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Chapter 45 - Chapter 45: Breakthrough of the Century

Professor McGonagall held both ends of the matchstick between her thumb and index finger, as carefully as if she were handling something precious.

Crack.

The match snapped in half. The wooden core inside was clearly visible. No one would have guessed it had once been a piece of paper.

Her hand trembled slightly as she cast a counter-spell.

The broken match shifted and slowly returned to its original form — a torn piece of paper.

"Oh my God, Damon, do you even realize what you've done?"

McGonagall stared at Damon, who was still calmly eating dessert. She couldn't understand how he could be so relaxed. Didn't he grasp the magnitude of this?

"You're going to change the entire wizarding world."

She hesitated for a second, then quickly perked up. Holding the paper, she stepped closer to Damon.

"How did you manage a complete transformation like this? Prove it to me."

"If it's just a match, it's simple, Professor," Damon said, pulling out his wand. He spoke casually.

"Microcosmic Magic... Incantatio Microcosmica."

His blue eyes lit up faintly. Then he looked at the paper in McGonagall's hand and added,

"Ordinatio Magica."

The paper began to shrink and twist. Within seconds, it turned into a matchstick again.

A match with extraordinary meaning.

"So easy?"

McGonagall looked down at the match in her hand, then back at Damon, whose glowing eyes had already returned to normal. She seemed stunned.

"You gave me this paper because you want to—"

"Oh, I plan to submit it to Transfiguration Today. Before publishing, I just wanted you to check for any mistakes or missing details."

"Transfiguration Today?" she repeated, still trying to process it. "I'm afraid that won't do."

"Why not?"

"This is too big. It'll shake the entire magical community. I need to speak to Dumbledore. He'll know what to do. Damon, would you mind waiting a little while?"

"Sure, but Professor... could I get my points back first?"

"Sorry—what?"

"House Cup points. You took away 150 because of Malfoy. I think this should make up for it. Maybe even earn me a few more."

McGonagall stared at Damon like she was seeing a magical creature for the first time.

"Merlin's beard. Are you serious?" She was on the edge of losing it. "You've just created the most important theory of the century. All future Transfiguration will be built on this. And you're worried about... House Cup points?

"If this paper gets published, they'll name it White's Law of Transfiguration. You'll be in textbooks. Your name will go down in magical history. Do you get what that means?"

She was speaking faster now, clearly overwhelmed. Damon smiled faintly, as if amused. McGonagall wasn't sure if he truly understood how big this was.

"I can't even talk to you right now."

She waved him off, scooped up the match and paper, and hurried out toward Dumbledore's office, leaving Damon alone with his tea and snacks.

"Still mad?" Damon said, watching her rush off. He chuckled and took a sip of tea. "Aren't you the ones who made the House Cup such a big deal?"

He used a levitation charm to float a macaron high into the air, then caught it in his mouth.

Sweet.

---

"Sizzle Honey Candy!"

The stone guardian leapt aside, revealing the entrance. The wall slid open and McGonagall stepped quickly onto the moving staircase. At the top, she didn't wait.

"Dumbledore, are you there?"

"Come in, Minerva."

She burst through the door. Dumbledore was calmly writing a reply to the Ministry.

"What's got you in such a rush?"

He set his quill down and looked up gently.

Pah.

McGonagall nearly slammed the paper on his desk. She was still catching her breath.

"Read this. Damon wrote it."

"Oh? What's our dueling prince been up to now?"

Ever since the Malfoy incident, even Dumbledore had started calling him that.

With a mild smile, Dumbledore picked up the paper. Was it just another interesting theory?

[On the Breakthrough Research of Gamp's Second Law of Transfiguration]

The smile vanished from his face the moment he read the title.

Sunlight poured across the room through stained glass. Fawkes the phoenix preened his feathers quietly. The portraits on the walls stood still, watching.

Phineas Nigellus was already preparing a sarcastic remark. He could almost hear himself saying, "For a child, not bad." He was ready to scold McGonagall for losing her cool.

But as Dumbledore read on, his expression grew more serious.

He looked thunderstruck.

This calm, bright day suddenly felt like it had been split by lightning.

A groundbreaking theory — no, not a theory — a working new law of Transfiguration.

And it had come from a first-year student.

"Incredible... absolutely incredible."

Dumbledore's words stunned the portraits into silence.

He picked up the match Damon had transformed. Even without breaking it open, he could feel the magical structure inside. With a flick of his wand, he turned it back into paper.

Curious now, Dumbledore held it up to the light. Along the torn edge, a faint wood-colored layer showed through — a trace of the transformation.

He didn't know how to reverse the change fully, but the magic was clear.

He placed the paper down and quietly said,

"Ordinatio Magica."

A surge of magic moved through him. The paper began to shift. Just this one spell consumed about one percent of his magical power — which, for someone like Dumbledore, was substantial.

He hadn't mastered the spell. He didn't know the inner workings yet. But he followed Damon's writing, used Damon's spell, and with sheer force, he had changed the material structure.

All that... for one piece of paper.

This law might be revolutionary, but it didn't mean just any wizard could use it. Most couldn't. And that was exactly why this kind of power needed to be handled carefully.

"Where is Damon?"

Read 20+ chapters ahead at 

p@treon.com/Horizons685

(End of Chapter)

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