Chapter 35: Chapter 35: What a coincidence... (Edited)
It was the first time Tom had seen the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, a pitch in the twilight, not as crowded as on match days, it looked cold and eerie. The pitch was oval in shape, 150 yards long and 55 yards wide, with a small circle two feet in diameter in the center, where the Bludgers, Quaffle and Golden Snitch were released. At the end of the long axis of the oval, there are three poles of fifteen meters each with rings at the top, which are the scoring areas for the Quaffle. On the outside of the field are the bleachers, which are divided into four areas according to House and the podium for the teachers. Spectators can sit at the top of the tower-shaped grandstand to get a good view of the field.
[Mission: Travel the world]
[Objective: Explore the magical world]
[Stage 4]
[Progress: 4/8]
[Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch Unlocked]
Of course, the quidditch pitch could be considered an anchor point. He found a seat and waited quietly for the captain to arrive. Tom had been in many of the castle's classrooms during the week, but not just any classroom could be an anchor point. He had only found two more anchorages during the week, the Hogwarts greenhouse and the Astronomy Tower. Today there was one more place: the Quidditch pitch.
Tom waited for a while, but instead of meeting Richie, the Ravenclaw captain, he encountered a familiar face: Harry, whom he had met on the train earlier, approached on a flying broom. In the morning, six owls had delivered a package to Harry, and it appeared to contain this broom. It was clear that Harry was happy and anxious, and he walked quickly, humming a little tune under his breath. But when he saw Tom, he was clearly taken aback.
"Why are you here?" ×2
"I'm here to take a walk-" ×2
"What a coincidence..." ×2
Then they both fell silent.
Harry: "..."
Tom: "..."
Harry was surprised, Tom was no less surprised, Tom knew that Harry was going to be accepted into the Gryffindor Quidditch team early, but he didn't think that his initiation test would also be at seven o'clock in the evening!
This was a bit awkward, but luckily for Tom, it was much more awkward for Harry: he was carrying a contraband item in his hand! First years can't have brooms. He had already met Tom and had a feeling that he was a much more normal person than the Slytherin and wouldn't report him, and he certainly wasn't afraid of being reported.
Seeing Tom's eyes land on his broom, Harry sketched a smile, "A friend gave it to me...and I couldn't resist taking it out and riding it."
"Well, then your friend is very rich, since he's willing to give you a Nimbus 2000." Tom liked it best when people were tough, it was fun to tease them.
Harry gave a sheepish grin, "Ah, is that a Nimbus 2000? I don't know much about it...anyway, can you keep it a secret from me?"
Fortunately, Tom didn't delve into it, but changed the subject, and Harry chatted with him at the same time, anxious: it wasn't long until seven o'clock, and Wood was coming!
...
Alessandro Richie was in a good mood. Because his House team is likely to bring in a talented newcomer.
Oliver Wood is in a good mood. Because his Casa team is likely to bring in a talented newcomer.
Today, Alessandro Richie was on his way to the Quidditch pitch to determine what position the newcomer would fit into, and today, Oliver Wood was on his way to the Quidditch pitch to determine what position the newcomer would fit into. Richie set an appointment for 7 p.m. and Wood set an appointment for 7 p.m. as well.
So the two met on their way to the Quidditch pitch.
Richie and Wood looked at each other and there was absolute silence. Finally, the silence was broken by the tapping of the wooden box under their armpits.
"What a coincidence, I never thought I'd see you here, what are you doing?" said Wood.
"Out for a walk. I ate too much at dinner and went out for a couple of laps to digest it," Richie said.
"And why are you carrying two brooms and a suitcase?" Wood asked.
Richie cursed inwardly, "Aren't you carrying a suitcase, too?
Wood didn't dwell on the question, the two looked at each other and Richie coughed, "You made a date to the Quidditch pitch?" Now that Ritchie had broken the ice, Wood didn't hold back, "Yes, I have a date."
"Coincidentally, I also have a date on the Quidditch pitch."
They both had a good idea what the other was up to, a suspicion that was confirmed when they found Tom and Harry chatting on the Quidditch pitch.
The two captains lapsed into a brief silence, then looked at each other and smiled, both Richie and Wood were relieved that they both knew the other's secret, which meant that neither had an advantage over the other. And they knew they had to know who were their enemies and who were their friends. Is Ravenclaw friends with Gryffindor? This is a moot question, but Ravenclaw is certainly not an enemy of Gryffindor, and Gryffindor only has a single mortal enemy.
From Wood's point of view, not if another strong member is added to the Ravenclaw ranks, it can't make up for Gryffindor having compensated for their shortcomings with hard training, and it may make things worse for Slytherin, which is good. And from Richie's point of view, it wasn't a loss at all, after all didn't he get valuable information from Gryffindor?
So the two of them simply walked onto the pitch together. Harry was dumbfounded by their presence, but Tom wasn't that surprised. Wood gave Harry and Tom a lecture on the rules of Quidditch, and then the four of them went off in pairs to do their trials at each end of the pitch.
Richie handed a brand new 80% broom to Tom, "Here, this broom is a Cleansweep Seven from the Cleansweep Broom Company, it's the standard broom for our team, it's good value for money, basically everyone plays with this broom if they don't have any special needs."
When he finished, Richie was a little down. Just by looking at it he recognized the broom in Harry's hand, how could a team captain not recognize the famous Nimbus 2000? he would have loved to ride it!
"Unfortunately, it is impossible for Professor Flitwick to buy such a broom for his students. He doesn't have such a strong will to beat the Slytherin team" Richie sighed in his mind, but he had heard some whispers that Professor McGonagall's obsession was because he had broken some ribs and suffered a concussion when a Slytherin player fouled him in a match he had played in seventh year that could have decided the Quidditch Cup. Since then, his lifelong wish had been to see the Slytherin team lose in Quidditch.
Chapter 36: Chapter 36: The Flying Broom (Edited)
Richie handed Tom the broom and the two took a few quick laps around the field. When Tom landed, Richie nodded and praised him, "Nice flying, you really are a genius, as Professor Flitwick said." At that point he looked across the field at Harry, "You're as good a flyer as he is."
He then pulled a bag of golf balls out of his robes and together they flew through the air, Richie threw them in all directions and let Tom catch them, Tom probably managed to catch about 70% of them. Richie looked at Harry and Wood, who were not far away, and noted that Harry had not missed a single golf ball so far.
It was a talent that made Richie's mouth water. Unfortunately, Harry was a Gryffindor. In comparison, Tom's talent as a Seeker was not enough. Tom only had 70 points out of 100, and Harry managed to score 100 points out of 100, which was a big difference. Their new Seeker, Cho Chang, had a 90% catch rate, far superior to Tom's.
Next, Richie released the Bludger, and then acted as goalie himself, allowing Tom to try to get the Quaffle into the goal under the harassment of the Bludger. This time, Tom's performance was incredible, he was able to make a few feints before throwing the Quaffle, dazzling Richie, and then when Richie didn't fall for the trap, he actually threw the Quaffle.
The feints gave him a very high probability of scoring with the Quaffle, almost all the time, but this was also because Richie had no experience being a goalie, and no Batter to hit the Bludger for more effective interference, so it was set up as something akin to a penalty kick. But for a pure Quidditch rookie, it was an impressive performance.
Richie stopped Tom after he scored several points, and was relieved when he looked sheepishly at Wood and saw that he was concentrating on throwing golf balls. With Tom's excellent talent, Richie didn't think Wood needed to know.
"Come on, let's go back" Richie descended from the sky, put away the items he had brought and prepared to return to the castle.
"Why are you back so early?" shouted Wood from afar.
"Too long to get things done." Richie replied ambiguously. Leaving a confused Wood hovering in the air. But he soon put that out of his mind and went back to throwing golf balls at Harry. It wasn't until half an hour later, when it was completely dark, that they stopped practicing.
"Our names will be etched on the Quidditch Cup this year." said Wood cheerfully on the way back to the castle.
By this time, Richie had joined Tom outside the Ravenclaw common room, and handed him a broom.
"You can use this broom first, you'll be our House Beater, don't worry about its lesser reputation, but it's of a similar level to the Nimbus 2000."
[Magical item obtained: Flying Broom - Sweeper Seven]
Richie told him to use the broom first, but the broom was actually a gift for Tom. Even if it's just a Sweeper Seven, a Flying Broom costs a lot of money, so it's a big expense. As for Richie's last words, they got Tom thinking: maybe the Sweeper Seven and the Nimbus 2000 were as close to each other as European and American medicine and Indian medicine?
"Captain, you really care about Harry's Nimbus 2000, don't you?" said Tom.
"Of course, it's a Nimbus 2000! But it's not a big deal, after all, it's the person using the broom that counts." said Richie with a bitter smile.
Tom thought about Malfoy and felt that Richie was right. But he had a bold idea, after all, the hardware had a big impact. It was like a video game tournament, where your opponent had a custom-made keyboard and mouse, and you had a set of the cyber cafe, which made all the difference.
"Captain, since Professor Flitwick is so good with magic spells, why don't we have him modify our brooms?" Tom said.
[Hidden Mission Triggered: You Can Always Do New Tricks]
[Mission objective: Convince Professor Flitwick to help you modify your broom]
[Task Reward: Magical Animal Hatching Agent (An ancient potion to speed up the hatching of oviparous magical animals)]
Tom's eyes lit up at this assignment, a magical potion he really needed. But Richie frowned, "Is this really a good idea?"
"Why not? the other teams can use more advanced brooms, why can't we use the dean's modified brooms? As long as they don't have offensive attachments, they'll be fine. If we're not allowed to modify brooms, why should other teams be allowed to use new brooms in the tournament? Isn't the Nimbus 2000 an improved version of the Nimbus 1700?"
Richie had a thoughtful look on his face. Clearly, he was impressed by Tom's words. So a few minutes later, the two were in Professor Flitwick's office.
"So, do you guys want me to help you modify the broom?" Professor Flitwick lifted his head from his book and looked at his two students, "Are you sure this isn't against the rules? If you trust me, and the rules allow it, then naturally I can help you with your flying broom."
Richie nodded after carefully remembering for a moment that there was no "no modifying brooms" rule, and with Richie's affirmative answer, Professor Flitwick agreed to Tom's idea.
"Leave the broom here for now, I need to work on it, after all I have never made a flying broom, what function do you want me to incorporate into it?" Professor Flitwick asked Richie and Tom to put the broom on his desk. The two organized their words, described their requirements to Professor Flitwick and left.
When they returned to the Common Room, Tom clicked on the system panel, clicked on [Claim Reward], and a line appeared: [Reward has been issued, please go to the Room of Requirement, location: turn left at the first intersection, first turn right at the second intersection, first red bottle in the first row of the second cabinet, first red bottle in the third row].
Tom: What the hell?
System: [First in the first row, first in the third row! Take the red!]
Tom: "..."
I'm not asking you to repeat yourself! I mean why can't this crappy system deliver the stuff to me! Wouldn't a normal system allow you to just "click and collect" to claim the prize? And now I have to personally collect my rewards?
Tom frantically complained in his mind to the system, but the system seemed to be dead, not saying a word. Tom could only get dressed and go to the Room of Requirement, what else could he do? There was no option to uninstall the system or contact customer service.
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