By all conventional wisdom, sports are supposed to embody the spirit of fair and honest competition, but then again, invoking "conventional wisdom" in this context already betrays how often it's ignored.
After all, if there's a "normal," there must also be those who take pride in breaking it, like today.
While Allen and the rest had already braced themselves for a tough match, none of them anticipated it would be this suffocating.
If there's anything worse than a hostile home crowd, it's a blatantly biased commentator. The Ilvermorny wizard serving as the match's announcer might not have used outright insults, but his syrupy praise for even the most mundane plays made the Hogwarts side want to gag.
"Oh wow! The Hogwarts wizards desperately charge through, slyly slipping past our defense, but alas! They've run into a brick wall they never saw coming, our brilliant keeper, Hank! What an incredible save, what a show!"
To an outsider, it might've sounded like commentary from a major international Quidditch final. But the Hogwarts students could see right through it, it was just a harmless probing shot, meant to test the opposing formation and plan their next strategy. Nothing more.
Meanwhile, when Ilvermorny made a clear blunder, the announcer casually brushed it off:
"Oh, a minor misstep there, but not to worry! Hogwarts is still very much on the back foot. We just need to stay calm and wait for our Seeker Ivan to work his magic."
However, it didn't take long for the commentator's smug tone to falter.
No matter how much he hyped up Ilvermorny's goals and dismissed Hogwarts' plays as flukes or "lucky breaks," he couldn't stop the scoreboard from steadily swinging in Hogwarts' favor.
Eventually, frustration boiled over.
One of Ilvermorny's Chasers, clearly losing his cool, launched into a reckless maneuver, slamming into Hogwarts' Keeper so hard that blood began dripping from his nose.
"Oh, just a minor accident! Doesn't look so bad, trust me, in a contact-heavy game like this, a little nosebleed isn't even worth mentioning!"
True, it wouldn't be worth mentioning... if the referee had even blown the whistle.
But he didn't.
Which meant the illegal hit went unpunished, and Hogwarts was simply out of luck.
Now, Quidditch doesn't have red cards or ejections like Muggle sports, but with over seven hundred known fouls, the game is supposed to have at least some semblance of fairness. Yet here, the referee was acting like a blind man, completely ignoring the obvious foul.
And in that moment, the Hufflepuff team realized a cruel truth:
They were dealing with a dirty ref.
Of course, they didn't know yet that in the not-so-distant future, they'd experience another case of referee bias, this time from Professor Snape. But unlike today, that black whistle would actually be blown in their favor.
Unfortunately, that was the future. And right now, in the present, the whistle wasn't just biased, it was a disaster.
And the hits kept coming.
Fouls weren't one-off incidents, and the referee's inconsistency worked both ways. Over the next thirty minutes, nearly every Hogwarts player took some kind of hit. And while Ilvermorny committed foul after foul, some subtle, some blatant, only two were deemed serious enough to result in a turnover.
Meanwhile, Hogwarts, despite keeping their moves fairly clean, were whistled for five fouls, costing them precious possession.
The crowd, too, started catching on. Even Ilvermorny's supporters grew quieter. But while the cheers died down, the insulting banners in the stands became even more aggressive, as if winning was all that mattered. For those rabid fans, sportsmanship was a distant concern.
And then the commentator gave up pretending.
He stopped even mentioning Ilvermorny's rule-breaking, and instead launched into wild tirades about Hogwarts' so-called "rough defense" whenever they were penalized.
Allen, meanwhile, had started giving the commentator a long, cold stare.
He found himself imagining just how deeply his dagger could sink into that pompous man's face. He wasn't sure if the man's skin was thick or if his blade would be sharp enough, but if fate allowed, Allen very much wanted to send this "respected wizard" on a nice six-month healing retreat in the hospital wing.
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"Too pure a stream has no fish; too shameless a man has no equal."
With the help of this shameless ref, Hogwarts, who had been steadily leading, lost most of their advantage through penalty turnovers. Worse still, Ilvermorny had started to gain momentum, triggering wave after wave of roaring cheers from the stands.
The Hufflepuff team felt like they were playing with their hands tied. The style they had honed through grueling practice couldn't shine at all, especially in a match where the other side could foul at will with almost zero consequence.
When Ilvermorny tied the score with a simple Quaffle goal, despair began to set in across the Hogwarts bench.
Their Seeker was being marked so tightly that even catching a glimpse of the Golden Snitch was nearly impossible, especially with the other team fouling freely and getting away with it.
In the midst of this overwhelming noise, cheering so wild it felt like Ilvermorny had already won, the Hufflepuff Seeker and team captain made a sudden move.
He began circling the pitch, flying past each of his teammates, whispering something into their ears.
Each one blinked in surprise at his words, but quickly nodded. One by one, he made his rounds.
During this quiet maneuver, their Keeper let in two goals, widening the gap again. Thunderous applause erupted, but none of it shook the Hufflepuff players.
Amid the feverish celebration sweeping Ilvermorny's side like a tsunami, the Hufflepuffs nodded to each other in silent understanding.
And then, just as the Ilvermorny Chaser who had gained possession prepared to score again, he was suddenly intercepted.
A Hufflepuff Chaser had swooped in out of nowhere.
"What? Trying to bait me into another foul?" The Ilvermorny player sneered. He wasn't even hiding it anymore. It might not have been "honorable," but playing this way was damn fun. He braced for another dirty move to drive off the Hogwarts player.
"Even if I get called this time, who cares?" he thought smugly.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't get the chance.
Before he could make his move, a violent crash knocked him sideways. His broom dropped steeply toward the ground.
The roar of impact was followed by the announcer screaming in disbelief:
"Oh heavens! What's Hogwarts thinking!? They charged in full-speed, and didn't even try to slow down! By Merlin, is that kid insane?!"
A pair of Levitation Charms barely caught both players in time, both the Ilvermorny Chaser and the Hogwarts "lunatic" who had slammed into him.
The school nurse rushed in for a quick diagnosis: internal bruising from blunt trauma. At least half a day's rest would be required.
As for the Hogwarts player? He was in similar shape.
"He's insane," the crowd muttered.
But he wasn't the only one.
As the injured players were carried off, two more bodies fell from the sky.
The madmen weren't finished.
They were just getting started.
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
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