"Homework."
Before class ended, Professor McGonagall stood on the podium and instructed the students, "Read Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, write a summary, and hand it in next Monday."
In the classroom, everyone whispered about the trick to transfiguring a match into a needle. Still, only a few managed it, while most could only make slight changes to their matches.
"You need to hurry up. Next Monday, we will practice transfiguring stones into teacups." Professor McGonagall's tone grew stern. "If anyone hasn't thoroughly mastered transfiguring a match into a needle by then, they will be given detention. I hope you put some effort into this; the limited training time in class is completely insufficient for you to master Transfiguration. I hope no one needs to come to me for detention."
As soon as she left, the classroom filled with groans. Transfiguration was even more difficult than everyone had imagined, requiring more effort than other subjects.
In fact, students had already discovered that Hogwarts didn't have many classes but assigned a great deal of homework, and magic required constant practice. Most regretted not spending more time on it the previous week.
No one could truly live a relaxed and carefree life.
Well, there was indeed one exception.
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan all turned their heads to look at the boy packing his books. Albert was definitely having the easiest time of the school year. He had already finished most of his homework, mastered Transfiguration early, and didn't have to worry about detention at all.
He even had spare time each day to wander around the castle and take photographs.
"What should we do?" Lee Jordan ruffled his short hair, looking anxious.
"What do you mean, 'what should we do'?" Albert slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the Transfiguration classroom with the others.
"Homework!" Fred finally realized how much he had left unfinished.
"Then work hard on it. Let me see what homework you have." Albert deliberately took out a piece of parchment from his bag, intending to read it aloud.
George quickly snatched the parchment from Albert's hand. After a glance, he couldn't help but let out a wail. Several lines were written on the parchment, listing all their assignments.
The sheer quantity made George feel as though he were sinking into a quagmire of homework, unable to climb out.
Fred and Lee Jordan leaned in to look, and their faces immediately fell. Albert's parchment was written meticulously—so meticulously that even the Astronomy homework wasn't missed.
Seeing their expressions, Albert felt like laughing and suggested, "Let's go to the library later!"
"That…" Fred said awkwardly, "Can we copy your homework?"
"Reference it." George covered Fred's mouth, while Lee Jordan finished the sentence.
"Reference?"
"Yes, reference."
"Actually, homework is very simple. After we get to the library, I'll introduce you to a few books…" Albert put away the parchment and said as they walked, "By then, you can borrow material from the books, and homework will be easy to solve."
"Really?" the three asked joyfully.
"Of course… not." Albert grinned. "I'm going to Hagrid's for afternoon tea later. Are you coming?"
"Don't change the subject."
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Otherwise, just let us reference your homework." Fred draped an arm over Albert's shoulder and said pitifully, "Besides, how can you bear to leave us behind and go to Hagrid's for tea by yourself?"
"Come with us to the library later. You have to write homework anyway, don't you?" George added, also putting his arm on Albert's shoulder.
"Come on, I'll help you carry your backpack." Lee Jordan smiled, took Albert's bag, and led the way. The three of them escorted Albert to the library like that.
Doing homework with Albert there meant they wouldn't have to ask questions on the spot, and their efficiency would undoubtedly be higher.
When they entered the library, they found it already crowded with students.
They located an empty table and began their work.
Today's Transfiguration homework wasn't difficult—it was simply writing a summary of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. In fact, one only needed to read it once, transcribe the important parts, and rephrase them slightly in one's own words.
"You're done already?"
The three were dumbfounded. It hadn't even been half an hour, and Albert had finished his Transfiguration homework.
"And I saw you copying things the whole time. Is that even allowed?"
"Otherwise?" Albert retorted. "Professor McGonagall asked us to write a summary of Gamp's Law. It's just finding the key points, extracting the main content, and refining it yourself."
The three were speechless. It sounded reasonable enough.
They quickly memorized his explanation and planned to copy a summary like Albert's later.
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan buried their heads in writing their Charms essay. With Albert's help, they saved time on research and copied suitable content from useful books such as Charms Achievement and Eighteenth Century Charms Selections.
A three-foot essay wasn't as difficult as they had imagined.
As for the Lumos Charm and the Extinguishing Charm, the three had already mastered them; otherwise, their workload would have increased by another assignment.
Professor Flitwick required students to master both charms before the following week.
After the ink dried, Albert put away his parchment, glanced at their progress, and began silently reciting a timeline of History of Magic. He disliked the subject; memorizing dates and events was particularly tedious. Fortunately, Albert's memory was excellent. By reading and reciting multiple times, he could retain the information.
He reviewed the dates, locations, people, and events in his mind, and after confirming there were no issues, checked off the History of Magic section as complete.
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan's progress wasn't slow; they had already written most of their three-foot Charms essay.
Albert looked at it and suggested, "You'd better write something of your own."
"Something of our own?"
"It means noting what problems you faced when learning spells, what difficulties you encountered, and how you solved them."
These were all things they had experienced firsthand, so there was no need to worry about lacking material—it was merely a matter of quantity.
Before the three finished their Charms essay, Albert had already returned from Hagrid's and didn't refuse to lend them his essay for comparison.
"Spare me, I don't want to revise it!" Fred stared at Albert's parchment, realizing his own work was truly a mess, and finally gave up on the idea of rewriting it.
It wasn't easy to fill three feet of parchment with text.
Besides, this was the first time the first-years were writing an essay, so if the content was a bit messy, Professor Flitwick probably wouldn't mind too much.