"So… how are we supposed to get to the hospital wing?"
Inside the bathroom, Hermione asked while enduring Lewis's relentless poking of the soft pads on her cat paws.
"The hospital wing? Why would we go there?" Lewis replied, puzzled.
"To turn me back, obviously! I can't stay like this forever."
"…What's wrong with staying like this?"
"…!"
Hermione's eyes widened in shock.
Don't tell me this pervert actually means that?!
She stole a glance at Lewis. He was happily poking her palm over and over, clearly enjoying himself.
"But I still have to see other people!" Hermione huffed. "There's no way I'm staying like this."
"…Fine." Lewis sounded a little disappointed.
But then he added, "Even so, you don't need to go to the hospital wing."
"Why not?"
"Because I can turn you back myself," Lewis said confidently.
"…You?" Hermione thought for a moment, then nodded. "I almost forgot—you created that unprecedented magical Animagus form, and you're excellent at Transfiguration. If it's human transfiguration…"
Strictly speaking, Transfiguration had many branches: Animagus transformation, cross-species transformation, human transfiguration, universal transfiguration…
Among them, human transfiguration referred to altering the human body itself—essentially a manual version of a Metamorphmagus.
Back in the day, the first Dark Lord, Grindelwald, had transformed himself into Percival Graves, the Director of Magical Security and Head of Magical Law Enforcement in the United States, infiltrating MACUSA.
Grindelwald wasn't a Metamorphmagus, nor did he use Polyjuice Potion. Instead, he used human transfiguration to continuously reshape his face and body.
Of course, such transformation required extraordinary skill.
But Lewis, who specialized in the School of Transmutation, had alternative methods.
In arcane magic, the 2nd-circle spell Alter Self could temporarily achieve human transformation. The 4th-circle Polymorph could turn someone into another species for a short time. The 5th-circle Baleful Polymorph could permanently transform an enemy into a small animal. The 8th-circle Polymorph Any Object allowed transformation of anything, with duration depending on similarity—transforming a sheep into a wolf could even be permanent. And the 9th-circle True Polymorph enabled complete and permanent transformation.
Compared to Hogwarts-style Transfiguration, arcane transformation magic was more precise and controllable.
In Hermione's current state, turning her back into a human meant transforming a cat-human hybrid into a human.
Although Lewis couldn't cast the 8th-circle Polymorph Any Object, the difference between a cat-human and a human was far smaller than that between a wolf and a sheep.
Suppressing his reluctance, Lewis pointed his wand at Hermione.
"Sixth-Circle Polymorph!"
With the spell cast at an enhanced level, it was the most powerful transformation Lewis could currently perform.
The fur across Hermione's body began to recede. Her paws reverted into five fingers. Her nose and mouth returned to human form.
"It worked! You did it!"
Looking at her bare hands and touching her smooth face, Hermione beamed with joy. Her tail even curled unconsciously around Lewis's arm.
…Wait.
Tail?
Hermione froze. She turned around—and sure enough, her tail was still there.
A bad feeling crept over her. She quickly pulled out a mirror.
As expected, a pair of fluffy ears still sat atop her head.
"Lewis, do it again! Your spell didn't fully revert me!" she said, grabbing his arm and pouting.
But Lewis shook his head. "No, I've already finished casting the spell."
Hearing that, Hermione panicked. "But… my ears and tail are still here!"
"I know. That was intentional." Lewis puffed out his chest proudly. "I removed most of the cat traits, but left some behind so you'd remember that you made a mistake."
"In short, you'll stay like this for at least a month. Then I'll turn you back."
"You're not doing this to teach me a lesson—you just want to enjoy it, you pervert," Hermione muttered.
But seeing Lewis's righteous expression, she reluctantly gave in.
"Fine, fine. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have drunk a potion I didn't fully understand."
"But I did it to investigate the Chamber of Secrets! I wanted to infiltrate Slytherin and get information out of Malfoy."
As she spoke, she stuck out her tongue shyly, looking exactly like a real catgirl.
Seeing her act cute, Lewis sighed. "Next time, at least tell me beforehand."
Then, as if casually, he asked, "By the way, you didn't brew the Polyjuice Potion yourself, right? Where did you get it?"
"Ron made it," Hermione said, giving an answer Lewis never expected.
"Ron? Him?"
Lewis was stunned.
That clueless Weasley actually brewed Polyjuice Potion?
"Well, I helped with the final steps," Hermione added. "Harry stole the ingredients, but Ron did most of the initial brewing."
Then she revealed something Lewis hadn't noticed. "You don't know? Ron's been doing really well in class lately. He hasn't copied my homework at all, and Professor McGonagall even praised him in Transfiguration."
"Seriously?"
Lewis still found it hard to believe.
In the original story, Ron wasn't exactly shining like this. In fact, with his broken wand, his entire second year had been a disaster.
Even if this version of Ron had earned money over the summer copying assignments and bought a new wand, such drastic improvement—especially brewing Polyjuice Potion—felt unlikely.
Lewis would've believed it more if Neville had done it.
The butterfly effect he caused shouldn't have influenced Ron this much.
Something felt… off.
But to Hermione and Harry, Ron had never been a poor student. With effort, reaching this level seemed normal.
So Lewis's suspicion went nowhere.
Since Hermione had been restored, she didn't need to go to the hospital wing. She just had to hide her ears and tail for the next month.
Harry and Ron soon returned as well.
Their attempt to extract information had failed completely.
For an entire hour, all they heard was Draco complaining about why Harry—not him—was the heir, and ranting endlessly about Harry and Ron.
They had to endure his insults face-to-face, nodding along to avoid exposure—essentially agreeing while being insulted.
The frustration was obvious.
But the next day, Draco got his payback.
He was attacked in a corridor and turned into a stone statue.
The entire school was thrown into chaos.
Because this was the first pure-blood victim.
Until now, people believed the monster targeted Muggle-borns or, at worst, half-bloods.
Now even pure-bloods weren't safe.
It was completely unhinged.
Especially since Malfoy was the son of a school governor.
This time, decisive action was inevitable.
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