Under Professor McGonagall's stern demeanor,
none of the young wizards even dared to breathe too loudly. Every single one of them sat extremely upright.
Dylan put the book he had been reading into his backpack in the desk drawer
and laid A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration out in front of him.
As for Transfiguration,
the proficiency given by his system was—Transfiguration (3/10).
And that was after he had painstakingly studied it for quite a long time.
Unlike the Levitation Charm, where just a bit of casual practice had been enough to push him straight to level 3.
That proved McGonagall's warnings were not empty words.
It was because Transfiguration truly was one of the most dangerous types of magic Hogwarts could teach to young wizards.
After all, Transfiguration could be divided into transforming inanimate objects and transforming living beings.
Simply changing an inanimate object's form was not such a big deal; at worst, you just ruined a piece of material.
But the moment a living body was involved, any mistake could very well cost a life.
It was like performing surgery.
In a sense, Transfiguration could be seen as conducting live experiments.
If something went wrong during the "operation,"
the subject would inevitably face a variety of serious consequences.
Take the Animagus form, for example.
On the surface it was just turning oneself into an animal, but if, after transforming, your self-awareness was worn away, then would you not be stuck that way forever?
Once your sense of self blurred and you truly believed you were an animal, how would you ever manage to turn yourself back into a human?
Moreover, Transfiguration did not only concern inanimate and living transformations.
Its scope was extremely broad.
That was also why it was so hard to learn.
Everything Professor McGonagall covered in class was exactly what Dylan wanted to know.
Even though his proficiency was only level 3, it was already enough for him to fully understand what she meant.
The other young wizards were not so lucky.
All they could do was scribble frantically, trying to record as many of the key points as possible.
By the end of the lesson,
Dylan felt he had gained a great deal.
Many of the others, however, let out a long sigh of relief.
"As expected, even though the books describe Transfiguration in great detail, trying to really understand it without a teacher guiding you will lead to all sorts of mistakes."
Dylan gave full marks to McGonagall's teaching ability.
He now understood deeply that even if he only wanted to master inanimate Transfiguration, becoming truly proficient there was no easy feat.
"For now I can only transform relatively simple and non-precise objects for brief periods. Still need more practice."
During class, because Dylan had already managed to transform objects—and into forms even more complex than McGonagall had asked for—
she had generously awarded him extra House points.
Hermione also earned five points for Gryffindor for successfully performing a transformation.
As for the others, they were not nearly as quick at casting the spell.
After an entire lesson, the best some could manage was to make an object twitch a little.
"Merlin, this is hard."
Harry and Ron had tinkered for ages and still failed to turn the matchsticks in front of them into metal.
After class,
Dylan packed up his things, then immediately walked over to Professor McGonagall and handed her his notebook.
"Professor McGonagall, I have a few questions I'd like to ask."
Toward a student as bright and eager to learn as Dylan,
McGonagall nodded. "Come with me to my office."
The two of them left the classroom together, and McGonagall took his notebook.
Seeing the dense but neat notes on the pages, her eyes showed even more satisfaction.
"Professor, when I study the same spell in different books, I often find theoretical discrepancies between them."
Once they entered her office, Dylan said, "So I'm not sure which one to trust when those contradictions appear. Which one is correct?"
McGonagall shook her head. "What you're calling contradictions simply mean you still haven't fully grasped the spell's essence."
"Every accomplished witch or wizard has their own unique understanding of a given spell."
"So the differences you mention do not mean that one side's understanding of the spell's nature is wrong."
"No matter which interpretation you use when casting, the core function of the spell itself will not change."
"What it will change is your casting speed, how much magic you use… and the power and effects of the spell when cast."
"Once you start using magic for real, you will naturally develop an understanding that belongs to you alone."
Dylan blinked.
So, in truth, magic was like mathematical formulas.
Or rather, the formula was the same, but there could be different ways to solve the problem.
"Your notebook has a lot of your own interpretations from your reading," McGonagall continued.
Flipping through Dylan's notes
actually made him feel a bit embarrassed.
He had written them over the holidays, his personal thoughts about all sorts of magic.
Many of them probably looked childish in a professor's eyes.
"I'm sure quite a few of those interpretations are wrong," he said.
"Says who?"
McGonagall scanned up and down the page, then lifted her gaze to Dylan.
"These ideas are very… unconventional. A lot of your thoughts are quite original. That's impressive."
She did not hold back in her praise.
In her view,
for a child relying purely on self-study to branch out so many variations on a spell's application
meant he was truly exceptional.
She could see the traces of immaturity in his notes, but they were also full of spark and intuition.
With just a bit of guidance, Dylan would certainly grow into a wizard whose power could match, or even surpass, her own.
"You can take this notebook with you. I assume you took your in-class notes in your textbook?"
Dylan nodded.
"Then leave the textbook here. I'll annotate your ideas in the margins and you can get it back from me next lesson."
The surprise came too suddenly.
Dylan's eyes widened.
He had not expected Professor McGonagall to personally mark up his notes.
His eyes shone with delight. "Really? Won't that trouble you too much?"
"It's no trouble. Perhaps because you haven't had formal training yet, some of the questions and thoughts in your notes strike me as quite interesting, so I'd like to look them over carefully."
McGonagall took the textbook he handed her.
"At the beginning, when you're first trying to understand magic, many whimsical ideas will appear. They may be childish, they may be inaccurate, but that doesn't mean they lack value."
"Once you have fully mastered the contents of this book and look back on these notes, you may discover something new in them."
Dylan nodded lightly in understanding.
"Thank you for the guidance, Professor McGonagall."
"Any other questions?"
"Yes. About material structure…"