The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

Dumbledore tapped the table with his wand, and steaming hot drinks immediately appeared in the cups in front of them.

"You can add milk and sugar yourselves, great. Now let's enjoy afternoon tea together."

He eagerly cut a piece of chocolate cake and placed it in front of him, then picked up a silver spoon and took a bite.

“Delicious,” he said with delight, then gestured for Scott and the others to get moving, “You guys hurry up and choose what you like, don’t be shy.”

Scott nodded and chose a sandwich.

This is the only food on the table that doesn't belong to dessert.

George chose jam muffins, and Fred chose butter bread.

“It seems you prefer the traditional way of eating,” Dumbledore said to Scott.

Scott paused for a moment before understanding what he meant.

The three-tiered stand of English afternoon tea is generally eaten from bottom to top, starting with savory items and gradually progressing to sweets.

He nodded, without saying that he wasn't that particular, but simply didn't have a particular fondness for sweets.

"Oh, right."

Dumbledore waved his wand again.

Scott's camera, two small wooden puppets, and that simple periscope appeared on the table.

"A very interesting little invention."

He tapped the table with his wand, and the two little wooden puppets immediately began to run around, carrying the sugar jar to him.

This is much more flexible than before, when they could only execute Scott's orders and perform repetitive mechanical actions.

"Was it inspired by Wizard's Chess?"

Dumbledore said this as he watched the little wooden puppet add sugar cubes to his cup.

“Yes, Professor.” Scott was also keeping a close eye on the two little wooden puppets.

Dumbledore looked up at him, smiled, and asked, "You must be wondering if I used magic to control the movements of these two puppeteers?"

Scott nodded.

Dumbledore picked up a spoon and stirred the thickened black tea in his cup.

At the same time, the two little wooden puppets began to dance on the table.

“The answer is no manipulation,” Dumbledore said, looking at Scott with some anticipation.

"Do you know why, Scott?"

With the opportunity to ask for advice now before him, Scott naturally seized the chance.

“I’m sorry, Professor,” he shook his head, “I’ve tried many methods, but the result is as you can see… Perhaps you would be willing to give me an extra tutoring session?”

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Of course, I'd love to teach excellent students. However, you'll need to explain your understanding of this Transfiguration first."

"Of course, no problem."

Scott gathered his thoughts and said, "Leaving aside the transformation of animals and humans, in my opinion, the 'works' obtained by transforming inanimate objects into 'living' objects can be broadly divided into two types, or rather, two stages."

Dumbledore nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.

"The first one is like this."

Scott pulled out his wand and turned a spoon on the table into a sparrow.

The sparrow chirped and hopped around on the table, preening its feathers with its beak, looking incredibly lifelike.

“Excellent,” Dumbledore murmured in praise.

Scott continued, "This level of transformation has its limitations. Although it looks exactly like a real sparrow, it can only perform some pre-programmed, simple movements."

Although the sparrow on the table looks very lifelike, if you look closely, you will find that its movements are repeating themselves, like a video playing on a loop.

"To make it truly feel alive..."

Scott pointed his wand again, and the sparrow immediately flew up, landing in front of Fred and pecking at the breadcrumbs he had dropped on the table.

“This requires me to use magic to control it continuously,” Scott said, his eyes fixed on the sparrow.

"Once it leaves my sight, it will return to its previous state."

At this point, he looked away.

The other three saw the sparrow repeating the same few actions it had just started.

“Of course, this is just a demonstration,” Scott said. “It doesn’t have to be eye contact; I can control anything within the range that my magic can sense.”

This time he didn't look over there, but the sparrow suddenly flew up and pecked at the bread in Fred's hand.

"That's it."

Scott ignored Fred's protests and began his final summary.

"In my imagination, if we were to use such a transformation spell to do something, although a wizard could control multiple 'works' at the same time after training, there is a limit to that."

He then looked at the two small wooden puppets dancing on the table.

"So I have been trying to transform into 'works' that can move on their own, and these are the immature results of this attempt."

……

Chapter 070 Professor Dumbledore's Little Classroom

“Puppets are essentially still the first type I classified, because once they are no longer under my control, they can only perform repetitive mechanical actions.”

Scott continued.

"However, compared to this sparrow, the puppet's actions have an additional criterion: time."

His gaze then fell upon the dancing puppet.

"In my vision, only 'works' with a certain degree of autonomous action belong to the second type. Such transformation 'works' do not require constant control by wizards, which greatly enhances their practicality."

He said with some distress, "Unfortunately, I haven't found the knack for this yet."

At this point, he looked at Dumbledore, awaiting his evaluation.

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "You're right, Scott."

He pointed to the sparrow that Fred was holding in his hand.

“I can see that you have a very solid grasp of the fundamentals of Transfiguration.”

“This is what I’ve been doing all along,” Scott said without any modesty. “I think this basic knowledge is important because it’s related to how far I can go in the future.”

Dumbledore looked at him approvingly. “Your idea is quite right. To be honest, I’ve never seen a little wizard like you, because other children are always eager to pursue spells that seem more powerful.”

He winked at the three boys. “But I want to tell you that a wizard’s power is not just about the spells they know, and a wizard’s greatness is not just about powerful magic.”

Scott and the other two nodded in agreement.

Dumbledore didn't seem to care whether they understood him or not, and he turned to talking about Transfiguration.

“Transfiguration is also one of my most proficient forms of magic. When your Professor McGonagall was in school, I was her Transfiguration professor.” He spoke in a nostalgic tone, and even sighed.

"Unfortunately, since becoming the principal of this school, I have become increasingly busy and no longer have time to teach the students."

Scott watched as he picked up his cup, took a sip of the excessively sweet black tea, and then smacked his lips.

"I'm not sure if I'm still good at teaching. Let me think... where should I begin?"

Scott waited quietly for his "lesson," but he picked up a small cookie, spread a lot of sweet jam on it, stuffed it into his mouth, and then chewed while daydreaming.

"..."

Scott felt a discomfort in his throat and quickly picked up his plain black tea and took a sip.

Dumbledore didn't snap out of his daze until the spoon in George's hand accidentally hit the plate, making a crisp sound.

Where were we?

He acted like a real senile old man.

George and Fred looked at each other, realizing they hadn't been paying attention at all.

Scott put down his teacup. "Professor, the method of giving shapeshifting 'works' the ability to act autonomously, specifically for inanimate objects."

"Oh, right!"

Dumbledore nodded seriously.

He looked at Scott. "Have you asked Professor McGonagall this question, Scott?"

“No,” Scott shook his head. “That should be considered advanced knowledge in Transfiguration, and I wasn’t in a hurry about it before.”

He smiled and said, "I always felt that if I just keep going at my own pace, I will eventually succeed."

“You are right.” Dumbledore nodded again.

Then he asked, "Have you changed your mind now?"

"I think..."

Scott looked at the two cheerful puppets again; they seemed to have gotten tired of dancing and were sitting on the ground resting.

“After seeing the professor’s magic, I think I understand something, but I still lack some inspiration,” he said softly, almost in a murmur. “Is there something I haven’t thought of?”

At this moment, Dumbledore gently tapped the rim of the cup with his spoon, bringing Scott back to his senses.

“You are indeed a genius of Transfiguration, Scott.”

His expression was slightly serious.

“I want to remind you,” he said softly, “that using any kind of magic always comes at a price.”

"The cost?" Scott was hearing this for the first time.

Even the Weasley twins stopped eating their snacks.

Dumbledore, however, returned to his relaxed and cheerful demeanor.

He smiled and said, "Yes, whether it's chanting spells, waving a wand, expending magic, or even strengthening one's faith, these are all the costs of using magic."

After he finished speaking, he and Scott exchanged a glance.