Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

After Lin Xia and the others finished their tests, they immediately rushed to the first magic class.

This is a Transfiguration course taught by Professor McGonagall.

The transformation lessons in first and second grade are basic transformations, such as turning a match into a needle.

Starting from the third grade, the textbook used is "Intermediate Metamorphosis", which requires students to master cross-species transformation from "non-living to living", while also taking into account morphological and life characteristics.

For example, last semester, Professor McGonagall asked students to try to give inanimate objects the shape and characteristics of living things, so that the inanimate objects would look lifelike.

Then, in the next semester, the requirements will become even more demanding.

From the very first lesson, Professor McGonagall prepared a teapot for each student and asked them to transform the teapot into a turtle.

The students had just finished their tests, a time of great anxiety.

Professor McGonagall's series of tasks actually left the students with less time to think about anything else.

McGonagall solemnly reminded him, "The technical challenge in transforming the teapot into a turtle lies in converting the ceramic outer shell of the teapot into a turtle shell pattern, the spout into the turtle's head, the body into the turtle's limbs, and at the same time, giving it the ability to move like a reptile."

Neville is attempting to transform.

He felt that his magical abilities seemed to have improved since the third grade, and he had become more confident.

However, because it was the first time using the intermediate Transfiguration spell, it was not released accurately, resulting in the turtle's shell retaining its ceramic luster.

The turtle that appeared in front of me didn't have a shell; it was still covered by a ceramic shell.

The limbs were also unable to move, and the body was extremely stiff; it looked fake at first glance.

Professor McGonagall glanced at Neville and said incisively, "Your spellcasting is not precise enough; you need more practice."

This level of Transfiguration is child's play for Lin Xia, Draco, and Hermione.

They only did it once, and they succeeded in transforming the teapot into a turtle.

Professor McGonagall walked up to them, nodded slightly, and said:

"After completing this transformation, you can try a more advanced transformation, transforming the glass bead into the compound eyes of a beetle. The compound eyes must possess the visual reflective characteristics of a real insect, rather than being static decorations."

Draco and Hermione looked serious, their heads bowed as they pondered something.

But this kind of transformation that changes the essence is still very simple for Lin Xia.

She only tried once, and she conjured up the beetle's compound eyes.

Ron and Harry were still struggling with the teapot. It was their first time trying to shapeshift, and they made the mistakes that all newcomers make, but they were much better than the other young wizards.

Other junior wizards repeatedly cast Polymorph spells, and most of them did not improve; this was the norm.

They only had to run it two or three times before they understood where they went wrong and began to correct it little by little.

The revision was a long process that required a great deal of patience, and Ron soon became restless.

He first looked at the lifelike compound eyes of the beetle on Lin Xia's table, then at the glass beads in front of Hermione and Draco's tables.

The two individuals have not yet attempted to deform the glass bead.

Ron asked curiously, "Is this difficult? We've been learning to turn buttons into beetles since we were in the lower grades."

Hermione said with a somewhat serious expression, "To turn the button into a beetle, all you need to do is make the beetle look like one."

However, to transform a glass bead into the compound eyes of a beetle, it also needs to possess the visual reflection characteristics of a real insect. This involves changing the essence of the glass bead and completely transforming its functional properties, which is extremely difficult.

Ron had originally wanted to try transforming the glass bead into a beetle's compound eye, but he found it quite simple.

But he couldn't even complete the basic task of turning the teapot into a turtle. Professor McGonagall wouldn't give them glass beads until he completed that task, so he had no choice but to give up.

Professor McGonagall only reminded the students who showed some talent in Transfiguration of the key points of technique once, and then did not urge them further.

She kept an eye on the students with weaker foundations, repeatedly supervising their practice of the pronunciation of intermediate transfiguration spells.

At the same time, the trajectory of the wand must be precise to a certain angle; it cannot deviate even slightly.

Professor McGonagall seemed to have thought of something and warned, "If the wand is damaged, even if the trajectory is very precise, it could still cause the deformed creature's limbs to become mutilated."

Therefore, do not use broken or very old wands, as an intermediate transfiguration spell could backfire and potentially harm the wizard as well.

The young wizards were all practicing diligently in class. Even though Lin Xia had already completed the exercise independently, she didn't slack off or do anything else.

She started picking up other things to try.

There were only a limited number of matchboxes in the classroom. Lin Xia thought for a moment, then waved her magic wand, shaping the matchboxes little by little until they became a hedgehog.

The hedgehog looks small, and this transformation doesn't seem difficult, but it actually isn't.

During the transformation process, it is necessary to balance the actual weight of the hedgehog with the weight of the original matchbox.

Transforming a small object into a heavy one is actually very difficult and requires great strength.

For Lin Xia, however, this was just a warm-up.

After turning the matchbox into a hedgehog, she began to transform the chess pieces into miniature toads, shaping the toads little by little.

Because the toad was not a creature she was very familiar with, although it looked perfect at first glance, Lin Xia used her super-sensory spell to magnify the details and still found some flaws.

So she made a record.

Each transformation records the toad's limb integrity.

While Lin Xia was recording, a student had already completed a rudimentary attempt to transform a teapot into a turtle.

After Professor McGonagall analyzed where he had done something wrong, the student, as if struck by a sudden thought, asked:
"Professor, last semester you asked us to submit our application materials, saying we could use the school's resources to apply for Animagus studies. Why haven't we received any response yet? Does this application mean it's invalid?"

Upon hearing this, the other students all looked over curiously.

They also wanted to ask the professor this question.

Professor McGonagall glanced around and, seeing that all the students had their ears perked up, pondered for a moment before saying:

"In fact, this experiment is already underway, but it is not being conducted on lower grade students, but rather on sixth and seventh grade students."

"This learning test is confidential, so I can't tell you too much. If you want to try, you have to work hard to learn intermediate Transfiguration first."

“Animagus involves human transformation, which is something learned in a higher level of Transfiguration. You need to learn advanced Transfiguration before you can even begin to try it.”

At this point, Professor McGonagall's tone became somewhat serious.

"Human transformation is a mysterious field, accompanied by numerous dangers. Even with the assistance of school resources, which can reduce the difficulty of transformation to some extent, it is still very dangerous."

If you don't have an unwavering determination to succeed, and the courage to try even at the cost of death, then I don't recommend you study Animagus.

McGonagall spoke very seriously, and the students who had been laughing and joking unconsciously stopped smiling.

They signed up for the test, hoping to utilize the school's resources to learn a profound form of magic. When the registration forms were circulated, the professor only mentioned the risks involved, without specifying the consequences of failure.

It was only because some wizards heard the rumor that "if you don't study well, you are very likely to die" that they were able to discourage some young wizards.

However, these are just rumors; no professor has explicitly raised this issue.

Some of the young wizards disagreed.

Hearing that there was a risk of death, many young wizards broke out in a cold sweat, but were somewhat relieved that the program only accepted older students.

Because Professor McGonagall's news was so shocking, the young wizards who wanted to find out what had happened that morning didn't ask the question until after class.

They only realized what had happened when the bell rang and the professor left the classroom.

"It's a pity that we're going to have a history of magic class later. Professor Binns will only read books and won't tell us what's wrong with the school."

"I wonder if we can find out anything from other professors?"

"It's a pity we have Potions class this afternoon. I don't even dare to ask any questions when I see Snape's face."

Lin Xia and others shared this view.

Hermione said with a look of annoyance, "I wanted to raise my hand and ask the professor this question, but I got caught up in the Animagus and kept thinking about the dangers of this human transformation."

Animagus is a high-level spell, and it is very difficult to fulfill the prerequisites. It also requires some talent to cast successfully.

However, Lin Xia's talent for shapeshifting was influenced by the bloodline of Eastern sorcerers, giving her a good natural talent from the start.

This is also why Professor McGonagall chose her to participate in the Transfiguration competition.

Unlike other wizards who need to learn advanced shapeshifting from low to high levels, and who need to learn human shapeshifting before they can interact with Animagus, she used her abilities to transform into Animagus during her preparation for the competition.

Lin Xia thought to herself that the cultivation method had helped her, and she hadn't encountered any of the difficulties mentioned in the books.

She completed the transformation very naturally.

The creature she transformed into was the same as the mirage worm she first created using shapeshifting magic.

Unfortunately, she didn't have many opportunities to use Animagus at school.

Now that Professor McGonagall had reminded her, Lin Xia thought that perhaps she could use the mirage worms to do some things that were not very convenient to do at school.

The next class is History of Magic, and the students have already arrived at the classroom.

As was customary, Professor Binns would drift in after the school bell rang, coldly recounting historical facts.

Because of his rote teaching style, the history of magic was considered by students to be "the most hypnotic course".

Many students don't bring books to class.

Even if students bring books, they will eventually become their pillows, and only a few students will be able to stay awake.

Among the students who remained alert, a large portion were engaged in other activities within the history of magic, with very few actually paying attention in class.

But Hermione was one of the students who listened attentively.

She would also raise her hand and ask Professor Binns questions in the classroom.

Any question related to the history of magic can be answered by Professor Binns, much like triggering a mechanism.

Apart from that, Professor Binns would ignore unimportant questions and continue lecturing on his own.

But this time, after the bell rang, the students gradually quieted down and waited for Professor Binns to float in.

After waiting for a few minutes, they realized something was wrong. Why hadn't Professor Binns arrived yet?

"Did we misread the schedule? Isn't this supposed to be the history of magic class?"

"Wait a minute, I've looked at the schedule several times and even wrote it down in my quill. This class is the History of Magic!"

One of the wizards suddenly realized something and looked somewhat frightened: "Could it be that Professor Binns is so scared that he's hiding away and not even attending classes?"

Upon hearing this, the young wizards began to make connections.

"Yes, I saw this morning that the people in the picture frame all looked haggard, and I've heard that some ghosts are like that too."

"Could it be related to what happened at school? Why were they suddenly all gathered together for testing this morning?"

So what exactly happened at the school?

The wizards shook their heads; they didn't know either.

This is a large class, with students from Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor all being assigned to attend.

Lin Xia, Harry, and others were also in this class.

Lin Xia immediately noticed that something was wrong with the classroom's order and atmosphere. She stood up decisively, took her place on the podium as an outstanding student, and gently tapped the table with her wand.

No one knew what kind of magic she used, but the moment the wand struck the table, a crisp "ding-dong" sound rang in the hearts of the young wizards.

This sound seemed to awaken their reason.

The students in the classroom quieted down.

Lin Xia scanned everyone and said in a serious tone, "Calm down!"

"Professor Binns has something come up and will be unable to attend the History of Magic class. This class will be a self-study session."

A murmur arose from the wizards below, and Lin Xia raised her voice slightly: "If you don't want to study on your own, I can have Hermione, who is also an excellent student, come up to the stage and explain the key points of this lesson to everyone!"

They were all students who entered the university in the same year and had long heard of Hermione's reputation as a "nerd".

For a young wizard, a bookworm who spends all day in the library is very effective at stimulating their interest!

Fearing they would hear a lecture no less tedious than Professor Binns's, they quickly suppressed their gossipy thoughts and quietly began to study.

Some of the young wizards didn't bring their textbooks, so three or four of them had to share one book.

But if three or four people are reading a book, then there's no need for self-study.

Lin Xia thought for a moment. She had some green plants indoors, so she broke off some leaves, waved her wand, and the leaves transformed into textbooks on the history of magic.

She distributed the textbooks to the students who hadn't brought their own.

Then, Hermione and Draco, both excellent students, were made to stand on the platform and watch over the students below to prevent them from making any mischief.

After doing all this, she went out of the classroom to find Professor Binns.

The empty corridor was quiet; the wizards were all in class.

Most students without classes stayed in the common room and didn't run around or linger outside, so as not to disturb students who were in class. (End of Chapter)