That morning, the Hufflepuff dining table was almost a sea of ​​yellow, while the Gryffindor dining table was golden and red.

The tension between the two colleges has lasted for a week, and today it will finally come to a conclusion.

"I thought you wouldn't play in this game." Mikel handed Kyle a glass of pumpkin juice. "When I saw your name on the roster, I knew we were going to win this game."

"It's a bit premature to say that." Kyle took the pumpkin juice and took a sip. "It's better to keep a low profile. It would be so embarrassing if we lose."

"I don't think so." Mikel said nonchalantly.

"How do you feel? Are you okay?" Qiu also came over to cheer Kyle up.

"I think it's OK." Kyle said with a smile, "Harry and I joined the team in the same year, and we are old rivals now. I don't think I will lose to him this time."

Kanna next to him looked back at him. What did he mean by "I won't lose this time"? She just asked Mikel to keep a low profile, but when it was her turn, she was not polite at all.

Of course, all Hufflepuffs, including herself, thought so.

"That's good." Qiu said, "But you still have to be careful of Harry's Firebolt. I feel that your new Seeker is not as good as Cedric."

"Don't worry, Grace has made a plan." Kyle said, "And our new Seeker is not much worse than him. I know Cedric's face is a plus, but you can't always bring your personal emotions into it."

There was a burst of tacit laughter all around.

"Then I'll wait and see." Qiu's face turned slightly red, he glared at Kyle unhappily, then turned and left.

"I was really worried that she would get angry and punch you," Kanna said with a smile.

"It's okay, I can beat up Cedric later, same thing." Kyle took a bite of toast nonchalantly.

…

"It's time to go." Grace stood up and said ten minutes later.

The group left the auditorium and strode towards the stadium.

The weather outside is very nice. Although still a little cold, it is much better than it was a week ago.

Several people went to the locker room and changed into Quidditch robes.

"The conditions are very favorable for us." Grace said, "The most experienced Katie Bell is still in St. Mungo's, so Gryffindor has to find a new chaser."

"Who is it?" Mikel asked.

"Dean Thomas."

"who?"

"Potter's classmate."

"Oh, a sixth-grade student." Mickel was relieved immediately.

Generally speaking, the younger the new players are, the more talented they are. For example, Harry was an exception and joined the team in his first year.

New team members like those in the sixth grade are basically those who were not selected in previous years and joined this year because there were no one to choose from, so they joined based on their physical advantages.

There are exceptions, but this is the case most of the time.

As for Dean Thomas, Mikel had hardly heard of his name.

"Okay, this is our first game, don't underestimate the enemy." Grace said, "The game will start in five minutes, you'd better change your boots quickly."

They arrived outside the crowded stadium, and immediately there was a deafening cheer from the stands. Those were the Hufflepuff supporters, who were wearing clothes of the same color and looked like a golden ocean.

And judging from the supporters, Hufflepuffs obviously have a lot more people, occupying about two-thirds of the stands.

This is mainly due to Slytherin. Their purpose is very clear. They will unconditionally support whoever is Gryffindor's opponent.

Grace and Harry walked up to Madam Hooch and shook hands.

There was no tense atmosphere and both captains seemed quite polite.

"Get on your broom and listen to my whistle... three... two... one!"

As the whistle sounded, everyone immediately rose into the air on their brooms.

"Well, now they're off."

A completely unfamiliar voice came from the commentary booth. It was the new commentator after Lee Jordan graduated, Zacharias Smith from Hufflepuff.

"What a surprise, I actually saw Ron Weasley. I thought he wouldn't be kept on the team after his terrible performance last term... Oh, and he has a close personal relationship with the captain, which undoubtedly helps him a lot."

There was an immediate burst of sneers from the Slytherin side, and within less than a minute of the start, they accepted the new interpretation.

Harry looked annoyed, but he didn't have time for that now.

"Grace got the Quaffle... What a charming girl... Kyle flew over and there was no one next to him. This is a good opportunity. Just pass it to...

"Oh my god, she didn't pass the ball to Kyle, she passed it to Toth...wait!"

Zacharias Smith suddenly screamed, "What an unexpected tactic, Kyle is not a chaser, he is a seeker!"

In fact, he didn't need to remind them, many people had already noticed that since the game started, Kyle hadn't looked at the Quaffle once, but flew directly to the highest place... This is something only a seeker would do.

They need a wider field of vision to find the Snitch!

In the audience, Qiu looked at the court in shock. He couldn't help but turn around and ask, "Why didn't you tell me that Kyle ran away to be a seeker!"

"I thought you could guess it just now." Kanna laughed.

Qiu then remembered what Kyle had just said in the auditorium.

But what kind of reminder was this? After all, during the Hufflepuff training, the Hufflepuff Seeker was clearly someone else. No matter how hard she tried, she could never have guessed that they would just change players during the game! "That's the advantage of having a substitute," Connor explained, "He can change positions at will."

"You knew this a long time ago?" Qiu asked.

"No, I just found out yesterday." Kanna said, "This is also the strategy they discussed last night."

"I have to say, this tactic was extremely successful." Qiu couldn't help but say, "Hufflepuff gave everyone a surprise!"

The fact was just as she said. After learning that Kyle was replacing the Seeker position, the audience immediately became excited.

Everyone knows that the only weapon that can counter the Firebolt is another Firebolt, and now Hufflepuff's only weakness has been made up.

As for Kyle's skills as a seeker...it seems that no one has considered this issue at all.

"Bang!"

Just as the cheers on the field reached their climax, in the tower not far away, Snape pushed open the oak door of the headmaster's office and walked in angrily.

He placed the water glass in his hand heavily on the table.

Dumbledore, who was watching the game through the window, was startled. He turned around and found that Snape's face was red with anger.

It's not often that Snape loses his composure like this.

"Severus, what's wrong with you?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Look for yourself!" Snape pointed to his water cup, which contained half a cup of tea and five or six round, gray-brown balls.

As soon as Dumbledore walked over, he smelled a pungent smell.

"Oh, Severus, are you going to recommend me some new potion tea?" Dumbledore took a half step back and said seriously, "Thank you for your kindness, but I am old and may not be able to accept the taste... You should keep it for yourself."

"Please, great Headmaster Dumbledore, take a closer look at what this is..." Snape said coldly.

"It looks familiar... Isn't this the fertilizer prepared by Pomona? I use this on the Christmas cactus on my windowsill, and it works great.

"But Pomona didn't tell me that this thing can also be used to make tea."

"Of course it can't." Snape narrowed his eyes. "It's obvious that a student secretly threw them into my cup, and I'm sure..."

Snape turned toward the window, looked at the lively Quidditch match outside, and said with certainty: "The person who did this must be among them."

"Perhaps you are overthinking it, Severus," said Dumbledore. He moved his fingers slightly and a brown fluff floated out of the water glass.

The fluff is very fine, almost the same as a hair, and you may not be able to see it if you don't look carefully.

"What is this, whose hair is this?" Snape thought back to the people with brown hair in Hogwarts.

"No, Severus, this is not hair, it belongs to a very peculiar animal," said Dumbledore. "I happen to be able to tell that it is the down of the Niffler."

"Sniff?" Snape frowned.

"Yes, it is the Nifflers, I am sure of it," said Dumbledore. "In pursuit of all things glittering, they will pass through almost any gap, even if the gaps are narrower than this one."

"It looks like a little creature has escaped from the Forbidden Forest." He glanced at Snape, "and I guess you must have accidentally taken out something shiny and it saw it, so it followed you all the way to the office."

"I don't have anything as stupid as you say." Snape said expressionlessly.

"That's not necessarily true." Dumbledore shook his head. "Coins, glass bottles, or silver knives used to cut potions are all their targets."

Snape took two steps forward.

"So you're saying that a Forbidden Forest Niffler came into my office and took nothing but a handful of fertilizer into my water glass? " "That's a nice story, then. Do you believe it?"

"It's not impossible." Dumbledore's expression did not change at all, and he said calmly, "I happen to know someone who knows the Niffler very well, and he won't lie to you."

"Huh..." Snape laughed out of anger, then stared at Dumbledore without saying a word.

As he watched, Dumbledore's expression didn't even change, "And that's a good thing, Severus."

"You call this a good thing?" Snape asked in a long tone.

"Of course." Dumbledore explained, "The Sniff will not visit a place where there is no harvest for the second time. You can go ahead and do your own thing with confidence."

Snape's expression changed slightly.

"You mean to say..."

"I was just discussing with you the magical animal Niffler." Dumbledore smiled and went to the window again to look outside. "What a wonderful game! I should have gone to watch it live earlier. Of course, it's not bad here either.

"Would you like to join us, Severus? This position is really great."

Snape didn't say anything and turned away without saying a word.

"You forgot your things." Dumbledore reminded from behind, but Snape turned a deaf ear and opened the door and walked out.

"How careless..." Dumbledore waved his wand, and the water cup on the table disappeared instantly. Then a large amount of water mist came out of a silver object on the table that looked like a spray bottle, dispersing the remaining smell in the room.

Meanwhile, on the Quidditch pitch.

Just as Gray thought, the Gryffindor team was no match for the Hufflepuff team, and the match was decided in just twenty minutes.

But the problem was not Ron Weasley, whom she had mentioned earlier, and the substitute Chaser Dean Thomas. In fact, their performances were quite remarkable and not too bad.

Mainly the two new batsmen.

Gryffindor's Perks, perhaps because he was too nervous or for some other reason, wanted to stop Kyle's Bludger, but he hit it directly at Harry.

Harry, who was chasing the Golden Snitch, was not on guard against his teammates at all, and was hit hard by the Bludger and almost fell off his broom.

While he was adjusting his body, Kyle accelerated and grabbed the golden snitch in front of him.

As Madam Hooch blew the whistle to end the match, Perks flew over to Harry's side.

"I'm sorry!" He apologized repeatedly, "I didn't mean to do that. It was that Mikel Drake who suddenly shouted behind me and I missed the target."

Harry covered his arm and wanted to scold him loudly. If it were before, he would definitely do so, but thinking that he was the captain now, he could only sigh helplessly and said nothing.

Ginny on the side did say something, but her voice was drowned out by the ocean-like cheers around her.

…

"I knew we would win!" Mikel said excitedly in the Hufflepuff locker room, "Those two new beaters are so far behind Fred and George.

"It's so easy... To me, their intentions are like a frozen black lake in winter. I can see through them at a glance."

"I think so too," said another Chaser, laughing. "It's especially easy for Bludgers to hide today."

Kyle felt the same way.

Although he had never been a seeker before, he was often given special care by Fred and George. As twins, they worked well together, and the Bludgers would always fly at him from all kinds of tricky angles, making it hard to defend against.

This also requires Kyle to be extremely alert during the game and always pay attention to the movements of the Bludger.

But the two hitters this school year are newcomers, not twins, so their coordination is limited. Bludgers go straight and can be avoided as long as they are seen, which reduces the difficulty by more than one level.

There is just no experience.

He finally got a chance to be a Seeker, but there was no chase or battle of wits and courage as he had imagined, and he actually caught the Golden Snitch in such a muddled way...

Boring.

"Ryan said that they are holding a party in the common room to celebrate our victory in the first game." Mikel said happily, "Let's go over there quickly. I need some butterbeer to celebrate."

"Butterbeer?" The goalkeeper Vanny said in surprise, "Aren't we not allowed to go to Hogsmeade? Where did they get the butterbeer?"

"The elf helped me buy it." Mikel said with a smile, "Originally this is not allowed, but we are neighbors, and being in the seventh grade... there must be some privileges."

"Then let's go quickly." After changing their clothes, they walked towards the castle happily.

Kyle stayed last, and Connor came soon. She looked happy but not too excited, as if she had expected Hufflepuff to win the game.

"Qiu doesn't look very happy." Connor said, "She also told you to be careful in the next game."

"Ha, that sounds like I'm afraid of her." Kyle waved his hand indifferently.

Anyone who doesn't even have a Firebolt is not worthy of being his opponent...

Together they made their way through the crowds, across the grounds, and back to the castle, many of them shouting out congratulations, which Kyle responded to.

…

"Look, who's that?" When they arrived at the castle hall, Kanna suddenly tugged at Kyle's robe and pointed at a person walking upstairs not far away.

"Malfoy? That's rare." Kyle muttered, "Not only did he not go to the game, he actually appeared outside the auditorium alone."

Connor stared at Kyle and blinked.

"Don't look at me like that." Kyle spread his hands. "I already promised you that I won't go looking for him. I keep my word."

…

(End of this chapter)