Ryan was making some progress. He had switched from the weak, intermittent flickers to a steady flashlight mode, and the frequency of fluctuations was steadily decreasing. It seemed like he was close to achieving success.
Mikel, however, was struggling. The light on his wand was wildly unstable. At its brightest, it was blinding like a searchlight, but at its weakest, it barely glowed like a firefly and looked as if it might go out at any second. The more erratic the light became, the more anxious Mikel grew. And the more anxious he became, the less control he had over the spell. It had turned into a vicious cycle.
"Hey, um..." Kyle tried to offer some help, but before he could say anything, he noticed Mikel suddenly take a deep breath and sharply raise his wand.
For reasons Kyle couldn't explain, a sense of foreboding rose in his chest, as if something terrible was about to unfold. The feeling hit him so suddenly that he didn't even have time to process it. Almost instinctively, he turned away, bowing his head and squeezing his eyes shut.
At that exact moment, a blinding flash of light filled the Charms Classroom, as if a flashbang had just gone off. The burst of light was intense but brief, disappearing after a second, though its effects were catastrophic.
The unexpected brilliance caught most of the young wizards off guard, blinding them. Cries of pain and panic quickly filled the room as students clutched at their eyes, stumbling, pushing, and trying to escape the classroom in disarray.
Even Professor Flitwick wasn't spared, though his years of experience kept him calmer than the frantic students. Fighting off the discomfort, he called out in his high-pitched voice, "It's okay, everyone, don't panic! Stay calm, you'll be able to see in a moment!" Despite his reassurances, his words did little to quell the pandemonium. The classroom remained in chaos, filled with the sounds of panicked students. If anyone had walked in just then, they might've thought Voldemort himself had stormed the school.
To make matters worse, Flitwick had been turned in the wrong direction the entire time, his back facing the students as he yelled his comforting words at the wall.
The four wizards in the painting behind him were thoroughly unimpressed. Although they had been startled by the sudden flash, as portraits, they weren't affected by the aftermath. To them, Flitwick's current behavior seemed as ridiculous as a Tebo warthog with a lump on its head.
...
At that moment, in the Charm classroom, the only ones who managed to stay unaffected were Kyle—who had instinctively dodged the risk—and a few other fortunate students. Despite their own good fortune, there wasn't much they could do to fix the situation. Instead, they focused on comforting their fellow students and helping those who had fallen in the chaos, trying to prevent a stampede from happening.
After several tense minutes, the blinding aftereffects of the light finally began to wear off, and the students' vision slowly returned.
"Oh, Merlin's beard, what a disaster," muttered Professor Flitwick as he rubbed his eyes, shakily climbing down from behind his desk. In his attempt to reassure the young wizards, he had inadvertently gone the wrong way, tripped, and taken a tumble.
Now, Professor Flitwick was furious. In his decades of teaching, he'd witnessed countless magical mishaps—students getting hit by a misfired Accio, cows summoned with the Levitation Charm, locks exploding under a faulty Unlocking Charm. None of these things fazed him because they were expected in a classroom filled with students still learning magic.
But never, in all his years, had he imagined that a simple Lighting Charm could cause such chaos.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Professor Flitwick led the now somewhat recovered students toward the culprit, both angry and curious to confront them.
Mikel, however, was lying motionless on a desk. Professor Flitwick called his name several times, but there was no response—Mikel remained still, looking oddly peaceful. Sensing that something wasn't right, the professor hurried over to check on him.
After a quick examination, he delivered his verdict: "He's fine, but he's in a coma due to magical exhaustion…"
Hearing this, Kyle let out a sigh of relief. By "magical exhaustion," the professor didn't mean that Mikel had drained his magical reserves entirely, but that he had overextended himself—like an ordinary person who hadn't slept for two days and nights.
Professor Flitwick's gaze became distant, unfocused. Magical exhaustion? From a Lighting Charm? This was the second time in a matter of minutes that he found himself questioning everything he knew. Could he really have been at Hogwarts for so long that he was out of touch? In all his knowledge of wizarding history, spanning thousands of years, he had never heard of anyone collapsing from casting a Lighting Charm.
Sensing the professor's confusion, Kyle hesitated for a moment before offering, "Professor, should I take him to Madam Pomfrey? It's probably not a good idea to just leave him lying here like this. She should check him out."
"Yes... yes, you're right," Flitwick said, snapping out of his daze. "Take him quickly. Madam Pomfrey will know what to do."
...
After receiving Professor Flitwick's permission, Kyle quickly cast a Floating Charm on Mikel and guided him out of the classroom. Normally, Professor Flitwick would have awarded extra credit for such quick thinking, but given the current situation, Kyle was lucky not to have points deducted. A reward was out of the question. After all, who needed extra credit at a time like this?
Not long after leaving the classroom, Kyle spotted a cat sitting at the corner—not a cat girl, but an actual cat, with two amber eyes staring at him intently.
"Mrs. Norris? That's great!" Kyle exclaimed, recognizing Filch's infamous companion. "A student's hurt. I need to get to Madam Pomfrey, but I don't know the way. Could you help me?"
Although Cedric had given him a map of Hogwarts that marked the hospital wing, Kyle had never actually been there and wasn't familiar with the exact route. But Mrs. Norris was different—she had roamed Hogwarts alongside Filch for years and knew the castle better than most. Surely, she'd know the quickest way to the hospital.
The cat tilted her head slightly, taking a glance at Kyle and the levitating Mikel behind him. Without a word, she stood up and began walking toward the stairs on the right.
Was that a yes?
Kyle wasted no time in following her.
The three of them—Kyle, Mikel, and Mrs. Norris—made their way through the school, zigzagging between staircases, and at one point even cutting through a hidden passage behind a statue. Within a few minutes, they arrived at a courtyard outside the Great Hall. In the center stood a massive clock, which gave the courtyard its name: Pendulum Clock Courtyard.
When they arrived, Mrs. Norris crouched near the base of the clock, her tail pointing toward a staircase behind her as if instructing Kyle to head up.
"Thank you! I'll bring you some dried fish," Kyle said gratefully, extending his hand to pat the cat's head. But Mrs. Norris skillfully avoided his touch, her ears flattening back like tiny airplane wings as she gave Kyle a warning look. With a flick of her tail, she darted away and disappeared, as if she'd cast her own Vanishing Charm.
"Huh, arrogant," Kyle muttered, withdrawing his hand in frustration.
He had no choice but to shrug it off and continue up the stairs with Mikel in tow. The staircase was a fixed one, so there was no risk of it shifting unexpectedly. All he had to do now was follow it straight to the hospital wing.