"It's a good thing to be diligent and studious in Ravenclaw, but you're a bit too diligent."
...
"Don't follow the habits of those Hufflepuff students. They're always heading to the kitchens for meals."
...
"Madam Pince has a house-elf assigned to bring her meals. And she's not the only one on duty..."
"Huh?"
Andrew had been nodding along, pretending he'd immediately correct his ways, but after hearing that last line, he couldn't keep up the act anymore.
"Of course. This is Hogwarts Library, not Azkaban… Do you think anyone could keep watch over students for over ten hours every weekend, every day of a whole term, without a break?"
That made sense—actually, even Professor Binns didn't work that hard.
"But every time I come here, it's always Madam Pince."
"That's because there are two Madam Pinces. They're twins."
???
Is that even allowed?
"As a proper Ravenclaw, you should be able to understand this easily," said Hand, spreading his hands. "Likewise, as a sixth-year student, I should tell you this: food cannot be solved by magic—no matter how close the Refilling Charm gets to duplicating food. Liquids made that way only taste similar, and once the magic fades, the drinker suffers mild backlash."
"So, our librarian simply can't be working without eating. That's basic magical common sense for senior students."
"Extremely useful knowledge, thank you."Andrew hesitated, then couldn't help asking,"So, if I conjured up a bunch of food using magic, and kept the spell going while I ate it, what would happen?"
"For a wizard, he'd soon notice something was wrong, the spell would quickly dissipate, and he'd end up hungrier than before."
"For a wizard?"
"Of course," Hand said as if it were obvious. "If a Muggle did it, I'd advise you not even to think about it—that's a straight path to Azkaban."
Azkaban's basically like Rome—just discussing it gets you exiled?
But clearly, this wasn't the sort of thing to bring up with a club full of Ministry-devoted fanatics. To them, Azkaban was the ultimate taboo—even a theoretical discussion was off-limits.
I'll ask Professor McGonagall about it later… along with the idea that popped up while I was casting earlier.
Even though she wasn't his Head of House, Professor McGonagall was the best person to ask about this kind of thing. And his face was thick enough to ignore any awkwardness if she gave an answer.
He tried steering the topic to something else, but before they could return to the common room, word spread throughout the castle: the lockdown was lifted. Apparently, some Gryffindor students had boldly handled the situation—but no one had stepped forward to claim credit.
"Since the alarm's been lifted, you're free to go."
And with that, Andrew was unceremoniously ditched—after all, he wasn't part of their little faction.
Which suited Andrew just fine—except he couldn't send a letter out at this hour.(After all, if a troll got into the castle and someone then went to the Owlery, it'd look a lot like the culprit reporting in. He was worried a bunch of overzealous prefects would pin him down—and then he'd be stargazing from the Astronomy Tower for the night.)
——
The next day, blending in with the students, Andrew sent out a bundle of seemingly unremarkable documents. In a good mood, he once again polluted some poor professor's knowledge base with his drawings, then happily made his way to Professor McGonagall's office.
"Take a seat. Made some new discoveries with your spellwork?"
"Yes, Professor."
Andrew responded cheerfully.
"I even studied the upper-year students' results a bit."
He couldn't exactly pretend not to know about the troll situation—since everyone was talking about it, he just went with the flow and let them assume it had nothing to do with him.
"Although those students seriously violated school rules, I have to say, they did a decent job."
Professor McGonagall even had a hint of a smile—but it quickly vanished.
"Seems like it was probably those third-years."
"Their coordination wasn't great, but they used the terrain effectively," Andrew said, face calm as if it had nothing to do with him."I'm nowhere near that level."
"It's not just poor coordination—they seriously underestimated the troll. Thought it was as gentle as the creatures in Care of Magical Creatures. Their trap setup was clumsy, their transfiguration follow-ups were a mess. The mid-fight spellwork barely worked."
She found out that much?
Well, at least she assumed it was the third-years. Otherwise, it'd be hard to dodge this blame... Of course, the main reason she didn't pursue it was that there were no casualties. It just looked like an ill-advised prank—not worth deducting House points over.
"They could have done better," Professor McGonagall continued, like she was grading an assignment."If they'd coordinated better, one could have used a simple animated object to distract the troll, while others reinforced the trap with Transfiguration. They could've taken it down without any follow-up."
"If it were senior students, it'd be even easier."
She paused and looked straight at Andrew.
"Just temporarily animate an object—that way, before the magic runs out, you can set a trap without focusing on controlling it the whole time."
"Exactly! That's why I'm definitely not a bored fifth-year looking to stir up trouble."
Just as Andrew was about to ask his next question, a snowy owl flew through the window and dropped a letter onto an already overstuffed desk.
"Ah, sorry, Professor—that's all I wanted to ask. Didn't mean to interrupt your work."
"It's fine. I always welcome talented students exploring more in Transfiguration. If I didn't have to handle all these supply forms and such, I'd much rather spend time teaching. Now, go on and keep experimenting with Transfiguration. And remember what I told you—don't mess with theories you don't understand."
"Yes, Professor. I'll remember that."
"Good. Oh, and if you're serious about studying Transfiguration, I'd recommend you learn a bit about Arithmancy. It'll help you better understand animal and plant structures."
Arithmancy? For sensitivity to numbers? That way I can better understand the proportions of animals and plants?
"Alright, I know a bit about Muggle arithmetic. I'll try to study those materials soon."
"Good. Then I'll get back to my paperwork."
++++
"Makes sense. The better you understand an object's model, the more realistic the Transfiguration. Even though magic blurs the relationship, it still has some effect."
"Also, I've been fixated on dropping that letter on Dumbledore's desk… totally ignoring Professor McGonagall…"
"If I just figure out how the internal supply system works, I can easily forge supplier letters and notify Professor McGonagall."
...
"My math's decent, and I've got a solid base in Transfiguration. I may not be great at my other classes, but I'm not falling too far behind either…"
"If I'm good with numbers, I could probably help out in an office job—work-study style—to assist with paperwork."
T/N: For twenty chapters ahead on all my fics become a P@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle