This is what Ravenclaw looks like..

Chapter 26 A Bold Idea
Andrew actually has a full schedule today.

In theory, after finishing Potions class, he should find an empty classroom to practice the Transfiguration of the complex objects he had just figured out, and then think about his paper after dinner and prepare for the afternoon group meeting.

Even the evenings are not free, as the first-grade astronomy class is tonight. Although it is closer to the lounge, there won’t be much time left for me to use if I go back.

But he still found a secluded place to sit down and began to scribble in his notebook with a pencil - today's Potions class touched him more than Transfiguration.

Of course, it was not Professor Snape who affected him, but the potion itself.

Although he was not a chemical engineering major, he still noticed the absurdity of potions - this was a discipline that was intertwined with rigor and magic.

"No, no, no, it's not like that, it's not like that..."

Andrew quickly denied his thoughts again, "It's just that I haven't found its rules. I simply use magic to cover up something I don't know..."

'Besides, this is not a conflict...'

He wrote down a few words in his notebook and crossed them out. After repeating this several times, he finally determined what exactly touched him.

With some joy, Andrew wrote this sentence in his notebook.

[Based on my current understanding, the essence of potion production is to decompose the magical properties of the materials in the crucible and obtain the intermediate product of the reaction under a specific state.]

This is by no means accurate, but it's the best explanation Andrew can come up with at the moment.

And then, Andrew added words that touched him.

[As far as I understand, the essence of Transfiguration is to transform an object into an intermediate state that is neither the original nor the real object under the effect of magic. So, can Transfiguration be used to seal the extracted magic components, or even use this special state to replace the production of potions?]

...

I wrote this?
Andrew looked at the two sentences above and pointed his finger at himself with a funny expression, as if he had seen a diary recording his childhood wishes - is this something he should think about?
There were countless potion masters and transfiguration masters in the magic world. If something like this was possible, wouldn't they have been researched long ago? How could he, a newbie who had just entered the magic world for less than three days, do it?
But - what if?
After thinking for a while, Andrew finally decided to wipe out this bold ambition with a smile, but after taking a last look at the notebook, he still couldn't bear to destroy this arrogant idea.

"Don't think too much. Just practice Transfiguration first. If potions don't work, just spend money on practice..."

He shook his head helplessly - even when it came to potions, practice made perfect.

But that would be a huge expense. Although they purchased a standard set of potion ingredients when they enrolled, those were only auxiliary materials. The main materials for each potion-making experiment were provided by the school.

This means that if one wants to practice potions in private, all the materials have to be purchased by oneself, and even if the finished product is made, there is almost no profit.

This is still the most basic. After reaching a certain level of proficiency in potions, he will need to purchase a large amount of raw materials to analyze which part of the magical material properties are used in the brewing of potions... In this step, not a single Galleon can be saved.

'flower…'

Andrew gritted his teeth and made the decision. If all else failed, he would make Dun - no, make Gryffindor suffer, and let the editorial department bear the blame!
After making this decision that almost cost him a lot of Galleons, Andrew resolutely stuffed the notebook into his backpack and walked out of the castle. Before lunch time, he decided to use a method he had just thought of to test the problem of transfiguration.

About ten minutes later, he found a rope that met his requirements, and then began the first step of the Transfiguration exercise, making knots. "I can't transform simple objects into complex ones, so I'll try the opposite, using a complex but simple model to perform simple transformations, and then explore the principle in reverse through destruction."

Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the complicated knots. After tying a few simple knots, Andrew could hardly wait to turn the rope into a wooden stick. Then, without hesitation, he destroyed it in the simplest way - he placed the wooden stick on the edge of the podium and kicked it at the slope.

He heard the crisp sound of a wooden stick breaking, but unfortunately, at the moment of its destruction, the stick turned into a soft rope and fell to the ground, while the rope itself was not destroyed.

"It's no different from what I tried before, but what if it's like this..."

Andrew recast Transfiguration and got the ink onto the stick - this time a very thin patch of dried ink fell off after it was destroyed.

'interesting…'

This time Andrew put the ink on the rope.

The stick was intact, and after it had deformed back, the ink was still on the rope.

'No changes... Same as before, even the ink is in the same position on the knot...'

"Then what about sticks made of two different materials, divided by the knot?"

He increased the difficulty, but the result was not satisfactory... the stick that appeared looked like an unprocessed branch.

'normal…'

"Then... the last step... use the stick to create a rope with a knot..."

Andrew tapped the broken broom handle with his wand.

A very strange rope appeared - it had a knot that could not be untied. Even if Andrew used magic to assist, the strong knot could not be untied. It was as if it had existed when it was woven.

But a smile appeared on Andrew's face. It was not a complete success, but it was an improvement - his guess and practice direction were correct.

'Perfect practice for my first paper...if all goes well.'

He put the poor broomstick back, then happily used a levitation charm to make the rope untie itself, and then waved his wand to make it hover perfectly in the backpack.

"I always feel like something is wrong... It's not the environment, the classroom, or my classmates, it's just my feelings... Never mind, I can't think of it..."

He thought about it, and finally gained nothing - then he happily left the empty classroom with the joy of gain and walked quickly towards the cafeteria.

This afternoon he will be facing a group of people with different ideas, and he has to pretend to be friendly with them in order to blend in. Thinking of this tiring situation, he really can't fool himself at dinner.

(End of this chapter)