"Nice!" Harry clapped his hands, "As long as you have this confidence and morale, there's nothing to worry about—"
Just then, Ms. Hooqi's whistle blew.
"Alright, the match is about to start." Harry reminded them, "Don't be nervous, just follow me."
Harry led them out onto the bustling pitch.
One side of the stands was a sea of red and gold, while the other side was a wave of green and silver.
Many Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw supporters had their own favorite teams as well. Amidst all the cheering and applause, one could clearly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion hat.
Harry walked up to the referee, Ms. Hooqi, who was standing there about to release the balls from the box.
"Captains, shake hands," she said,
Harry extended his hand and shook with Slytherin's new captain, Eckett.
"Potter." Eckett said with a sinister smile.
He secretly applied pressure with his hand but unexpectedly got a squeeze back from Harry.
"Ouch—!"
A cry of pain rang out.
"What's going on?" Ms. Hooqi's eyes darted between the two.
"Nothing, Ms. Hooqi." Harry smiled at her, "This Eckett isn't feeling well, is he?"
Eckett quickly nodded, indicating Harry was right.
Seeing nothing was amiss between them, Ms. Hooqi nodded.
She put the whistle to her lips.
"Mount your brooms. On my whistle… three… two… one… toot toot!"
With the sound of the whistle, all the players pushed off the frozen hard ground and soared into the air.
Harry scanned his surroundings, looking for the Golden Snitch.
At this moment, a voice completely different from the previous commentator's started up.
"Well, they're off now. I think everyone is surprised seeing the team Potter put together this term—even though it's a makeshift team, there are still two veterans in it. I'm sure under their leadership, Gryffindor's team will definitely charge ahead!"
It was Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff.
"Now, let's take a look at the newcomers—um, Gryffindor's Ginny Weasley, an excellent Chaser, she seems not at all inferior to Gryffindor's former captain Angelina Johnson—oh, Slytherin is attempting their first attack on the goal, it's Eckett flying rapidly across the pitch—"
"Beautiful! Weasley!" Zacharias wasn't stingy with his encouragement, "Ron Weasley shows us that after Oliver Wood, Gryffindor has another even more outstanding goalkeeper!"
"Indeed." a voice from his co-commentator chimed in, "This is the first brilliant save of the match, Gryffindor should have paid for this mistake, but Ron Weasley successfully defused the danger."
After half an hour, Gryffindor led sixty to zero. Ron's exceptional skill saved some precarious shots, with a few shots even being deflected by the tips of his gloves.
Of the six goals Gryffindor scored, Ginny accounted for four.
Harry had spotted the Golden Snitch early on, but chose not to pursue it, opting instead to let the team get used to working together.
Can't end the fight now, right? Got to let the teammates have a bit of gameplay experience too.
Besides, he intended to use this match as training.
"Hey! Potter!"
Draco's voice came from beside Harry, and the next moment, Harry felt himself collide.
He quickly steadied himself, looked up and saw Draco making faces at him.
"Oh, familiar Slytherin style." Zacharias said, "Look, Malfoy deliberately rams into Potter... typical Slytherin behavior, goodness..."
There was laughter from the stands, mixed with the indignant roars of Slytherins.
"It's already one hundred twenty to zero!" Harry turned his head and shouted to Draco, "Why don't you think of commanding your teammates to catch up in points, instead of always trying to ram me?"
"No relatives on the field!" Draco shouted, waving his fist.
Harry: ...
Alright, alright, this is how you deal with your great-nephew-in-law, huh?
Gryffindors seemed to have a smooth run no matter how they played, scoring goal after goal, while on the other end of the pitch, Ron easily saved one ball after another, it was practically effortless. He even had a smile on his face now.
When he made an especially beautiful save, the crowd sang the popular old song "Weasley is our King" in unison, and he pretended to conduct them from up high.
"Doesn't that make him feel mighty?" Draco commented from the side.
"Ron said before the match he was going to crush you," Harry shrugged.
Over there, Zacharias shouted again.
"Ginny Weasley! What a beautiful goal, what an outstanding player, this is her twelfth goal of the match! If this were a Muggle football game, she could take the match ball home! One hundred sixty to zero!"
The match continued for another half-hour, with Slytherins going from initial strong resistance to later being dispirited.
After Harry caught the Golden Snitch, the match concluded, with the score settling at three hundred eighty to zero.
"What a massacre." Zacharias gleefully said, "This must be the worst score in Hogwarts history, right?"
"Smith!" Professor McGonagall shouted, just like she did when Lee Jordan's commentary was biased.
"Sorry, Professor." Zacharias quickly apologized to Professor McGonagall, but it didn't show any genuine regret.
After Ms. Hooqi announced the end of the match, Harry led Gryffindor players to shake hands with the listless Slytherin players, then headed back to the dressing room to change.
Ron was still quite excited, his performance had indeed been excellent, he certainly deserved the award for best player this time—not many Goalkeepers could keep a clean sheet.
On his way back to the common room, however, Harry was stopped by Professor McGonagall.
"Albus has something to discuss with you and Bell." Professor McGonagall, smiling rarely, said, "Head over to the Headmaster's office, Potter."
Harry nodded and let the team head back to the common room while he took the apprehensive Katie to the Headmaster's office.
It was clear Katie was nervous; she had never been to the Headmaster's office before.
In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, enjoying some dessert.
Seeing Harry enter, Dumbledore cheerfully took out a new bag of treats and handed it to Harry.
"Have a taste." he said, "It's pretty good, I got it from the Muggles."
"No thanks, Professor." Harry politely declined with a pale face, knowing he truly couldn't handle Dumbledore's taste.
"I received Vivi's message; regarding that matter, I think we need to conduct a thorough investigation." Dumbledore leisurely said, then turned to Katie, "Katie, are you sure what you saw was indeed Peter Pettigrew?"
"I, I think it was, right?" Katie asked, somewhat doubting herself.
"Hmm... tell me in detail everything and everyone you encountered that day." Dumbledore instructed.
Katie nodded and recounted the events of that day to Dumbledore meticulously.
Finally, she added, "That's everything, Professor."
"I understand, Katie." Dumbledore warmly smiled at her, "Alright, you can go back and celebrate with your classmates now."
Harry and Katie stood up together, but unexpectedly, Dumbledore spoke up to stop Harry.
"Katie can go back first, you need to stay, Harry." he said with a smile.