Chapter 57: Your Chair is Nice

"Sixth floor, Room 21?"

Albert held the parchment given to him by Professor McGonagall and wandered around the corridors of the sixth floor of Hogwarts Castle, searching for Room 21, where the Transfiguration Club was supposed to meet.

So far, he had practically explored the entire sixth-floor corridor of Hogwarts Castle, but he couldn't find Room 21 anywhere.

No, actually, there was no Room 21 to begin with. Albert even asked the portraits on the sixth floor, but none of them had heard of such a room.

Was he being played?

That seemed highly unlikely.

After all, Professor McGonagall wouldn't do something so silly. So there was only one possibility—the last sentence on the parchment: "Remember the fundamental principles of Gamp's Law of Transfiguration."

Room 21 must be hidden somewhere secret on the sixth floor, and the key to finding the entrance was to remember Gamp's Law of Transfiguration.

However, despite going around in circles, Albert couldn't find any painting, statue, or tapestry related to Gamp's Law of Transfiguration.

If he had to force a connection, it would be this painting in front of him.

Wizards couldn't conjure up delicious food out of thin air... but the wizard in the painting did it...

Albert moved the painting aside, but there was still no secret passage behind it.

Now, all he could do was wait, either for someone sent by Professor McGonagall to come and guide him or... give up joining the Transfiguration Club. He believed the former option was more likely.

"It must be you, the new member Professor McGonagall mentioned, right?" A few minutes later, a redhead girl walked towards him, sizing up Albert from head to toe. She spoke the expected words, "Professor McGonagall thought you might get lost, so she sent me to guide you!"

"I can't find Room 21, and I haven't seen anything related to remembering Gamp's Law of Transfiguration," Albert shrugged helplessly.

"But you've already found it, haven't you?" the redhead girl pointed to the painting behind Albert. "Magic can't conjure up delicious food out of thin air."

"I thought the food in the painting was magically summoned," Albert said, looking at the witch who was conjuring a table full of magical dishes with her wand. In fact, he had thought the same earlier. The key was where the entrance to Room 21 was located.

"You're not entirely wrong," the redhead girl turned to the witch and said, "We need to enter Room 21."

The witch nodded inside the painting, and suddenly, the painting shifted to the side, revealing a half-sized opening in the wall behind it.

"Go in!" the redhead girl said. "To enter Room 21, you need to inform the witch inside, and she will open the door for you."

"It's somewhat similar to the Fat Lady, except there's no need for various passwords," Albert thought to himself. He crossed the threshold and entered. Inside, there was a staircase leading upwards. After walking for a while, he arrived at a wooden door with a bronze plaque hanging on it, indicating it was Room 21.

However, when he entered, he realized that he had indeed come to a classroom—or rather, it didn't resemble a classroom at all but more like an... office.

Albert surveyed the room, and inside, there were twelve different styles of sofas.

"This place used to be an office for a professor, but after it was left vacant, Professor McGonagall started using it as the meeting place for the Transfiguration Club," the redhead girl who entered the room behind Albert casually explained.

By the way, Albert had a feeling that he had seen the girl behind him somewhere before.

"The original club had only ten members?"

"Eleven. There's no seat reserved for you here. You need to conjure your own chair. It's a rule of the club," the redhead girl said with a mischievous smile.

"That's not bad," Albert muttered to himself. He took out the parchment given to him by Professor McGonagall from his pocket and tapped his wand on it, saying, "Vera Verto."

The parchment started to enlarge, and then an ordinary wooden chair appeared in front of Albert. He placed the chair on the floor, then thought for a moment and took out a candy from his pocket. After eating it, he placed the candy wrapper on the chair and performed a second transformation.

The candy wrapper turned into a cushion, and Albert reached out and pressed it, finding it satisfactory.

"Now I understand why Professor McGonagall invited you to join the Transfiguration Club," the redhead girl, Isabelle MacDougall, said to Albert. "I'm Isabelle MacDougall."

"Albert Anderson," Albert introduced himself as well. He thought for a moment and asked, "If I may ask, is Katrina MacDougall..."

"My sister, she's in the same year as you," Isabelle said.

"No wonder I find you both... similar."

"Good evening, Isabelle," a senior student entered the room and curiously examined Albert and his wooden chair. "Hello, I heard that the club has a new member, and it's you. By the way, your chair is nice!"

"Thank you."

"I can bet you didn't make something that good in your first year!" another lazy voice chimed in. The members of the Transfiguration Club gradually gathered, and their first reaction was to be amazed by Albert's age and then to admire his chair.

"Sit here!" a senior girl greeted Albert. "You're in Gryffindor, right? I'm in Gryffindor too, and these two next to me are as well."

Both of them smiled at Albert and deliberately left a seat vacant for him. Albert picked up the chair and sat in the empty seat, just about to start a conversation with them when Professor McGonagall entered the room. The first thing the Transfiguration professor did upon entering was to examine Albert's chair and once again complimented, "Your chair is nice."

Perhaps this was a recognition of his Transfiguration skills?

"Our topic for today is the paper on the Most Promising Newcomer Award in 'Today's Transfiguration'," Professor McGonagall handed a copy of 'Today's Transfiguration' to Albert. "I suggest you spend a few Galleons to subscribe to this magazine."

"I will," Albert replied.

"Professor McGonagall occasionally helps with editing for 'Today's Transfiguration'," the senior student beside Albert whispered.

"First of all, let's congratulate Mr. Selwyn on winning the Most Promising Newcomer Award in 'Today's Transfiguration'," Professor McGonagall announced, and everyone stood up and applauded the skinny boy sitting at a table two seats away from Isabelle.

"Next, we welcome a new member, Mr. Albert Anderson. As you can see, Mr. Anderson's talent is truly astonishing, so I've made an exception and allowed him to join the club in advance."

Applause broke out once again, with a particularly small voice coming from a certain direction. No need to guess, it was probably a student from Slytherin. After all, Albert knew that Gryffindor and Slytherin didn't always see eye to eye.

"Alright, open the magazine. Our topic today is Animagus..."

Albert looked speechless because he suddenly realized that he could barely understand the content inside.

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(End of this chapter)