During lunch, Cedric eagerly asked about Professor Moody's teaching style.
"It's amazing!" Mikel exclaimed eagerly, "I have a feeling that this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class will be much better than previous years, even Lupin... of course, I'm not saying Professor Lupin is bad, but compared to dealing with charms, those Dark Magic creatures are indeed a bit dull."
"Oh... I really want to see it right away..."
Listening to his description, Cedric only felt itchy with anticipation, but he couldn't. They had to wait until Friday for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and now he had to go to the Herbology class outdoors.
Cedric hurried downstairs to leave, and Kael also walked into the classroom, starting to organize the textbooks needed for the next class.
When class started, Professor McGonagall hurried in.
She didn't start teaching directly but spent nearly fifteen minutes emphasizing the importance of the O.W.L. exams to the entire class.
"You must remember that this exam may impact your future for many years!" Professor McGonagall said sternly from the podium, "But I believe that everyone in this class has no reason not to earn the Transfiguration O.W.L. certificate as long as they invest time and effort..."
First emphasizing the importance of exams, then affirming students' capabilities... yep, that's very Professor McGonagall.
After fifteen minutes, she finally stopped and picked up the textbook.
"Today's lesson is important, and I hope each of you can be on your toes because we will be learning the hardest magic in the O.W.L. exam, the Vanishing Spell..."
She then demonstrated, successfully vanishing a snail on the podium.
"Aha..."
Before Professor McGonagall could speak, Mikel suddenly laughed strangely as if he'd taken the wrong Potion.
"Mr. Drake!"
Professor McGonagall said sternly, "If you find my words amusing..."
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall, my apologies..." Mikel hastily replied, yet his face still showed some smugness.
"It's the last class, where Professor Moody asked us to list Dark Magic. I mentioned the Vanishing Spell, but he told me there was no such magic... obviously, he's mistaken, right?"
Being better than a professor for the first time, especially a famous one, made Mikel euphorically inexplicable.
Professor McGonagall seemed confused, so she went to the nearest student, Kael, to ask about what happened in the last class.
A few minutes later, she stood up again, looked at Mikel, and said:
"Sorry, Mr. Drake, I think Alastor is right; the Vanishing Spell does not belong to Dark Magic."
"What?" Mikel instinctively said, "But the snail just now..."
Without waiting for him to finish, Professor McGonagall waved her wand again, and the previously vanished snail reappeared magically on the podium.
"First, you must understand why the Vanishing Spell is part of Transfiguration..."
Professor McGonagall explained, "It doesn't make objects disappear directly like the Scouring Charm but transforms them into a state of nullity; you can understand it as an invisible ghost or air.
But the essence of the object still exists; as long as you know the corresponding counter-spell, like the Repairing Charm, you can render it ineffective."
"Ah?" Mikel stood there with his mouth open, dumbfounded.
"Alright, sit down." Professor McGonagall waved her hand, "I won't deduct points this time, but next time I hope you can be more rigorous and understand what the definition of Dark Magic is.
Of course, this task requires you to do it during your free time, and don't ask me; remember it's Transfiguration class time now."
Afterward, Professor McGonagall handed each person a snail as a practice tool.
Kael looked at the snail on the table, lost in thought.
To be honest, his focus recently has been on cross-species Transfiguration and multiple transformations, and coupled with the many things that happened during the holidays, he almost forgot about the Vanishing Spell in Transfiguration.
Everyone started trying, and Kael picked up his wand, imitating Professor McGonagall's earlier motion towards the snail.
However, the snail didn't disappear directly but changed from its original grey-brown color to grey-white, and only after Kael waved his wand again did the snail successfully vanish.
It took two attempts to succeed, and Kael felt the Vanishing Spell was almost as difficult as the fifth transformation.
After watching the students practice standing nearby, Professor McGonagall couldn't help but nod upon seeing this scene.
"Very good, someone has already succeeded!"
She shouted loudly, drawing everyone's attention.
"As a reward, Hufflepuff gets ten points!"
The classroom didn't have overly surprised voices; when everyone heard it was Hufflepuff and saw Kael beside her, they all nonchalantly lowered their heads again.
Having been classmates with Kael for five years, they were already used to this situation.
Professor McGonagall didn't say anything further; after adding the points, she prepared to check on others.
"Professor McGonagall, I have a question!" Kael suddenly called her.
"What is it?" Professor McGonagall turned around.
Kael thought for a moment and asked, "Can the Vanishing Spell be used on oneself?"
Since Professor McGonagall explained the Vanishing Spell's principle, he had been pondering this question.
Transforming objects into nullity, but without completely disappearing—this is the true Invisibility Spell.
In other words, if he used the Vanishing Spell on himself, he could move freely anywhere.
Unless someone uses a wide-range Finite Incantatem, then any Killing Curse, Fiendfyre Curse... or Dementors, Fire Dragons wouldn't affect him.
More importantly, this spell has no time limit, allowing him to stay as long as he wants.
This is practically another form of invincibility, making Kael irresistibly tempted.
"Oh?" Professor McGonagall glanced at him, her eyes flickering.
"When I first encountered the Vanishing Spell, I had the same thought." She said, "Theoretically speaking... it's possible, but it's very difficult and far beyond your imagination, even I can't do it now."
"You can't either?" Kael frowned, "Is it that difficult?"
"Because depending on the complexity of the object, the Vanishing Spell becomes increasingly difficult."
Professor McGonagall said softly, "Snails and caterpillars are the simplest, yet even so, most people need long-term study until Christmas or Easter holidays before progressing to mice.
By seventh grade, if you can make an iguana vanish, you can easily earn the Transfiguration N.E.W.T. certificate.
Furthermore, the wizard's magic power greatly influences the Vanishing Spell, especially when used on oneself; the stronger the magic power, the greater the impact.
Because our bodies instinctively reject this transformation, it's uncontrollable."
"So, we can't use the Vanishing Spell on ourselves no matter what?" Kael frowned.
Humans are much more complex than iguanas, and as one can imagine, to use the Vanishing Spell on oneself requires a strong enough magic power as a foundation.
But correspondingly, this magic power also affects the Vanishing Spell and then needs more magic power... it seems to form an unsolvable cycle.
"No, it's still possible, it's just that I haven't succeeded." Professor McGonagall smiled and said, "But I really hope you can achieve it."
...