Chapter 12: A New Life of Mischief Begins

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On the first day of term, Cohen gained a whole new understanding of the depth of human sleep.

Harry and Ron were utterly impossible to wake. Even shoving his icy hands beneath their blankets did nothing.

The two of them lay there like Sleeping Beauties waiting for Ginny and Hermione to sneak into the boys' dormitory and kiss them awake.

“Really not getting up?”

Cohen looked pityingly at the two boys, who were certain to oversleep and miss their first class.

“Snore—”

“Snore—hrrr!” Ron even gave a faint grunt through his nose.

“We tried, Cohen.” Seamus shook his head. “If we don't get to the Great Hall now, we'll miss breakfast.”

Cohen shrugged helplessly.

“All right, then. They should be able to wake up before class. Earl, remember to try waking them later…”

“Fine, fine. Owl wake-up service costs extra.” Earl's head was tucked beneath one wing, and he spoke lazily.

“Merlin's pants!” Seamus's eyes widened once more. “That wasn't a dream last night!?”

“Once you accept that an owl can talk…” Cohen raised an eyebrow.

“What happens then?” Seamus hurried after Cohen as they left the dormitory, eager to know where this talking owl had come from. “Did you buy your owl from some special owl shop? Was it expensive? I want to ask my mum to—”

“You'll discover that having an owl who can swear is a real headache,” Cohen finished. “It spent half the summer insulting every one of my relatives.”

Seamus remembered his owl's extraordinarily foul mouth and shuddered.

“Then perhaps… I think my owl is quite fine as it is. At least it won't suddenly point at my nose and call me—”

By the time they reached the Great Hall, breakfast was already half over.

Cohen chose a seat, filled himself a bowl of porridge, and added two grilled sausages and a fried egg.

Hermione Granger was sitting directly opposite him. Even while eating, she was poring over her textbook, reading every line with painstaking care. It brought Cohen back to some unpleasant memories from his previous life.

The sort of person who lived for studying really could make a slacker feel guilty.

But Cohen refused to care.

When it was time to eat, he ate. He was determined not to touch anything related to studying—unless he had failed to finish an assignment and needed to complete it in a hurry over breakfast.

“Cohen? What are you doing?”

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After finishing breakfast, Hermione watched in confusion as Cohen carefully wrapped the two grilled sausages in greaseproof paper and tucked them into the outer pocket of his robes.

“Did you know that little animals randomly spawn at Hogwarts, and feeding them raises your affection level?” Cohen said with utter seriousness. “Sometimes you can even earn house points.”

“You must be joking.” Hermione raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin with an air of confidence. “Little animals don't award us points. I asked an older student. Only outstanding performance in class—”

“Just consider it an act of kindness. Whatever. I hear every professor prepares especially carefully for their first lesson with new students.”

After gathering his things, Cohen set off for their first class: Transfiguration.

As one of the first students to arrive, Hermione naturally claimed a seat in the front row at lightning speed.

She noticed a quiet tabby cat sitting on the teacher's desk, but in keeping with her determination to be a good student, Hermione merely remained in her seat and quietly previewed the textbook.

Cohen, however, took out the little snack he had prepared long ago as he passed the desk.

He placed the packet of sausages beside the cat.

Ding! Kindness increased by 1.

This was the reward for a compassionate heart!

Cohen also received a grateful look from the cat, as though she were touched by his kindness—

Ding! Sin increased by 1.

Cohen's rough method of petting cats earned him a stern look. The cat leapt onto the desk, landing farther away from him.

“Aren't you supposed to stroke a cat against the grain…?”

“Cohen!” Hermione urged him in a low voice to hurry down. She had the distinct feeling that someone was watching from the front of the classroom.

Even so, when Cohen came down, Hermione made room for him so he could sit in the front row—

But that was clearly not Cohen's objective.

“Back row by the window, the king's homeland!”

Cohen contentedly took the corner seat at the very back of the classroom, completely ignoring the exasperated look Hermione sent him after turning around from the front.

The students gradually streamed into the classroom. It was almost time for the bell when Harry and Ron finally hurried in. They even joined forces to complain that Professor McGonagall was nowhere to be seen.

They were naturally startled when Professor McGonagall, who had been a cat, transformed back into a human. Looking thoroughly chastened, they made their way to the only remaining seats—the back row, where Cohen was sitting.

For some reason, every young wizard seemed desperate to sit near the front. Cohen decided this was simply a child's fascination with something new.

Before long, he was sure, these children would be driven away by complicated, headache-inducing magical theories and three-dimensional models of magical functions. Then they would all fight for seats in the back.

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“Transfiguration is the most complicated and dangerous branch of magic you will study at Hogwarts,” Professor McGonagall said sternly. “Anyone who misbehaves in my classroom will be asked to leave and will never be permitted to return. Consider yourselves warned.”

A strict teacher could make children obedient in an instant. The classroom, which had still contained a few whispers, fell completely silent.

Professor McGonagall then demonstrated advanced Transfiguration. She transformed the teacher's desk into a pig, then changed it back again.

Cohen's eyes lit up at once.

The transformation itself was not enough to surprise him, but McGonagall's Transfiguration was clearly not… ordinary.

Cohen had seen the label above the pig's head with his own eyes.

Soul Strength: 3

When Professor McGonagall transformed the pig back into a desk, the label showing its soul strength vanished as well.

In other words, McGonagall's Transfiguration had given a lifeless object a soul.

Could all Transfiguration do this? Or was it only McGonagall's magic that worked this way?

Cohen intended to find a chance to ask Professor McGonagall—of course, he would merely ask about the differences between various forms of Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall then began the part of the lesson that interested the young wizards least: the theory of Transfiguration.

What McGonagall had said at the beginning was correct. This was indeed the most complicated subject at Hogwarts. If Charms were simply a matter of a = a + bx + cx² + dx³…, then Transfiguration involved finding a way to make a' + b'x' + c'x'² + d'x'³… equal to a'' + b''x'' + c''x''² + d''x''³….

As for how to alter the magical input x, one first had to use an Existence Spell to analyze the structure of the target object—

Of course, as first-year students, they did not need to study advanced magic such as the Existence Spell. They only had to cast spells on specific objects according to formulas they had already been given.

The first Transfiguration exercise for first-years was the simplest possible conversion between two basic variables.

Professor McGonagall gave each young wizard a match and began instructing them to transform it into a needle.

Most of the students' attempts produced no result. They had not listened to McGonagall at all; they simply poured in as much power as they could and left the rest to a miracle. Unfortunately, Transfiguration did not reward brute force with miracles. If they failed to send a needle flying into the student in front of them, that alone counted as a success.

Cohen successfully transformed his match into a sharp silver needle, earning Gryffindor five points from Professor McGonagall.

Hermione's magic worked soon afterward. Her match changed material as well. Professor McGonagall awarded her points and offered a word of praise, but Hermione did not seem happy.

“Cohen, how did you do it?”

After class, Hermione hurried over to Cohen's seat.

“That needle—I followed the textbook and my notes too…”