"Are you kidding me, Potter?"
A Hufflepuff Quidditch player behind Cedric questioned, "Gryffindor has basically not won any games this season. How can you prevent Slytherin from scoring?"
"That's right! I just hope you don't lose too much to Slytherin." Another young Hufflepuff wizard said in a mocking tone, "As long as you can lose within 200 points, we can thank Merlin loudly!"
Harry frowned and looked at the little wizard.
Harry recognized him as another second-year student named Ernie MacMillan, who seemed to be a pure-blood noble. He always behaved in a high-profile manner when the two colleges attended classes together.
"Come on, Ernie." Cedric interrupted MacMillan's taunting and turned to look at Harry. "Harry, thank you for your kindness, but I believe we can defeat Slytherin with our own strength."
He declined Harry's surprise offer.
"But Slytherin's brooms are all Nimbus 2001s," said Harry.
The Hufflepuffs were silent.
In fact, they also knew that there was a certain gap in strength between the Hufflepuff team and the Slytherin team, and they usually lost more than they won when playing against Slytherin.
The Badgers, most of whom are honest and modest, are completely unable to move freely under the Slytherin team's "foul flow" style of play, and are often hit by them using methods such as the so-called "Transylvanian fake".
The Transylvanian Feint is a Quidditch technique in which one pretends to hit the opponent in the nose in order to confuse the opponent.
But the fake moves of the Slytherin players using the Bludger bat to hit the opponent's nose are always so real that they can't be more real. When the bat really hits the opponent's face, they often defend themselves by saying that they didn't stop and missed...
Therefore, basically after every game, the poor little badgers are bruised and battered.
Therefore, if possible, they were not willing to face the Slytherin players who would definitely try their best to catch up.
If there was already a 200-point difference between them before the game, then the Hufflepuff players would only need to defend well and would not have to worry about the Slytherin players playing dirty tricks...
"Dudu—"
Just then, the whistle for the game preparation sounded.
Harry nodded to Cedric, then got on his broom and flew directly from the stands to the middle of the Quidditch field.
The Gryffindor players didn't react much to his lateness or what he had just done. They just glanced at the Seeker casually, as if he was just an irrelevant person used to fill the vacancy and get the game started.
Only Wood added a few words after seeing him.
"Harry, I don't expect you to catch the Snitch. Even if you can catch the Snitch, we don't have the energy to fight Slytherin and score 150 points."
If it were an ordinary weekend game, with Wood's unyielding mentality, he would fight for the slightest possibility of victory even if the hope was slim.
If Harry had any hope of catching the Golden Snitch, then this training fanatic would definitely order the Gryffindor Quidditch team members to continue fighting with Slytherin, even if it took three days and three nights, they would try to make up the 150-point gap, and only after they surpassed Slytherin by 150 points would Harry be allowed to catch the Golden Snitch that would represent the end of the game.
Because only if they exceed Slytherin by 300 points can they get the ticket to the final.
But after all, the competition was held shortly before the final exams.
They will be taking the more important final exams in a few days, so there is absolutely no need to waste these two days of rest and exhaust all their energy to compete in a game with no end in sight for such a slim hope that is almost invisible.
As the captain, Wood was well aware of this, so he sighed and said sadly:
"Try to keep Malfoy away and prevent him from catching the Snitch so early... At least we can't lose so badly."
Harry gave his captain a long look and nodded slowly.
The whistle for the game started and all the Quaffles and Bludgers immediately rose into the sky, and the Golden Snitch had long disappeared.
Hearing the whistle, Harry flew to a very high altitude in an instant and had a panoramic view of the entire Quidditch field from afar.
"Damn it! Didn't I ask Harry to pester the opponent's Seeker?" Wood cursed inwardly when he saw Harry's actions. "Forget it, forget about him. Leave the rest to us. Fred, George, cover Angelina!"
"Roger that, Captain!"
"No problem, Captain!"
Even when faced with a game with no chance of winning and no future, Fred and George still maintained their playful expressions and responded in a funny way.
The game was about to break out like a war, and the players of the two teams soon became entangled with each other!
High in the air, Harry ignored his captain's doubts. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the various situations in the entire stadium with a serious attitude that he had not seen in the entire semester, like an eagle flying in the sky looking for prey...
He saw Fred and George testing each other with Marcus Flint from Slytherin using the "Transylvanian Feint"; Angelina passed through one defense after another with the Quaffle, but was stopped by a sturdy Slytherin player; Wood nervously stood in front of the three Gryffindor round balls, watching the Quaffle passing back and forth from a distance...
He also saw two exquisite chairs placed alone on a stand reserved for professors outside the stadium. Two professors who were rarely seen in this stadium were sitting there at the same time.
Dumbledore sat comfortably in one of the chairs, admiring the intense game; while Dracula, holding a black parasol, leaned on the railing surrounding the audience seats, watching the ever-changing Quidditch situation on the field with great interest.
Harry took in all the scenes.
Under the bright sunshine, he completely put aside all distractions, squinted his eyes, and looked through the glasses on his nose at every suspicious place.
Suddenly, an abnormal golden reflection suddenly emerged quietly from the corner of the eye.
Harry whirled his head around and swung his broom toward the golden reflection.
Slytherin's Seeker Malfoy saw what Harry did and flew towards him at an accelerated speed.
The speed of the Nimbus 2001 is obviously much faster than that of the old Nimbus 2000. Whether it is the acceleration efficiency of straight-line acceleration or the maximum speed, Malfoy is much faster than Harry.
But Harry naturally has his own way.
Harry made several light turns in the air and easily left Malfoy, who was only good at sprinting by relying on speed, behind him, and almost made him hit a goal post.
When Malfoy was confused, Harry suddenly accelerated and dived towards the location where the golden light appeared!
"Oh my god, I saw it, Harry really found the Golden Snitch!" On the Quidditch commentary stand, commentator Lee Jordan looked at this scene in disbelief and shouted excitedly, "Is the best seeker who has been silent for a season finally going to return to his original level?!"
The entire Quidditch pitch seemed to be silent for a moment, and all eyes were focused on Harry.
There was no obstacle in front of Harry, only a small golden ball suspended in the air.
"Dududu—"
Madam Hooch blew the whistle to mark the end of the match.
Harry raised the Golden Snitch high in his hand and showed a long-lost happy smile.
In the end, the score on the scoreboard was fixed at 160:10, which directly widened the gap of 150 points from Slytherin.
From this perspective, the whimsical idea he proposed to the Hufflepuff players before the game actually came true!
The entire Quidditch field was boiling!
The Gryffindor wizards, who had not had the passion to watch the game for a long time, were now desperately waving the red flag representing the house and shouting Harry's name.
Professor McGonagall no longer had her usual serious look, but was wiping her eyes with emotion; Dumbledore smiled easily, nodded to Dracula, and happily put another fizzing honey candy into his mouth.
Dracula also curled the corners of his mouth, as if he was quite satisfied with Harry's performance, and did not let him down for coming with Dumbledore to watch the game on such a sunny day.
Lee Jordan, the commentator, was reluctant to leave the commentary booth, still analyzing the significance of the game with great interest.
"Let us congratulate Gryffindor in advance for winning the third place in the Quidditch Cup this year!"
"I believe everyone knows that as the defending champion of last season, Gryffindor's performance this year was very poor. As the youngest and most promising Seeker, Harry Potter has to shoulder the main responsibility."
"But Harry gave me a different feeling today, as if the confident best player last year had walked back from the moment he won the Quidditch Cup!"
"It's a pity that if he could get back to today's form earlier and win a few more games, maybe Gryffindor could get a ticket to the finals again... Unlike now, it can only end up in third place."
Lee Jordan spoke sometimes passionately and sometimes regretfully, monopolizing the microphone and unwilling to leave until Ms. Hooch was cleaning the stadium, when he reluctantly gave up his commentator seat.
At this time, Harry also had no time and energy to care about Lee Jordan's commentary. He was surrounded by his teammates. Everyone was asking him what he had figured out. He suddenly felt as powerful as if he had taken drugs.
Harry responded to his teammates' jokes and inquiries with a smile, and finally felt the atmosphere in this team that he hadn't felt in half a year...
They chatted and laughed as they flew down from the sky, passing by the stands where the Hufflepuff Quidditch team members were.
Harry took the time to give a thumbs-up in Cedric's direction.
Cedric smiled knowingly and gave Harry a thumbs-up in return.
Next, they can finally face the final exams with peace of mind!
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