Hope Nook.
A hidden door had appeared on the left side of the wall.
A faint breeze brushed past, and the wall seemed to split open into a thin crack.
Justin glanced toward the crack by instinct. He stared for a moment, then went back to practicing his spells.
Inside the crack was a very large circular room.
Elegant arched windows were set into the walls, draped with blue-and-bronze silk. Through them, you could see the beautiful scenery outside.
The ceiling was a dome studded with stars, and the deep blue carpet below was dotted with stars as well. The room held tables and chairs, bookshelves, and in the niche opposite the door stood a white marble bust of Rowena Ravenclaw. A door beside the statue led back to Hope Nook.
No matter how Sean looked at it, it felt like the Ravenclaw common room—right down to Lady Ravenclaw's statue.
Except the Ravenclaw statue here wore a coronet on its head, engraved with:
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
Sean had felt surprised and puzzled at first, until he leaned closer and discovered it was merely a beautifully crafted replica.
Now he looked at the coronet again.
"How could a wizard's true wisdom possibly live inside a crown?"
With that, he walked over to his workbench.
On the silvery-white bench sat countless little items: things like shattered lens fragments, and cookies in all sorts of forms—
There were purring kneazle cookies, fire-breathing dragon cookies, hippogriff cookies that let out long cries… all of them arranged neatly on the display rack beside the bench.
Today, there was also an almost absurdly wondrous Cat-Pard cookie.
The moment Sean met the cookie's gaze, the world in front of him warped in a blink, twisting into places he knew all too well:
the Transfiguration office with its crackling fireplace; the dungeon where cauldrons burbled; the McGonagall cottage buried under endless snowfall…
Sean calmly raised his wand. A brief pulse of Beginner-level Occlumency yanked him back to reality.
He picked up the Cat-Pard cookie and took a bite.
In an instant, the secluded room lost a young wizard.
When sound returned to the room, a cat-pard seemed to appear out of thin air.
It had sleek, flowing black fur, patterned with silver like cloud-embroidery—and most striking of all, a pair of emerald-green eyes that glittered with a mesmerizing brilliance.
As the cat-pard silently examined its body, it realized something unexpected, yet somehow inevitable:
It was small.
Literally small—only a little bigger than a kneazle, like a juvenile cat-pard.
It guessed this was because the cookie was only Apprentice-tier.
Just like the difference between the "Little Fire Dragon" cookie and the real Fire Dragon cookie—on the panel's rating system, the Little Fire Dragon cookie becomes a true Fire Dragon cookie once it reaches Expert.
So this one probably counted as a Juvenile Cat-Pard Cookie.
…More importantly, though: was the cat-pard's natural Legilimency ability fully developed?
Testing that wouldn't be easy. After a moment's thought, the cat-pard shook the pendant at its neck.
A book leapt out of the pendant out of nowhere, expanded layer by layer, and finally unfolded into an elegant oak door.
"By your will—please give your orders, Will—"
The pukwudgie butler had no lack of presence.
Then his worshipful gaze froze. He looked left, then right, and finally stood there, blankly stunned.
"Look down."
A familiar voice rang out. The pukwudgie jolted and quickly lowered his head.
And in doing so, he saw something unbelievable.
His respected master—the great wizard he'd sworn loyalty to—had turned into a cat-pard.
"Forgive me—there's no time—"
With a snap of his fingers, Sean found himself scooped up. The pukwudgie butler, panicked, demanded:
"Honorable Mr. Green—where is Hogwarts' hospital wing?!"
"I didn't botch my transformation," said the brooch-like device hanging at the cat-pard's neck.
"Of course, of course—someone as great as you, this is merely a small exploration—an accidental exploration—oh, Sir William taught me this—"
Will's thick eyebrows twisted into a knot.
"This is my Animagus form," the cat-pard said, seeming to understand at last.
To Will, a magical-beast Animagus form was still rare.
The cat-pard lifted its head toward the elm-wood clock. The time read 8:10.
Exactly three minutes since the transformation began.
Then, right in front of Will's trembling body, a young wizard naturally reappeared, standing in place.
"Bless Sir William—"
Will drove his sharp nails into his own arm. The pain told him he wasn't under any Confundus Charm.
"Sir William—have the fairy-tale cookies reached such power?
Oh—this is only Will's tiny question. You needn't answer.
Will understands: great wizards like you always have many profound, unfathomable secrets."
He asked carefully.
"It's nothing, Will.
When a wizard's Animagus form aligns with an animal transformation, the wizard doesn't lose consciousness, because their soul hasn't been twisted."
Sean explained.
"Oh—oh, soul… twisted…"
Will nodded along, looking dazed.
From his expression, Sean could tell he hadn't understood a word, so he pulled up his Transfiguration notes and gave a brief, clear explanation of soul-transfiguration and "return forms."
When Sean sent the notes back into the Wizard's Book, Will lowered his head. His small body trembled slightly.
That made Sean frown.
"This is…?"
"Sir William watch over us—!"
Will suddenly cried out, his eyes shining with something bright and wet.
"Ah—may Mr. Green understand.
May he understand what wizards are like toward lowly pukwudgies like us in this magical world.
Every day they dream of remaking us into creatures like house-elves.
House-elves! Wizards used to treat house-elves like vermin, sir! And of course, they still treat house-elves that way today, sir.
That is why they will never have too many house-elves—no creature is born to be enslaved!
And pukwudgies must hide, must resist, or greedy wizards will never abandon their terrible desires…"
Sean listened in silence. He had never heard history told from the mouth of a being outside the wizarding world… a fae.
"Do you know what is most precious in all this?
Knowledge! Sir—just as Isolt Sayre said: 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.'"
Sean fell silent at once—unsure how Isolt had ever learned Rowena Ravenclaw's motto in the first place.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 120 Chapters Ahead of Others!