In the morning Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall asks everyone to turn beetles into buttons.

This is an advanced course in Transfiguration, designed to transform living things into dead things, which is more difficult than simple dead things.

None of the people present did it perfectly, not even Hermione, but only barely enough.

"Miss Granger, the buttons are round, and Gryffindor adds two points."

The others didn't even look like buttons, but Hermione was pretty good in comparison.

Professor McGonagall was on the rounds, giving them comments from time to time, pointing out mistakes.

Ron's broken wand accidentally pokes his beetle to death, and Seamus explodes again, killing Harry's beetle.

They had to go to the professor and ask for a new beetle.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, she seemed dissatisfied, but gave the new beetle anyway.

"Mr. Weasley, you need a new wand, I'm afraid you'll accidentally die under your own misguided spell."

There was laughter from Slytherin, and the embarrassed Weasley's face turned red, because he had so many children at home that he had to use old clothes and wands, and had no money to buy new ones.

"That's all for today's lesson, and I'll check your progress this time next week. If I find anyone who hasn't mastered this transformation......"

"By the way, I don't need you to write a paper this time."

"Because tomorrow we're welcoming a group from the Clock Tower, I hope you can take care of your appearance and don't embarrass Hogwarts!"

Whispers began to arise below, and they were all whispering about the school's communication, as well as the unknown magic school.

They had more or less seen the name of the clock tower in the newspapers, because the same schools in England were all in London......

Half a century has passed, and the magicians who came out of the clock tower have taken up a very important role in the wizarding world today.

A significant number of wizards, even pure-bloods, are no match for magicians who have just graduated from the Clock Tower.

Wandless casting, silent casting, combat casting, high-speed holy words, combat mastery, a novice magician who has studied for nine years and graduated has mastered at least the above five personal specialties.

In battle, a single magician can usually defeat two or three adult wizards without taking damage, and the odds are better if they have a weapon on their body.

"Although I have a lot of faith in Hogwarts, I have to admit that the Clock Tower is also a very strong school."

"Although it is less than 100 years old, the new spell-casting profession pioneered by the clock tower, the magician class, is very competitive, and the graduates are excellent and knowledgeable."

The chatter was louder below, and many pure-blood students were exchanging gossip they had heard.

"For this reason, I have spoken with Headmaster Dumbledore and believe that an exchange between schools will help to improve the way we teach each other, and that Hogwarts needs to undergo some changes to better prepare for future changes."

She had to bang on the table and amplify the volume.

"We agreed that it wouldn't work behind closed doors. Since fifty years ago, Hogwarts' position has been constantly challenged, and both the Clock Tower and the Templar Church as you know it have been pushing the traditional wizarding system to no avail. ”

"The new spell-casting profession is even better than us, which means that if we don't know how to be flexible, sooner or later, wizards will disappear from the world, and along with ancient warlocks, elemental mages, and ancient rituals, etc., they can only become a line of words in the history of magic!"

"In the future, you will meet more challenges, a large number of magicians, knights, monks of virtue and even the revival of various ancient magical professions, bringing great changes that the wizarding world has not seen in a thousand years!"

"This exchange meeting is a challenge to rehearse in advance, don't leave anything to chance, don't judge your opponent with inherent concepts! Over the past half century, your opponents have grown from nothing to the point where more than 100,000 magicians are active in all countries of the world, accounting for one-third of the wizarding world! ”

Hermione held her hand high.

Professor McGonagall was pleased to see her, a girl who always had a serious spirit of not admitting defeat.

"Miss Granger, what questions do you have?"

Hermione couldn't wait to get to her feet.

"Professor, I wonder why there are so many students with magical powers all of a sudden? According to past records, the number of new young wizards in Britain every year is only about 100. ”

Professor McGonagall nodded.

"That's a good question, Gryffindor plus five points. You may be seated, Miss Granger, and that is what I need to remind you of in particular. ”

"The Clock Tower's admissions are very different from Hogwarts' in that they look more at the so-called heart, believing that people's achievements depend on some precious qualities, such as diligence, which is one of the most important ones they value."

Speaking of which, Hermione was very happy that she had also received an acceptance letter from the Clock Tower.

"They established contact with the Muggle government, and administratively screened students for hard work, perseverance, intelligence, courage, and other qualities, and then issued notices."

"Students who get the notice also need to find several entrances to the clock tower correctly and pass a series of tests before they can successfully enroll."

"It is said that the Clock Tower will open a system called magic circuits for new students through a secret ritual after they enter the school, so as to awaken magic and make them become wizards with a talent for spell-casting - this has a profound impact on the wizarding world, which means that the population of the wizarding world will explode, and in the future, magic will continue to spread until everyone can learn magic!"

"In addition, instead of using a wand, they make their own enchanted items called magic markings, which are combined with their own magic circuits and integrated into their bodies to achieve a wand-like effect to assist in spellcasting."

"Their spellcasting system is based on magic circuits, which is a very different theory from traditional wizards, and I'm sure you'll be exposed to it soon."

Hermione raised her hand again.

Professor McGonagall nodded for her question.

"Professor, is our dueling class modeled after the Clock Tower?"

"Yes, every graduate of the Clock Tower is very good at fighting, and there have been conflicts between Hogwarts graduates and Clock Tower students in previous years, and the other side is often able to easily defeat three times or even five or six times as many enemies with faster spell casting, flexible strategy, and skillful spells."

"Since then, Hogwarts has offered dueling classes, and we believe it is necessary to equip students with the art of spellcaster duels and to increase your competitiveness."

Professor McGonagall was worried, seeing the decline of traditional wizards and the rise of a new generation of spellcasting systems.

"Students, you may be so young that you don't feel deeply, but I have been teaching for many years, and I have witnessed the changes in Hogwarts over the years."

She let out a long sigh.

"Ever since the school closure fifty years ago, Hogwarts has been in a bad place."

"The powerful professor left the school and went to other magic schools, such as the Clock Tower, which had just been built at the time."

"There is a shortage of students, and there are even single digits of new students enrolled in one year."

She's talking about the year the basilisk killed the Ravenclaw myrtle, and even though school wasn't closed, who would put their children in danger?

"The Ministry of Magic is increasingly scrutinizing Hogwarts' funding, cutting its funding for education every year to support the development of new schools of witchcraft and wizardry, and the Clock Tower is our biggest competitor, accounting for more than 60% of the Ministry's funding for education."

Because that small clerk of the Ministry of Magic has now become the director of the Department of Magical Education, and he has a lot of say in this area.

Coupled with the influx of Clock Tower graduates into the Ministry of Magic, the Clock Tower faction and the Hogwarts faction have been pitted against each other.

As a result, the Ministry of Magic's limited education funding continues to tilt towards the Clock Tower, which produces thousands of outstanding graduates every year, dozens of times more than the hundreds or so of Hogwarts.

Anyone who is not blind can see the decline of traditional wizards and the rise of new spellcasting systems.

Muggle governments prefer to work with the Clock Tower, as the latter has the core technology – the technology that allows anyone to have magical talent is top secret.

"Students, you are living in the modern era, which is the best of times. Because of the rapid development of magic, every year new theories are proposed, new magic is invented, and ancient magic spells are unearthed to reappear in the human ......"

Then her voice changed:

"But it's also the worst of times, because these changes are not led by us, and we have to catch up or we will be eliminated."

Her words were heavy and affectionate, and they deeply touched the group of eleven or twelve-year-old wizards.

Everyone could hear the helplessness in her words and the ardent expectations for them.

Everyone was silent, feeling an invisible pressure, not even Malfoy was staring at Harry anymore.

"Professor, isn't there anything Professor Dumbledore can do about it?"

Finally, someone couldn't help but ask.

"He's the greatest White Wizard of the last century, having defeated two generations of Dark Lords!"

Professor McGonagall just shook her head this time, and without answering, she announced that the class was over.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry got together, and many others were talking about the mysterious clock tower.

Many students from pure-blood wizard families were talking loudly, especially Slytherin, many of their parents were well-connected and could hear a lot of gossip.

"Dumbledore can't help it, he himself is no match for the head of the clock tower, even the mysterious man tried to attack the clock tower back then, but no one knows what happened, but then the mysterious man no longer dared to approach there."

"I know that the Clock Tower is the only safe place, and the mysterious people dare not approach it, and they all say that the founder of the clock tower has warned the mysterious people."

Malfoy secretly talks to a Slytherin girl.

His father, who worked for the Ministry of Magic, knew a little bit more.

"If you want me to say, the clock tower is much better than Hogwarts, and there are also naturally awakened wizards like us, so call this a natural magic circuit, but my father asked me to follow the godfather, so I came."

Malfoy's godfather was Slytherin Master Snape, where he could learn advanced magic in private.

Soon, the students dispersed, and there were still classes in the afternoon, and Potions class was not an easy one.

Because of the pressure, Hermione planned to stay in the library in the afternoon, she always felt that she had learned too little, and tried to persuade them to make more raids and try to win glory at the exchange meeting.

Harry and Ron found her annoying and didn't want to be with her, so they avoided her under the pretext of doing homework and Quidditch training.

"Sooner or later you will understand the importance of studying hard! Professor McGonagall said it all! It's a competitive world! ”

In the common room, a disappointed Hermione dropped the sentence and ran away.

"Perhaps, Hermione is right."

Harry thought back to Professor McGonagall's stern face, and he hesitated as she said it.

"So what, not everyone is Miss Jack-of-all-trades, Mr. Jack-of-all-trades."

Ron still looked unmotivated, listlessly flipping through his Transfiguration textbook.

"I get dizzy when I see those books, I can't read them at all, she's always like that, as if she knows the best."

"Don't do that, Ron, Hermione can give the house extra points every time, and besides, you borrowed her notes to copy, go and apologize."

Ron slumped on the table in frustration.

"Well, it's my fault this time, I'll go in a moment...... To borrow her homework next time......"