A certain broken Hogwarts

Chapter 33 Rumors of Hogwarts

Life on campus at Hogwarts is generally peaceful and serene, much like the weather in September, which, though sometimes stormy, is generally mild and pleasant.

Two weeks passed by at a leisurely pace. For Owen, apart from the Gryffindors who had been annoyed by him occasionally tripping him up, everything was unusually peaceful... well, even the Truth Transmitter remained completely unaccounted for.

The enthusiastic ghosts were indeed trying their best to help him search, but after finding the fax machine twice, it was beaten to it by someone else on the way to notify Owen.

The truth machine always seemed to appear in locations that could be found, even in very remote places. This made Owen suspect that it might have some kind of prophetic ability.

After the Weasley twins discovered the fax machine in the Forbidden Forest, Owen gave up hope of finding it on his own. Therefore, he spent most of his nights in a secluded room near the Great Hall, quietly reading or practicing spells, waiting for news from the ghosts.

He had considered offering a reward among the students for finding the fax machine, since he had a considerable allowance, but that would attract too much attention. The situation was already chaotic enough, and in Owen's opinion, Galleons might not be as appealing to many young wizards as an answer.

Especially as time went on, the legend of the fax machine spread like wildfire among the students, with more and more people willing to believe it truly existed. The number of nighttime wizards increased significantly, making Owen's search much more difficult. Of course, it was also a challenge for Mr. Filch.

Lately, with one nocturnal wizard after another being apprehended, Mr. Filch has been in a state of extreme excitement. He has begun frequently petitioning the headmaster, hoping the school will allow him to chain the students who violate school rules to the ceiling of his office and whip them a few times. In his view, conventional punishments are no longer enough to deter these little rascals.

His suggestion was naturally dismissed with a smile by Dumbledore. Professor Snape seized the opportunity to suggest that the prefects of each house assist in capturing students who were out at night. Of course, the Slytherin prefects would be stationed near the Gryffindor common room, while the Gryffindor prefects would wander around the dungeons, and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefects would be stationed in the same way.

Once the proposal was passed, the young wizards indeed behaved much better, and the plummeting scores of the various schools... also began to drop more gradually.

Naturally, many were driven to despair by this, such as Hermione Granger. Despite her desperate efforts to earn extra points in class, she couldn't slow Gryffindor's rapid decline, steadily climbing towards the bottom – the little lions always seemed more determined and relentless in their pursuit – and she was so frustrated that she pulled out even more hair from her head. Then there was Mr. Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect, who was like a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.

Owen sincerely hoped they would take it easy, but he clearly had no right to say so—after having to use some minor curses to fend off some Gryffindor students who came looking for trouble, his title of "Gryffindor nemesis" was almost confirmed, and it was becoming the second most popular rumor among young wizards at Hogwarts.

Well, there are a few other rumors, such as why Professor Snape doesn't like to wash his hair? Is Professor Quirrell's scarf stuffed with garlic? And is Professor Quirrell a vampire...?

Legend has it that Professor Snape cast a spell in his hair, so that anyone who tries to ambush him will suffer a terrible attack of hair oil... Everyone believes this rumor originated from Gryffindor.

Professor Snape thus wore a dark and gloomy face all day long, looking as if he was about to cast Avada Kedavra on anyone at any moment. Even Slytherin students would get into trouble for making small mistakes in class, not to mention Gryffindor, whose situation in Potions class could only be described as dire.

Legend has it that Professor Quirrell is actually a vampire, and many young wizards can vividly tell their friends a story about "Professor Quirrell and the vampire," as if they had witnessed it firsthand.

As for Professor Quirrell's love of garlic? That's clearly a tactic to mislead everyone! Everyone knows that garlic is like feces to vampires, so he stuffs garlic into his classroom and on his person, taking advantage of people's blind spots in thinking, so no one will suspect that he is a vampire!

This conjecture is quite reasonable and realistic. Even during Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, many young wizards rarely mocked Professor Quirrell anymore; in fact, many looked at him with a strange sense of admiration. After all, poor Professor Quirrell had already made such a great sacrifice to avoid revealing his identity; mocking him would make their consciences ache!

When Owen heard the rumor, he burst out laughing in the Transfiguration class, which drew Professor McGonagall's attention.

"Excuse me, Professor." Owen suppressed his smile and waved his wand, turning a button on the table into a lively beetle.

Seeing the satisfied expression on Professor McGonagall's face, Owen seized the opportunity to ask, "Professor McGonagall, why can Transfiguration transform living and inanimate objects? This beetle doesn't seem to truly possess life, but if we turn a beetle into a lifeless button, why does it remain alive after reverting to its original form?"

"In the realm of transfiguration, we only need to consider turning one object into another, not whether they possess life," Professor McGonagall nodded. "When a button becomes a beetle, it's essentially allowing the button to exist and move in the form of a beetle, and when the beetle becomes a button, it continues to live in the form of a button..."

"Transfiguration cannot truly transform an inanimate object into a living object, nor can it truly transform a living creature into an inanimate thing. 'Life' is not within the scope of Transfiguration, nor does it interfere with the operation of Transfiguration. Therefore, 'life' itself can be considered as non-existent in the realm of Transfiguration."

Owen's eyes grew brighter. He understood. It was merely a transformation from one object to another; only factors like the complexity of the structure and the size of the mass and volume affected the difficulty of the transformation, not whether the object was alive or dead.

He pointed his wand at the ink bottle on the table and waved it lightly. Feathers quickly sprouted from the ink bottle, limbs emerged, and it transformed into a jet-black raven. It cawed and flapped its wings, landing on Owen's shoulder, preening its feathers as it pleased.

"Very good, shall we try this one?" Professor McGonagall nodded with satisfaction, waved her wand, and summoned a gray mouse from the corner of the classroom.

Owen waved his wand, turning the mouse into a magnificent, gleaming golden cup. Then he waved his wand again, transforming it into a boot, a monocular telescope, a white bird…

With a solid foundation in theoretical knowledge and diligent practice, Owen unexpectedly found himself first grasping the essence of Transfiguration. After figuring out a key point, his Transfiguration skills began to advance rapidly towards his theoretical level.

"But the Vanishing Charm is an exception?" He looked at Professor McGonagall. "It can reduce both living and non-living things to nothingness, or rather, to all things..."

"That's right. You'd better learn the Transfiguration Charm first. I don't think it will be difficult for you. Then you can start practicing the Vanish Charm." Professor McGonagall's usually stern face broke into a smile. "Your talent for Transfiguration is outstanding. Don't waste it... My office is always open for you. Feel free to ask me anything you don't understand."

After saying that, she muttered almost imperceptibly, "Of course, it would be even better if they didn't target Gryffindor students for bullying..."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." Owen maintained a polite smile and added in a low voice, "It would be best if they didn't always be chasing after me..."

Professor McGonagall seemed to smile slightly, then wandered off to another spot.

(End of this chapter)