A new day began with the sound of dual heartbeats.
Sterling covered his chest and sat up from bed, first routinely checking whether the Mandrake leaf in his mouth was damaged, though this step was now redundant.
He had already used "reality modification" on himself to fix the reality that he "would not damage the Mandrake leaf".
Even if he now placed the leaf between his teeth and bit desperately, it wouldn't cause any harm to the leaf.
Then he gazed into the distance, slowly waiting for the second heartbeat to disappear.
This was an abnormal phenomenon, and Sterling knew it clearly.
The second heartbeat should only appear after he has completed his current preparatory work, buried the potion, and recited magic to his heart daily.
This second heartbeat was his Animagus form's heartbeat.
Originally this should mark the Animagus nearing completion, but strictly speaking, he was still only "preparing materials" and hadn't even begun yet.
He had immediately told Professor McGonagall about this abnormal phenomenon, but unfortunately, she was also helpless.
Her suggestion was to stop attempting immediately, but Sterling's intuition told him this was correct. Considering Professor McGonagall was only offering advice, Sterling hadn't terminated the process.
However, now he had to go to Professor McGonagall for a full body examination every noon. If any problems were discovered, he would have to spit out the Mandrake leaf.
The second heartbeat gradually disappeared, and his body temperature rose accordingly.
When the second heartbeat sounded, his body temperature plummeted to corpse-like coldness.
This meant his Animagus form might be a cold-blooded animal. Upon first discovering this, Sterling nearly felt the sky was falling. What was appealing about cold-blooded animals?
Moreover, Animagus forms reflected wizards' inner nature. Was his heart that of a cold-blooded animal?
Fortunately, Animagus was just providing him a springboard for Draconic transformation. Once he learnt it, he might never use ordinary Animagus again, only Draconic transformation.
After all, ordinary forms only produced ordinary animals, while Draconic transformation produced dragons. Not the present world's large lizards.
With their size, they would serve as Maleficent's snacks in Avalon at best. Calling them the same species was laughable.
After calming his breathing slightly, Sterling pulled out a mirror from his drawer, carefully examining his hair and eyes.
Nothing abnormal, except his hair tips seemed slightly lighter in colour.
Terry had told him this when they parted last night. When Sterling spoke to Neville, Terry stood to the side and glimpsed pink in Sterling's eyes.
But now they were completely covered by azure blue. Sterling couldn't see any trace of pink having existed.
"Still because of Animagus?" Sterling set down the mirror and began washing up to go out.
Recently, besides this magic, nothing else could cause changes in himself. But if it was because of this, pink-eyed cold-blooded animals? Did such things exist in nature?
According to Sterling's decent knowledge, naturally not, unless Animagus transformations could include albinism.
Sterling splashed cold water on his face to wake himself up. Then Terry's knocking came punctually. For once, Sterling didn't keep him waiting long, quickly changing clothes and opening the door.
"Yo, you're quite fast today. Is it because we have Potions class this morning?"
"That would just make Harry and Ron even more miserable. Snape would still find ways to dock their house points no matter how early they showed up."
"No, you're wrong. If they really went that early, Snape would say..."
Terry cleared his throat, swept his imaginary robes dramatically, and raised his nose so high he was practically looking at the ceiling. His voice dropped to a silky, menacing drawl:
"Ahhhh, Mister Potter and Mister Weasley. How... touching. Two pitiful Gryffindor dunderheads, skulking about my dungeon before dawn like common thieves. Tell me, Potter—" Terry's voice became even more poisonous, "—did you perhaps believe that your celebrity status grants you special privileges to contaminate my classroom with your mere presence outside of designated hours? And you, Weasley, I suppose your family's... financial limitations... have driven you to attempt stealing potion ingredients under cover of darkness?"
Terry paused dramatically, then continued with theatrical horror: "The sheer audacity of assuming I would not notice your bumbling intrusion into my domain! Fifty points from Gryffindor for Potter's insufferable arrogance! Fifty points from Gryffindor for Weasley's criminal intentions! And another hundred points for the sheer presumption that your pathetic presence could somehow improve by arriving early to contaminate my classroom with your breathtaking incompetence!"
Terry finished with a flourish, sweeping his imaginary robes again. "Detention for both of you until Christmas. Get out of my sight."
"Oh, don't say that." Though saying this, Sterling's eyes also carried a layer of amusement.
Terry looked and saw his face unchanged, but his heart sank.
Sterling's mouth corners still had no curve, as if welded shut.
This couldn't make him laugh? This was a superb joke he had created last night using the badge to contact Neville and Ron for details about Snape scolding them!
"Professor Snape wouldn't dock that many points, or Professor McGonagall would fight him desperately. With great difficulty, Gryffindor finally got ahead of Slytherin."
Current house point rankings were Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. Gryffindor and Slytherin were neck-and-neck, rankings often changing several times daily.
They only had eyes for each other now.
"Too serious, Sterling. By the way, you probably don't know yet. Something happened to Malfoy. Can't really put it that way, but he did something quite notable."
"Malfoy?" Sterling frowned.
"None of us discovered it. He himself, or rather Slytherin, exposed it."
Terry made a broomstick-riding gesture. "Malfoy became Slytherin's Seeker, the youngest Seeker of the century."
"Don't know if Harry will reclaim that title when he recovers. Poor Harry. His 'youngest' prefix ended up with his most hated person."
Terry sighed, but Sterling had an inspiration.
Malfoy was among the few who hadn't forgotten Harry Potter.
He knew Harry was the real "youngest Seeker", and he knew that Sterling knew he knew. So his sudden substitution would inevitably attract Sterling's attention.
Moreover, Snape was also among the informed, and Quidditch player appointments, especially irregular ones, required house head approval.
This meant Snape also wanted Sterling to notice Malfoy.
When he had bumped into Malfoy, Malfoy was running downstairs. There was no Potions class that day. His only possible destination was Snape's office.
Was all this orchestrated by Snape and Malfoy? Or more likely, planned by Snape and implemented by Malfoy?
Sterling shook his head.
Regardless, he felt he should find Malfoy today.
As for how to find him, a familiar place, the bathroom nearest the Great Hall.
Sterling pulled out "Witness of the Author" and wrote "Draco Malfoy's" name on the blank page.
"Oh, what an unexpected harvest." Sterling raised his eyebrows with interest, looking at the grey-white ink that appeared only slightly later than Malfoy's own name.
Who would show grey-white ink on "Witness of the Author"?