Chapter 299: Magic vs Magic
Chapter 299: Magic vs Magic
Early Saturday morning, Kyle woke up full of excitement for the upcoming Quidditch match.
This year's match schedule was not in Gryffindor's favor. They had to face a newly outfitted Slytherin team first.
The entire team was equipped with Nimbus 2001 brooms... This was already the setup of a professional team.
Facing such a situation, the Gryffindor team naturally didn't feel too cheerful, and even Fred and George had lost their usual playful mood.
When Kyle arrived at the Great Hall, he saw the Gryffindor players huddled together at the long empty table, each of them looking anxious and silent.
Kyle didn't know what to say either, but as they prepared to head to the Quidditch pitch, he quickly went over and patted the twins on their shoulders.
"Good luck! If you win, you won't have to fly around the castle while tap dancing anymore."
Because of the bet regarding the Merlin Sir Medal last school year, Fred and George had been trying to find various excuses to get out of it, and they still hadn't fulfilled it yet.
It was mostly because the actions they had promised were quite bizarre. Riding brooms while carrying three trophies or tap dancing on a broomstick were both extremely difficult moves.
Doing them individually would be challenging enough, let alone combining them... It could only be said that their hearts were willing, but their strength was insufficient.
Fred's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Of course. It's a promise." Kyle smiled.
"To be honest, your way of encouraging us is much more effective than Wood's." George moved closer and said, "All he knows is to spout those old cliches."
He cleared his throat and imitated Oliver Wood, waving his hand. "...Slytherin's brooms are better than ours, but the people on our brooms are better than them..."
"Isn't that obvious? Who needs to be told that?"
"But he's the captain, so what can we do?" Fred shrugged. "We have to cooperate."
The two of them joked about Oliver Wood, with no trace of their previous depression.
Kyle even suspected that their earlier mood had been fake, just to fish for his words of encouragement...
"Hey, Kyle, your expression is so obvious that I can guess what you're thinking." George raised an eyebrow. "But it's really not..."
"We were quite nervous before..."
"Worried that we'd lose the match..."
"But then we put on these uniforms..." Fred patted the golden red uniform on his body.
"And we decided that if we win this time."
"We'll celebrate in the same way..."
"It has nothing to do with the bet, it's just a pure celebration!"
Fred and George laughed as they entered the players' changing room. Kyle made his way to the stands, where Cedric had already saved him a spot.
"How are they doing?"
"They seem pretty confident." Kyle smiled.
"That's good." Cedric glanced at the players' tunnel, where Oliver Wood was leading the other players out.
"Actually, I asked second-years Hannah and Susan yesterday..." Conner looked at the Slytherin team on the other side, "They both said that Draco Malfoy's performance in Flying class was far worse than Potter's."
"That's normal." Said Cedric, "If he was good at flying, there would be no need to buy brooms for the whole team... Nimbus 2001 is ridiculously expensive. Buying seven at once, even if the Malfoy family is rich, they shouldn't be so wasteful."
"You're right."
Mikey squeezed in from the side, "Because of these brooms, his allowance has been reduced by more than half."
"If that's the case, then Malfoy must have bought his way into the team." Cedric glanced at him, "But Mikey... How do you know all this?"
"Oh, I heard it from Malfoy himself."
Mikey subconsciously touched his pocket, which was bulging with something.
As they were talking, the match was about to begin.
"Listen to my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three, two, one..."
The crowd erupted into a frenzy, cheering their team as they soared into the leaden-grey sky.
Harry immediately flew to the highest point, searching for the Golden Snitch.
And this situation lasted for a full five minutes.
"What's Malfoy playing at!?"
Cedric frowned. "He's a Seeker, too... Could it be that the Snitch is in Potter's shirt pocket?"
Even the Bludger couldn't stand to watch, and it flew towards the two of them with a menacing buzz.
Harry quickly swerved his broom to dodge, and as the Bludger missed, it changed course and headed straight for Malfoy's face.
Seeing the Bludger getting closer, Malfoy looked as if he'd been scared witless. He stood there like a wooden post, his pale face filled with disbelief.
Aren't Seekers supposed to only pay attention to Bludgers when they're chasing the Snitch?
But the match had just started, and they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the Snitch yet!
The Bludger grew larger, soon reaching Malfoy, who instinctively closed his eyes.
However, the expected pain didn't come. The Bludger changed direction when it was less than an inch away from him and flew straight towards Harry instead.
Harry dodged again, but the Bludger came back around, as if it had locked onto him, ignoring everyone else.
Fred and George noticed this, too, and to prevent Harry from being knocked off his broom by the crazed Bludger, they flew closely on either side of him, doing their best to protect him.
The sky began to darken, and rain started to fall.
"Someone tampered with that Bludger!" Fred shouted as he forcefully knocked away the oncoming Bludger.
At that moment, the spectators in the stands also realized something was amiss.
"Marcus Flint scores... Slytherin takes the lead at fifty to zero..."
From the commentary box, Lee Jordan shouted, "But what's going on with that Bludger? How many Galleons does Harry Potter owe it...?"
Wood signaled to Madam Hooch...
"Oh, Oliver Wood has called a time-out! He should've done that sooner... before Harry Potter gets knocked out by that insane Bludger..."
The Gryffindor team huddled together to discuss countermeasures.
In the stands, Kyle, wearing a waterproof badge, searched carefully through the rain-obscured crowd.
Finally, in the Slytherin players' tunnel across the field, he spotted a small, blurry figure.
"I'll be right back," Kyle said, squeezing his way out of the crowd.
However, he didn't go to the opposite tunnel but instead ran towards the castle.
A few minutes later, Kyle returned with a house-elf from the kitchen following behind him.
The match had already restarted, and the rogue Bludger was still chasing Harry relentlessly.
"Dobby, do you know that house-elf?" Kyle asked, pointing towards the tunnel. "It seems to be interfering with the Bludger."
"Dobby doesn't know him, sir!" the house-elf screamed. "He's not one of us from the kitchen..."
"Naughty elf, that is a bad elf! Dobby will chase him away!"
Looking at the crazed Bludger in the sky, the house-elf's large ears turned red with anger, or perhaps embarrassment. With a "crack," he vanished from the spot.
The next second, a stool rolled out from the tunnel.
At the same time, the Bludger hovering over the field also stopped changing course and continued on its original trajectory, heading straight for Marcus Flint.
Because of what had just happened, the Slytherin captain thought the Bludger would go after Harry again and didn't even try to dodge.
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, the Bludger slammed into his face.
Marcus Flint fainted on the spot and wobbled off his broom.
Up in the stands, Professor McGonagall, who was watching the game, quickly cast a spell to prevent him from falling straight to the ground.
(End of Chapter)
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