.

"...During Transfiguration, a firm will is very important, Hermione. Or rather, every spell requires your emotions to be clear enough and strong enough."

"This does not mean you should keep your thoughts calm. That would actually have the opposite effect. What you need is only a limited degree of calm. For example, when turning a button into a beetle, it is certainly important to keep analyzing the button's structure and constructing the beetle's structure in your mind, but you must also generate a strong desire to succeed at the transformation. Keep repeating that thought. The stronger it is, the easier it will be to succeed."

Vaughn explained his own understanding.

Magic in this world was simply that unreasonable. Its foundation was somewhat like making wishes come true, similar to the phenomenon called "spirit speech" in some fantasy works from his previous life.

Magic was not a cold, formulaic product. Instead, it was an emotional expression. That was why wizards' feelings were so intense; even some Dark wizards who had gone mad could still cast magic successfully.

As long as they did not have emotional impairments!

But Vaughn believed that everything in the world had its own internal logic.

Even beneath seemingly chaotic appearances, there had to be objective laws governing their existence.

The only question was whether anyone would discover them.

This was another field of study he had mapped out for himself years ago, beyond Potions, when he began planning his life—

The nature and laws of magic!

But that subject was far too vast and distant.

Hermione naturally had no idea that Vaughn harbored such lofty ambitions. For this studious girl, her greatest worry right now was still her schoolwork.

By the end of her questions, Hermione hugged her books and looked at Vaughn expectantly. "Exams are coming up soon. I think I still have a lot of weak areas. Vaughn, can I study with you often from now on?"

Before Vaughn could answer, Harry, who had been unable to get a word in edgewise, blurted out in surprise, "Exams already? Isn't it still ages away?"

Hermione glared at him. "Ages away? We've already been in school for several weeks! Of the time we have left, after subtracting weekends every month, then subtracting sleeping time, how much time is there really left for studying...?"

Her barrage of words left Harry staring blankly. His leisurely time suddenly seemed to shrink, urgency crashing over him as though wasting even a minute would make him die of old age on the spot.

Even after breakfast, when he returned to the Gryffindor common room with Ron, he still had not recovered.

Looking thoroughly battered, Ron locked Scabbers in his cage. Seeing Scabbers trembling all over, Ron said heartbrokenly, "Damn Vaughn, damn Fruit Tea. They scared Scabbers so badly he's shedding fur again. One day, my poor little guy is going to be scared to death by them."

Then Ron sorrowfully discovered that he did not seem all that angry. It was as though he had already begun to get used to a life of being bullied alongside Scabbers.