Chapter 638 Quidditch Match

Harry and Urquhart, the captain of the Slytherin team, glared at each other, and as they turned back to the team, Harry grimaced in pain, his hand almost breaking from the grip.

"Listen to my whistle," Madam Hooch called out, "Three-two-one-"

With a great cheer, fourteen players leapt into the air. Today's weather was as clear and bright as they had seen on the ceiling of the Great Hall, as if it had been scrubbed with a wet rag. The Keeper led the way to the goal, and the three Chasers each took up their duties. Harry stopped

Perks and Gout - the two Beaters, who were eager to try with their bats - and walked around, leaning close to them and whispering, "Don't forget the plan." Gout made a 'no problem' gesture, and Perks snorted in response.

Harry had called them individually to arrange tactics, asking them to pay more attention to the goal in the minutes before the game and to use the Bludgers to support Ron if necessary. This was originally the job of the Beater, but this year's Gryffindor team was a little special, with more than half of them being fresh blood, which resulted in the team's overall state being unstable. Besides the Seeker, the most important position in a team was the Goalkeeper.

Harry had privately calculated that Ron's state throughout the training session had a lot to do with his success rate in the previous few saves.

In addition, Harry also discovered that Perks seemed to be interested in the Chaser Demelza Robins, and Ron had once ridiculed Demelza's flying posture as "like a sleepwalking duck." He was worried that Perks would bring his emotions to the court.

"Don't forget that we are a whole." Harry shouted, and then flew away resigned to his fate.

He glided lightly in the sky like a foraging owl, flying higher and higher. Looking from the stands, he could only see a small black dot. He always kept his sight away from the sun, trying his best to catch the trace of the Golden Snitch from the flash of a telescope lens below.

"Slytherin's Urquhart got the Quaffle," a trance voice floated over the court, "He's the captain of the team, and he's quite big, about the same size as his players. I guess this is a special way of selection - to be able to hold down the broom in bad weather such as wind. Of course, the weather is very good today. I saw a giant squid lying on the ice to bask in the sun -"

The audience in the stands looked towards the Black Lake.

The commentator of this game was indeed Luna. Her dress was no different from usual. Her fluffy light yellow hair was mixed with some colorful pebbles the size of a fingernail, which sparkled in the sun. On the table in front of her was a lion-shaped hat, comparable in size to a real lion's head. Harry knew that thing could make a very realistic roar. Professor McGonagall next to him was fidgeting, glancing at it every two seconds.

"Urquhart starts to attack. He looks very fierce. I think he has a stronger sense of oppression than the player who got the ball last time. His back seems to be wider—"

"It was him last time too!" Professor McGonagall reminded her loudly.

The audience burst into laughter. Luna said blankly, "Really? I didn't recognize him. They all look alike—oh, look, Ginny intercepted the ball. I like her. She's very nice—three Slytherin players surrounded him. Ginny passed the ball to Demelza, a girl who was also thin. Gryffindor seems to have a tradition of selecting girls as chasers, which is the opposite of Slytherin."

"Now it's Slytherin's turn to get the ball. The ball went in. The Gryffindor goalkeeper didn't block it. What a pity. It might be the sunlight, but Ron looked a little discouraged—"

"Slytherin is leading ten to zero!" Professor McGonagall shouted into Luna's microphone.

Harry's heart sank. He lowered his flying altitude and saw Ron with his back to the goal expressionlessly. Perks and Gutt were very close. A ball of flaming red hair - it was Ginny, who shouted at them angrily: "What are you doing?" At this time, a swift Bludger flew towards Harry. Harry lowered his head suddenly, and the Bludger flew past his scalp. When he stood up, he saw Gregory Goyle waving his bat and grinning at him. Luna's

ethereal commentary came from the stands again.

"Gryffindor's Seeker Harry appeared. He was very far away before, perhaps to adjust the tactics - Gryffindor played very conservatively, and their Beaters stayed in their own half and didn't want to come out." Luna said calmly: "We should be considerate of them. This is their first time on the field. Of course, it may also be some tactics that I can't see. I don't know much about Quidditch..." There was noisy laughter from

the stands.

The disadvantage of lacking two beaters to cooperate was still revealed. The three Gryffindor girls seemed to be at a loss when facing the Slytherin chasers. They also had to beware of the Bludgers that flew out of nowhere. Ginny was forced to give up the Quaffle twice.

"The Slytherin players organized the attack under the leadership of the captain - eh? Gryffindor's beater Perks finally moved and moved away from his own goal. Is this a welcome change?" Luna said, "But the other one is still circling in the same place. He seems to be Ron's bodyguard. Although he is only two-thirds of Ron's size, a wooden stick is still very intimidating under the premise that he cannot use a wand -" "

Oh, look! The three Slytherin chasers broke through the half court. They are constantly passing the ball to each other. Are they not sure who to let the ball go? Now is not the time to hesitate -" "

Slytherin used the Kipling tactics." Professor McGonagall interrupted to explain.

Harry lowered his altitude nervously, his heart in suspense - the so-called Kipling tactics refers to a team's three Chasers approaching the opponent's goal at the same time, exchanging the Quaffle at high speed, and only letting the person with the best position enter the scoring area to throw the ball at the last moment, so that the goalkeeper on the defensive side cannot accurately judge who will attack, and lose sight of one thing while focusing on another.

Ron's face turned pale, and his broom swung back and forth between the three huge rings, which showed that he had not made up his mind. The batsman Gut slapped the air weakly, unable to do anything, and then - "Bang!" There was a loud bang, and a tricky Bludger hit the back of the head of the player in the silver and green jersey on the left, and he flew out somersaulting.

It was Perks!

Harry thought for a moment that he had abandoned his order to help Ginny and the others, but Perks's powerful shot across half the field saved some of the situation, and then Ron finally made the right decision. He dived forward and saved Urquhart's throw with a 1 in 2 chance of success. Cheers broke out on the field.

"Good job!" Harry shouted, and Ron smiled. Even though Harry was praising Perks, it didn't matter. "Fight back!" Harry shouted, "Gooter, show them how good you are!"

With a big smile on his face, Gooter caught the Bludger that Perks had hit, and aimed his backhand at Urquhart. With a bang, Urquhart stumbled on his broom, straightened up as if nothing had happened, and made a rude gesture to Gooter. Then a timeout was called.

"What a great shot." Grindelwald said in the stands, putting down his telescope. Dumbledore looked at the court with a smile, but said nothing.

At this time, Madam Hooch blew the whistle, and Harry and the others landed. The medical staff checked the Slytherin player who was hit on the back of the head. He kept shaking his head and looked dizzy, as if he had a concussion. But when Madam Pomfrey fed him a large potion, he was able to continue playing.

The game began to become intense. This is an elegant way of saying it. Another way of saying it is to do whatever it takes. To put it more bluntly -

"The game has become ugly." Luna said regretfully: "The Slytherin players seem to have a clinging disorder. They stick very close to each other, and the good girls of Gryffindor are not used to it." She seemed to really think so. In the next ten minutes, she focused her attention on the "more interesting" places, such as the strange clouds in the sky and the pattern printed on the huge banner in the stands: a small silver-green snake opened its mouth and swallowed a lion.

"I didn't see the bulge on the snake's belly." Luna said seriously. Professor McGonagall, who was standing aside, had a stern face and kept flexing her fingers, as if trying to snatch the microphone from her hand.

Harry was not interested in the banner.

He kept gliding over the field, occasionally catching a glimpse of Draco Malfoy's head glittering in the sun. Draco took the opposite strategy from Harry, gliding close to the grass. Both methods had their pros and cons. If Draco happened to find the Golden Snitch nearby, the game would be a foregone conclusion, but his search efficiency was obviously not as good as Harry's - but there was nothing he could do about it. Past results proved that when Harry was in good shape, he could always find the Snitch before anyone else.

However, this was Harry's first time playing as captain, so he couldn't help but focus on his team's players.

On the field, Slytherin's Chaser Warrington took advantage of his size and constantly blocked Ginny's sight. The other two players held Demelza tightly, looking like two fat cabbages holding a pitiful little tomato. They rushed straight to the ground, and Demelza couldn't get away no matter how hard she tried. She was about to hit the ground, but it was thanks to Gut's Bludger that she was rescued.

This is also the style and tactics that Slytherin excels in, which is closer to a primitive form of Quidditch - an aerial collision, similar to the medieval javelin fight, the only purpose is to knock as many other players off their brooms as possible, leaving the last one as the winner. These contents were told to the players when Wood was still there, and he used them to mock the Slytherin team for having their brains left behind centuries ago.

Later, Harry found a detailed version in the book "Magical Quidditch".

"But sometimes it does work," Wood himself admitted that the tactics of the Slytherin team have merits: "Genius players are rare, but ordinary players can easily gain the upper hand with exaggerated physiques - except for seekers, who are generally weak." He said to Harry comfortingly.

On the court, the commentary desk has been silent for five minutes, because today's commentator seems to be distracted and completely immersed in his own world. But when the stands suddenly erupted with fierce shouts, Luna finally remembered her duties.

"Now it's Katie who has the ball. She's an old player with a lot of experience." She said cheerfully, "The three Slytherin chasers are busy committing fouls. There's a clear path ahead. Just be careful not to be hit by the Bludgers - oh, wow, oh," she exclaimed in a series of praises, her eyes becoming more bulging. "Katie's teammates have cleared the way for her. She will face the Slytherin goalkeeper. Sorry, I forgot his name -"

Professor McGonagall snatched the microphone angrily and was about to say something when Luna suddenly opened her eyes wide, "Look!"

There was a cry from the crowd.

Katie Bell seemed to have made a mistake that she shouldn't have made. She was diving with the Quaffle. The opponent's goalkeeper stared at her movements without blinking, trying to see something, but he was facing the same choice as Ron - the opponent was too fast, and it was too late to reveal his true intention. He could only estimate a general direction and rush out, and the goal was instantly open.

If Katie had turned suddenly at this moment, which was easy, because she weighed only half as much as the opponent, she would have had an unguarded goal. But Katie gave up and threw the Quaffle in her hand away, very gently, as if she was afraid that the opponent would not be able to catch it.

The goalkeeper caught the ball easily. He was stunned, unable to believe his good luck.

There were huge sighs and boos from the stands.

Madam Hooch, the referee, put the silver whistle in her mouth and prepared to blow it. A clumsy match-fixing incident happened in front of her, but she changed her mind immediately - "Harry!" Katie shouted loudly.

Harry followed her gaze and saw a small golden ball quietly suspended in the center of the Slytherin goal.

A surge of ecstasy surged in his heart, and the broom accelerated rapidly. Everything in the stadium slowed down in his eyes: Draco had just turned his head back, with a smile on his face, as if he was happy about the opponent's major mistake; the Slytherin goalkeeper was cheering all over the field with the Quaffle in his arms, and he ran to Katie Bell to wave his fist in protest... This is the moment, Harry thought, leaning over like a golden-red javelin, passing over the goalkeeper's head - Harry could even see his grinning back teeth, and then he reached out and grabbed it.

Got it! Harry turned in the air and stopped just in front of the goal. He raised his arms, and the two narrow wings of the Golden Snitch poked out from between his fingers.

The stands were stunned for two seconds, and Luna was the first to react. Of course, it might also be because she didn't think there was anything wrong. When the field was silent, she ended the game with almost the clearest voice in the entire game.

"Harry has caught the Snitch, the game is over."

The enthusiastic audience flipped out beautiful flags from every corner of their bodies, and the stands instantly turned into a sea of ​​scarlet. Cheers echoed in the cold sky, mixed with the roars and groans of the Slytherins. Slytherin captain Urquhart rushed over and yelled at Madam Hooch, accusing Gryffindor of cheating, but even the most stringent referee could not find fault. Using ten points in exchange for one hundred and fifty points was a huge profit.

"Katie Bell - Katie Bell - Katie Bell -"

This was the first time Harry caught the Snitch, and people enthusiastically shouted the name of another player, but Harry did not feel jealous at all. He jumped off the broom eagerly, hugged Katie Bell tightly, and shouted her name with the audience on the field. Then more players rushed down and hugged each other. There

was a small accident in the middle.

Luna secretly put on her lion-head hat while Professor McGonagall wasn't paying attention. The roar of the lion spread throughout the stands through the microphone on the commentary desk. Everyone was stunned and confused. Harry saw Professor McGonagall's face stretched and her mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't hear a sound. He suspected that he was temporarily deaf.

There were many smart people in the audience. Some of them took the lead in taking out their wands and launching fireworks into the sky, which attracted a large number of imitators.

Ginny's fiery red hair jumped in front of him, and her face was flushed, like a tempting syrup fruit pie. Harry finally couldn't hold back the impulse in his heart and kissed her.

Ginny was a little surprised at first, and then responded enthusiastically.