After the short class he had with McGonagall about the entire first-year Transfiguration, Auden realised what the curriculum was aiming at. It starts with turning wood into a needle, i.e., a simple change of element from carbon to iron. Then the lessons for the next few years are also similar. One by one, they make sure that the students cover every single known element in the world of magic while subsequently making them become familiar with changing inanimate objects into living ones.
The first part, about changing inanimate objects, requires a few specific steps for each one, but if done right and the student manages to learn every one proficiently, they can change the structure of any inanimate object easily with the wave of a wand. This is one of the easiest branches of magic to achieve silent casting in. But it requires them to learn every single spell related to inanimate element change.
The difference between this and Charms is simple. To learn silent casting in Charms, you have to be proficient in each spell you want to cast that way. Even for spells with minute differences like Lumos and Lumos Maxima, Bombarda and Bombarda Maxima, it requires you to be proficient in each one of them thoroughly to cast it silently. While in the case of Transfiguration, as long as you complete the entire Hogwarts curriculum thoroughly, you can cast it very easily.
Though the speed and duration of the spell heavily depend on the caster. The way Dumbledore and Voldemort fought in the Ministry—maybe fifteen or twenty in the entire wizarding community of the world could do the same.
Auden knew that if used correctly, Transfiguration could be more deadly than Charms in battles. It could even stop the three Unforgivables. But changing the air molecules is really tricky, but with his talent, Auden knew that he could do it if he put his mind to it.
"All right, let's start," Auden muttered as he checked the days he had till the start of classes.
He then spent the next few days making a small garden in the backyard. Perenelle had given him a lot of seeds and other magical plants from her garden. But since he was spending most of the year at Hogwarts, he could only plant those plants which required minimal care all year round. Hermes had agreed that he was prepared to go back and forth between the house and Hogwarts every day to water the plants as long as Auden set up an irrigation system that could be activated by a switch. So Auden aimed at filling a significant part of his backyard with easier plants before the start of the first year. For complicated plants, he might set up something after learning about them later at Hogwarts.
Gardening was not the only thing that Auden did in his free time. He made sure to maximise his system by going to the London public library. There, he made sure to scan every book he could find. He also made sure to find books that included animal physiology and recorded as much knowledge as he could from the place.
Another thing about Transfiguration he found out was that the living beings created by magic are not technically living. If you turn a teacup into a mouse and then cut it open, it will immediately turn back into a broken teacup. Basically, that Transfiguration only includes the wizard imagining the outer part of the lifeform along with its behavioural habits.
And from what Auden learned from the tomes he had from the Flammels and the Diagon Alley bookstore, there are very few wizards in centuries who managed to create a complete creature with Transfiguration. But they only managed to do one or two, and that too by dissecting animals with their own hands. But Auden had the capability of taking information researched by the modern Muggle side easily. It was so easy for him that he managed to find the accurate anatomy of more than 200 species of animals within a single trip to the library. He knew these things would help in researching magic in the future. And one day, he might be able to research animals of his own creation.
'Well, thoughts for later,' he thought as he continued to copy books from the library.
At the same time, at Hogwarts:
Right after having met with Auden, Minerva felt like mentioning something to Albus about the child. But remembering the bad luck Albus had, she decided to test something before doing so. She felt a bit stupid doing it, but she wanted to confirm it first.
She stood near the stairway where Dumbledore had tripped before. And after hesitating for a few moments, she finally spit it out.
"I met a boy named Auden a few days ago. He had excellent magical ability and talent." As soon as she said it, she suddenly felt a rush of magic flowing towards her. For a moment, she was stunned. A lot of people had said that the castle is sentient, but she had always thought it was a metaphorical idea expressed by nostalgic people.
And learning that it reacted because of a child brought even more intrigue to her, so she continued.
"So I wanted to ask, is it okay to tell Albus—"
Clank!!
Minerva froze before she completed that sentence. She slowly turned around to find that the axe-wielding knight statue nearby had dropped its axe. And it fell exactly behind her.
Within seconds, she realised what had happened.
"Well, I suppose I can say that he was a polite young man and nothing more," Minerva immediately replied, fearing a brick would fall on her head if she did not give an answer soon.
As soon as she did, she couldn't believe what she saw. The knight statue had slightly nodded at her. She knew about the security spells in Hogwarts that activates the statues, but its password were with her and Dumbledore alone and it was made not to activate without her consent.
For a moment, she had no idea what to do. She then began going towards the Headmaster's office to report exactly what she had told the castle.
Even though she was extremely curious about the connection between the student and the castle, an entirely different question made her even more curious:
'What the hell did you do to piss off the castle, Albus?'
King's Cross Station
Auden was sitting in a seat while reading a book he had recorded with the system.
"Hello, can I enter?" a voice came from outside the door.
"Sure, come in," Auden replied, not knowing he was about to meet someone truly special in his life.
A/N- hope you like it.