From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Moreover, even this cannot be discussed in depth—even he now has a systematic understanding of magic, and the boundaries between spells are not as distinct as before. He can even use two or more basic spells to achieve an effect he never thought of before, without having to pursue the ultimate variation of magic as before.

But how do you explain this?

Should we tell students that magic is a unified whole, ultimately revolving around the resonance between magical power and its effects?

William himself couldn't confirm this idea, so how could he explain it clearly to his students, or expect them to understand it? The existence of tiered learning is necessary—if he taught according to his true ideas, probably very few students would be able to graduate.

"Still... a little short... but that's it..."

William sighed, put away his notebook which was filled with writing, took out his wand again, enlarged the office space again, and then added extra security.

During his summary, he had a new idea and decided to give it another try.

The wand uses the Clear Water Spell, and the left hand uses the Freezing Spell—combining the two spells to create a new magical effect.

This was a technique he had mastered long ago—although he couldn't achieve the Transfiguration effect instantly when using a spell like Dumbledore, the combined power of two spells was still considerable.

"Now..."

While the magic was interfering with each other, William immediately cast a Polymorph spell—the spell, which shot out like an ice spike, instantly exploded into countless ice particles, which then enveloped the straw man that had been temporarily erected as a target.

The ice particles quickly enveloped the scarecrow and grew, forming a very large, shiny block of ice in the blink of an eye.

"It's feasible...but..."

William considered it—because of the magical fusion and the effect of the polymorph, the flight speed of this spell was extremely unfavorable. Apart from the fact that the side effects were much milder than those of dark magic and the magic consumption was less, it was simply no match for the dark magic he had mastered.

He shook his head, snapped his fingers with his left hand, and the ice block and scarecrow exploded into countless ice particles, which he then swept away with his wand.

"It still doesn't work; it's always just a little bit off—the transformation technique is still lacking, and the related content on human transformation must be put on the agenda."

-

"This... is too risky..."

Hermione looked through the documents in front of her, hesitant.

What was in front of her was human transformation, which could be considered the most advanced content of Transfiguration—far beyond their curriculum.

Even seventh graders aren't all capable of studying this extremely difficult subject; apart from her, no one in her grade dared to even think about it.

But this was the best information she could get her hands on.

Thanks to the fact that transfiguration has never been associated with dark magic, the book wasn't in the innermost part of the restricted section; she simply changed the cover and easily borrowed it.

After all, she was a regular at the library, borrowed a lot of books each time, and had good grades, so Mrs. Pince lent her the books after only glancing at the titles.

She had been studying the book's contents diligently during this time—it was a rather painful reading experience, and even she deeply felt how difficult those spells were to deal with.

Fortunately, she had enough skills and knowledge to overcome this difficulty. After suffering for several months, she was sure that she had completely understood the above-mentioned things. Even though the price she paid was that her grades this semester were not as good, and she could only maintain first place in some classes, and only manage to stay in the top three in Transfiguration and Potions classes, she still managed to accomplish these things.

She hadn't bought any books from Flourish and Blotts in a long time, nor had she gone to the library to browse books much, and her newly acquired spells were almost nonexistent—but it was all worth it.

Of course, the prerequisite is that she needs to master human shapeshifting techniques.

"Just because of a moment of spite..."

"No, I didn't do it on a whim!"

Hermione shook her head—she knew what she was doing.

After moving up to fifth grade, he was no longer needed in self-defense class. She still performed very well, but compared to Harry's absolutely stunning and standard performance, her excellence went largely unnoticed.

Potions class was also a problem—she could perform exceptionally well in meeting the professor's requirements, but Harry would occasionally produce near-perfect potions that drew the professor's high praise. Even more terrifying was Neville, whose potion-making skills had improved to an astonishing degree before the Christmas holidays, and after returning to school after Christmas, he hadn't missed a single potion…

As for Transfiguration… Harry’s Transfiguration skills far surpassed hers, even though Harry hadn’t spent much time on it—she could tell that if she had learned and mastered it quickly, Harry would have grasped it almost instantly, the difference was despairing…

"So, just like the professor said..."

She nodded, reaffirming her decision. "I should try to give up some things and start specializing in one subject, and Transfiguration is the best choice for me."

Actually, this decision should have been made a long time ago—as the top student in her grade, she knew about the existence of the time converter, but she had already returned it.

While many wizards returned the item after a year of study, she knew very well that some students stubbornly held onto it until the very end.

She should have learned to skip some courses back then, but she couldn't bear to at the time. It wasn't until this year, when she was spurred on by Harry and Neville's grades, that she finally made the decision.

She thought about it, researched it, and finally set her sights on transfiguration.

In her self-defense classes, she could never match Harry's superhuman sensitivity to combat. She had to admit that if she and Harry were to actually duel, she would definitely be the one to lose.

A magic potion? Absolutely not—she knew better than anyone the difference between perfect and excellent.

A curse? That one also relies on combat talent.

Only Transfiguration is most suitable for her. Her Transfiguration has always been very strong, and Professor McGonagall has always praised it highly. Moreover, Transfiguration is definitely not weak in combat, and there is no need to demand so-called combat talent.

More importantly, if her progress is recognized by Professor McGonagall, the professor will certainly do her utmost to support her students—which means very convenient access to guidance, and she might even receive individual training like Harry.

She prefers to achieve things through her own efforts—as she always has.

The highest realm of Transfiguration has two very distinct peaks: Animagus and human transfiguration. After much deliberation, she chose human transfiguration, which relies entirely on skill.

Animagus is really too reliant on luck—the complicated rituals are one thing, but waiting for a thunderstorm is just…

Human body transformation is different; you either know it or you don't. Understanding the content, learning it, and then applying it—that's what she excels at.

Therefore, she changed her learning methods and devoted a lot of time to this, striving to conquer this supreme transformation technique.

She had mastered the theory and had begun the practical part.

She conducted numerous experiments on mice, and aside from initial failures, she became increasingly successful—human transformation itself is an elevation of animal transformation. In order to forcibly elevate her transformation skills, she had essentially self-studied the entire sixth-grade curriculum during this period.

"Meow!"

"Alright, Crookshank—there are no more test subjects to feed you this time."

Hermione scratched her cat's chin. This was how she always handled experimental props; it was quite effective—except everyone disliked Crookshanks even more now…

"Alright, let's begin..."

She extended her left hand—the initial part of human transformation is naturally the partial transformation of the torso, just like the Durmstrang warrior demonstrated last year.

"You can do it, Hermione."

She told herself to be careful, then pointed her wand at her left hand and began to cast a transformation spell.

That was an extremely unusual power.

"Is this what it means to be transformed?"

She curiously sensed the magic, then opened her hand, closed it, opened it again, closed it again—her arm changed at a slow but extremely smooth speed, finally becoming a large forepaw that looked like a tiger's paw.

"Very successful..."

Hermione looked at her left hand with curiosity, without the slightest panic. She tried to open and close her palm, feeling the wonder.

The animal most easily observed around her was Crookshanks, so naturally the first human shapeshifter to imitate Crookshanks was Crookshanks. However, shrinking her arms abruptly was too dangerous, so she could only choose to transform into a large cat paw.

"Next, disarm..."

She waved her wand and, a few seconds later, saw her left hand again.

"The clothes are a bit torn... I still haven't controlled it well enough..."

A perfect human transformation should be able to include clothing, but her control over it is still somewhat problematic.

She easily repaired her clothes with her wand and began to transform again, even deliberately controlling her left arm to switch between cat claws and tiger claws.

Crookshanks lay quietly to the side, watching Hermione's hands with great interest, and even occasionally nudged Hermione to show her how to properly extend her paws.

The two, one human and one cat, were having a great time until there was a knock on the dormitory door.

"Ah! Wait, Hermione, you skipped class?"

The girl who returned was stunned for a moment, then shocked by herself—how could this be?

"what?"

Hermione thought for a moment, and it seemed so—but she didn't seem so panicked anymore.

"It seems so... I need to go apologize to the professor. See you later."

Chapter 558 Are you kidding me?

"The greenhouse is still under construction... We seem to have some extra funds... Let's consider starting to renovate an empty classroom this week."

"While the material consumption for Potions class hasn't increased, Professor Slughorn's meal expenses seem a bit high—oh well, let it be. It's truly astonishing how talented Neville is in Potions class..."

"We need to urge Professor William to start his club—he's been teaching for so many years and still hasn't established his own… We need to use the Ministry of Magic's special funds…"

"Professor Snape has requested a new batch of incense... Damn it, why is he acting even more eccentric than Sybil now?"

"Professor Trelawney requested the wine. Fine, give it to her. I don't know what Albus was thinking, insisting that Snape teach Divination..."

"That's it for this week's expenses—the real headaches are yet to come..."

Professor McGonagall put down the various bills in her hands and frowned.

The following report was not pleasant—the Gryffindor students each had their own fun when they played pranks, but when the records of punishments for these pranks were submitted to her, the headmistress, they made one want to quit the whole thing.

When she finally received the document, despite her headache, her heart felt heavy—it was about a third thicker than it had been last week…

Fortunately, after the review began, Professor McGonagall's headache lessened considerably—not all students were so outrageous, because of the self-defense course, most of the reports were from seventh graders who had been pulled into cleaning, which made things much easier.

"The Weasley brothers—the masterminds, I knew it..."

When Professor McGonagall saw the twins' report, she even felt a sense of relief—it hadn't been easy!

Seven years! A full seven years! Ever since those Weasley twins entered the school, Gryffindor's grades have been on a rollercoaster ride, fluctuating wildly to an absurd degree!

If the two hadn't been so intelligent and dedicated to their Transfiguration lessons, Professor McGonagall felt she would have lost her temper long ago—of course, this was also partly due to their excellent performance on the Gryffindor house team…

But no matter what, the current situation is nothing compared to their numerous achievements. On the contrary, she would be more worried if the two of them stopped breaking the rules these days.

'Let them graduate at this rate of rule violations…'

Professor McGonagall muttered to herself what others wouldn't believe, then put down the report on the violation with a sense of relief and picked up the Transfiguration assignments to begin approving them—good, the violation wasn't outrageous, so it was considered normal.

"Thump thump thump!"

The knocking interrupted Professor McGonagall's work. She glanced curiously at the doorway and said, "Come in."

The door opened with a click—and when the person's face appeared, Professor McGonagall's face broke into a genuine smile.

It's Granger, Hermione Granger.