Hermione stared at the two for a few seconds before turning to Neville, "Neville, would you please go a bit away from here? I would like to have a word with these two."
Neville knew that his friend was being teased by the whole class and the worst of them all were the Gryffindors, especially Ron. He nodded and silently headed off to the dormitory while Ron mimicked Hermione and Harry chuckled.
Hermione frowned as she controlled her irritation, "Maybe you guys never noticed but Alex who shared a compartment with you on the Hogwarts Express, had used magic nonverbally. He probably never took the duels seriously and don't you ever forget that the person who invented those gameboards was also him. Maybe you should learn to gauge your opponent's strength before claiming to be one of the best."
The two of them looked at each other, Harry seemed utterly confused while Ron looked like he had swallowed a whole pie.
"Also, Ron. Maybe people will actually consider you as a good dueller if you used magic instead of your fists to win your fights." Hermione said and stormed off, not giving them a chance to have the last word.
******
Aman stared wide-eyed as a twenty-feet tall giant fell, cracking the ground while his friend jumped off of its shoulder.
"Bro, you told me that you will fight people seriously from now on… I feel sorry for Neville."
"That's his fate. Forget about that guy and tell me what you learned from this?"
"That you can kill giants?"
"No you- Aargh. Why do you frustrate me so much?"
"Sorry sorry, I was just trying to liven up the mood. I noticed that you used only one type of spell…"
Alex nodded, "Good. Which type?"
"Explosion!"
"Yes, now do you know the specific spells that I used?"
"Umm… no? they all looked the same."
"I expected as much. Alright, note down whatever I say from now."
Aman nodded and took out a parchment and a quill before walked over to the dead giant and used the large nail of the giant as a table.
"Reducto, bombarda maxima, bombarda and confringo. Now, do you know the difference between these spells?"
"I think so… reducto blasts objects while bombarda and its stronger version can blast anything. Confringo… does the same?"
Alex shook his head, "Nah. Reducto simply turns things into dust and the explosion is just aa visual effect. Basically, it looks like it explodes but that's not what happens. If you focused on the fight just now, you would've noticed that reducto doesn't produce any heat or flames.
Next, bombarda and as you said, it's stronger version according to most wizardkind. These spells produce intense heat and can be used on people.
While bombarda is weaker that bombarda maxima, for some witches and wizards it is a limiter. When a person practices bombarda for a long time, its strength can rival if not, in some cases surpass maxima. You will understand when you see it with your own eyes."
He pointed at the dead giant and for the sake of his friend's understanding, muttered, "Bombarda Maxima."
The giant's nose was blown to bits and blood scattered everywhere while the smell of burnt meat entered their noses.
Both of them had little change in expression but Aman seemed to be forcing himself to withstand the amount of gore being displayed.
"It doesn't matter what my own limit is as this extra word in the spell and the extra wand movements seal the spell's destructibility to a certain point. This spell was actually created for people who hit a limit while using the base spell bombarda.
Those who don't hit the limit can keep practicing to strengthen up their bombarda and they are also able to control the output of the spell unlike maxima. In some cases, although rare, bombarda's output can surpass the output of bombarda maxima. Now get back a bit… I'll show you bombarda."
Aman ran until he reached the walls of the stadium while his friend was already standing beside him.
"Although it is one of the most destructive spells, its biggest drawback is that a decent cheld charm, A.K.A protego can easily nullify it."
Aman knuckled his head, "Yeah yeah, be a good teacher and show me."
"Alright, alright. Bombarda…" Alex said as he pointed his wand at the giant's finger, where a small explosion occurred, but it was too small. He then waved his wand again and said, "Bombarda".
The finger exploded and before Aman could recover from what he had seen, he heard his friend mutter the incantation again, only to see the whole corpse explode and a thin layer of translucent glass like film appear in front of him.
Even inside the protective sphere, they could feel the shockwave and soon after, the flames hit the defensive spell which lasted for only a second before it cracked, causing both of their avatars to burn.
They opened their eyes in the cubicle and looked at each other's faces in surprise.
"Isn't that a bit too… destructive? Why is your defence so weak while your offensive spells are so… I don't even know what to say!"
Aman looked at him like he wasn't human while Alex was lost in his own thoughts.
"Oye! Say something!"
"Well… the last time I used it, it wasn't this strong. And about my defensive spell… that was the first time I used it.
Like, I know most of the spells' incantation and wand movements but I don't have enough time to try them all. I know a stronger version of protego anyways, so I thought I don't really need it."
Aman rubbed the bridge of his nose as he stared at him, "My brother, look at me. Sometimes, it is important to be good at the basics too. Do you understand me?"
"Yes yea, listen now. While bombarda explodes at the point of contact, Confringo explodes from inside out, making it way more deadly."