Across from the Slytherin stands, Ron Weasley's face looked absolutely dreadful.
He stood on the bench with both hands cupped around his mouth, shouting himself hoarse toward the field.
"Use your formation!"
"Come on!"
"Crush them!"
"Gryffindor wins!"
After yelling several slogans in satisfaction, Ron finally sat back down—only for his expression to immediately twist again when he noticed something beside him.
"Hermione," he said slowly, "why are you holding both flags?"
Hermione sat calmly with complete indifference on her face.
In one hand, she held a Gryffindor banner.
In the other, a Slytherin one.
"Because I can," she replied matter-of-factly. "There's no school rule saying I can't support two teams."
Ron stared at her as though she'd lost her mind.
"But they're playing against each other! Only one side can win!"
Hermione shrugged.
"Harry's my friend," she said casually, "but so are Marcus and Malfoy. If they win, I'll be happy for them too."
Ron looked horrified.
"Hermione," he declared dramatically, "you're a traitor."
There wasn't any genuine malice in his words. It was simply the kind of joke friends made with each other.
Hermione clearly didn't care.
"Maybe," she replied calmly.
At that moment, Lee Jordan's excited voice exploded through the stadium again.
"Harry Potter has spotted the Snitch!"
The entire Gryffindor section instantly erupted.
"As long as Gryffindor catches the Snitch, they still have a chance to turn the game around!"
High above the field, Harry suddenly dove downward at incredible speed.
A split second later, another green-and-silver blur shot after him.
"Malfoy's joined the chase!" Lee Jordan shouted. "Both players are flying Nimbus 2000s now! For the first time, Slytherin doesn't have the broom advantage!"
The crowd screamed wildly as the two Seekers accelerated through the air.
"Unbelievable flying from both players!" Lee continued excitedly. "It's hard to imagine this is Malfoy's first year on the team!"
Harry leaned sharply sideways, his hand stretching desperately toward a flash of gold near the stands.
"It's Harry! He's almost got the Snitch!"
The Gryffindor stands exploded.
"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
But before the cheering could fully spread—
"Wait… where did Malfoy go?"
The next second, Malfoy suddenly appeared from behind the crowd barrier like a silver-green missile.
BANG!
He slammed directly into Harry midair.
Harry instantly spun violently out of control.
The audience screamed.
In the blink of an eye, both Malfoy and the Golden Snitch vanished again.
Lee Jordan nearly choked on outrage.
"That filthy cheat!" he shouted. "Malfoy deliberately body-checked Harry, and Madam Hooch didn't even blow the whistle!"
The Slytherin section immediately erupted into furious boos.
"Hold on!" Lee suddenly yelled again. "Harry's caught up! He just slammed Malfoy back the same way!"
This time, the Gryffindor crowd roared in approval.
"Excellent move, Harry! Brilliant tactic!"
The bias in Lee Jordan's commentary instantly irritated every Slytherin in the stadium.
Boos thundered from the green-and-silver stands.
Professor McGonagall herself marched directly toward the commentary booth with a terrifying expression.
"Mr. Jordan," she warned sharply, "if you cannot commentate fairly, I will replace you immediately."
Lee Jordan instantly shrank back into his seat.
"Yes, Professor."
This time, his tone became noticeably more restrained.
Unfortunately, before he could continue—
Everything suddenly changed.
"Oh my God!"
Lee Jordan's voice cracked with shock.
"Look at Harry!"
Every eye in the stadium instantly turned upward.
Harry's broom had begun shaking violently.
The Nimbus jerked wildly left and right as though something invisible was trying to throw him off.
Harry nearly lost his grip entirely.
Gasps echoed through the crowd.
At the last possible moment, Harry managed to grab the broom handle one-handed and cling to it desperately.
But the broom continued bucking like a mad creature.
"Oh no…" Lee Jordan muttered nervously. "If Slytherin takes advantage of this situation now—wait…"
His voice suddenly changed.
"What's happening?"
The entire stadium quickly realized the same thing.
Every Slytherin player had stopped moving.
The Chasers hovered motionless in the air.
The Beaters lowered their bats.
Even Malfoy paused his pursuit completely.
The entire Slytherin team simply waited silently while Harry struggled to regain control of his broom.
"My God," Lee Jordan said in disbelief, "Slytherin actually stopped attacking."
The stadium fell strangely quiet.
"They're waiting for Harry to recover."
Lee sounded genuinely stunned.
"This… this might be the first time in history anyone's ever called Slytherin sportsmanlike."
A loud voice suddenly erupted from the stands.
"What are you doing?!"
Lucius Malfoy stood up furiously, his silver cane clenched tightly in one hand.
"Keep playing!"
High above the field, Draco grinned toward his father without the slightest embarrassment.
"Relax, Father."
His tone was full of confidence.
"We're still going to win."
He twirled his broom casually.
"But we don't want to win dishonourably."
"That's right, Mr. Malfoy!"
One of the Slytherin Chasers laughed loudly.
"We want them to lose properly!"
The entire Slytherin team radiated absolute confidence.
Lucius' face darkened visibly.
He clearly wanted to continue yelling, but after noticing the increasingly hostile stares from nearby spectators, he could only sit back down angrily.
Meanwhile, inside the Gryffindor section, Ron suddenly grabbed Hermione's arm in panic.
"Look!"
Hermione turned quickly.
Snape sat among the professors with his eyes fixed on Harry, his lips moving almost imperceptibly.
"He's casting a spell!" Ron shouted in horror. "Snape's trying to kill Harry!"
A sharp light flashed through Hermione's eyes.
"You stay here," she said immediately.
Before Ron could respond, Hermione had already disappeared beneath the stands.
She hurried through the narrow passageways underneath the spectator seating until she finally reached the professors' section from below.
Snape was still muttering quietly while staring toward the field.
Hermione raised her wand instantly.
"Incendio!"
Flames burst upward beneath Snape's robes.
"Merlin's beard!"
Snape immediately jumped to his feet in alarm and began hurriedly extinguishing the fire.
At the same time, his sudden movement blocked the line of sight from the professors sitting behind him.
And high above the stadium—
Harry's broom suddenly stabilized.
The crowd erupted once more as the match resumed.
Hermione quickly returned to Ron's side breathing heavily.
Both of them now looked completely convinced.
"It really was Snape," Ron whispered fearfully.
Hermione nodded grimly.
Before they could continue discussing it, Lee Jordan's voice exploded through the stadium again.
"The match resumes and Slytherin scores immediately!"
Another roar shook the field.
"Slytherin now leads by forty-five points!"
The Slytherin section celebrated wildly while the Gryffindors groaned in despair.
"And there they go again!" Lee shouted. "Harry and Malfoy have spotted the Snitch!"
Both Seekers shot across the sky at terrifying speed.
But after several seconds, Lee suddenly sounded confused.
"Wait… Malfoy isn't even trying to catch the Snitch."
The crowd stared upward.
Draco remained directly in Harry's path, constantly forcing him to change direction and lose speed.
"He's blocking Harry!" Lee yelled in disbelief. "He's not chasing the Snitch at all—he's just preventing Harry from catching it!"
The entire stadium exploded into shocked discussion.
"This is unbelievable!"
Lee Jordan nearly screamed into the microphone.
"I've only ever seen tactics like this during Quidditch World Cup qualifiers!"
Far below the chaos, Sean sat comfortably in the front row, watching the match with complete calm.
He had anticipated this strategy long ago.
Draco's role now was simple.
Stop Harry at all costs.
Because unlike ordinary league sports, Hogwarts Quidditch only gave each House a single match opportunity.
Once every game finished, the House with the highest total score would ultimately claim victory.
.....
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