The red light scattered into the air.
"Another Disarming Charm! But Harry's well-practiced Armor Charm blocks it again! It's clear he's trained that spell a lot!"
Compared to a formal wizard duel, Harry Potter's fight wasn't exactly impressive, but to the younger students, it was already an intense battle.
Amid Lee Jordan's shouting, the young wizards screamed and cheered excitedly in response.
Only the older students and a few others could watch calmly. To them, this duel probably felt more like a game.
Draco took a moment to comment quietly, "Terrible magic control."
"Can't be helped. With so little time, this is the best I can do. The rest, I'll fix later. And besides, someone didn't even bother to help—leaving me to train those two idiots alone," Pansy said, shooting Draco a reproachful look.
The way she glanced up at him from below gave her a pitiful, almost delicate air. The subtle act made Draco instinctively avert his gaze.
Truth be told, part of the reason he hadn't joined Pansy in training Goyle and the others had to do with Astoria, who now sat quietly beside him watching the match.
At the time, Draco had been investigating the Room of Requirement...
"Ahem... so you focused on improving what they're already good at," he said.
"Mhm. You noticed?"
Given the limited time and Goyle's natural strengths, when Pansy planned their special training, she didn't try to make them learn new spells or fix their poor magic conversion.
She focused only on two spells: the Shield Charm and the Disarming Charm.
That's why, on the field now, Goyle and Crabbe were using nothing but those two spells—attack and defense.
It was simple, but perfectly suited to minds filled with food and muscles.
For now, Goyle's performance was actually impressive.
"Even if that Slytherin only knows two spells, they're powerful ones. From the intro earlier, his name's Goyle, right?"
"Judging by his magic, he's probably at a fifth-year level already."
"His control's still rough, though."
Hearing the murmurs around her, Pansy lifted her chin proudly, as if the one fighting on stage were her.
Just as the upperclassmen said, Goyle and Crabbe clearly had natural talent for magical power. Every clumsy spell they cast caused a visible disturbance.
Waves of scattered magic, thick surges of energy.
Each burst of excess power made the duel more spectacular, earning Goyle and Crabbe a few cheers they definitely hadn't expected.
...
Just...
"You're celebrating too soon."
"What do you mean by that, Greengrass?" The sudden comment made Pansy pause for a moment before frowning and turning toward Astoria on the other side.
"Didn't you notice? If this keeps up, we're the ones who'll lose."
"Lose... from exhaustion?"
Ignoring the word "we," Pansy quickly turned her gaze back to the stage.
Only then, after Astoria's reminder, did she realize that all the spells Goyle had been firing had done nothing. Every attack had been deflected or dodged by Harry Potter's Shield Charm and quick movements.
It looked dangerous at first glance, but judging by their expressions, Harry clearly had the upper hand.
The difference was obvious—Goyle's attacks had slowed noticeably, and he was starting to pant.
"This..."
"Strong to begin with, and backed by solid combat experience. Seems our so-called Savior isn't all talk after all." Draco voiced his observation, glancing at Harry a few more times.
It was clear he hadn't expected this from Harry Potter.
"So... we're losing?"
Pansy stared blankly at Draco, murmuring in disbelief.
A second later, Lee Jordan's voice echoed across the hall.
"Incredible! Harry dodged Gregory's Disarming Charm—wait! That's a Fire-Making Charm! The flames are closing in, his opponent has nowhere to run—this is it! Harry's finishing move!"
Unlike Goyle's brute-force fighting style, Harry's approach was far more flexible—and much harder to predict.
As the flames flared up and threw Goyle off balance, a Disarming Charm hidden within them struck before he could react.
The wand flew from his hand, and Snape—face dark as ever—stepped in to extinguish the flames, marking Goyle's defeat.
"Let's congratulate Harry Potter on taking the first win! Now let's see what he decides—will he wait for Ron's match to end, or will he jump in to—what!? What just happened!?"
Lee Jordan's sudden cry made all the young wizards, who had been cheering Harry's victory, turn toward the other side.
What they saw left them wide-eyed and stunned, filled with disbelief.
"Did... we really win?"
"This feels kind of weird."
"Was that really Ron?"
Crabbe was lying unconscious on the ground, and Ron Weasley had already lowered his wand. No one knew when or how he'd taken down his opponent.
Was it earlier?
"Draco, you..."
"I saw it. Right when you were busy talking about Potter."
"..."
Pansy stared at the people carrying Goyle and Crabbe off the stage, then at Harry—still looking dazed—and Ron Weasley, who calmly put away his wand. Confused, she turned to Draco, and even Astoria watched with curious eyes.
They both wanted to know what exactly they had missed...