"Sixth floor, Classroom 21?"
Albert wandered the sixth-floor hallway of the castle, parchment in hand, searching for Classroom 21, which the Transfiguration Club used. Professor McGonagall had given him the parchment.
He had explored almost every hallway on the sixth floor of Hogwarts Castle but still hadn't found Classroom 21.
No, it was more accurate to say there was no Classroom 21 at all. Albert even asked the paintings on the sixth floor, but they had never heard of such a classroom.
Had he been tricked?
That seemed unlikely.
After all, Professor McGonagall wouldn't do something so boring. Then there was only one possibility: the last sentence on the parchment—"Remember Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration."
Classroom 21 was hidden somewhere secret on the sixth floor, and remembering Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration was the key to finding the entrance.
However, Albert walked around and still couldn't find any painting, stone carving, or tapestry related to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.
If there had to be a connection, it was the painting in front of him.
A wizard couldn't conjure delicious food out of thin air... but the wizard in the painting had done it...
Albert moved the painting aside, but there was still no secret passage behind it.
Now, he could only wait for Professor McGonagall to send someone to let him in, or... give up joining the Transfiguration Club. He thought the former was more likely.
"You're the new member Professor McGonagall mentioned, aren't you?" A few minutes later, a red-haired girl approached, sizing up Albert and saying the expected words: "Professor McGonagall thought you might get lost, so she sent me to pick you up!"
"I couldn't find Classroom 21, nor did I see anything related to 'Remember Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration,'" Albert said with a helpless shrug.
"Haven't you already found it?" The red-haired girl pointed to the painting behind Albert. "...magic cannot conjure delicious food out of thin air."
"I thought it was food summoned by magic," Albert said, looking at the witch who was conjuring a table full of food with her wand. In fact, he had thought the same thing earlier. The key was, where was the entrance to Classroom 21?
"You're not wrong about that," the red-haired girl turned to the witch and said, "We need to enter Classroom 21."
The witch nodded at them, and the painting suddenly moved aside, revealing a half-person-high opening in the wall behind it.
"Go on in!" the red-haired girl said. "To enter Classroom 21, you need to tell that witch, and she will open the door for you."
"It's a bit like the Fat Lady, except it doesn't require various passwords," Albert thought to himself. He stepped through the opening and walked in. Inside was an upward staircase. After walking for a while, he arrived at a wooden door with a brass plaque that read "Classroom 21."
However, when he entered, he found that he had indeed arrived in a classroom. No, it didn't look like a classroom at all, but more like... an office.
Albert surveyed the room, which contained twelve sofas of various styles.
"This place was supposedly once a professor's office, and after it was vacated, Professor McGonagall used it as the Transfiguration Club's activity area," the red-haired girl who had followed him into the room explained casually.
Albert, by the way, always felt like he had seen the person behind him somewhere before.
"The original club only had ten members?"
"Eleven. There's no seat for you here. You need to conjure your own chair. That's the club rule," the red-haired girl said with a smile.
"That's not bad," Albert muttered, pulling out the parchment Professor McGonagall had given him from his pocket, touching it with his wand. "Vera Verto."
The parchment began to enlarge, and then a simple wooden chair appeared before Albert. He placed the chair on the ground, thought for a moment, then pulled a candy from his pocket, ate it, and placed the candy wrapper on the chair for a second Transfiguration.
The candy wrapper transformed into a soft cushion. Albert pressed it with his hand and was quite satisfied.
"I'm starting to understand why Professor McGonagall invited you to join the Transfiguration Club now," the red-haired girl said to Albert. "I'm Isabel MacDougal."
"Albert Anderson," Albert introduced himself. He thought for a moment and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, Katrina MacDougal is..."
"My sister. She's in your year," Isabelle said.
"No wonder I thought you two were very... similar."
"Good evening, Isabelle," a senior boy walked into the room, curiously examining Albert and his wooden chair. "Hello, I heard the club got a new member. Is that you? By the way, your chair is nice!"
"Thank you."
"I bet you didn't do as well as him in your first year!" Another lazy voice sounded. The members of the Transfiguration Club were gradually arriving. The first thing they did upon entering was to be surprised by Albert's age, then examine Albert's chair, and then say, "Your chair is nice."
"Sit here!" a senior girl called out to Albert. "You're a Gryffindor, right? I'm a Gryffindor too, and these two guys next to me are also."
Both of them smiled at Albert and even cleared a spot for him. Albert picked up his chair and sat in the empty spot. Just as he was about to chat with them, Professor McGonagall entered. The first thing the Transfiguration Professor did upon entering was to examine Albert's chair and also say, "Your chair is nice."
Perhaps this was a form of acknowledgment of his Transfiguration skill?
"Today's topic is the essay that won the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer Award," Professor McGonagall said, handing a copy of Transfiguration Today to Albert. "I suggest you spend some Galleons to subscribe to this magazine."
"I will."
"Professor McGonagall occasionally helps Transfiguration Today with editing manuscripts," the senior girl next to Albert whispered.
"First, we must congratulate Mr. Selwyn on winning the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer Award," Professor McGonagall said, then began to clap.
Everyone stood up and applauded the somewhat thin boy sitting on a chair two tables away from Isabelle.
"Secondly, we welcome a new member, Mr. Albert Anderson. As you can see, Mr. Anderson's talent is indeed astonishing, so I made an exception and allowed him to join the club early."
Applause erupted again, with a particularly faint sound from one direction. Without guessing, it was probably the Slytherin students. After all, Albert also knew that Gryffindor and Slytherin always disliked each other.
"Alright, open your magazines. Our topic is Animagus..."
Albert was speechless because he suddenly realized that he could only barely understand the content inside.