Chapter 124

Amidst the noisy applause, the players took their positions. Harry noticed that the Seeker Ravenclaw fielded this time was a girl, who looked somewhat familiar.

"That's Marietta, the new Seeker," Fred reminded. "Handle her, Harry."

"I understand," Harry gripped the handle of the Firebolt.

Wood shook hands with their captain Dai Weisi. Harry tapped his broom and flew into the sky. The Firebolt's extremely superior acceleration performance allowed him to reach a very high position all at once. He began to focus intently on searching for the Golden Snitch, and from time to time, he switched his attention to glance at the situation on the field.

Soon, Marietta followed up. She didn't dare to get too close to Harry, but she wasn't willing to let Harry have his way, so she followed about twenty feet behind him.

Many new Seekers make this mistake, thinking that if they don't compete in maneuvers, they can stabilize the situation and play a role. Harry decided to teach her a lesson.

Harry began to dive downward, and Marietta had no choice but to follow. He flew toward the ground at almost full speed. Marietta seemed a bit hesitant, but her position was still slowly descending; she intended to try not to stay too far from Harry.

With the help of the Firebolt's improved braking system, Harry only just began to pull up when his feet almost touched the ground. He brought Marietta to a very extreme position, a position where, with the performance of a Cleansweep, one would almost be unable to brake and crash into the ground.

Marietta scrambled to pull up her altitude again, but by this time Harry had already charged toward her from the flank, almost knocking her directly off her broom. Just as she was at a loss and wanted to change direction, Harry zoomed over her head again, and the gale brought up by the Firebolt's rapid acceleration almost blew her off her broom again.

"I've found the Snitch!" Harry didn't forget to tease her as he passed by.

Even after just being shown up, Marietta still decided to grit her teeth and follow; she didn't want to look like a fool.

The Ravenclaw Beater hit a Bludger to try to support, but Harry dodged it with a slight, easy movement. Instead, Marietta was almost scared to death and made a sharp turn to avoid it.

Seeing Harry suppressing the opposing Seeker with such ease, Fred and George could put more of their focus on the front. Soon, Gryffindor had scored nearly eighty points in a crushing manner.

By this point in the match, Marietta had been numbed by Harry's maneuvers. She now hardly dared to get close to Harry, only hoping to watch Harry from afar and provide some interference when he looked for the Snitch.

But Harry was certainly not in a hurry to catch the Snitch. Gryffindor had a big advantage now; if they could score big on the front, it would be extremely favorable for the finals. Even if they achieved a three-hundred-point lead, the chances of Slytherin winning in the finals would be infinitely close to zero.

Harry followed the Snitch leisurely, forcing Marietta's position from time to time. Now, victory in this match was already within their grasp; it was just a matter of how much strategic depth in terms of points they could achieve outside the match.

Just then, he suddenly felt the weather getting colder. Harry noticed that over a dozen Dementors were gathering toward the stadium, and one had even reached the stands. This meant A-Hei had entered the school, Harry thought. Professor Lupin and Professor Doudou should be able to easily capture him; one was a well-trained ace Auror, and the other was an excellent wizard who knew A-Hei like the back of his hand. Plus, with the help of the Marauder's Map, it seemed A-Hei couldn't escape.

Just as Harry confidently reached his hand into his robe, preparing to use the Patronus Charm to drive away these troublesome Dementors, someone acted a step ahead of him.

"Expecto Patronum!" Neville had one hand on his waist and the other holding his wand high. Thick white mist surged from the tip of his wand, and a silvery-white lion began to run around the stadium, driving those unwelcome intruders out of the match scene.

"No wonder Neville told me not to worry that day," Harry thought, feeling somewhat moved. He knew Neville actually had always had little interest in Quidditch.

"... We can see that Ravenclaw has stabilized the situation; they are working hard to pull back the score, having just scored a goal..." The voice of commentator Li Jordan reached Harry's ears, bringing his mind back to the match.

When the Beaters no longer had to spend all their energy looking after the Seeker, Ravenclaw's ability on the front was actually not weak, at least not to the point of being easily scored eighty points on by Gryffindor like at the start.

Harry continued to track the Snitch while sparing some attention to learn about the situation on the front from the commentary.

"... Alright, now both players have opened up the distance again, and Gryffindor is preparing to launch the next wave of attacks. Speaking of Gryffindor, one must mention the Firebolt ridden by their Seeker Harry. According to the latest news, the England national team for this Quidditch World Cup is also preparing to select the Firebolt as the match broom..."

Harry had originally wanted to hear the match progress, but he didn't expect Jordan to spend a full five minutes broadcasting nothing but advertising for the Firebolt.

"The Snitch!" Wood shouted, "The Snitch!"

Harry understood what he meant and, with a slight acceleration, caught the Snitch he had been staring at intently.

Amidst Madam Hooch's whistle, the match ended, with the final score fixed at 230 to 30. Wood said the players' mentality seemed a bit unstable, and it was hard to expand the advantage on the front.

"Luckily you caught the Snitch in time," he said, patting Harry on the shoulder. "We were almost countered and turned around."

"Yeah, I feel like the eighty points at the beginning were taken too easily," Fred said, scratching his head. "We might have gotten a bit carried away."

"I almost forgot how to play a normal lane," Alicia said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I was almost sleepwalking just now."

"Indeed, if Harry hadn't caught the Snitch, I was considering calling a timeout," Wood said. "We can always trust Harry."

"Anyway, we won, let's go back and celebrate," George said happily.

"We have to call Neville; he drove away the Dementors, which is also very important," Harry was just saying, "Look, he's coming."

"Harry." Neville's expression didn't look good, not at all like the expression one should have after winning a match. "I think Zhang Qiu might have some problems."

"What did you say?"

"Do you remember that Dementor on the stands?" Neville whispered in Harry's ear. "It was her in disguise."

"You guys go ahead and start the banquet; I'll chat with Neville for a few words and then come." Harry didn't want to dampen the players' spirits.

Led by Wood, the Quidditch players left the field one after another. Harry looked around the stadium but didn't see Zhang Qiu. He and Neville sat down on the nearby spectator seats and asked in a low voice: "Are you sure? Zhang Qiu disguised herself as a Dementor and stood on the stands?"

"That's right. To be honest, I think she should..." Neville hesitated for a moment. "Maybe her thoughts are a bit strange."

"By the way, you've been quite strange this term too," Harry said. "Do you know something?"

Just as Neville was about to speak, Li Jordan walked over and interrupted them: "Oh, Harry."

"I'll explain later," Neville blinked.

"Hi, Jordan," Harry said with a smile. "Your commentary was really wonderful."

"Forget it, who would want to listen to a Firebolt advertisement for that long?" He shook his head. "That's exactly what I wanted to tell you. Zhang Qiu is your friend, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"She broke into the broadcasting room and pointed her wand at me," Jordan said as if complaining. "She made me have to advertise the Firebolt until Professor McGonagall called a stop."

"But Professor McGonagall didn't come to watch the match today," Harry said, feeling somewhat confused. He knew McGonagall should have gone to participate in the encirclement of A-Hei.

"Yeah, it took me five minutes to make her realize that," Jordan said with a sad face. "I really suspect she and you have had a falling out."

"Actually, there's one thing I didn't tell you." After Jordan left, Neville said in a low voice, "That night, Zhang Qiu entrusted me to do a prank."

"What prank?"

"She asked me to hide Scabbers and disguise it as if it had been eaten by a cat," Neville whispered. "You know, Hermione has a cat."

"What is she plotting?" Harry was completely confused.

"I didn't go that far, I just used some dye to give Luo En a fright," Neville said, pretending to be relaxed. "After all, I didn't want Luo En and Hermione to argue."

"She is indeed a bit strange. Actually, it's been like this since the beginning of this term. You should know, right, about those things she did to Lupin?" Harry lowered his voice further.

"Indeed, and I feel like, as the term neared its end, she started to get anxious," Neville asked. "Do you know what exactly she is anxious about?"

"She said it was to save our lives," Harry shook his head. "I can't understand it at all."

"Maybe it's just some pointless divination. Last year, she was also made to be at odds with Donald by divination," Neville said with a bitter smile. "You really should take Divination class, then you'd know how ridiculous this subject is."

"Anyway, thank you for telling me this." Harry saw Lupin standing at the exit of the stadium. "I still have something I want to ask Professor Lupin about."

Neville nodded to signal and then left. Harry came to Lupin's side alone. He asked anxiously: "Did you catch A-Hei?"

"Sorry, he escaped," Lupin looked a bit guilty. "He dived into the Forbidden Forest, and then in the blink of an eye, he was gone."

"But don't you have the Marauder's Map?" Harry asked. "Isn't that enough to track him?"

Lupin didn't speak.