He stared at the cat and the cat unflinchingly stared back at him.

Animagus transformation had always fascinated him.

How could a human change into an animal of another species and still retain his sense. How could Rita Skeeter, who was able to turn into a beetle still retain her basic brain functions after her brain was decreased by a hundred times.

There were so many questions in his mind about animagus transformation. The whole subject seemed like a giant impossibility to him but then again, so was magic. So was transfiguration and if he could accept a matchstick changing into a needle then surely he could accept a human changing into another animal.

Right?

He felt the urge to pat the tabby in cat for a moment and wondered how Professor Minerva would felt if he really did that in front of the whole class and smirked at that thought. But then he thought better of it and left for his own desk at the end of the room from where he would be able to notice everyone else while he himself remained unnoticed.

Soon enough the class was full and he could see Ron and Semus running inside the class, late and the shock permeated through the class as the cat changed into their Professor and took 2 points each from them for being late.

Then the class started and Harry was bored out of his mind as Minerva spent the first hour of their class teaching them the simple basic rules of Transfiguration and the crucial mistake that all the novices made.

The second hour was spent with Minerva teaching them how to transform a Matchstick into a needle and Harry found himself being bored out of his mind once again.

Seriously, such transfigurations were too simple for him and he had to held back a snort as Minerva went about teaching them the necessary wand movements and proper spells.

Magic had always been more about intent and will for him. He would not deny that flicking and swishing the wand in a particular manner did allowed his magic to flow in a particular manner which helped with spells, charms and transfigurations but the main thing would always be the intent and will of a wizard.

Watching Minerva go about teaching the kids made him feel like she was doing this all in the wrong order.

He looked at the Matchstick in front of himself and without even picking up his wand, he visualized it changing a little by little in his mind. First the matchstick changed from wood to metal, then it became sleeker and sleeker until it resembled a very thin cylindrical metal stick after which he visualized it's tip changing into a point and it's end having a hole large enough for a thread to go through and then he used all his will and intent on the matchstick and watched in fascination as the matchstick changed into a needle flawlessly.

Till this day, magic fascinated him. How he could use his will on some thing and change it as he wanted according to his will. He doubted that magic will ever stop fascinating him.

'That, he realized, was what made him so different from the other kids.' He thought as he watched his classmate going about flicking their wands and murmuring the spells that they didn't knew the meaning of.

From his vantage point, he could easily see the difference between the muggleborns and the purebloods by the fascination in their eyes and the excitement in their body language.

"Compisitus Verto" his deskmate said forcefully and flicked at the matchstick once again and just like before, nothing happened.

He held the urge to scoff at the girl who was constantly making a fool of herself.

Her wand movement was mostly correct and her spell who not off the mark either but still, nothing changed.

He could clearly see why her matchstick transformation was not being successful. She put no will behind her spell.

"You have to want the change to happen. Put more will behind it." He supplied helpfully and the blonde girl gave him a glare as if he had said something stupid before she scoffed and went back to flicking her wand at the needle, not even looking at his perfect transformation even once.

'Well, so much for helping others.' He thought and added the lesson in his mind. Don't help other people unless they ask for your help. Otherwise you would only end up looking and feeling stupid.

"Compisitus Verto" his classmates continued to chant and then Minerva suddenly went to Hermione who was practically jumping on her seat for partially transforming her matchstick to a needle.

He could see that the end point of her matchstick had turned into the tip of the needle and the rest of it's body had taken a silvery color.

Harry sighed as Hermione practically beamed under Minerva's attention as the rest of the class gave her the stink eye. Even her deskmate Parvati Patel didn't look all that happy at her success.

No wonder she was given the nickname like 'teacher's pet' and 'know it all' so early at the start of the term.

He couldn't help but feel pity for the girl before he realized something.

She was the only one in the whole class (except him of course) who was able to transfigure her matchstick, even if the transfiguration was incomplete.

He had thought her to be a simple bookworm but now that he thought about it, wasn't she the one who usually completed all the transfiguration and charms before anyone else in the movies.

Also, she was able to complete a Polyjuice potion which was a NEWTs level potion at her second year and gained an 'O' in 11 subjects in her OWLs.

Who else could achieve such a thing with hard work.

How was it that no one ever noticed such a gem before him. Were the teachers all blind that they let her be bullied by people like Ron Wesley.

How the hell did he missed her potential.

Was he so influenced by the movies which focused primarily on Harry Potter that her sheer genius and accomplishments were lost to him.

He wondered how high she will reach if he taught her the true way to use magic. Would she be willing to learn. Would she even be interested in learning. If yes then would she want to learn from him, someone who frightened her in the train by attacking another student and then treating him like a footstool.

Well, he could only hope. If she did want to learn from him then he would gain an excellent student, not that he was much of a teacher.

He may know more about magic then his fellow witches and wizards but in the bigger picture, he was nothing but a novice himself.

He looked at the needle in front of himself and changed it into a silver butterfly which then changed color and started looking like a real butterfly.

Just that this butterfly was lifeless.

He had not learned how to transfigure an inanimate object into an animate object so far.

Of course, if he followed the proper spells and wand movements then he might be able to do it but he refused to do it that way.

He did not want to use magic that he didn't even understand.

He wanted to learn how the spells worked before he did them. He wanted to learn how the object became animate when they were transfigured. How they gained life when just a few moments ago, they were nothing but a dead object.

How could a person who knows nothing about magic create life. Could a bird that had been transfigured from a cup even be called living. If yes, then where did the life came from. If no, then how was it able to act like a normal bird.

Could a transfigured bird eat a worm. Did it had all the necessary organs required to digest it's food. Could a transfigured snake inject venom into it's prey, could a transfigured basilisk kill it's prey or petrify it with it's gaze, could a transfigured Phoenix use flaming apparition like a real Phoenix. Has anyone ever even tried such a thing?

If you transfigure water into petrol then would it burn like the real thing? When you transform a person into a ferret then would the ferret weigh as much as the person? If not, then where does all the mass go?

When you change wood into metal, does the wood really change into metal on a molecular level or does it happen in some other way. Can you burn a wood if it's been transfigured from a metal? If yes then can you power a nuclear power plan by uranium that been transfigured from mere dirt?

So many things to learn. So much knowledge to explore in the magical world.

But one thing that he did knew was that the more he worked on his magic, the more he would become better at it.

And that fact also applied to transfiguration.

The more your transfigure something, the better you become at it.

When you transfigure a matchstick into a needle for the first time, it takes all your power and concentration to complete the transfiguration. The next time it's easier to do and then next time after that is even easier. And by the hundredth time, you can do it without even thinking about it.

So if he can change a needle into a butterfly and then continue to do it again and again, then when he start pouring life into his transfigurations, it'll be easier for him.

He changed the butterfly back to it's original shape and found that it had once again reverted to a matchstick.

He then once again transfigured it into a butterfly and indeed, it was easier this time then the first time. And then he changed it back into a match stick and repeated the process again and again.

Until by a bit of curiosity, he willed the butterfly to be live.

And then suddenly the butterfly flapped it's wings and flew.