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"goodbye."
After saying goodbye to the two men, Maurice left the Ravenclaw common room.
Following yesterday's route, he went straight to the marble staircase.
He hadn't noticed it yesterday when Robert was leading the way, but now the stairs seemed to come alive, changing direction at will in front of him.
The staircase that had just led to the first floor suddenly turned in a completely different direction, and another section of stairs kept slowly rotating, with some steps even disappearing just as he was about to step on them.
Morris believes this is a design purely designed to disgust people.
It seems our plans to explore the castle are on hold; just spending time on these stairs will waste a lot of time.
Just as a staircase appeared before him and he was about to step onto it, a voice sounded from behind him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't take this staircase. The real staircase to the first floor is on your right."
Morris withdrew his foot and turned to the source of the voice. "Oh, thank you, Hermione."
Hermione Granger stood a short distance away, holding a book, her brow furrowed as she watched the moving staircases. "These staircases will continue like this. I suggest you write down their movement patterns—there are patterns, you just need to observe them."
"Excellent suggestion." Maurice nodded. "Have you memorized how they will move?"
"Most of them." Hermione's tone carried a hint of pride.
"That's amazing," Morris exclaimed.
Hermione smiled and narrowed her eyes—no one dislikes a sincere compliment, and she was no exception.
Even if the praise comes from someone she doesn't particularly like.
"So, have you had breakfast?" Morris continued.
"Hmm," Hermione adjusted the books in her arms and said excitedly, "Actually, I was just about to go straight to the Charms classroom. Ah, this is the first time I've ever been so excited about class."
"Me too."
Morris casually replied, and just as he was about to step onto the stairs Hermione had mentioned leading to the first floor, the stairs suddenly disappeared.
"What a pity, you've missed your time," Hermione said. "Just half a minute more, and this staircase will turn back soon."
Morris pulled his foot back from the ground, somewhat helplessly.
Just then, a spiral staircase next to them slowly came to a stop, and three female students walked up, chattering away.
Judging from their robes and appearance, they were three Gryffindor students, and new students at that.
"Did you really see it? That talking portrait?"
"Of course! It even bowed to me..."
They seemed to be chatting about interesting things at Hogwarts.
"They really have a lot of energy," Morris couldn't help but remark.
This reminded him of his student days in his previous life, a time he fondly remembered.
He is now a pathetic adult—at least in his soul.
Three female students walked happily toward them.
As she passed Hermione, Hermione smiled and greeted her, "Hello."
However, the three men merely nodded slightly in acknowledgment and quickly walked past her.
Hermione's smile froze slightly.
Chapter 27 Transfiguration
Seeing this, Morris asked with some curiosity, "Perhaps I shouldn't meddle, but do you two have a conflict?"
Being able to fall out with someone on the very first day of school is, in a sense, a talent.
Hermione sighed softly, her tone tinged with helplessness, "They are my roommates, and we didn't fight."
In fact, she herself felt baffled.
Her three roommates seemed to become inseparable friends in just one night and one morning, while she remained isolated.
She really couldn't understand why.
To be fair, she didn't do anything offensive; she simply showed them the magic she had learned during the summer vacation.
Morris stroked his chin.
He had also heard about the complicated interpersonal relationships between girls.
But are such young children already doing this?
In his previous life, when Maurice was eleven years old, he was still struggling to collect a complete set of game cards.
Although he wanted to show his helpful side, he was really unable to help in this situation.
"How's your roommate?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"Unfortunately," Morris shook his head, "I live alone and have no roommates."
Hermione immediately cast a sympathetic glance at her.
She probably misunderstood something.
Morris just smiled and didn't explain further. "Oh, we've reached the stairs. Goodbye."
"Goodbye." Hermione waved.
...
The first lesson was a variation lesson.
After finishing breakfast in the lobby and getting lost for another twenty minutes, Morris finally found the Transfiguration classroom.
However, it was still early, and there was no one in the classroom.
The only living creature was the eye-catching tabby cat on the podium—probably a lost student's pet.
The spotted cat lay quietly on the podium, its eyes fixed on Maurice.
Incidentally, Morris doesn't dislike cats, otherwise he wouldn't have turned canned food into his first undead creature.
With nothing else to do, he walked up to the cat, turned his wand into a cat toy with feathers, and gently waved it in front of the spotted cat.
The tabby cat's ears twitched slightly, but it did nothing else.
Don't you like it?
Morris muttered to himself, then turned the feathers on the front of the cat toy into a ball of yarn.
As far as he knew, no cat could resist the temptation of a ball of yarn.
At least his stupid cat can't.
Sure enough, the spotted cat moved.
However, it wasn't the kind of playful scrambling that Morris had anticipated.
It simply stretched and nimbly leaped off the platform.
The moment it landed, it shed its fur and its body suddenly lengthened.
Professor McGonagall's meticulous face appeared before me.
She adjusted her glasses, her gaze falling on the wand in Maurice's hand, which was still in the shape of a ball of yarn.
"A very exquisite transfiguration, Morris." Professor McGonagall's lips were taut, but a barely perceptible hint of admiration flashed in her eyes.
"Uh... Good morning, Professor."
Morris silently restored the wand in his hand to its original state.
He never expected that the cat in front of him would actually be a human in disguise.
Perhaps in the future, when he sees an animal at Hogwarts, he'll have to think twice before deciding if it's real.
"If this were during class, I would definitely give you extra points," Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and a cup of tea flew over from the side. "But unfortunately, there's still half an hour before class starts."
"Can Transfiguration turn a person into an animal?" Morris asked curiously.
From his perspective, the spotted cat that Professor McGonagall had just transformed into was flawless.
It's a good way to disguise oneself.
It might have a surprising effect when you encounter danger.
"Yes," Professor McGonagall smiled, "but what I just used wasn't ordinary Transfiguration, but a more advanced kind of magic. Once you've fully mastered Transfiguration, you'll naturally have the opportunity to learn it."
Morris nodded.
Professor McGonagall did not elaborate further, presumably because he felt it was unnecessary for him to know so much at this point.
He himself is not an overly ambitious person.
"Your foundation in Transfiguration is very solid," Professor McGonagall said, taking a sip of steaming hot tea. "Did you teach yourself this over the summer?"
"Yes," Morris replied matter-of-factly. "As you know, I wasn't born into a wizarding family."
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes and smiled.
It looks like this year's Hogwarts will produce an outstanding student.
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