"..." Snape fell silent, and Glenn nodded slightly to Hermione before turning around and using the Summoning Charm to retrieve the dagger he had thrown.
Earlier, Glenn had used his knife-throwing skill to hurl the dagger in his left hand just before Snape could aim his wand at him. He successfully knocked Snape's wand away, causing the Blasting Curse he cast to slightly veer off its original course.
Instead of hitting the ground in front of Glenn, it shot toward the edge of the dueling platform further away.
However, Glenn quickly realized something was wrong after estimating the approximate landing point of the Blasting Curse—Hermione was near the center of the explosion point.
At that moment, his body moved faster than his thoughts. Without hesitation, Glenn abandoned the golden opportunity to attack Snape. Following the momentum of throwing the dagger with his left hand, he spun around and used his wand in his right hand to cast the Guiding Spell, expending all his magical power to successfully divert the Blasting Curse to the right.
Even though Hermione was protected by magical items and wouldn't be harmed, Glenn still did it.
This action exposed Glenn's unprotected back to Snape, sealing his fate of defeat. Even without his wand, Snape could still cast deadly spells without it. Both of them knew this, and Glenn's defeat was inevitable. Hence, Snape simply stood still, only symbolically placing his hand on Glenn's head without actually using a spell to destroy Glenn's mind.
With a flick of his wrist, Glenn sheathed his dagger, catching a glimpse of a figure hurriedly approaching the dueling arena.
It was Professor Flitwick.
"Severus! How could you channel so much magic to cast a Blasting Curse?!" Professor Flitwick was evidently furious, glaring up at Snape with his whiskers bristling...
...though due to his height, it didn't quite convey the impression of anger.
"Never mind that there are students around; your opponent is just a young wizard who has just entered his second year. This is..."
"Filius, I know what you're going to say." Snape was clearly unfazed by others' opinions, showing no introspection. With a single sentence, he silenced Professor Flitwick, "I consider Glenn to be an opponent of equal strength to myself. As someone who has won so many dueling championships, don't you understand what that means?"
Professor Flitwick was momentarily speechless, as he knew exactly what Snape meant.
In a duel, as long as both parties recognize each other as opponents of equal level, they will exert their full strength to defeat the other.
This is not a rule explicitly stated in dueling regulations, but true duelists inherently understand this principle.
The reason is simple: it is not only to maintain one's dignity but also to show respect to the opponent.
"...Stop talking nonsense. Don't you know whether you were serious with Glenn or not?!" Realizing Snape was preparing to use logic to overpower him, Professor Flitwick felt a lump in his throat that he couldn't quite swallow.
Professor Flitwick was still very composed.
"Aren't you going to check on that 'professor' who seems to have knocked himself unconscious?" Not wanting to hear any more lectures from Professor Flitwick, Snape sneered and "kindly" reminded him of the injured individual lying at the edge of the dueling platform—the only unlucky one who got hurt.
Professor Flitwick almost lost his composure, took a deep breath, ignored Snape, and turned to run towards Lockhart.
On the dueling platform, only Snape and Glenn remained standing amidst the chaos.
"Magic potion, and come to my office after today to demonstrate the spells you used on the dueling platform once more."
By now, Snape was no longer pretending to be reserved with Glenn, directly demanding his student's research results.
He knew that with Glenn's personality, if he was willing to expose those spells to the public, it meant that the spell capable of attracting and redirecting launched spells was not particularly important to him and was a regular combat technique.
This cunning kid wouldn't easily reveal his trump cards.
Though Snape was aware of this, he was still tactful. He knew that asking about the method Glenn used to interrupt his Sectumsempra would be futile.
So why bother asking? He simply didn't.
Instead, he sought to extract other benefits from Glenn. For instance, Snape was very interested in the spell called "Guiding Spell," and Glenn likely wouldn't mind sharing the casting method with him.
Glenn took out two bottles of magic potion from the black ring, handed one to Snape, who naturally accepted it, opened the seal, raised his hand, and drank it all in one go.
To continue wearing his mask, Glenn silently took out a straw, inserted it into the bottle, placed the straw through the slit in his mask's eye openings, then bent it into his mouth and began sipping.
The intense atmosphere of the duel dissipated, leaving a harmonious scene. Seeing Snape begin to restore the damaged dueling platform with magic, Glenn lent a hand, using a whirlwind to gather the scattered dust and debris.
Above the dueling platform, the fragmented stone slabs floated in the air, accompanied by the faint blue light emitted from Snape's wand, slowly flowing into the ground's cavities as if time were reversing, immediately coalescing together.
With nothing else to do, Glenn looked over to Hermione's side. The young girl, upon seeing Glenn turn around, thought for a moment and then waved at him.
Glenn walked over.
Stopping in front of the young girl, Glenn stood on the dueling platform, looking down at Hermione. She discontentedly gestured for Glenn to step down.
"This way, my neck feels really sore," Hermione mouthed silently, and Glenn understood her message through lip-reading.
Glenn stepped down from the platform, watching Hermione excitedly run up to him. With a tone of admiration, much like how other young witches treated Lockhart, she sweetly praised him.
"Professor Night Watcher, you're amazing!"
Glenn: ...
"...Thank you." Not forgetting to use a voice-changing spell to alter his voice, Glenn nodded, politely expressing his gratitude to the young girl closest to him.
Beneath the mask, a slight smile was already forming at the corners of his mouth.
"""
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