Capítulo 457: Chapter 457: Percy: Danger! (Edited)
Harry saw a special person on the Ravenclaw team who was in front. Saying she was special was because she was the only girl on the Ravenclaw team, and also because she was truly beautiful.
That person was Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Harry couldn't explain why he had noticed her; maybe it was a natural instinct. It was like when people were drawn to flowers in the midst of green leaves. Cho Chang's stunning beauty stood out while she was in the midst of the Ravenclaw team, like a flower among a bunch of green leaves.
She was shorter than Harry, with long eyebrows, a sharp but not pointy face. She had shiny black hair tied in a bun at the back of her head. Combined with her dark blue uniform, she looked very impressive.
Harry's and Cho Chang's gazes accidentally met, and she smiled at him. Harry felt a strange flutter in his stomach, as if he was nervous for no apparent reason.
At that moment, Tom and Hermione found a spot in the stands. They silently watched as the field slowly filled with students, forming four distinct color squares.
Tom noticed that Percy's girlfriend was sitting right in front of him, holding a sign that said "Go Cho Chang!" and underneath was a small line added later: "Crush them."
Tom thought that the drama after the match might be even more exciting than the match itself.
Madam Hooch signaled for the captains of both teams to shake hands, and then she blew her whistle. "Mount your brooms, listen for my whistle... 3, 2, 1..."
Fourteen brooms rose into the sky at the same time, two of them faster and reaching higher than the rest. Harry and Cho Chang took the highest part of the field together, spinning in the air as they searched for the Golden Snitch.
The match began, and so did the commentator's remarks, who turned out to be a friend of the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan.
"With Madam Hooch's whistle, the match begins... This match is highly anticipated, as both Seekers are equipped with the best brooms in the magical community. According to 'The Great Book of Flying Brooms,' the Firebolts are the top choice for this year's World Championship. Given the speed of both Seekers, it's clear that these brooms have exceptional performance. They're faster than other brooms and have a shorter reaction time..."
Lee Jordan had planned to say more about the Firebolts, but upon seeing Professor McGonagall's expression, he thought he should focus more on the match, so he skillfully shifted to talking about the state of both teams' Seekers.
Mentioning the Seekers meant talking about their brooms. So, Lee Jordan found a way to circle back to the topic, essentially still talking about the Firebolts.
And who could blame him? No one could resist the allure of the Firebolt.
After Lee Jordan said a few more things, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.
"The reason both Seekers are handling so agilely is that the Firebolt has an automatic brake built into it: Gryffindor has control of the Quaffle! Chaser Katie Bell is about to throw the Quaffle... and it's intercepted! Oh!... Well done! Fred's Bludger interference was very timely-"
Harry zoomed past Katie, and Cho Chang stayed right behind him, consistently overtaking him and disrupting his flight.
Harry accelerated sharply, but Cho Chang also accelerated. She couldn't leave this tireless pursuer behind.
At that moment, Richie made an incredible save, blocking Alicia's shot. Cheers erupted from the Ravenclaw field, but before they could breathe a sigh of relief, Katie seized the Quaffle that flew out and scored.
Gryffindor was leading 10-0.
At that moment, Harry saw the Golden Snitch flying near a fence close to the ground, so he decided to descend rapidly. Cho Chang followed closely, their figures almost overlapping.
Harry constantly accelerated, pushing his descent speed to the limit of his body. Descending was his specialty, but to his surprise, Cho Chang was matching him without losing an ounce of her speed.
At that moment, the Bludger approached Ravenclaw Beater Roderick, who looked at the two people descending rapidly. A flash of ferocity crossed his eyes. Now all three formed a line, with him above, the Bludger in front of him, and Cho Chang and Harry below, with Cho Chang firmly blocking Harry.
He decided to take a risk. So, with all his strength, he hit the Bludger toward his teammate.
Cho Chang heard a strong wind and instinctively moved to the side, narrowly avoiding her teammate's shot. She barely escaped being hit by the ball; the wind it generated buzzed in her ears, leaving a ringing sound.
Harry, who was behind her, had a less fortunate fate. If Cho Chang had half a second to dodge, Harry wasn't given even 0.1 seconds. He didn't have time to react and was struck on the shoulder by the Bludger. If the Bludger had been an inch closer, Harry would have ended up in the hospital wing.
Although he was hit on the shoulder, the impact made Harry lose balance and tumble to the ground. He was lucky that the hit occurred less than three meters from the ground, so it didn't cause him much harm.
"Time out!" Wood, who had witnessed it all from the air, shouted at the top of his lungs, and the Gryffindor stands erupted in gasps of surprise as young wizards stood up and craned their necks to see what was happening on the field.
However, Madam Hooch didn't immediately blow the pause whistle; she first checked Cho Chang's condition and confirmed that she had lost sight of the Golden Snitch before allowing the game to pause.
Madam Pomfrey rushed over to Harry, holding a box of medical supplies, and quickly gave him a brief examination, finding that Harry had no serious injuries, only some bruises and other minor issues.
"Are you sure you want to continue playing?" After briefly treating Harry, she routinely asked him.
"Of course!" Harry shook the dirt off his body and struggled to get back on his Firebolt. Although Madam Pomfrey had applied some potions to him, he still felt extremely sore all over his body.
He looked up and saw a pair of concerned black eyes.
Cho Chang was looking at him.
"Are you okay?" After Harry got back in the air, she asked him kindly.
Harry felt like his heart was being squeezed, but at the same time, the pain in his shoulder disappeared.
"Ah, I'm fine... you should focus on finding the Golden Snitch..." Along with the pain, reason in Harry's mind also disappeared. He responded almost instinctively.
"It's not missing a minute for that." Cho Chang smiled and veered her broom upwards towards the sky.
Harry was left stunned by the smile, and it was Wood's growl that brought him back to reality.
"Harry, this isn't the time to fall in love! If you need to wake up, I can throw a bucket of cold water on you!" Wood wasn't joking; he was ready to use an "Aguamenti" to snap him out of it.
Harry emptied his jumbled emotions and thoughts from his mind and soared to a height of six meters above the field. He noticed Cho Chang was still following him, apparently having given up on searching for the Golden Snitch and focusing on bothering Harry, following closely and waiting for him to find the Golden Snitch so she could intervene.
Fine, Harry thought to himself. If Cho Chang chose to follow him, she wouldn't stand a chance, as she would lose the initial advantage...
Harry's injury and the game pause disrupted Gryffindor's momentum and gave Ravenclaw time to regroup. When the game resumed, Ravenclaw recovered, and the game became more balanced between both teams.
After pushing Cho Chang out of his mind, another unwanted intruder returned: the pain. The spot on his shoulder where the Bludger had hit him started to ache again, making Harry wonder if he had broken a bone.
Wood's yell was loud enough for the little wizards in the nearby stands to hear clearly. Some of them laughed. However, not everyone could laugh; Percy in the Gryffindor stands felt like he was about to have a heart attack, and it could trigger at any moment.
Tom watched the scene and briefly lamented Gryffindor. He felt like victory was slipping further away from them.
The game continued smoothly with attacks and defenses from both teams. The situation was at a standstill, with both teams' scores very close, Gryffindor had a slight lead, but the difference remained below twenty points.
"Keep going, Ravenclaw can't hold out much longer!" Wood cheered loudly to encourage his teammates.
"Gryffindor is nothing special," Ritchie said as he passed the Quaffle, signaling his teammates to launch another attack.
Bang!
Suddenly, there was a commotion on the field. Tom looked towards the source of the noise and saw three tall, hooded figures standing at the edge of the Slytherin stands.
Tom was stunned. He remembered removing all the Dementors; how could they appear here? And the atmosphere was nothing like when there were Dementors...
Seeing the Slytherin house decorations alongside the Dementors, Tom immediately understood that these three Dementors were impostors.
He drew his wand and cast an explosive spell towards the "Dementors."
"Expulso!"
A blast of smoke rose from the Slytherin stands, and beneath the feet of the "Dementors," a large hole formed. The three "Dementors" fell straight down.
Suddenly, everything became chaotic in that place.
The noise in the stands distracted Harry, who instinctively turned to look, but he only saw a cloud of smoke and the Slytherin students in a frenzy.
At that moment, Cho Chang moved. Instead of giving up, she had been diligently searching for the Golden Snitch. And her efforts paid off.
She saw the Golden Snitch glinting over Gryffindor's field.
She dived quickly, and Harry sensed Cho Chang's movement and followed suit, although he was half a second late. But fortunately, he managed to maintain a slight lead over her and wasn't left behind, just a little behind Cho Chang.
Harry accelerated with all his might, reaching out his arm, but it was in vain. Cho Chang held an inch advantage like an insurmountable gap between them. Harry could feel a sharp pain in his shoulder...
Finally, he heard Madam Hooch's whistle, and at that moment, his hand was empty. Harry understood that it was all over.
He landed on the field as a reflex and saw the Ravenclaw players celebrating their victory wildly. Wood landed beside him, disheartened. He knew that Gryffindor had lost the Quidditch Cup.
Harry watched as the Ravenclaw players hugged Cho Chang tightly and were surrounded by Ravenclaw supporters. He could also see Professor McGonagall standing angrily by the Slytherin stands. Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Slytherin's team captain, Marcus, were next to her. They were the ones who had just appeared on the edge of the stands, posing as Dementors.
"Vile cowards, shameful cheaters! Each one of you will receive detention, and Slytherin will lose fifty points!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall angrily, as if she were venting all her frustration for losing the match.
The entire Quidditch stadium became noisy, as if everyone was looking for something to do.
...
In the Gryffindor stands, Percy was left dumbfounded, his face filled with disbelief. He couldn't believe Gryffindor had lost to Ravenclaw. He had even made a bet with Penelope!
Percy panicked, suddenly realizing that he didn't have ten Galleons. He looked up and saw Penelope standing in front of him with a smile.
"Uh... Penelope, um... congratulations..." Percy stammered.
Penelope smiled at Percy, narrowing her eyes.
"Well, I..." Percy was about to say something, but Penelope raised her hand to stop him.
"Accompany me to the World Cup during the summer holidays, and we'll pretend like nothing happened," Penelope said, leaning back in her chair and blinking.
"Okay, no problem!" Percy felt as if he had just walked to the edge of a cliff, and now whatever Penelope said was fine.
He grabbed Penelope's hand and followed the crowd out of the stadium, returning to the castle.
Tom was no exception. He returned to the Ravenclaw common room with the players. The atmosphere here gave the illusion that Ravenclaw had already won the Quidditch Cup. Captain Richie even pulled out a box of Butterbeer and Honeyduke's candies he had bought at some point to celebrate with everyone.
Tom: ???
"A competent captain must be well-prepared!" Richie saw Tom's confused expression and couldn't help but laugh, tossing him a bottle of Butterbeer. "Anyone know the freezing charm? Help me chill the beer!"
Tom shook his head. He hadn't expected Captain Richie to raise that flag before the match. He made his way through the crowd and ran to the box of Butterbeer to chill the drinks for everyone.
After chilling all the Butterbeer and making sure it was nice and cold, he realized that Hermione wasn't participating in the big celebration. At that moment, she was sitting in a corner, engrossed in reading a thick book.
"For goodness' sake," Tom ran towards her, "At least find another spot. What's the difference between reading here and in the cinema? Come on, let's go to the library. It's too noisy here."
Without waiting for Hermione's response, he grabbed her and headed out of the common room.
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