On the other side, as soon as Kael and his group left the Quidditch Pitch and returned to the castle, Harris stopped them.
"Hold on a second, I almost forgot to mention something because Wood interrupted earlier."
Harris tapped his head, speaking with a slight seriousness: "There's something we need to be aware of; the referee for the next match is Professor Snape..."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone simultaneously looked at Kael.
Because Mikel and Ryan, the two loudmouths, had made sure that almost every Hufflepuff student knew about how Professor Snape was obsessively targeting Kael.
So, upon hearing this news, their first reaction was that Snape felt deducting points wasn't satisfying enough and wanted to cause trouble for Kael in other ways.
And Quidditch was undoubtedly the best choice for that.
"Captain, are you sure?" someone frowned and asked, "Professor Snape has never been a referee before, are you sure you weren't tricked?"
"Madam Hooch told us," Harris said. "All four team captains are aware."
"Why don't you sit this one out," Cedric blurted out.
But he quickly realized what he said and awkwardly glanced at Harris.
To suggest that one of the team's key players, Kael, withdraw from a match right in front of the captain... That sort of thing is quite explosive in the whole Quidditch scene.
It was thanks to Harris's good temper; if it had been someone else, Cedric might have found himself in the Hospital Wing the next second.
Cedric gave a couple of awkward laughs and stammered an explanation: "I mean... if Kael is targeted by Snape during the match, it would be just like losing a player, making things even more difficult for us."
But unexpectedly, Harris didn't say anything; instead, he seriously told Kael, "Cedric has a point. If you don't want to participate in this match, I have no problem with that."
Harris had thought it through; currently, their score was way ahead, over a hundred points more than the second-placed Slytherin, so losing a single match wouldn't matter.
Seeing Harris speak up, the others no longer hesitated, and they all said:
"Then we'll need to come up with a reason to convince Madam Hooch to agree to a substitution."
"How about pretending to break a leg?"
"Or actually breaking a leg!"
Everyone was offering ideas and suggestions.
The more Kael listened, the more something felt off. If he let them continue, he'd probably end up with a yearlong pass to the Hospital Wing.
"Wait..." Kael quickly interrupted their wild ideas, asking in confusion: "When did I say I wanted to quit?"
"But..."
Someone wanted to say something, but Kael shook his head and said directly: "There's no 'but' about it. Besides, if I quit this time, what if Snape is the referee again next time or the time after that... Do I just never play?"
Harris furrowed his eyebrows.
"So, there's no need for it," Kael smiled, "Besides, Snape might not necessarily target me. Don't forget there's a Potter in Gryffindor who's even less favored than I am."
"You mean that Harry Potter?" Harris was taken aback; he had never heard of this before.
"That's right," Kael nodded. "You can check it out; the young wizard in his year should all know about it."
Harris seemed to relax a bit.
"If you think it's fine... then alright," he said.
Once they were inside the castle, Kael didn't return to the common room with the others but headed to the library. He planned to finish his Transfiguration Class homework before curfew.
In the corridor on the second floor, Kael ran into Neville, who was not in great shape.
Someone had cast the Leg-Locker Curse on him, causing his legs to be stuck together, forcing him to hop like a rabbit to move forward.
"What's going on?" Kael frowned, casually dispelling the charm.
"Malfoy..." Neville said, his voice trembling. "I ran into him outside the library, and he said he's wanted to try that spell on someone else for a while."
"You didn't fight back?" Kael asked.
Neville shook his head.
"No... There were too many of them."
"That's not the way, Neville," Kael said. "You need to try to be braver."
"Yeah, you're right... Malfoy also said I was too cowardly to be in Gryffindor."
With a choked voice, Neville said, "But I just can't do it; I can't even do the most basic charms well. They're right; I don't deserve to study magic."
"No, Neville, you have to believe in yourself." Kael patted him on the shoulder. "Receiving a letter from Hogwarts proves you have the potential to become a wizard."
"Thank you for comforting me, Kael." Neville wiped his nose. "But I'm just too clumsy, I can't seem to learn anything well."
"Maybe you just haven't found the right direction," Kael smiled and continued, "Can you do me a favor?"
"Of course," Neville quickly replied, "but... I don't know if I'll mess it up. I always mess up everything, even if it's really simple."
"It's okay, I trust you." Kael took out a few seeds and handed them to Neville.
"What are these?"
"Cloak Grass seeds," Kael replied, "I've always wanted a few pots of these, but with all the Quidditch stuff, I've been way too busy to take care of them."
"Can you help me with this?"
"I don't know if I can do it..." Neville carefully took the seeds. "I've never taken care of any plants before, and I often forget to feed Trevor."
"It's fine, just do your best," Kael shrugged nonchalantly. "Besides, Cloak Grass seeds aren't expensive, only ten Galleons each."
Neville shuddered, almost dropping the seeds.
"H-how much?" he asked, voice trembling.
"Ten Galleons."
Neville shook even more.
He looked down at the five seeds in his hand, which meant fifty Galleons altogether.
Fifty Galleons... He couldn't pay for that even if he sold himself!
"Oh, right," Kael continued, "These seeds have been with me for a long time, and they got soaked during training, so they're in pretty bad shape. You should plant them in soil as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, Neville almost burst into tears.
He regretted it, wanting to return the seeds and pretend none of this ever happened. But as he looked up, he saw Kael standing on a moving staircase, being carried to the other side of the corridor.
Neville hurriedly chased after him.
Since he was holding the seeds, he dared not to run too fast. By the time he got there, Kael was already gone.
While Neville stood there at a loss, a faint sound suddenly came from a nearby room.
Without thinking, he immediately pushed the door open... Unfortunately, there was no Kael inside, only two older students hiding there whispering to each other.