"Damn it, you guys left without me! I got such a fright when I woke up thinking I'd missed the class." Seamus complained.
"We woke up early, we didn't want to wake you. Next time, if you don't mind, I can wake you too." Rigel shrugged.
Dean just gave an embarrassed smile, but he also promised. Seamus quickly forgot about it, and Neville, insecure, didn't have the courage to join the conversation. Rigel saw this and asked if Neville wanted him to wake him.
Neville was a little surprised, embarrassed, but he accepted and thanked them.
They talked in hushed voices while waiting for class to begin, and Rigel quickly noticed the group's personality pattern.
Seamus was the most energetic, clearly a hyperactive child.
Dean was easygoing, but he liked to talk, so he quickly got along well with Seamus. Rigel soon realized why the pair had become best friends in the original story.
Neville, on the other hand, was quiet and timid as a mouse, he didn't speak unless spoken to, and even when he did, he seemed nervous and stammered.
Children don't care about what others think, if it were normal, Seamus and Dean would quickly ignore Neville, not out of malice, but simply because in their minds there was no such thing as pity for someone being alone.
The kids were always worried about their own lives.
Rigel, on the other hand, felt sorry for Neville. He didn't talk much either, but he always ended up including Neville. Rigel saw that these three children were much easier to deal with than Ron and Malfoy. Harry also seemed like an easy person to talk to, but with Ron around, it would probably be more complicated.
Ron was proud to be Harry's best friend, so he would get annoyed if Harry got close to others, he was like a jealous wife.
Rigel didn't mind, he didn't need to be with them all the time, just be present enough so that his sudden appearance wouldn't cause them deep thought.
Being in Gryffindor means people like him, at the very least, treating him like any other normal student.
Of course, Rigel would probably face problems at some point, such as when Sirius Black escaped. At that point, Rigel would become clearly related to a wanted criminal. If Sirius entered the castle, Rigel would be the prime suspect, except for Snape, who would point the finger at Remus regardless of who the real culprit was. Even so, he could only deal with things gradually.
Clearing Sirius meant that from then on, some of his problems would end, although his beloved mother and loving father would still be obvious problems for the future, Rigel could only take one step at a time.
As soon as class time passed, McGonagall still hadn't revealed herself, instead, she continued to watch Rigel's figure conversing with the other Gryffindor little wizards, feeling satisfied. Her job seemed much easier than expected. Even so, after decades of teaching, she hadn't forgotten her responsibilities, instead, she was observing how the students behaved when there was no professor present.
This was a common tactic of hers, especially with Gryffindors and Slytherins, she would simply sit there and observe, separating the 'easy to deal with' from the 'difficult to deal with'.
As she had expected, seeing the Ravenclaws quiet in one corner and the Gryffindors chatting and joking in the other, she let out a light sigh, she should have seen it coming.
Gryffindor = Hyperactive children
Hermione's quiet behavior also caught her attention, leaving her slightly puzzled for a moment, however, seeing Hermione reading the book and taking notes, unlike everyone else in Gryffindor, left McGonagall very pleased. She even saw a bit of herself in that little witch.
Of course, McGonagall was impartial enough to quickly put that aside.
Minerva also noticed Harry and Ron's absence, in the end, she waited a few more minutes before the two figures quickly entered the room.
"Wow, luckily we arrived on time, just imagine Minerva's face if we had been late." Ron sighed in relief, only for Minerva to jump off her desk, transformed back into human form in front of them.
Ron's eyes widened, as did Harry's, but at that moment, Ron, who had spent his childhood with the twins, truly admired Minerva's trick, managing only to say. "Brilliant."
Unfortunately, McGonagall did not appreciate the compliment.
Rigel watched calmly as Minerva criticized the pair, prompting them to rush to their seats. They sat in the seats behind Rigel and Dean, with Harry right behind Rigel.
Dean looked somewhere between shocked and horrified, had he really just patted the professor on the head? He shrank even further into his seat, not wanting to draw Minerva's attention.
Ron, seeing Rigel, remembered the 'old' grudges and blamed him for not having awakened them. As for the hat? Wasn't that yesterday? What does it have to do with today?
If Rigel knew what Ron was thinking, he would roll his eyes in exasperation.
Dealing with children was really problematic, everything was more dynamic for them, pros and cons were visible from one corner of the room to the other. Behind the wall? What's there? Who cares?
Rigel wasn't used to dealing with children, so he didn't know that their progress had randomly declined.
The objective McGonagall gave them was simple, to transform a match into a needle. If it had happened before, Rigel might have passed, but that would only have been because he had practiced enough. But this time, while using the same spell, the effect was completely different.
Before, it was like trying to get from point A to point B through a maze, if you knew the route, you could get there, but this time he felt as if he were on a flat, paved road with his goal in sight.
He just had to walk there without thinking too much.
The power of Transmutation was truly ridiculous, Rigel looked at the needle in his hand, but what he felt was that it could have gone further, this thing was really just a match transformed into a needle, but if he felt it, he could rearrange the matter to achieve the same.
The magical consumption required to transform one element into another was absurd, even simply transforming that matchstick into metal gave Rigel a headache just thinking about it.
If it were just a matter of rearranging matter, that would be fine, but to go as far as altering the atomic structure? Difficult, very difficult.
Even so, it was enough. When Minerva saw his needle, she seemed very surprised. There was no adornment on it, it was a simple needle, but Minerva wasn't just 'looking', she held the needle while sensing the magic within it. Transfigured items clearly possessed their own magic. Most wizards wouldn't notice it at first, but for a master, it was easy to sense the magic inside that needle.
Minerva expected a turbulent flow, something a child Rigel's age would do, it was like opening an electrical box and seeing a tangle of wires that would take hours to organize, functional, but clearly messy.
The more stable the transfiguration magic, the longer it can last and the more resistant the transfiguration is. Minerva was shocked to realize that this needle had reached her level!
She knew that this needle, if left aside, could last for tens, even hundreds of years without any problem!
Minerva looked at Rigel with slightly widened eyes, her hand holding the needle trembled, almost dropping it, but she quickly adjusted.
She had found a treasure, Rigel's talent for transfiguration was extraordinary! Even if he had learned to transfigure since he learned to hold a wand and speak the spell, she would still think Rigel was a genius.
That's because it took her decades to achieve that, but Rigel was only 11 years old!
"Mr. Black, how long have you been practicing transfiguration?" Minerva composed herself and asked, her throat dry.
Rigel pretended to be a little confused and thought for a moment. "I think it's been a few months since my magic stabilized, before that, it was very difficult to control."
Rigel didn't lie, it wasn't worth it and he didn't want to leave any loose ends. Who knows, maybe there was some kind of magic to tell who was telling the truth, besides, there's a potion for that. If he said something to her now and changed his mind in the future, she would become suspicious, so he was 'sincere'.
It was true, he practiced transfiguration at home, but it was very basic and quite different from what he was able to do now.
Minerva nodded, but the nod seemed a little stiff. "Mr. Black, do you mind if I keep this needle?"
"No, you can stay." Rigel shook his head, unconcerned.
Minerva nodded. "Thank you, and also, 5 points to Gryffindor, good job, Black."
Rigel gave a gentle smile, making Minerva want to pinch his cheeks, but she restrained herself.
She wanted to show this needle to Albus, he would be as surprised as she was, or perhaps not, she rarely saw Dumbledore show surprise.
Minerva felt her fears deepen again upon noticing Rigel's talent, but in the end she set them aside, she hadn't seen anything that screamed 'Dark Wizard' about Rigel so far, she couldn't put on tinted glasses to look at him.
She was convinced for a while, but inside she was also excited, if Rigel were guided on the right path, he would be another powerful wizard to emerge from Gryffindor.
Minerva might seem impartial, which is indeed true if we consider only her actions, but inside, the woman was truly extremely competitive and took great pride in her abilities, her home, her country...
However, in order to set aside all that pride and adopt a neutral stance, even while wishing she could do otherwise, Minerva was a figure to be admired.
How many people can set aside their prejudices and opinions to take a fair side? How many can claim that they have never used their positions to gain privileges for themselves and their families?
She was one of those few, which is why, although Minerva was always strict, especially with her own house, everyone who left not only didn't hate her, but also admired her, particularly after they left school and started their lives.
Those exploited and ostracized ministry employees, how many of them wanted a superior like Minerva, who, although strict, was the first to stand up when one of her 'little lions' was in trouble and to oppose any injustice?
Minerva was like a lioness mother, strict, but beloved.