In the Gryffindor Quidditch team's changing room, Captain Oliver Wood's eyes were bloodshot, gleaming with a frenzied intensity,
"The Quidditch Cup should have had our name engraved on it these past two years!
Ever since Harry, the youngest Seeker in a century, joined the team, I thought victory was a sure thing.
Unfortunately, we seem to have become the unluckiest team in the world—injuries—cancelled matches."
Harry lowered his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Both incidents were related to him.
In his first year, due to his injury and hospitalization after facing Voldemort and Quirrell, Gryffindor had to play against Ravenclaw with one player short, resulting in their worst defeat in three hundred years.
In his second year, Tom Riddle's manipulation of Lockhart to open the Chamber of Secrets caused the entire remaining season to be cancelled.
"Luck is also part of strength," said Sherlock calmly, who had accompanied Harry to the Quidditch changing room.
Sherlock was the only person who could enter the changing room as a non-team member, and all the Gryffindor team members had no objection to this.
He was The Lion King after all—the entire Gryffindor House was his territory, so what was a mere changing room?
Wood nodded. "Holmes is right, luck is part of strength—but!"
He held his left palm flat and struck it heavily with his right fist.
"We want to get our names written on the Quidditch trophy, but we've never been able to achieve it. This year is our last chance!"
Wood spoke with such tragic determination that even the Weasley twins, who usually liked to joke around during his speeches, were moved.
"Oliver, we absolutely have no problem this year!" said Fred.
"We will definitely succeed!" said George.
"Absolutely," Harry said softly.
"Holmes, I know you've been taking Harry for morning training every day, and of course, I think improving our Seeker's physical fitness is a good thing.
But what I want to say is, could you let Harry rest properly the morning after our training ends? Otherwise, his body won't be able to handle it."
"Of course, my friend."
Sherlock held the Gryffindor Quidditch captain in high regard.
His love for Quidditch was genuine.
Sherlock never looked down on people who could wholeheartedly pursue a single goal.
Even if Wood hadn't said anything, Sherlock wouldn't force Harry to join him for morning training.
Because since first year, he had never made morning training a mandatory requirement.
Just look at Ron as an example.
Every time he said "next time for sure," but never put it into practice.
Under these circumstances, the Gryffindor team began their training, scheduled for every Wednesday evening.
Every Gryffindor player was determined to win.
As time passed, the sun's direct rays gradually moved from the equator toward the Southern Hemisphere.
Days grew shorter, nights longer, and the weather became increasingly cold.
Although the Quidditch team's training schedule was fixed, the evenings became darker.
Like last year, influenced by the local climate, fierce storms arrived with force.
However, none of this could dampen Gryffindor's beautiful hope of ultimately winning the gleaming silver Quidditch Cup.
Harry even cast the Impervius Charm he had learned from Cho Chang on himself and his teammates, preventing everyone from becoming drenched after each practice.
This earned Wood's high praise for Harry.
"Well done, Harry, thank her for me!
But I must say, if we face Ravenclaw, you can't go easy on them just because she's on their team."
"Don't worry, Wood, I won't!"
Harry said firmly. His relationship with Cho Chang was indeed good, but not to the extent that he would throw a match because of it.
He had discussed this with Cho early on.
In fact, it was Cho who brought up the topic first—if he really did such a thing, even Cho herself would feel he was underestimating her.
One evening after training ended, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room.
Although he had cast the Impervius Charm and Warming Charms on himself, Harry was still shivering all over. But his heart was warm.
The recent training had been highly effective; he could clearly feel the team was in excellent form.
Even if they faced seven Nimbus 2001s again, they were confident they could defeat Slytherin!
When he sat down next to Sherlock, Harry was surprised to find him reading "Ancient Runes Made Easy."
This impressed Harry greatly.
Although the book was called "Ancient Runes Made Easy," without a teacher's explanation, he couldn't make heads or tails of this hefty tome.
Ron, meanwhile, was writing furiously beside Sherlock.
Harry leaned over and discovered that Ron was copying Sherlock's star charts.
"Ron, didn't we attend Astronomy class yesterday?"
Harry was puzzled—Sherlock and Hermione hadn't attended Astronomy class last night, yet someone who did attend was copying homework from someone who didn't?
"Please, Harry, copying homework has absolutely nothing to do with whether you attended class or not."
Ron said lazily, marking the final star in decorative script before pushing the chart toward Harry.
"If you want, you can copy mine too—Sherlock's homework omits too many steps, it's not suitable for direct copying. I've improved his answers to make them more suitable for you to reference."
"You're actually proud of your copying skills now?"
Harry found it amusing and then yawned.
Actually, he'd rather go to sleep. But as Ron said, his star chart wasn't finished either, so he reluctantly dragged over his bag, took out pen and paper, and began his homework.
"Really not copying?"
"I'll try doing it myself first, then copy what I don't understand."
Harry glanced at the other chattering students in the common room and asked curiously, "What's happening?"
"First trip to Hogsmeade for the weekend."
Having finished his chart, Ron was now free. Hearing Harry's question, he immediately pointed to the new notice on the tattered bulletin board:
"End of October, Halloween eve."
Harry was first stunned, then became somewhat dejected.
"Go if you want to, Harry."
Although he had been reading the entire time, Sherlock still saw through Harry's thoughts at a glance.
Harry looked up at Sherlock in surprise.
"Yes, Harry, Black isn't a fool. He wouldn't act rashly in Hogsmeade."
Ron had already heard Harry explain about his father's wish for Harry to stay in Hogwarts castle and not go anywhere. But clearly, he found his father's caution somewhat unreasonable.
Just then, Hermione arrived late. Hearing Ron's words, she straightforwardly offered a different opinion,
"I don't think so—Harry, why don't you stay at school this time?
They'll surely catch Black soon, after all, someone has seen him once already.
That way, next time you'll have a chance to go there, and it'll be safer too."
"Who knows when they'll catch Black! We can't just leave a third-year student alone at school."
Ron protested indignantly, "Even Sherlock thinks Harry should go."
"Sherlock?"
Hermione looked over in surprise, not having heard Sherlock's earlier conversation with Harry.
Sherlock still didn't look up. "If Harry is willing, I indeed don't oppose him going to Hogsmeade, though that's unrelated to Ron's reasoning."
Hearing Sherlock say this, Harry suddenly remembered.
On that night before term started, Sherlock had told him that going to Hogsmeade might also be an opportunity.
An opportunity to draw the snake out of its hole.
Reminded by Sherlock, he immediately remembered.
"Alright, I'll go with you all."
Hermione frowned, instinctively wanting to argue.
But just then, Crookshanks suddenly jumped onto her lap.
It had a large dead spider in its mouth.
Ron only had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) about crawling live spiders; he didn't mind dead ones.
But he really disliked the cat Hermione had bought.
So, seeing this, he frowned and said, "Does it have to eat that thing right in front of us?"
Hermione certainly didn't see anything wrong with this, and even fondly petted Crookshanks' head,
"Clever little fellow, did you catch this yourself?"
Crookshanks naturally didn't answer Hermione, but after slowly chewing up the spider, it turned its gaze toward Ron.
"Don't let it come over!" Ron became even more annoyed, "Scabbers is still sleeping in my bag."
He leaned his head toward Harry. "Mate, don't waste time, just copy mine—damn it!"
The moment he turned his head, Crookshanks leaped up with lightning speed, targeting Ron's bag directly.
Ron's reaction was still half a beat too slow. Crookshanks dug its four claws deep into the bag and refused to let go no matter what.
"Bloody Hell! Damn beast, get away from there!"
Ron panicked immediately. He cursed roughly while grabbing the bag and struggling with it. However, even though he grabbed the bag and struggled for a whole circle, Crookshanks still held on tightly.
This action immediately drew everyone in the common room's attention.
Just then, Scabbers also slipped out of the bag opening and began scurrying around the common room.
As soon as it saw Scabbers, Crookshanks immediately dropped the bag, jumped onto the table, and began chasing the panicked Scabbers.
Ron wanted to chase after Scabbers but was prevented by Crookshanks' interference, so he shouted loudly: "Catch that damn cat!"
The Weasley twins both pounced forward.
According to Wood's assessment, they were like two Bludgers themselves.
Unfortunately, Crookshanks was even more agile than them, so the Bludger brothers also came up empty.
Seeing this scene, Hermione also panicked: "Don't hurt it!"
Her voice already carried a sob.
Almost instinctively, she called for help from the hero who, in her mind, would always come to save her whenever she cried out.
You can read more than 40 chapters on:
patreon.com/MikeyMuse