---
Razim was constantly chattering in Richie's ear, revealing a meticulous, hyper-analytical personality that completely contradicted his massive, athletic build.
No wonder the prefect, Joel Rogers, had sold Richie out to him without a second thought.
Nobody could handle this guy.
Thankfully, the shrill blast of a whistle finally cut through the air, signaling the official start of the Quidditch match.
Fweeeeet!
"And the match officially begins!"
"Gryffindor's Chasers immediately take possession of the Quaffle!"
As the commentator's voice boomed over the stadium, the attention of every single student locked onto the action unfolding in the sky.
"Gryffindor! Gryffindor!"
"Slytherin! Slytherin!"
The Gryffindor students immediately erupted into passionate cheers, and even the usually reserved Slytherins dropped their dignified masks, aggressively screaming in support of their team.
Before long...
"Angelina Johnson scores!"
"Ten points to Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor stands exploded with thunderous applause.
Meanwhile, over in the Ravenclaw section...
"Oh, that was brilliant! Johnson obviously utilized the slipstream generated by the opposing player's broomstick to execute a rapid, high-g offset maneuver!"
"We absolutely have to record that data! An offset maneuver makes the trajectory unpredictable for both parties, but the initiator inherently dictates the final positional drop!"
"Merlin, the Slytherin Keeper couldn't even process what was happening..."
The sound of dozens of quills simultaneously scratching across parchment echoed through the Ravenclaw stands.
One of the older students had even somehow managed to smuggle in a magical camera and was rapidly snapping pictures of the key plays.
"We need to establish a dedicated Ravenclaw Quidditch database!"
"Only by maintaining rigorous academic standards can we ensure the absolute accuracy and reliability of our tactical models!"
Right then, the Slytherin team launched a massive counter-offensive.
"Oh!"
"Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint takes the Quaffle and charges!"
"Captain Wood executes a flawless block!"
"Beautiful save!"
"Uh... my apologies, Professor."
"And Gryffindor immediately transitions to a counter-attack!"
"..."
The atmosphere in the stadium grew increasingly tense and chaotic. Gryffindor suffered two back-to-back injuries that took players out of the game, and Slytherin rapidly closed the point gap.
Watching from the stands, Richie felt his own emotions surging right along with the gasps and cheers of the massive crowd.
It made complete sense why so many people were obsessed with live sports. The sheer, overwhelming energy of the crowd was incredibly infectious.
However, before long, Richie's mind began to wander.
The intense emotional resonance rolling through the spectator stands suddenly reminded him of a book he had recently checked out from the library: The Dancing Wire. Specifically, he remembered the chapter detailing the mechanics of "Mass Magic" in the wizarding world.
Mass Magic was described as a brilliant but fleeting meteor in magical history. It was an advanced survival mechanism born out of necessity during large-scale wizarding wars. However, as times of peace returned and public outcry grew regarding its catastrophic destructive potential, the Ministry of Magic aggressively pushed legislation to ban it. As a result, Mass Magic—especially offensive variations—had rapidly faded into obscurity.
What Richie specifically recalled was the core principle required to execute Mass Magic: Emotional Resonance among the casters.
Only a deeply unified emotional state—whether it was the absolute conviction to protect, the burning fury to fight, or a singular, hyper-focused intent—could successfully trigger a Mass Magic spell. If the resonance was weak, the spell would simply fail. If the resonance fractured during casting, the resulting magical backlash was catastrophic.
This concept triggered a deep dive into Richie's own magical theories:
Up until now, he had always viewed emotion simply as a driving force—a catalyst that accelerated the conversion of raw magical energy into an active spell.
But the book explicitly stated:
>"Resonant emotions allow the magic of multiple wizards to simultaneously act upon a single Mass Magic construct." Emotional resonance allowed different people's magic to fuse into one spell?!
Did that mean emotion acted as an anchor, resonance acted as the tether connecting those anchors, and raw magic simply flowed through that network?
If that was true, what role did conscious intent actually play in that specific scenario?
And what other hidden mechanics were at work here?
The Dancing Wire hadn't provided any deeper technical explanations, likely because discussing the actual mechanics of casting Mass Magic was still heavily restricted by the Ministry.
Regardless...
This realization proved that his current theory—that magic was simply "Guided by Intent, Driven by Emotion"—was vastly oversimplified.
His sheer lack of foundational knowledge made Richie acutely aware of how much more reading he needed to do. The only way to truly peel back the layers of magic's mysteries was through relentless, dedicated research.
Just as Richie was deep in his own thoughts, a massive gasp ripped through the crowd, snapping him back to reality.
"What is happening to Harry Potter?!"
"Is his broom malfunctioning from a slipstream collision?!"
"Impossible! He's way too high up; no other broom's wake could possibly affect him at that altitude!"
"Oh, Merlin, he's going to fall!"
---
"Oh my God, Harry!"
Ron's face went completely pale. High above the pitch, Harry was desperately clinging to his broom as it bucked and violently jerked through the air, looking exactly like Neville during their very first flying lesson.
But then, Harry seemed to regain a sliver of control. The broom stopped darting around and simply hovered in place, violently violently violently vibrating and twitching.
"Something is wrong. Something is incredibly wrong!"
Hermione had her binoculars pressed tightly to her eyes, aggressively scanning the stadium. Before long, her gaze locked onto the professor's box. She zeroed in on Snape, whose eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Harry, his lips moving rapidly in a continuous, silent chant.
"It's Snape!"
"Snape is jinxing his broom!" Hermione announced with absolute certainty.
Hearing that, Ron felt his legs practically give out. "How is he getting away with that?! What do we do?!"
"I don't know, but we have to do something!"
With that, Hermione shoved the binoculars into Ron's chest and immediately sprinted out of the stands.
Seconds ticked by like hours. Just as Harry was about to lose his grip and plummet from the sky, a sudden commotion erupted in the professor's box. Snape's robes had caught on fire!
At that exact moment, Harry fully regained control of his broom. He swung himself back into the saddle and immediately shot into a steep dive, chasing after the sudden glint of the Golden Snitch.
"Oh, thank Merlin!"
A massive wave of relief washed over the Gryffindor stands. If their Seeker had fallen and gotten injured, the match would have basically been over!
Recovering flawlessly, Harry accelerated into a terrifying, high-speed dive. At the very last second, he executed an incredibly risky maneuver, pulling up just inches from the ground and tumbling off his broom, rolling across the grass.
"Wait, what's happening? Is Harry Potter going to throw up?"
"Merlin! He just spit out the Golden Snitch!"
"Harry Potter catches the Snitch! Gryffindor wins, one hundred and seventy points to sixty!"
---
With the match officially over and Gryffindor securing their first massive victory, Richie climbed down from the stands and started heading back toward the castle.
Just then, Hermione suddenly appeared out of nowhere and intercepted him.
"Richie! We need your help!"
Richie stopped, completely caught off guard. "Did something happen?"
Without explaining, Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him around the corner of the stadium to a secluded spot.
Harry and Ron were already standing there waiting.
"Oh, hey Harry. Congratulations on the win," Richie said casually, before turning a confused look back to Hermione. "Okay, can someone please tell me what's going on?"