Chapter 640: Temptation Training
Chapter 640: Temptation Training
The students once again witnessed Professor Hup's cunning.
He never intended to give the students much time to think—let alone a week. While the others hesitated, he called on Harry. "How can someone aspiring to be an Auror lack courage?"
Before Harry could react, he was pulled into the golden circle.
"Since this is an experiential class, let's save some time, what do you think?" Felix asked with a smile. Harry's heart skipped a beat, and he stammered, "Yeah—um—" "Great", Felix said, then pointed his wand, and Harry's body rapidly shrank, transforming into a gray rabbit just like Susan Bones.
"Wow!" Susan exclaimed, unable to resist moving closer.
"No touching", Ron warned. Susan rolled her eyes but couldn't tear her gaze away from the furry little creature on the ground.
"Are you still conscious, Potter?" Felix asked Harry, who was now a rabbit. The rabbit on the ground nodded vigorously, its mouth hanging open. A girl, clearly a fan of Harry, was so excited that her eyes sparkled and she let out a suppressed squeal. Felix glanced at her, noting, "Very good, you're next."
"So, let's start with some questions... the first one..."
Harry felt strange, as if his consciousness had been forcibly stuffed into a cramped drawer, making him extremely uncomfortable. Then his brain jolted, and a flood of bizarre information surged in—first, the small, noisy sounds: the rustling of clothes, the creaking of shoes on the floor, laughter, whispers... They seemed to have been filtered through some kind of container before flooding into his ears.
Professor Hup's voice also sounded different, more shrill.
Then came the changes in his vision and sense of smell.
For the first time, Harry could see what was behind him—both Professor Hup and the students in front of him, as well as Professor Mcgonagall and the rest of the class behind him. Their skin tones had become strangely dull, blending with the grayish, cold colors of the surrounding tables and chairs, and everything was a bit blurry. Harry wondered if it was because of his nearsightedness.
If that wasn't the case, the reason was clear: rabbits have poor vision, possibly worse than his own. However, Harry discovered that their sense of smell was quite remarkable. He could now clearly detect the scent of teddy bear-shaped biscuits in the air.
"Potter?" Felix asked with concern, "Not adapting yet?" Harry snapped back to reality, first shaking his head, then nodding. Felix smiled understandingly and raised his voice slightly so that everyone could hear.
"There are many differences in sensory organs between humans and animals, so it's often difficult to adapt after transformation, causing unnecessary panic. This is one of the challenges when an Animagus first transforms..."
"Is that so?" someone in the crowd whispered to Susan.
Susan shook her head in confusion and whispered back, "It seems so. Hearing and smell become more acute, but vision deteriorates significantly. I was too scared and focused on Professor's questions—" "No wonder you closed your eyes for a while", her friend realized.
A few students let out soft "oh!" sounds.
Felix repeated the questions he had just asked.
Harry managed to hold on a few minutes longer than Susan Bones, but it wasn't particularly impressive.
Earlier, while observing Susan Bones' experience, Harry had thought about how he would handle such a situation. His first idea was to rely on Occlumency. But when he actually transformed, he found that the situation was entirely different from what he had imagined: he seemed to have lost his magical abilities, including Occlumency, and could only resist with sheer willpower. However, being in an animal's body made his thoughts increasingly confused, and the instincts of the animal began to take over, gradually gaining the upper hand. He felt his will becoming heavier and more exhausted, as if a voice was whispering, "Just sleep..."
At that moment, Felix raised his wand, and after a loud bang, Harry returned to his human form. He panted heavily, feeling dizzy for a moment, and Felix helped him up. "I'm fine—no, I don't need a potion", Harry gasped, his Occlumency skills kicking in to remove the lingering discomfort. He rejoined the group.
"Your reaction was quite strong", Ron said worriedly, "Is it really that powerful? More than the Imperius Curse?"
"It's okay", Harry muttered, "It's like temporarily switching bodies. I now understand why—Voldemort—wasn't all there." He heard a sharp intake of breath from nearby. "—Why Voldemort wasn't all there", he finished.
On the other side, Felix called up another student, this time a witch who had been a suspected fan of Harry.
Students who had experienced the transformation gathered together to share their experiences of resisting the beast transformation. "Miss Vera, would you like to give it a try? From what I know, your Transfiguration and Potions grades are quite good..."
Vera glanced at Harry, who had moved to stand beside Susan Bones, and after a brief hesitation, she agreed. Professor Mcgonagall and Hermione stared at her with rather peculiar expressions, while Felix pretended not to notice.
Vera only lasted for less than five minutes before she started to ignore Felix's questions. With no other choice, he transformed her back. Vera immediately ran over to Harry, chatting happily with them as if nothing had affected her at all.
Thanks to Felix's skilled persuasion, all the students, either willingly or reluctantly, experienced the rabbit's perspective. By the time the last student finished, they all felt a sense of relief, realizing it wasn't as difficult as they had imagined, especially with so many classmates supporting them.
As the students left, laughing and talking, they treated the morning's experience as a novel and enjoyable lesson, with many planning to boast about it to their friends.
"Minerva, I'm worried this class might spark a trend among the students, trying to transform each other privately. We should probably issue a warning soon, prohibiting such activities."
Felix stroked his chin thoughtfully. Professor Mcgonagall huffed in response, clearly dissatisfied with Felix's method of using words to influence the students. "This reminds me of Professor Bashir, but he—"
Professor Mcgonagall hesitated, refraining from voicing her suspicion that Bashir might be a saint. She pressed her lips together and said, "He's already under observation."
"Minerva, I'm not like Professor Bashir", Felix shrugged. "I'm just breaking down the students' fears, showing them that their fear is often just the unknown. After all, sometimes we have to admit that decisions made in ignorance are neither rational nor objective."
Professor Mcgonagall opened her mouth, somewhat convinced. She swallowed and continued, "Well—what you say has some merit, but do you know who you remind me of?" Without waiting for Felix's response, she bluntly answered, "Dumbledore. He's always full of strange ideas, but the last time he went to such lengths was to convince me to add a Muggle snack to the school menu—"
"Did you agree?" Felix asked, surprised.
"Of course not!" Professor Mcgonagall said indignantly, as if she had been wronged. "He's unreliable enough as it is, especially this semester... Humph, I wouldn't... " She grumbled to herself, clearly harboring a long-standing grievance. Felix listened attentively, nodding and smiling, occasionally offering brief words of agreement.
"Is that true?"
"Really surprising."
"You've had it hard, Minerva."
Professor Mcgonagall stopped, her face slightly flushed. She adjusted her square glasses, feeling a bit embarrassed by her outburst. She abruptly changed the subject, "By the way, what's with your Transfiguration?" She suddenly glanced at his arms.
"Human transformation", Felix feigned ignorance.
Professor Mcgonagall was unimpressed, "I am the Transfiguration professor, you know."
After she left, Felix stuffed his hands into his pockets, furrowing his brow. The question that had been nagging him for a while resurfaced: Was there something wrong with Dumbledore's body? He couldn't tell anymore, which seemed to indicate that Dumbledore had delved much deeper into the realm of the soul.
But Dumbledore didn't want to discuss it, and Felix's indirect inquiries had yielded no response.
Felix suddenly felt a bit stumped.
Days passed, and before they knew it, it was December. During this time, the students had several more innovative Animagus lessons, delving into more advanced content, including aspects of human transformation.
"What did I say?" Professor Mcgonagall shouted at Ron. "Just familiarize yourself with how magic is channeled, don't let it take effect—" Ron's face was grim, his arms twice the normal size and covered in fine scales.
Professor Mcgonagall waved her wand, restoring his arms to their original state.
It had been four weeks since the first class, and several snowfalls had made the weather increasingly cold. Felix's approach had indeed been effective; no student had voluntarily dropped out, and only two had been persuaded to withdraw due to their poor willpower and transformation skills.
As the students became more adept at the course, Felix also devised new, more efficient teaching methods.
For example—
One day, Professor Mcgonagall arrived a bit late. When she finally got there, she found the staff lounge filled with single desks used for the Wizard Level Examination. On each desk sat a creature: rabbits, owls, ferrets, honey badgers, foxes, cubs, eagles, hounds, and more. They sat still on the desks, their movements stiff, like a row of animal specimens.
Hovering a few inches above each creature’s head were various snacks—nuts, fruit preserves, owl feed, sausages, meat pies, and more, all emitting enticing aromas. The animals below would occasionally raise their heads to glance at the food with longing eyes, then quickly look away.
Professor Mcgonagall was stunned.
Moreover, Felix had appointed a supervisor.
A house-elf stood reverently on an empty chair, his hands clasped tightly at his chest as if in prayer. He had a protruding nose, and his large, bat-like ears flapped with every nod of his head as he diligently inspected the magical scene in the staff lounge.
Soon, his eyes lit up. "Mr. Heap", the house-elf suddenly squeaked excitedly, pointing at a honey badger. Professor Mcgonagall followed his finger and saw the little creature standing on its hind legs, its front paws comically waving in the air as it tried to reach a golden piece of honey.
"Good job, Winky", Felix praised, calmly turning a page in his book before waving his wand.
In an instant, the honey badger transformed into a wizard. Justin, looking dejected, walked over to a nearby chair and sat down. "Thirteen and a half points, not bad", Felix said calmly. But he was the first to fail, Justin thought, disappointed, as even some of the girls had lasted longer.
"Chirp!"
He looked down to see a Niffler staring up at him, holding a piece of parchment and chirping insistently.
The professor really spared no effort, Justin thought. Not only had he brought the Niffler to the Ancient Runes class, but now it was serving as an assistant. He took the parchment and began to fill it out seriously. These questionnaires, he heard, would be collected by the Hogwarts Library, likely stored in the Restricted Section.
"Thoughts—clear; self-assessment, seven points; today's transformation sample—honey badger, feeling—uncomfortable, constrained… didn’t have the ease others mentioned… next choice—" He looked up, seeking inspiration among the creatures.
After a moment's thought, he wrote, "pine marten." Justin put a question mark next to it, then decided to cross it out and write "pheasant" instead. Today, many had chosen their Patronus forms, and perhaps he could try as well.
Soon, the second student was restored to human form, and one by one, they found their seats and began filling out the questionnaires. Some picked up a vial of calming potion from the desk, poured themselves a small cup, and quietly drank it, then watched with amusement as others struggled with their transformations.
A white peacock strutted proudly on the table, then fluttered down, calling out "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" A flash of white light, and Draco Malfoy appeared, pale-faced, staggering to support himself on the table.
His gaze met the cub lion on the desk, and Draco glared at it fiercely, then turned to glare at the sleek hound. A few desks away, a pocket beaver kept twitching its nose, its whiskers quivering.
Within five minutes, they all transformed back into students.
Before the class ended, Felix and Professor Mcgonagall distributed some fresh leaves to the students.
"Is this a Mandrake leaf?" Ron examined the leaf he received, looking surprised. "It doesn’t look like it."
"Because it isn’t a Mandrake, Weasley", Felix said with a sly smile. "I plucked it this morning from one of Hagrid’s Christmas trees in the Great Hall. He didn’t even notice, thanks to a Disillusionment Charm..."
"Nice one, professor", Ron whistled softly.
Professor Mcgonagall ignored their silly comments, cleared her throat, and addressed the class. "It’s two weeks until Christmas, and it’s time—since you’ve all made it this far—that Felix and I start you on the preparations for becoming animagi."
"The leaves I’ve given you are enchanted. I want you to ensure they’re still in your mouths when we meet next."
"Then I’ll give you the real Mandrake leaves."
(End of Chapter)
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