Chapter 123: Entrapment Plan

"To be honest, I feel Ravenclaw is simply sleepwalking." Luo En couldn't help but say when the match was halfway through.

"The Seeker is invisible the whole time; I didn't understand it at all." Neville shrugged.

"Because their Seeker graduated last year." Harry explained, "The current Seeker is a Chaser who transformed; Ravenclaw can't find a Seeker with enough talent."

"I'm really curious how they defeated Hufflepuff." Jin Ni asked.

"Hufflepuff's weakness lies in their goalposts being too easy to break through, and frontal ability happens to be the only thing worth mentioning about the current Ravenclaw." Wood said, "You all watch this match well; this has very significant meaning for our research on Ravenclaw."

The match finally ended with Ravenclaw losing to Slytherin 60:150. When other children scattered, Wood called the team members to the lounge, and also brought Luo En and Jin Ni, saying he was going to hold a tactical meeting.

"Let's get real first. Let's review this match of Ravenclaw versus Slytherin, talk about Ravenclaw's current tactical predicament in positions, and what problems have appeared in their Seeker's dueling and team operations." Wood held his small notebook and said slowly.

"Now for Ravenclaw, the biggest problem is that they can't find a suitable Seeker to fill the Seeker position. Those who can be used to fill the Seeker position are either substitute Chasers or rookie Seekers with poor levels." Wood tapped the table, "Then now they have two ideas: grab points and force a team fight, or play four-protect-one."

"In the four-protect-one situation, putting the hope of winning on a rookie with mediocre talent is actually very risky; and grabbing points and forcing a team fight also has very large drawbacks. Although Ravenclaw won against Hufflepuff with the tactic of grabbing points and forcing a team fight, this was based on the premise that Hufflepuff's frontal ability was weak and Cedric himself was team-oriented. This kind of victory is unrepeatable."

"Slytherin can flexibly change ideas. If Ravenclaw chooses to use a substitute Chaser to grab points, then Slytherin can play defense and wait for Malfoy to catch the Snitch; if Ravenclaw uses a rookie Seeker to play operations, then Slytherin can directly play four-protect-one. Although Malfoy is still a bit worse than Harry, he is also a top Seeker, and taking care of a rookie is a piece of cake."

"It can be said that this year's Ravenclaw, having lost their Seeker, no longer possesses the strength to threaten us at all." Wood continued, "We need to consider how to get more points in this match to solve the pressure of the final."

"And Harry, you still must play. Only if our Seeker is good enough can we exert pressure on their lineup; this is very critical." Wood finally gave the conclusion, "After you play, focus on dueling to exert pressure; don't rush to catch the Snitch."

"I understand." Harry nodded. Through Wood's analysis, he now also knew the situation like the back of his hand.

It's just that, for Harry now, the imminent second consecutive championship isn't his only goal. After learning the Patronus Charm, he would think about more things.

For example, the Dementors that appeared in the last match—since they appeared on the pitch, this shows Black was also there at the time. And why was Black there?

Harry felt that Black might also be very familiar with the match dates of Hogwarts. When he appeared on the pitch again, he might very likely come again. For Black, even if he couldn't find any opportunity to attack Harry, appropriately exposing a bit of scent to attract Dementors could also cause great harm to Harry.

Of course, Black should not know now that Harry is no longer afraid of Dementors.

If the pressure of the match against Ravenclaw is very high, then it's best to let the professors make full preparations around the pitch in advance to scare Black away, giving Harry a space to focus on operations. But now that the pressure isn't high, one can consider letting the professors deliberately pretend to relax their vigilance, and then secretly ambush, so there will be a great chance to catch Black.

With this idea, the first person Harry thought of was to discuss it with Lu Ping, because Lu Ping might be the professor who knew Black best.

"I admit your idea is very reasonable, Harry." Lu Ping mused, "But I don't really want you to take risks. Speaking of which, there is one thing I haven't asked you yet."

"What is it, Professor?"

"Where did you know our four nicknames from?" Lu Ping asked.

"Hmm?" Harry was stunned, "I heard it from Mr. Sangster. He is the owner of a Gobstone shop in Hogsmeade village, and was in the same year as you when in school."

"I see..." Lu Ping seemed to fall into deep thought.

"I think, Professor, the reason you ask this is because of the Marauder's Map, right?" Harry guessed Lu Ping's thoughts a bit.

"Oh, it seems you know the whereabouts of the Marauder's Map." Lu Ping said happily, "This way we can monitor Black's movements at all times."

"The Marauder's Map is indeed with me." Harry said, "But it doesn't show your name. I guess it's also ineffective against Black."

"Because the Marauder's Map won't show the traces of the Marauders to outsiders." Lu Ping smiled mysteriously, "However, for us, there's nothing to keep secret about each other's whereabouts."

"Oh, you mean." Harry originally had this guess implicitly, "If you hold the Marauder's Map, it can show his movements when Black sneaks into the school?"

"That's right." Lu Ping said, "You can play the match as

"Good idea. Wait a moment, I'll go back to the dormitory to get it." After weighing it briefly, Harry decided to return the Marauder's Map to Lu Ping. Firstly, because it would help in capturing A-Hei, and secondly, because he had a more vivid map at Torchwood.

Only then did Harry realize that, in fact, once the Torchwood map was built, it could have been used to monitor A-Hei. It was just that the children at Torchwood were not very willing to stare at the map day and night, and even if they discovered A-Hei's tracks, it took quite a lot of time from reporting to the professor to rushing to the scene, by which time A-Hei might have already moved.

Rushing before dinner, Harry retrieved the Marauder's Map. Lu Ping stroked the worn parchment, a look of nostalgia appearing on his face.

"Where did you find this map?" Lu Ping said. "I remember it was stolen when I was in my sixth year."

"The Wei Silai twins gave it to me, and they found it in Filch's drawer," Harry explained.

"Ah, it seems the guy who stole the map wasn't careful and got caught," Lu Ping smiled. "Actually, this map isn't very useful to us; most of the time James could run Filch ragged right under his nose."

"You can keep it until the match starts; keep an eye on the professors' locations during your late-night snack," Lu Ping said, not in a hurry to take back the Marauder's Map. "I believe this is still very meaningful for you."

In the time that followed, life went on as usual. Harry was certain the entrapment plan was nearing perfection: Dumbledore was quietly staying at the stadium to protect Harry, other professors pretended not to come to watch the match but actually arrived early to take positions around the stadium to form a perimeter, and Professor Doudou and Lu Ping would act together to capture A-Hei. The reason it was mainly them acting was that, whether for the sake of their duties as Aurors or for the sake of their friendship from their student days, they both very much hoped to personally bring A-Hei to justice.

By the end of January, approaching February, Zhang Qiu suggested that Harry take the Firebolt and walk around the common room. She didn't say why, only that the divination was written that way.

Although Harry felt this was meaningless, he complied once; after all, Zhang Qiu looked so anxious she was almost depressed.

As soon as he walked into the common room, the Firebolt in Harry's hand attracted the gazes of a group of people. The children praised how perfect the broom was, saying the Ravenclaw Comet series couldn't compare at all, and they even planned to celebrate Gryffindor winning the House Cup in advance.

Then, Luo En discovered Scabbers lying in a pool of blood when he returned to the dormitory. This gave him a huge fright at first, but after a careful inspection, he realized that someone had just played a prank by splashing some red paint on it.

Whether it was Neville on the bed or Professor Doudou in the wardrobe, they all stated in unison that they knew nothing about it, which left Luo En feeling very confused.

After this prank-like mystery, Harry saw Zhang Qiu's mystical divination again after a Care of Magical Creatures class. In that class, Hagrid introduced them to the proud Hippogriff Buckbeak. Harry remembered Professor Doudou saying it was very dangerous, so he didn't rashly step forward to make contact with it, but instead kept a relatively safe distance.

However, after class, Zhang Qiu very dissatisfiedly demanded that he must "find an opportunity to ride it," and also whispered some things to Ma Erfu. Afterward, Ma Erfu told Harry that Zhang Qiu hoped he could find an excuse to have an argument with this big horse and then send it away. Such contradictory behavior made Harry increasingly worried about whether Zhang Qiu had developed some neurasthenia.

Fortunately, apart from these two strange incidents, Zhang Qiu never did anything confusing again, even though she still looked very melancholy.

Finally, the long-awaited match day arrived. All the Gryffindor students were full of confidence in the Firebolt; it was said that Percy and Penelope had even bet ten Jin Jialong on it.

At 10:45, the Gryffindor team gathered in the common room. The weather was both sunny and cool, with only a light breeze and good visibility.

Harry placed his wand inside his Quidditch robes. He knew that this match would require a Patronus, and there was no need for Zhang Qiu to emphasize it so many times with the divination results.

Because this match would definitely attract A-Hei, and the Dementors following closely behind. For this, he had already made all preparations.