Dylan played with Luna for a while in the owlery, fed her a few strips of meat, and then headed back to the Great Hall.
By then, a trickle of students had begun to arrive for breakfast.
Since Dylan had already eaten, he just sat down and opened his book.
When it was about time, he got up and started toward the classroom.
There was still a full half hour before class.
The reason he wanted to go early was that he was worried Hogwarts' staircases would mess with the new students.
Sure enough, as he went upstairs, the stairs would suddenly swing around from time to time.
Dylan went up twice.
On his third attempt to reach the landing, the staircase shuddered again, clearly about to turn in another direction.
Dylan narrowed his eyes and raised his wand.
"Petrificus Totalus (Full Body-Bind)!"
A surge of magic flowed out.
He did not control this spell particularly well.
When the magic hit the stairs, it only froze them for an instant.
But it was enough time for Dylan to take a big stride and jump onto the landing.
The staircase stopped moving.
He gave it a brief look and turned toward the classroom.
By now a few students were already scattered through the room.
Most of them had chosen seats in the middle or the back.
Dylan could not be bothered to walk further in and sat in the front row, at the desk right by the door.
He had just set his things down and laid the required textbook on the desk when
a tabby cat walked silently in through the doorway, paws light, movements soundless, yet carrying a certain indescribable grace.
The moment she stepped into the room, her green eyes locked straight onto Dylan.
Dylan looked back at her.
"Hm. If I pretend not to know Professor McGonagall's Animagus form and take this chance to pet her, what will happen?"
The thought flashed through his mind.
Before he knew it, Dylan was on his feet.
"Whoa, what an adorable little tabby. Whose pet is this?"
Since he was already by the door, it only took two or three steps to reach the tabby. He crouched down in front of her.
The cat froze, momentarily failing to react.
By that time, Dylan had already scooped her up.
Feeling the boy's hand running through her fur, the tabby cat instinctively narrowed her eyes in enjoyment at first.
But a heartbeat later she came to her senses. She let out a sharp meow and twisted restlessly in his arms.
Then she wriggled free in a sudden burst, arcing through the air in a streak of yellow before landing neatly on top of the teacher's desk.
She sat there, fixing Dylan with a stare, emerald eyes flashing with something hard to read.
Dylan cocked his head and played dumb. "So whose tabby is this, anyway?"
Muttering to himself, he went back to his seat.
"If she doesn't want to be held, fine. Not cute at all."
"…"
Professor McGonagall almost lost control of her Animagus form.
In all her years of teaching, not a single student had ever had the audacity to do something like this.
He had actually dared to tease her.
Being suddenly scooped up like that had even made her consider walking out, changing back into human form, and re-entering from the corridor.
The boy might not feel embarrassed, but she certainly did.
Once Dylan felt her wriggle free, he simply went back to his seat and picked up where he had left off in A Concise Refinement of Transfiguration.
McGonagall glanced at him.
Seeing him still so studious eased her irritation a little.
She dipped her head slightly, then gave a small nod; her furry ears twitched, and her tail flicked lazily from side to side.
Dylan did not look directly at the tabby, but he caught the whole scene out of the corner of his eye.
"That's… ridiculously cute."
He quickly pulled himself together and forced all his attention back onto the page.
Even so, another bold thought crept into his mind.
"I really need to hurry up and get that Shadow Wyrm license sorted out."
The last time he had gone to Diagon Alley to buy his owl, he had stopped by again and asked for more details on the licensing process.
If he handled it personally, it would be a huge hassle, so his best bet was to have an adult wizard apply on his behalf.
If that adult happened to be a magical creature expert and wrote a supporting letter for him,
the difficulty of getting the license approved would drop dramatically.
Dylan already had the perfect candidate in mind.
Hagrid.
Hagrid was, after all, the gamekeeper of the Forbidden Forest.
And as someone who was technically not quite human himself, he understood all sorts of creatures. He was absolutely qualified to be called a magizoologist.
"Harry's on good terms with Hagrid. Looks like I'll need to get closer to Harry too."
That way he could use Harry as a bridge to Hagrid.
A creature-lover like Hagrid was hardly going to refuse to help once he learned Dylan was secretly keeping a Shadow Wyrm.
More and more students hurried into the room.
But Harry and Ron still had not shown up.
It was not until the bell rang
that the two of them finally rushed in.
On the teacher's desk, Professor McGonagall's cat eyes narrowed.
She gave a light jump.
Her body twisted sharply, and in the blink of an eye, she transformed into her human form.
"What?!"
The room fell silent. Every student stared, eyes wide and faces full of shock.
Dylan also put on an appropriately stunned expression.
There was nothing for him to do now but keep acting clueless.
After all, he had already petted her.
Ignorance was innocence.
McGonagall shot him a sidelong look but said nothing. Instead, her gaze shifted to Harry and Ron at the door.
Both boys were equally dumbstruck. They had assumed, seeing no professor, that they could just slip in quietly.
Then the cat had suddenly turned into their professor, scaring them both half to death.
"Late together. How very impressive. Perhaps I should turn one of you into a pocket watch so you'll finally know what time it is."
"I'm sorry, Professor. We didn't mean to," Harry mumbled, ducking his head.
Ron drooped as well. "The castle's so big. We just got lost."
McGonagall's face did not change. "Oh? Then maybe I should turn you into a map so you can find your way."
Harry: "…"
Ron: "…"
"I trust you don't need a map to find your seats?"
At that, Harry hurriedly grabbed Ron's sleeve and dragged him to the nearest desks—
which happened to be right beside Dylan.
Only then did McGonagall step back behind the teacher's desk.
"Time is precious. Transfiguration will be the most complex and dangerous branch of magic you study at Hogwarts. You must never take it lightly."
Her gaze swept over the class, sharp and stern.
"If anyone dares to fool around in my classroom, they need never set foot in it again."
As soon as she finished, McGonagall gave her wand a flick.
The desk in front of her instantly transformed into a large, fat, pink pig.
"Hiss…"
The entire class drew in a sharp breath.