First-year students obviously couldn't learn biological transfiguration in their first class.
To demonstrate how challenging it would be to master turning furniture into animals, Minerva used just one match as an example.
Despite their earnest wand-waving efforts, the matches in front of the young wizards showed no signs of change.
Some things are like that — others make it look effortless, but when you try it yourself, everything falls apart, especially when that "other person" is Professor McGonagall.
"Remember, it should become a needle, not a silver stick." She instructed, moving through the classroom aisle and correcting their mistakes.
Half the class period quickly passed, yet the matches remained stubbornly unchanged, showing no signs of becoming needles.
A few Hufflepuff wizards managed to turn their matches into ashes, but this clearly didn't meet Minerva's requirements, and they lost a point for destroying teaching materials.
The Ravenclaws, true to their reputation for cleverness, took a different approach when they saw no progress. Instead of focusing on the transformation, they changed the match's color and secretly sharpened one end, trying to pass it off as complete.
Some even craftier ones simply switched in their own needles and insisted they had transformed them.
Unfortunately, Minerva caught them all. Ravenclaw lost twenty points due to the high number of cheaters.
Professor McGonagall stood in the classroom aisle, looking around, somewhat disappointed to find that this year's class didn't seem to have many standout talents.
The only one showing any promise was just...
She turned her gaze to the front row.
There, Kyle was resting his chin on one hand while lazily waving his wand with the other. As his wand moved, the match in front of him kept changing.
Though it hadn't completely become a needle, it was halfway there — literally halfway.
He had only managed to transform half of the match into a needle, and the position wasn't consistent — sometimes the top, sometimes the bottom, or sometimes stuck right in the middle.
How to describe it? Something like: Meedle? Natch? Half-formed words?
This left Minerva stunned. She'd seen students fail for entire lessons, and she'd seen some succeed on their first try. But she'd never seen someone fail so successfully.
Still, Kyle had at least managed to create part of a needle, which put him ahead of the other students.
The class passed quickly. Near the end, a student finally succeeded in turning their match into a needle.
"Look, Professor McGonagall, someone from Hufflepuff did it!"
An excited voice from the front row immediately drew everyone's attention.
Minerva looked over, showing a rare smile. To her surprise, the first to succeed wasn't Kyle, whom she'd been watching, but rather Kanna Prince beside him — a rather inconspicuous Hufflepuff witch.
Professor McGonagall quickly regained her composure. She picked up the shiny silver needle and showed it to the whole class.
"Look everyone, Miss Prince has succeeded. As a reward for being first, Hufflepuff earns three points!"
Loud applause erupted around the room. The little badgers clapped especially enthusiastically, not just for the points, but genuinely happy for Kanna.
At that moment, all eyes were on her.
This socially anxious young witch had never experienced such attention before. Her face turned bright red — steam practically rising from her head — and she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.
As soon as class ended, she grabbed her textbooks and fled from the classroom like she was flying.
Kanna was deeply regretting everything.
Sure enough, nothing good could come from sitting too close to Kyle! If she'd known this would happen, she would have changed seats even if Professor McGonagall had scolded her!
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Meanwhile, Kyle, who had been unfairly blamed, had no idea he'd somehow become a scapegoat. As he left the classroom, Cho came over to invite him to the Great Hall to find Cedric.
"Sorry, I just remembered I have something to do. Can you go by yourself?" Kyle pointed to Ryan who was walking toward them, "We agreed to visit Michael together, and if we're too late, Madam Pomfrey will kick us out."
"...Alright then." Cho was disappointed but didn't say anything more.
After all, Kyle was going to visit someone who was sick, which was more important than getting a map.
She'd go by herself — she'd met Cedric before and left quite an impression. He was the second most handsome boy she'd seen at Hogwarts, so she shouldn't mistake him for anyone else.
Oh right, Kyle was first.
To save time, after saying goodbye, she immediately headed to the Great Hall.
Kyle watched her disappear around the corner, nagged by the feeling he'd forgotten to tell her something important.
What was it... He couldn't quite remember.
Just then, Ryan walked over with a slight frown, "Kyle, I saved you a seat. Why did you go sit in the front row?"
At Ryan's words, Kyle suddenly recalled the terrifying moment before class — and remembered what he'd forgotten.
He'd forgotten to tell Cho about giving Leona the map. What a mess... well, he'd tell her next time.
He sighed and said, "Sorry Ryan, I was thinking about something and didn't notice. Next time for sure!"
"That's not what I meant." Ryan waved his hand, "I'm just surprised you dared to sit in the front row. According to the older students, the front row in Transfiguration is always empty — no one dares to sit that close to Professor McGonagall during class. You're really brave."
"Haha... is that so." Kyle gave a dry laugh. If he'd had any choice, he wouldn't have sat in the front row either.
Fortunately, Ryan didn't notice his discomfort and continued, "Should we head back to the dormitory now? Or wait for the others?"
Wait for the others?
Kyle suddenly realized that only Ravenclaw students were leaving the classroom — there were only two Hufflepuffs, including themselves.
"Where is everyone else?" He asked, puzzled.
"They're organizing their notes in the classroom." Ryan said matter-of-factly, "Oh, and reminding Professor McGonagall not to forget Michael's homework."
Uh... are you guys for real?!
Kyle's eye twitched as he thought for a moment and said, "Never mind, let's just go back to the dormitory."
He had planned to actually take Ryan to visit the hospital wing, but thinking about it now, better not.
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A few minutes later.
In the classroom, Minerva watched the group of Hufflepuff first-years leave with a satisfied expression.
It had been a long time since she'd seen such diligent young wizards — staying after class to compare notes, helping each other fill in gaps, and even actively asking for homework...
This was how students should be.
She rubbed her tired eyes and began collecting the matches used as teaching materials.
That's when she discovered that Kyle had also succeeded — the match on his desk had transformed into a gleaming silver needle.
Perhaps seeing Kanna's success had motivated him.
Minerva didn't dwell on it, though she was pleased to see two promising students in Transfiguration from Hufflepuff.
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