One of Hogwarts' defining features was its moving staircases.
Their moods were as inscrutable as certain young ladies' thoughts. You never knew where they would lead next.
Shawn and the others had come up from the dungeons intending to reach the third floor, but somehow they had ended up on the fifth.
Draco and the other two stared dumbly, while Shawn scratched his head. Going in without intelligence really was a cardinal military blunder.
"Shawn, do we keep taking the stairs and leave it to chance? Class is about to start. I heard Professor McGonagall has quite a temper."
Shawn glanced at the third-floor entrance below, barely a dozen yards away. Gritting his teeth, he stepped behind the three boys, drew his wand, and shouted.
"You jump!"
Before Draco and the others could figure out what he meant, a powerful force shoved them off the landing. They shrieked for their mothers in terror.
Shawn jumped right after them and flicked his wand as he plummeted. Just before they reached the third floor, his level-three Levitation Charm took effect, letting all four drift gently down like fluff.
Draco and the others were white-faced, their eyes brimming with tears. Yet once they landed safely, the thick-skinned trio threw their arms around one another and whooped with excitement.
"Draco, find an older student later and have them write down the moving staircases' patterns."
Shawn dodged Draco's hug in disgust and strode toward the Transfiguration classroom.
The Transfiguration classroom was a circular, tiered lecture room, with rows of desks arranged in a fan. Numerous pointed windows around its walls made the room bright and spotless.
When Shawn entered, he saw a tabby cat perched on the lectern. A thought crossed his mind, but he decided it was best not to provoke the elderly cat lady.
He headed toward the desks. Nearly all the Slytherin students were already there, but quite a few Gryffindors were still missing.
Harry, seated in the front row, quickly stood and called to Shawn when he spotted him.
"Shawn, over here."
Shawn paused in surprise. He hadn't expected Harry to arrive so early. The boy had even seemed to be studying seriously just now, while his best friend Ron was nowhere nearby.
He had thought that after he talked Hermione into joining Ravenclaw, Harry and Ron would become even more inseparable partners in slacking off.
But something about this situation seemed wrong.
Don't tell me the main plot's gone off the rails. I'm still planning to swoop in and steal the prize at the end of term.
Shawn sat beside Harry and probed.
"Harry, are you here on your own?"
Harry was an honest boy who couldn't hide his feelings.
"Hm? Yes. Ron and Seamus got up pretty late."
Shawn caught a flicker of distaste in Harry's eyes, and his heart gave a jolt. Had the kindhearted Chosen One been led astray?
Just then, Draco approached and warmly slung an arm around Harry's shoulders.
"Hey, good morning, Harry."
Harry turned, saw Draco, and greeted him shyly.
"Mm, good morning, Draco. Oh, and you two as well. Why are your eyes so red?"
Draco sat beside Harry, tilted his chin up, and began boasting in his usual drawl.
"Harry, that's because Shawn just took the four of us flying. It was absolutely brilliant! And listen, you have no idea what I've been through since yesterday. Things with Shawn have been so exciting..."
Harry looked intrigued and waited for him to continue.
Shawn hadn't minded Draco's boasting at first, but the more he heard, the stranger it sounded.
To avoid an onslaught of shipping, he quickly interrupted.
"Draco, shut it. Tilting your head up when you talk doesn't make you look noble. It just lets everyone see your disgusting nose hair."
Draco's expression froze. He nearly choked, hastily lowering his head and coughing.
Harry looked from one to the other. The more he looked, the more suspicious it seemed. Could they be...?
Children born in Britain really did have rather crooked imaginations.
Fortunately, the bell rang just then.
Professor McGonagall leaped down from the lectern and transformed before the young wizards' astonished eyes.
Radiating authority, Professor McGonagall swept her gaze across the room and noticed that some students had dared to be late.
At that moment, two students hurried through the door in a fluster. They were Harry's roommates, Ron and Seamus.
"Sorry, Professor. We got lost, and then the moving staircases trapped us, so..."
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, thoroughly displeased that students had dared to arrive late to her class-students from her own house, no less.
"I think I ought to turn you into a map and a pocket watch respectively. Then you wouldn't get lost. Five points from Gryffindor, each. Take your seats, and don't let it happen again."
Ron and Seamus hurried toward the desks with their heads lowered. Finding the back rows full, they had no choice but to sit in the second row.
They tried to greet Harry, but Professor McGonagall's death stare made them shrink back.
Shawn felt vindicated in his decision not to pet the elderly cat lady earlier. When Professor McGonagall got ruthless, she deducted points even from her own house.
McGonagall felt it necessary to put the first-years in their place.
"Anyone who misbehaves in my class will be asked to leave and will never be allowed back."
With an effortless flick of McGonagall's wand, the lectern became a lively pig that nimbly ran through the aisles. The students watched in delight, itching to learn right away.
"Transfiguration is the most complex, most dangerous, and most interesting magic you will study at Hogwarts. As your professor, the warning I must give you is to exercise caution."
After turning the little pig back into a lectern, McGonagall used her wand to write rows of words across the blackboard, all of them inviolable principles and rules of Transfiguration.
"And mastering Transfiguration requires a solid grounding in theory. What are you all staring at? Start taking notes."
Disappointed, the students began taking notes while listening to Professor McGonagall explain the dry theory point by point.
Shawn didn't know about the others, but he was studying with exceptional concentration. This was nothing like reading a textbook. Professor McGonagall truly deserved her reputation as a master of Transfiguration.
She explained the underlying theory thoroughly yet accessibly. This was precisely the Magical Theory Shawn lacked most.
He might look proficient when casting spells with transfigurative properties, but that was entirely thanks to the system's assistance.
After roughly an hour of theory, Professor McGonagall stopped and handed each student a matchstick, asking them to turn it into a silver needle.
Shawn didn't practice. Ever since raising his Transfiguration talent to five points, a little trick like making a silver needle had posed no difficulty. Instead, he kept pondering the notes he had just taken.
Beside him, Harry and Draco kept waving their wands over their matchsticks, but neither matchstick changed at all.
Both turned toward Shawn, who was reading intently, and Harry asked in confusion.
"Shawn, why aren't you practicing?"
Before Shawn could answer, Ron sneered from the row behind them.
"Hah, I thought the great genius Shawn could do anything. Turns out he's just as rubbish as we are."
Harry's expression changed, and Draco shot to his feet.
"You bloody redhead! Say that again if you dare."
Besides Draco, the nearby Slytherin students also stood and glared threateningly at Ron.
Their stares made Ron feel a little nervous, but he still stuck his chin out.
"So being rubbish makes you right? Shawn certainly knows how to put on an act. He can't do it any more than we can, but he still makes himself look so mysterious."
Noticing the commotion, Professor McGonagall approached and reprimanded them.
"What are you all doing instead of practicing?"
The students facing off immediately wilted. All of them feared the stern Professor McGonagall.
Shawn put down his book without so much as glancing at Ron behind him and explained to Professor McGonagall.
"Professor, Draco and the others were asking me to demonstrate for them."
McGonagall's interest was piqued.
"Oh? So you've already mastered it, Shawn?"
Without wasting words, Shawn drew his wand and pointed it at the matchstick on his desk.
Everyone nearby watched intently. Harry and Draco had complete confidence in him, while Ron, his eyes burning with jealousy, muttered, "Please, Merlin, let Shawn fail."
What happened next left everyone dumbfounded.
The matchstick Shawn had pointed at didn't become a silver needle. Instead, it slowly expanded into a silver longsword shimmering with light.
Red gemstones set into the sword glittered brilliantly. Intricate patterns adorned its hilt, and cold light gleamed along its keen blade. The entire sword was dazzling.
"The big, beautiful sword is mine!"
Draco and Harry fought gleefully over the sword, each wanting it for himself.
Draco finally won the sword and made several thrusts through the air above Ron's head. Ron's little face turned as red as his hair, and his fists clenched so tightly they could have squeezed out water.
Professor McGonagall's pupils contracted for a moment. She recognized the sword as a replica of the Sword of Gryffindor, but Shawn's talent for Transfiguration amazed her even more!
Only after taking a deep breath did she speak slowly.
"Ten points to Slytherin. Shawn, you have an excellent talent for Transfiguration. Give your classmates some guidance. And come to my office after class."
"Yes, Professor."
Shawn bowed slightly in acknowledgment. Even without her invitation, he had plenty of questions to ask her.
For the rest of the lesson, Shawn stopped reading and earnestly coached Draco and Harry.
"You can't just cast blindly. You need to picture the structure of a silver needle in your mind first. Hmm, take these two needles I've made and study them for ten minutes."
Their talent for Transfiguration was only a tiny bit above average. Even with Shawn guiding them every step of the way, they barely managed to form needle shapes before class ended, and the material was still wood.
Even so, the pair were beside themselves with joy. Everything was relative, after all.
Behind them, Seamus had already caused two explosions, while Ron had nearly snapped his wand from jabbing it so hard. A truly peerless pair of "geniuses."
After class, Harry and Draco went off to eat together. From the look of things, they had become best buddies for the time being.
Shawn followed Professor McGonagall to her office, wondering what goodies he might wheedle out of her besides getting his questions answered.