The next day passed in a blur, with Andy learning how to make a toy wand that can light up.
In the morning, in the snow-filled clearing outside the house, Andy wore his winter clothes, puffed up a cloud of breath, and put on a solemn look, trying to look like he was about to participate in an official duel, standing opposite the glowing Fat Cat, staring at it in a stand-off.
Then, Andy suddenly waved his left hand, causing ten snowballs to float and 'swish' toward the Fat Cat, which changed into eagles in the middle of the trajectory.
Today, he decided to train his transfiguration and wandless spellcasting skills, taking advantage of the snow and holiday.
To use transfiguration effectively in the battle like Dumbledore, Andy needs good situational awareness, reaction speed and experience. So he decided to hone his skill through a snowfight.
The Fat Cat quickly swung its tail like a whip, and with a whoosh sound, the snow rose high, creating a wall around the cat, effectively blocking the eagles that pounced on it with just a small dent, making the eagles fall apart on the ground.
Andy smiled and swiped his right ring finger up, causing big tentacle-shaped snow to rise from the spot where the eagles fell; the tentacles swirled around like a whirlpool and easily drilled through the wall around the cat, and as they were about to pierce the Fat Cat, they passed through its phantom-like Patronus body.
"Okay, now it's your turn," Andy said with a big smile; it had been long since he had relaxed like this.
He decided to pla- Ahem, practice magic more with Isa, Fat Cat, and Hermione whenever he got a chance.
Sensing Andy's mood, Fat Cat bounced around in midair cheerfully, as if it were standing on solid ground.
Then, with a swipe of its tail, a big cat rose from the ground, but at the last second, it squirmed and changed into the shape of a Centaur statue, the statue Dumbledore used to fight Voldemort.
Fat Cat suddenly remembered the fight at the Ministry it had witnessed that day, making it want to play with the Centaur as well.
Seeing this, Andy shook his head with a light smile. Then with a wave of his hand, a big porcupine appeared before him with its needles-filled back facing the Centaur.
Porcupine, it's one of the animals Andy got familiar enough with to instantly transfigure during a fight.
Andy envisioned he could use the needles of the porcupine as projectiles that could explode during a fight using fusion magic.
Which is something Hermione can pull off with her current skills, making it a good self-defence magic for her in case she gets involved in a group fight.
The Centaur propelled its front hooves high and galloped toward Andy, cutting through the wind.
The big arrow-like needles shot towards the Centaur, whistling through the air.
The Centaur zigzagged through the path to avoid the needles, but as it neared Andy, if it wanted to approach him, it didn't have much room to evade, so it got hit by a few arrow-length needles and got its middle body blasted apart and fell.
Although he can now wandlessly cast many spells he is familiar with and has a good grasp of, the power of the spell would be inferior to that of a spell cast with a wand.
"Hahaha." Some snow from the Centaur splashed on Andy's face, making him laugh heartily.
Feeling Andy's happiness, the Fat Cat became happy as well, bouncing around Andy in midair.
Both of them then played in the name of training. After a short while, Andy suddenly remembered what Grindelwald said yesterday.
About how Gargoyles and Armours in Hogwarts would come to life and fight the muggle intruders and defend the castle.
Although, he didn't know whether it was true or false. He remembered reading a rumour about Peeves, about how he got control of all the weapons in the castle, fired mini-cannons and crossbows randomly, and threatened the students' lives to retaliate against the caretaker who tried to remove him from the castle with a trap.
It is said that only after the Headmistress of that time negotiated to sign a contract with him, giving him some special privileges; Peeves relinquished weapons and calmed down.
Just thinking about Knight Armour in the castle coming to life and fighting like Gundam made Andy's heartbeat speed up.
Andy took out his wand and transfigured a Knight Armour he saw in the castle, but its movement was awkward, with a creaking noise.
An invisible question mark popped above Fat Cat's head; it looked at Andy and Armour with a puzzled look.
'Nothing, I am just thinking about how to make it move flexibly.' Andy just shook his head in response.
He was just wondering why the Armour couldn't move properly. Is it because he hadn't seen them move, or he didn't know about them much?
If what Grindelwald said was true. How did the Armour move, and flexible enough to fight?
Did some phantom figure wear the Armour?
Or are there some gears inside it, making the joints flexible?
Or is it just the omnipotence of magic?
Andy scratched his head with a puzzled look.
Grindelwald, who was watching them play outside from the window for a while, looked at the metal Knight Armour Andy transfigured.
Thinking Andy got interested in what he said yesterday, Grindelwald smiled and used Apparition.
With a pop, Grindelwald appeared beside Andy. He silently stood beside Andy, looking at the Armour without speaking anything.
Fat Cat Patronus looked at the silent duo with a puzzled look, then started to run around them.
"Mr Grindelwald, good morning." Andy looked attentively at Armour and greeted him, breaking the silence.
"Good morning. Are you training your transfiguration skill?" Grindelwald asked in response.
"Hm. I just thought of what you said yesterday." Andy weighed his words and spoke.
"About... hm... about how armour and statues at Hogwarts could move and defend the castle. I thought it was cool. So I tried to transfigure, but it seems less flexible."
"What do you think the problem is?" Andy turned to the knight armour and asked in a puzzled tone.
Just thinking about the scene of 'robots' fighting against the mediaeval army made Andy's heart beat faster.
For most boys, robots, cars, sword-shaped sticks, and different-shaped stones are a few things that can pull their heartstrings. It is their romance.
"It is a simple one. If you think a bit more, you will soon find what's wrong yourself." Grindelwald spoke in a casual tone and turned to look at the armour.
Grindelwald waved the sceptre in his hand to demonstrate.
Soon, another knight armour appeared, but this one seemed to move like a living being, and there was no creaking and jammed sound when it moved.
"You know. In magic, the concept we have in our cognition is important. When casting a cleaning spell, the rubbish will disappear or be banished somewhere. In this, our concept of rubbish is important." Grindelwald explained, looking at the armour.
He wished to create tens of thousands of such armours.
If Armours and Gargoyles in Hogwarts and other ancient castles can be mass-produced, the huge population gap can be bridged a bit in case war between wizards and muggles happens.
Other than that option and large-scale magic like Fiendfyre, which only an above-average wizard can handle. Transfiguration and creating Inferi are the other options.
But even a powerful wizard like Dumbledore can only transfigure and control about 100 figures simultaneously. So, it is a no-go as well.
And Inferi needs fresh corpses to move flexibly, which can be easily obtained if war really happens; the only issue is highly skilled dark wizards are needed to create them, and they are not a trustworthy bunch.
"In the transfiguration, at the basic level, the mouse you transfigure will move, because you know the mouse will walk on four legs even if you don't know the inner workings of it. Like how the blood will flow and the muscles will move under the brain's command."
"Only at the advanced level, when you want to make it life-like, you need to know the knowledge of how it moves and its inner operations. Before that, the concept of the mouse you have in mind is all matter."
"In your cognition, this armour can't move flexibly, so it can't move flexibly."
"You should remember. Although knowledge and rationality are important, belief and emotions plays a big part in magic."
"Knowledge and cognition we gain can make our thinking trapped in a circle and make it rigid."
"Your whimsical ideas and out-of-the-box thinking are one of your plus points."
Andy remained silent. Thinking about how Harry got sudden power-ups sometimes when his emotions went up and down.
Is it the power of friendship and love?
What a shounen protagonist power.
Once again, Andy realised. In magic, intent, thoughts, emotions and beliefs are most important.
This world magic, for the most part, is an ideological power system.
"Does the real armour in Hogwarts also move based on that principle?" Andy asked after contemplation.
"They are high-level alchemical creations, made with real magic-transmitted metal and enchanted with multiple magics. Only the Headmasters of Hogwarts are made aware of how they work."
"From the records I read in the German Ministry Archives, they have been linked with castle magic like house elves. 600 years ago, a Headmaster awakened them to protect the castle from an invading local lord."
"Although I don't know how the four Hogwarts founders designed them. One thing I am sure of is they are expensive to make. Even with the wealth and strength of the Four, they only managed to make around 100 of them."
Thinking about the miraculous power of the Philosopher's Stone, Grindelwald's face scrunched up; he looked up at the sky and grumbled. "If only he hadn't destroyed the Philosopher's Stone; maybe we can mass-produce low-level cannon fodder version of such magical items."
"..."
Andy turned his head to look at Grindelwald.
Although he agreed with Grindelwald and felt it was a pity such a miraculous item was destroyed. He didn't voice it out.
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