The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 108 The Four-Legged Button

Moriarty and his two companions entered the classroom, where Professor McGonagall was licking the hair on her back while lying on the podium.

No, no!

It's Professor McGonagall in Animagus form!

One cat, three people, four pairs of eyes, staring at each other.

"Meow~" The tabby cat jumped off the podium and fled in a panic, running out of the classroom.

Lilith stared in disbelief, Jericho seemed unable to believe his eyes, and Moriarty sighed, "Someone once told me that the first student to walk into the classroom often sees things they shouldn't, and it's true! Trust me, don't come too early next time!"

"That was Professor McGonagall!" Jericho exclaimed sadly. "Oh no! We saw her! According to cats' habits—she was probably taking a bath, wasn't she?"

Lilith stared at Jericho in disbelief, seemingly marveling at his peculiar thought process. Moriarty thought she must be full of questions at that moment.

"Thump!"

The classroom door was violently pushed open, startling the three of them who thought Professor Snape had barged in.

But then Professor McGonagall's icy voice rang out: "Moriarty! Pillivic! Blanche! Do you want to stand there for the entire class?"

The three quickly found seats in the third row and sat down. They saw a wooden box floating at Professor McGonagall's feet, but no one dared to ask what was inside. At this moment, it was best to stay away from Professor McGonagall.

Jericho wrote on the note: "Merlin above, please bless me so I don't get targeted by the professor in class! I think the professor heard me say that, what do you guys think?"

"Good luck," Lilith wrote. "Professor McGonagall seems to be in a bad mood. The sound of her pushing the door open just now is still making my heart race. I thought only Professor Snape would push a door like that!"

When Moriarty saw Professor McGonagall looking at them, he put his staff behind him, drew his cedar wand, and turned the small piece of paper into a paper fish, probably shaped like a koi, which swung in the air, flicking its tail.

Professor McGonagall's gaze softened slightly, just a little, and then she turned her head toward the classroom door.

Jericho and Lilith both breathed a sigh of relief. Moriarty received a random task from the system: "Feed Professor McGonagall in her Animagus form dried fish, or groom her fur! Reward: 500 points. Penalty: None."

"System, do you think letting me die will help complete the ultimate mission?" Moriarty said disdainfully, "Or rather, would a wizard who frequently dies become the mastermind behind everything?"

The system has been giving him increasingly difficult random tasks lately, leaving Moriarty at a loss.

"Why can't a wizard who often dies be the mastermind behind everything?" the system countered. "What if Neville Longbottom, that chubby little guy, was Voldemort's master? Would people associate Neville with the mastermind? No!"

"Alright, System, you've grown up." Moriarty ended the conversation, unable to suppress a smile.

Just then, the lion cubs entered, with Percy leading the way. He greeted Moriarty and the other two in a friendly manner, only to be sternly reprimanded by Professor McGonagall: "Is your seat on fire, Weasley!"

Percy sat down innocently, sensing Professor McGonagall's low mood. The little lions dared not breathe and sat obediently.

A few minutes later, the little snakes arrived and sat behind Moriarty.

Professor McGonagall walked to the center of the classroom, drew her wand, and slowly pointed it at the box.

"As you move up to the second year, you will learn to turn living things into inanimate objects."

The box vanished instantly, revealing a swarm of beetles inside! The beetles were bewildered by the sudden disappearance of their "prison," and before they could escape, they heard a voice say:

"Yugadimurleviosa!"

Professor McGonagall sent the beetles to the students, one for each of them. The beetles were alive and had just been taken from the tree. Moriarty smelled the earthy scent and the faint fragrance of maple. He saw them fluttering their four legs in fear, but to no avail.

"Today we'll learn how to turn a beetle into a button!"

Professor McGonagall seemed unwilling to say more.

After she calmly introduced the teaching objectives, Moriarty immediately waved his cedarwood wand.

The beetle, still struggling, was transformed into a red button with four buttonholes. The beetle's four legs became four thin black threads tied to the buttonholes.

Lilith thought that if Moriarty were given a shirt, he could embroider the buttons on it anytime.

"A perfect transformation," Professor McGonagall exclaimed sincerely. "Slytherin gets a perfect score!"

"Not bad at all." Lilith smiled slightly at Moriarty, her lips curving upwards almost excessively. Moriarty quickly realized why.

Lilith waved her wand forcefully, a gesture that made Professor McGonagall adjust her glasses and become cautious. She saw the wand fall heavily, pointing at the black beetle in front of her.

The black beetle suddenly transformed into a black button with four thin legs.

The black button landed on the table and quickly crawled away, but the poor thing couldn't find its way and just kept spinning in place.

"Oh!" The little wizards ran over to see, making exaggerated noises, finding it very amusing. Jericho pressed a finger lightly against the black button, just to see its four legs swinging wildly.

"Haha, it's so cute!" Jericho laughed. Lilith, annoyed, snatched her button away, frowning slightly. "Why did you do that?"

Professor McGonagall walked to Lilith's desk and nodded slightly. "A very ancient form of transfiguration, Piriwick. You've done a great job, but I think you didn't consider the issue of its activity!"

"Active?" Lilith repeated, then gently waved her wand, and the four-legged button returned to its original form, continuing to run around aimlessly like a headless fly as a beetle.

Moriarty restored the red button to its original state. His red beetle seemed not to have come to its senses, still believing it to be a button, and remained motionless on the table.

"Have you noticed the problem?" Moriarty reminded Lilith, "I not only changed its appearance, but I also changed its thinking and activity. It is now a beetle, but it has no signs of life."

"How cruel..." A dreamlike voice rang out from the back of the classroom. Everyone looked toward the source of the discordant sound and found it was Keith.

His eyes were vacant. When he saw Moriarty looking at him, he blinked and hurriedly waved his hand. "I was just talking nonsense, sir. I'm so sorry. Please continue, haha."

"Keep being so saintly," Jericho patted Keith on the shoulder, "and don't tell anyone you graduated from Slytherin!"

"Yes, yes, yes," Keith touched his forehead and said with a wry smile, "I don't know what happened to me just now."

"Mr. Blanche, if you can't get back to your seat in three seconds, you'd better see if I dare deduct three points from Slytherin's house!" Professor McGonagall glared at Jericho.

Jericho scurried back to his stool, swiftly drew his wand, aimed it at the beetle, and tried to turn it into a button, but the beetle only became rounder, looking like a sphere.

Jericho sensed something was wrong, so he moved his wand again, this time flattening the beetle.

"Oh no!" Jericho sighed. He thought Professor McGonagall would definitely deduct points from his score, but she didn't, because Jericho had done quite well compared to the other students.

Many of the lion cubs were just playing with the beetles; Percy made the beetle's head disappear, and Larpo did something that made the beetle jump up.

Moriarty even heard Larpo angrily growl at the beetle: "Damn it! Why do I have to take this damn class? With a beetle crawling on the ground—you? It's disgusting!"

"A lesson in the dark? Did you see a ghost in my class, Mr. Ralph? Slytherin, deduct ten points!" Professor McGonagall walked up to Ralph's desk and slammed it down. Ralph seemed to be startled awake, his head jerked up, and he apologized pitifully.

Jericho shook his head sympathetically. He felt that Larpo was just like him before, too wild and unable to rein himself in. Fortunately, he had received Moriarty's guidance, while Larpo did not.

"Sir, I need to talk to them after class." Jericho tried to pull his roommate away, but saw Lilith pulling Moriarty along. She used her shapeshifting ability again. "You see, I can never do this. Activation? Am I supposed to be thinking about killing beetles while I'm shapeshifting?"

"Strictly speaking, yes," Moriarty nodded slightly, meeting the doubt in Lilith's eyes. "But you don't need to kill the beetle. Try thinking of it as an inanimate object."

"it is good."

Lilith replied sweetly, "It's much easier to think of the beetle as an inanimate object." She waved her wand above the beetle, then suddenly pointed. Moriarty keenly sensed a magical force seemingly arranged in sequence, striking the beetle and turning it into a four-legged button.

"There are still four legs!" Lilith pouted, looking sullen. Moriarty picked up the button: "Look on the bright side. This time it's not moving, so you've eliminated its activity. Next, pay attention to the coordination of its vital signs, and you'll succeed after a few more tries."

Moriarty was telling the truth; the other students were still at Jericho's level. They had a basic grasp of shape transformation and were sweating profusely as they tried to flatten and round the beetle.

The get out of class ended, and Professor McGonagall waved her wand, causing the wooden box to vanish. She said in a deep voice, "get out of class dismissed, children. The beetle is yours. Go back and write a metamorphosis paper that is at least fifteen inches long, due before the next class."

The young wizards all shook their heads. On the fourth day of school, the dreaded papers had arrived! Moriarty then heard a little lion angrily say that he didn't want to go to school anymore.

"Could you come with me to the library? I have Professor Snape's class this afternoon. I'd like to look up some information on potions," Lilith said to Moriarty.

"Let's go," Moriarty said, turning his gaze away. "I'll go to the library to find information on dragons."

(End of this chapter)