Chapter 145
"Stupefy!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Two spells shot from Lupin's wand, the red light streaking like twin meteors. The angles were precise, cutting off Ron's and Dean's retreat. They tried to raise their wands, but it was too late—the speed of the curses far exceeded their reaction.
Both fell.
"Expelliarmus!" Neville shouted, his wand trembling as he aimed at Lupin.
Lupin had just cast two spells in quick succession—there was no way he could react in time. Neville's attack should have worked.
Strangely, the usually slow Neville was unusually sharp today. Aside from his shaking hands, his performance was excellent. No one knew how many times he had practiced the Disarming Charm in private.
"Very good," Lupin said, watching the spell fly toward him without moving.
The students then saw the light strike an invisible barrier. It faded and dispersed into the air.
"Shield Charm," several students whispered.
"Draco, he didn't say the incantation," Pansy said, tugging at Malfoy's sleeve in confusion.
"Nonverbal casting," Malfoy replied quietly. "It improves concealment, but the effect is weaker. If someone at Lupin's level attacked him, that silent Shield Charm wouldn't hold. And if he'd used a full Shield Charm earlier, Neville's spell would have rebounded instead of being absorbed."
His explanation was quickly proven correct.
"Expelliarmus!"
Another disarming spell flew toward Lupin—Harry's voice echoed through the room.
"Protego!"
This time Lupin spoke clearly.
The spell struck the barrier and rebounded at once. Unlike the earlier invisible defense that absorbed the force, this Shield Charm reflected it completely.
Harry's wand shot into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling, before falling back down. Lupin caught it neatly with his free hand.
"Harry, if you can hear me," Lupin said, looking toward the empty space, "your tactic was good. But you're too tense. You bumped the corner of a desk just now—that's when I noticed you."
He paused.
"Don't rely completely on magical items. Nothing is foolproof."
Lupin stopped there. Too much pressure would only shake the students' confidence.
Soon after, Neville was defeated as well. Several students lay scattered across the classroom.
Only Hermione remained standing.
"We lost," she said weakly, raising her hands. "May I surrender?"
The exercise had made the gap painfully clear. A prepared adult wizard and an unprepared one were entirely different. She even suspected that when she grabbed Snape's legs earlier, he had held back because she was a student.
"I thought you would fight to the end, Hermione," Lupin said, sounding disappointed.
He understood her choice—once victory was impossible, surrender reduced the risk of injury. Even with controlled force, the spells would hurt. It was reasonable for a student to avoid that.
Still, he had hoped for a Gryffindor's determination.
What he didn't notice was that Hermione's wand, still in her right hand, was angled toward the ceiling—at the metal rod supporting the chandelier.
"Diffindo," she whispered.
A nearly invisible cutting curse shot upward.
She had heard this spell before while hiding behind the bookcase. She had also seen the wounds it caused. This was her last gamble—she hadn't even been sure it would work.
It did.
With a sharp metallic sound, the rod was sliced cleanly through. The cut surface was smooth, unnaturally precise.
The old chandelier, thick with dust, dropped from above, scattering debris and clouding Lupin's vision.
Clang!
It struck his right shoulder. The impact forced his legs to buckle. The chandelier bent on impact and crashed to the floor, shattering. Glass fragments scattered everywhere.
Lupin had never expected Hermione to fake surrender. She was the most rule-abiding student he had ever taught—she even corrected him when he misquoted a textbook.
Not all lions were reckless. Some were calculating.
Only then did he remember—this was the student who had brewed Veritaserum in her third year.
Even as he tried to keep his balance, the force overwhelmed him. He fell. Glass shards tore his fine robe, and thin cuts opened across his exposed skin.
"Professor Lupin, are you alright?" Hermione ran over in panic, kneeling beside him and immediately casting healing charms.
"Miss Granger," Lupin said quietly.
"You've lost."
Hermione froze.
Something slender pressed lightly against her lower back.
A wand.
Lupin's wand.