Alfred wasn't adept enough at magic to recognize a spell based only on the way it felt on impact, but if he'd had to guess at its purpose it was probably something along the lines of get it the hell away from me. It certainly had that affect on him, anyway, knocking him forcefully off course and away from the man he'd been trying to help to his feet — which turned out to be a good thing, because had the man actually just tried to bite him? Everything was moving rather quickly and Alfred couldn't be sure that he'd seen and interpreted things correctly, but suffice to say he was considerably less inclined to offer any assistance at this point.
"Stun 'im," Alfred suggested from his inglorious vantage point on the ground amidst the remains of the refreshments table. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but he happened to know that at least a few of the surrounding crowd had their wands already drawn and had been willing to fire spells off willy-nilly at what was presumably an innocent animal, so someone ought to have been up to the task. Alfred had no idea what was happening here — his initial theory that the hedgehog had been part of a student prank seemed unlikely now that the hedgehog had become a crazed and aggressive man — but in any case, a stunning spell could buy someone a little time to figure it out.
"Stun 'im," Alfred suggested from his inglorious vantage point on the ground amidst the remains of the refreshments table. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but he happened to know that at least a few of the surrounding crowd had their wands already drawn and had been willing to fire spells off willy-nilly at what was presumably an innocent animal, so someone ought to have been up to the task. Alfred had no idea what was happening here — his initial theory that the hedgehog had been part of a student prank seemed unlikely now that the hedgehog had become a crazed and aggressive man — but in any case, a stunning spell could buy someone a little time to figure it out.
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER