Chapter 91

Ethan's first class of the year was a Double Transfiguration with Ravenclaw. This year, McGonagall spared them the surprise of being an Animagus, and started her class right away, which went smoothly.

Ethan had already read all of his books for this year, and memorized them at once. Although Occlumency generally had a small impact on one's studying capacity, especially when it was not used along with a specific technique to increase memory capacity, Ethan's mind arts had grown so absurdly strong that the small increase had turned into a big one.

Adding to that his predispositions for learning, memorizing the books in one reading had not been that tall of an order. It had slowed down his reading, but he had managed to get all the books down in the few weeks he had before Hogwarts started.

Ethan still disliked reading, he had been traumatized by his mother when he was young, but it could also be overpowered by his love and yearning for magic. And since he would have to read the books in any case, Ethan preferred to read them all in one go rather than stretch it across the year.

Was it the wisest way to go about it? No, it was not. But it was how Ethan had decided to go about it.

In any case, since Ethan already had the theory in mind, the practice was quite easy for him. In a very characteristic manner for her, McGonagall did not waste any time wishing them a happy second year at Hogwarts, or ask about their summer, and went for a disclaimer instead.

"As you may have read in your textbooks, there exists four broad categories within Transfiguration. Can anyone tell me what they are?"

Several hands shot up, and McGonagall nodded at a blond Ravenclaw boy who sat in first raw, "In an ascending order of difficulty, they are: Transformation, Untransfiguration, Vanishment and Conjuration."

McGonagall was satisfied by the answer, "Exactly, Mr. Goldstein. Ten points to Ravenclaw."

The Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein, grinned at having earned points, and sent a look back toward Ethan, who had also raised his hand. His look was a challenging one, more than a scornful one, and the intent behind it was clear: they would fight for all the points they could get in Transfiguration Class this year.

Ethan only smiled back at the challenge, while McGonagall completely ignored them and continued, "Because of their difficulty, some of these will only taught to you in higher years. For your first and second year, you will only be taught Transformation. For your third and fourth year, Untransfiguration will be added to the program. Vanishment will then come for your fifth year. Finally, for those who qualify for a NEWT, they will also learn about Conjuration in their sixth and seventh year."

Padma Patil, one of the two Indian twins, the one who was in Ravenclaw, raised her hand and asked, "Does that mean this will be our last year studying Transformation?"

"Of course not. Transformation is considered the easiest type of Transformation magic because it has some of its simplest spells, such as the ones we studied last year," Ethan heard several whispers around him, of students grunting at the fact that their last year was spent studying some of the 'simplest spells'.

Transfiguration was known to be the hardest subject at Hogwarts.

McGonagall silenced them with a glare, before continuing, "It also contains some of the most complex Transfiguration spells, some of which will only be taught in the NEWT program."

Ethan shot up his hand, and after a nod from his teacher, asked, "What about Human Transfiguration? And isn't Untransfiguration only the act of reversing Transformation? How is it harder than Transformation?"

McGonagall remained nonplussed as she replied, "Human Transfiguration is a sub-branch of Transformation, and is only taught at NEWT level. As for Untransfiguration, it is still a bit too early to approach the subject…"

Seeing the strong eagerness in Ethan's eyes though, she sighed to herself and added, "But since you've asked, I will answer this one. Untransfiguration is not just the act of reversing Transformation. Advanced Healing magic, for example, is heavily based on Untransfiguration, because the concept behind it is to untransfigure an injury."

Curiously, Ethan saw Daphne perk up as McGonagall mentioned Healing magic. Unfortunately for her, their professor forcefully halted the conversation there.

"Although we will solely work on Transformation, do not make the mistake of thinking this year will be as easy as last year."

This got several groans in the class, from Ravenclaws and Slytherins both. After all, some had been very close to getting a grade below Acceptable, which would have meant they would have been forced to study for the summer. So having McGonagall call last year 'easy' left a sour taste in their throats.

Ethan was convinced that all the teachers had been lenient on the students for the first years though, because he had not heard about a single student getting a grade below Acceptable, in any of the exams, which was surprising considering the level of some.

"Last year, we restrained ourselves to only inanimate transformation: turning inanimate objects into others, such as with the matchstick and the silver needle. While we will reinforce this kind of inanimate Transformation this year, you will also be introduced to animate Transformation."

Saying this, she twirled her wand at a nearby cup, and transformed it into a small bird. The small avian chirped happily as it danced around McGonagall. Another wave of her wand, and not only was the bird transformed back into a cup, but a circuit was being written down on the board.

Despite the impressive feat of magic, most of the students looked like they were in despair as they watched the magical circuit get more complex by the second.

Another wave of McGonagall's wand, and cups appeared in front of everyone. While most hesitated, Ethan quickly memorized it before turning to his cup.

Taking a breath, Ethan twirled his wand, more for himself than the spell, and visualized the circuit, willing for it to come to life.

He expected to find it difficult, as while he did memorize it, manipulating his magic to follow it was easier said than done. And sure enough, the construct in his mind of the circuit was far from perfect.

Yet, his magic moved smoothly, as if the construct had been perfect, and the cup in front of him morphed into a small brown bird.

It was less energetic than McGonagall's had been, but it still flew quickly around Ethan, chirping in a slightly strangled voice from time to time.

Ethan saw the gazes on him from all over the class, and McGonagall approached with a contented face. She pointed at the bird, who turned back into a cup, and said, "Excellent, Mr. Grindelwald. 20 points to Slytherin."

Ethan smiled at his professor, but as she left, he looked down at the cup, thinking about what had just happened. Transfiguration had always been easier for him than others thanks to his natural talent for it, along with his peculiar wand that made any transfiguration magic easier.

But this was at another level, his magical circuit had only been around 70% right, yet the spell had still worked smoothly. The reason did not elude him for long either as there was only one other component to Transfiguration magic that had changed drastically since last year, and that was his will.

A wizard's willpower was extremely important, and had thus been researched extensively, yet very little was known about it. According to what Ethan had read, one's willpower had to not only do with their mind, but also their soul, and more surprisingly, their body.

Willpower also seemed to work differently for everyone. For some, strengthening their mind would result in a massive improvement of their willpower, while for others it would barely do anything. But for those very same people, reinforcing their body might result in a much bigger increase of their willpower.

So, it was still a largely mysterious subject. And while curious, Ethan did not need to understand how it worked exactly to benefit from it, as his magic had clearly taken a step forward thanks to the improvement in his willpower.

With that said, even if the spell worked for him, Ethan would never settle for 'enough', and performed the spell a few more times, bringing his visualisation to nearly 100%. Doing so, he also noticed that his capacity of visualising had improved.