Seeing his teammates taken down so easily, Flint finally snapped.
"Everyone, with me! Don't let her get away with this!"
No matter what Draco had said, he was still a Slytherin teammate. If Flint didn't step in now, how could anyone respect him as captain?
Besides—
Malfoy's family had just donated a full set of Nimbus 2001s.
If nothing else, they owed him this.
"Are we really doing this?" chaser Adrian Pucey asked hesitantly. "Lewis Green is right there. I heard he's close to that girl."
Flint glared at him furiously.
"There are enough of us! No matter how strong Lewis Green is, he can't take us all down before he runs out of magic!"
That… made sense.
The Slytherins raised their wands.
Now—
Things escalated.
Malfoy and his two lackeys were just second-years, barely competent.
But Flint and the others?
Six or seven upperclassmen.
Far more experienced.
Far more dangerous.
For Hermione—
This was a real threat.
Under Ciri's watchful gaze, Cho stepped closer to Lewis.
"You're still not going to act?" she asked softly.
She had long wanted to see him fight.
But Lewis simply stood there, arms crossed, completely calm.
"No need," he said lightly. "Hermione can handle it."
And she proved him right.
Facing multiple opponents—
She didn't try to block head-on.
That would have been foolish.
Instead—
She raised her wand.
"Fog Cloud!"
In an instant—
Thick mist engulfed the area.
The Slytherins lost sight of her.
If you can't see your target—
You can't hit it.
Flint tried to dispel the fog with a gust spell—
But magical mist wasn't so easily cleared.
By the time the fog thinned—
Hermione was gone.
"Where is she?!"
"Where'd she go?!"
They were completely disoriented.
Meanwhile—
Lewis, using his psionic senses, could faintly detect her.
Invisible.
Moving among them.
Then—
Her voice rang out.
"I'm right here."
They turned instinctively—
Just in time to see her figure reappear—
And then—
A burst of blinding light.
"Glitterdust!"
The flash exploded like a stun grenade.
The Slytherins staggered, blinded, tears streaming from their eyes.
They couldn't see.
They couldn't fight.
The battle—
Was over.
Hermione moved quickly.
Precise.
Efficient.
One by one—
She disarmed and bound them.
Soon—
The number of wriggling "green worms" on the ground increased from three to nine.
The Slytherins lay there in silence.
Embarrassed.
Defeated.
What… did we just provoke?
Should they report this to Snape?
If they didn't—
They couldn't swallow the humiliation.
But if they did—
What would they even say?
That they got crushed by a second-year Muggle-born girl?
One versus seven?
…Impossible.
Meanwhile—
The reactions from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were completely different.
To them—
Hermione looked like a radiant warrior.
Almost divine.
Ron, especially, was overwhelmed.
Watching Malfoy and the others get dismantled so effortlessly—
It felt incredible.
He wished—
That had been him.
Forgetting their earlier argument, he stepped forward eagerly.
"Hermione, how did you do that?"
"I mean—how did you suddenly become so strong?"
Hermione hesitated for a moment.
"…Because Lewis taught me. I trained with him over the summer."
She glanced at him.
Lewis smiled back gently.
"A whole summer? That training must've been intense," Ron said, impressed. "I wish he'd teach me too."
Hermione silently agreed.
After seeing Lewis and Ciri hunt the Chimera—
She had realized how weak she was.
So she trained relentlessly.
Every day—
At least two hours of sparring.
At first—
It was painful.
A slight mistake—
And she could barely walk.
But gradually—
She adapted.
Improved.
Still—
Lewis was far stronger.
Every session left her drenched in sweat, completely exhausted—
Ready to collapse the moment she touched the ground.
And yet—
She looked forward to it.
Because that training—
Made her feel truly alive.
Truly growing.
From an ordinary Muggle girl—
Into a real witch.
And for that—
She was deeply grateful.
With Slytherin completely defeated, they could no longer interfere with Gryffindor's training.
As for Ravenclaw—
There was no real conflict between them.
And with Lewis and Hermione present, Wood simply split the field in half.
Both teams trained together.
A rare moment of harmony.
As for the Slytherins?
They were hung up in the stands by Lewis—
Forced to watch until evening before being released.
The incident never reached the professors.
Malfoy wanted to report it—
But Flint and the others shut him down immediately.
For Malfoy, public embarrassment wasn't new.
But for them?
If this became official—
They'd be immortalized as Slytherin's shame.
Mocked for years.
Better to let it fade as rumor.
And so—
The Slytherin team developed a new condition:
Hermione Granger Phobia.
They avoided her at all costs.
Gryffindor benefited from this immensely.
And Lewis's reputation soared even higher.
After all—
If Hermione, with just his guidance, could defeat an entire Quidditch team—
Then how strong was Lewis himself?
Some students even began to think—
He would make a far better Defense Against the Dark Arts professor than Lockhart.
While others praised him—
Lewis still had to rely on Lockhart.
After another class, he approached the professor with a slip of paper.
"Professor Lockhart!"
He stopped him before he left.
"I'd like to borrow a book from the library," Lewis said, handing over the note. "It's in the Restricted Section. I need a teacher's signature."
"It's about werewolves. I believe it will help me better understand the transformation-reversal spell you mentioned in Travels with Werewolves."
"Ah, werewolves!"
Lockhart beamed.
"A fascinating subject! You may be skilled with Chimeras, but when it comes to werewolves, I do have some experience."
"And of course—I would never deny such a promising student a bit of extra help."
He pulled out a large peacock quill—
Didn't even read the note—
And signed his name in an extravagant flourish.
"Though I must admit," he added casually, "the transformation-reversal spell is quite complex. Even I don't always succeed."
Lewis almost laughed.
A preemptive excuse in case someone calls him out.
But that didn't matter.
His entire Restricted Section plan—
Depended on this man.
Taking the signed slip, Lewis smiled and walked away.
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