Chapter 403: A Resounding Victory
Chapter 403: A Resounding Victory
"Flint's despicable actions have thoroughly enraged the audience!" Lee Jordan shouted excitedly into the microphone. "Look, someone in the stands just jinxed him! Oh, I mean, how terrible. There's chaos on the field, and Madam Hooch has no choice but to blow her whistle and pause the game."
"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall hissed.
"Speaking of which, it looks like Flint managed to dodge the jinx. I bet he stepped in dog poop this morning," Lee Jordan continued excitedly, noticing that Professor McGonagall was about to take away his microphone. "Well, well, the Slytherin Quidditch Captain has successfully prevented Gryffindor from winning and even put their Seeker's life in danger. His despicable actions have incited the audience's anger. Let's hope Flint doesn't get hit by any jinxes during the game."
Madam Hooch shouted at the spectators, trying to stop them from cursing the players. The game was paused for ten minutes before the chaos finally calmed down.
However, the previous chaos couldn't change the fact that Gryffindor had been completely suppressed by Slytherin. The current score was 20:40, with Slytherin temporarily in the lead.
This was not the first time Fred and George had encountered such a situation. The two had already started to play dirty against the Slytherin team. One of the Slytherin Beaters, Bell, was threatened by Fred's bat and had to lift his broom to dodge, only to be hit directly by a Bludger from George, causing his nose to swell.
Awesome! The Weasley twins high-fived each other in the air, earning a round of cheers from the Gryffindor students.
However, their joy was short-lived. The Snitch slipped from Bell's hand and was caught by another Slytherin Beater, who successfully scored amid the Slytherins' triumphant roars.
"Is there something wrong with Potter's broom?"
In the stands, Isabelle noticed the change on the field and signaled for Albert to pay attention to Potter's situation. "I don't think the Slytherin students have the ability to interfere with a flying broomstick."
"Has it started?" Albert muttered softly, turning his binoculars towards Potter's position. Indeed, Potter's broom was acting erratically, convulsing and twisting uncontrollably, ascending higher and higher, carrying Harry Potter further away from the pitch.
"What did you just say?" Isabelle arched an eyebrow.
"Look over there..." Albert pointed towards Snape's direction. "I think someone's jinxing Potter's broom."
"Snape?" Isabelle followed Albert's gaze and saw Snape standing not too far away, his eyes fixed on the sky above Potter, mouthing words silently as if preparing to cast a spell to knock Potter off his broom.
"That doesn't make sense!"
"What?"
"I don't think Snape would be that stupid," Isabelle replied. "Even if he could throw Potter off from high up in the air, he wouldn't be able to directly kill him. Don't forget, most of the Hogwarts professors are here watching the match. If Potter falls, someone will surely cast a cushioning charm. It's easy to deal with a fall from that height. Potter wouldn't be in any real danger, just scared."
Indeed, Isabelle's thoughts were reasonable. While Snape seemed to enjoy causing trouble for Harry Potter, it was unlikely that he would attempt such a blatant and ineffective scheme.
"Although I don't know why Snape likes to make things difficult for Harry Potter," Albert said, "as long as he has a functioning brain, he shouldn't resort to such a stupid plan."
"Have you figured out who's jinxing Potter's broom?" Isabelle asked, surprised by Albert's insight. She also felt that it was unlikely to be Snape, as someone so gloomy didn't seem like a fool.
Albert smiled but didn't answer.
Isabelle then turned her attention to the other professors, and her brows furrowed slightly as her gaze landed on Professor Quirrell.
The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was indeed suspicious.
"Professor Quirrell?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Professor Quirrell is quite suspicious. That big turban... Hmm, I can't read his thoughts."
Isabelle said, "From my impression of him, Professor Quirrell is obviously not a powerful wizard. He seems to lean more towards theory, and wizards proficient in Legilimency are quite rare."
"Although we have no evidence, Quirrell could be one of Voldemort's followers." Albert whispered so that only the two of them could hear. "From now on, stay away from Quirrell, and don't try to use Legilimency on him."
"But you often go to him with questions," Isabelle said helplessly. "I've heard that Professor Quirrell has been avoiding you lately. Still, why is Quirrell at Hogwarts? Is it to eliminate Potter or to steal something from the restricted corridor on the fourth floor?"
"Most likely the latter," Albert replied without hesitation. "Getting rid of Potter would just be a convenient side task."
"I remember that Professor Quirrell was from Ravenclaw. He shouldn't be that foolish!"
"Who knows?" Albert wasn't quite sure himself why Quirrell thought that dropping Potter from his broom would kill him.
Perhaps Voldemort's possession had lowered his intelligence?
Perhaps he was being forced to do this by Voldemort?
Perhaps...
In any case, the whole situation seemed like a farce to Albert.
Indeed, a farce.
At that moment, all the spectators in the stands had noticed the anomaly with Harry's broom. Everyone was whispering and discussing what could be wrong with his broom.
The Slytherin students were staring at Harry Potter, and some even started shouting, "Fall down! Fall down!" If Potter fell from his broom, they could take every coin in Kenneth Towler's pockets and even strip him of his pants as compensation for their debts.
Harry's situation was indeed precarious; he had almost been thrown from his broom and was now clinging to it with just one hand, dangling in the air.
However, Albert wasn't too worried about Potter's predicament. He lowered his binoculars and noticed that Hermione had disappeared from Ron's side. Albert shifted his gaze to Snape and saw that the man had just been startled and was trying to put out the flames on his robe.
Albert turned his attention back to Potter and saw that his broom had indeed returned to normal. Harry had climbed back onto the broomstick, much to the disappointment of most of the Slytherin students. They could now empathize with how the students who had bet on Harry catching the Snitch felt—like they were on a rollercoaster.
Albert's suspicion that Snape was being framed seemed well-founded. If he hadn't known the plot, he too would have believed that Snape was jinxing Potter's broom, at most questioning Snape's intelligence for attempting such a blatant scheme.
The game continued for about twenty more minutes, with the Slytherin team slowly extending their lead. They scored two more goals, bringing the score to 20:60 in their favor.
Just as people were furious about the Slytherin player's attempt to assault Harry, they saw him suddenly dive to avoid an oncoming Bludger, once again engaging in a chase for the Snitch with Higgins.
This time, as they dove towards the Snitch close to the ground, Higgins gave up at the last moment.
"Potter caught the Snitch," Albert said with a smile to Isabelle as he watched Harry spit out the Snitch and hold it above his head.
"Congratulations, you won the bet again. Treat me to something next time."
The game ended in chaos, with Gryffindor ultimately defeating Slytherin by a score of 170 to 60.
"He didn't catch the Snitch; Potter almost swallowed it!" Flint roared in anger, but to no avail. Harry had caught the Snitch and won the game for Gryffindor, and to make matters worse, he and his friends had just lost a significant amount of Galleons.
After the game, Flint was cornered on the Quidditch field by a group of students who had come to collect their debts.
(End of Chapter)
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