At dinner, Hermione was furiously devouring lamb chops and potatoes with aggressive determination.
Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered quietly, "She's trying to prevent the house-elves' labor from being wasted by eating everything in sight."
Then he received a sharp punch from Hermione.
Meanwhile, the Ravenclaw fourth-year Divination class had introduced astrology, so Professor Trelawney had moved this particular class to nighttime.
That evening, in the highest tower on the north side, Professor Trelawney was mysteriously making her usual dramatic predictions.
"Ha, Uranus. Who wants to see Uranus?" Ethan quietly made a juvenile joke.
But Professor Trelawney's supernatural hearing caught him, and as a result, he received an enormous pile of additional homework.
The next day, the Daily Prophet, having nothing more newsworthy to report, featured Arthur's assistance to Moody in handling the Muggle incident.
The paper mistakenly wrote Arthur's name as "Jarno" and even included a photo of the Weasley couple standing proudly in front of the Burrow.
"Oh, everyone come look! The Weasbys are in the paper," Malfoy announced, holding up the newspaper while loudly mocking Ron with deliberate mispronunciation.
"So what, Malfoy? That's still better than having Death Eater parents," Harry said protectively, helping Ron fight back.
"You parentless brat, how dare you..." Malfoy's facial muscles trembled with rage.
Malfoy pulled out his wand, while Crabbe and Goyle also raised theirs menacingly.
Ron and Harry similarly drew their wands, and the groups faced off in the crowded corridor.
"Stop it, Ron, Harry! Do you want to be expelled?" Hermione rushed forward, trying to intervene.
"Densaugeo!" Malfoy cast the spell, intending to attack Ron.
But an accident occurred. Due to Draco's terrible aim, he hit Hermione, who was approaching to break up the fight.
This caused Hermione's front teeth to immediately swell grotesquely, growing until they dragged on the ground.
"You filthy, dirty scoundrel! You actually sneak-attacked and hit a girl," Ron and Harry said, their anger reaching its breaking point.
"Expelliarmus!" they cast in unison.
Harry knocked away Goyle's wand, Ron disarmed Crabbe, and both pointed their wands at Draco as they advanced.
Malfoy raised his wand at the two, about to cast another spell, but the impostor Moody intervened.
"Stop right there. That won't do, boy," Moody said, his wand tip flashing with white light.
Malfoy spun around and transformed into a white ferret.
"I can't stand behavior that bullies innocent girls," Moody said, limping over with his distinctive cane.
"You dirty, despicable coward," Moody used his wand to levitate the ferret Malfoy and make him bounce up and down humiliatingly.
Then he stuffed the ferret Malfoy into Crabbe's trousers.
At this moment, Professor McGonagall rushed over with obvious alarm. "Professor Moody, what are you doing?"
"Teaching a necessary lesson," Moody said, focused on watching Crabbe dance around frantically.
"Was that a student just now?" Professor McGonagall demanded, waving her wand. Crabbe's trousers exploded directly.
The ferret fell to the ground and was restored to human form by Professor McGonagall's efficient magic.
"Listen, Professor Moody, we absolutely do not permit using Transfiguration to punish students. I will inform Dumbledore about this matter immediately."
Professor McGonagall looked sternly at Moody, then turned to disperse the students watching the excitement. "Go back to your dormitories."
Among the crowd, Aiden was accidentally pressed backward by Professor McGonagall because of his shorter stature.
"Oh, Mr. Prewett, I'm terribly sorry," Professor McGonagall apologized quickly.
Meanwhile, Malfoy was dragged away by Moody to find Snape, and Harry and Ron saw humiliation and genuine tears of pain in his eyes for the first time.
Just then, Dumbledore needed to see Aiden, so Professor McGonagall brought him toward the headmaster's office.
"Well then, Mr. Prewett, you can go up by yourself. Oh, and I've finished reading your previous thesis and written detailed comments for you. Come to my office later to collect it," Professor McGonagall instructed.
Then she turned and left efficiently. Aiden passed through the spiral staircase and entered the headmaster's office.
"What do you want this time, old man? Can't you just say things directly?" Aiden asked, walking in and settling onto the familiar sofa.
"Aiden, there are some things I'd like to discuss with you," Dumbledore said, removing his half-moon glasses.
"Go ahead," Aiden assumed an attentive listening posture.
"I want to ask you to try treating the Longbottoms," Dumbledore said, his eyes flashing with visible pain.
"That Auror couple who were tortured to madness by Bellatrix Lestrange," Aiden said, frowning with understanding.
"How can you be certain that I can..." Aiden suddenly remembered he had demonstrated his dream-entering ability in front of Dumbledore.
"The minds of the insane are absurd and treacherous. I don't know if asking this of you is correct."
Painful thoughts changed like turbulent ocean waves, sometimes frenzied, sometimes deceptively calm.
Even Aiden beside him could see Dumbledore's inner turmoil, though this responsibility didn't originally belong to him.
"I'll go take a look. I can't guarantee I'll cure them, but at least the current situation won't get any worse, right?" Aiden nodded with resigned acceptance.
"Good, thank you, child. I..." Dumbledore began, but Aiden interrupted gently.
"Professor, let me repeat what I once said to my roommate: don't try to bear everything alone. The path of a savior is beyond any single person's capability, whether for you, for myself, or for Harry Potter," Aiden said, his eyes lowering thoughtfully.
Having said this, Aiden stood up and dispersed into silver butterflies throughout the office.
The butterfly swarm gathered in Professor McGonagall's office, and Aiden walked out from their center.
"Sorry, Professor. For convenience in traveling, I couldn't use the front entrance," Aiden said, showing off slightly.
"So is this what you wanted to demonstrate to me?" Professor McGonagall asked, placing his thesis on the table.
"Professor, over a year ago, I went to Egypt. Their wizards used some special Transfiguration to change the essence of ships without altering their external form."
Professor McGonagall poured Aiden a cup of tea and gestured for him to sit down comfortably.
"Initially, when I asked them about their method, they told me it relied entirely on wizards sacrificing their souls and bodies to the ship to achieve this result. So while they weren't paying attention, I secretly replicated both the alchemical matrix and sacrificial matrix on the ship."
Aiden took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, then continued his explanation.
"So, in my subsequent research, I discovered that this level of magic requires very strict conditions for both the ship and consciousness because the target object is too massive and the areas to explore are too dangerous. But what if we were to apply this essence-changing magic to wizards themselves?"
"Then either you create world-shaking Transfiguration magic, or you become the next Dark Lord," Professor McGonagall said, her words carrying clear reproach.
"No, Professor, freely converting essence is feasible. Isn't my family's ability a living example?" Aiden said, spreading his hands.
The goblins called the Prewetts "dragons who could traverse minds." Although Aiden hadn't found the answer in his ancestral family records, he found inspiration from his own Sequence 5 Dream Walker ability—Dream Traversal—which similarly transformed him into a dream spirit.
There was no reason Aiden could do it with his abilities while magical power that could modify the world couldn't.
So he turned his attention to Transfiguration, and gathered this thesis after referencing a large number of dark magic books.
"My goodness, this is the first time I've felt genuinely troubled by a student's talent. Was this how Albus felt back then too?" Professor McGonagall said, holding her forehead and sighing deeply.