Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 80 The game begins (6000)

"It is said that Quidditch has more than 700 foul methods, and it may be possible to add another one after today."

While the McGuffins and the Gryffindor Quidditch team were on their way back to the castle, Angelina still felt brooding about this impure way of playing that relied on foreign objects.

Another witch on the same team, Alia, comforted her and said, "Think about it, if Quidditch competitions were really treated equally, then everyone's broomsticks might be of the comet series, and no one would be vying to invent faster, better, and more stable flying broomsticks..."

"Does Quidditch really have more than 700 ways to commit fouls? There are so many—how could the referee know clearly that the player violated that rule at the time!" McGuffin complained. He originally thought this game was unreliable——I don’t understand why so many people are so obsessed with this sport.

——Of course, it's definitely not because he can't eat grapes and said grapes are sour.

"It's true that most of them were in a World Cup match in [-]."

Harry was holding a copy of "The Origin of Quidditch" and introduced to McGuffin the most notorious first official match in the history of Quidditch, and at the end he solemnly told McGuffin that Slytherins were often the outstanding representatives of breaking the rules of the game, and they must be played with great care so as not to be harmed.

(This book was borrowed by Hermione from the Hogwarts library.)
While talking, it was time for the Gryffindors to complain about Slytherin, their daily favorite.

"Speaking of Slytherin, you know that besides you young wizards, Snape was also admitted to the infirmary last night."

"It is said that he was injured by a giant monster yesterday?!"

"How is that possible? Snape is a professor after all, and even we..." Hermione questioned the veracity of this rumor.

McGuffin, who knew the truth, shrank back. Since he couldn't tell the truth, he tried his best not to be involved in this topic.

"I'm on the same floor as you guys—a few little wizards didn't get hurt at all, but a professor..." George gloated.

Fred laughed and said, "It is said that he was injured by a troll falling from the sky on the second floor."

"How is it possible? Are you kidding me? This...?"

At this moment, Hermione remembered that the last spell they cast that night had the effect of knocking the troll into the air and disappearing along the corridor?

Could it be—?
On the other hand, Harry couldn't hide the excitement on his face when he thought of Snape who was always targeting him. He wished that if he knew that night - he could roll up his sleeves and run over to watch the excitement.

"Really? Tell me, it's a pity that I fainted, or I—"

"Crack!——what else are you doing? Potter, tell me..."

Snape didn't know what was going on, and quietly approached the backs of several people, elusive.

McGuffin kicked Harry's heels from behind, but he was in the middle of his head, completely ignoring the warning signs of danger - the others around him had stopped talking long ago, only George Fred and him in the front were still talking about Snape's scandal.

Snape leaned to his side, and quickly pulled out the book "The Origin of Quidditch" under Harry's arm--slapped three times, and slapped Harry and his twin brother hard on the back of the head one by one.

Harry turned his head and saw the object of his ridicule behind several people, which scared him so much that he took a few steps back and almost fell down.

Snape watched several people for a long time, finally looked at the book in his hand and finally found an excuse to reprimand Harry.

"Give it to me, remember, Harry! Books from the library are not and are not allowed to be taken out of school, and five points will be deducted from Gryffindor!"

After Snape limped away with the book, several people were aggrieved.

"This guy made up a temporary rule." Harry questioned this, "I don't know what happened to his legs?"

"I reckon the troll hit that leg hard enough, and I hope it hurts enough." Ron gloated.

……

In the evening, Harry came back from the faculty office with a nervous expression on his face, called them to his side, and told the McGuffins what he saw very seriously.

He had wanted to go to Snape to bring back a book Hermione had borrowed from the library, but he hadn't expected to see Filch bandaging Snape's bloodied leg.

And Snape was still complaining about how he could keep three heads in check by himself?
"Do you know what that means?"

McGuffin was unimpressed and showed no interest.

He knew what happened a long time ago, and he is currently studying with Professor Flitwick's [Duel Notes].

The above notes are indeed the records made by Professor Flitwick when he participated in the All-British Dueling Tournament.

Although it is fragmented, most of them just record the conjectures of these magical theories or the inspiration of learning and casting unknown spells, and McGuffin has gained a lot from it.

The most important thing is that in the last few pages, Flitwick not only recorded in detail the self-created dance spell that helped him win the championship, but also intermittently recorded his inspiration for creating this spell.

This made McGuffin see the possibility of completing the [Professor Flitwick's King Pesticide] task.

When McGuffin was thinking about how to complete that task, Harry had already come to a conclusion for Snape—his leg was not injured by the troll, but was bitten by the three-headed dog when he tried to break into the fourth floor, and then pretended to be injured by the troll.

"I'd bet on my broomstick that he put that troll in there on Halloween to divert people's attention, and then pretended he was hit by a troll to prove his innocence."

Harry's self-consistent logic proved it to be correct, and it actually sounded and looked very reasonable.

Hermione stared at Lao Yuan, refuting Harry Ron's wishful thinking.

"No—he won't, I know he's not very friendly to the Gryffindors, but he's been under Headmaster Dumbledore a lot longer than us... He'll never steal what Dumbledore wants to protect!"

In the end, Hermione and Ron got into an argument and ended the topic.

At night, both Harry and McGuffin suffered from insomnia in the dormitory.

Unlike Harry's obsession with Snape's paranoia of persecution.

McGuffin has a real dilemma to consider - if Quirrell cast a curse on Harry according to the original plot.

that time,
The big dung egg in his hand——

To throw, or not to throw, that is the question!

Throw it!

This is just asking for (shit).

Don't throw it away!
In case Harry did fall from a height.

ε=(ο｀*))) alas

Neville's loud snoring kept Harry and McGuffin from getting any sleep.

Snoring,... the snoring started to come and go in the dormitory, and all the sleeping people were driven by Neville's snoring to snore.

Even more difficult to fall asleep.

……

Saturday, November 1991, 11.

This is the first Quidditch match held at Hogwarts this year.

—Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.

I don't know if it's a joke, when Wood asked someone to put all the Gryffindor uniforms on the magic of antifreeze and heat preservation.

After everything was 'okay', they found that today's weather was much clearer, at least it was much warmer than yesterday - the biggest effect of these secret weapons disappeared.

This is a heavy blow to Wood.

But for others, this is the best chance to relax (at least they won't be frozen into a stupid B while watching the game on the high platform in mid-air), especially this year Hogwarts has so many crazy things happening before the end of the semester, for the students and professors of Hogwarts, it is really necessary to have something that makes them devote themselves to relax.

Professor McGonagall felt that he needed to relax more, to forget some things

—she recalled the moment when the Sorting Hat went berserk at the beginning of term, and she always felt that this was the reason why Gryffindor had been involved in so many troubles this year.

The cause of the trouble - McGuffin Albert was wearing two dark circles, carefully putting two large dung eggs (already showing a dangerous golden color) soaked in water into a small wooden box.

He has no experience in watching Quidditch games, but he thinks it is similar to football and basketball, and crowds are likely to happen. He doesn't want to "explode himself" in front of everyone. Since then, Hogwarts has spread his notorious legend.

"You don't intend to throw this to Slytherin in case we lose!" Neville watched as McGuffin wrapped two big dung eggs in layers of his velvet cloth as a safety measure, and carefully stayed away from here.

He didn't intend to take a step closer, he looked at McGuffin from the other side of the dormitory and asked.

"Then it's so possible,...hehehe!" McGuffin smiled embarrassedly that you noticed him, he couldn't tell Neville - he was going to smash the professor, right?

After everything was ready, McGuffin raised his head and looked at Harry, who was in a bad mood on the other bed. His face was tired and pale, and it seemed that this morning was really not a good time to play Quidditch.

"You'll have to eat some later, or you'll be too weak to play," McGuffin persuaded.

On Ron's bed on the other side, Hermione was unceremoniously pointing to Dean and Seamus who were using their wands to cast magic on the huge banner of [Potter must win], making the paint flash and change different colors.

(This gigantic banner is made from bedsheets that Scabbers had bitten on, and Dean painted a Gryffindor lion in full bloom.)
"If my wand hadn't been confiscated, this should be a very easy thing!" It took a long time to fix it, which made Hermione very angry.

A smell of grilled sausages wafted into the dormitory from the corridor outside. It turned out that Ron didn't know how to get back a lot of grilled sausages, bread, tomato sauce and other food for everyone.

"Today's breakfast in the restaurant is grilled sausages, which is not bad,...Harry, hurry up and eat!"

Several people put down their work, gathered together to eat food, and talked about the upcoming Quidditch match, so that Harry, who had no appetite, could eat more.

Time was always short. At eleven o'clock, since Hermione couldn't cast the spell herself, according to McGuffin's previous suggestion, Dean and the others could only cast a simple spell on the banner that would float up, vibrate in mid-air like a flag, and be able to turn its direction.

They took two ropes and tied them to the sheets, intending to tie them to the highest and most conspicuous places in the stands.

……

A Quidditch pitch is usually an oval 180 feet long and [-] feet wide.

Most of the ground is green grass, with a small circle in the center of the court about two feet in diameter from which all balls are released at the start of play.

There are three goalposts of different heights in the goal areas at each end of the pitch.

Each has three hoops with different pitches on it.

This is the goal, which looks like a few thick and flat hoops.

The confrontation in this area is the most fierce, and the goalkeeper or other Quidditch players often fall down. In order to prevent the students from casting spells in time to protect themselves, only a thick layer of sand mat is laid underneath to protect the players.

Now, it's eleven o'clock.

After McGuffin, Ron, and Hermione separated from Harry, they sat on the high platform raised in mid-air on the Quidditch pitch.

The stand is made of iron frames, and then the planks are glued together by magic.

After all, Hogwarts only holds a match every month, and the stands are generally useless for the rest of the time, so it has always been a temporary stand.

There are two types of stands on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch.

One stands upright in the air like a tower, and the wooden stands are lifted high into the air. After all, Quidditch is a high-altitude sport, and here is a better overview of the entire game process, watching the fierce confrontation among the players.

There are twelve stands in total, six on each side.

The stands of the four colleges are spaced from each other one by one around the edge of the oval court and arranged in sequence.

On the stands that belonged to their own colleges—they were all decorated with the colors of their respective colleges.

Each college has its own iconic color, just like the patterns on the scarves of the students of the four colleges are exactly the same, and the squares of two colors are repeated continuously.

(Gryffindor's are red and yellow, Slytherin's are dark green and pale, Ravenclaw's are blue and white, and Hufflepuff's are grass green and khaki, the same colors that usually appear on their respective team uniforms.)
The students of most of the colleges are sitting on the stands of their own colleges. (Distinguished by color.)
It is said that this was after a game. There was a very serious conflict between different houses of Hogwarts due to emotional agitation, which almost caused the stands to be damaged. It is said that many young wizards still fell from the stands and were hurt. Later, in order to prevent such things from happening again, everyone began to divide them into the stands of their respective houses.

Going up and down the high-altitude stands requires a long and laborious staircase, which is not convenient or magical at all.

If you don't want to climb stairs, or are afraid of heights, or are late, and no one has a seat for you, you can only choose the remaining stand to watch the game.

Under the tower, there was a stand that looked like a city wall passage, surrounding the Quidditch pitch, and all the remaining people gathered on it in small groups, crowded with people coming and going, rubbing shoulders, and looking into the sky to watch the game. (Each segment also has that repeat pattern decoration, just in a different color)

McGuffin and the others came to the top row, and Neville, Seamus, and Dean took the best positions for them early on.

And the banner of "Potter must win" was tied by Hagrid to the ceiling of the stands to protect them from the sun and rain.

Pulled by two ropes, the banner floats in the air like a kite.

Flying in the wind, shaking and floating, under the influence of the spell, the banner went up and down for a while, left and right for a while, full of coquettishness, and the painted lion seemed to come alive to patrol its own territory, attracting the attention of almost everyone in the other stands.

Hermione finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the effect was good.

She reckoned Harry could tell where they were at a glance.Hope this cheers him up.

When watching Quidditch, most experienced young wizards bring their own magic brass binoculars of different types and manufacturers.

Because even though the stands are almost high in the air, it's hard to see the game here, especially to keep track of the Seeker and the Snitch.

People in the stands were discussing with high spirits, most of them were discussing how Harry would fight?
Of course, the despicableness of Slytherin is always the protagonist in the stands of Gryffindor.

——Hot and noisy, noisy one.

Finally, as the Quidditch players from the two colleges walked to the court, the atmosphere turned to a climax and there was a lot of cheers.

The lion cubs around the McGuffin burst into applause, and some even chanted Harry's name.

Harry was still a little nervous at first, but when he saw the banner fluttering high and swaying around in circles very aggressively.

I feel funny in my heart, but I can't help but feel happy inside.

He felt much more confident.

Mrs. Hooch was the referee. She stood in the middle of the field and waited until all the players got on their broomsticks.

With a whistle.

Fifteen broomsticks (including Mrs. Hooch, the referee) rose from the ground and into the sky.

- The game has begun.

(A Quidditch team has a goalkeeper, a seeker, three chasers, and two batters, a total of seven players)
(A Quidditch game is generally composed of three kinds of balls. The golden snitch represents 150 points, and the seeker catches it to represent the end of the game; there are two black bludgers, which are magically able to fly continuously in the mid-air of the court, trying to knock players off their broomsticks. The batter is responsible for dealing with these two guys; the red Quaffle gets ten points once it passes through the door knocker, and the chaser is responsible for this.)
(Players can bring their own wands, but they are not allowed to cast any magic during the game. Usually, magic is cast because of serious life-threatening, such as the wand hitting the ground suddenly and uncontrollably, or someone attacks the player during the game.)
(Quidditch games usually have several simple and established rules, so I won’t list them here.)
After the game started, Lee Jordan served as the commentator of the game under the close supervision of Professor McGonagall.

This is the only way for students without brass binoculars to see how the game is progressing.

Because if you neither watch from a high platform nor hold a telescope, you can see just one by one small black dots flying around in the sky, and sometimes you can't even tell which team is stupid.

The Quidditch match was going on fiercely.

It has to be said that this is an interesting sport, and even McGuffin, who is not interested in broomsticks or Quidditch, cannot hold a negative attitude.

Take Muggle sports as an example-this includes racing (life and death speed), basketball (Quaffle scores!), baseball (bludger home runs!), airplanes (flying in mid-air is no problem), skydiving (I have never heard of wizards being thrown to death)... well, there are several aspects of sports.

In short, it is full of stimulation and confrontation.

Through magic, Jordan's voice echoed in every corner of the court, making the atmosphere among the audience even higher.

"Gryffindor Chaser Angelina Johnson got the ball - Slytherin captain Marcus Fortling rushed to stop her - ah! The Bludger hit by Slytherin almost knocked her off - but the Quaffle was still firmly in the hands of this charming, strong girl ('Jordan!' Professor McGonagall yelled next to him, . . . the voice was interrupted for a moment and then continued) - Angelina is a good Chaser, she came to Slater Lin near the goal - she's about to score - Slytherin keeper Bryche misses - Gryffindor gets ten points!"

"Gryffindor! Angelina!"

"Gryffindor!"

……

The people around McGuffin in the stands stood up and shouted the names of Gryffindor and the score chaser Angelina, and they waved the small red and yellow triangular flags in their hands emotionally.

Exercise is a moving way, even if it is a little unclear, McGuffin is completely immersed in this warm atmosphere, blending into everyone, and accompanied by everyone on the high platform, bursts of loud cheers and applause burst out from time to time.

(McGuffin felt as if he had forgotten something!)

The game officially kicked off with this goal, and the Quidditch game gradually showed its wild side.

Slytherin's various collisions and intentional fouls disrupted the rhythm of the Gryffindor team.

Once again, Angelina and Wood were knocked down from the sky and fell onto the sandy ground below the goal post. Although the situation was not serious, it still forced the game to be suspended for a few minutes, and Mrs. Pangrad, who was pulling a face, simply checked on a few people.

But this despicable scene was hard for Gryffindor-born Lee Jordan to ignore.

It took him several warnings from Professor McGonagall before he stopped condemning Slytherin.

And when McGuffin saw someone falling down, he realized what he had forgotten, and hurriedly searched for——

"Where is Harry?"

McGuffin and Hermione shared Ron's old brass telescope. The magic on it was somewhat invalid, and it couldn't automatically track like other people's. It could only adjust the distance-zoom in or zoom out to watch the game.

"Where is Harry?" McGuffin had to ask Neville next to him loudly again, his magic telescope can automatically adjust to find every member of the Quidditch team.

After Neville said a few words, he saw that McGuffin could not hear clearly due to the noise around him, pointing his finger at a small figure in a bright red team uniform gliding around in the sky.

McGuffin took a look through the binoculars. Harry was flying over the Quidditch pitch, looking for traces of the Golden Snitch. It didn't seem like a big deal.

"Could it be that Quirrell has changed his ways?..." McGuffin secretly vomited this unreliable idea in his heart.

"McGuffin, let me see, wow!...Wood's interception is beautiful!"

Ron asked for the brass telescope.

　Why is it on the shelves?in a daze...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)