The next day, the second-year Gryffindors and Slytherins gathered in the Transfiguration classroom.
Professor Minerva McGonagall stood at the front of the room beside her desk, her expression as sharp and composed as ever.
"Today," Professor McGonagall said crisply, "we will continue our work on animal-to-object Transfiguration."
With a flick of her wand, the lid of a wooden box opened.
Inside were beetles.
With another precise movement of her wand, the beetles hopped out of the box and scuttled across the desks until one stopped in front of each student.
Several students leaned closer to inspect the tiny insects.
"Your task," Professor McGonagall continued, "is to transfigure your beetle into a button."
She raised her wand and demonstrated.
"Observe carefully."
A quick, precise flick of her wand struck the beetle on her desk.
A moment later the small black insect had transformed into a round, shiny button.
Professor McGonagall held it up between her fingers for the class to see.
"You will notice the shape is smooth, the holes symmetrical, and the color unchanged. Transfiguration must be controlled and exact."
Her eyes swept across the classroom.
"A poorly performed transformation can result in incomplete transfiguration. I trust none of you wish to discover what happens when an object partially remains a beetle."
Neville looked alarmed.
"Begin," Professor McGonagall said.
Wands rose across the room.
As the students began attempting the spell, most of the beetles simply continued crawling across the desks despite repeated wand movements.
Only two students managed the transformation on the first try.
Hermione's beetle flashed briefly and turned into a neat black button with four perfectly shaped holes. She looked at it with quiet satisfaction.
Beside her, Victor raised his wand and performed the spell with equal precision. The beetle on his desk flickered once and became a smooth dark button resting calmly on the wood.
Professor McGonagall passed by their desks and paused for a moment, examining both results before giving a small approving nod.
"Excellent work," she said crisply. "Ten points to Gryffindor and ten points to Slytherin."
Around the classroom, however, the results were far less impressive. Several beetles merely twitched or rolled onto their backs. Others remained completely unchanged no matter how many times their owners waved their wands.
Ron, whose wand had been damaged during the crash with the Whomping Willow, was having the worst trouble of all.
He waved the broken wand determinedly.
There was a flash of uneven light.
For a moment the beetle seemed to change shape — but the transformation went wrong.
Instead of becoming a proper button, the creature turned into something strange: half button, half beetle.
One side was flat and shiny with button holes, while the other still had legs and a shell.
The creature suddenly jumped off the desk and landed squarely on Ron's head.
Ron yelped and began flailing his arms wildly, trying to pull the thing off while stumbling around between the desks.
Professor McGonagall saw the commotion and moved over immediately.
With a precise flick of her wand, the half-button, half-beetle abomination instantly reverted back into a normal beetle and dropped off Ron's head onto the floor.
Ron froze, his arms still halfway raised.
Professor McGonagall looked at him sternly.
"Mr. Weasley," she said, "you should buy a new wand. Broken wands are very dangerous for a wizard — both for your magical work and for your safety."
Ron shifted awkwardly in his seat.
He wanted to explain that getting a new wand was not so simple.
His mother was already furious about the flying car incident, and the Weasley family did not have money to spare. Asking for a new wand now would almost certainly result in another long, painful lecture.
Instead, he simply nodded.
"Okay, Professor."
***
That night, Victor attempted the astral projection again.
His body remained in the Slytherin dormitory while his astral form drifted silently through the castle, passing through walls and staircases until he reached Gryffindor Tower. The common room was quiet and empty, the fire nearly out.
Victor moved up toward the girls' dormitory and soon found what he was looking for.
Among Ginny Weasley's books lay the small old diary.
"Good," Victor muttered quietly. "Now I can destroy this thing."
He raised his hand and cast Wingardium Leviosa, attempting to lift the diary.
Nothing happened.
The spell simply had no effect.
Victor immediately realized the problem.
Of course. A Horcrux was not something that would respond normally to magic like an ordinary object.
"Hmm," he murmured, staring at the book. "Do you think you've already won, smug diary?"
He thought for a moment, then lifted two of the surrounding books with the levitation charm instead. The books rose slowly into the air and pressed down on either side of the diary, trapping it between them.
Carefully, Victor began moving the floating books toward the door, dragging the diary along between them.
The stack of books drifted across the room and toward the dormitory entrance.
Just as they reached the doorway, a hand suddenly grabbed them.
Victor stopped.
Ginny Weasley stood there, half awake and clearly confused. She stared at the books floating in front of her.
She took hold of them, and the levitation charm broke immediately.
The books dropped into her arms.
Victor watched as she looked down at the diary between them with a puzzled expression, then slowly walked back to her bed.
"Shit," Victor muttered under his breath. "I was one moment away."
He hovered in the corner of the room as Ginny placed the books inside her trunk and locked it.
"Well," he thought calmly, "it seems that thing has already started influencing her. She isn't letting it go easily."
Victor looked at the trunk for a moment, considering the situation.
Then another idea crossed his mind.
"Maybe," he murmured thoughtfully, "I should just kill the basilisk before it ever wakes."
*****
A/N : 🔥 On Patreon, the story has already been updated up to Chapter 80🔥
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