Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 112 Two People on a Broom
The next day, Saturday.

Because of the upcoming Quidditch match, the castle was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder from the morning.

In the Great Hall, Gryffindor and Slytherin stared at each other across two long tables, as if whoever blinked first would lose the next round.

“Where’s Harry? I haven’t seen him since this morning,” Siron asked.

“He went to the dressing room early,” Ron said. “Oliver thinks Harry is key to today’s match and doesn’t want him to be affected by Slytherin.”

“Slytherin’s Seeker is Malfoy.” Fred and George came downstairs, carrying their brooms.

“Those Nimbus 2001s were sponsored by his father.”

Oliver believes this is precisely proof of his lack of ability.

"This is also our chance to win the game."

……

Nimbus 2001 is the fastest broom that can be bought with money; the entire Gryffindor team's brooms combined couldn't afford just one.

The gap was too large, and even if he didn't want to, Oliver Wood had to admit that if it came down to a scoring contest, they were destined to lose.

The only way is for Harry to catch the Golden Snitch before Slytherin takes a 150-point lead and end the game early.

The outcome depends on one person, and it's no wonder he was so nervous yesterday under such immense pressure.

Around 11 o'clock, all the students began heading to the Quidditch pitch. Despite the hot and humid weather and the faint rumble of thunder, everyone's enthusiasm remained high.

Seamus and Dean made a banner out of an old bed sheet that read "Go Harry!" and it sparkled even in the daytime.

Xilun realized he had forgotten to bring snacks when he was halfway there, so he quickly ran back to the dormitory.

By the time he arrived at the stadium, panting, the game had already started.

"Did I miss something?" Xiren squeezed to the front, where Ron had already saved him a spot.

“We arrived just in time.” Ron put down the flag he was holding. “Slytherin just scored a goal; their brooms are too fast.”

Xilen nodded, casually opened a bag of Chocolate Frogs, the principal winked at him, and then disappeared again a second later.

It was Dumbledore again, and Siren was somewhat disappointed.

Collecting Chocolate Frog cards was one of his few hobbies. Dumbledore's cards were so numerous that they could be described as abundant; basically, every wizard had one or two.

Only the wizard who published "The Theory of Magic" could surpass him in the number of cards.

Siren casually put the card into his pocket, gave the Chocolate Frog to Neville next to him, and then opened another pack.

Adbe Wolfling: Representative work: *Theory of Magic*...

"..."

"If I ever ask Fred to buy me Chocolate Frogs again, I'll be a monster!" Celen said sullenly as he stuffed the chocolate into his mouth and then took out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

On the field, Harry made a nimble turn, and the ball whizzed past his hair, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Siren also raised his hand and cheered, then continued eating his Beans of Taste and Galon crackers.

"Sirlen, are you here to watch the game or for a picnic?" Hermione couldn't help but ask. Although Harry was dodging the ball with great difficulty, she couldn't concentrate on watching the game at all. Her attention was always uncontrollably drawn to the smell of cookies coming from the side.

“They’re all the same.” Xiren casually handed over a Galon biscuit.

He wasn't particularly interested in Quidditch to begin with, nor did he understand the romance they talked about about missing out on a ball; he'd be bored if he didn't eat...

On another note, isn't Harry being a little too romantic? He and the Wandering Ball are practically sparking a flame between them...

At this point, the players on the field also realized something was wrong and promptly called a timeout.

“Something’s wrong with that wandering ball.” Hermione frowned, noticing that the Gryffindor team seemed to be arguing. “I don’t know how they’re going to fix it. Why don’t they ask Ms. Hooch to investigate that wandering ball?”

“That would disqualify us from the competition,” Ron said. “We would lose directly to Slytherin.”

"But everyone knows there's something wrong with the ball-traveling game."

“That’s just how the rules are,” Ron said helplessly. “And the ball just happened to be in the box right now.”

Hermione was so angry she couldn't speak.

Xilun stood beside her, carefully observing the surroundings.

Recent events at school almost made him forget another problem: Dobby, the house-elf who blocked the platform entrance to prevent Harry from coming to Hogwarts.

This crazy wandering ball seems to be related to it as well.

Siren carefully observed his surroundings, but finding a hidden house-elf in a crowd of hundreds was clearly not an easy task.

To make matters worse, it started raining then. Large drops of rain fell, making it impossible to see anything in the distance.

Ms. Hodge blew her whistle, and the Gryffindor team took off again.

They didn't come up with any good solutions, so they just let Harry deal with the runaway ball that had gone berserk again, while Fred and George focused all their efforts on Malfoy.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Harry tried to dodge the Blink-Ball's repeated fierce attacks, but his movements became increasingly clumsy, which drew laughter from the crowd.

“I think it’s necessary to inform Madam Pomfrey in advance.” Siren shook his head and stopped searching for the house-elf.

"If this continues, Harry will get hurt sooner or later."

“Yes…” “It would be best if Mrs. Pomfrey could come directly to the field.”

Ron and Hermione spoke, but neither moved. Both of them stared intently at Harry on the field, Hermione even drawing her wand, as if ready to rush out and save him at any moment.

“Okay, I’ll go.” Xiren stood up, shook off the cookie crumbs, and squeezed through the crowd.

The school hospital is on the other side of the castle.

Looking at the empty castle gate, Xiren hesitated for a moment before choosing to go around it from the other side. This kind of empty entrance hall always reminded him of an unpleasant memory.

Anyway, taking a detour wouldn't take long, and he believed Harry could hold on.

Ten minutes later, Celen left the school hospital with Mrs. Pomfrey and returned to the Quidditch pitch in the pouring rain.

The two walked onto the pitch and looked up to see Harry and Malfoy shoving each other on brooms... Oh, wait!
Sirius squinted and then realized that they were actually on a broom, and in a rather peculiar position. It seemed that Malfoy was holding Harry's head with his hand, while Harry was stepping on his face with his foot.

Ms. Fauci's sharp whistle kept blaring, but neither of them paid any attention. They continued to rush forward, entangled in their struggle, while simultaneously reaching out their hands.

In the heavy rain, a golden light flickered intermittently in front of the two.

"It's too dangerous! This is too dangerous!" Mrs. Pomfrey exclaimed, quickening her pace, and Siren hurriedly followed.

Then, the crazed ball came again, making a sharp turn in the air and crashing straight into us from the side.

As the ball drew closer, Malfoy finally panicked, instinctively pulling back his arms and clutching the broom tightly.

But his action also changed Harry's position.

The ball was originally aimed at Harry's shoulder, but now it's aimed at his head.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and with the heavy rain obscuring visibility, the others didn't even have time to react.

Even Harry himself didn't realize that his attention was completely focused on the Golden Snitch in front of him.

The golden ball flapped its wings and suddenly rose into the air. Harry instinctively exerted his strength and, with Malfoy's help, instantly stood up from the broom, clenching his open hands tightly.

"boom!"

The ball has finally arrived.

Fortunately, the Golden Snitch's sudden takeoff caused Harry to change his original direction of travel, and the ball only hit his back.

Even so, Harry felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and fainted on the spot.

The broom, out of control, began to shake violently before plummeting straight to the ground.

With a thud, water splashed everywhere, and Harry and Malfoy both fell onto the muddy ground.

Harry was still clutching the Golden Snitch tightly in his hand.

Cheers erupted from the crowds on both sides, and the other team members immediately gathered around.

“What a barbaric sport!” Mrs. Pomfrey looked even angrier.

The intense pain from the ball, combined with the icy rain pouring down on his face, quickly brought Harry back to consciousness.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a row of gleaming teeth.

“You’re so lucky, Harry. The Blink ball almost broke your neck, just a hair’s breadth away,” Lockhart said with a laugh. “But don’t worry, I’ll heal you right away.”

Harry saw him take out his wand and wanted to say something, but the place where he had been hit by the ball hurt too much for him to speak.

Lockhart raised his wand.

"Get out of the way, you're in my way!"

A rough hand shoved him aside, and Madam Pomfrey didn't even glance at him, immediately checking on Harry's condition.

“His shoulder blade is broken, and his leg is broken too, but thankfully, it’s not too serious.” Madam Pomfrey noticed that Harry’s leg was hanging awkwardly to his side, so she reached out and snapped it hard.

"Ah!" Harry screamed, but the next second he found that his leg had been reattached.

Then, a roll of bandage was quickly wrapped around his shoulder.

“Thank you, Mrs. Pomfrey,” Harry said sincerely.

“Oh, I could do that too,” Lockhart said from the side. “Bobby, you might not be happy to hear that, but if I had done it, Harry would be walking by now.”

Madam Pomfrey looked unwell, as Lockhart kept talking to himself, severely interfering with her examination of Harry's other injuries.

“Professor Lockhart, if you really want to help, go and see the other child.”

Lockhart looked a little reluctant.

He knew, of course, that another person had also fallen off the broom, but healing an ordinary student and healing a boy who had miraculously survived were two completely different things; the latter would obviously attract more attention.

But since Mrs. Pomfrey had said so, he couldn't pretend he hadn't heard, so he reluctantly walked over to Malfoy's side.

Like Harry, he also broke his leg.

“You’re very lucky.” Lockhart raised his wand and gracefully swung it down.

"Amendo!"

……

(End of this chapter)