HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

When Hermione Granger returned to her dormitory, her first thought was to use the transmutation circle on the blackboard to extract knowledge from other books, but she failed every time.

She then realized that this training array only had one effect.

At least in her hands, there was only one effect.

But then a sudden idea struck her. Looking at the patterns carved on the parchment, she had the idea to change them with her pen.

However, after adding a line, the alchemy circle exploded instantly upon activation with the injection of magic power.

Driven by her thirst for knowledge, she immediately recalled Teach's words, "Knowledge of magic comes at a price." Therefore, the alchemy array that Teach Carr taught in his public lecture must only be the most rudimentary kind, and he only described this one method of depicting the most rudimentary alchemy array.

Hermione's thirst for knowledge led her to often doubt whether the Sorting Hat had put her in the wrong house and that she should have gone to Ravenclaw.

That's the best place for her.

So Hermione considered changing houses when she couldn't get along with the mischievous and adventurous Gryffindor boys. However, after reading a section of Hogwarts' history and finding no record of students being allowed to change houses, she didn't dare tell Professor McGonagall her thoughts.

At the dining table in the hall.

Luna Lovegood comes from a family of magicians and has been surrounded by magic since she first became aware of it. To be honest, she has little interest in magic and would never question magic because of its theoretical knowledge.

So she ate her meal quietly, staring blankly at Hermione Granger and Teach Carr.

Hermione quickly filled her stomach and then quietly watched Teach finish his meal.

Being stared at intently by a little girl, Teach lost her appetite even if she didn't care: "Miss Granger, since you're so eager for knowledge about magic, then I'll answer a question in your notebook."

"First of all, the question is, why can text extraction arrays extract knowledge, right?"

“Yes, Professor Teach,” Hermione nodded vigorously.

“Miss Granger, that’s a very good question. It gets right to the heart of magic.”

Instead of answering directly, Teach dipped his finger in water and drew a basic transmutation circle on the table. Then he had Hermione trace it and infuse it with magic.

Hermione did as instructed, then took out her wand and infused it with magic. Once the transformation array was activated, Teach placed a piece of cake on the array.

Immediately, the formation was activated, and a piece of cake was broken down and melted, then condensed into an apple.

After the transmutation was completed, Teach asked Hermione, who was staring intently at the transmutation circle pattern, "Did you understand it?"

"Uh... I understand a little bit, Professor."

"Professor, you drew two patterns in the alchemy circle, right? One was a cake pattern and the other was an apple pattern, so the cake could turn into an apple?"

After saying that, Hermione picked up the apple and took a bite. This apple wasn't a fake, a trick to her senses; it was real. "But...why? Why would a training array turn a cake into an apple, and a 'real' apple at that?"

"This afternoon I had Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration Charm class, which taught us how to turn a match into a silver needle. Professor McGonagall only taught us how to chant the spell and how to wave our wands to turn a match into a needle, but she didn't tell us why or what the principle was."

"I followed the method, and unsurprisingly, I failed the first time. So I kept imagining what the silver needles looked like in my mind, and that's when I succeeded on the second try."

"But after class, I found that the silver needle in my hand had turned back into a match. But I didn't actually use any magic to turn the needle back into a match. So why did it turn back into a match?"

Teach listened carefully to Hermione's words, thinking to himself, "No wonder she's the top student at Hogwarts and the future Minister of Magic; her mind is truly sharp!"

"So, Miss Granger, why do you think that is?"

When Teach Carl questioned her, Hermione replied, "So I think... the silver needle that was conjured by magic is fake; it's actually just a match."

"It was only after I used up all the magic I had used on it that it turned back into a match."

At this point, Hermione Granger leaned closer to Teach and whispered, "So I think the Transfiguration Charm is a deception... a deception of oneself, a deception of others, a deception of everyone."

"By using the outward appearance of things to deceive people into believing that it is true, it becomes true."

After hearing Hermione's complete answer, Teach Carr couldn't help but chuckle: "I'm amazed that Hermione Granger, at only eleven years old, already possesses a way of thinking that allows her to see the essence of things!"

“Miss Granger, I must say, you are an extremely intelligent little witch. It’s a bit of a waste to put you in Gryffindor. The environment of those noisy little lions is not conducive to your academic development.”

When Teach Carr brought this up, Hermione said dejectedly, "What can we do? I don't think Headmaster Dumbledore would question the Sorting Hat's results without a reason."

"After all, in the thousand years since the founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, no one has ever questioned the Sorting Hat."

Tichy shook his head: "The outcome cannot be changed, but you can control the process."

Then, Teach pointed to the alchemy circle on the table and said, "If you can manipulate and change the patterns in the alchemy circle to complete a 'real' transformation of another item, I can consider teaching you some other magic knowledge."

Hermione was incredulous upon hearing this, but amidst her excitement came a touch of frustration: "Professor Teach...didn't you say your magical knowledge has a price? But I have nothing to offer you right now."

“Miss Granger, you may not have the price now, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have it later. I’m giving you my knowledge in advance, but I’d like to ask for something in return later. Do you agree?”

Hermione Granger was very hesitant about the price Teach mentioned.

But after much deliberation, he finally agreed, lured by the knowledge of magic.

For her, magic is much more interesting than sorcery, because magic has a basic knowledge path that can be studied and explored, while sorcery is unpredictable.

This was incredibly boring for Hermione, who loved learning.

Would someone who enjoys intellectual pursuits be interested in magic that involves reciting spells in a fixed language and waving wands in a fixed way, simply following a set formula?

Seeing that Hermione agreed to the principle of equivalent exchange, Teach said, "You can come to my office after your daily magic classes, but remember to bring plenty of notebooks!"

"Because magic requires a lot of experimental data to be completed."