Blushing slightly but clearly annoyed by the hands-on attention from Parvati and Lavender, Hermione pushed their eager faces away with both hands.
"Instead of saying such unrealistic things, you should probably worry about your Professor Lockhart," Hermione said, gesturing with a nod toward the ground in the distance. "He doesn't look like he's in great shape."
The two froze for a moment before turning to look in the direction Hermione had indicated. Almost immediately, they gasped in shock.
"Professor Lockhart!"
"Professor Lockhart!!!"
Their cries snapped the surrounding crowd out of their daze, and the young witches finally turned their attention to Lockhart, who had been chatting and laughing with them just moments before.
Now, however, he lay sprawled amidst the wreckage. His once-dazzling robes were torn by debris from the explosion, leaving him covered in dust and dirt. Bloodstains marred his face, and he appeared utterly miserable, unconscious and unresponsive.
A swarm of young witches rushed over to him, leaving only Lavender, Parvati, and Hermione's other friends, who had been shielded by the young witch during the chaos. They hesitated, glancing toward the crowd tightly gathered around Lockhart, unsure whether to approach.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, puzzled. These girls usually raced to Lockhart faster than anyone. What was stopping them now?
"If you're so concerned about him, why not go over there? What's the point of standing here like this?"
At her words, her friends stirred, but instead of running toward Lockhart, they surrounded Hermione instead.
"I think they're just like us—they want to thank you first," Parvati said, turning back to Hermione. Though her face still showed traces of relief and lingering fear from the ordeal, gratitude was unmistakably written across her expression.
"Compared to thanking a friend, I suppose we can leave Professor Lockhart to others for now..." Lavender added, mumbling under her breath, "...Besides, it's too late to get close to him now... Such a pity. I really wanted a chance to meet him up close..."
"Hermione! Thank you for protecting us!"
"My goodness, without you, we don't know what would've happened!"
Hermione's friends surrounded her, their voices filled with excitement and heartfelt gratitude.
Similar scenes played out elsewhere. Those who had helped their friends during the explosion—like Draco, Neville, and other upper-year students—were all being sincerely thanked by their companions.
While happily accepting her friends' thanks, Hermione's gaze subtly swept across the surroundings, paying particular attention to Draco and Neville.
Draco was now surrounded by his fellow Slytherins. During the explosion, he had used a Shield Charm to significantly weaken the blast's impact, allowing the Slytherins behind him to maintain their composure and elegance. This clearly pleased them.
Neville, meanwhile, was receiving exuberant praise from Harry, Ron, and his other housemates, who looked as though they wanted to hoist him into the air in celebration. Neville, his face bright red, was stammering nervously as he spoke to a girl who had come to thank him, her cheeks equally flushed.
Hermione squinted. Oh, it was Hannah Abbott. She had suspected for some time that there was something going on between those two.
Sensing the need to give them privacy, Hermione shifted her gaze, quickly scanning the other young witches and wizards further away.
"It seems no one was hurt... except for Lockhart..." Hermione shook her head and turned her attention back to the dissipating dust on the dueling platform.
It wasn't that Hermione didn't care about Glenn or prioritize him. In fact, she had confirmed Glenn's safety even earlier than anyone else in the crowd. Not even Professor Flitwick, the referee, had the same level of certainty as Hermione. The professor was currently craning his neck anxiously, trying to get a clear view of the dueling platform.
As for why Hermione was so certain...
It was because the explosion spell hadn't detonated at its intended target.
The trajectory of the explosive spell cast by Professor Snape had been altered by Glenn in some way.
And Hermione knew exactly how Glenn had redirected the seemingly unavoidable spell. She muttered to herself, quietly voicing the answer in her heart.
"Spell Divergence."
Glenn, meanwhile, felt a bit helpless as he responded to Snape's inquiry. The dust was gradually settling, and Glenn stood with his back to Snape, a large, magic-infused hand hovering over his head. The duel was over.
A rare flicker of surprise crossed Snape's otherwise icy expression.
"...Self-created?" He lowered the hand he had placed over Glenn's head and summoned his wand back with a Summoning Charm.
Glenn nodded, confirming Snape's assumption.
As mentioned before, Glenn possessed an exceptional ability to perceive magical circuits with greater accuracy than most. This allowed him to deconstruct, optimize, or even modify them to create new spells.
Long ago, Glenn had begun experimenting with ways to alter the trajectory of spells already cast. While spells were essentially non-physical forms of energy, the magical world operated on a fundamentally idealistic principle. After extensive trial and error, Glenn had eventually developed a control-type spell capable of changing the trajectory of other spells.
This was the Spell Divergence Charm, incantation "Spell Divergence," whose magical circuit was derived from the simplest and most ordinary form of magic imbued with a "deflection" property.
It was well-known that spells could be redirected by the most basic magical collisions. However, this method was highly limited and only effective against low-powered or weak spells. Against high-powered spells like the Killing Curse or high-output, wide-range spells like an explosion spell, it was completely ineffective.
In the situation Glenn had just faced, ordinary magic would have been entirely incapable of deflecting the explosion spell Snape had cast with full force.
Thus, Glenn had no choice but to exhaust the remainder of his magical energy to cast his self-created but still imperfect spell, redirecting the explosive spell to another location.
"Regretful?" Snape asked, his expression unreadable as he used a Scouring Charm to clean the dust and grime from his robes. His eyes did not meet Glenn's. "You had a chance to win just now. Do you regret giving up that opportunity to show off?"
Glenn turned to glance at Hermione. She, noticing his gaze, looked as though she wanted to leap for joy but restrained herself, remembering his earlier reminders. Instead, she shyly gave him a small wave.
"A little regretful."
"But not at all remorseful."
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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