Harry Potter: Shadow Eminence

Chapter 4

The first lesson of Transfiguration was a bit challenging for Brian.

When they arrived at the Transfiguration classroom, the figure at the podium was not a cat with glasses-like patterns on its face, but the stern-faced Professor McGonagall. She clearly had no intention of transforming into a cat at that moment.

Her gaze sternly swept over the grinning faces of the students, causing even arrogant Malfoy to sit up straight and adopt the posture of a good student.

At the start of the lesson, Professor McGonagall transformed the lectern into a small rat, and Malfoy beside her showed a look of disgust, shifting his body away a bit.

Brian, on the other hand, observed the rat closely; it had bright, lively eyes, was making noises, and occasionally moved its legs, like a real rat.

"Fascinating, yet very complex," was Brian's opinion.

Indeed, the theory of Transfiguration was intricate and quite hard to understand. Even though Brian was an adult with higher education in his past life, science and magic were entirely different systems, and he was no different from a toddler just learning to speak on the path of magic.

When he tried to transform a matchstick into a needle, he exerted a tremendous amount of effort but failed to make the matchstick even a little bit sharp; instead, it turned into a strange black object.

So he decided to try using a witness point, tapping the plus sign behind Transfiguration, consuming 1 witness point, which changed his status from "beginner" to "proficient."

The effect was evident. As Brian continued to practice, he felt a strange intuition that this was the right way to do it. He tried several times, making progress each time, and by the end of the class, he successfully transformed the matchstick into a shiny silver needle.

For this, Professor McGonagall nodded in appreciation at Brian and awarded five points to Slytherin.

Brian maintained a calm expression, facing the gaze of the entire class with composure, though he felt a bit embarrassed inside.

When Professor McGonagall signaled the end of the class, Malfoy looked at the needle on Brian's desk with surprise and, in his characteristic slow tone, exclaimed, "How did you do that? Did you secretly bring a needle to replace it..."

He hadn't managed to change that matchstick even a little bit during the entire class, and most students were in the same boat.

Brian ignored him, resting his chin on his hand and murmuring, "studying the basics of Transfiguration doesn't mean you can directly learn the related transformations; it means your understanding of Transfiguration has reached a basic level, so you still need to study."

He glanced at the system panel: "Knowledge is everything; indeed, it's impossible to learn it all at once."

"And it's such a waste; I can completely improve my magical abilities on my own first, and then use witness points to enhance them when I reach a higher level. That would yield the greatest benefits."

However, he was still a bit puzzled about how to acquire witness points.

While he was thinking, the blonde girl walking in front of him turned around and smiled slightly, revealing her white teeth. She was the beautiful blonde girl Brian had noticed during the opening ceremony.

"Hello, Walker, I'm Daphne, Daphne Greengrass," she introduced herself cheerfully, "You can call me Daphne."

"Hello, Daphne, just call me Brian," Brian replied with a smile, responding in his gentle and warm tone.

"I've heard of you; Mrs. Walker often comes to my house for the parties my mom hosts," Daphne said in a light and casual tone, making her seem neither overly enthusiastic nor too distant.

"Ah, yes, I think I've seen Mrs. Greengrass at home a few times," Brian said helplessly, "They are always like that."

Daphne chuckled, "Yes, maybe because they have no other entertainment."

"This is Draco; you should know him too," Brian pointed to Malfoy beside him, "And Crabbe, Goyle."

Daphne nodded and smiled at them, her expression becoming slightly cooler and more reserved.

They all went to the History of Magic classroom, where Daphne went to find her friends. Brian opened his History of Magic textbook and began to read it with great interest to know more details of the world's background.

Professor Bins, the old ghost of History of Magic, was indeed a master of hypnosis; he droned on in a monotonous voice, turning what should have been quite interesting historical events into something that felt like a funeral, filling the entire classroom with a drowsy atmosphere.

Brian gave up on listening to the class and flipped through the textbook, circling key points.

But that wasn't the worst part. In the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Quirrell stuttered through the textbook, ignoring the mischief of the students below.

Brian looked at the large scarf wrapped around the back of Professor Quirrell's head, which emitted a strong strange smell, making Brian wonder what Voldemort hidden inside was feeling.

Thinking of this, he smiled, which caught Professor Quirrell's attention.

Brian maintained his smile and nodded slightly at him.

As for Herbology and Astronomy, they were standard and unremarkable.

What was worth noting was the Potions class, which they had with Gryffindor, where Brian once again saw protagonist.

The small-statured Harry Potter had messy hair covering his forehead scar, and he wore round glasses with beautiful emerald green eyes.

With him was Ron, tall and skinny, with fiery red hair and a face full of freckles. When he noticed Brian's gaze, he shot him a fierce look, a bit adorably fierce.

Hermione was a girl with slightly large front teeth and a head of messy brown hair. At this time, her relationship with Harry was not close, as she was discussing potion brewing methods with the girl next to her.

When class began, Professor Snape picked up the attendance sheet and started calling names, stopping to mock Harry in a sarcastic tone when he reached his name. Brian saw Harry's face turn bright red.

Brian shook his head with a smile; facing the child of the person he loved most and the person he hated most, Snape's feelings must be quite complicated. However, with this attitude, he deserved to become the biggest scapegoat of the entire series.

When Snape called out Malfoy and Brian's names, he paused slightly. What emotions lay in his cold, hollow eyes, perhaps no one could tell.

He has death eater type connection with my father it seems. Brian confirmed this and felt somewhat helpless.

Next came the part where Snape asked a few tricky questions to challenge Harry Potter. Brian had no intention of participating, even though he had flipped through the Potions textbook and noted the answers to the questions.

Watching this segment of the story unfold in real life, which should have been in the book, was a very different feeling and entirely unlike watching a movie.

In the following Potions class, Snape found various ways to deduct points from Gryffindor, especially targeting Harry Potter. He nearly leaned his nose against Potter's, looking for any excuse to take points away from him.

On the other hand, Brian was in a group with Malfoy—Malfoy refused to work with Crabbe and Goyle because like any ordinary bull they always messed things up with a simple involvement.

Whenever Snape walked over to them, he would nod in praise and ignore their mistakes.

He even tapped up Brian's cauldron to show the students how perfect his potion was, making Brian smile slightly.Though at the same Brian saw that Hermione's group was doing much better than his, and many groups had potions that were quite similar to his, including Daphne's group.

But Malfoy proudly lifted his chin and grinned at Harry Potter, looking provocatively.

Malfoy not intending to let go of the humiliation from before the sorting ceremony persistently provoked Harry Potter, even trying to drag Brian into finding fault with Potter, but Brian being himself instead focuses on his book as he had more important matters at the hand.

At this moment, Harry was whispering to Ron with a disgruntled look: "Oh, Snape hates me! And Malfoy too!" He poked the snot slug on the desk with a small knife, imagining it with Malfoy's face.

Ron nodded, saying, "And that Walker Guy in Malfoy's group, I heard my dad say his family is like Malfoy's, they were both supporters of the you know who, he's a bad seed just like Malfoy."

Hearing Ron's words, Harry glanced in Brian's direction, just in time to see Brian looking up, winking at him with a slight smile on his lips.

Harry turned his head, uncertain, "He doesn't seem to have any ill intentions; in fact, he seems a bit friendly?"

"What? You must be crazy! He's just like Malfoy!" Ron looked at Harry in surprise.

Harry realized, "If that's the case, he just smiled at me; he must have something in his mind!"

Ron was struggling with the slug in his cauldron when Snape passed by, scolding him and deducting a point from Gryffindor.

When Snape walked away, Ron lowered his voice and said, "Something? Isn't it obvious? How many points has Snape taken from us?" He angrily put down his textbook and accidentally knocked over the bottle containing the powdered venom from the snake.