Agnes was surprised, but clearly not dumbfounded.
She looked at Rey with an "I knew it" expression, as if she had already figured out that Rey could transform into a dragon.
"I..."
Rey opened his mouth to explain, but Agnes cut him off. "No need to explain. I know everything."
"You know?" Rey asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, Helena told me."
"Oh." Rey nodded, feeling a bit confused. He didn't know what Helena meant by telling Agnes all this.
Looking at Agnes in front of him, Rey continued to ask, "How did you get here?"
"I followed you." After her initial surprise, Agnes hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something but stopped.
"I was originally planning to tell you, but..." Rey explained awkwardly.
The situation felt a bit embarrassing, like a beauty stumbling upon the male lead skinny-dipping in the wild, except here the "beauty" had just transformed back into human Rey.
They looked at each other—the clumsy Rey and the slightly embarrassed Agnes. After a moment of staring, they couldn't help but laugh.
"Can you control your magic now?" Agnes asked with concern after the laughter faded and the awkwardness dissipated.
"Yeah, it's okay. I just need to practice a lot more."
---
Back at Hogwarts, Rey forced himself to devote all his energy to practicing magic. Agnes helped by looking up various basic materials on magical theory and exercises.
Everything was starting from scratch.
From the simplest Levitation Charm to Transfiguration, and then to various offensive spells.
Rey dared not slack off in his practice, seizing every minute and second.
During the day, he practiced the basics of magic; at night, he transformed into a Black Dragon and soared in the sky. After a week of this, Rey shifted his focus entirely to the fundamentals of magical control.
Because at this time, the personnel from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures finally moved into Hogwarts. This was a signal. Rey couldn't underestimate them; otherwise, he would be the one to suffer.
Dragons are magical creatures, and irritable, highly aggressive ones at that. Put simply, wizards didn't understand dragons well enough, and dragons were stronger than the average wizard, hence the strong wariness.
When humans encounter creatures stronger than themselves that they can't control, they tend to capture or kill them. Even research is largely driven by the desire for control.
During the week Rey practiced his Animagus transformation, the house-elves in the kitchen and the beasts around the Forbidden Forest showed signs of fear, which seemed to be intensifying.
However, all of this gradually returned to calm after Rey stopped his Animagus practice.
This change left the investigators who had just arrived at Hogwarts completely bewildered.
---
After the Easter holiday ended, another month of school would be followed by Hogwarts' longest break: the summer holidays.
One month was far too short for Rey, who craved more time to practice his magical foundations.
In this short time, Rey could only master some simple household spells. As for high-level curses like Avada Kedavra, forget about it.
The higher the level of the spell, the greater the requirement for control and the total amount of magic.
Rey's total magic volume was naturally not small, but his control... right now, he was truly at the level of a first-year student. Despite this, his progress in Transfiguration was advancing by leaps and bounds.
Once he became an Animagus, Transfiguration became as natural as water flowing into a canal.
"How do you plan to spend your summer vacation?" Agnes asked just after they finished their basic magic practice.
She was quite concerned about this. Rey was an orphan, and orphans had to return to their orphanages during the summer. From her conversations with Rey, Agnes knew he had a very bad impression of Wool's Orphanage.
"I have a plan!"
Rey raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"What plan?"
"It's a secret for now. Do you have plans for the summer? If not, I'll come find you for help."
"I have no plans for the summer. Come find me when you're ready, and tell me your plan then." Agnes's eyes lit up at Rey's words, and she agreed immediately.
The summer vacation was too long, and she truly had nothing to do at Greengrass Manor. Hearing that Rey needed her help, she was more than willing.
---
After the last class of the second semester of the first year ended, as Rey and Agnes walked out of the classroom, the red-haired Charlie Weasley came looking for them.
He was accompanied by someone else—a young woman, around twenty years old.
With long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, a tight pencil skirt hugging her curvy figure, and a pair of delicate glasses perched on her high nose bridge, she stood next to Charlie, towering over him by half a head.
"What a stunning lady. Is she the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"
Upon seeing her, Rey couldn't help but guess. For the past month, Defense Against the Dark Arts classes had been self-study, with Dumbledore occasionally coming in to say a few words.
Ever since Voldemort failed to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, Dumbledore had to find a new teacher every year. After so many years, it must be tough for him. Now, who knows where he found such a beautiful professor.
"Hi, Rey."
Charlie greeted him first, and the beauty followed, offering a smile when she saw Rey and Agnes.
"Allow me to introduce you. This is Boya Hull from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
Charlie Weasley couldn't wait to introduce her as soon as he said hello. Seeing the smile plastered on his face and his obvious excitement, it was clear he had absolutely no resistance to this lady.
It was understandable; at his age, hormones were raging. Being attracted to a woman with such a great figure and face was perfectly normal.
"Hello, I'm Boya Hull. You can call me Boya. I work at the Dragon Research and Control Bureau." The beauty extended her hand proactively.
"I'm Rey MacFusty, and this is Agnes Greengrass. Nice to meet you."
Rey extended his right hand naturally, showing no signs of nervousness. While shaking hands, he introduced Agnes beside him as well.
However, despite his calm exterior, he was somewhat surprised. This stunning lady wasn't the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Dumbledore found, but an investigator from the Ministry. That was unexpected.
He had thought the investigators coming to Hogwarts would be capable middle-aged men, not a gorgeous woman.
"Hey, Rey. Boya introduced me to an internship at the Research Bureau. Last time you mentioned studying dragons in Romania; Boya said she could recommend me after graduation."
Red-haired Charlie was in an excellent mood. It seemed he hadn't just met a beauty but also received help from her.
Seeing the guy constantly looking back at Boya with that expression, Rey began to doubt whether Charlie wanted to study dragons or this beauty.
Charlie was embarrassing himself without realizing it, but Rey saw it clearly. Agnes was just suppressing a laugh, while Boya's expression was indifferent; presumably, she was used to men looking at her like that.
"Um, so, why did you come here?" Rey asked, interrupting the lovestruck Charlie.
"Oh, I mentioned you while chatting with Boya, so she wanted to come and meet you." Reminded by Rey, Charlie realized he was being a bit too much and answered immediately.
"Came specifically to meet me?" Suspicious, Rey looked at the beauty who was a head taller than him.
He didn't know when he became so famous that a beauty would come specifically to meet him after hearing about him. He felt surprisingly flattered.
If it were Harry Potter, this would all make sense. But for it to be him... that was intriguing.
"Charlie said you share his interests. He likes dragons, and I quite like them too. And you seem to know a lot about them. The black dragon that appeared this time is very unusual. It's the first time I've heard of a black dragon causing such panic.
"However, since I arrived, the black dragon seems to have stopped appearing. So, being bored, meeting more friends seemed like the best thing to do. If your age allowed, I would actually hope you and Charlie could intern at the Research Bureau together."
The beauty named Boya seemed very outgoing, stating her reason for coming immediately. However, she and Charlie addressed each other by their first names, which made their relationship seem rather unusual.