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"It's time to go." Ten minutes later, Grace stood up and said.
The group left the auditorium and strode towards the stadium.
The weather outside is nice, and although it's still a little cold, it's much better than it was a week ago.
Several people came to the locker room and changed into Quidditch uniforms.
"The conditions are very favorable to us," Grace said. "The most experienced Katie Bell is still at St. Mungo's, and Gryffindor has to replace a new Chaser."
"Who?" Mikel asked.
"Dean Thomas."
"Who?"
"Potter's classmate."
"Oh, a sixth-grade student." Mickel felt relieved immediately.
Generally speaking, the younger the new players are, the more talented they are. Harry, for example, joined the team in the first grade.
As for the new players in the sixth grade, they are basically the kind who have not been selected in the past few years. They really can't choose anyone this year, so they join based on their physical advantages.
There are exceptions, but that's the case for the most part.
As for Dean Thomas, Mikel has almost never heard of his name.
"Okay, this is our first game, don't underestimate the opponent." Grace said, "The game starts in five minutes. You'd better put on your boots quickly."
They came to the crowded stadium outside, and deafening cheers immediately came from the stands. They were Hufflepuff supporters. They were wearing the same color clothes and looked like a golden ocean.
And judging from the supporters, the number of Hufflepuffs is obviously much larger, accounting for about two-thirds of the stands.
This is mainly due to Slytherin. Their purpose is very clear. Whoever is Gryffindor's opponent, they will support him unconditionally.
Grace and Harry walked up to Ms. Hooch and shook each other's hands.
There was no tense atmosphere, and both captains seemed quite polite.
"Get on the broom and listen to my whistle...three...two...one!"
As the whistle sounded, everyone immediately rose into the air on their broomsticks.
"Okay, now they set off."
A completely unfamiliar voice came from the commentary box. This was Li Jordan's new commentator after graduation, Hufflepuff's Zachary Smith.
"What a surprise, I actually saw Ron Weasley, I thought after his poor performance last term, he would not be kept in the team... Oh, and he has a close personal relationship with the captain, no doubt It helped him a lot.”
There was a burst of jeers from the Slytherin side, and within a minute of the start, they recognized this new explanation.
Harry looked annoyed, but he had no time for that now.
"Grace got the Quaffle...What a charming girl...Kyle flew over, there was no one next to him, it was a good opportunity, just pass...
"Oh my God, she didn't pass to Kyle, she passed to Toews...wait!"
Zachary Smith suddenly screamed: "What an unexpected tactic. Kyle is not a chaser, he is a seeker!"
In fact, he didn't need to remind him. Many people had already noticed that Kyle had not looked at the Quaffle since the start of the game, but flew directly to the highest place... This is something only a seeker would do.
They need a wider field of view to find the Snitch!
In the audience, Qiu looked at the court with a shocked face. He couldn't help but turned around and asked, "Why didn't you tell me that Kyle went to be a seeker!"
"I thought you could guess it just now." Kanna laughed.
Qiu then remembered what Kyle had just said in the auditorium.
But what kind of reminder is this? After all, when Hufflepuff was training before, Hufflepuff's seeker was obviously someone else. No matter how hard she tried, she would never have guessed that they would replace him directly during the game. ah!
"That's the benefit of being a substitute," Kangna explained: "He can change positions at will."
"Have you known this for a long time?" Qiu asked.
"No, I just found out yesterday." Kangna said, "This is also the tactic they discussed last night."
"I have to say, this tactic was so successful." Qiu couldn't help but say, "Hufflepuff gave everyone a surprise!"
The truth was exactly what she said. After learning that Kyle was replacing the Seeker position, the audience immediately became excited.
Everyone knows that the only thing that can fight against Firebolt is another Firebolt, and now Hufflepuff's only shortcoming has been filled.
As for Kyle's Seeker skills... no one seems to be thinking about this issue at all.
"boom!"
Just when the cheers on the court reached their peak, in the tower not far away, Snape pushed open the oak door of the principal's office and walked in angrily.
He placed a water glass in his hand heavily on the table.
Dumbledore, who was watching the game through the window, was startled. When he turned around, he saw that Snape's face was red with anger.
It was unusual for Snape to lose his composure like this.
"Severus, what's wrong with you?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"See for yourself!" Snape pointed to his water glass, which contained half a cup of tea and five or six round, gray-brown balls.
As soon as Dumbledore walked over, he smelled a pungent smell.
"Oh, Severus, are you going to recommend some new potion tea to me?" Dumbledore took a half step back and said seriously: "Thank you for your kindness, but I am old. You may not be able to accept the taste...you should keep it for yourself."
"Please, great Headmaster Dumbledore, take a closer look at what this is..." Snape said coldly.
"Oh?" Dumbledore walked over reluctantly and looked him over with narrowed eyes.
"It looks familiar... Isn't this the fertilizer prepared by Pomona? The pot of crab claws on my windowsill uses this fertilizer, and the effect is great.
"But Pomona didn't tell me that this thing can also be used to make tea."
"Of course it can't." Snape squinted his eyes. "It was obviously a student who secretly threw them into my cup, and I'm sure..."
Snape turned towards the window, looked at the lively Quidditch match outside, and said with certainty: "The person who did this must be among them."
"Perhaps you are overthinking, Severus." Dumbledore said. He moved his fingers slightly, and a piece of brown fluff floated out of the water glass.
The velvet is very thin, almost like hair. You may not even notice it unless you look carefully.
"What is this, whose hair is it?" Snape thought about people with brown hair in Hogwarts.
"No, Severus, this is not hair, it belongs to a very peculiar animal." Dumbledore said, "I can just see that this is sniffing down."
"Sniff?" Snape frowned.
"Yes, it's the sniffing down, I'm sure." Dumbledore said, "In order to chase all the shiny things, they can pass through almost any gap, even if the distance between the gaps is narrower than this down. "
"It seems that a little guy ran out of the Forbidden Forest." He glanced at Snape, "And I guess you must have accidentally taken out something shiny and it saw it, so it went all the way. Follow you to the office."
"I don't have anything stupid like what you're talking about," Snape said expressionlessly.
"That's not necessarily true." Dumbledore shook his head. "Coins, glass bottles, or silver knives used to cut potions are all their targets."
Snape took two steps forward.
“So what you’re saying is that a Forbidden Forest Niffler came into my office and took nothing but a handful of fertilizer into my water glass?
"It's a really good story. So, do you believe it?"
"It's not impossible." Dumbledore's expression didn't change at all, and he said calmly, "I happen to know someone who knows Sniff very well, and I won't lie to you."
"Oh..." Snape laughed angrily, and then stared at Dumbledore without saying a word.
Under his gaze, Dumbledore's eyes didn't even change at all, "And Severus, this is a good thing."
"You call this a good thing?" Snape asked in a long voice.
"Of course." Dumbledore explained: "Niffler will not visit a place where there is no gain a second time. You can do your own thing with confidence and boldness in the future."
Snape's expression changed slightly.
"You mean..."
"I was just discussing with you the magical animal Niffler." Dumbledore smiled and came to the window again to look outside. "It was such a wonderful game. I should have gone to watch it if I had known it." , of course, it’s actually not bad here.
"Want to come together, Severus, this location is really good."
Snape said nothing, turned and left without saying a word.
"You forgot your things." Dumbledore reminded from behind, but Snape turned a deaf ear and opened the door and walked out.
"How careless..." Dumbledore waved his wand, and the water glass on the table disappeared in an instant. Then a large amount of water mist came out of a silverware like a watering can on the table, and the remaining water in the room was wiped out. The smell also dissipated.
Meanwhile, on the Quidditch pitch.
Just as Grace thought, the Gryffindor team was no match for Hufflepuff, and the game was decided in twenty minutes.
But the problem was not the Ron Weasley and substitute chaser Dean Thomas she mentioned before. In fact, the performance of the two of them was quite remarkable, not too bad.
Mainly the two newly added batsmen.
Whether it was because he was too nervous or for some other reason, Perks of Gryffindor originally wanted to stop Kyle's Bludger, but he hit Harry directly.
Harry, who was chasing the Golden Snitch, didn't take any precautions against his teammates. As a result, he was hit hard by the Bludger and almost fell off his broom.
Taking advantage of the opportunity for him to adjust his body, Kyle accelerated and grabbed the Golden Snitch in front of him.
As Ms. Hooch blew the whistle to end the game, Perks quickly flew to Harry's side.
"I'm sorry!" He apologized repeatedly, "I didn't mean it. It was Mikel Drake. He suddenly shouted behind me and I missed the target."
Harry covered his arms and wanted to scold him loudly. He would have definitely done so before, but thinking that he was the captain now, he could only sigh helplessly and said nothing.
Ginny on the side said something, but her voice was drowned in the waves of cheers around her.
……
"I knew we could win!" Mikel said excitedly in the Hufflepuff locker room: "Those two new batters are so far behind Fred George.
"It's so easy... In my opinion, their intentions are like a black lake frozen in winter, they can be seen through at a glance."
"I think so too." Another Chaser said with a smile: "The Bludgers were particularly easy to hide today."
Kyle felt the same way.
Although he had never been a seeker before, he often received special care from Fred and George. As twins, they worked together tacitly, and the Bludgers would always fly from various tricky angles, making it difficult to guard against.
This also requires Kyle to be very alert during the game and always pay attention to the movement of the Bludger.