HP: I have a Proficiency Panel - 148

Chapter 148: Transfiguration Biscuits

Snow covered Hogwarts Castle in silver frost, making the longing between people grow deeper.

Shawn still had no letters to send, nor any letters that would arrive.

A week passed, and Shawn continued to move between the dungeons, the Transfiguration office, and the Alchemy office.

Alchemy had been unlocked, but his talent had not:

[Floating Quill: Apprentice (1/300)]
[Three Apprentice-level alchemical creations to unlock Apprentice-level Alchemy title]

Like most magical branches, Shawn needed to complete a few simple alchemical creations.

Meanwhile, Professor Tyra had assigned him a couple of tasks: make a Howler and choose one alchemical creation himself.

The Weasleys always wanted Shawn to pick one of their wild ideas.

“Look at this! Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder!” Fred burst out from behind a portrait yesterday afternoon, holding a black ball. When he threw it, the area was plunged into darkness so thick that even Lumos and Incendio could not penetrate it.

But Shawn could walk from the corridor to the Great Hall blindfolded, so the Weasleys’ hopes were dashed.

“I knew the Great Hall’s scent was cheating,” Fred wailed dramatically.

“So why must I pick your inventions?” Shawn asked the mischievous twins, his voice soft.

“Those boring things are so dull. But if you use one of our inventions—” Fred looked like he had been waiting for this moment, his excitement building.

“Then Professor Tyra might even take an interest!” George chimed in.

“If the professor is interested, we could attract investors. All we need is for her to say, ‘Not bad potential!’” Fred grew even more excited.

“Then wizards from Beauxbatons and Uagadou will come pouring in with Galleons!” George winked.

“You’ll see how important Professor Tyra is in the Alchemy world!” the twins said together.

In the end, Shawn chose Canary Creams (or another kind of transfigured food) as his practice project. Along with the Howler, he needed to finish both alchemical creations before Christmas.

This meant he had to learn about the materials, fusion rituals, and rune arrays for both creations.

Overall, his time became a bit tighter.

December had officially begun. One morning, Hogwarts woke from its slumber, blanketed in several feet of snow, the lake frozen solid.

Shawn stepped out of the castle, holding Professor Tyra’s notes. Outside, a crowd of young witches and wizards gathered, running and playing in the snow, chasing and laughing.

Even though Shawn could now run and jump, he still preferred to quietly stay in the corner.

He used the newly learned Entry-level Fire-Making Charm to light dry grass in a fireproof jar, then summoned two fire lizards.

They burned tracks in the snow, then scampered off until their flames faded, buried in the Hogwarts snow.

For a long time, Shawn considered which transfiguration to try.

For advanced Transfiguration, turning one living creature into another, he would probably only be able to master one in a short time.

The animal he had observed most closely, and the most interesting choice, was undoubtedly the wizarding world’s messenger—

the owl.

Shawn took out a loose sheet of parchment, waved his wand, and a flock of transfigured owls flew from his hand.

“Merlin’s beard—” Ron was stunned.

“It’s normal. Shawn’s progress in Transfiguration has even surpassed some older students,” Justin explained gently.

“It’s not just some, I feel it’s all of them,” Ron muttered.

Since the Hope Room’s agreement had been announced, the six young witches and wizards’ movements had become more unified.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all belonged to Gryffindor, so they often acted together.

Their destination was simple: meet up with Justin, since finding Justin meant finding Shawn was not far behind.

[You practised an in-depth Intermediate Transfiguration at expert standard. Proficiency +100]

The panel prompt sounded. Shawn knew that even an in-depth Intermediate Transfiguration was not enough compared to his hundreds of thousands of proficiency points.

Only by constantly exploring and practising advanced Transfiguration could his progress speed up.

He had not forgotten that the last time he reached expert standard in advanced Transfiguration, his proficiency increased tenfold.

His current important task was turning a “living creature” into an “owl.”

Professor McGonagall gave him some beetles as experimental material and repeatedly stressed the secrets of advanced Transfiguration.

As he carefully read the professor’s notes on owls, Justin and Hermione, watching the falling snow, seemed to have some kind of gene awakening.

Soon, they started a snowball fight.

Wizard snowball fights were a bit different from ordinary ones. When Justin dodged Hermione’s first snowball, he saw her wave her wand and cast a spell, and snowballs started flying one after another.

Justin knew that even though he and Hermione were both Proficient-level in Levitation Charm, there was still a gap.

So he did not try to compete with Hermione for control of the snowballs. Instead, he took a different approach, using Aguamenti to create a wall of ice that quickly froze.

Watching their snowball fight, Harry and Ron quietly put down the snowballs they were holding and picked up their wands.

Their Levitation Charm was also gradually improving with practice.

“Oh—Shawn?” During a truce, Hermione looked at Shawn, who was reading notes nearby, and whispered to Justin, frowning.

“My mother says everyone’s happiness is different, but true friends always share each other’s joy,” Justin said, raising an eyebrow.

Shawn happened to look over and saw Harry and Ron trying to ambush Hermione, only to be turned into snowmen by her. A faint smile touched his lips.

In the blue-white world, several owls flew through the stormy sky, delivering mail after great hardship. At this time of year, they had to recover their strength under Hagrid’s care before taking off again.

“Eat this big snowball—Great Green!” Shawn heard a familiar voice. A fire lizard beside him instantly swelled up, swallowed the snowball, and charged straight at Fred.

“Uh-oh—” Fred was chased in circles by the fire lizard in the snow.

George laughed so hard he could not stand up, then saw Fred charging at him, and both were chased in circles by the fire lizard in the snow.

“Fred—” George cried out.

“George—” Fred shouted back.