Chapter 626: Quidditch Competition

Harry and Urquhart, the captain of the Slytherin team, glared at each other fiercely, and when they turned back to the team, Harry grimaced in pain, he touched his hand which was on the verge of breaking.

"Listen to my whistle," Madam Hooch shouted, "three - two - one - -"

With a loud cheer, fourteen players leaped into the air, the sky is as clear and bright as it had been scrubbed with a wet rag today, the keepers flew first to their respective goals, and the three chasers of each team were doing their part.

Harry stopped Peakes and Coote - both of them are Beaters and were leaping forward with their bats - and Harry circled around, moved close to the pair, and whispered in a low voice, "Don't forget the plan. " Coote gestured a 'no problem' gesture, and Peakes responded with a grunt.

Harry had approached them individually to arrange the tactics, telling them to focus more on the goal in the first few minutes of the game and give Ron support with Quaffles if necessary. While this is the job of the Beater, this year's Gryffindor team is somewhat special with more than half of the team being fresh blood, which has led to a lack of consistency in the team as a whole, and the most important position in a team is the keeper, apart from the seeker.

Harry had privately observed that there was a strong link between Ron's form throughout training and the success rate of his first few saves.

On top of that - Harry had noticed that Peakes seemed to have a bit of a thing for chaser Demelza Robin, and Ron had mocked Demelza's flight as 'like a sleepwalking duck', and he was worried that Peakes would bring his emotions onto the pitch.

"Don't forget we're all one." Harry shouted, then flew off at the drop of a hat.

He glided lightly across the sky like a hunting owl, flying higher and higher so all that could be seen from the bleachers was a small black dot, he kept his sight away from the sun and tried his best to spot the golden snitch amongst the glints of a lens of the telescope below.

"Slytherin's Urquhart's got the Quaffle," a dazed voice drifted across the pitch, "he's the team captain, not a bad size, about the same size as his fellow players, I guess it's a special type of selection - -with the big build they can hold down their brooms when dealing with windy and other bad weather, and of course, it's a beautiful weather today, I saw the giant squid lying on the ice and sunbathing-"

Spectators in the bleachers looked in the direction of Black Lake.

The commentator for the match is indeed Luna, dressed as she usually is, her pale yellow, tousled hair strewn with small, colourful stones the size of nail caps, which are shining in the sunlight. On the desk in front of her lay a lion-shaped hat, the size of a real lion's head, which Harry knew could make a very realistic roar, and Professor McGonagall next to her fidgeted, glancing at it every two seconds.

"Urquhart's starting to attack, he got a mean look on his face, I think it's more oppressive than the last player who got the ball, his back seems wider-"

" The last one was him too!" Professor McGonagall reminded her in a loud voice.

The audience burst into laughter. Luna looked confused and said, "Really? I couldn't recognize them, they all look alike - oh, look, Ginny intercepted the ball, I like her, she's nice - three Slytherin players gathered around and Ginny passed the ball to Demelza, an equally skinny girl, Gryffindor seemed to have a tradition of selecting girls for chaser role, the exact opposite of Slytherin."

"Now it's Slytherin's turn to get the ball, it goes in, and the Gryffindor keeper misses it, what a shame, it might have been the sun burning up, but Ron looks a bit deflated -"

"Slytherins lead ten to zero!" Professor McGonagall shouted into Luna's microphone.

Harry's heart sank as he lowered his flight, only to see Ron's expressionless face with his back to the goal. Peakes and Coote were hovering near the goal, and a mass of fiery red hair - it is Ginny, shouting at both of them in annoyance, "What are you doing?" At that moment a swift Bludger flew towards Harry, who jerked his head down as it grazed his scalp, and he straightened up to see Gregory Goyle waving his bat and grinning at him.

Once again, Luna's Ethereal commentary came from the grandstand.

"Gryffindor's seeker Harry has appeared, he was very far away earlier, perhaps to adjust his tactics - Gryffindor is playing very conservatively, and their beaters are staying in their own half of the field without wanting to come out." Luna said calmly, "We should be understanding, it's their first time on the field, and of course, it could be some sort of tactic I can't tell, I don't know much about Quidditch ..."

There was loud laughter heard from the bleachers.

The disadvantage of not having two beaters available to play along was apparent, as the three Gryffindor girls struggled against the Slytherin chasers and also had to watch out for Bludgers flying out of nowhere, and Ginny was forced to give up both times she snatched a Quaffle.

"The Slytherin players organize their attack under the leadership of their captain - eh? Gryffindor beater Peakes finally moved away from his own goal, would that be a welcoming change?" Luna said, "But the other one is still circling in the same place, he looks like Ron's bodyguard, even though he's actually only two-thirds the size of Ron in terms of stature, but a wooden bat is still intimidating when you can't use your wand -"

"Oh, look! Three of Slytherin's chasers have broken through halfway, and they are constantly passing the ball to each other, are they indecisive about whom to let throw the ball? Now is not the time to hesitate -"

"Slytherin is using the Thimblerig Shuffle." Professor McGonagall interjected.

Harry lowered his altitude nervously, his heart on the edge of his throat - a Thimblerig Shuffle is when three chasers from one team approach the opposing team's goal at the same time, swapping Quaffle at high speed until the last minute, when the one with the greatest positional advantage enters the scoring area to throw the ball, leaving the keeper on the defensive side unable to accurately determine who is going to take the lead and loses sight of the other side.

Ron's face turned pale as the broom swayed back and forth between three large rings, a sign that he hadn't made up his mind. The beater, Coote, was flapping in the air helplessly, unable to do anything, when - "Bang!" There was a loud bang and a tricky Bludger slammed into the back of the head of the player in the silver and green jersey on the left, and he went tumbling off.

It was Peakes!

For a moment Harry thought he was going to give his order up as he went to help Ginny and the girls, but Peakes' powerful shot across half the field salvaged some of the situations, and then Ron finally made the right decision by lunging forward and narrowly deflecting Urquhart's throw with a one in two probability thrilling save. A cheer went up from the crowd.

"Good job!" Harry shouted and a small smile appeared on Ron's face, even though it was Peakes that Harry was complimenting, it didn't matter. "Counterattack!" Harry yelled, "Coote, show them what you're made of!"

A wide grin spread across Coote's face as he caught the Bludger that Peakes had hit and aimed at Urquhart with a backhand, and with a thud, Urquhart stumbled around on his broom, and straightened up as if nothing had happened, gesturing a rude finger at Coote. Then a time-out was called.

"That was a good shot." Grindelwald said from the bleachers, as he lowered his Omnioculars. Dumbledore smirked and looked at the pitch without speaking.

At that moment, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Harry landed on his feet as the healers examined the Slytherin player who had been hit in the back of the head, he kept shaking his head and looked dazed, as if he had suffered a concussion. But when Madam Pomfrey fed him a large dose of the potion, he was able to return to the field again.

The game started to get heated. That's a polite way of saying, to put it another way, doing whatever it takes to score, and to put it more bluntly -

"The game has become unsightly." Luna said regretfully, "The Slytherin players seem to be uniformly suffering from clinginess, they're sticking close to people and the good Gryffindor girls aren't quite used to it." She really seemed to think so, and for the next ten minutes, she focused her attention on 'more interesting' things, like the oddly shaped clouds in the sky, the huge banner in the stand bearing the design of a small silvery-green snake swallowing a lion with its gaping maw.

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"I didn't see the bulge in the snake's stomach." Luna said seriously. Professor McGonagall, on one side of the seat, stood with a stern face, her fingers flexing as if trying to snatch the microphone out of her hands.

Harry wasn't interested in the banner.

He kept wandering over the field, occasionally glancing at the back of Draco Malfoy's head as it glistened in the sunlight, and Draco took the opposite strategy to Harry, gliding close to the grass. There were advantages and disadvantages to both approaches, and if Draco happened to spot the golden Snitch nearby, the match would be a no-brainer, but his search was clearly less efficient than Harry's - but that couldn't be helped, as past matches had proven that when Harry was in good form he was always one step ahead of the others in spotting the flying Snitch.

Still, Harry is playing as captain for the first time, which made him always inevitably focus his attention on his own team's players.

On the field, Slytherin's chaser Vaisey was in a favourable position by virtue of his size, constantly blocking Ginny's view, and the other two players kept Demelza dead in place, looking like two fat cabbages sandwiching a poor little tomato. They headed straight for the ground and Demelza couldn't break free either left or right and looked like she would hit the ground, but thanks to Coote's Bludger she was able to get out of the situation.

It is a style and tactic that Slytherin excelled at, one that is closer to a primitive form of Quidditch - an aerial collision, similar to a medieval horse Jousting, with the sole aim of knocking as many other players off their brooms as possible, leaving the last one as the winner. These things were told to the players by Wood when he was still around, and he used them to taunt the Slytherin team for leaving their brains behind centuries ago.

Harry later found a detailed version in the book Quidditch Through the Ages.

"But it does work sometimes," Wood himself admitted that the Slytherin team's tactics had some merit: "Talented players are rare, but average players combined with exaggerated size can easily get the upper hand - except for their seeker, they're skillwise generally weak." He told Harry in a reassuring tone.

On the pitch, the commentary stand had been silent for five minutes as today's commentator seemed to have zoned out, completely absorbed in her own world. But Luna finally remembered her duty when the bleachers suddenly erupted with fierce shouts.

"Now it's Katie who has the ball, she's an older player with a lot of experience." She said briskly, "Slytherin's three chasers are busy fouling, there's a straight path ahead, just be careful not to get hit by a Bludger - oh, wow, wow," she let out a series of exclamations, her eyes becoming more bulging. "Katie's teammates have helped her clear the way, and she's going straight to the Slytherin keeper, sorry, I forgot his name -"

Professor McGonagall huffed and grabbed the microphone, just about to say something when Luna's eyes suddenly widened, "Look!"

There was a gasp from the crowd.

Katie Bell seemed to have made a mistake she shouldn't have made, she had dived down with a Quaffle in her arms, the opposing keeper was unblinkingly watching her movements, trying to see something, but he was presented with the same problem as Ron - the opponent was too fast and by the time she revealed her true intentions it would be too late, he could only gauge a general direction and move towards her, leaving the goal wide open.

At that moment, if Katie suddenly turned - which was easy, as she only weighed half as much as her opponent - she would be rewarded with an unguarded goal, but Katie gave in and voluntarily threw the Quaffle in her hand, with a light movement, as if afraid her opponent wouldn't be able to catch it.

The keeper caught the ball with ease. He froze, unable to believe his good fortune.

There was a huge groan and boos from the stands.

Madam Hooch, the referee, shoved her silver whistle in her mouth, ready to blow, after the clumsy match-fixing incident that had taken place in front of her, but she changed her mind immediately - "Harry!" Katie shouted.

Harry followed her line of sight and saw a small golden orb hovering silently in the centre of the Slytherin goal.

A wave of ecstasy surged through him and his broom sped up so fast that everything in the field slowed down in his eyes: Draco had just turned his head back, with a grin on his face, seemingly delighted that his opponent had made a major mistake; the Slytherin keeper was cheering all over the field as he clutched the Quaffle and ran up to Katie Bell and waved his fist demonstratively ... This is the moment, Harry thought, leaning over like a golden-red javelin and dashing past, brushing the top of the keeper's head - Harry could even see the teeth behind his wide grin - and then he reached out and grabbed it.

Got it! Harry spun in the air and came to a stop just in front of the goal, his arms raised and the two narrow wings of the golden snitch poked out of his fingers.

The bleachers froze for a couple of seconds, and it was Luna who was the first to react, or certainly because she didn't find anything wrong with it, and as the field fell silent, she concluded with almost the clearest voice she had spoken in the entire game.

"Harry has caught the golden snitch and the match is over."

The bleachers instantly turned into a sea of scarlet as the enthusiastic crowd brought out beautiful flags from various corners of their bodies. Cheers echoed through the cold sky, mingled with the roars and groans of the Slytherins. Slytherin Captain Urquhart rushed over towards Madam Hooch shouting and accusing Gryffindor of cheating, but even the harshest of referees couldn't pick a fault with the act of trading ten points for a hundred and fifty points, which is simply a huge profit.

"Katie Bell - Katie Bell - Katie Bell -"

It was the first time the name of another player was enthusiastically shouted when Harry caught the golden snitch, but Harry was unable to feel any semblance of jealousy in his heart, and he impatiently jumped off his broom and hugged Katie Bell tightly, calling her name along with the crowd on the field, after which more players rushed down and hugged each other.

There was a slight mishap in the middle.

Luna secretly put on her lion-headed hat when Professor McGonagall wasn't paying attention, and the roar from the lion carried throughout all the bleachers via the commentary stand's microphone, leaving everyone dazed and confused, and Harry suspected he was temporarily deaf when he saw Professor McGonagall's face stretched and her mouth open and close but he couldn't hear a sound.

There was no shortage of clever people in the audience, and one person took the lead as he pulled out his wand and fired fireworks into the sky, which then led to a mass of imitators.

As Ginny's fiery red hair bounced around in front of him with her face flushed like a tempting sweet syrup-coated fruit tart, Harry finally couldn't resist the urge to kiss her.

Ginny was a little surprised at first, but then she responded with great passion.

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