Chapter 137: The Erratic Transfiguration Talent, and the Professor's Office

Silven had no idea Harry and the others were already scheming about the Chamber of Secrets; his sudden departure just now had nothing to do with the three of them, but was because of something else entirely.

When he returned to the dormitory, he just caught the last wisp of the sunset's afterglow. Without hesitation, Silven immediately took out his wand, pointed it at his heart, and softly chanted:

"Amado, Animo, Animato, Animagus."

This was the second step in learning the Animagus transformation: at every sunrise and sunset, one must point the wand at the heart and chant the incantation.

Silven had only rushed back to the dormitory because he had noticed the sunset was about to end.

"Thump-thump…"

The familiar sound of a heartbeat reached his ears again, but this time there seemed to be something else mixed in.

It was a very faint sound, like a single droplet falling from the tip of a leaf in heavy rain and splashing into a small puddle. Beneath the cover of the downpour, the sound was almost imperceptible, yet undeniably real.

Silven was certain he had heard it — this second sound — but the moment he focused all his attention on identifying it, it vanished, as if everything just now had been his imagination.

At that moment, the spell's effect ended, the surroundings returned to normal, and he could hear other sounds again.

Silven was thrilled. He knew it hadn't been an illusion; though very faint, he had truly heard another heartbeat.

It was the heartbeat of his Animagus form, and also the key to the second stage.

Hearing the second heartbeat proved that the Mandrake had established a correct "channel." If the second heartbeat couldn't be heard, then there would be no point in proceeding with the subsequent steps.

But for now, this heartbeat was still very faint. As long as he kept chanting the incantation at sunrise and sunset, the heartbeat would grow clearer and clearer.

This discovery left Silven immensely excited, but left Harry, who had come over on purpose, completely baffled.

He had thought Silven must have been upset, which was why he had walked out of the common room without looking back, but now…

Watching Silven let out a silly chuckle every now and then, Harry was seized by a moment of self-doubt… that didn't look like someone who was upset either.

"What's wrong?" Silven asked, looking at Harry standing there foolishly. "Did you need something?"

"N-no." Harry shook his head instinctively, but then suddenly remembered the conversation in the common room earlier and blurted out, "Can you tell me where the Chamber is?"

"I can't," Silven said. "I promised Professor Dumbledore I wouldn't tell anyone the location."

This…

Harry sighed. Just as Ron had said, even if Silven knew, he wouldn't tell them.

"Besides, telling you wouldn't do any good," Silven continued. "The place has already been sealed off by the Headmaster with magic. Even if you knew where it was, you couldn't get in."

"No, I was just, just curious." Harry offered a few feeble excuses and then quickly left.

Silven didn't think anything of it.

The next day, he could hardly wait to tell Professor McGonagall what had happened the day before.

He hadn't expected Professor McGonagall's reaction to be even bigger than his own — she sprang up from her chair in an instant.

"What? You heard the second heartbeat?" She stared at Silven in disbelief, her face written all over with incredulity, as if someone had told her Snape was a witch and awarded Gryffindor two hundred points.

"Yes, I heard it," Silven nodded.

Professor McGonagall looked at Silven, as if trying to read any trace of a lie on his face.

But there was none, because it was true.

If last night's sound had still been very faint, this morning's was much clearer — two heartbeats, one loud and one soft, maintaining a strange, wonderful rhythm and cadence.

After hearing Silven's description, Professor McGonagall found it all the more incredible.

"From when you started chanting the incantation until now, how long has it been in total?" she asked.

"About half a month or so," Silven said after thinking for a moment.

"Half a month… and you already sensed the second heartbeat of the Animagus transformation?" Professor McGonagall sat back down in her chair.

This pace was already on par with her own, or more precisely, a little faster than when she had learned to become an Animagus.

The process had taken her twenty days, but in Silven's case… if Professor McGonagall remembered correctly, Silven had only finished the preparations for the first stage three days before the Easter holiday.

By that calculation, Silven was three days faster than her.

But how could that be…

Professor McGonagall didn't mean to look down on Silven, but his Transfiguration talent really wasn't all that exceptional.

If grades were used as a measure, Silven's talent in Transfiguration should be E (Exceeds Expectations), still a step short of the best O (Outstanding).

The gap wasn't large — perhaps just the points of a single fill-in-the-blank question — but E and O carried entirely different meanings.

Take herself, for example. Professor McGonagall recalled that when she was in school, she learned to turn a match into a needle after just one viewing, mastered the entire contents of "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" in three months, finished reading "An Intermediate Guide to Transfiguration" in her first year, and began studying "An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration" and Human Transfiguration in her second year.

Although Silven had repeated this same process this year, he had poured all of his time into Transfiguration.

More than one professor had already remarked that Silven was always sneaking peeks at Transfiguration books during their classes, and Gryffindor had lost quite a few points because of it.

"Come to my office tonight at sunset," Professor McGonagall said. She still wasn't entirely convinced.

"No problem," Silven said.

So after dinner, without even returning to the dormitory, he went straight to Professor McGonagall's office and followed her up to the school's Astronomy Tower.

At sunset, Silven pointed his wand at his heart and chanted the incantation once more.

"Amado, Animo, Animato, Animagus."

"Thump-thump…"

"…thump…"

This time it was even clearer — two heartbeats, one after the other, reached Silven's ears.

Professor McGonagall couldn't hear this sound, but as an Animagus herself, she could sense the peculiar magical fluctuation in the air.

A magical fluctuation unique to Animagi — two completely synchronized yet utterly distinct waves.

When Professor McGonagall transformed into a tabby cat, this magical fluctuation became even more pronounced.

Silven had truly done it — he wasn't joking!

How strange — why did Silven's Transfiguration talent suddenly become the very best, an O, the moment he began learning to become an Animagus?

This thought flashed through Professor McGonagall's mind, and was swiftly replaced by a warm sense of relief.

According to official Ministry of Magic records, the youngest Animagus registration was at nineteen, but based on what Professor McGonagall herself knew, it should have been fifteen... after all, not everyone is willing to register.

But none of that matters now. Silven, only in his second year this year, is sure to break that record... unless there's no thunderstorm for three years in a row.

But that's impossible. When the time comes, there has to be one, whether it happens naturally or not.

When the spell's effect ended and Silven opened his eyes, Professor McGonagall had already transformed back as well.

"Come with me." She led Silven back to the office once more.

Professor McGonagall no longer cared at this point why Silven's talent fluctuated up and down. Once she felt the second heartbeat, it was as if she was already halfway to success. At this moment, she absolutely could not give up, and could not relax again.

"I'll recommend some more books for you." She pulled out a blank piece of parchment, swiftly wrote out a list of book titles on it, and signed her own name at the bottom.

"These are all in the Restricted Section. You must keep them well hidden in your daily life, and not let anyone else see them."

Silven took the parchment and glanced at it. There were seven books in total, each with a more alarming name than the last.

Below that was the signature and the borrowing time. Here, Professor McGonagall simply drew a horizontal line, and he had no idea what it meant.

"I've also collected some excellent papers, all related to human Transfiguration. You'd best read them as well." Professor McGonagall said, walking into the adjacent lounge as she spoke.

Perhaps out of habit, she casually closed the door behind her.

"Before the next thunderstorm comes, you must learn and master Transfiguration as much as possible..."

The moment the door closed completely, Professor McGonagall's voice vanished as well.

One had to admit, the soundproofing of the professors' offices was excellent — far better than the dormitories. Sometimes at night he could still hear snoring from next door...

Silven was thinking this to himself, but the next second, something flashed through his mind.

Silven suddenly remembered — Harry had once said that when he was writing reply letters on Lockhart's behalf, he heard Lockhart muttering to himself in the room.

But wait, that doesn't add up.

They're both professors' offices. Professor McGonagall's voice was completely blocked out, so how did Harry hear Lockhart muttering to himself in his room?

(End of chapter)