Hermione had arrived at Transfiguration early, and opened her notebook and got her quill and ink out.
"Where's Professor McGonagall?" she asked Daphne.
Instead of the professor, a tabby cat was sitting on her desk.
Harry and Ron arrived a minute later.
"Can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we arrived late?" Ron exclaimed.
Suddenly, the cat transformed into Professor McGonagall.
"Wow! That was bloody brilliant!" Ron complimented Professor McGonagall.
"Thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley," she thanked Ron. "Perhaps it would be more useful to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch?"
"We got lost," Harry protested.
"Then a map?" suggested Professor McGonagall. "You don't need one to find your seats?"
After everyone sat down, she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized that they wouldn't be changing the furniture into animals any time soon.
She lectured, "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made a difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.