"Welcome to our study group."
Rock gave his wand a wave. The drapes that had been arranged around the room fell away, revealing the classroom decked out in the colors of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.
"Since we only have students from these two houses joining us for now, these are the only colors I prepared."
Rock stowed his wand and gave a slight nod to the group sitting before him.
"So, this place belongs to us from now on?" Michael raised his hand to ask.
"That's right. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both agreed to it." Rock snapped his fingers, and the teacups in front of everyone were automatically refilled with hot black tea.
God bless the Hogwarts house-elves.
"Um... hi everyone. I'm Neville. Neville Longbottom." Sitting to the side, Neville stood up gingerly and introduced himself to the group.
"I'm Theo Cavendish, a first-year Ravenclaw," Theo stood up to introduce himself. "This is Michael Corner, first year."
"And sitting next to Michael is Terry Boot, also a first year." Michael and Terry stood and gave a slight nod to the group.
"I'm Padma Patil, a first-year Ravenclaw," the only girl in the group said softly.
"And may I add, Padma, you are easily one of the prettiest girls in our year," Michael looked up, his admiration undisguised.
Padma lowered her head and covered her mouth. Being complimented so openly in this setting made her a bit flustered.
"Hey! Michael, don't scare away the only girl we have," Theo chimed in, smoothly diffusing the awkwardness for Padma.
A wave of relaxed laughter filled the room. Padma couldn't help but roll her eyes at Theo and Michael, and the slight tension from earlier evaporated.
"So, where do we start?" Adam asked. Everyone had different materials on their desks.
For their first gathering, it wouldn't make sense for everyone to just study quietly on their own.
"Let's group by subject," Rock stood up to demonstrate. "Does anyone need to review Charms?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"History of Magic?"
Neville and Adam raised their hands. One because he genuinely fell asleep during lectures, the other because the professor was a ghost, and his fear outweighed his ability to listen.
"Then, what about Transfiguration?"
They looked at each other and raised their hands again. Transfiguration was arguably the hardest course of the year.
"Then let's make Transfiguration our first review topic." Rock could see clearly that the group had a stronger desire to tackle Transfiguration.
"Agreed."
Everyone nodded in unison. They shifted their chairs to gather around Rock.
Rock stood before the blackboard and wrote down a few key headings: First-Year Transfiguration Core Concepts.
"Since I don't know everyone's progress, we'll start from the very basics. As Professor McGonagall said, all transfiguration depends on a solid foundation."
Rock tapped the blackboard with his wand. "So, what are the Three Principles of Transfiguration?"
Behind Adam, Neville hesitantly raised his hand. "Changing an object's shape or properties?"
"Close. Michael?"
Michael straightened his robes. "First, Transfiguration is not creation or destruction, but transformation; Second, the complexity of the spell is related to the similarity of the objects; Third, willpower and clear visualization are key."
"Perfect!" Rock chuckled softly. "If you remember these three principles, many Transfiguration problems will be easily solved."
Neville nodded and started taking notes in his notebook.
Rock turned back to the group. "Let's review the simplest spell in order—Match to Needle. Who wants to come up and demonstrate first?"
Michael raised his hand, walked to the front, and waved his wand. "Vera Verto!"
The match hopped once and turned into a needle, though it was obviously bent.
"Not again." Michael scratched his head. His theory was solid, but his practical results were usually crooked.
"A very good transition," Rock picked up the needle to inspect it. "The transformation itself is fine. It bent because your wrist action hesitated for a split second. Try practicing exactly as I described."
"Chapter 9 of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration explains the coordination between wand movement and willpower. Read it over, and if you still don't get it, ask me."
Michael's eyes lit up. He nodded and stepped back.
"I'll go!" Theo stepped up, raising his wand. "Vera Verto!"
The match shimmered and turned into a complete needle, but the eye of the needle was solid.
"The classic closed-eye problem," Rock smiled, addressing the group. "Not a mistake, just incomplete. Who wants to analyze it?"
Padma raised her hand. "It's likely that during the casting process, he focused more on the sharpness characteristic and ignored the detail of the hole."
"Exactly right," Rock nodded. "Theo, try again. This time, remember what Padma just said: clearly imagine a thread passing through the eye of the needle."
Theo waved his wand again. This time, the eye formed clearly.
Clap clap—
Everyone applauded. It was a perfect transformation.
"Neville, do you want to give it a try?" Rock looked at Neville. "You can only find out what's wrong by practicing."
"I can't," Neville whispered. In Transfiguration class, his failures rivaled Seamus's. Seamus always caused explosions, while Neville produced bizarre results—like wriggling caterpillar-matches or just setting them on fire.
Rock didn't force him to try immediately. Instead, he walked over to Neville. "Tell me, at which step do you usually encounter difficulties?"
His gaze was encouraging.
Neville took a deep breath. He remembered that he was the one who asked to learn from Rock. He couldn't back down now.
He began to describe his issues. The others listened intently because Neville was describing failures they had never even encountered.
"Smoke and fire?"
Rock rubbed his chin. "Smoke and fire mean the energy was released but not converted. Recite the incantation for me once."
Neville nodded, exhaled, and chanted, "Vera Verto!"
"Pronunciation is perfectly correct," Rock frowned slightly. "Demonstrate it once for me."
Neville raised his wand and waved it at the match. Instantly, the match jumped up and burst into flames in mid-air.
The room went quiet. Neville's incantation and movement had been perfect, yet... it failed.