[A/N: Hope everyone will have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's grind this Level 2026… Damn, it feels like 2019 was just yesterday. It's like we fckin skipped a few years.]
Hermione was still recovering from her "shameful appearance," and so group activities came to a halt for the next few days.
Ted spent most of his time in the school hospital, keeping Hermione company while also diving deep into magical study.
Inspired by Hermione's predicament, Ted had an idea—what if there was a way to temporarily alter someone's appearance through magic?
Over the next three days, he poured over Transfiguration techniques from Hogwarts, druidic shapeshifting from Azeroth, illusion spells from Dungeons & Dragons. He mashed together all the theory and crafted something of his own.
He called it: "Beauty Transfiguration."
It was a crude but effective spell—designed for minor cosmetic changes only.
It couldn't turn a person into a creature, object, or another being, but it could fine-tune someone's features.
In Ted's words, it was like magical filter. A quick touch-up spell.
It could temporarily smooth skin, brighten the complexion, thin the face, enlarge the eyes, hide freckles, and erase dark circles.
A five-out-of-ten could easily become a seven.
He tested it first on Anzu's snack mice, then on himself and even a hairless long-tailed monkey they were using for training.
Once he was confident, he used it on Hermione—to remove the cat-like fur from her face and reveal her clean, fair skin underneath.
Hermione stared into a mirror, gently touching her now smooth face in surprise.
"Wait!" she cried, reaching up to feel the top of her head. "Why are the cat ears still here?!"
Ted blinked. "Ah... well, the spell's a bit limited. It's cosmetic only, see? Can't completely reverse the transformation. And magic is a reflection of the self, or... something. But! Hats exist for a reason."
He handed her a wide-brimmed white witch's hat that easily covered her ears.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Were you planning this?"
Ted just grinned. "Let's just say Professor McGonagall tested it too and was... intrigued."
Even Madam Pomfrey was impressed. She tried the spell on herself and nearly cried with joy when the crow's feet around her eyes vanished. "I look twenty-five again!"
Thanks to Ted's little invention, Hermione was finally able to leave the hospital.
—
Back in the Gryffindor dorm, Jerry watched Ron enter, snow still clinging to his cloak.
"Wait a minute—you went to the library during the holidays?!" Jerry gasped.
Ron shrugged, trying to act casual. "Can't I be a little motivated for once?"
Jerry raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, I didn't mean anything! You've actually been doing really well lately. I should take a page from your book."
Ron raised a brow. "Sure, just don't break your wand trying."
...
Most of Christmas had passed, and the new year was around the corner.
One morning, Ted awoke to a soft ding in his mind:
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Ding~ Talent [Knowledge of Other Worlds (Gold)] activated.
New Discovery: [Zen Garden Plant Cultivation Technique (Green)].
---------------------------
He read the description: "Records Crazy Dave's cultivation experience with mutated plants. 320 experience points required for exchange."
"Zen Garden? That's Plants vs. Zombies!" Ted laughed.
Still, he couldn't help but buy it.
The techniques detailed how Crazy Dave raised ordinary plants into powerful companions—mutating, evolving, and combining them for powerful synergy.
Ted immediately applied the methods to his own magical herb studies.
His Herbology skill rose to level 2.
Granted, it wasn't hard—he hadn't focused much on herbal studies before.
Between spellcraft, alchemy, black magic, and transfiguration, there was only so much time in the day.
He had a decent understanding of magical creature blood and even elemental rituals, but had barely scratched the surface with herbs and magical flora.
Over the summer, he had unlocked Pokémon-style training knowledge from another world, and now everything was starting to pile up. There were just too many branches of magic.
"I can't study all of this alone," Ted muttered.
Hermione could help with magic, of course.
But for plants and herbs?
"Neville," Ted said to himself. "Yeah, he's the one for this."
He decided to draft a beginner's guide to Zen Garden plant techniques, pass it off as something he'd discovered in a lost volume from Ravenclaw's personal archives.
"Praise the Lady,"
...
"Neville, I found this old booklet on magical plants by chance. You know herbology isn't really my thing, but I think you'll get more use out of it. Take a look, maybe you can even try growing some of the seeds mentioned inside."
Ted handed Neville a thin, weathered notebook filled with scribbles, diagrams, and notes from an unknown hand.
"Grow the seeds?" Neville asked, puzzled, flipping through a few pages before his jaw dropped.
"Wait a minute... these notes talk about mutating magical plant seeds? This is completely different from anything we've learned!"
A doorway to a new world creaked open for the boy who would one day save it.
From then on, Neville became completely absorbed.
He spent nearly all his free time in the greenhouse, experimenting with different seed combinations, magical soils, and mana-enhanced fertilizers.
He followed the strange, detailed methods in the booklet, and though his early results were minor, they were real.
A few odd sprouts here, a slightly glowing leaf there. Proof that the method worked.
His passion caught the attention of Gov Oasis, a quiet boy with curled bull-like horns and dirt always under his nails.
Gov was already talented in herbalism—better than most fourth-years—and soon became Neville's closest collaborator.
He even provided rare seeds and corrections when Neville misunderstood something in the booklet.
It's said that horned folk are naturally attuned to the earth, with a deep gift for herbology and magical architecture.
Their clans make their living off rare herbs and mystical crops.
No wonder Professor Sprout respected Gov Oasis so much.
Neville later approached Ted, eager to officially invite Gov into the project. Ted agreed immediately.
He knew some knowledge needed to be shared, especially when it came from beyond their world.
He couldn't afford to cling to everything himself.
Sharing and teamwork—that's the real magic.
But Ted didn't have time to get involved in their budding Hogwarts Greenhouse Club.
He had his own experiments to run, ones far more dangerous.
Back in July during the summer holidays, Ted had unlocked knowledge from another world—[Pokémon Training Manual (Green)].
At first, he didn't dive into it.
His schedule was full enough: spells, transfiguration, dark magic theory, elemental summons, alchemy, bloodline mutations—each drawing from different magical systems.
But recently, he had a change of heart.
Because of a quest.
He accepted a red-tier mission: [Forbidden Books Are the Soul of the Library (Red)]. It required sneaking into the Restricted Section, reading its contents, and escaping unnoticed.
Difficult for others, but for Ted? Child's play.
The reward?
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[Dark Stone (Red)]
Item Card
Contains pure dark essence. A crystal that enables certain magical creatures to evolve.
Note: The dark cannot be darker.
--------------------------
The moment it materialized—a walnut-sized, black, diamond-like stone—it radiated ominous magic.
Even Ted had to take a step back.
He'd only barely avoided alerting the entire school by summoning it inside the sealed Ravenclaw chamber.
If he'd done it elsewhere, Dumbledore himself might have shown up.
Dumbledore: "Student Epifani, could you explain what this cursed object is? Why does it feel like a Horcrux?"
Ted: "Headmaster, please... let me explain—"
Dumbledore: "Azkaban!~"
So yeah... Ted was cautious.
But when he recognized the item, he realized its true value.
The [Pokémon Training Manual] had a section on training and evolving a creature called Murkrow—a dark-type, shadowy bird with potential to evolve into something even more powerful.
And now he had the catalyst: the Dark Stone.
His eyes wandered to Anzu.
Anzu: "Why are you looking at me like that? Don't get weird again!"
Lately, Anzu had been having a rough time.
Ted kept feeding him odd magical reagents, strange potion residues, and poorly-tasting alchemy scraps.
No roast chicken in sight.
Meanwhile, Ted designed four experimental evolution methods. He tested them first on his conjured familiars: the Long-Tailed Thief Monkey and Magic Mouse.
Long-Tailed Monkey: "Just kill me already..."
Magic Mouse: "Can I at least get a snack first?!"
Ted ignored the protests. The real evolution couldn't be done in the castle.
This called for somewhere... wilder.
The Forbidden Forest.
Friday afternoon, Ted paid Hagrid a visit.
Above them, Anzu soared through the cloudy sky, cawing nervously.