days at Hogwarts

Chapter 788 About Quidditch

Saturday, late February.

Eleven o'clock in the morning.

Loren walked out of the hall. He had just filled out the confinement receipt in Professor McGonagall's office and also filled out the file information for the Special Contribution Award.

A lot of information on school management was brought back from Ilvermorny before, including academic magic research and institutionalized archival records. Hogwarts also consciously carried out standardized storage of information.

Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout began planning to reorganize the club into a research group, and transform club members into researchers. Deputy Headmaster Snape planned to transform Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets into an archive, while also preserving research records.

Even though Professor McGonagall hadn't officially taken over as headmaster yet, the atmosphere among the professors had already changed.

The contrast is so obvious that I wonder if a certain principal would feel ashamed.

"Welcome to the second half of this season of Hogwarts Quidditch. Today the two teams competing are Hufflepuff! And Slytherin!
"The loser group matches are often more intense and exciting. The frustrated players are brewing the will to wash away the shame. The winner of this match will re-challenge the winner group and even have the opportunity to compete for the Quidditch Gold Cup!
"Who among them will be able to break through the barriers and win? Let us witness it together..."

Today is the day of the Quidditch match, Slytherin and Hufflepuff are in the loser bracket.

Loren was delayed a few minutes and missed the start of the game.

I came to the stands of the Quidditch field, looking for Hermione while looking at the scoreboard behind the scoring ring and listening to my classmates in the audience analyzing the situation on the field.

All the teachers and students in the school thought that there was no suspense about the outcome of this game. Even Professor McGonagall, who loved Quidditch, was not very enthusiastic.

For Slytherin, Malfoy, the former main Seeker, returned to the starting lineup. After the failure of the previous semester, the team's morale was high, and they gritted their teeth and trained in the cold weather when the ice and snow melted. Hufflepuff was in a bad situation. The Seeker was a new member who just joined the team this year, and the goalkeeper's skills could not keep up with his thinking. The only advantage was that the players were optimistic and smiled when the game was approaching.

Not far away was the Hufflepuff audience, where several senior students were huddled together, whispering.

"Ernie, do you think it's possible that the Slytherin players suddenly had diarrhea? The kind that they have to go to the bathroom for diarrhea, and then we won easily." Justin narrowed his eyes and looked at the aggressive Slytherin team, turned his head and asked.

Ernie's eyes widened slightly. "Merlin's beard, Justin, you didn't poison them, did you?"

"Maybe, I mean maybe."

Hannah next to him sighed, seeming to be quite regretful: "There are indeed a few medicines that can achieve the same effect..."

"..."

I didn't expect that an honest Hufflepuff would have such an idea.

Loren was immediately amused, and continued eavesdropping with a smile until he noticed a gaze from behind him on the right. He turned around and saw Hermione sitting behind him with a calm expression. It was unknown how long she had been looking at him.

"Players on both sides, get ready!"

Madam Hooch put the whistle in her mouth, the take-off whistle sounded, and Slytherin immediately launched a fierce attack.

Half an hour later, Hufflepuff was defeated.

When the commentator announced the result, the audience was noisy about the game. Some said that the goalkeeper kept losing the ball, some said that Slytherin's seeker Draco Malfoy was too fast and almost as fast as Harry Potter, the best seeker for several years in a row, and some said that Hufflepuff was last again like in previous years.

Ron was thoughtfully reviewing the tactics that Slytherin had just displayed. From the corner of his eye, he saw Harry frowning and staring at Malfoy. A smile appeared on his face and he slowly moved closer.

"It's always a problem with the seeker this time, right?"

“He’s just a new player.”

"I've played a few games already. I'm not a new player."

"It's not the Seeker's fault that we lost the game."

"It's his fault. When Malfoy discovered the Golden Snitch, what was he doing? He was staring at Goyle across from him."

"Putting aside the Golden Snitch's 150 points, is the goalkeeper wrong?"

"..."

Why does Harry sound so teasing?

Loren looked at the field again. The players on both sides had different expressions. The Slytherins were excited, while the Hufflepuffs' smiles were a bit forced. Especially the players who were about to graduate, their faces were full of disappointment.

Then the Hufflepuff students rushed forward and gathered around several veteran players. Ernie put his arm around one of the players' shoulders, patted his chest, and congratulated him with a smile: "Finally, we can get rid of the hard training. We can be lazy on weekends from now on."

"We still have to train new players."

"It's a little easier now."

"Yes."

"We will gather in the common room tonight and hold a retirement ceremony for you."

"Ha ha……"

The Hufflepuff player grinned, waved, and turned away, heading to the locker room to take off his uniform, which he would never have the chance to wear again.

The past seven years have been Gryffindor's seven years. The past seven Quidditch seasons have been Gryffindor's seasons, Harry Potter's seasons. The legendary Seeker joined the team right after he entered school and has won the championship six times in a row since then. This year should be his again, but this does not mean that they are insignificant foils. They have also trained in stormy weather and discussed tactics all night long...

Now, it's all over.

Loren retracted his gaze, thought for a moment, then turned to Hermione and asked, "What do you say we sneak into the Hufflepuff common room tonight and attend their party?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't know how the party went, but the professor will definitely give you another two weeks of detention."

"..."

Loren couldn't help but remain silent.

It makes so much sense, it's hard to refute.

……

It's April in the blink of an eye.

April is the rainy season. Hogwarts is shrouded in continuous spring rain. The rain washes away the ice and snow. The temperature in Scotland is suddenly approaching summer. New branches sprout from the Whomping Willow, green grass emerges from the ground, scattered flower buds are dotted on the branches of the bushes, and the sound of cicadas can be heard in the Forbidden Forest.

April 5th, Sunday.

There is still one week until Easter.

Around ten o'clock in the morning, a boy wearing Gryffindor's standard wizard robe walked out of the hall and walked quickly along the path of the venue. With the experience accumulated from several years of Quidditch training, it was easy to judge that his destination was the stadium.

Looking back at this month's training schedule and thinking carefully for a few minutes, Harry could confirm that there was indeed no training planned for today.

So what is Ron doing at the stadium at this time?
And she did it secretly, carrying him to the stadium. Harry hid behind the door and stared at his back through the crack, squinting his eyes slightly, and Ron's abnormal behavior in recent times emerged in his mind -

After dinner, I could never find him, neither in the dormitory nor in the common room.

He didn't play wizard chess or Gobstones, and he barely played tabletop Quidditch.

The most suspicious thing is Quidditch training. Ron always falls behind and goes to the broom room with the reserve players to organize equipment!
Merlin on top!

This was the job he hated the most after being promoted to captain.

Although Ron usually doesn't put on airs and only emphasizes that he is the captain of the team when chatting and joking, he has always asked others to organize the equipment. In his words, "I organized the equipment before I became captain. If I still organize the equipment after I become captain, then wouldn't I have been captain for nothing?". He has an arrogant expression, so he is always asked to practice catching the ball with his face.

Now he suddenly changes his personality.

Harry muttered to himself, and followed him from a distance, intending to see what he was doing.

As the final race approaches, we must ensure that there are no surprises.

Then he followed Ron's back to the stadium. All the way to the stadium, he saw him walk into the lounge next to the locker room and heard several familiar voices coming from inside.

"?"

Harry took a moment to discern.

They are basically the reserve players in the team. They can be added to the starting lineup only after graduation. Some of them are number two reserve players and may not even be able to play on the court in the future.

"Individual practice always lacks confrontation, and the team members are too familiar with each other, so I will let you do confrontation training with the Ravenclaw team.

"Don't think this is a hard job. You should know that Cedric from Hufflepuff got a girlfriend, Qiu Zhang, during training. I'm telling you this in secret. Don't let anyone know, especially don't tell Ginny. Qiu Zhang was the girl Harry had a crush on at the time. When Harry heard the news of their relationship, his eyes turned red, and he thought we didn't notice...

"Forget it, how was the practice, did you not get bullied?
"With such an ugly expression, he must have lost miserably, haha...

"Don't be so sad, especially you, reserve seeker Shacklebolt. The team will be handed over to you after we graduate. Now is a good time to adapt to their style. Next, I will tell you about the characteristics of the other three teams...

"Ravenclaw is agile and light. Although their attack and defense are not outstanding, they switch defense very quickly. If you are not careful, you will fall into their rhythm and be led by them by the nose...

"Slytherin is pure offense, and they will attack at all costs. Marcus even advocated breaking the rules and attacking. As long as they could score, they would use any tricks. Quidditch almost turned into a duel...

"Hufflepuff hasn't fully gotten used to each other yet. When Cedric was the captain, all of their players had very solid basic skills and their tactics were steady and simple. Don't think they don't have any characteristics. In fact, this style brings the most pressure..."

Harry stood outside the door and listened quietly to Captain Weasley's detailed explanation. Although there were some slanderous statements about him, he was not angry. Instead, he found it funny and felt a little emotional. Ron, who once became the captain because of a prank, has now grown into a real captain.

"We've been training against each other for half a day."

Ron's voice in the room was somewhat steady: "How is it, did you gain anything?"

The gossip in front livened up the atmosphere, and several reserve players shook off their lost mood and started chattering.

"Tell me about the countermeasures!"

"How should we deal with them, Captain?"

"Captain Weasley, give me some tips in advance."

"..."

Ron laughed a few times. He was like this when he took over the team two years ago: "I do have tactics to target them. I will explain them to you in training before graduation. You can adopt them according to the situation. Don't completely believe in my tactics. I just summarize them based on what I have observed so far, but the situation will change, and you should be flexible.

"When you encounter a team like Hufflepuff, you should fight together. When you encounter a Slytherin team, you should fight with them, even if you get hurt. If it's Ravenclaw, you have to be more flexible than them.

"After we graduate, you will take over the team. It's okay if you lose the first few games. That's because you haven't found your own style yet. The Gryffindor team is not just a lion, but every player must become a lion, and lions are also social animals..."

"What if we can't do it?" one player asked.

"If you can't do it, then you can't do it."

"what?"

"This is an internal Quidditch match at school. Some people value glory, while others value fun. I am the latter. I do not agree with Captain Wood and Captain Johnson's training plan. They train in thunderstorms and snowstorms, which makes the players tired of Quidditch. Obviously, having fun is the most important thing."

Ron spoke with a gentle smile and thought he had some of Cedric's style.

Then the player asked weakly, "But... Captain Weasley, you also let us train on rainy days."

"Ahem, that's to get you used to the extreme weather. Besides, my training intensity is much lighter than the captain's in the past two days. When Captain Wood was here, he would train us until we caught a cold. We also need Madam Pomfrey's approval to ask for leave."

With his rich experience in storytelling, Ron quickly changed the subject and directed the reserve players' attention elsewhere.

“The last final of the year?
"I won't lose..."

Harry stopped and listened for a few minutes, then tiptoed away and walked out slowly.

Draco Malfoy's performance this year was indeed outstanding. Perhaps it was because he had experienced family changes and his mentality had changed dramatically. He shed his original impatience and inherited the wisdom of the Malfoy family. In the recent match against Hufflepuff, a few fake moves almost fooled him. The seeker who had just joined the team had no experience and could only be fooled.

But Harry was confident.

……

"Look!"

Loren pushed the door open and entered the trophy display room. He approached the trophy in the glass display case on the wall and pointed it to Hermione who came in from behind. "This is my special contribution trophy. My name is engraved on the base. When students are punished to clean here in the future, they will see my name..."

"I remember Voldemort also won this trophy."

Hermione walked a few steps down the aisle and quickly found the old trophy. She pointed it out to him, "Here, Tom Riddle."

"Slytherin, school year 1938-1945..."

Loren sighed, "Dumbledore and Headmaster McGonagall are really principled. They didn't revoke the trophy even though it happened."

"Many winners of the Special Contribution Award are in Azkaban, and the school hasn't taken away their trophies." Hermione secretly glanced at his expression, feeling somewhat pleased. "You called me here just to see this?"

"emmm..."

Loren was a little embarrassed. He hesitated for a moment and rolled his eyes. "What are your plans for the Easter holiday?"

"Professor Lupin's child was born, and he invited us to his home."

"Um!?"

(End of this chapter)