The Slytherin versus Hufflepuff match would take place in the first week after Easter. This was also the final match, and after it concluded, the scores of each house would be tallied to determine the ultimate champion.
Gryffindor was currently in first place with a significant lead. Even though they had lost the first match, they had managed to reverse the decline and rise to the top, thanks to the relentless efforts of the entire team and the superior performance of Harry's Firebolt.
In the Hufflepuff common room, there was a faint earthy fragrance. It was a circular room with a low ceiling, and the gentle sunlight of early spring streamed through the windows onto the floor. Many green plants hung near the windows and from the ceiling. In all fairness, the Hufflepuff common room was the most peaceful place to calm one's mind.
However, even in such an environment, the students in the common room maintained a solemn expression.
"Tomorrow is our match against Slytherin," said Cedric Diggory, a handsome fifth-year student with a high nose, black hair, and black eyes. He was also the Seeker for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, a key player whose performance often influenced the outcome of the game.
Of course, their strategy was not limited to just winning. Because of the points system, they could potentially win the game but lose the trophy, so they paid great attention to strategic planning.
The Hufflepuff players were all intensely discussing the tactics they would use the next day, because they wanted to not only win, but win beautifully.
"I find something strange," a short, chubby, and somewhat dark-skinned female student suddenly said.
"What's strange?" another student asked.
"The Slytherin students haven't even been provoking us these past few days. In previous years, their house would constantly taunt their opponents whenever they had a match," the female student said softly.
"That's a good thing. We advocate for fair competition, and perhaps the Slytherin students now understand that strength is the only effective means of proving themselves on the field," Cedric said.
Events proved him wrong, at least in such a competition, where strength wasn't the only factor, if hardware wasn't considered part of strength.
When the seven Slytherin players appeared on the field in their green robes on the day of the match, the entire stadium first fell silent, and then all the spectators in the stands erupted.
"Oh my god!"
"How can they do this!"
All the spectators almost popped their eyeballs out.
They simply couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Each of the seven Slytherin players held a Firebolt in their hands.
Ron and Harry in the stands were as if struck by a body-binding curse. Ron's mouth was agape in surprise, wide enough to swallow a toad.
"This, this is just unbelievable," Lee Jordan shouted from the stands, frantically tearing at his hair. "Seven Firebolts! Did they steal the brooms from some Quidditch national team game?"
Then Professor McGonagall glared at him fiercely, warning him to restrain his tone.
A commentator's basic ethics should still ensure minimal objectivity, which Lee Jordan wasn't doing well.
"Perhaps the audience isn't fully aware of the Firebolt. In the previous matches, Gryffindor's Harry Potter used this model of broom, which greatly helped his team win," Lee Jordan swallowed and said dryly. "This is the most perfect flying broom in the wizarding world today, without a doubt. In addition to the perfect craftsmanship and material selection, the Firebolt even uses goblin craftsmanship, including the footrests, seat board, and brackets, allowing athletes to maintain balance and avoid bumps even in bad weather."
Lee Jordan paused for a moment and then continued, "I still don't know how they managed to do it. It is said that the production of Firebolts is extremely low because the goblin workers responsible for important parts are easily prone to striking over minor disputes."
The audience wasn't all avid fans, but they knew one thing: this broom was very powerful. Harry's Firebolt had given the Gryffindor team wings, and now seven of them were appearing on the field at the same time, making the direction of the game obvious.
"Don't panic," Cedric remained calm. As the Seeker and captain of the Hufflepuff team, he had to stay calm at this moment. If the team's backbone couldn't stay calm, then they would truly be defeated before the battle even began.
"Calm down, friends. Sometimes advanced equipment doesn't mean anything. I'm not comforting you, but think about it yourselves. This is their first time using Firebolts in a match. Can they adapt? What suits you is the best. We must learn to trust the partners that have been with us for so many years, right?"
The momentum of the morale slump was immediately stopped by Cedric's words.
The appearance of the seven Firebolts even stunned Madam Hooch. She didn't expect the Slytherin students to be able to do this.
But she still steadied herself. Her duty was to act as the referee, and the students were free to use whatever flying brooms they wanted.
"Captains, shake hands!" Madam Hooch said.
Flint and Cedric approached each other, shook hands, and the latter even gave Flint a polite smile, which made the arrogant
Then the two returned to the front of their respective teams.
"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch said, "Three—two—one—"
Fourteen brooms rose into the air, and it was obvious that the Slytherin team's starting speed far exceeded their opponents, taking the lead in the air.
"The match has now officially begun," Lee Jordan began his commentary, "It must be said that the Firebolts have indeed given the Slytherin team a great advantage. All their players are clearly much more relaxed when facing Bludgers, and only need to slightly change direction and accelerate to eliminate the threat from the Bludgers."
"Now the Quaffle is under the control of Slytherin's Montague, rushing towards the Hufflepuff goal hoops," Lee Jordan wiped his eyes and said, "Slytherin scores first! Montague swooped down in a straight line, carrying the Quaffle into the goal. The Hufflepuff goalkeeper didn't even have time to react!"
A cheer erupted from the Slytherin stands, with heads surging like rolling green waves.
"Now Hufflepuff's only chance lies with the Golden Snitch. If their Seeker, Cedric, can catch the Golden Snitch in time, then they can still win this game!" Lee Jordan kept cheering for the Hufflepuff team.
Cedric tried his best to remain calm. Although he didn't agree with the idea of one person saving an entire match, it seemed the outcome of this game might very well depend on him. Besides the noise generated by the rapid flight and the opposing airflow, a piercing sound suddenly came from behind him. He sharply turned his broom, flying vertically upwards to avoid the attack. But before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, another Bludger came hurtling towards him, hitting him hard on the back, nearly causing him to fall off his broom.
Meanwhile, Pansy was circling around him, and whenever Cedric made a move, Pansy would closely follow to harass him.
"What kind of tactic is this?" Lee Jordan shouted, "The two Beaters from Slytherin and their Seeker are all targeting Hufflepuff's Seeker, Cedric!"
Lee Jordan suddenly slammed his palm, saying, "I understand now! They are using their equipment advantage to play it safe. As long as they can hold back Cedric, Slytherin can rely on the Firebolt's superior performance and the Quaffle scores from their Chasers to win the game!"
At this point in the commentary, Lee Jordan's face suddenly changed dramatically, and then he said seriously, "If that's the case, then Gryffindor is in danger."
"We're in danger?" Ron muttered to himself, somewhat disbelieving of what Lee Jordan was saying. The game was between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, what did it have to do with them?
"I'm afraid he's not wrong," Harry said blankly, a bad feeling rising in his heart.
Ron quickly understood why.
The Quaffle relentlessly passed through Hufflepuff's goal hoops time and time again. Their Keeper couldn't adapt to the lightning-fast speed of the Firebolt at all. Even if they occasionally managed to track the Quaffle with their eyes, it was already too late by the time their body reacted.
Ten points, twenty points, thirty points, fifty points, one hundred points. Slytherin's score climbed steadily, while Hufflepuff, who were struggling even to touch the Quaffle, hadn't scored a single point so far.
Indeed, they had undergone specialized training against Harry's Firebolt before, but that was aimed at the Seeker, because Harry was the Seeker. A Seeker wouldn't be doing the work of a Chaser, so all the reaction speed exercises were done by Cedric. The other Hufflepuff players hadn't had that kind of training.
"Cedric makes another beautiful dive! He's spotted the Golden Snitch! He's heading straight for the only hope! Oh, no! Two Bludgers from Slytherin's Boar and Derrick have been hit hard, flying quickly towards the Golden Snitch. Judging from the speed of the balls, they've both used their maximum strength. If Cedric wants to catch the Golden Snitch, his head might be smashed to pieces!"
"It's a pity, Cedric chose to avoid those two balls."
"Jordan, if you can't continue to comment fairly and impartially, and continue to use such biased language, I think you…" Professor McGonagall, sitting on the judge's panel, reminded him again.
Although she knew in her heart that Slytherin's victory in this game might defeat Gryffindor.
"Alright, I'll try my best," Lee Jordan waved his hand and continued to comment.
Now the situation on the field has become one-sided. The Slytherin team skillfully controlled the brooms under them, launching sharp attacks on the Hufflepuff team time and time again. The Hufflepuff team couldn't resist the opponent's rapid and fierce offensive at all, and were repeatedly scored on by the Quaffle.
Even Cedric began to feel numb. No matter how strong one person is, they can't do anything under the encirclement of three people, especially when the opponents themselves are not weak and are using the best equipment available. A sense of powerlessness rose in his heart.
But he didn't give up, but tried to cheer himself up and continued to ride his broom towards the faint golden light that symbolized victory.
"Hmm?" Cedric suddenly noticed that the others' attacks and harassment against him had suddenly stopped. He suddenly accelerated, and the golden flash was not far ahead of him. Once he caught the Golden Snitch, the game would be over.
Without the harassment, he suddenly felt relaxed. He didn't have time to think about why. His left hand tightly gripped the broom to maintain his forward speed. Cedric's right hand swiftly reached forward, and the Golden Snitch's wings met his palm, spinning in his hand before slowly stopping.
But the audience didn't cheer for him. Cedric felt something was wrong, and then he suddenly woke up and turned to look at the scoreboard, because he had been focused on the game before, and had no time to look at the score. Now that everything had settled, he had time to care about the score.
The score on the scoreboard was five hundred to one hundred and fifty.
A sense of surprise rose in his heart, but it also seemed natural. He had been so surrounded that he couldn't even communicate with his teammates. Only now did he see that his teammates looked ashen and lacked fighting spirit.
Cedric finally understood why the Slytherin players had suddenly let him go.
Taking a deep breath, Cedric calmed himself down. Although they lost this game, there was nothing to complain about. To be honest, he even enjoyed the feeling of challenging himself under such extremely unfavorable conditions. He even felt that his skills had improved a lot.
He recalled the original Slytherin team's style of play, relying on physical advantages and small tricks, which was truly somewhat contemptible. But today's game left him speechless.
All the players returned to the ground.
The captains of both sides approached each other again and shook hands.
Flint's face was full of joy, and the players behind him were the same. They had never imagined that they would win the championship so easily.
"That was a wonderful game. We are sincerely convinced," Cedric said.
"Oh, oh, really?" Cedric's reaction surprised Flint a bit. To be honest, he had already prepared a lot of sarcastic words, and had even anticipated the excuses Cedric might make, such as winning only because of the Firebolt, and then fiercely mocking him in return. But Cedric's words gave him a strange feeling of misdirected effort.
"Sigh." Cedric sighed a long breath, then smiled at his teammates and said, "The holidays are coming soon, don't you think we should go get a job and buy seven of these brooms?"
This half-joking remark made the Hufflepuff team, who had been lifeless just now, laugh again.
At this moment, all the spectators spontaneously stood up, offering their applause to the defeated Hufflepuff, the victorious Slytherin, and Cedric's mature actions.
For more chapters
patreon.com/Jackssparrow