Although Peter Pettigrew wasn't particularly formidable, he had once been a member of the Order of the Phoenix after all. Now, in his emotionally agitated state with magic surging violently through his body, he unleashed every trick he knew—lethal moves and underhanded tactics alike. For a short time, he could barely match Hermione blow for blow.
Ten seconds had passed since the two began fighting. Hermione, who had never experienced life-and-death combat before, grew more courageous with each exchange, while Peter Pettigrew across from her already felt stretched thin. His stamina and energy had been more than half depleted from Crookshanks' earlier chase, and now immediately facing this little witch who'd appeared from nowhere, he was showing signs of exhaustion. In battle, he couldn't defend against all of Hermione's attacks while managing his own offense.
Originally thinking his opponent was merely an inexperienced student—a lower-year Hogwarts witch—Peter Pettigrew felt his long-suppressed confidence beginning to crumble, his timid and cowardly nature returning to its rightful place.
His mind grew even more chaotic.
So Peter Pettigrew made his decision.
Hermione continued deflecting incoming spells and counterattacking, but she could clearly sense the rat-man's offensive had weakened considerably.
Then she'd press her advantage!
Through the rising smoke, a distinct red light flew toward her. Hermione focused and recognized it as a Blasting Curse from her opponent.
The girl pursed her lips, raising her hand to release magic and forcefully deflect it. Her opponent's Blasting Curse might actually be more troublesome for Hermione than the Killing Curse—after all, dodging the Killing Curse or transfiguring objects to block it was relatively easy when the opponent was this rat-man.
But Blasting Curses were different. Perhaps Peter Pettigrew's magical nature tended toward "explosive" aspects—his Blasting Curses had a wider blast radius than most people's. Because of Hermione's initial misdirection that sent his first Blasting Curse straight toward the other end of the corridor, Peter Pettigrew now only aimed his Blasting Curses at the ground near Hermione's feet or at walls, hoping the aftershocks would affect the girl.
Hermione knew the counter-curse for Blasting Curses, but she couldn't dispel the ones Peter Pettigrew cast, so she could only slightly alter the Blasting Curse's impact point while making corresponding movements to avoid the explosion's shockwave.
Hermione carefully monitored the sensation when her released magical beam contacted the opponent's Blasting Curse, just as she had the previous times. But this time her expression suddenly changed, and the white light from her wand blazed brighter.
The magic her opponent had put into this Blasting Curse was four times stronger than before—what was he trying to do?!
Hermione reacted in time, injecting more magic into her beam, which gave her sufficient time to dodge.
"Crookshanks! Fall back!"
Deflecting the spell's trajectory, Hermione touched the ground with her feet and retreated rapidly, not forgetting to call to Crookshanks, who had already dropped to the ground to avoid hindering Hermione and was dodging on his own.
Human and cat retreated simultaneously, while the red light Hermione had deflected struck the left wall.
Flames erupted and spread, surging along the corridor space in both directions. Peter Pettigrew's figure across from Hermione was swallowed by the explosion's fire wave and disappeared from sight. Hermione and Crookshanks, having reacted quickly and retreated fast enough, were only affected by the explosion's aftershock—their voluntary retreat became being blown back by the blast's residual force.
This wasn't particularly harmful, though—Hermione had already cast Shield Charms on both herself and Crookshanks.
"Bzz—bzz"
At this moment, the earpiece Hermione had remembered to wear in her left ear when she and Glenn parted began making soft sounds. Hermione knew Glenn was contacting her through his earpiece.
"Contacting me at this time... could there be some connection between this Animagus and the Sirius Black they went to capture?"
Hermione pondered silently, then heard Glenn's voice in her ear.
"Hermione."
That's what he said, his voice rather quiet—probably thinking she'd already gone to sleep.
"I'm here."
Hermione immediately responded while keeping her attention on the thick smoke ahead. She felt something wasn't right.
After casting that frighteningly powerful Blasting Curse, her opponent had gone quiet. Surely he hadn't been affected by his own explosion's aftershock?
Or was he building up for his next attack?
"No good—with limited visibility now, facing his wide-area Blasting Curses puts me at a disadvantage."
Hermione raised her hand and immediately cast Scourgify, sweeping away all the thick smoke ahead.
At this moment, Glenn's voice sounded in her earpiece again. Hearing his tone, Hermione immediately understood the situation was much as she'd expected, so she interrupted him.
"If you're trying to tell me to be careful and stay away from Ron's pet rat Scabbers because he's an Animagus, I think I've already encountered him."
Responding in a rather helpless tone, she heard Glenn on the other end of the earpiece suddenly fall silent. Hermione knew she'd guessed correctly.
"Focus on dealing with him and protect yourself. I'll be right there."
Glenn's firm words came through the earpiece into Hermione's ear, and the worry they contained, along with a trace of suppressed anger, was transmitted completely.
That was immediately reassuring.
"Alright, don't worry."
Hermione responded thus and disconnected the earpiece, focusing entirely on the situation before her.
The smoke and dust ahead was about to be swept away by her Scourgify, but another red light appeared in Hermione's field of vision.
This time, Hermione's magical beam for deflection output a large amount of magic from the start. Sure enough, when her magical beam struck the incoming Blasting Curse, Hermione sensed tremendous magical content within it.
"That's not right—if he keeps casting Blasting Curses at this level, even an adult wizard couldn't sustain it for long."
Her wand moved with practiced ease, deflecting the Blasting Curse toward the wall once again. Hermione continued jumping backward, leaving the Blasting Curse's range while swaying to avoid the rubble scattered by the curse's impact with the wall.
Hermione stared gravely at the smoke and dust rising before her again, her mind already beginning a brainstorm.
If I were him, facing a troublesome enemy while deep in the opponent's stronghold, with the battle's commotion likely already heard by the enemy's reinforcements, and my own stamina, energy, and magic nearly exhausted—what would I do?
"So he's planning to use his last strength to force me back, then immediately flee?"
Hermione reached her conclusion. Her brown eyes looked toward the dust rising ahead, as if trying to see through the obstacle to that rat-man and whatever he was doing. The wand in the girl's hand began moving as she murmured to herself.
"Indeed, I still need to take a gamble. I can't let you have your way."
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