Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 181: Animagus Masters Techniques

When Sheen returned, the conversation in the small villa resumed:

“Minerva, let him decide, okay? Before that, I want to teach him something.”

"As you say, Marcus."

The two then parted ways.

Sheen, caught in a dilemma downstairs, also went upstairs.

"Huh? How come there's a cat in the house?"

Before leaving, Sheen heard a final question from downstairs.

……

One of the best ways for an old wizard to build a relationship with a young wizard is to teach him magic, but Marcus McGonagall finds himself seemingly missing out on that opportunity.

"What have you taught him?!"

Marcus McGonagall fled the room in a disheveled state, utterly frustrated.

"He is exceptionally gifted."

Minerva McGonagall is drinking tea. She has been away from here for a long time, and it has been a long time since she has had tea brewed by her brother.

"Really..."

As Marcus McGonagall pondered this, he couldn't help but smile.

"Luckily, I have some hidden treasures..."

He plopped down next to Minerva, watching the rising steam blur the view of the elm windows and the farm.

The most spacious room upstairs.

"Mr. Green?"

Bud is knocking on the door.

“If you were here, we would have come in.”

Sarah said in a low voice.

“You need someone else’s approval, Sarah.”

Zoe corrected.

"Oh, I forgot—if you were here and agreed—"

Sarah readily changed her tune.

The room was now empty.

Of the fifteen hours the little rascals were awake, fourteen of them wanted to come find him. Sheen quietly ran out, of course, in cat form.

As he used the cookies more often and his understanding of transformation deepened, he can now transform into a black cat continuously for half an hour.

At the same time, he discovered that his control over his body was also increasing, and it seemed to surpass that of an ordinary cat.

"Green?"

Caught off guard, Sheen was lifted up, and he leaped back into his wizard form.

"Professor McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall seemed much more relaxed here, far less stern than she had been at the castle, but seeing him revert to his old self, she seemed somewhat disappointed.

"You sensed it? The wizard's Animagus is not simply a transformation into an animal."

A cat's speed is about twenty-five miles per hour (forty kilometers per hour), but an Animagus in wizard form can easily reach the limit of thirty miles per hour (forty-eight kilometers per hour). Sometimes even higher. The magic hasn't completely disappeared, child.

You should learn to harness these powers; sometimes they can produce unexpected results.

Professor McGonagall explained gently.

Soon, two cats appeared under the beech tree; it was Sheen learning some techniques for manipulating animal bodies from the professor.

For example, a cat can squeeze through a very small gap, but Sheen cannot;

For example, cats can use their whiskers to enhance their senses, but Shinn can't;

For example, the professor could even outrun cars on the highway (about 50 kilometers per hour), but Sheen certainly couldn't. Sunlight streamed through the soil and rice paddies, and a black cat lay panting on a pile of straw.

The honey-like sunlight bathed him, so warm it almost melted him.

Beside him, the tabby cat watched him elegantly, its vertical pupils filled with human-like joy.

The warm winter sun is always more precious than in other seasons, and it makes the rice fields look like an oil painting in Hogwarts Castle.

Marcus McGonagall didn't dare blink, and could only suppress his breathing as he hid behind the forklift.

……

Time flies when you're in the McGonagall family.

One morning, an owl flew in through the window, carrying many newspapers in its beak, not only the Daily Prophet, but also Muggle newspapers such as The Guardian, The Independent, and The Times.

Sheen will always have a share of the McGonagall family's things, whether he needs them or not, so he will take a little time to look at them.

The Times has a serious front page, large photos of warplanes from the Gulf War, solemn headlines, and always analyzes and promotes the situation.

Below the front page, it describes how the traditional "orphanage" model has completely transformed into "small-scale family-style care".

Beneath the grand and dignified words, everyone knows that this is a typical example of "getting rid of a burden": for local governments in impoverished areas, closing down and outsourcing difficult-to-operate and costly care facilities is equivalent to getting rid of a heavy financial burden.

Even though they knew that private institutions might lower the quality of service for profit, they considered it the only option under the financial and political pressures of the time.

"Ha—those stupid pig-like beasts, of course they don't care."

Marcus McGonagall seemed somewhat indignant.

Sheen opened the newspaper, and there was a news item about Holliss.

Sheen has only one day left in his stay with the McGonagall family; tomorrow he will return to Hogwarts.

He felt that time was running out, so he stroked the fluffy head of the silvery-white owl:

"Hurry up."

The owl nuzzled his palm and then took flight.

"White Owl," Sheehan's owl, was much faster than any other owl. When it landed on an abandoned street in London and returned to its former owner, the sun hadn't even reached its zenith.

"Hurry up."

Its former owner had given it the same instructions.

So at noon, Sheehan received a letter from Roland Taylor:
Dear Sheen Green,

Child, are you sure you want to do this?
I will spend an afternoon at King's Cross Station in London, hoping for your arrival or rejection.

—Your loyal friend: Roland Taylor

Sheehan silently put away the letter. The McGonagall family's farm was not far from London, and with the help of some means of transportation, he could make a round trip quickly.

So he set off, the wind whistling past his ears, and he was already on a carriage.

He was completely free in the McGonagall family, in every respect.

Croydon District.

The streets here are always piled with garbage, and next to the peeling paint on the doors, the faded "Oak Tree Children's Home" sign hangs crookedly, shaking off the dust in the wind.

Sheehan traveled to Diagon Alley, then to King's Cross Station in London, where he finally appeared with Roland Taylor.

He took one last look at the furnishings before leaving, his gaze fading into the distance under Mrs. Roland's increasingly blurred vision.

His wallet was empty, and he had to sell the seamless extension bag along with it to raise enough money.

This wasn't a particularly difficult decision to make; it was like a conversation that took place at King's Cross Station in London:

"Are you sure you want to do this? Child, if I run this orphanage, you won't get any profit, not even..."

At that moment, Sheen's eyes were incredibly bright, and he smiled slightly as he said:
"I'm just repeating what has happened before."

Roland Taylor's vision blurred completely; she hadn't realized that hope always comes from the most barren soil.

　There's one more chapter; Lu is still writing.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)