Chapter 163: Goals, Goals, and More Goals!
Chapter 163: Goals, Goals, and More Goals!
On the pitch, as the first person was eliminated, the pressure on the remaining two players intensified significantly.
They had to be extremely vigilant, dodging the two Bludgers while looking for opportunities to cause trouble for each other.
After a back-and-forth stalemate that lasted over ten minutes, a winner finally emerged.
However, to everyone's surprise, it was the underdog, a third-year student, who remained standing. With his agile maneuvering, he successfully countered and defeated his larger fifth-year opponent at the crucial moment.
In the stands, everyone burst into applause and cheers.
Harris approached, smiling as he extended his hand, "Welcome to the team, Willnard."
"The honor is mine, Captain," the third-year student replied, shaking Harris's hand.
Once again, a round of applause echoed around them.
Next was the selection of Chasers, and Kyle stood up, broom in hand, making his way onto the pitch.
"Go, Kyle!"
Cedric shouted, lighting a firework that exploded in the sky above the stands, unfurling a massive banner. It depicted a badger in full sprint, alongside shimmering words of encouragement for Kyle, wishing him victory.
One wondered where Cedric had gotten such fireworks, clearly visible even in the daytime.
This was a bit over the top...
Amidst this unique display of encouragement, Kyle made his way to the center of the pitch, joined by two other fifth-year students vying for the Chaser position.
"As Chasers, accuracy in throwing is crucial..."
Harris, holding a Quaffle, addressed the three candidates: "I will be acting as the Keeper. Your task is to score as many goals as possible within the allotted time. The one with the highest score will make it onto the team.
Who wants to go first?"
"I will..." Kyle stepped forward.
Although going first put him at a slight disadvantage, not knowing Harris's goalkeeping style, he made up for it with his superior broomstick. This leveled the playing field.
"Then it's settled. Remember, don't get nervous. Just do your best," Harris advised Kyle before taking his position in front of the goal posts.
Kyle mounted his broom and gently pushed off from the ground, taking to the air.
"Can we start now?" Harris asked.
"No problem," Kyle replied.
As soon as he spoke, someone from below threw a Quaffle up to them.
Kyle dove to catch it and quickly flew towards the goalposts.
Before Harris could react, Kyle was already there, casually tossing the Quaffle into the empty goal.
"Ten points!"
Someone below teased, "Captain, what were you doing just standing there? Don't tell me you're throwing the game!"
"Get lost!" Harris's face turned slightly red.
Of course, he wasn't throwing the game; he simply hadn't reacted quickly enough.
He knew the Nimbus 2000 was fast, but he hadn't expected it to be so much faster than the Nimbus 1700. These brooms, only two years apart in make, were in completely different leagues!
How peculiar... Was this still the same Nimbus company he knew, the one that only made incremental improvements?
"Again!"
Harris composed himself, determined to show that he wasn't throwing the game.
Soon, another Quaffle was thrown into the air.
Kyle repeated his previous maneuver, catching the Quaffle and flying towards the goalposts.
"It's the right goal post!" Harris' heart stirred, and he instantly flew to the right.
But to his surprise, the Quaffle didn't fly to the right at all. It merely spun a few circles in the air before returning to Kyle's hand.
By this time, Kyle had flown quite a distance away, and it was too late for Harris to turn back.
Kyle scored again.
"Twenty points!"
"Look, Harry, it's a pull-back pitch!"
In the stands, Ron tugged at Harry's arm, exclaiming, "Merlin's beard, I never thought I'd get to see one of the classic Chaser feints here."
"Is that move difficult?" Harry asked, puzzled.
Having just started learning about Quidditch, he wasn't very familiar with these tactics yet.
However, when it came to feints, Harry suddenly remembered something.
On the way Professor McGonagall had taken him to find Wood, she had mentioned that his action of picking up the Remembrall resembled a classic Quidditch feint.
Was it the Strut Feint... or the Runski Feint? He couldn't quite recall.
But they were all similar in concept.
"Performing a pull-back pitch isn't difficult, but the challenge is in deceiving the Keeper," Ron explained, deep in thought. "The Keeper out there is Hufflepuff's captain, one of the most experienced players in Hogwarts. It won't be easy to fool him."
Harry still didn't quite understand, but from the deafening cheers around him, he could tell that Kyle's previous move must have been impressive.
So, he joined in the applause as well.
It didn't matter if he didn't understand the game... he could pretend and focus on being part of the group.
On the other hand, Harris' face turned even redder as he heard the faint jeers from below.
Of course, he knew about the pull-back pitch, and he had used it more than once. In the previous year's Quidditch Cup, he had scored the final goal with that very move.
And that year, Hufflepuff had won the Quidditch Cup by a narrow margin of ten points.
But he never expected that he would one day be fooled by a pull-back pitch himself.
No wonder the Keeper had given him such an unfriendly look back then. This feeling of being tricked was indeed unpleasant.
"I shouldn't have joined this tryout," Harris lamented inwardly.
He had previously worried that using a real Keeper would demoralize the candidates, so he decided to fill in temporarily.
Now, it seemed that his decision was indeed unnecessary, but he couldn't very well change players mid-tryout. Harris could only grit his teeth and continue.
Kyle had only thrown two pitches, and it had barely been a minute. There was still a lot of time left in the allotted ten minutes.
In the remaining time, Kyle thoroughly demonstrated the speed of the Nimbus 2000.
No matter which direction the Quaffle was thrown from, he would catch it immediately and then fly to the goalposts to score.
Moreover, each of his goals was unique; sometimes he used feints, and other times he simply relied on the speed of his broomstick to send the Quaffle straight into the goal.
Gradually, Harris gave up trying to block the goals.
He sat on his broom, his eyes shining as he watched Kyle.
This boy was a genius Chaser! Last year's Cedric... and now this year's Kyle...
Harris couldn't help but smile. He finally understood why Wood had laughed so exaggeratedly before.
Anyone would find it hard to contain their excitement in this situation.
(End of Chapter)
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