Ryan was doing a bit better, having already switched from poor contact to flashlight mode, and the frequency was getting lower and lower. It looked like he wasn't far from success.
But Michael's situation was different. The light from his wand was very unstable — as bright as a searchlight at its strongest, yet barely brighter than a firefly at its weakest, seeming like it might go out at any moment.
The more this happened, the more anxious he became, and the more anxious he was, the less control he had — a vicious cycle had already formed.
"Um, you..." Kyle wanted to help him, but just as he opened his mouth, he saw Michael suddenly take a deep breath and abruptly lift his hand holding the wand.
Without warning, an ominous premonition rose in his heart, as if something terrible was about to happen. This feeling came so suddenly that he had no time to think — almost instinctively, he turned away, lowered his head, and closed his eyes.
Almost simultaneously, a blinding flash of light, like an exploding flashbang, instantly enveloped the entire Charms classroom.
Although this intense light disappeared after just one second, its impact was catastrophic.
Many young wizards, with no preparation whatsoever, had the bright light seared directly into their faces. The next second, wails erupted from all directions as the small wizards covered their eyes, screaming and shoving, trying to escape — the classroom descended into chaos.
Even Flitwick was caught in it, but having weathered many storms as a professor, he wasn't as panicked as the young wizards. He endured the discomfort while squeakily trying to reassure everyone.
"It's all right, everyone, don't panic, calm down. You'll be able to see again in a moment."
Despite his best efforts, his words had little effect — the classroom remained in complete disarray. Anyone not in the know might have thought Voldemort had invaded Hogwarts.
Moreover, he was facing the wrong direction — throughout the entire ordeal, he had his back to the young wizards and was shouting at the wall behind him.
The four wizards in the painting found this extremely distasteful. Although they too had been startled, portraits weren't living beings and wouldn't suffer the aftereffects.
So to them, Flitwick's current behavior was as foolish as a Streeler with a damaged head.
At this point in the Charms classroom, only Kyle, who had avoided the danger in advance, and a few other lucky ones were still functioning normally. But there wasn't much they could do except try to comfort their companions and help those who had fallen to prevent a trampling accident.
After several minutes, the aftereffects of the bright light gradually subsided, and the young wizards regained their vision.
"Oh, Merlin's beard, this is truly a disaster." Flitwick rubbed his eyes as he shakily climbed down from behind his desk.
Earlier, he'd tried to come down to comfort the young wizards, but not realizing he was facing the wrong direction, he had missed a step and tumbled down.
He was furious. In his decades of teaching, he had experienced countless emergencies — such as Levitation Charms hitting people, Summoning Charms summoning a cow, or Unlocking Charms blowing up locks — he had seen it all and wasn't surprised by any of it.
These were all within his expectations. Newcomers, unfamiliar with controlling magic, running into problems was perfectly normal. But he had never imagined that even a spell as safe as Lumos could cause an accident.
Flitwick, accompanied by the angry yet expectant young wizards, made his way to the culprit.
Michael lay motionless on the table. The Professor called to him several times, but there was no response whatsoever — he remained peacefully sprawled there.
Sensing something was wrong, Flitwick quickly came to Michael's side to examine him and soon reached a conclusion.
"He's still alive. It appears to be magical exhaustion causing unconsciousness..."
Hearing this, Kyle also breathed a sigh of relief.
The magical exhaustion here didn't mean his "mana bar" was empty, but rather that he had no energy left — equivalent to an ordinary person going without sleep for two days and nights.
Flitwick's gaze was somewhat unfocused.
Magical exhaustion? Just from a Lumos Charm?
In the span of a few minutes, this was already the second time he'd questioned his life. He even began to wonder if he'd spent too long at Hogwarts and had become somewhat ignorant of the outside world.
Throughout the thousands of years of wizard history, he had never heard of anyone fainting from exhaustion after casting a Lumos Charm.
"Professor, should I take him to Madam Pomfrey?" Seeing Flitwick standing there silently, Kyle tentatively suggested, "He can't just stay sprawled here like this. It would be better to have him checked."
"Yes... he should be checked. Go ahead and take him."
✭ Wingardium Leviosa ➜ Levitation Charm ✭
Having received permission, Kyle quickly cast a Levitation Charm on Michael and led him out of the classroom.
Normally, given Flitwick's temperament, seeing this would certainly have earned House Points, but now... not losing points was already fortunate enough — what more could one ask for?
✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭
Not long after leaving the classroom, Kyle came face to face with a cat sitting around the corner — not a cat-girl, but a real cat, with two amber eyes staring unblinkingly at him.
"Mrs. Norris? Perfect." He quickly said, "A young wizard is injured. I need to go to Madam Pomfrey, but I don't know how to get there. Could you help lead the way?"
Although Cedric's map had marked the location of the hospital wing, Kyle had never been there before and wasn't familiar with the specific route.
But this cat was different. Having followed Filch around for years, she was intimately familiar with Hogwarts and would certainly know the quickest path. If she was willing to help, that would be ideal.
Mrs. Norris tilted her head, looking at Kyle and the floating Michael behind him, then silently stood up and walked toward the stairs on the right.
Was that a yes?
Kyle hurriedly followed.
The two people and one cat made their way through various staircases, and midway they took a shortcut through a passageway hidden behind a statue. Within minutes, they arrived at a courtyard outside the Great Hall.
A huge grandfather clock stood there, which was why it was called the Clock Tower Courtyard.
When they arrived, Mrs. Norris was sitting by the grandfather clock, using her tail to point at the stairs behind her, indicating that Kyle should go up.
"Thank you, I'll bring you some dried fish." He reached out, wanting to pet her head, but she deftly avoided him.
Mrs. Norris folded her airplane ears, glared at Kyle with a warning look, then turned and left, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Hmph, tsundere." Kyle could only withdraw his hand resignedly and take Michael up the stairs.
All he had to do was keep going up to reach the hospital wing. Fortunately, this staircase was fixed, so there was no worry about it changing midway to somewhere else.
✭✭✭
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