From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

There's no way around it. A month into the semester, everyone's settled into their routines. The novelty of being able to cast spells at school has worn off, the classes are so boring, and even the most mischievous twins have disappeared lately. Everyone's feeling a little bored.

In addition, every time Professor William flipped through a book, he would borrow a bunch of Transfiguration-related content and spread it out on the table, occasionally writing and drawing on it. This scene, combined with Professor William's terrifying legend, made it hard not to have wild thoughts.

Even fifth graders found out what happened when the news had spread throughout the school.

"Are you kidding me... Professor William, researching Transfiguration?"

After training, Ron finally heard the news from his teammates.

He looked at Katie, who had told him, with a puzzled expression, then turned to look at Harry—all he had done lately, besides homework, dates, and playing ball, was researching voodoo dolls, while his professor had gone off to research transfiguration?

This was no joke; he put most of his energy into it, hoping to use this opportunity to overtake others, but...

Imagine you studied civil engineering, went to a construction site, and were mentored by a master—just when you were about to work hard, you discovered that your master had already packed up and run away…

Harry desperately tried to signal Ron with his eyes, trying to dissuade him from overthinking—Ron didn't know that he knew that after the Animagus transformation was complete, he felt that he was learning Transfiguration much faster, and clearly, Professor William was planning to use this to improve his skills.

But he couldn't tell Ron—his own Animagus was exposed, but not the Professor's; no one knew the Professor had mastered Animagus... Besides, Sirius had said that illegal Animagus would end up in Azkaban, and he didn't want to send the Professor there...

-

"Human body deformation..."

William opened his new book for the day—he had been learning Transfiguration exceptionally quickly lately, and he could now easily figure out some of the problems that had previously stumped him, and not just the kind that were difficult to understand. This had deepened his understanding of the Transfiguration system, and he was even able to think about human transfiguration in a holistic way.

With such rapid progress, he even temporarily abandoned the materials Professor McGonagall had asked him to retrieve, and devoted all his energy to mastering Transfiguration.

It was a breakthrough that came from a high vantage point, not a step-by-step approach, but a sprint as if a dam that had trapped him for many years had suddenly collapsed.

He was even a little scared by the rapid progress—it felt like a primitive chemist who had been painstakingly observing all changes in matter to summarize his experience suddenly learning about the existence of the periodic table, and all the changes seemed so clear and visible.

Or to put it more simply, it's like someone who only knows addition and subtraction suddenly getting a multiplication table, and the whole world becomes more organized.

William wanted to capitalize on this momentum, so he eagerly used all his existing knowledge of Transfiguration to solidify everything he had learned before returning to his office to conduct various experiments to verify what he had learned that day.

He didn't even have time to practice his Animagus anymore; he was just using his wand and gestures to try out all sorts of transfiguration.

He would even occasionally use things from the office to create variations—candied fruit packaging, scrap parchment, broken quill pens, even candied fruit and snacks, intact paper and pens, and even owl food…

William would have almost ended this crazy attempt at shapeshifting if his owl hadn't angrily complained about turning his food into chocolate flavor.

"Okay, okay, I'll go buy more, I'll go buy more."

He quietly comforted his owl, then pulled over a piece of cloth that had somehow transformed into paper, and picked up another stick that he wasn't sure if it was original or not, transforming it into a quill pen and starting to write on it.

After doing all this, he placed the letter on the owl's head, and incidentally—

"???"

William was stunned. Where was the money in his pocket?

The bag that had been enchanted with the Invisible Expansion Spell was fine, but the money bag that was normally used for spending was already more than half empty.

'Around... forty-odd Galleons.'

William thought back for a moment—well, at a certain stage of his Transfiguration experiments, he tried using relatively sturdy and stable magical materials such as Nat, Sikor, and Galon to perform Transfiguration experiments.

'Experimental Records…'

William flipped through the few items that hadn't been ravaged by the transformations. The records in the middle clearly showed how he had designed these experiments—only to be overshadowed by the transformation records of the rest of the items later on.

'I didn't realize there was that much... I just felt we were running low on materials, and it was time to switch to other materials for testing...'

William pulled out a drawer, his face turning ashen – he had ruined the snacks too.

Because the experiment went so smoothly, he basically didn't stop. He had never had such a successful experiment, not even when he was conducting herbal experiments.

I'm hungry...

Only then did he feel his stomach protesting, so he removed the barriers that prohibited entry into the room, the barriers on the table, and then his own personal protective equipment.

"Gurgle!"

The owl hooted again, and William realized he hadn't asked it to bring the money.

He counted out the remaining money to pay, shook his head, and handed it to the owl to order owl food before summoning the little sprite who served him.

“Bart.”

With a soft sound, Bart appeared in the room—"You told me not to disturb you, are you ready to eat now?"

"Yes, make me something light. I plan to eat and then take a nap—how ​​long have I been working on this experiment?"

"It's been thirty-six hours, Professor. You have class this afternoon. Should I wake you up?"

"Afternoon classes? I think they're for sixth grade?"

"Yes, Professor."

William rummaged through the mess on the table and found some paper and pen, handing them to Bart. "Take this to the main office, to Professor Moody..."

He has now confirmed that he can permanently transform ordinary objects into other ordinary, non-magical objects at will.

This is something to celebrate, and you could even have a big drink.

But I should get some sleep first…

William yawned, ate a little after Bart brought the food over, then went straight back to the inner bedroom, did a quick oral hygiene, and then collapsed onto the bed.

'By the way, the transformation of magical items is... those Galon and Sikor...'

'Never mind, get up and then…'

William had no idea what the answer to the question, and his eyelids felt incredibly heavy before he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 532 Hogwarts Night

"Headache…"

When William got out of bed, he felt sore all over.

It was pitch black all around, and he could barely make out that this was his room.

He yawned, then tapped the air, summoning a silver ball of light for illumination, only then noticing that it was around two o'clock.

"Damn it—should I sleep a little longer?"

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately couldn't resist the urge of his stomach. He got up, did some simple movements, and felt his physical discomfort lessen considerably.

"It's so late, let's not look for Bart anymore. Let's see if there are any little elves on night duty."

He yawned as he changed his clothes, then went to get himself some magic potion before heading to the outer office under the silver orb of light. As soon as he opened the door, he saw the table piled high with things.

Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the things on the table, making them shimmer. His owl heard the noise, opened its eyes, glanced at them, let out a soft hoot, clicked its beak twice, then closed its eyes again and went back to sleep.

'Strange thing…'

William strode over to the pile of test specimens, picked up the shiny objects, and immediately understood what they were—coins that had been destroyed beyond recognition after the transformation was complete.

To prevent counterfeiting, other metals were mixed into the Gallon, and powerful spells were cast on it. Normal wizards would find it extremely difficult to break those spells, but after William's transformation spell, these Gallon-sicco coins became precious metals mixed with various impurities, making them practically counterfeit...

He casually rummaged through them and found that many of the items had been restored—these were all materials that had been enchanted: candy, quills, insects that had died sometime during the day, and even parchment…

"Still not quite there..."

He looked at what he was holding, shook his head slightly, and then began to criticize his own insatiable greed.

'Honestly, it's already great, but I always want more…'

As William spoke, he touched an ordinary material, waved his wand, and after half a minute of casting a spell, the ordinary material had turned into a dazzling gold—something everyone loves, the embers of a burning star, the most ordinary yet most dazzling existence, gold.

'Can only be used on non-magical substances…'

He casually tossed the gold onto the table, and then, for some reason, he remembered the story Harry had told him two years ago in Diagon Alley about his first encounter with Hagrid—Harry vividly described how Hagrid had given Dudley a pig's tail, which ultimately forced Dudley to cut it off.

"Even Hagrid, who is not good at spellcasting, can cast a Polymorph spell that has an almost permanent effect on Muggles..."

"So, a transformation spell that only works on ordinary objects is still a bit lacking... Speaking of which, the Philosopher's Stone is much more powerful. The amount of energy I expend on this level of transformation spell is enough for a powerful human transformation spell. How exactly does it work?"

William started thinking again, and while he was at it, he began to register the materials that had been restored to their original state according to the experimental records. "Speaking of which, if we were to transform that thing, would it produce mushrooms?"

The thought suddenly popped into his mind, and he wrote it down solemnly—even though it would most likely not work, what if it did?

'First, I need to know what I want to transform into. I need to understand the magical definition of that transformation, and then perform the transfiguration spell according to that definition… This is quite difficult. Just the first step alone would probably take at least ten years… I'll try it first, and if I have time, it can become a research direction…'

He quickly wrote down his new ideas in the experimental record until his stomach protested severely, at which point he stopped writing.

"Let's grab something to eat first, then we'll think about this..."

"Furthermore, before conducting the experiment, I must elevate my Transfiguration skills to a completely new level..."

Transfiguration isn't something you can conjure with a wave of a wand. Beginners use tools like beans or needles. Only as their transfiguration skills and magical abilities improve can they dare to enlarge and increase the weight of the objects they transform into. Currently, human transformation is at the pinnacle of transfiguration research among ordinary wizards.

Although He managed to cross this level by sheer luck, the thing He transformed in one go was no bigger than the palm of his hand. And that was gold, which had been thoroughly studied in transmutation, alchemy, and a series of other researches. Anything else would be even smaller. As for food, which is in the realm of absolute taboo, that would be even more impossible.

Although gold is considered extremely precious by most people, and even by most wizards, it is not that difficult to transform into gold because it has been studied so thoroughly. Food, which is readily available everywhere, is the eternal challenge. To this day, no one has been able to challenge the first rule of Transfiguration—never transform into food.

"That's enough for today, I'm starving... As I get more familiar with it, I'll be able to transform most things... I need to improve both the quality and quantity..."

William put down his experimental records, glanced at his transformed gold nugget, and felt utterly bored—this stuff wasn't equivalent to a Galleon. Perhaps the Muggle world would accept it, but in the wizarding world, it was just like a synthetic diamond: it looked bright, but its price was low…

But despite his words, William's mood improved considerably when he walked down the corridor carrying the little lantern. He even hummed a tune as he walked.

'Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've been to the kitchen…'

Walking down a corridor and down the stairs, William recalled the date of his last visit to the kitchen—it felt like a very, very long time ago.

There was no way around it; Bart was always reliable, which meant he didn't need to sneak off to the cafeteria like a student would to ask for this or that. But tonight was a special case, after all.

"We've arrived...this way."

William looked at the portrait, recalled the mechanism here, and reached out to scratch the pear on the portrait.

The door to the passageway had just opened when a familiar voice came from inside.

"Ah, right, that's it. Excuse me, could I have some more roast chicken?"

Fred's voice was very distinctive, which made William sigh – come to think of it, neither of them had been put in solitary confinement by him this school year, and now they've been caught up in it?

-

"Okay, grill one more sausage, please!"

George wolfed down his food. They had been working hard to liberate the students of Hogwarts all this time—Professor William even had Lupin start teaching his classes yesterday, didn't that say it all?

"This year just feels weird—burp…" Fred was starving. "The team, the school, even the department…"