Chapter 136: Quidditch counter-buy, villa next to the sea

After Halloween, it’s November.

Entering November means that Hogwarts Castle has officially entered winter, and it also means that the first official Quidditch match of each school year will kick off this month.

After a draw, the first game of the year was Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

Although the Gryffindor players didn't show it on their faces, they were actually a little unsure in their hearts.

This is because, with the support of Draco Malfoy's rich father, all members of the Slytherin team replaced the latest Nimbus 2001 broomsticks, whose performance is simply unparalleled to that of Gryffindor. Sweeping through the old antiques caused a crushing situation, and only the Nimbus 2000 given to Harry by Professor McGonagall could compete with them.

The two batsmen, Fred and George, had already scouted out the enemy situation early. According to them, "Slytherin's team members flew as fast as lightning!"

Because of Slytherin's top hardware, Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, was very anxious during this time.

In order to defend the Quidditch Cup championship, he would pull the Gryffindor players out whenever he had time to conduct a kind of devilish training that made Harry and others talk about it.

According to Fred and George's description, Wood's devil training was more perverted than Professor Dracula's Defense Against the Dark Arts class and dueling club!

…

The first Saturday morning in November, the day the first Quidditch match begins.

Harry woke up early in the Gryffindor dormitory.

He lay on the bed for a while, unconsciously looking out the window, looking from the tall Gryffindor Tower at the Quidditch pitch in the distance that was still green even in winter, thinking about the upcoming Quidditch match.

Harry was a little nervous.

He was mainly thinking about what Wood, who was eager to defend the championship, would say if Gryffindor lost; at the same time, he also thought about the fact that the teams they had to face all rode the fastest money could buy. broom, this obvious hardware gap cannot be made up for by a little bit of technology.

But when he thought of the arrogant faces of the Slytherin Quidditch players, when he thought of Malfoy humiliating Hermione as a mudblood, and of Ron's pain when he was hit by his own slug curse... Harry never So eager to beat the Slytherin team now!

His heart was tumbling, and he lay in bed with his eyes open and thought wildly for half an hour. Then he got up, got dressed, and went downstairs to have breakfast early.

When he arrived at the auditorium, he found that the other members of the Gryffindor team probably had the same mood as him and had already arrived early.

They were crowded around the long, empty dining table, all of them looking nervous and taciturn...

It was approaching eleven o'clock when the Quidditch match officially started. Almost all the teachers and students in the school began to go to the Quidditch stadium to watch the match between the defending champion of the previous school year and the second-placed team in the standings.

It was a hot and humid day, and there was a faint sound of thunder in the sky.

When Harry entered the dressing room, his two best friends, Ron and Hermione, rushed over to wish him good luck.

Afterwards, he and the other team members put on the bright red Gryffindor Quidditch uniforms, then sat down and listened to Wood's customary pre-game pep talk to them.

"The Slytherin team's brooms are better than ours. This is undeniable." Wood said seriously, "But every one of us sitting on the brooms is better than them! We train harder than them, in all kinds of weather We have flown in all kinds of environments, and with weather like today, it would be an advantage for us if it rained!”

"You're quite right," George added with a shrug, "my clothes haven't been dry since August."

"Of course, Professor Dracula's Defense Against the Dark Arts class and the dueling club also contributed a lot." Fred added.

Wood glared at the two of them and continued to say passionately: "We want them to regret it and let them know that seekers who pay their way into the team cannot win the game!"

Harry nodded in understanding.

Wood was very emotional and his chest was heaving. He turned to Harry and said, "It's up to you, Harry!"

"You have to let them see that as a Seeker, a rich father alone is not enough. Harry, today you have to catch the Golden Snitch before Malfoy, or die on the field! Because we We have to win today, we have to win!”

He repeated "must win" twice, which shows how eager the Gryffindor team captain is to win.

"So don't stress, Harry." Fred winked at him and reassured.

However, the next moment, Wood turned his vicious eyes to Fred and George.

"I heard that you opened another gambling game and asked Slytherin to win?" He said fiercely, "If I see that you are not working hard during the game today, let's see how I deal with it. you!"

"Ah... Hahaha, Oliver, how did you know?" Fred laughed, "Actually, this is just our strategy. Don't you know that smooth saying -"

"In Quidditch, buy back, and the villa is next to the sea; occasionally buy a draw, and ride on the Nimbus; bet big on the odd one, and surpass the big players; buy the ball, buy a strong team, and queue up on the rooftop... We are the strong team, so we can't purchase!"

"After all that, you don't want us to lose the game?!" Wood's expression became even more dangerous.

"Stop, Oliver, Fred was just kidding!" George quickly stood in front of Wood and held down his tightly clenched fists. "Actually, we did it to retaliate against those big Slytherin dogs. We deliberately let him go." The limelight came out..."

"Even if we both beat Slytherin, they will definitely think that we have no confidence in this game and will place bets with a sense of luck... If you don't believe it, look, we have already cheated half of Slytherin College. !”

George took out a book full of various betting amounts and waved it in front of Wood.

"And we only bet two Silver Sickles on Slytherin. The real big bet was on Gryffindor instead of us." Fred also said.

Wood nodded with satisfaction when he saw the astronomical number "20 Galleons" after Lee Jordan's name.

"In that case, in order to show my determination, help me put in all my savings!" Wood waved his hand, "I am bound to make him a big profit this time!"

Fred: "?!"

George: "Do you want to think about it again... buy football and strong teams? Go queue up on the rooftop, Oliver..."

"No need to persuade me, I've made up my mind!" Wood said confidently.

"Okay, then I'll wait for you on the rooftop of the Astronomy Tower." Fred gave him a thumbs up.

"..."

Harry looked at the team members who had made heavy bets and felt even more pressure...

Finally, it was time for the Quidditch match to officially begin.

When Harry and the others came out of the locker room and walked to the field, they were greeted by a loud noise.

Mainly cheers, as both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff wanted to see Slytherin defeated, but the crowd could also be heard booing and booing from the Slytherin students. .

Mrs. Hooch, the Quidditch referee, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands. They stared at each other threateningly and squeezed each other's hands unnecessarily.

"Listen to my whistle," Mrs. Hooch shouted, "three...two...one..."

"All--"

The whistle sounded.

The crowd roared with excitement, welcoming them to take off. The fourteen team members jumped into the leaden gray sky together, each arriving at the position they had practiced countless times.

Harry, as Seeker, flies higher than all the team members. He squinted his eyes and looked around, looking for the shadow of the Golden Snitch.

"Are you okay, Scarhead?" Malfoy called in a mocking voice.

He rode Nimbus 2001 and shuttled under Harry like an arrow, seeming to show off the speed of his new broom.

Harry had no time to pay attention to Malfoy. He was under a lot of pressure in this game and just wanted to find the Golden Snitch as soon as possible.

At this moment, a heavy black Bludger suddenly flew towards Harry and hit him hard on the head.

He barely dodged it by a hair and even felt the ball grazing his hair as it flew by.

"What a surprise, Harry!" George flew over and said in shock.

Batting bat in hand, he galloped past Harry, ready to hit the bludger at the Slytherins.

I saw George hitting the Bludger hard against a Slytherin player on the opposite side, trying to knock him off his broom.

But what neither Harry nor George expected was that the Bludger suddenly changed its direction midway and flew straight towards Harry.

Harry quickly lowered his broom and barely dodged it again.

George smacked the Bludger hard at Malfoy again. However, like a boomerang, the Bludger turned around again and headed straight for Harry's head.

Harry felt something was wrong, so he speeded up instantly and flew to the other end of the field in a whoosh.

Yet he could hear the Bludger still whizzing after him.

'How is this going? ’ Harry thought in surprise.

Fred was ready to go, waiting for the Bludger at the other end. Harry lowered his head suddenly, and Fred used all his strength to hit the Bludger hard, sending the Bludger to the other side of the pitch.

"Good shot! No problem now!" Fred shouted happily.

But he was wrong again.

The Bludger seemed to be attracted to Harry by magnetic force and flew after him again. Harry had no choice but to speed up and escape.

It began to rain gradually in the sky, and big drops of rain hit Harry's face and splashed on his glasses.

According to Wood, this situation was beneficial to Gryffindor, who had experienced training in all weathers, but Harry was not happy at all.

Under the cover of the raindrops, he was completely unable to understand other situations on the field, and could only barely focus on himself to avoid the Bludger that had been surrounding him.

"The Slytherins are ahead, sixty to zero."

Commentator Lee Jordan's regretful voice rang out on the Quidditch pitch.

Obviously, the Slytherin team's latest broomsticks worked, and the Gryffindor players couldn't stop their fast break.

Meanwhile, the crazy Bludger was still trying its best to knock Harry out of the air.

In order to protect Harry from being shot down by the Bludger, Fred and George have been flying closely to his left and right. This makes Harry only see their arms that continuously hit the Bludger, and there is no hope of finding the Golden Snitch. , let alone catch it.

"Someone has tampered with this Bludger..." Fred also discovered the problem. He frowned and muttered, while forcefully knocking away the Bludger that launched another round of attacks on Harry.

"We need a timeout," George said with a nod.

He raised his hands and folded them together to signal to Wood, while working with Fred to prevent the Bludger from breaking Harry's nose.

As a qualified captain, Wood clearly caught his signal. He gestured to Mrs. Hooch to pause the game.

"Dudu——"

Mrs. Hooch's whistle blew.

Harry, Fred and George landed on the ground, still dodging the crazed Bludger.

"What's going on?" Wood came over with a broom and asked doubtfully.

Harry flew too high, the raindrops were too heavy, and Wood didn't notice anything was wrong with him.

"We were scored consecutively, and we couldn't organize an effective offense at all." He complained, "Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger prevented Angelina from scoring? Is it possible? Do you really want to make money by counterpressing those two Sikos in Slytherin?"

"We were twenty feet above her, trying to stop another Bludger from killing Harry, Oliver," said George angrily. "Someone had done something to that ball - it wouldn't let Harry go. The whole game, he kept stumbling around Harry and didn't even chase anyone else!"

"Maybe someone from the Slytherin team did something to it." Fred speculated, "Or like last year, a dark wizard like Quirrell sneaked into Hogwarts and wanted to do something to Harry. unfavorable!"

"But those Bludgers have been locked in Mrs. Hooch's office since our last training. They were still fine at that time..." Wood said anxiously, "I'll try to see if I can ask Mrs. Hooch Requesting a replacement Bludger."

He walked towards Mrs. Hooch and anxiously explained Harry's situation.

Then Mrs. Huo Qi nodded and took the Bludger over for inspection.

"I don't see anything wrong with this Bludger." She checked it inside and out, then shook her head, "The flight path of the Bludger is completely random. In previous games, there have been times when a ball has been surrounded by a ball. In the case of people flying, maybe you are overthinking it?"

"But, Mrs. Hooch..." Fred wanted to defend himself, but was interrupted by Mrs. Hooch.

"Your timeout is coming, can you continue the game?" She looked at her watch and said seriously.

"Listen." Harry shook his head at Fred and George. "You two are flying around me all the time. I have no hope of catching the Golden Snitch! You should go back to the other team members. , I can handle that wild ball myself."

"But we can't just watch you die!" George said excitedly.

The conscience of the Wesley twins could not allow them to abandon Harry, even if they had to pay twenty Galleons.

Just when a few people were about to argue, an interesting voice rang out——

"It seems you have some trouble here?"

…

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