Upon seeing the point hourglasses, the little wizards of Gryffindor had a mental breakdown on the spot.
Even with the points added by Lynn and Harley, they had still been deducted a massive twenty-eight points!
This directly broke the Gryffindor single-day point deduction record, making the little lions want to die.
But after the truth about the point deductions spread, the little lions were amused. Although they had lost a lot of points, Slytherin had eaten humble pie as well—a massive piece of it, in fact. Nothing made them laugh louder than this.
Thanks to Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, the three of them alone had caused Slytherin to lose forty points. Adding in the others' deductions, Slytherin's single-day deduction record was refreshed to seventy-five points.
The hourglass, which originally had some savings, was cleared out instantly and even owed dozens of gems.
Across the Ravenclaw long table, the little lions saw a group of gloomy little snakes collectively wearing masks of agony. Black clouds drifted over their entire table, raining down knives.
Probably because he guessed what would happen, Draco didn't appear at the dining table at all. The Club Duo, who couldn't control their mouths and couldn't bear to miss dinner, were oblivious. They completely failed to notice the gazes from all directions wanting to skin them alive, burying their heads in their food.
No doubt, as soon as these two walked out of the Great Hall and left the area visible to the professors, the classic scene of getting knocked out, stuffed into a bathroom toilet, and flushed would definitely occur.
If two bruised and swollen waterlogged corpses were seen floating on the surface of the Black Lake the next day, they would likely be theirs.
Fortunately, Hogwarts strictly forbade such things, and Slytherin House wasn't Azkaban, but suffering was inevitable.
Although Snape's point-deduction storm hadn't hit Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, the little badgers and eagles couldn't help but feel worried. Their Potions class was next Monday; they might face judgment as soon as the weekend ended.
With Slytherin at the bottom, the atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room didn't worsen after dinner on Friday. Amidst lively sounds of play, the second weekend arrived.
Lynn made a solo trip to the Hog's Head Inn to sell the potions he had made in his spare time during the week. With the first pleasant transaction done, the second time didn't require much bargaining.
Compared to the secret passage, Lynn, moving alone, chose to Apparate; the round trip didn't even take five minutes.
But early on Saturday morning, a familiar voice drifted into his ears.
"Lynn! Get up!"
Harley, having barged into Lynn's dormitory again, threw off his quilt and hauled him out of bed.
"What is it..." Lynn covered a yawn as he sat up, looking up in a daze, his school robes landing directly on his face.
"Cho is participating in the Quidditch tryouts this morning. Don't tell me you forgot."
"Doesn't that start at nine o'clock?"
Fully awake now, Lynn pulled on his clothes and glanced at the wall clock in the dormitory. "It's just past seven right now."
"You can't exercise immediately after eating; you have to let your food digest a bit first," Harley said as a matter of course, then turned to look at the others in the dormitory. "Neville, Seamus, Dean, are you guys coming along? The Gryffindor team tryouts are also this morning. Want to go watch together?"
Harley knew everyone in Lynn's dorm. She just didn't call Ron. She had been a bit dissatisfied with Ron since the train ride, but she was very familiar with the others in the class.
"Sure!"
Seamus was the first to speak; he was also interested in Quidditch. Neville, standing aside, didn't speak but nodded quickly. He wasn't very skilled at riding a broom and had almost made a scene in the previous flying class. Luckily, Lynn had been there to steady him, or he would have definitely made a fool of himself.
"Quidditch? How do you play that?" Dean, coming from a Muggle family, didn't know much about it, though he was quite interested. "Is it like soccer? I used to be on the school soccer team."
"It's different. Quidditch is played riding brooms, and you throw the ball with your hands," Harley explained to Dean.
"Oh! So it's basketball flying in the sky, right!" Dean understood immediately. "That should be pretty interesting."
"Not far off. We'll know when we go see it together."
The group got up quickly to change clothes, hurriedly brushing their teeth and washing their faces. Not two minutes after Harley left, the ready-to-go group walked into the common room. Hermione and Parvati—Harley's good besties—had also walked down the stairs.
A group of people walked lively toward the Great Hall.
Because of the Quidditch tryouts in the morning, there were quite a few students down early for breakfast even though it was Saturday. This was especially true for the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables. Quite a few Hufflepuffs came too; although their tryouts were in the afternoon, it wasn't a bad idea to watch and prepare in advance. Only the Slytherin table was empty. When it came to Quidditch, Slytherin didn't get along with any of the other three houses.
Playing dirty both on and off the pitch was already a habitual trick of the Slytherin team. They played very roughly and would do anything to win.
"Cho, are you nervous?"
After seeing Cho in the Great Hall, Lynn went up to say hello and sat in the seat next to her.
"A little, but not much. I feel like I can make the team."
"Although I might have to sit on the bench for a while. I want to be the Seeker, but there's no vacancy for that position yet. Bennett won't leave the team until about next year."
Unless they had a special passion for Quidditch or were truly talented in that area, generally speaking, sixth and seventh-year students on the Ravenclaw team would choose to spend more time on their studies and exams. N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) were equivalent to college entrance exams; for the vast majority of students, the results of this exam would likely determine their work life after graduation.
"But that's pretty good too. If they let me on the field right now, I'd still be a little afraid to do it."
Cho took small bites of her sandwich, her originally nervous mood gradually calming down.
"I'll just eat until I'm half full." Swallowing the last bite of her sandwich, Cho pulled herself together and stood up. "Lynn, can you help me practice a bit beforehand?"
"Me acting as the Golden Snitch?"
Lynn looked at Cho suspiciously. "You couldn't have suddenly decided to test if you have talent as a Beater, could you?"
"That's not impossible either."
Seeming to think it was a good idea, Cho's gaze fell on the French baguette resting on the table.
"Holy crap, isn't using a baguette a bit too brutal?"
Swallowing the remaining half of the sandwich in his hand whole, and with the BGM "Quickly Use Nunchucks" inexplicably playing in his brain, Lynn took to his heels and ran. He hadn't eaten a Hogwarts baguette yet, but heaven knows if the house-elves had left it overnight. If that thing sat for a night, it could be used as a weapon.
"Freeze! Lynn, don't run!"
"Even if you catch me, I won't let you have your wicked way with me! Give it up!"
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