As soon as Wood got his broom, he shot into the air, using his absolute aerial advantage to launch a barrage of curses at Flint, who was still on the ground.
Flint scrambled to cast a Protego charm on himself. After deflecting a few spells, he finally found an opening and cast Lumos Solem into the sky, temporarily blinding Wood with a brilliant flash of light. Flint took the opportunity to summon his own broom with an Accio charm.
With that, the two Quidditch players began a thrilling aerial chase, their duel expanding into the vast sky.
Victor, anticipating this, released two flying golden devices identical to the Golden Snitch. One flew to the Gryffindor arena to project the view, while the other followed Wood and Flint to broadcast the battle in real time.
When Victor was preparing for the tournament, he suddenly remembered the scene in Goblet of Fire where Harry was chasing the dragon in the air, but the spectators in the stands could only sit and wait. So he had commissioned a dozen of these live-broadcasting Snitches. They were 100 Galleons a pair—an exorbitant price!
Through the projection on the arena, everyone could see Wood and Flint flying away from the Quidditch pitch and into the distant woods.
To be honest, in the dense, overgrown forest, Wood was no match for Flint's speed and agility. However, as a Quidditch keeper, his position demanded quick reflexes.
Wood deliberately slowed down a little, letting Flint get close behind him. He performed a barrel roll, using a large tree as cover to dodge a spell, then abruptly swerved towards a tall pine tree. With a wave of his hand, he shouted:
"Reducto!"
"Incendio!"
Two spells shot out in quick succession. After the first one shattered the pine tree's trunk, the second ignited the resin-rich wood fragments. Wood, with his excellent reflexes, dodged the oncoming fire and flying debris.
But Flint, right on his tail, wasn't so lucky. After following Wood around the sharp turn, he was unable to react in time to the fiery shrapnel. He could only watch as a large piece of burning pine hurtled toward him. The next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and fell from his broomstick.
After dodging his own fiery assault, Wood made a wide turn to check on his opponent. But for some reason, he couldn't find Flint anywhere near where he had fallen.
As a tense expression crossed Wood's face, a wand silently emerged from a thick treetop nearby. A green light shot out, hitting Wood directly in the back and knocking him off his broom.
"YES!" Flint jumped out of the treetop, cheering and punching the air.
Half of his hair was singed off, his robes were burned with several large holes, and there were scorch marks on his face. He had indeed fallen for Wood's trick, and was bruised and battered. But he was a Slytherin, and with Snape as his Head of House, he had a backup plan.
He had relied on a set of enchanted gear his family had given him, which greatly reduced the damage from the burning pine. After falling from his broom, he gritted his teeth, grabbed a branch, and hid in the dense canopy before Wood could return. There, he took a healing potion that Snape had brewed for him, allowing him to successfully pull off the sneak attack.
When Flint saw that his plan had succeeded, he eagerly summoned his broom, ready to fly up and taunt Wood. He flew up, grinning, but when he saw that the ground near Wood's broom was empty, his good mood instantly plummeted. A red alarm blared in his head.
A red beam of light hit him from behind, and Flint was instantly petrified, falling to the ground right next to Wood's broomstick.
"Oh no!"
The little snakes of Slytherin groaned in disappointment, and Snape's face turned ashen.
It turned out that Wood had been prepared for Flint all along. As rivals for years, Wood knew that Flint's family was wealthy and that he might have enchanted gear. It was also something the students from the other three houses had considered when facing Slytherin.
Furthermore, as one of the few Potion Masters, it would be completely out of character for Snape not to give his students something to help them out. So, before coming back to check on Flint, Wood had preemptively cast Protego on himself, just in case.
Sure enough, his opponent had a trick up his sleeve and had successfully ambushed him. But when Wood realized his opponent was still active, he decided to play along and turn the tables, knowing that a smug Flint would definitely come back to gloat.
The result was that an arrogant, overconfident Flint was defeated.
With that, the Gryffindor team successfully defended the arena in the first round. A round of enthusiastic cheering erupted from the Gryffindor stands, while the Slytherins seethed with determination to get even.
Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw arena, the spectators gasped in astonishment, because they never expected these two to be dueling each other.
Defender: Padma Patil.
Attacker: Parvati Patil (Gryffindor).
They had the same last name and incredibly similar first names. That's right, they were the only pair of twins at Hogwarts besides Fred and George Weasley. They were from India and, strangely enough, had been sorted into different houses.
"Why?" Padma looked at her sister in shock. "Parvati, why are you here?"
"I'm sorry, Padma, I just don't want to see you get hurt," Parvati said. "It's not that I don't believe in your strength, but I'm the older sister, and I can't stand by and watch others hurt you on the arena."
"So, I have to come up here myself and try to defeat you without hurting you."
"Ooh~" the crowd in the stands cooed, touched by the sisters' bond.
However, it was clear that the younger sister, Padma, didn't appreciate her older sister's kindness. She looked at Parvati angrily and said, "Parvati, you're underestimating me! You were only born a few minutes before me! Even though your spells have always been better than mine, don't forget which house I'm in!"
"Then I'll just have to see what Victor Dreyar has taught you!" Parvati raised her wand.
Unlike the Gryffindor and Slytherin duel, these two didn't start with a sneak attack. They adhered to the traditional wizarding duel etiquette: before the duel began, both sides raised their wands to their faces (or bowed) to show respect, then walked to opposite ends of the arena to begin the duel.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The sisters, as if connected by a magical bond, cast the Petrifying Charm at the same time and dodged the spells. But compared to Parvati, who could only dodge by turning, Padma had a much greater advantage. As soon as she cast the spell, she took flight and began to circle the arena, continuously casting the Petrifying Charm at her sister.
Parvati quickly ran to dodge and cast Avis. Dozens of small birds were summoned and swarmed towards Padma, greatly interfering with her flight. Her speed and vision were suddenly obstructed.
Every young wizard at Hogwarts knew that Ravenclaws were masters of the Wingardium Leviosa charm and could use it to fly.
So, in the past few months of preparation, the young wizards from all the houses had racked their brains to come up with ways to restrict the Ravenclaw eagles' flying ability. Avis was one of the methods the young lions had come up with.
Seeing Padma's flight restricted, Parvati prepared to press her advantage, raising her hand to cast Impedimenta to lock Padma's movement.
But just as the spell was about to hit, Padma's figure suddenly flickered. A hand holding a wand emerged from behind her and lit up with a blue light.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
It was the Petrifying Charm again, but this time the attack was so sneaky that Parvati had no time to dodge. She instinctively raised her arm. The spell hit her directly but, strangely, had no effect.
Parvati stood there, completely unharmed, but a bead of cold sweat ran down her forehead, and her expression was one of lingering fear.
"Tch. I knew it." Padma wasn't surprised.
She had used the same clone magic she had used to trick Lockhart before, hoping to end the duel quickly. However, the golden bracelet with the red gemstone on Parvati's wrist had blocked the fatal blow.
Padma had the same bracelet herself. Their family had given them to the sisters for protection. The Patil family was a prominent one in India, and it was only natural for the two sisters to have some protective tools on them when they traveled so far to study at Hogwarts.
However, the bracelet's defense was limited. It could only block basic spells like Petrificus Totalus up to three times, and a powerful spell like Reducto only once.
Knowing that Parvati only had two more blocks left, a new plan formed in Padma's mind.
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