Upon learning that Dumbledore had asked Professor Lupin to teach him and Sherlock how to defend against Dementors, Harry's low spirits, caused by the match defeat, his shattered broomstick, and hearing his mother's dying moments after encountering Dementors finally began to improve.
At the end of November, Hogwarts campus was enveloped in increasingly cold air. Thin frost condensed on the castle's stone walls as the second Quidditch match of the first term was about to begin.
The opposing sides were Hufflepuff, who had defeated Gryffindor in the last match, and Ravenclaw. After the previous Dementor incident, the entire school was filled with a tense yet anticipatory atmosphere.
The day before this match, Cho Chang specifically wrote to Harry asking to meet.
When Harry arrived at the Great Hall as invited, rare sunlight streamed through spotted clouds into the hall. Cho Chang's figure stood by the window, the breeze gently stirring her black hair.
Hearing footsteps, she turned around. Her bright dark eyes shone with joy and concern as she quickly walked toward Harry.
"Harry," Cho Chang said softly, the corners of her mouth turning up in a confident smile. "Don't worry, I'll definitely catch the Golden Snitch before Diggory!"
As she spoke these words, her eyes sparkled with determination, as if filled with absolute confidence in her abilities.
Watching Cho like this, a warm current surged through Harry's heart.
He scratched his head, revealing a slightly shy smile, and said softly. "Thank you, Cho."
Cho Chang's pretty face seemed like a ray of warm sunshine, dispelling the gloom in his heart.
"However, the first match next term will be Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor."
Cho's face flushed slightly, as if she had thought of something amusing.
A hint of mischief flashed in her eyes as she waved her small fist, half-joking and half-serious. "You'd better not go easy on me then!"
Harry looked at Cho's adorable appearance, his heart was stirring. He nodded seriously with a firm tone.
"Don't worry, I'll give it my all!"
Cho Chang smiled and nodded. "Remember to come watch me compete tomorrow."
After saying this, she looked deeply at Harry once more before turning to leave.
Harry watched Cho's departing figure; his heart was filled with an indescribable feeling.
It was both an anticipation of beautiful emotions and the warmth and joy of being cared for.
"She's gone, and you're still staring!"
Just then, the Weasley twins came over with their arms around each other's shoulders.
"Fred, George, when did you get here?"
"We've been here for ages, but you only had eyes for that girl," Fred said.
"Even after she left, you still couldn't see us," George added.
Their words made Harry even more embarrassed.
At this point, he had to admit that he was indeed a top-tier appearance enthusiast. Or perhaps, to put it more dramatically, he was practically an appearance fanatic.
Cho Chang was truly beautiful, there was no question about that.
Even among a group of girls, she would draw one's attention involuntarily.
Harry had noticed this as early as first year.
It was just that at that time, Cho was only in second year and quite young, so this aspect wasn't as obvious.
Now that she was in fourth year, the attraction generated by her high looks had fully blossomed.
After this year's Penelope and Gemma graduated, she would become the most beautiful girl in school.
She was even more stunning than the Patil twins.
"Alright, don't think so much about it. This is perfectly normal," Fred said.
"We came to tell you that Wood wants everyone to go to the match together tomorrow," George said.
Harry had already promised Cho he would watch the match, so naturally he had no objection.
However, he hadn't expected Wood would do the same.
The next day, when Harry went to watch the match with the other Gryffindor Quidditch team members, he realized things were even more exaggerated than he had imagined.
The Weasley twins had even made a large banner that read "Ravenclaw Must Win," with a Ravenclaw raven drawn in front of the words and a Gryffindor lion behind them.
Moreover, everyone held two small flags: one depicting the Gryffindor house crest and one depicting the Ravenclaw house crest.
Seeing this scene, Harry didn't know what to say.
"Isn't this a bit too, too opportunistic!"
"Harry, here!"
Wood handed the two flags to Harry and said solemnly.
"As long as Ravenclaw beats Hufflepuff, we still have a chance and won't be eliminated."
Seeing the passion in Wood's eyes, Harry obediently shut his mouth, took the flags, and said nothing more.
Wood looked up at the sky and couldn't help but sigh. "What wonderful weather!"
"Please, Wood," Alicia said somewhat helplessly, "although today's weather isn't as terrible as during our last match, you're not going to pretend this wind and rain don't exist, are you?"
"Alicia, it's not like you don't know Wood."
Katie said with a laugh. "Even if Unforgivable Curses were raining from the sky, he'd say 'Ah, what nice weather, it should still be flyable!'"
Hearing Katie's words, everyone laughed together.
"Stop laughing, the match is about to start!"
Wood said irritably.
However, the pace of this match was faster than anyone had imagined.
Not long after the match began, Ravenclaw's Seeker Cho Chang demonstrated her true ability, just as she had promised Harry.
Cho Chang's broomstick was a Comet 260, the one Draco Malfoy had before his Nimbus 2001.
Although this broomstick was slightly inferior to Cedric's Cleansweep Six, in this match, the Comet swept the Six.
Cho Chang spotted the Golden Snitch first and won her duel with Cedric, catching it one step ahead.
The final score was 180 to 10.
This time, the Dementors did not appear.
Dumbledore's anger seemed to have kept them at their posts outside the school gates.
Hearing the cheers from the entire stadium, Hufflepuff's captain and Seeker Cedric felt somewhat helpless.
During last year's match, he had already witnessed this girl's capabilities.
After losing to her, he had redoubled his efforts this year as captain to rebuild the team.
The previous match against Gryffindor had also proven the team's strength.
Unfortunately, when facing Ravenclaw, they had failed once again.
Although Cho Chang's broomstick was inferior in performance to his own, she made up for the gap between them with her agile movements and flexible positioning.
This Asian girl was truly remarkable!
Moreover, she not only excelled at Quidditch but also had excellent academic performance, a gentle and kind personality, and was so beautiful, she was simply the perfect dream girl in young men's hearts during their school days.
Thinking of this, he walked forward with a smile, intending to exchange a few words with Cho Chang.
However, as soon as Cho landed on the ground, she ran off in one direction.
Then he saw this beautiful girl embrace the Wizarding World's savior, who had rushed down from the stands, tightly in her arms.
Both their faces were filled with heartfelt joy.
Seeing this scene, Cedric shook his head with some emotion and turned to speak with Ravenclaw's captain instead.
"Be careful, Davies. Gryffindor is not weak at all."
Cedric said seriously. "We won the last match largely due to luck.
Without those Dementors, I'm not certain I could have grabbed the Golden Snitch before Potter."
Ravenclaw's captain glanced at his team's Seeker, who was embracing Harry. "Cedric, that doesn't sound like something you would say."
"There's nothing embarrassing about admitting it."
Cedric said frankly. "Just from what I know, Potter's skill level is even higher than your Chang.
And that Nimbus 2000 of his, even this year, it still counts as a top-tier broomstick."
"Thanks for the reminder, Cedric. I'll make sure everyone is aware but you might not know, his Nimbus 2000 is gone."
"What?" Cedric showed a surprised expression. "Why?"
"In the last match, after Potter fell from his broomstick, the Nimbus 2000 was blown away by the wind and happened to crash into the Whomping Willow."
Cedric: "What a truly sad affair."
Ravenclaw's defeat of Hufflepuff had originally delighted both the little eagles who won the match and the little lions who came to watch.
However, when they thought about how both sides would be opponents next term, the expressions of the two captains, Wood and Davies, became somewhat strange.
Especially when they saw their teams' ace players still being lovey-dovey together.
Finally, Wood called away the reluctant Harry.
This also made Davies breathe a sigh of relief.
From that moment on, Wood regained his fighting spirit and led his team members through rigorous training on one cold, rainy night after another.
During this period, Cedric even asked Sherlock specifically to find Harry and personally convey his regret about the broomstick.
"Potter, you need to order a new broomstick as soon as possible."
Cedric said solemnly. "Quidditch players have a break-in period with their broomsticks, especially for such an important position as Seeker."
"Thank you, Diggory."
Harry already had a good impression of this tall, handsome boy because of Cedric's straightforwardness, even though he was an opponent.
After he left, Harry said to Sherlock with some surprise. "I didn't expect Diggory would specifically tell me all this."
"Yes, Harry, he's a good person."
Sherlock agreed with his friend's assessment. "He embodies everything people expect from a Hogwarts student.
The excellent qualities of Hufflepuff are concentrated in him: honesty, tolerance, kindness. Of course, he's not lacking in bravery or wit, and he has elegant manners."
Harry looked at Sherlock in surprise. "You rate him that highly?"
"Harry, you may not believe this, but I actually know more about him than you do."
Sherlock smiled at Harry. "After the conflict with Slytherin in first year, he also came specifically to the Gryffindor common room to celebrate."
"Oh—"
Reminded by Sherlock, Harry also recalled this incident.
Besides feeling embarrassed, he remembered something else and quickly said. "Sherlock, I have something important to tell you!"
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