In the center of the corridor, the chimera slithered its serpentine body, wanting to crawl toward a stone pillar. But Leo tapped his wand, and the ferocious monster instantly reverted to a large wooden club.
Leonardo tilted his head, glancing toward the pillar. Seeing two quickly retreating figures, his mouth curved upward.
"All right, back to the dormitories. We still have class tomorrow."
Leo collected the wooden club as well, waving his hand to clear traces of the troll. Harry and the other two stood dazed for a moment before following his steps.
After a moment of silence, Ron spoke up. "Leo, just now, that was Transfiguration?"
His eyes were shining brightly.
"Yes, a rather complex type of Transfiguration."
Hearing Leo's confirmation, the light in Ron's eyes became even more obvious. He'd originally thought Transfiguration was just to help him learn alchemy, but he never expected this. Transfiguration could be used like that! Creating a strange creature with a wave of his hand, he takes down a troll in no time!
Ron couldn't imagine how amazing it would be if he could learn this.
"Leo, so, do you think I could?"
Seeing Ron's excited expression, Leonardo immediately understood. "You want to learn this?"
Ron nodded eagerly.
"Have you finished today's homework? Drawn the blueprints?"
These words made Ron's face stiffen. He scratched his head awkwardly. "Well, there was an accident today, um, haven't written much yet..."
Leonardo gently shook his head. Kids were easily distracted. Seeing something cool today made them want to learn something new, when their foundation still needed work.
Ron had demonstrated mechanical animals to the Weasley twins, though. He had results from the studies in this period. His family's recognition would also increase. Maybe soon they'd send more valuable books and notes—who knew what magical knowledge they'd contain?
"So, Leo, are you tutoring Ron's studies?"
Hermione finally couldn't help asking. She'd wanted to ask for a long time, and today's event had shocked her again.
Leonardo didn't plan to hide it. Actually, he was somewhat puzzled why Hermione only asked now. With this girl's personality, she should have figured it out earlier, right? Had Harry and Ron communicated less with Hermione during this time?
It seemed in the original story that these three kids' relationship truly improved after... Whatever. He'd already changed some things anyway. This should be just a small matter with no major impact.
"Yes."
Leo's straightforward admission left Hermione somewhat unprepared. After a few seconds, she looked at Harry. "Then Harry's Potions level has been improving recently, is that also...?"
Leonardo nodded.
Hermione bit her lip, wanting to say something but hesitating. Just as they were about to separate to return to their respective houses, Hermione finally said quietly, "Then can I study with you?"
"What do you want to learn? You shouldn't have anything you're not good at."
"I want to learn everything!"
Leonardo wasn't surprised by this answer at all. Very fitting for Miss Know-It-All's personality.
Teaching two students or three students—it was all the same amount of work. But he also had to collect tuition. Couldn't play favorites. Knowledge should be shared equally.
However, now that he had the Versatile Flesh Puppet, the next stage of Transfiguration learning could be scheduled. Animate-to-inanimate, animate-to-animate, and finally Animagus. Things would get busier. If someone could help him save some time...
Leonardo looked at Hermione, smiling softly. "Can you grade assignments?"
Somewhere in the castle, Snape limped over, seeing Dumbledore and other professors there. His tone was cold yet trembled, as if he were trying hard to suppress some pain. "Why summon us suddenly? Don't we still need to find the invading troll?"
While speaking, Snape glanced at Quirrell, his eyes flashing with suspicion and disgust.
Dumbledore stroked his white beard. "Thank you all for your hard work tonight, but everyone needn't search anymore. Please go back and rest."
Pausing, Dumbledore's tone was slightly odd. "Um, the troll has already left the castle."
Hearing this, the professors were somewhat incredulous, not believing that kind of foolish, savage monster would obediently leave on its own.
"Left? Really? Wasn't it hidden somewhere by someone?"
Snape said darkly, obviously hinting at something. But Dumbledore acted as if he hadn't heard Snape implying Quirrell had problems, only coughing dryly. "I'm quite certain of this. Mr. Nick told me he personally witnessed the troll leaving."
A gray, semi-transparent figure floated out from the wall—it was the ghost Nearly Headless Nick. He lifted his nearly falling head, glanced at Dumbledore, and spoke after receiving his signal. "Yes, that troll has already left Hogwarts. It won't harm the children anymore."
The professors nodded. The castle's portraits and ghosts all served the Headmaster—they would never deceive Dumbledore. Besides, they had no reason to lie about this, as it concerned young wizards' safety.
After chatting for a while, the professors said goodbye and left, all returning to prepare tomorrow's lessons. Only Dumbledore and the ghost Nick remained.
After a long while, Nick hesitantly said, "Headmaster, that young wizard named Leonardo, the monster he created, was it..."
Dumbledore adjusted his half-moon spectacles, saying with some mixture of amusement and concern. "That child always gives people surprises. Or frights."
In the Slytherin dormitory, Malfoy lay on his bed with vacant eyes. He didn't remember how he'd returned to the dormitory—it seemed like Greengrass had dragged him back?
Images flashed through his mind: Leonardo elegantly casting spells, toying with the troll like a conductor. With a casual wave of his wand, he'd transformed a wooden club into a monster! What kind of bizarre, terrifying thing was that—a creature that shouldn't exist in this world! A creature that could easily defeat a troll was casually created by Leo!
Finally, a pair of translucent eyeballs surfaced again in Malfoy's mind, freezing there.
Malfoy turned over, burying his head deeply into the blanket. He'd just glanced at the window—the sky outside was already faintly glowing with light. Only then did Malfoy realize he hadn't slept all night.
So now, it was already the next day. He was supposed to duel Leo today, wasn't he?