There weren't many people on the Quidditch pitch at eight in the morning yet. Lynn, carrying a pocketful of stones in his arms, sat on the highest stand.
Cho, riding a broomstick, hovered about ten meters in front of him.
"Watch out, here come three!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh~
The three stones, thrown by telekinesis, flew in different directions. Cho narrowed her eyes slightly. After seeing the flight paths of the stones clearly, she tweaked the handle of her broomstick to deftly adjust her direction in mid-air.
Before the stones fell halfway, they were quickly scooped up into Cho's palm.
"Add one more this time."
"Okay!"
Cho, having already limbered up, got ready again. This simple stone-catching practice was actually quite a suitable warm-up method.
However, as the number of stones increased, the difficulty of catching them all rose higher and higher. The highest stand was about fifty feet above the ground, or roughly fifteen meters. It took about 1.7 seconds for a stone to hit the ground. Counting the hang time when thrown, catching all the stones within a little over two seconds was not that simple.
When the number of stones increased to six, Cho struggled a bit. Once the spread of the stones got a little wider, there was a possibility she would miss.
"So this is where you guys are!"
Harley's voice came from behind. Climbing up the stands with her were Neville, Seamus, Hermione, and the others.
"Lynn, are you helping Cho practice?"
"Yeah, letting Cho get a feel for it. Catching the Golden Snitch should be much harder than catching stones."
"But there's only one Golden Snitch."
Cho, having flown in the sky for quite a while, was slightly tired. Rapid turns and changes in speed weren't exactly comfortable. "I should only be able to catch six at a time, at most. Any more and I get flustered."
"That's already really great, Cho. I bet none of the people trying out for Ravenclaw this time fly as well as you."
Harley spoke up to cheer Cho on, but her eyes were fixed on the broomstick, unmoving.
"Do you want to try too, Harley?" Cho naturally noticed where Harley's gaze was.
"Hehe~" Harley scratched her hair, then reached up to tie it into a high ponytail. "We can only fly at low altitudes in flying class; it's not thrilling at all. Actually, I can fly really steadily already. I've practiced before, after all!"
Harley had played with the Bamboo Copter quite a lot during the holidays, though always at night when no one was around. Her courage was incredibly immense; the first time she flew up with the Bamboo Copter, she had dared to race Hedwig and Sigurd to see who could fly higher.
"Why don't you give it a try, Harley? Just as well, I need to rest a bit and recover my stamina for the test later."
"I've been waiting for you to say that!"
Harley excitedly took the broom Cho handed over, then lifted her chin at Lynn. "Come on, Lynn, I want to play this too!"
"Start with three?"
"No, five. Three is too simple."
Snap! At this moment, Harley, practically overflowing with confidence, waved her small hand. "Bring it on!"
"Then—————take this!"
The small stones flew out towards the fan-shaped area in front like a scattering of flowers. Harley, instantly picking up speed, didn't slow down in the slightest. With a whoosh, she charged forward. After tracing an arc, the five stones were scooped into her hand. Her movements were neat and dashing.
"Oh, I underestimated you."
"Harley is so amazing!" Cho watched with wide eyes from the side. When facing five stones, she certainly didn't move that smoothly.
"Although Harley wears glasses, her dynamic vision is very good. You could say she's naturally gifted."
"Faster, faster! Hurry up, Lynn!"
Harley, her playful spirit ignited, shouted to Lynn from the sky, "You aren't worn out already, are you?"
Feeling provoked, Lynn grabbed a handful of stones and weighed them in his hand. "Then you just wait to die now, Harley!"
The number of stones increased directly to eight, and the fan-shaped range they were thrown was much larger than before, but this didn't stump Harley, who weaved nimbly through the sky, in the slightest.
Sudden stops, tail flicks, smooth turns and accelerations—these techniques, which usually required hard work to master, were used by her with silky smoothness. Although the broomstick beneath her was an old Cleansweep model, it didn't affect her movements in the air at all.
Flying with the Bamboo Copter had allowed Harley to master various small aerial maneuvering tricks early on. Although it was only her second time touching a broom, she was able to integrate this experience very quickly.
The others on the stands were dumbfounded at this moment because Lynn was currently throwing stones continuously, one after another. Sometimes, just as three or five were thrown in front, he would change direction and throw a few more. The difficulty was more than a level higher than before, but even so, Harley was completely unafraid of the challenge.
The beautiful figure wearing the Gryffindor House robes flipped up and down in the sky. During a high-speed dive, she reached out and scooped up a small stone that was about to hit the ground. Amidst a burst of exclamations, she pulled the broom up in a V-shape, performed a drifting tail flick, and landed steadily on the stands.
"Phew~"
Harley, her cheeks flushed, let out a breath. The intense flight just now had caused her heart to beat faster, and she was panting slightly.
"Missed four, but if there's a next time, I'll definitely be able to catch them all."
She shook her pocket full of stones and poured them with a clatter into Lynn's lap.
"Well? Aren't I amazing?!"
Harley, puffing out her chest proudly, felt absolutely exhilarated. She really enjoyed the feeling of flying in the sky like this.
"Amazing! Simply brilliant!"
Hearing the praise in her ears, Harley was slightly puzzled, because the voice didn't belong to Lynn or her familiar friends, but was a loud, hearty male voice tinged with excitement.
Turning her head, she saw a boy wearing a Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. He was tall and sturdy, with somewhat messy hair. His eyes gleamed with a trace of fanaticism—not because Harley was good-looking, but because of Harley's brilliant flying just now.
"I'm Oliver Wood. I'm serving as the Captain of the Gryffindor team this year, and I'm also the Keeper."
Wood extended his hand, looking at Harley with burning eyes.
"Join the Gryffindor team! We are currently missing a Seeker, the person who can bring us victory!"
"But a first year—————"
Before Hermione could finish her reminder, Wood waved his hand to interrupt her.
"It doesn't matter at all. I can go find Professor McGonagall right now. Age isn't the problem, talent is!"
"You are the second most talented person I've met since I enrolled, someone born to be the center of attention on the Quidditch pitch, Harley!"
Wood shook Harley's hand vigorously, his eyes full of anticipation.
"Then... who was the first?" Harley asked curiously.
"It was our previous Captain, Charlie Weasley. But because he went to Durmstrang to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, we regretfully failed to win the championship last year."
"Gryffindor cannot lose Charlie."
Wood's voice dropped a little. After taking over the burden of Captain, Wood was under a lot of pressure. He desperately wanted to prove himself, and he also wanted to hoist the Quidditch Cup championship trophy with his own hands before graduating.
"Is Charlie that amazing?" Harley asked curiously.
"Yeah, he is!"
"Charlie is super great!"
The twins' voices rang out from behind Wood. Mentioning their brother, Fred and George's faces were full of pride.
"He received offers from several teams before he graduated. Aside from the English National Team, there was also an invitation from the Ballycastle Bats—that's an old powerhouse that has won the League Cup 27 times. It's just a pity that Charlie thought riding dragons was more interesting than riding broomsticks, so he went to Romania to raise dragons."
"Without Charlie, we lost our strongest Seeker."
Wood cast his gaze back to Harley. "I swear, you can definitely take over Charlie's position. We are determined to win the Quidditch championship this year!"
"Ravenclaw hasn't thought about losing either." Cho hugged her shoulders on the side, a little unconvinced. "However, Harley, you really can go give it a try. You fly very well."
Although Harley joining the Gryffindor team would likely pose a threat to other teams, Cho didn't hold any grudge about this. What happens on the pitch stays on the pitch; it didn't affect the fact that she was Harley's good friend.
The friends around them also excitedly started persuading Harley. Hearing her friends' encouragement, Harley nodded without hesitation. "If Professor McGonagall allows it, I really want to participate in the matches!"
"I'll go find Professor McGonagall right now!" Wood said hurriedly. "Fred, George, you guys watch over the assessment later. We still have a substitute position this year; you guys see if there's anyone suitable."
"No problem."
"Leave it to us."
The twins nodded and agreed. "Professor McGonagall should be eating breakfast; we saw her just now."
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze