The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

Knox sat upright beside her pillow, his amber eyes fixed on the window. Dawn was breaking, and the morning light streamed in through the window, bathing the entire dormitory in a pale golden glow.

Vera sat up gently and found that Harry and Hermione were still fast asleep.

Harley's blanket had been kicked to the floor, and she was sprawled out on the bed in a starfish shape, her glasses askew; Hermione, on the other hand, was lying properly on her back, muttering in her sleep.

She smiled silently, used a levitation spell to pick up the blanket and cover Harley with it again, then pushed the wheelchair to the window.

From this vantage point, one can see the Black Lake shimmering in the morning light, while the Forbidden Forest in the distance is shrouded in mist, appearing mysterious and secluded.

"Meow." Knox lightly jumped onto her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek with his head.

“I know,” Vera replied softly, “It’s the first day of class, I can’t be late.”

She slowly changed into her school uniform, quickly washed up, and then put on the uniform.

As Vera was combing her hair, there was a slight noise behind her—Hermione sat up abruptly in bed, her brown curls bristling like a fluffy marshmallow.

"What time is it?" she asked in a panic, frantically searching for the alarm clock.

“Seventy,” Vera replied, “that’s plenty of time to prepare.”

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Vera, who was already dressed, in surprise: "You're ready?"

Vera nodded: "I'm used to waking up early."

Actually, she deliberately asked Knox to wake her up earlier, otherwise it would be very inconvenient for several people to rush to wash and get ready in the morning.

Hermione immediately jumped out of bed, rummaging through her textbooks while muttering to herself, "Transfiguration, Herbology... Oh no! I wonder if I'll make it!"

Her noise woke Harley, and the Savior sat up groggily, his glasses ask, "What happened?"

“First day of school,” Vera pushed her wheelchair to her bedside, reached out and pinched her cheek, taking off her crooked glasses. “If you don’t get up now, you’ll be late.”

Hmm, it feels great.

Harley snapped awake, nearly rolling off the bed: "Did I oversleep?"

“No,” Vera handed her the glasses, “but Hermione is already on standby.”

Harley rubbed her eyes and looked at Hermione—who was flipping through two books at the same time, muttering something to herself.

"Has she... always been like this?" Harley blinked and asked softly.

Vera shrugged: "It seems so."

The three girls quickly got ready, and as they entered the auditorium, the morning light was streaming in through the tall stained-glass windows, where many students were already seated at the four long tables.

Vera pushed her wheelchair to an empty spot at the Gryffindor table, where Hermione had already eagerly picked up "The Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" and started reviewing.

"Hermione, you should at least eat something first," Vera reminded her softly, pouring her a glass of pumpkin juice.

Hermione, as if waking from a dream, put down her book: "Oh, right, thank you."

Harley wolfed down her food, like a little animal that hadn't eaten for three days.

Vera glanced at Harley's plate, which was piled high with bacon and fried eggs, but had almost no vegetables.

She sighed and gently pushed a bowl of fruit and vegetable salad towards her: "A balanced diet."

Harley smiled sheepishly, obediently stuffing a little tomato and lettuce into her mouth. After swallowing quickly, she explained in a low voice, "When I'm at home... hiccup! Dudley always steals all the good parts."

For example, most of the fruit pulp, or the unburnt parts of a meat patty.

Vera's eyes darkened, her gaze falling on Harley's slender wrist. She gently pushed a glass of orange juice in front of her: "No one here will steal your food. Eat slowly."

Harley nodded, then urged her in return, "Vera, you should eat too!"

As she spoke, she used her fork to pick up a piece of fried egg and held it to Vera's lips, her green eyes full of anticipation: "Try this?"

Vera paused for a moment, looking at the fork so close to her, and hesitated for a second before leaning forward slightly and gently biting into the fried egg.

"Hmm, not bad," she commented softly, then turned her head away, chewed silently a few times, and slowly swallowed the food.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Rubbing the Cat

After breakfast, the three set off for the Transfiguration Classroom, but the castle's stairs kept changing positions, leaving the new students disoriented.

"Have we been here before?" Harley stood at a fork in the road, looking around at the almost identical corridors with confusion.

Hermione nervously flipped through the map: "Should we turn left... no, right?"

Vera pushed her wheelchair to a portrait: "Hello, could you tell me how to get to the Transformation Classroom?"

The knight in the painting was dozing off, but upon hearing this, he opened one eye: "Ah! Finally, a new student knows to ask for guidance! Go straight down this corridor, up the third staircase, and the third door on your right!"

"Thank you," Vera nodded in thanks.

Hermione looked at her in surprise: "You actually thought of asking about the portrait?"

“They’ve been here for hundreds of years,” Vera said calmly, “and most of the time they’re more reliable than maps.”

Guided by the portrait, the three arrived at the Transformation Classroom ahead of schedule.

A few people were scattered in the classroom. Professor McGonagall was not there; instead, a tabby cat sat dignifiedly on the podium.

Vera narrowed her eyes and secretly tried to probe with her magic circuits. She saw that this seemingly ordinary tabby cat possessed an unusually powerful magic power—the threads of magic formed a complex and intricate magical network around the cat's outline.

She secretly raised an eyebrow. So even the Animagus could see it?

Although Vera had encountered Ron's scabbards in the carriage earlier, considering the other party's ill intentions, she did not rashly test him without being sure of her chances.

Although Professor McGonagall was much stronger than Peter Pettigrew, even if she noticed that her student was observing her from the shadows, she could at least be sure that she would not be in any danger.

It now appears that she has clearly seen through Professor McGonagall's magic, but the other party still shows no reaction.

This suggests that her magical circuits are more concealed than imagined, to the point that even a master of transfiguration like McGonagall couldn't detect them.

Vera thoughtfully pushed her wheelchair to the front of the stage, followed closely by Harley and Hermione.

"What an adorable kitten!" Harley curiously approached the podium, reaching out to touch the kitten's head, but the tabby cat nimbly jumped away, easily dodging Harley's hand.

Catgirls aren't something you can just touch casually.

Vera watched the magic flowing through her body and suddenly thought of something. She unconsciously raised her lips and, taking advantage of the tabby cat's fierce look at Harley, took the opportunity to reach out from the side and gently lift the tabby cat by the scruff of its neck!

The tabby cat froze, struggling to escape Vera's clutches, but in her blind spot, a faint golden pattern flashed across the skin of Vera's fingertips.

In an instant, Vera clearly saw the magic power on the tabby cat momentarily become disordered.

The tabby cat's pupils suddenly contracted to slits, but in Vera's hands, it let out a weak "meow".

It doesn't sound like tugging at fur; it sounds more like being affectionate.

Vera, who had mischievously tested her theory on the dean of her own academy, stroked the catgirl's head contentedly, listening to McGonagall purr in her hand, a sound that was both comfortable and awkward.

"Wow, amazing!" Harley exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. "Vera, it actually lets you touch it!"

Vera feigned ignorance and raised her lips in a smile: "Maybe it was just good luck."

She was right; with the magic circuit activated, her contact would produce a strange reaction on the magic user.

McGonagall's Animagus form was temporarily rendered unable to resist due to interference from the magic circuits.

Of course, Vera herself probably can't use any magic right now.

The conditions for producing this effect are actually quite demanding. First, one must awaken one's own magic circuits and be able to see the magic circuits of others in order to potentially influence them.

Secondly, physical contact must be made with the other party when they are completely unprepared in order to have a temporary effect.

Hmm... maybe only ten or so seconds?

A moment later, the tabby cat finally broke free from Vera's hand, leaped to the other end of the podium as if fleeing, and stared at her warily, even the fur on its tail standing on end.

"It seems angry," Hermione whispered.

"Maybe she's just shy." Vera pushed her wheelchair back to her seat as if nothing had happened, her expression completely calm, showing no sign that she had just done something wrong to her director.

She glanced down at her fingers, estimating the time she had spent with the catgirl Mag, and felt a pang of regret.

At least for now, this magical interference can only be considered a small joke in normal times. If you want to use it against an enemy... a proper wizard won't let anyone get close so easily.

Just then, the classroom door was pushed open, and Ron and Neville rushed into the classroom, panting, nearly knocking over a table.

"I almost missed it!" Ron said, wiping his sweat. "Those stairs were a nightmare!"

Neville nodded, blushing. "We circled around three times before we found this place."

Suddenly, the tabby cat leaped off the podium, stretched its body in mid-air, and transformed into Professor McGonagall in the blink of an eye.

The classroom fell silent instantly. All the students stared wide-eyed, and Ron and Neville, who were late, instinctively took a step back.

"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn in Hogwarts."

Professor McGonagall's voice was as stern as ever, but her gaze paused slightly as she swept over Vera. "And, it is extremely unwise to touch an unknown magical creature without permission, Miss Black."

Vera calmly met her gaze: "I'm sorry, Professor. I was just... attracted by the cat's beautiful fur."

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips into a thin line, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just turned to look at Ron and Neville, who were still standing there in a daze: "Gentlemen, won't you take a seat?"

Ron and Neville snapped out of their daze and quickly found seats.

With a wave of her wand, McGonagall automatically wrote today's lesson on the blackboard: Matches Turn into Needles.

“Today we’re going to learn how to turn a match into a needle.” She looked around the classroom, waved her wand, and handed a match to everyone. “Remember, transfiguration requires a clear imagination and precise control of magic. The spell must be pronounced correctly, and the wand swing must be decisive—like this.”

She demonstrated a standard cane-swinging motion, and the matchstick instantly transformed into a gleaming silver needle.

"Now, let's begin practicing."

The classroom was immediately filled with chanting and the sound of waving sticks.

Vera picked up her wand and, through the magic circuit, saw the magical threads that McGonagall had just demonstrated flowing around the match like living things, gradually altering its internal structure.

She lightly tapped the match with her wand, clearly guiding the magic to flow along the trajectory she had just observed—

The match trembled slightly at the tip of her wand, its surface shimmering with a silvery light. It gradually stretched and thinned, eventually transforming into a perfect silver needle, its tip sharp enough to pierce the skin.

"Perfect!" McGonagall's voice came from nearby. She picked up Vera's silver needle and showed it to the class. "Miss Black succeeded on her first try. Five points for Gryffindor!"

Author's Note: I'll be releasing a massive update tomorrow, ten chapters, around midnight on the 7th. Please support me! Donations, monthly tickets, and recommendations would be even better. Thank you everyone!

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Transfiguration Club (First Update)

She scored five points in less than five minutes of her first class, which drew envious glances from all the other new students present.

Harley looked at Vera's needle with envy: "How did you do that? My matches don't even budge."

“Imagination is key,” Vera explained softly. “Don’t just wave your wand; imagine the shape, the luster, the weight of the needle… Imagine your magic passing through the wand, changing the match through a spell.”

She picked up Harley's match and placed it on the table: "Come on, try again. This time, close your eyes and imagine the shape of a needle."

Harley nodded thoughtfully, then stared at her match again, her lips moving as she muttered a spell.

Vera noticed a faint glow at the tip of her wand, but the match only trembled slightly before becoming still.

Meanwhile, on Vera's other side, Hermione was also trying to replicate Professor McGonagall's actions. Her match gradually turned silvery, but it was still a ways from becoming a needle.

From this perspective, if we only consider academics, Hermione's magical talent is almost unparalleled among her peers.

Among this year's students, only Harley is slightly better than her in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Quidditch.

Vera watched as she tried several times earnestly, then asked softly from the side, "Do you need any help?"

Hermione looked up, her brown eyes sparkling with a defiant determination, her face flushed with focus: "Thank you, but I want to try it myself again—the principle of Transfiguration is to change the essential properties of an object, not just its appearance, right?"

Vera was somewhat surprised by the depth of her understanding and nodded: "That's right, the key is to change the essence of things."

A determined glint flashed in Hermione's eyes as she raised her wand again: "Then I need to visualize the changes in the internal structure more precisely..."

Looking at her focused profile, Vera suddenly understood why Hermione in the original story was able to master magic far beyond her peers in her first year. Such a serious and dedicated spirit of study was indeed rare in Gryffindor.

Inside the classroom, McGonagall walked around, correcting the students' movements and pronunciation from time to time.

As she passed by Harley, one end of Harley's match suddenly became sharp, and although it was still made of wood, it did indeed take the shape of a needle.

“That’s good, Miss Potter,” McGonagall said approvingly. “Keep it up.”

Harley's face flushed with excitement. She turned to Vera, her green eyes brimming with joy: "I almost did it!"

Vera gently patted the back of her hand: "Try again, you'll get it soon."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a wisp of black smoke suddenly billowed from Ron's match, startling him so much that he almost fell off his chair.

Neville's situation was even worse; his match went straight to smoke after a slight "pop."

Professor McGonagall quickly waved her wand, extinguishing the small flame on Neville's table: "Don't be discouraged, Mr. Longbottom. Transfiguration requires patience and practice. Please continue."

Neville's face turned bright red as he hurriedly took the new matches, muttering apologies under his breath.