Saturday arrived with dazzling sunshine and clear skies.
When the Gryffindor team walked into the Great Hall, they were greeted with thunderous applause—not only from Gryffindor itself, but also from students at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
Cedric Diggory called out loudly, "Harry, good luck!"
This showed just how detestable Slytherin's behavior had been recently.
Seeing this, Harry couldn't help but break into a happy smile. Even the Slytherin students booing as he walked past couldn't affect his good mood.
Strangely, Harry noticed that Malfoy's face was paler than usual today, and he was actually the only one on the team not booing. This puzzled Harry—could this guy really have changed?
Throughout breakfast, Wood kept urging the team to eat more, though he himself touched nothing. Then, before the others had finished, he was already hurrying them to the pitch to familiarize themselves with the conditions.
As they left the Hall, everyone applauded again. Before they left, Cho Chang even ran over specially. "Good luck, Harry!"
Seeing Cho Chang reminded Harry of that hug. Being watched by so many people, Harry's face reddened.
After the Gryffindor Quidditch team left, Cho Chang naturally sat down at Sherlock's table.
"Sherlock, did Harry sleep well last night?"
"He woke once in the middle of the night," Sherlock said concisely. "Had a dream—complete victory."
Cho Chang laughed. "That's wonderful! I was worried he'd be affected by the recent atmosphere!"
Hermione also smiled. "If that were the case, everything Gemma did earlier would have been meaningless."
"I think I heard someone calling me?" Gemma Farley walked over.
Ron looked at this pretty girl, then at the people sitting at this table, and decisively stood up. "I'll go check out the pitch too." With that, he vanished in a flash.
When Cho Chang sat down, Ginny's expression had already seemed a bit off. But fortunately Harry had already left, so Ron felt the pressure wasn't too bad. Now with Gemma's arrival, Ron immediately felt it would be better to leave first.
Facts proved he was wise. The moment he left, Penelope also joined the table. Half-jokingly, half-seriously, she said, "Gemma, isn't it bad for you to associate so closely with us? Look at the Slytherin Quidditch players—they're not looking at you very kindly!"
Gemma glanced back disdainfully. "Inferior skill gives them no right to complain! If anyone has a problem with me, they're welcome to come tell me directly."
Penelope pursed her lips. 'Who would dare approach you?'
Both were prefects—Head Girls—yet Gemma could firmly suppress all the little snakes, with no troublemakers daring to challenge her. In contrast, Percy not only couldn't control the little lions, even his own siblings didn't respect him.
She heard Gemma continue, "Besides, you're a Ravenclaw student—don't go saying 'we' so casually."
"But I'm also Percy's girlfriend!" Penelope said with a grin. "You should find yourself a Gryffindor boyfriend too, then you can say 'we' just like me!" Having said this, Penelope also sat down like Gemma had.
Hermione: "..."
What was that supposed to mean?
With Penelope seated, this table had become Sherlock and five beautiful girls. Their conversation naturally focused on today's match.
"Gemma, want to make a bet?"
"What bet?"
"Last time when Gryffindor played Ravenclaw, I bet Percy ten Galleons." At this point, Penelope's face reddened. Though Gryffindor had beaten Ravenclaw in that match, Percy hadn't actually asked her for the ten Galleons. Penelope had agreed to let it slide—after all, ten Galleons wasn't a small sum. She'd just compensated Percy in other ways. Thinking back on it now, it was still rather embarrassing.
"So... you want me to bet you ten Galleons too?"
"That's not necessary. Small bets are fun, large bets harm. Let's just bet one Galleon."
"You're supporting Gryffindor?"
"Naturally!" Penelope pulled Cho Chang into a hug, grinning. "Harry beat our Cho after all—I don't think your chrome-plated young master is any match for Harry."
"Then there's no bet," Gemma sighed. "Because I'm also supporting Gryffindor."
"That's no fun. As a member of Slytherin, how can you support the opposition?" Penelope said with feigned dissatisfaction. "If they found out, how heartbroken they'd be!"
"Heartbroken? Then they can find a private place to cry! If you want to bet so badly, I can just give you a Galleon directly."
Penelope tilted her head. "The rich girl speaks with such confidence—but really, do you have that little faith in them?"
Gemma didn't answer, instead turning to ask, "Sherlock, what do you think?"
"More than fifty points—Gryffindor wins."
Gemma smiled lightly. "I trust him."
"Well, looks like that Galleon is destined to slip away."
"Not necessarily," Hermione suddenly interjected. "You could try the Slytherin side. I think they wouldn't be like Gemma, openly supporting their opponents."
Penelope said irritably, "Besides Gemma, I don't want to talk to any other snakes."
Gemma chuckled. "So I'm a snake too?"
"That's right, but the particularly beautiful kind of snake—highly venomous, and once you're infected, you can never break free." As Penelope spoke, she glanced at Sherlock. Seeing his indifferent demeanor, she couldn't help but sigh quietly.
Her old rival really needed to hurry up, or she'd truly have no chance!
Looks like she really needed to share her experience with her properly.
"Everyone, shall we go?" Just then, Ginny turned and looked around. "The castle doors are open!"
Clearly, she was getting impatient.
"Let's go." Sherlock stood up.
"You all go ahead. I'll find Percy." Penelope smiled and pulled Gemma aside. "Come with me first—there's something I need to tell you."
Cho Chang was also called away by her Ravenclaw roommate, leaving only Sherlock, Hermione, and Ginny to walk out of the castle together.
The weather today was indeed excellent—not only sunny and bright, but windless as well. Plus, it hadn't rained recently, so the ground was hard. This would make takeoffs faster. Of course, it would also hurt more and cause worse injuries when crashing to the ground.
When the entire school crowded onto the lawn, they just caught Wood leading the team into the changing room.
Sherlock looked toward the stands and saw Ron, who had claimed a good spot early, waving at them vigorously.
When Sherlock, Hermione, and Ginny reached the stands, Ron proudly pointed at the spectator seats. "Look—everyone's supporting us today!"
As Ron said, the vast majority of spectators in the entire stadium wore bright red roses or waved red flags with the Gryffindor lion. Everywhere you could see banners reading "Go Gryffindor," "Lions Take the Cup," "The Chosen One Must Win."
Only behind the Slytherin goal posts were about two hundred people wearing green accessories, silver snakes flashing on their flags. However, with the entire field a sea of red and gold, these two hundred seemed particularly isolated, completely out of place.
Probably considering this, Snape—the old Snake King himself—had personally come to rally his house. He sat in the front row, also wearing green accessories, an ominous smile on his face.
"Hehe, Slytherin has angered everyone recently—serves them right!" Because of the poem "his eyes as green as a pickled toad," Ginny was particularly disgusted with Snape. Seeing this, she said mercilessly, "Even if Snape comes, it won't help... Luna, how did you get here?"
Seeing Luna silently appear and sit down next to Sherlock, Ginny, who had been criticizing Snape, got a fright. Today she'd been careless and hadn't gone to find Luna, but Luna had come on her own.
Luna puffed out her chest, showing her friend the bright red rose. "Today we are all Gryffindor!"
"Well said!" Ron and Hermione nodded together.
Not only that, even nearby Neville, Dean, Seamus, and the Patil twins gathered around, everyone shouting together: "Yes, today we are all Gryffindor!"
"The Gryffindor team is taking the field!" Just then, Lee Jordan, the regular commentator, began at the perfect moment.
The Gryffindor Quidditch team, dressed in scarlet robes and led by Wood, strode out from the changing room onto the pitch. The moment they appeared, a wave of noise hit them—everyone was cheering for them.
Luna had really called it.
Lee Jordan naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity and immediately launched into praise mode: "Led by Keeper and Captain Oliver Wood, we have Seeker Harry Potter, three female Chasers Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet, plus the two Beaters, the Weasley twins, arriving at the center of the pitch.
It's widely believed this is the best team Hogwarts has had in years. But due to various reasons, they've never been able to win the championship—"
The faster Lee Jordan spoke, the more rhythmic and melodic it became, making listeners want to tap their feet.
This was why he'd been able to remain commentator for so many years despite Professor McGonagall's pressure.
However, today his commentary was drowned out by boos erupting from the Slytherin side. Clearly, they were unhappy with Lee Jordan's biased commentary secretly praising Gryffindor.
Luna asked Sherlock curiously, "If it's the best team Hogwarts has had in years, why haven't they won the championship?"
Before Sherlock could speak, Hermione immediately explained, "The first year was because Harry was hospitalized and missed the final match. The second year, as you know, all the remaining matches were canceled."
"That is quite unfortunate."
Hermione looked at Luna with some surprise—coming from her, that was quite the statement. But the moment this thought formed, she heard Luna continue, "But losing is losing—the commentator shouldn't make excuses for them."
Hermione: (ー`ー)
Ron, Ginny, and the nearby little lions all looked at each other.
Though what she said was technically correct, it really was quite infuriating to hear!
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