During the ten-day Christmas holiday, Sean didn't relax at all. Every day he continued studying the Flying Charm with strict discipline, and every night he conducted time travel under Snape's supervision.
Before he knew it, the end of February arrived—the day of the third competition.
The mysterious wizard who had appeared on Privet Drive earlier never showed up again. Most likely it had simply been a wizard passing through a Muggle neighborhood by chance.
The Great Hall was packed with the entire school and the remaining two visiting teams. Since it was inconvenient for students to watch the match near the Black Lake, Dumbledore arranged for a live magical broadcast inside the hall.
The projection spell relied on two crystal spheres—one at the competition site and one in the Great Hall.
Under Dumbledore's spellcasting, the crystal ball in the hall emitted a hazy white glow. Soon, an image appeared—showing the sky above the Black Lake.
At the edge of the forest near the lake, Professor McGonagall stood with the Hogwarts team, while Professor Kailyn stood opposite them with the Ilvermorny team, making their final preparations.
"Sean has been well protected as our secret weapon," McGonagall said, her face showing rare excitement.
"The other side probably thinks he's just a second-year. Tactically, they will underestimate him. As long as we seize that opportunity, victory will be ours."
It was said that when McGonagall was a student, she had been an excellent Gryffindor Quidditch Seeker. She cared deeply about the outcome of competitions.
"So, nervous?" Charlie asked Sean with a smile.
Sean shook his head.
"I think Ilvermorny should be the nervous ones."
Two and a half months had passed since the second match. Sean had already mastered the spells he secretly learned during that event. With relentless training, his magical power had reached the upper level of a seventh-year student.
For Hogwarts, it was essentially two elite seventh-years entering the match.
Ilvermorny had Aigelbert Fontana, a seventh-year, and Claven, the fifth-year Daywalker.
Sean wasn't good at flying, so according to their strategy, he would stay on the ground while Charlie fought in the air.
The rules of the third event were surprisingly simple.
There was no time limit, but only four spells were allowed:
Levitation Charm
Petrification Charm
Stunning Spell
Disarming Charm
Even second-year students knew these spells. That was why Uagadou sending second- and third-year students earlier couldn't be considered completely giving up.
Everyone knew these spells.
As long as you could cast them, you still had a chance—perhaps even with a stroke of luck.
That seemed to be Uagadou's mentality.
Back in September, when Sean practiced team combat with his teammates, he had already been able to fight Theo, a sixth-year, to a draw using only those four spells and without dual-hand casting.
Now five months had passed. Theo was no longer Sean's match.
Sean had even dueled Charlie privately.
Using only those four spells, they fought five times:
Charlie won three times.
Sean won twice.
Charlie was amazed by Sean's rapid progress.
He was certain that in a real duel, even Nymphadora and Kurt might not be able to defeat Sean.
"You're right," Charlie laughed.
"If they knew your real strength, they'd probably faint from shock."
What Charlie didn't realize was that Sean was still holding back.
Many of Sean's more dangerous spells—ones not taught at Hogwarts—were too risky to reveal in public.
"Both teams, please proceed to your starting positions," announced the referee, Barty Crouch.
The forest arena near the Black Lake had entrances at opposite ends, about 500 meters apart.
The trees were sparse enough that once someone flew into the air, they could easily see the battlefield.
"Good luck!" Penelope said to them.
Zach had never beaten Sean during team training. As the fifth-year representative, he felt a bit embarrassed—but he deeply respected Sean's genius.
"It's up to you now," Zach said.
"Show them the strength of Hogwarts."
Theo laughed.
"Who would have thought I'd lose to a second-year? Good thing those training matches weren't public. Otherwise my reputation as a prefect would be ruined. Go show them the same energy you used to defeat me."
"Victory will be ours," Percy said confidently.
To Sean, this was simply another event in his Hogwarts life—a safe but unpredictable one.
Win or lose didn't matter too much.
"I'll do my best," he said casually.
Crouch used an Amplifying Charm to announce the start of the match.
Sean nodded to Charlie and ran into the forest alone.
Charlie mounted his broom and flew into the sky.
From above, he could see Sean running through the trees.
Across the forest, the Ilvermorny team had also taken flight.
Claven, pale-skinned with golden hair and crimson eyes, rode his broom in the wind.
"Only Charlie came up," Claven said.
"Mm. The second-year Sean is below," Aigelbert replied.
"Go find him and eliminate him first. Even if he's just a second-year, leaving him alone to interfere would be troublesome."
Aigelbert then flew directly toward Charlie.
Claven murmured to himself:
"Kid, you're out first."
Sean saw Aigelbert streak past overhead, completely ignoring him and heading straight for Charlie.
Do I really look that weak? Sean muttered inwardly.
At that moment, Claven swooped low above Sean's head. The tail of his broom brushed the treetops.
He stopped midair and looked down.
"Kid, do you want to be petrified or knocked out?"
"Can I choose neither?" Sean replied calmly.
Claven sneered.
A flash of white light shot from his wand—a silent Stunning Spell.
His casting speed was smooth and fast, nearly on par with Charlie's.
In other words, Ilvermorny had also sent two elite seventh-year–level fighters.
While everyone had been cautious about the fifth-year Daywalker Claven, no one had paid attention to Hogwarts' second-year.
Under Sean's Magic vision, Claven's spell framework was completely visible.
Sean sidestepped quickly, and the spell missed.
Claven's eyes narrowed.
He was confident in his casting speed—especially since it had been a silent spell.
Yet this second-year had dodged it.
"You won't be so lucky this time."
Claven dived down at high speed.
With the speed of his broom and another silent Stunning Spell, Sean realized he couldn't outrun it.
So he raised his wand and silently cast Stupefy as well.
Two beams of light collided midair, scattering sparks.
"Not bad," Claven said, hovering above him.
"A second-year capable of silent casting… no wonder you were selected."
He descended to the ground.
"You're Hogwarts' secret weapon, aren't you? Sending a second-year in a two-man match to mislead opponents."
"Your strategy worked."
"Against another team, it might have succeeded."
"But unfortunately for you… you ran into me."
The distance between them gradually shrank to four meters.
This was the perfect casting range.
Accuracy increased dramatically—and dodging became far harder.
Above the forest, Charlie and Aigelbert chased each other on brooms, spells firing like machine-gun rounds from fighter jets.
Both were excellent flyers, dodging and counterattacking midair.
The aerial battle was intense.
On the ground, Sean and Claven both wanted a quick victory so they could support their teammates.
"Time to finish this," Claven said, licking his lips.
A white beam shot out—a silent Petrification Charm.
Since it used one less magical framework than Stupefy, it consumed less magic and could be cast faster.
Sean answered with his own Petrification Charm.
Soon the two were locked in a stationary duel, firing spells nonstop.
Within a minute, neither moved more than a step.
Spell after spell collided in midair.
Damn… I underestimated him, Sean thought.
His casting speed and endurance are even better than Charlie's.
He's probably the strongest member of Ilvermorny's team.
Sean had once done a similar duel with Charlie.
After about ninety seconds, Charlie's casting speed had begun slowing slightly.
Sean eventually lost—but only because his magic ran out first.
If this continues, I'll run out of magic again.
Sean quickly thought of a way to break the stalemate.
Claven, meanwhile, was growing uneasy.
What kind of monster bloodline does this kid have?
A second-year with this much magic?
Suddenly Claven's fangs appeared.
His nails sharpened.
His crimson eyes glowed.
Sean didn't know much about Daywalkers, so he watched carefully with his Magic vision.
Claven stopped casting and leapt onto a tree branch with superhuman speed.
Then he began moving through the branches like a monkey.
"Damn it," Sean muttered.
"He's too fast—and the branches block my view."
The Magic vision had no X-ray vision.
If Claven hid behind tree trunks, Sean couldn't see him.
Claven only needed to find an opening to launch a surprise attack.
Sean wouldn't even know where to aim.
Thinking quickly, Sean came up with a solution.
"If I can't see you—then you won't see me either."
He raised his wand and used the Levitation Charm to lift all the fallen leaves around him.
Countless leaves floated up, forming a half-sphere shield around him.
Sean hid inside it, leaving small gaps to observe outside.
Claven, however, couldn't see him from the branches.
"That's it?" Claven scoffed.
"I thought you were impressive. Turns out you're just hiding behind leaves."
Perfect target.
Sean faced west.
Claven hid behind a tree to the east—outside Sean's direct view.
The leaf shield slowly moved toward a nearby tree.
Sean leaned his back against the trunk, removing one direction of vulnerability.
Branches rustled above.
Claven prepared his attack.
From the southeast direction, he fired.
A white beam shot toward the center of the leaf shield.
There was barely any space inside to dodge.
Claven had a 90% chance of hitting Sean.
But just as the beam struck—
Another beam burst out from inside the shield, aimed precisely at Claven's branch.
Caught off guard, Claven was struck by the Petrification Charm and fell from the tree.
Fortunately for Sean, Claven wasn't a half-giant.
Otherwise his magical resistance might have saved him.
Sean canceled the Levitation Charm.
The leaves fell like rain.
Exhausted, Sean walked over to Claven.
Claven lay on the ground, half-petrified.
His vampire bloodline gave him some magical resistance—though nothing like Omar's.
"How… did you do that?" Claven asked in disbelief.
"That attack should have hit you."
"How could you cast Petrification while maintaining Levitation?"
"You almost hit me," Sean said tiredly.
"Wait…" Claven's eyes widened.
"Don't tell me—you cast Petrification wandlessly with your other hand?"
"That part you got right," Sean admitted calmly.
He had originally used his wand to cast Levitation.
While moving, he switched—maintaining Levitation wandlessly with his left hand, while keeping his wand ready to counterattack.
"Hogwarts has produced someone extraordinary," Claven said.
"Before coming here, we thought Ilvermorny would surely win."
"Now I might have to suggest forming an alliance with the other teams."
Sean laughed awkwardly.
If the other teams really allied against Hogwarts, that would be terrible.
Claven alone had already been difficult.
Add Omar—and Sean wasn't confident.
A flash of white light ended the duel.
Sean used a Stunning Spell to eliminate Claven.
Before leaving, he looked at the unconscious boy and murmured:
"Actually… your Petrification Charm did hit me."
"It was just blocked by Fawkes."
Inside the leaf shield, Sean had secretly used the last of his magic to summon Fawkes.
With limited magic, the phoenix was only half the size of Sean's head.
It perched on his shoulder—ready to intercept the attack.
That brief moment gave Sean the chance to locate Claven and strike back.
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