Hogwarts and the Holy Grail War

"Hmm? Ah, I understand what you mean." Ethan showed a sunny smile, "I refuse."

"Okay, I knew you would...what?" Cassandra's smug expression froze on her face, and she asked in a somewhat unexpected tone, "Why?"

"If you must ask why," Ethan shrugged, "I have to attend Professor Snape's remedial class tonight. After the class, it will be curfew. I don't have time to duel with you."

"This..." Cassandra was speechless for a moment.

She originally thought that Ethan would refuse the duel because of cowardice or something, so she would have a reason to continue to challenge him, but she didn't expect it to be because of this reason.

This is a difficult situation for me.

"Or you can ask Professor Snape for permission." Ethan gave a bad idea sincerely, "Just tell him that you want to have a wizard duel with me tonight and ask him to let me out. Maybe he will agree."

"Don't even think about it," Cassandra said fiercely. "Then midnight, after curfew, should be fine, right?"

"Cassandra." Alanna gently pulled Cassandra's robe and whispered, "Our fourth grade has an astronomy class at midnight today. We don't have time to duel. Do you want to change the time?"

Cassandra's lips trembled slightly. Looking at Alanna with an innocent face and Ethan with a caring expression on his face and a crazy smile on his face, she suddenly felt that her life had lost its color.

It’s okay about Ethan, but you’re also trying to sabotage me with Alanna, right?

It’s all Ethan’s fault!

If I hadn't been mad at him, how could I have said such nonsense that would damage my image without thinking!

Ethan coughed lightly, trying to hold back his laughter, and asked, "How about Miss Cassandra, let's change the time of the duel to midnight tomorrow?"

The young lady opposite looks like she's about to get angry, so I'd better just follow her wishes.

Anyway, it's just a duel, I can end the battle by casting two spells, it won't take too much effort.

It's just a duel between students, so there shouldn't be any accidents...right?

"Okay," Cassandra immediately regained her usual calm demeanor when she saw Ethan giving her a way out, nodded reservedly, and said, "Then it's decided. The location is in the trophy display room on the fourth floor. Mr. Ethan won't go back on his word, right?"

"Of course not. I always keep my word." Ethan looked at Cassandra who was pretending to be polite and said with a smile, "If you don't believe me, you can ask Alanna next to you. Am I the kind of person who doesn't keep his word?"

"You'd better not." Cassandra looked at Alanna who was shaking her head frantically beside her, and stared at Ethan helplessly, giving him a cold look.

Ethan: ...

Here it comes again, that frustrating feeling of being looked down upon.

It has been decided that during the duel tomorrow night, I must find an opportunity to give Miss Cassandra a little sun fist shock.

After getting Ethan's promise and feeling that everything was going smoothly according to her plan, Cassandra left with Alana contentedly, leaving Ethan standing there alone, holding his chin and thinking.

What was I supposed to do?

"Hey, little Ethan." Professor Garrick's face appeared in the window next to Ethan, scaring Ethan.

“Sister, don’t scare me.” Ethan patted his chest, knocked on the window with his knuckles, and complained, “The child has a bad heart. If he comes a few more times, he will die.”

Professor Garrick opened the window of the greenhouse, leaned on the windowsill, looked at Ethan with a smile, and asked, "What did Miss Volley want to talk to you about just now? She seemed to have been waiting for you outside the greenhouse for a while. Is there something going on between you two...?"

"Sister, please don't make up stories about me, okay?" Ethan said with a bitter face, "She and I just met for the first time today, how could it be possible?"

"Oh, so it was love at first sight. You are indeed my good brother, popular with girls!" Professor Garrick saw Ethan staring at him with resentment in his eyes, and changed his tone happily, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Are you sure you want to stay here? The next class is about to start."

"It's okay. The next class is Professor Binns' History of Magic. I already know all the knowledge points, so it's no big deal if I skip it." Ethan waved his hand and said in a relaxed manner.

"Oh, really?" Professor Garrick smiled and looked at Ethan, but the smile on his face gradually became dangerous. "Isn't it not good for you to blatantly say that you want to skip class in front of a professor like me, little Ethan?"

"Sister, I was wrong. I'll go right away!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Ethan quickly admitted his mistake and ran away.

Professor Garrick watched Ethan's figure as the door leading to the interior of the castle closed, and he put away the smile on his face. He stood up from the windowsill and slowly closed the window, sighing imperceptibly.

The History of Magic classroom on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle.

Professor Binns's drawn-out lecture once again successfully hypnotized the sleepy Ethan within five minutes. He sat in the back seat, transformed the History of Magic textbook into a pillow with a Transfiguration spell, and slept soundly on it.

It's all about letting yourself go.

"Tsk," Cassandra, who was sitting diagonally in front of him, looked back at Ethan who was blatantly sleeping in class, and said with disdain.

I knew this guy wasn't a serious person.

He had said before that he had to take extra classes and had no time to duel. He pretended to be a good student who loved to study.

Will a good student sleep during class?

"Why is Ethan sleeping during class?" Alana looked back at the sleeping Ethan, a little worried, and whispered, "Is it because his body hasn't fully recovered yet?"

Cassandra glanced at the uneasy Alanna, and her dissatisfaction with Ethan increased a little.

It's decided that we're going to make this guy tap dance during the duel tomorrow night.

By the time Professor Binns announced the end of the get out of class, Ethan's face had obvious marks from the long-term stress.

"Ethan, who hit you again?" Patty came out of the library and saw Ethan with half of his face red. She couldn't help laughing out loud.

"No, I was catching up on some sleep during History of Magic." Ethan rubbed the numb side of his face, and suddenly remembered something. He quickly took two steps back, covered his face and waved his hands frantically, saying, "I'll just apply hot compresses when I get home. You don't need to heal me!"

"Oh~" Patty looked disappointed and put the wand she had just pulled out back into her robe, looking very shocked.

"By the way," Ethan quickly changed the subject, "I heard that you and Tony went to Hogsmeade yesterday. How was it? Did you have fun?"

"Heh," Patty said with a sneer on her face, "don't mention him to me."

"What happened?" Ethan suddenly realized something was wrong the moment he said this.

"It's nothing, actually. He just took a mission halfway through the date and left me hanging at the Three Broomsticks." Patty looked resentful. "I waited for two hours!"

"Ah this..."

"By the way, he explained to me last night when he was kneeling on the washboard. He said that the Ministry of Magic asked him to go to Hogwarts as soon as possible to find a student named Ethan." Patty stared at Ethan with a bad look, "Ethan, can you explain to me what's going on?"

Ethan swallowed, a look of panic on his face.

Chapter 90: The Brave Dragon (5k words)

"Okay, this class ends here. Students, remember to complete your practical assignments carefully when you go back. get out of class dismissed."

In the afternoon, Transfiguration classroom.

After Professor McGonagall announced the end of get out of class, Ethan, who needed to make up for his lessons, was soon the only one left in the classroom.

"Okay, Mr. Ethan. Let me check the homework I was assigned last week."

"Of course, Professor." Ethan took out a roll of parchment from his robe and handed it to Professor McGonagall, "Here you go."

Professor McGonagall took Ethan's paper and did not start checking it immediately. Instead, she asked Ethan, "Mr. Ethan, I want to tell you something first."

"I'm listening, Professor."

"I heard everything that happened this morning. I'm glad you didn't choose to lie to me." Professor McGonagall said slowly.

"Of course, in my opinion, the most important thing in life is honesty. Cheating superiors and hiding the truth from subordinates is not my style." Ethan answered in a serious manner, and in his heart he offered incense to Ron.

Let you talk nonsense, have a nice journey.

"Very good." Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly, unfolded the rolled parchment and began to read it carefully.

But before Professor McGonagall could read two lines, her face darkened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ethan saw that Professor McGonagall's face had become worse than ever, and he couldn't help but murmur in his heart.

Isn't that right? Is my writing so bad?

Could it be that someone who wants to cause trouble has replaced my homework?

So he moved closer to Professor McGonagall and began to read the contents of the parchment.

"How can humans turn into animals? I believe everyone is familiar with Animagus, but how do wizards turn into animals? Let me show you how.

Animagus can turn into animals, in fact, because Animagus is a wizard who can turn into animals. You may be surprised how humans can turn into animals? But this is the fact, and the author is also very surprised..."

"Professor... I just wrote this for fun when I was out of ideas," Ethan quickly took out the marketing copy from the pile of parchment in Professor McGonagall's hand, stuffed it into his pocket, and said stutteringly, "Later I used it as the back cover to prevent the homework from getting stained by anything dirty. The rest is my homework, please read it again."

Professor McGonagall glanced at Ethan doubtfully and continued reading the rest of the text.

Ethan watched Professor McGonagall's tightly furrowed brows gradually relax and he breathed a sigh of relief.

I'm so scared, how could such a mistake happen?

"I must praise you, Mr. Ethan." After reading all of Ethan's papers, Professor McGonagall put away the parchment and a satisfied smile appeared on her face. "I used to think that you were lucky to be able to complete large-scale transformation of living creatures. But after reading your papers, I am really sure that you do have a deeper understanding of Transfiguration."

"Professor, you are too kind. It is natural to remain skeptical of things before you have solid evidence." Ethan smiled politely, "I'm glad I didn't disappoint you."

"Oh, you are quite good at finding a way out for others." Professor McGonagall's smile became more kind. She pushed her glasses and asked, "But I noticed that you put forward several...radical views in your paper. Can you explain them to me in detail?"

"Of course, Professor. Which one would you like me to start with?"

"Let's start with this." Professor McGonagall pulled out a piece of parchment and pointed to a line of text on it. "What does 'Incomplete Transfiguration still has great development potential in practical applications' mean?"

"That's right, professor." Ethan said seriously, "You told us in the first class that 'Transfiguration is only completely successful if it is completely correct', right?"

"That's right, because incomplete transformation can lead to unpredictable serious consequences. So we must ensure the complete accuracy of the Transfiguration, especially in human body transformation and cross-species transformation." Professor McGonagall became serious when it came to academic issues.

"Yes, I know this: the reason why it must be completely correct is that the result of incomplete deformation is uncontrollable." Ethan nodded and continued, "But what if we can achieve correct deformation and then deliberately limit the deformation range to a part of the deformed object?"

"For example, when the Animagus transforms, the transformation is limited to a certain part of the body. Just like when I teach you to transform into a cat, if I only limit the transformed part to the area near the eyes, then can you keep most of your human form while gaining the night vision ability of a cat? If this is really possible, there is no need to drink night vision potions."

"Just like this, turning incomplete deformation into a completely controllable result may have unexpected effects in some special occasions?"

Professor McGonagall pushed up her glasses and looked at Ethan for a long time. Finally, she sighed and said, "I understand, Mr. Ethan. I can fully understand what you want to express. After all, you are not the first student to propose this idea to me."

"Huh? So there are predecessors in this area?" Ethan was a little shocked when he heard this. "I thought this was a field that no one had ever touched before."

"You don't need to be discouraged by this, Mr. Ethan." Professor McGonagall raised a meaningful arc at the corner of her mouth and continued, "This is nothing new. Several students have mentioned this idea to me before. However, they are only rough ideas. You are the only one who can express it in such detail and specificity. So you don't have to be discouraged by this. You might as well be proud of it."

"As for the practical application of incomplete deformation you mentioned, I can only say that although it is feasible to a certain extent, it is very difficult. Very difficult."

"The reason why Transfiguration is called the most difficult subject in Hogwarts is because of the rigor and precision of its casting and control. And if it involves the partial transformation you mentioned, the control accuracy will be raised to a higher level, no, several or even dozens of levels."

"Let's take the eye deformation you just mentioned as an example. You can just transform the eye into a cat's eye structure, but to what extent should the deformation be limited? This range must be extremely precise. If there is any blur, then this local deformation can only be called a failure."

"Going further, the muscle and bone structures of humans and cats are different. If you only select a certain range for deformation, how will the body tissues inside and outside this range be connected?"

"You might say that there can be a buffer zone between these two areas, allowing the body structure to slowly transition from cats to humans, but what should the body structure be like in this buffer zone? All of this requires you to think carefully. In this way, this transformation appears extremely bloated, so that compared to its value, its realization threshold is so high that it is unattainable."

"I see." Ethan nodded, a little frustrated, "I thought it was too simple."

"No, Mr. Ethan. It's a good thing to be able to come up with some whimsical ideas. Many new spells originate from some seemingly unrealistic ideas." Professor McGonagall smiled and gently extended her hand towards the bookshelf next to her.

"Fly here."

A thick blue-covered book on the bookshelf flew into Professor McGonagall's hands. Professor McGonagall looked at the cover of the book, nodded, and handed it to Ethan, saying, "You still have a lot to think about in this regard. I believe this book can be of great help to you."

Ethan took the book with both hands and read the title.

Summary of Reasons for Failure of Transfiguration and How to Correct It

"Thanks, Professor McGonagall. I will make good use of this book." Ethan put the book away and thanked Professor McGonagall.

"You're welcome, Mr. Ethan. After all, I'd love to see you make new breakthroughs in Transfiguration." Professor McGonagall turned to another piece of parchment, pointed at the text on it, and said, "Well, compared to what you just said, the next point of view is not so radical as to make me feel a little scared."

"What?" Ethan looked at the place where Professor McGonagall pointed. The words on it read:

"The possibility of an Animagus choosing a magical creature as a transformation target"

"What's wrong, professor?" Ethan scratched his head and asked, "Is there anything wrong with this sentence?"

"It's not a question of whether there is a problem or not." Professor McGonagall took off her glasses, wiped them gently, and said, "You must not have such thoughts. Animagus transformation can only choose ordinary animals as the transformation object."

"Why?" Ethan was very puzzled. Professor McGonagall had been able to give detailed explanations and guidance to his immature ideas before, but just now she just told him not to think about it anymore without explaining the reason.

It's like he's deliberately hiding something.

Ethan looked at Professor McGonagall who remained silent and hesitated for a moment. He thought that Professor McGonagall might have something to hide, but he still wanted to know the reason behind it. So he finally gritted his teeth and asked:

"professor?"

Professor McGonagall came back to her senses, put her glasses back on, pondered for a moment, and said, "The reason why Animagus only chooses ordinary animals instead of magical animals as the objects of transformation is because the magic operation mode of those magical creatures is fundamentally different from the magic operation mode used by human wizards."

"Once you rashly choose a magical creature as the object of your Animagus transformation, the way your magic works will completely change. But your mind still belongs to a human. The way human wizards' magic works is not valid in the bodies of magical animals. You can't even turn back into a human."

"I believe you should have looked up some information on this when writing your thesis: When humans undergo their first Animagus transformation, they will fight against the animal mindset they are about to transform into. If you become timid or panic and lose, the animal mindset will take over and force you to behave in a way that is not human. Even worse, you may lose your human sanity forever."

"This is true for ordinary animals, but the minds of those magical animals are even more powerful than those of ordinary animals. It is almost impossible for you to win in the battle against their minds. There is only one outcome. Your entire existence as a human being, from your body to your soul, will disappear from this world, and what will remain is just a new beast."

Ethan looked at Professor McGonagall quietly. His intuition told him that there must be some deeper reason that Professor McGonagall had not revealed.

"Five years ago, there was such a student." Professor McGonagall stroked the wand in her hand, sighed, and told the story slowly, "His aptitude in other subjects can be said to be mediocre, or even a little poor. But his talent in Transfiguration can be said to be extremely high."

"In the first class, he, like you, successfully transformed a large living creature. I was very happy at the time... because there are very few children who have such talent in Transfiguration. In the more than 30 years since I became a professor of Transfiguration, I have only met two children who can achieve this level - one is him, and the other is you."