Chapter 84

During this time, he had been avoiding Professor Quirrell, sitting in the corner of the classroom during Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, far away from Quirrell; the two deliberately avoided all interaction.

Alan had never expected to run into Professor Quirrell like this—he had not prepared at all...

And he sharply noticed that Quirrell was staring greedily at his right hoof, a gaze that made Alan feel Quirrell might pounce at any moment and bite into it.

This sent a sharp warning through Alan’s mind.

Pressure forced Alan’s mind to race; he quickly devised a plan.

“Professor Quirrell! Are you looking for Professor McGonagall?” Alan called out loudly, “She’s in her office right now!”

Without waiting for Quirrell to react, he shouted toward McGonagall’s office: “Professor McGonagall! Professor Quirrell is here to see you!”

McGonagall’s voice came from inside: she told Quirrell to come in and sit.

Quirrell shot Alan a furious glare, swept his sleeve, and stepped into McGonagall’s office.

Alan seized the chance to rush back to Gryffindor Tower, returning once more to his four-poster bed—the curtains had been repaired by Harry’s Repairing Charm, and Alan now noticed something he had ignored at lunch.

One of the unicorn hairs he had wrapped around his finger had turned dull, lifeless gray, standing out sharply against the other hairs, which still glowed brilliant white.

Alan checked again—the texture and length of the gray hair were nearly identical to the remaining unicorn hairs.

This plunged Alan into deep thought; for the first time, he had the chance to reflect on the trigger for his transformation today—and the answer was glaringly obvious.

When he transformed yesterday, his mind was entirely focused on a unicorn’s hoof—he never once thought of a dragon’s claw. Based on past experience, he shouldn’t have grown a dragon’s claw at all. Yet there it was. Clearly, Norbert’s bite had profoundly affected his innate transformation ability.

As for the unicorn hoof, the dulling of the unicorn hair proved he had absorbed the hair’s power during his innate transformation, enabling him to manifest the hoof so effortlessly.

Combined with his earlier transformation of a Thunderbird’s eye, Alan began to grasp a pattern.

To transform into a magical creature’s organ, you need a trigger: Norbert’s bite was a trigger, the unicorn hair was a trigger, Professor Snape’s potion was a trigger. From the first two triggers, it was clear Snape’s potion contained something related to the Thunderbird.

Please don’t let it be Thunderbird droppings! Alan silently prayed.

In summary: to transform into a magical creature’s organ, either you suffer, or your wallet suffers—unicorn hair isn’t cheap, after all!

Upon closer thought, both could be classified as wallet suffering.

Given Alan’s status as a penniless, deeply indebted wizard, in the end, it always came down to personal suffering.

Thinking of this, Alan’s head throbbed again—he once again understood what it meant to be poor and powerless, to be a thin horse with long, ragged hair.

Innate talent is useless without money.

Only wealth grants true power.

Alan felt a deep sense of desolation.

But perhaps there was a way—Hagrid had collected many magical materials from the Forbidden Forest, hoarding them without selling or using them much. If Alan truly needed something urgently, he might ask Hagrid for help.

But accepting favors binds you—relying on Hagrid’s materials indefinitely wasn’t sustainable. If he truly wanted to explore the rules of his innate transformation, he’d need countless magical materials. Hagrid could serve as an emergency source, but not a long-term solution.

His second idea was to sign a research agreement with Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

Though he was the subject of study, any research requires experimental materials—surely the subjects shouldn’t supply their own. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore ought to provide the materials. After all, his value to the study of Transfiguration was incalculable.

ε=(′ο｀*))) Sigh! All for the advancement of the magical world! Alan sighed inwardly.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. McGonagall’s wealth was uncertain, but Dumbledore’s fortune was truly immense—some magical materials were mere pocket change to him!

Moreover, Dumbledore owned a phoenix—this meant a stable source of magical materials. He didn’t need much: just one phoenix feather per day for experimental use.

ε=(′ο｀*))) Sigh! All for the advancement of the magical world! Alan sighed inwardly again.

Fawkes, dozing in Dumbledore’s office, suddenly woke with a chill. He glanced around, puzzled, but found nothing. Soon, he sank back into deep sleep. He did not know he had already been marked by a young wizard.

After analyzing everything, Alan stored the unicorn hair in his box. To him now, the hair carried far greater meaning—he treasured it even more.

As soon as Alan finished tidying his bed, Harry and Ron returned, bringing him dinner—they knew he wasn’t fit to go to the Great Hall.

Alan appreciated their thoughtfulness, but upon asking, learned it had been Hermione’s idea.

After class, Harry, Hermione, and Ron had gone to Hagrid’s and shown him Charlie’s letter, successfully convincing him to agree to send Norbert away...

This eased Alan’s mind, yet he felt a pang of regret—losing a reliable trigger for targeted transformation.

Still, he could collect some of Norbert’s materials on the final day—though Norbert was still just a pup...

But that idea quickly vanished.

When Alan woke the next morning, his hands had returned to normal. He hadn’t held his wand before sleeping, fearing he might damage it with dragon claws in his sleep.

So today, he performed ordinary Transfiguration—but the randomly selected organ was extraordinary, and Alan recognized it: the ear of a Mawari Ma, whose ears perpetually formed a heart shape (see comments for a picture!).

Watching the ears forming hearts in the mirror lifted his spirits—until he sadly realized his hand hadn’t fully healed. Though the surface had closed, his fingers still throbbed faintly.

Thus, Alan lost the chance to help send Norbert away: the Invisibility Cloak could only fit the box containing Norbert and two people. Since his injury hadn’t healed, he was automatically excluded.

In the end, Harry and Hermione were chosen to take Norbert away—because Ron had also erred: Malfoy had taken his textbook, which contained Charlie’s reply.

But Harry still decided to proceed as planned—Malfoy didn’t know they had the Invisibility Cloak.

Left out of the operation, Alan resumed his wand innate transformation that night, determined to grow dragon claws again to heal his right hand—he refused to waste the unicorn hair.

At just past one in the morning, Harry shook him awake, looking utterly dejected. Meanwhile, Alan, having just completed his wand innate transformation, felt something was wrong with his eyes...

He rushed to the bathroom, looked into the mirror—and saw his transformed eyes: an eye he knew all too well.

It was a dragon’s eye.