Hogwarts: I'm Truly a Model Wizard

During lunch, Cedric eagerly asked how Professor Moody lesson had gone.

"It was fantastic!" Mikel couldn't wait to chime in. "I have a feeling Defense Against the Dark Arts will be way better this year than it was before. Even Lupin… Of course, I don't mean Professor Lupin wasn't good, but compared to learning spells, dealing with Dark creatures was a bit dull."

"Oh… I can't wait to see for myself…" Cedric said, feeling an itch of excitement at Mikel's description. But no, he reminded himself—they wouldn't have Defense Against the Dark Arts until Friday, and now he had to head out for Herbology.

Cedric hurried off downstairs, and Kyle walked into their next classroom to get their textbooks organized.

When class began, Professor McGonagall arrived promptly. Rather than starting the lesson, she spent the first fifteen minutes stressing the importance of the O.W.L. exams.

"You must understand that this exam can shape your future for years to come!" she declared, her expression stern as she stood at the front of the class. "But I have every confidence that each of you is capable of achieving an O.W.L. in Transfiguration—provided you dedicate the time and effort required…"

First emphasizing the importance of the exam, then affirming the students' abilities… Hmm, very typical of Professor McGonagall.

After fifteen minutes, she finally stopped and picked up her textbook. "Today's lesson is critical, and I expect you all to give it your undivided attention. We're going to learn the most challenging spell on the O.W.L. exam: the Vanishing Spell."

She demonstrated it for the class, successfully making a snail disappear from the lectern.

"Aha…" Before Professor McGonagall could continue, Mikel let out a strange laugh, sounding as though he'd accidentally taken the wrong potion and was overly excited.

"Mr. Derrick!" Professor McGonagall's voice cut sharply. "If you find something amusing about this lesson…"

"Sorry, Professor McGonagall, I apologize…" Mikel said quickly, though he couldn't completely hide the triumphant look on his face. "It's just… In the last class, Professor Moody asked us to name dark magic spells, and I said Vanishing Spell, but he told me there was no such magic… which, obviously, was wrong, wasn't it?"

For once, Mikel felt ecstatic, thinking he'd managed to outsmart a professor—and a famous one at that.

Professor McGonagall seemed slightly puzzled, so she leaned down and asked Kyle, who was sitting nearby, to explain what had happened in Moody's class.

After listening, she stood back up and looked at Mikel. "I'm afraid Professor Moody was right, Mr. Derrick. The Vanishing Spell is not classified as dark magic."

"What?" Mikel blurted out, clearly taken aback. "But the snail just now…"

Before he could finish, Professor McGonagall waved her wand again, and the snail reappeared on the lectern as if it had never vanished.

"First, you need to understand why the Vanishing Spell is part of Transfiguration," Professor McGonagall explained. "It doesn't make objects disappear in the same way as this spell you mentioned, for instance. Instead, it transforms the object into a state of nothingness—which you might also think of as an invisible ghost or air. But the object itself still exists, and as long as you know the correct counter-spell, such as the Reversal Spell or the Untransfiguration Spell, it can be brought back."

"Huh?" Mikel stood there, stunned, his mouth agape.

"Alright, sit down," said Professor McGonagall, motioning for him to take his seat. "I won't deduct points this time, but next time, I hope you'll be more diligent and look into the proper definition of dark magic. And remember, that's your job to research in your own time, not during Transfiguration class."

With that, she handed each student a snail to use for practice.

Kyle looked at the snail on his desk, feeling thoughtful. Recently, his focus had been on interspecies transformations and complex transformations. With everything that had happened over the holidays, he hadn't thought much about the Vanishing Spell in Transfiguration.

Everyone began attempting the spell, and Kyle picked up his wand, pointing it at the snail as Professor McGonagall had demonstrated. However, instead of disappearing, the snail changed from its original taupe color to an off-white. Only after waving his wand again did he manage to make the snail vanish with an Evanesco.

It took him two tries to get it right, and Kyle realized that the Vanishing Spell was almost as challenging as performing a fifth-level transformation.

Professor McGonagall, who had been observing nearby since the students began practicing, couldn't help but nod approvingly after seeing Kyle's progress.

"Very good, someone has already finished!" she called out, drawing everyone's attention. "As a reward, ten points to Hufflepuff!"

The class showed little surprise. When they heard it was Hufflepuff and saw Kyle standing beside her, they just went back to their own work as though it were a routine occurrence. After all, Kyle's classmates had grown accustomed to this over the past five years.

Professor McGonagall didn't linger on the announcement and was about to move on to check on the others when Kyle suddenly called out, "Professor McGonagall, I have a question!"

"Oh?" she turned back, raising an eyebrow.

Kyle hesitated briefly before asking, "Can the Vanishing Spell be used on oneself?"

Ever since Professor McGonagall had explained the principle behind the Vanishing Spell, he had been considering the implications. The spell essentially transformed objects into a state of nothingness without fully erasing their existence, a concept tantalizingly close to true intangibility. If one could use the Vanishing Spell on themselves, they could theoretically move about unseen and undetected, almost invincible—untouchable by curses, Fiendfyre, and many forms of detection. It would be an incredible feat.

Professor McGonagall's eyes glinted with interest as she looked at him. "When I first encountered the Vanishing Spell, I had the same thoughts," she admitted. "In theory, it is possible… but it's an incredibly difficult task. Far more difficult than you might think. Even I cannot do it."

"You can't either?" Kyle frowned. "Is it really that hard?"

"The difficulty of the Vanishing Spell increases with the complexity of the object being vanished," Professor McGonagall explained quietly. "Snails and caterpillars are among the simplest forms, yet most students require a long time to master the spell even at that level. Many won't be able to vanish a creature as complex as a mouse until around Christmas, or even Easter. By seventh year, students who can vanish an iguana will easily pass their N.E.W.T.s in Transfiguration."

She paused, studying Kyle's expression. "And there's more to it. A wizard's own magical power plays a considerable role in performing the Vanishing Spell on oneself. The stronger the wizard, the greater the resistance the spell faces. Our bodies instinctively reject such a transformation on a deeply subconscious level, making it nearly impossible to control."

"So… does that mean it's outright impossible for a wizard to vanish themselves?" Kyle asked, frowning. Humans are far more complex than iguanas, he reasoned. Attempting the Vanishing Spell on oneself would require a staggering foundation of magical power. But paradoxically, the more power one has, the more resistance they would encounter—a self-defeating cycle.

"No, it's not entirely impossible," Professor McGonagall said with a small smile. "I just haven't succeeded yet myself. But… I would be thrilled to see you accomplish it one day."