Seeing this, Morris asked with some curiosity, "Perhaps I shouldn't meddle, but is there some conflict between you?"
Making enemies on the very first day of school was, in a sense, a talent in itself.
Hermione sighed softly, a hint of helplessness in her voice. "They're my roommates. We haven't argued."
In fact, she found it baffling herself.
Her three roommates seemed to have become inseparable friends in just one evening and one morning, leaving only her shut out.
She simply couldn't understand why.
In all fairness, she hadn't done anything unpleasant. She had merely shown them the magic she had learned over the summer.
Morris rubbed his chin.
He had heard a thing or two about the complicated relationships between girls.
But did children this young already start doing that sort of thing?
When Morris had been eleven in his previous life, his troubles had revolved around collecting a complete set of game cards.
Although he wanted to show his helpful side, there was really nothing he could do about this.
"What are your roommates like?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"Unfortunately," Morris said, shaking his head, "I live alone. I don't have any roommates."
Hermione immediately gave him a sympathetic look.
She had probably misunderstood something.
Morris merely smiled without offering any further explanation. "Oh, here are the stairs. Goodbye."
"Goodbye." Hermione waved.
The first lesson was Transfiguration.
After having breakfast in the Great Hall and spending another twenty minutes getting lost, Morris finally found the Transfiguration classroom.
It was still early, though, and there was no one inside.
The only living thing was a conspicuous tabby cat on the teacher's desk-probably some student's pet that had lost its way.
The tabby lay quietly on the desk, watching Morris.
Incidentally, Morris didn't dislike cats. Otherwise, he wouldn't have turned Guantou into his first undead creature.
With nothing to do, he walked over to the cat and transformed his wand into a cat teaser with a feather tied to it, gently waving it before the tabby's eyes.
The tabby's ears twitched slightly, but it did nothing else.
"Don't like it?"
Morris murmured to himself, then turned the feather on the end of the teaser into a ball of yarn.
As far as he knew, no cat could resist the temptation of a ball of yarn.
At least, the stupid cat he kept couldn't.
Sure enough, the tabby moved.
But it didn't pounce and play as Morris had expected.
It merely stretched and nimbly leaped down from the desk.
The instant it landed, its fur vanished, and its body abruptly lengthened.
Professor McGonagall's prim face appeared before him.
She adjusted her glasses, her gaze settling on the wand in Morris's hand, which still retained its ball-of-yarn form.
"Very fine Transfiguration, Morris." Professor McGonagall's lips were pressed into a straight line, but a barely perceptible flicker of appreciation crossed her eyes.
"Er... good morning, Professor."
Morris silently restored his wand to its original form.
He had never expected the cat before him to be a transformed human.
Perhaps from now on, whenever he saw an animal at Hogwarts, he would have to consider whether it was real first.
"If this were during class, I would certainly award you points." Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and a cup of tea flew over from the side. "Unfortunately, class doesn't begin for another half hour."
"Can Transfiguration turn people into animals?" Morris asked curiously.
From his perspective, the tabby Professor McGonagall had just turned into had been flawless.
It was a good way to disguise oneself.
It might prove remarkably effective in a dangerous situation.
"Yes." Professor McGonagall smiled. "But what I just used wasn't ordinary Transfiguration. It was a more advanced form of magic. Once you've fully mastered Transfiguration, you will naturally have opportunities to encounter it."
Morris nodded.
Professor McGonagall offered no further explanation, probably believing he didn't need to know so much yet.
And he wasn't someone who reached beyond his grasp, either.
"You have a very solid foundation in Transfiguration." Professor McGonagall took a sip of steaming hot tea. "Did you teach yourself over the summer?"
"Yes," Morris replied matter-of-factly. "As you know, I wasn't born into a wizarding family."
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes and smiled.
It seemed Hogwarts would have an outstanding student in this year's intake.
A pity he hadn't gone into Gryffindor.
"All right, Morris, take a seat. There's still some time before class."
Morris chose a seat by the window at random and quietly waited for his first lesson at Hogwarts.
Gradually, students began filing into the classroom.
Most Hogwarts lessons were arranged for two houses to attend together. This Transfiguration lesson, for instance, was a joint class for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
When the bell rang, the classroom was about half full-as for the other half, Morris guessed they were probably still going around in circles in some corridor of the castle.
Professor McGonagall seemed to have expected this as well. Rather than beginning the lesson immediately, she simply continued drinking her tea, perfectly composed.
It wasn't until three minutes after the bell rang that all the students finally arrived.
Fortunately, Professor McGonagall didn't deduct any house points over it.
Morris had already gained some understanding of house points. Professors awarded or deducted points according to students' performance, and at the end of each school year, the house with the highest score received the House Cup.
It was a competitive system within Hogwarts.
Morris wasn't particularly interested in it, though.
He had already looked into it, and even winning the House Cup brought no tangible reward.
In his view, schools in both the Muggle World and the Wizarding World ought to understand one thing-
Incentives without rewards were all empty talk.
Even so, the students here seemed very enthusiastic about competing for the House Cup.
Morris found it rather hard to understand.
Normally, a lesson lasted an hour.
Transfiguration was no exception.
This lesson involved turning a match into a needle.
Morris thought it was as simple as riding a bicycle, but unfortunately, apart from Kyle from his own house-the boy who had competed with him for a single room-none of the others succeeded.
Professor McGonagall seemed to have anticipated this situation. She patiently taught everyone the techniques for using the Transfiguration Spell over and over, correcting their gestures and pronunciation.
And Morris, unsurprisingly, received special attention.
He was asked to turn the match into a silver letter opener decorated with a lion's-head pattern.
Honestly, that was a bit much to ask of him at his current level.
It took him a full half hour to barely achieve that goal.
He also earned five house points for Ravenclaw as a result.
When the bell rang to end the lesson, Professor McGonagall stopped Morris as he was preparing to leave.
"It's time we discussed that matter, Morris. You don't have another lesson next, do you?"
"What matter?" Morris was a little surprised.
"The Thestral," Professor McGonagall explained briefly. "Normally, Thestrals don't approach students of their own accord. But yesterday, you rode one to the castle."
Only then did Morris understand.
Honestly, he hadn't given the matter any thought at all.
He had merely ridden that strange horse.
"Will I be punished?" he asked.
Professor McGonagall shook her head. "You haven't done anything wrong, but we need to make that Thestral understand that rashly allowing students to ride on its back is very dangerous."
"What do I need to do?" Morris asked next.
"You only need to identify the Thestral that carried you last night," Professor McGonagall said gently. "A professional will go and give it a reminder."
Hearing this, Morris gave a slight nod.
With the students' safety in mind, that wasn't difficult to understand.
Besides, he actually rather wanted to see that magical creature again.