First Points Awarded

"Time is up. Please take your seats, ladies and gentlemen. Your first Transfiguration Class has now begun.

"Before we begin, I need to tell you that Transfiguration is one of the most complex, dangerous, and difficult branches of magic to learn. Please pay close attention in my class. Do not whisper to each other or cause trouble. Otherwise, for the sake of the other students' lessons, I will have no choice but to ask you to leave my classroom temporarily.

"If everyone understands, then our first lesson begins now."

As her words fell, Professor McGonagall elegantly raised her wand and gave it a gentle wave. The new students immediately saw the patterns on the floor beneath their feet seem to come alive, flowing like rippling water and currents. Flowers, grasses, and small trees gradually sprouted from the desks before them.

The plants swiftly bloomed and bore fruit. The fruit fell onto the desktops and burst apart, releasing sparrows that flew out one after another. They circled through the classroom, which had almost become a forest, chirping like some rhythmic melody.

With another wave of her wand, everything in the classroom returned to normal. Professor McGonagall looked at the Young Wizards and said, "Transfiguration is a profound form of magic. Even if a wizard devoted an entire lifetime to it, it would still be difficult to reach a truly advanced level.

"Therefore, all you need to do is keep moving forward, one step at a time. If you are diligent enough and have sufficient talent for Transfiguration, then when you finally look up, you will find that you have already traveled a great distance down the path of Transfiguration.

"Next, I will teach you the most basic and most commonly used form of Transfiguration: object transformation."

With that, Professor McGonagall lightly tapped the lectern beside her with her wand. It immediately transformed into a little pig, which snorted softly as it paced around the front of the classroom.

Everyone knew that pigs possessed extremely strong magical resistance. The ability to use Transfiguration to turn an inanimate object into a living creature—and a perfect little pig without the slightest flaw—was enough to demonstrate Professor McGonagall's profound mastery of Transfiguration.

Sean understood this well. A large part of the notes Gavin had given him concerned various theories and experiments involving Transfiguration. As Sean read through them, he discovered that even by the end of Gavin's notes, when Gavin had graduated from Hogwarts, he had never successfully transformed an inanimate object into an animal. Even so, Gavin's Transfiguration had already been considered quite exceptional. That alone showed just how difficult Transfiguration was.

Therefore, ever since receiving his Wand, Sean had attached great importance to practicing Transfiguration. Building upon the experience and personal techniques regarding Transfiguration recorded in Gavin's Notes, he had at least taken his first steps into the field.

At the same time, Transfiguration Class was also the first step in Sean's plan to earn back points.

Halfway through Professor McGonagall's lesson, matches appeared before each of them.

"This is what you need to learn in the first lesson. Follow the method I just taught you and turn this match into a needle. That is the goal you should work toward during the remaining half of the lesson."

It was merely a goal to work toward, not something they were required to achieve. In truth, Professor McGonagall knew perfectly well how difficult this seemingly simple task was, especially for Young Wizards on their first day of class.

Sean looked at the match before him. When he had practiced Transfiguration at home, he had not attempted to turn a match into a needle, instead transforming other objects. But the principles behind transforming one object into another were fundamentally the same, so Sean was not nervous. He took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and pointed his Wand at the match before him.

The Wand traced from the head of the match down toward its tail.

Visible to the naked eye, the match gradually became sharper and thinner. As Sean repeatedly moved his Wand up and down, the match grew finer and finer, while its material slowly changed as well. Finally, on the seventh stroke of Sean's Wand, the match completely transformed into a silver sewing needle!

"Sean did it!"

Ron had tried many times during practice, but his match had shown no reaction whatsoever. Unable to help himself, he had become distracted, looking around from time to time—first at Harry, then at Sean.

When he saw Sean successfully turn the match into a sewing needle, he could not help crying out.

Ron's voice immediately drew the attention of the entire classroom. The Young Wizards all turned to look at the sewing needle in front of Sean, while Professor McGonagall quickly walked over. She picked up the needle from Sean's desk and examined it carefully. Only after confirming that the transformation was flawless did she nod in satisfaction and look at Sean.

"Everyone, look. Mr. Bulstrode has successfully completed the transformation. As the first person to succeed, I will award five points to Slytherin for Mr. Bulstrode!"

Although Professor McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor, unlike the Slytherin Snake King, she was a remarkably fair person. She would not refuse to award points simply because someone was a Slytherin student, nor would she refrain from deducting points because someone was a Gryffindor student. Sean had performed excellently in her class, so he deserved the points, even if he was from Slytherin.

If any other Slytherin had earned points, the other Slytherin Young Wizards would surely have cheered. But because it was Sean, and because Malfoy and Millicent were present, aside from Blaise clapping to congratulate him, no other Slytherin celebrated Sean earning points.

Sean did not care much about that. He had lost those points himself, so earning them back was only right. Everything else had nothing to do with him. All he needed to do was live his own life well.

When class ended, Professor McGonagall left the classroom first. Sean and Blaise said goodbye to Harry and Ron, then headed to their second lesson in the greenhouses outside Hogwarts Castle, where Slytherin would attend Herbology class with Ravenclaw.

Sean had no chance to earn points in this lesson. First, he had not studied Herbology in advance. Second, many Ravenclaw students possessed astonishing reserves of knowledge, and Sean was no match for them.

During the lunch break, Sean was eating with Blaise when Samuel, the male Prefect of the Fifth Year, suddenly came over.

"Sean, I heard that you won back five points for Slytherin in Transfiguration today. Congratulations. You've made a good start. At this rate, earning back fifty points in a semester may not be impossible. We look forward to you winning back every last point."

Samuel appeared very enthusiastic. Sean calmly exchanged a few words with him.

Before long, Samuel excused himself, claiming that he had something else to do, and left the Great Hall.

Sean watched Samuel's departing back and gave a soft laugh.

Just what one would expect from Slytherin.

By the way, to write this book, I bought the complete set of Harry Potter novels... Also, Chapter Two should be out around nine o'clock.