"How come I heard you're especially attentive to that first-year girl in Ravenclaw?" Gerald asked with a smile.
"No, don't listen to that nonsense. Qiu Zhang and I just share some interests. We both like Quidditch and Herbology, and we happen to get along, that's all."
Cedric's face instantly flushed red.
"I never said it was Qiu Zhang."
"You..."
Cedric's expression was as colorful as a sheet of white paper splashed with paint.
Gerald had no time for his adolescent crush. Carrying the Matryoshka Doll, he headed toward Gryffindor Tower.
Meltwater stains were everywhere in the Castle's corridors. Peeves floated out of a classroom carrying a bucket of ice water he had stolen from who knew where, about to splash it over passing students.
When he saw Gerald approaching with the Matryoshka Doll, Peeves paused, then casually hid the bucket behind his back and floated away, humming a tune.
Ever since Gerald had frightened Peeves with the Thunder Technique, Peeves had given him a wide berth.
Back in the Dormitory, Gerald lined up all ten Matryoshka Dolls on the desk.
Fred and George were still in the Common Room discussing the terms of the Ministry of Magic's order contract with Percy, leaving the Dormitory unusually quiet.
Each Matryoshka Doll had indeed been made using a different Transfiguration technique.
The largest used the simplest surface transformation. The second added compression of its internal cavity on top of the surface transformation. The third began to involve partial conversion of materials, and they grew more complex from there.
Professor McGonagall was clearly testing his limits.
Gerald flexed his fingers and took out his wand.
An hour later, all ten Matryoshka Dolls had been restored.
He arranged the restored objects on the desk in order, wrote down every step of the reversal process on