On the first day of school, Cohen had a new understanding of the depth of human sleep.
Harry and Ron were completely undisturbed—even when Cohen shoved his cold hands under their covers.
Harry and Ron were like sleeping beauties, waiting for Ginny and Hermione to sneak into the boys' dormitory and kiss them awake.
"Really not getting up?"
Cohen looked with pity at the two children who would undoubtedly oversleep and miss their first class.
"Hoo—"
"Hoo—!" Ron snorted softly.
"We tried, Cohen." Seamus shook his head
. "If we don't get to the Great Hall, we'll miss breakfast." Cohen shrugged helplessly.
"Well, they should be awake before class—Cohen, remember to try to wake them later..."
"Okay, okay, there's an extra charge for owl wake-up service—" the Cohen said lazily, his head tucked under his wing.
"Merlin's pants!" Seamus' eyes widened again. "Wasn't last night a dream?!"
"As long as you accept the idea of a talking owl—" Cohen raised an eyebrow.
"What will happen?" Seamus hurriedly followed Cohen out of the dormitory, wanting to know where he bought this talking owl. "Did you buy your owl from some special owl shop? Would it be expensive? I also want my mom—"
"You'll find that having an owl that curses is really troublesome," Cohen replied. "It spent half the summer cursing at all my relatives."
Seamus shuddered at the thought of Cohen's owl's extremely rude language.
"But... I think my owl is pretty good—at least it won't suddenly point its finger at me and curse at me..."
By the time the two of them arrived at the auditorium, breakfast was already halfway through.
They found a seat and Cohen poured himself a bowl of cereal with two sausages and a fried egg.
Hermione Granger sat across from Cohen, poring over her textbook even during her meal—a thought that brought back some unpleasant memories from a past life.
Being a top student really made those who slack off feel guilty!
But Cohen didn't care.
He ate, and refused to touch any studies—unless he had some unfinished homework that needed to be caught up at breakfast.
"Cohen? What are you doing?"
After finishing breakfast, Hermione watched with some confusion as Cohen carefully wrapped two sausages in oil paper and tucked them into the outer pocket of his robes.
"Did you know? Hogwarts randomly spawns small animals. Feeding them boosts your favorability," Cohen said with a touch of levity. "Sometimes you even get credits."
"You've got to be kidding," Hermione raised an eyebrow, feigning confidence. "The animals don't give us any extra points—I asked the seniors, and they tell me that only good performance in class—"
"Just think of it as me being kind, whatever—I heard every professor prepares very carefully for their first class for freshmen."
Cohen packed up his things and headed for their first class, Transfiguration.
As one of the first students to arrive, Hermione naturally quickly took a seat in the front row.
She noticed a quiet tabby cat on the podium, but, determined to be a good student, Hermione quietly studied her textbook.
But as Cohen passed the podium, he pulled out the snacks he'd prepared long ago.
He placed the packaged sausage next to the cat.
[Ding! Kindness +1]
This is the reward for love!
Cohen even received a gratified look from the cat, as if it was grateful for Cohen's kindness...
[Ding! Sin +1]
Cohen's rough petting earned a stern look from the cat, who leaped onto the podium further away from Cohen.
"Didn't we say to pet the cat backwards?"
"Cohen!" Hermione whispered, urging Cohen to hurry down. She felt the teacher's gaze was always on her mind.
However, when Cohen came down, Hermione made room for him, allowing him to sit in the front row—but that was clearly not Cohen goal.
"Back row, window, the king's home!"
Cohen contentedly sat down in the far corner of the classroom, unfazed by the glare of disappointment Hermione sent her from the front row.
Students streamed into the classroom, and Harry and Ron finally arrived just as the bell was about to ring. They even exchanged a snarl at not seeing Professor McGonagall.
Naturally, they were startled by Professor McGonagall, who had transformed from a cat into a human, and sauntered to the only remaining empty seat—the last row, where Cohen sat.
Somehow, it seemed as if all the young wizards were eager to sit in the front seats. Cohen attributed it to "childish novelty."
He believed that before long, these children would be put off by the complex and daunting magical theory and the three-dimensional function model of magic power, and would scramble for seats in the back rows.
"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Anyone who misbehaves in my class will be asked to leave and never be allowed back again—I've warned you."
A strict teacher always made the children behave themselves instantly. The classroom, which had been filled with whispers, suddenly fell silent.
Then, Professor McGonagall demonstrated an advanced Transfiguration—she transformed the desk into a pig, then back again—and Cohen's eyes lit up. Transfiguration alone wouldn't have surprised Cohen, but McGonagall's Transfiguration was clearly more...than... ordinary.
Cohen saw with his own eyes the markings on the pig's head that the desk had transformed into.
[Soul Strength: 3]
After Professor McGonagall transformed the pig back into a desk, the Soul Strength marking disappeared.
In other words, McGonagall's Transfiguration had imbued the inanimate desk with a soul.
Could all Transfigurations be like this? Or... was it only McGonagall's Transfiguration that was effective?
Cohen planned to find time to ask Professor McGonagall—only about the differences between the various Transfigurations, of course.
Then, Professor McGonagall launched into the section of the class that the young wizards were least interested in: the theory of Transfiguration.
What McGonagall had said at the beginning was correct. This was indeed the most complex part of the Hogwarts curriculum. If Charms was simply y = a + bx + cx + dx..., then Transfiguration was about finding a way to make a' + b'x' + c'x' + d'x'... equal to a'' + b''x'' + c''x'' + d''x''... - so how to change this magical input x? First-year students needed to use the Existence Charm to analyze the target object's structure...
Of course, as first-year students, they didn't need to learn advanced magic like the Existence Charm; they simply needed to cast spells on specific objects according to established formulas.
And the first-year students' first Transfiguration experiment was the simplest conversion of two basic variables.
Professor McGonagall gave each young wizard a match and had them try to transmute a needle.
Most of the young wizards' attempts were ineffective, as they simply ignored McGonagall's advice and simply pushed hard, hoping for a miracle to do the rest. Unfortunately, Transfiguration couldn't work miracles with just force, so they were lucky they didn't send the needle crashing into the student in the front seat.
Cohen successfully transformed the match into a silver needle, earning Professor McGonagall five extra points from Gryffindor.
Then, Hermione's magic took effect, transforming her match into a different material. Although Professor McGonagall also gave her extra points and a compliment, Hermione didn't seem pleased.
"Cohen, how did you do that?"
After class, Hermione anxiously ran over to Cohen's desk.
"That needle, I also followed the textbook and notes..."
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(End of Chapter)