HP: The Boy who saw Magic

As the sun shone through the arched windows of Ravenclaw Tower on Wednesday morning, Kevin was already sitting in a blue velvet armchair in the common room, flipping through Advanced Theory of Transfiguration. His gray-blue eyes scanned the moving diagrams on the pages intently, and his fingertips tapped a gentle rhythm on the armrest, lost in thought.

"Merlin's beard!" Wesley Cruz yawned as he walked down the spiral staircase of the boys' dormitory. His reddish-brown hair was as messy as a bird's nest that had been turned over by a mischievous Sniff. "Kevin, you didn't sleep all night, did you?"

Kevin closed the book, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. "I slept for four hours. Compared to that, did you forget that the first class today is Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration?"

"What?" Wesley woke up instantly and looked at the magic clock on the wall in panic. "Twenty minutes left! Where are Fabian and Ernesto?"

"I'm here." Fabian pushed his round-framed glasses up his nose and walked out from behind the bookshelf on the other side. His curly black hair was neatly combed back. "Ernesto said he went to the auditorium to have breakfast first."

Kevin stuffed the book into his dragon leather bag. "Then we'd better hurry."

As the three of them hurried across the moving staircase, Wesley suddenly lowered his voice. "Seriously, Kevin, you were able to turn a match into an embroidery needle last class. What are you going to do today? I can't even turn it completely silver."

"Pay more attention," Kevin said. "Professor McGonagall has emphasized that Transfiguration relies most on willpower."

The Transfiguration classroom was located on the second floor of the castle. When they arrived, Ernesto was already sitting in the front row, his grey eyes scanning the door impatiently. Seeing them, he raised his chin slightly. "Finally here? I thought you were going to deduct points from Ravenclaw on the third day of school."

"Thanks for your concern, Mother Griffith." Wesley grinned and deliberately sat down next to Ernesto, who moved aside in disgust.

Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom on time, her eyes sweeping across the class and stopping briefly on Kevin. In the last class, Kevin's talent for Transfiguration had been impressive.

"Today we will continue to practice turning matches into needles," Professor McGonagall announced, waving her wand so that a match appeared in front of each student. "Remember, Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Any inaccurate transformation may lead to disastrous consequences."

Kevin took out his wand and made a casting motion with the match. In the blink of an eye, his match turned into a slender silver needle, the tip flashing with cold light, and the eye of the needle even had exquisite patterns carved on it.

With his gray-blue eyes slightly narrowed, Kevin stared at the match in front of him that had turned into a silver needle. He gently flicked the tip of the needle with his fingertips, feeling the cool touch of the metal and the bumps of the pattern.

"Kevin, how do you do it so perfectly every time?" Wesley came over. The tip of his match only turned a little silver, but the wooden stick had turned into a black iron needle.

"Focus, Wesley," Kevin whispered, noticing that Fabian's black hair had curled even more, as it did when he was concentrating on a spell. Ernesto Griffith frowned, his gray eyes full of reluctance. His needle was already finished, but he also wanted the pattern to appear on it.

Professor McGonagall walked between the desks, stopping from time to time to correct students' movements or pronunciation. When she approached Kevin's row, her eyes fell on the perfect silver needle, and a trace of admiration flashed behind her square glasses.

"It seems that this exercise is no longer challenging for you, Mr. Hawthorne," Professor McGonagall's voice was as serious as ever, but the corners of her mouth rose slightly.

Kevin stood up and pulled out a small notebook from inside his robes. "Professor, I have some questions about Transfiguration that I would like to ask you. I encountered them during my summer preparation."

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Preview?"

"Yes, I read something in the Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration and I had some questions." Kevin opened the notebook, which was filled with neat handwriting and some complicated diagrams.

Professor McGonagall took the notebook and quickly glanced through a few pages. Her brows gradually frowned and then relaxed. "Some of these questions…are beyond the scope of the OWLs exam." She pointed to a question about the transformation of the nature of matter. "This direction of thinking is very interesting, but why did you think of this?"

Kevin had already prepared his words. "When I tried to turn stone into wood, I found that although the appearance changed, the internal structure seemed to still have the characteristics of stone. I wonder if Transfiguration only changes the appearance but not the essence?"

The classroom suddenly became quiet, and several nearby students turned their heads, including several Slytherin students. Ernesto's gray eyes opened wide, obviously not expecting his roommate to think about such a profound question.

Professor McGonagall's expression became complicated, with both surprise and joy. "This is a question that touches the core of Transfiguration, Mr. Hawthorne." She lowered her voice. "We will discuss it in detail after class. Now," she glanced at the other students, "continue practicing, turning matches into needles!"

For the next half hour, Kevin pretended to practice the spells he had already mastered while observing his classmates' performance. This was the first time he had observed his roommates so carefully. In his "real eyes," everyone's magic flow showed unique characteristics. Wesley's magic was as passionate and unrestrained as he was, but lacked control; Fabian's magic was gentle and stable but lacked explosive power; Ernesto's magic was delicate and accurate but too cautious.

When the bell rang, Professor McGonagall motioned for Kevin to stay. When the classroom was clear, she began to answer the questions in his notebook in detail.

"Regarding the nature of matter," Professor McGonagall conjured up a chair and motioned for Kevin to sit down. "The fifth rule of Gamp's Law states that Transfiguration cannot permanently change the nature of matter, but that doesn't mean it's just a superficial change."

Kevin listened attentively, asking more in-depth questions from time to time. Professor McGonagall's answers were like keys that unlocked many of the confusions he encountered during his self-study. Half an hour later, Professor McGonagall closed her notebook with a rare gentle expression.

"I am impressed by the depth of your thinking, Mr. Hawthorne. There are some questions that I cannot give you direct answers to, because some of the mysteries of Transfiguration require personal experience to understand." She took a piece of parchment from the bookshelf and quickly wrote down a list of book titles. "These books may help you, but remember," her eyes became serious, "advanced Transfiguration is extremely dangerous and must be performed under the guidance of a professor."

"I understand, Professor." Kevin carefully put away the list of books. "Thank you for your guidance."

Walking out of the Transfiguration classroom, Kevin found three roommates waiting in the corridor. Wesley rushed up impatiently. "Merlin's beard! What did you say to Professor McGonagall? She actually laughed!"

"We just discussed some Transfiguration theories," Kevin answered lightly, but inwardly he was delighted to have received Professor McGonagall's personal book list.

Ernesto crossed his arms and said in a cold voice, "Humph, don't think you can beat me in the next Charms class just like that." But his gray eyes were shining with admiration.

Fabian pushed up his glasses and said, "Shall we go to the fifth floor and check out the abandoned classroom now? We have Defense Against the Dark Arts class this afternoon, so we don't have much time."

The four boys walked through the castle's spiral staircase and headed for the fifth floor. The staircases at Hogwarts were always unpredictable, but they were lucky that the staircase turned directly in the right direction this time.

"I heard that this classroom was still in use ten years ago," Wesley said excitedly, "but it was abandoned because Peeves held a 'dung egg party' in it."

"How disgusting." Ernesto frowned, but there was curiosity in his eyes.