Chapter 31

With a bang, wood splinters flew everywhere.

The Bludger smashed heavily into the wooden bench behind John, startling the people around them into screaming.

"John!"

Ryan and the others looked behind them and realized the Bludger had hit exactly where John had been.

They hurried up the steps to John's side to check on the situation.

Fortunately, the Bludger hadn't hit them, only the wooden board behind them.

"John, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Eh, Luna, you're here too."

After John got up, Ryan and the others asked anxiously, also seeing Luna, whom John had shielded beneath him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just got grazed by some wood splinters."

John stood up and brushed the wood splinters off his clothes, saying with a light laugh, then turned his head to look at Luna beside him, asking with concern.

"Luna, are you hurt anywhere?"

Luna remained sitting properly in her seat, lightly brushing the wood splinters off herself, and shook her head.

"I am not hurt."

"Thank you, John, you protected me once again."

Luna still wore her usual smile, not frightened by the sudden incident, and slowly smiled at John.

Seeing Luna still in this state, she must not be hurt, and John felt relieved.

Luna is truly something; John actually still felt a lingering fear. Looking at the force of that Bludger, if it had hit them, it would have been bad.

When he saw the Bludger coming over just now, it was purely a conditioned reflex to want to take Luna and dodge together.

But since they were both sitting, they couldn't move much in an instant, so he could only press Luna down to protect her and use his back to withstand the blow.

Fortunately, the Bludger didn't actually hit them, otherwise John would probably be getting carried to the school infirmary lying down right now.

And because of this accident, the Gryffindor players also stopped their training one after another and flew over on their broomsticks.

Leading them was a handsome man, their team captain, Oliver Wood.

"Are you two okay? Are you hurt? Do you need to be sent to the school infirmary?"

Wood got off his broomstick, landed beside them, and asked.

"We're fine, Senior, you guys continue your training, we aren't hurt."

John waved his hand and said to Wood.

Even though he said that, Wood and several players still surrounded them with concern, asking how they were.

Harry Potter was there too, and he was actually still clutching the Golden Snitch in his hand.

It seems Luna was right; Harry really had caught the Golden Snitch, right in that split second.

Neither John nor Luna gave them a hard time; after all, Quidditch itself is a sport that is accompanied by accidents from time to time.

It's just that because the medical level in the wizarding world is relatively high, most of these accidents are smoothed over.

After chatting briefly, the Gryffindor Quidditch team resumed their training.

However, some of their movements were subconsciously restrained, for fear of accidentally hurting students again.

Although no one would blame them, they weren't heinous villains, so of course they didn't want to hurt anyone because of training.

Normally, when it comes to the match, the Bludgers won't accidentally hit students in the spectator stands because Professor Hooch is always watching.

It's just that they were training, and there were fewer people watching, so this situation rarely happens, and therefore no one was watching.

The training was still in full swing.

Ryan and the others no longer lay at the very front of the spectator stands but sat together with John and Luna.

Because Luna was also very interested in Quidditch, the three of them had many more topics to discuss with her.

Luna even explained the training schedules of the various school teams and the dates of the matches to them.

Because in the past, they had never truly watched a Quidditch match with their own eyes.

Even Ryan and Titus hadn't.

So the three of them began to look forward to the scene during the matches.

Luna only reminded them to come early, otherwise they might not even be able to grab a seat.

John didn't notice that in the spectator stands not far behind him, Hermione was resting her chin on one hand, watching John's figure.

She had seen everything that just happened, and a smile of appreciation rose at the corner of her mouth.

It seems this junior isn't bad; Professor McGonagall didn't misjudge him.

The Quidditch training only lasted until noon.

Seeing that the training was over, the students who were watching the excitement also left the spectator stands one after another and returned to the castle for lunch.

Luna naturally accompanied them.

As they passed a corridor bridge, John suddenly noticed a large black dog and a familiar big orange cat in an empty garden not far away.

The peculiar combination of a cat and a dog caught John's attention.

However, because the distance was too far, he didn't see exactly what the dog looked like.

That big black dog seemed to be looking down, eating something.

Only at the very last moment, the big dog seemed to sense John's gaze, suddenly lifted its head, and looked across the distance toward John's direction.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the garden.

?

John was stunned and looked around, but he couldn't find the big black dog anywhere.

Hogwarts is truly worthy of its name; there are magical things everywhere.

John was just taken aback for a moment, but he didn't feel anything was amiss.

This place is full of strange things; there are even people keeping rats, so isn't it normal to have a dog?

That big black dog might even be some special magical creature.

But that big black dog looked big, yet it seemed a bit thin; is it a stray dog? Does the big orange cat snatch my food? Could it be to feed the big black dog?

John brainstormed in his head while walking.

He thought about whether to follow the big orange cat next time to see; if it's a stray dog with no owner, then he could also feed it some food.

"What are you thinking about so intently?"

At this moment, Luna's airy voice sounded in his ear, interrupting John's brainstorming.

"Nothing, just thinking about whether stray cats and dogs often come into Hogwarts."

"Stray cats and dogs?"

Hearing John's words, Luna only felt slightly strange as to why he would suddenly think of this.

But Luna still said softly.

"Stray cats and dogs can't live long around Hogwarts; the only places to forage nearby are the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake."

"But in those places, they are at the very bottom of the food chain and could become food for other creatures at any time."

"As for inside the castle, there generally aren't any stray animals; those active outside are mostly kept by students or professors."

After listening to Luna's words, John was thoughtful, but he didn't think much more about it.

Generally not, means there are still exceptions.

If stray cats and dogs are well-behaved and don't cause trouble, the school probably wouldn't drive them away but would tacitly allow their existence.

So maybe that big black dog just now was in such a situation.