In March at Hogwarts, as soon as the catkins flutter in the air, spring has undoubtedly arrived.
New buds appeared on the whomping willow's thick and tender branches, as if some new life was brewing.
The ice on the Black Lake first cracked into several cracks, and then melted in the gradually warming spring breeze, turning into pieces of ice debris that drifted on the still somewhat chilly lake surface.
The lawns around the castle were once again green, and little wizards in thin wizard robes were playing and frolicking on the lawn.
After the Christmas holidays, after only two more months of classes at Hogwarts, the Easter holidays arrived.
Unlike the Christmas holiday when families reunite, few little wizards choose to go home during the Easter holiday.
This is because the holiday is not very long, and most young wizards do not deserve to travel such a long distance from Scotland to England just to go home.
In addition, Easter is very close to the final exam week in June, so professors often assign a lot of homework during the Easter holiday to prevent these young people with little self-control from having fun throughout the holiday and forgetting to study.
Whenever they encounter such a large number of homework, the little wizards who originally complained about Professor Dracula because of the devilish training began to praise him and hoped that every professor would be like Professor Dracula...
Well... that won't work. If every professor arranges devilish training like Professor Dracula, won't they be exhausted to death in school
So the young wizards decided that the best professors at Hogwarts would be the casual Professor Dracula who assigns homework, the rigorous Professor McGonagall who defines the scope of exams, the amiable Professor Sprout who teaches, and the tireless Professor Flitwick who accompanies the practice...
As for Professor Snape... well, forget it!
During the Easter holidays, Harry and the other second-year students had something new to think about -
They should take third grade courses!
This matter, at least in Hermione's opinion, needs to be treated with caution.
"This will affect our entire future." Hermione said to Harry and Ron very seriously in the Gryffindor common room.
At this point, they were all sitting on the sofa in the lounge, carefully studying the list of new courses and making notes on them.
"I just want to give up Potions," said Harry miserably.
Ever since he and Snape reconciled their relationship at the end of last school year, but ended up falling out again, Harry had no idea how to face this Potions Professor who had once saved him but always went against him.
After entering the second year, Snape even began to target Harry more harshly. If Gryffindor did not lose more than 20 points in any Potions class that Harry attended, it could be regarded as Snape having a change of heart!
"Impossible," Ron said dejectedly, "We have to take all the original subjects, otherwise Neville would have dropped Potions long ago..."
He glanced at Neville who was sitting not far away.
Neville was also a big point loser for Gryffindor in Potions class.
Snape found that he was extremely clumsy at potions, so he devoted part of every class to watching Neville, always ready to find reasons to deduct points from Gryffindor.
"But Potions is very important!" Hermione said in surprise. "Whether you want to be an Auror, a pharmacist, or a healer, Potions is an essential course."
"According to this attitude, I don't think Neville is going to choose these careers," Ron shrugged and said, "I guess Neville will choose a job related to Herbology. He is the most active in Professor Sprout's Herbology class."
Neville Longbottom's personality seemed to have undergone some subtle changes since he experienced the open class of Defense Against the Dark Arts taught by Dracula in the auditorium.
Even in Herbology, which was Neville's best class, he rarely raised his hand to speak because he was introverted.
But after the open class of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Neville became more enthusiastic. Whenever Professor Sprout asked a question he was familiar with, he would raise his hand first, and even snatched away a lot of points that originally belonged to Hermione.
Not only that, he also became active in other classes, at least willing to raise his hand to answer questions he could answer.
Of course, Snape's Potions class is still Neville's biggest problem. His fear of the Potions Professor cannot be resolved by a few words of advice from Dracula!
At this time, Neville was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, just like Harry, Ron and Hermione, choosing which elective courses to take for his third year.
The wizards and witches at home wrote to him one after another, giving him many different suggestions on how to choose courses.
Neville's choice phobia struck, he felt a little overwhelmed, extremely nervous. He sat there looking at the course list, his face full of entanglement, and asked others if they thought Arithmancy sounded more difficult to learn than Ancient Magic Runes.
The little wizard sitting next to Neville is Dean Thomas, who, like Harry, grew up among Muggles.
The young wizard really didn't know how to choose his courses, so he closed his eyes and used his magic wand to randomly point at things on the list, muttering to himself, "I'll choose whoever the little rooster points to," and finally chose whatever course the rooster pointed to.
Among the little wizards in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione was probably the calmest.
She signed for all the subjects without following anyone's advice.
By the time almost everyone had chosen their courses, Harry was still holding the quill in his hand.
Harry always felt that he had no real advantage in any subject other than Defense Against the Dark Arts—he simply couldn't decide between the five elective courses of Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes.
Percy Weiss noticed his hesitation and came over eagerly to teach him.
"It depends on where you want to go, Harry," he said. "You must plan for the future early, so I recommend the Divination class. This class can provide some reference for your future."
"Besides that, classmates say that it's stupid to take Muggle Studies, but I personally think that wizards should have a thorough understanding of non-magical society, especially if they want to work in jobs that have close contact with Muggles - look at my father, he has to deal with Muggle affairs all the time."
"My brother Charlie always loved being outdoors, so he chose Care of Magical Creatures, and later went to work at a dragon sanctuary in Romania. So, play to your strengths, Harry!"
Percy patted Harry's shoulder encouragingly.
After Percy left, Harry thought for a long time alone and felt that apart from Defense Against the Dark Arts, the only thing he was really good at was Quidditch.
"Why isn't there a Quidditch elective course?" He sighed in distress, leaning on the table.
Finally, he took Ron's course selection list and filled in the same elective courses as him.
Harry felt that even if he had not made good choices and had chosen some difficult courses, at least there was someone willing to help him in a friendly manner, and the two of them could copy each other... No, share the homework!
Speaking of Quidditch, Harry remembered that the Gryffindor team's next Quidditch match was against the Hufflepuff team.
As captain of the Gryffindor team, Wood insisted that his players train every day.
Because there are duel club meetings before dinner every night from Monday to Friday, Wood arranges the daily training after dinner, so that the team members can continue with the devilish Quidditch training after dinner despite the fatigue after the devilish duel practice.
Wood said that it was to enhance the players' physical fitness and endurance and improve their ability to cope with protracted battles.
As a result, Harry and other members of the Gryffindor team had little time to do anything other than attend Dueling Club, Quidditch training and complete their homework every day.
However, this high-intensity training is not without benefits.
The team members cooperated more and more skillfully and in harmony during Quidditch training, and Harry's physique, which had been thin due to poor meals at the Dursleys', gradually became more angular.
As he walked up to his dorm to put down his broomstick the night before Saturday's match, he felt that Gryffindor had never been more certain of winning the Quidditch Cup!
…
The next morning, the weather was clear and sunny.
A pleasant breeze gently blew across the lake surface where the ice had completely melted, causing slight ripples on the water.
"Perfect weather for a Quidditch match!" Wood said enthusiastically at the Gryffindor table, adding lots of scrambled eggs to each player's plate. "Harry, cheer up, you need a good breakfast."
Harry, who was the biggest contributor to the Gryffindor Quidditch team's winning of the Quidditch Cup last school year, was favored by Wood to a great extent. This was very obvious in that he only added two pieces of scrambled eggs to most of the other players' dishes, but added four pieces to Harry's.
"That's not fair, Wood!" Fred and George protested. "You're being blatantly biased!"
They each added a piece of scrambled egg to their plates.
"You can add the eggs yourself." Wood glanced at the twins and then plunged into his heated discussion with Harry about today's Quidditch tactics.
After dinner, Harry walked quickly to Gryffindor Building, picked up his Nimbus 2000, and joined the crowd heading to the Quidditch pitch.
"The overall strength of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team is a little weaker than ours, but their seeker, Cedric Diggory, is not weak." Wood squeezed through the crowd and continued to talk in Harry's ear, "Harry, what you have to do is keep an eye on Cedric and catch the Golden Snitch before him..."
Harry nodded perfunctorily and looked around, trying to find a figure who was also a seeker of a Quidditch team.
Just as he was getting closer to the tall audience seats at the Quidditch stadium, Harry stopped in his tracks.
He saw a very beautiful Asian girl with long, cascading black hair. She was holding a broom in her hand. The gentle bookish air that originally lingered around her now looked very heroic against the backdrop of the flying broom.
Wood's voice seemed to disappear in Harry's ears, and his eyes were all focused on the beautiful girl.
Autumn Zhang.
Harry met this beautiful girl at the end of last school year when Professor Dracula awarded amulets to the top three students in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Later, when I went to inquire about the content of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, I pretended to meet him by chance and had a chat with Qiu Zhang.
However, before the two of them could say a few words, Professor Dracula suddenly appeared and interrupted his good deeds with interest.
From then on, he never dared to speak a word to Qiu Zhang again.
But Harry would subconsciously look for Cho Chang in any occasion or any place in Hogwarts. After confirming that she was there, he would hide far away, and even pull Ron beside him to block his sight to avoid being discovered by her.
If Qiu Zhang didn't notice his gaze, Harry would stare at her for a long time. He didn't know what was so good about her, but he just couldn't see enough. If he was discovered, he would immediately turn his head away, his face flushed.
In addition, Harry also remembered the places where Qiu Zhang often appeared, and he would pay special attention to that special location until Qiu Zhang appeared.
Harry was fully confident in this Quidditch match. He felt that the Gryffindor team had never been as confident as it was now to win the Quidditch Cup.
So Harry's heart began to stir again.
He wanted to walk over to Qiu Zhang and say a few words to her, asking her to cheer for the Gryffindor team and to pay attention to the moment when he caught the Golden Snitch and looked so heroic!
But Harry couldn't move.
"Harry? Harry!" Wood waved his rough hands back and forth in front of his face, his face full of anxiety. "You've been standing here for a long time. Is there something wrong?"
After a long while, Harry's vision finally came into focus, and he turned his head blankly to look at Wood beside him.
"Um... what's wrong, Oliver?" he asked.
"Why are you still asking about me?" Wood said anxiously, "You suddenly stopped here and I have no idea what's wrong with you!"
"Oh, I'm fine, Oliver." Harry explained quickly, "Just something suddenly occurred to me."
"That's good, that's good." Wood breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's go to the stadium together. You don't dare to think about things like this suddenly during the game."
"Wait a moment." Harry shook his head and refused to go to the Quidditch field with Wood. "I still have something to do. You go first. I will be there before the game."
Wood looked at Harry doubtfully, fearing that he would suddenly run away alone before the game.
"You must come on time!" he urged Harry repeatedly.
"Don't worry!" Harry assured, patting his chest.
After driving Wood away, Harry breathed a long sigh of relief, and then immediately looked hurriedly towards the place where Qiu Zhang had just been.
Fortunately, the Ravenclaw girl had not left yet and was still standing there with the broom in her hand.
Harry looked at her, and suddenly there was a strange spasm in his heart, as if he had missed a step when going downstairs, and his heart was beating very fast.
Seeing that the Quidditch game was about to begin, he gritted his teeth, held his breath as if ready to die, and walked to Qiu Zhang's side.
…
"Harry Potter?" Qiu Zhang looked at Harry, who was moving towards him with a tangled face, and looked at him curiously, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Um..." Harry hesitated.
He desperately wanted to ask Qiu Zhang to cheer for him and the Gryffindor team, but he couldn't open his mouth.
"Or maybe we can talk about Quidditch Seekers or something like that. We'll have something in common." Harry encouraged himself.
Qiu Zhang stood there, looking at him with a confused expression.
Finally, Harry gritted his teeth again and uttered a bunch of incoherent words, not even able to pronounce them correctly:
"Today... at the ball game... cheer for me?"
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Qiu Zhang didn't understand what he said.
"I mean, today is our Quidditch match with Hufflepuff, can you..." Harry finally organized his words clearly and spoke.
However, at this moment, a tall, straight and handsome figure walked over from the edge of the stadium.
"Harry, what a coincidence?" The figure also walked to Qiu Zhang's side and greeted Harry, "Today is the competition between our two colleges. How are your preparations going?"
"Cedric, why are you here..." Harry asked in surprise.
But before he could finish his question, he suddenly saw Qiu Zhang's cheeks blushing, and he excitedly handed the broom in his hand to Cedric.
This broom belongs to Cedric? Why did Qiu Zhang keep this broom for Cedric? What is the relationship between the two of them? …
Harry's words got stuck in his throat as a number of strange questions flashed through his mind.
It was a strange feeling: one minute ago, he felt his insides wriggling like snakes, and now suddenly, he felt as if he had no insides at all...
"What's wrong with you, Harry?" Cedric asked with concern, "Are you okay? Do you need to postpone the game?"
"Although you Gryffindor are the defending champions of last school year, we Hufflepuffs are not willing to play against you when you have health problems. Even if we win, it would be an unfair victory."
Harry felt empty inside and shook his head dizzily.
"I'm fine, thank you." He said softly, turned around and left the scene.
Harry had no idea how he had ended up in the Gryffindor dressing room. As he changed into his scarlet robes, his only solace was that everyone was outside watching the game. Cho Chang was there, too.
The players walked onto the field amid thunderous cheers.
Harry rode up into the sky on his broom and keenly spotted Qiu Zhang's figure in the audience.
In her hand she held the yellow banner of Hufflepuff.
Harry's internal organs came back to him. He felt as if they had been taken away and filled with lead.
…
…