Chapter 48: Quidditch Tryouts

When it was Tuesday, Wood found Harry and reminded him not to forget to participate in the school team's tryouts on Saturday. Harry was very interested in Quidditch, and he found last semester that he had some talent in flying, so he readily agreed.

It's just that when he was called up early on Saturday morning, just as the sky was getting light, he suddenly felt that it was fine not to go to the school team.

Of course, this was just a thought. He finally packed up and hurried downstairs. It is worth mentioning that he also met Colin Creevey on the way down, and couldn't avoid spending some effort to explain to him.

When Harry arrived at the team lounge, everyone on the school team had arrived, and Wood was arranging tactics.

"Harry, you're here." Wood nodded. "It just so happens that Slytherin is also going to try out their new Seeker, and we have scheduled a training match."

"I understand, I will work hard." Harry said, thinking that the Slytherin Seeker should be Ma Erfu.

"A qualified Seeker just catches the Snitch, while an excellent Seeker catches the Snitch at the right time, and a top-tier Seeker does more than just catch the Snitch." Wood said. "We will conduct three training matches with the Seeker as the core. The first two will focus on early-game rhythm and late-game rhythm respectively, and the third will switch tactics according to your matchup situation."

Harry nodded seriously, while Fred yawned.

"Early-game rhythm means that the Seeker must find the Snitch as soon as possible, while the Chasers focus on controlling the Quaffle, and the Beaters prioritize interfering with the opponent's Chasers. This tactic is equivalent to playing with the Seeker as the absolute core. You must ensure that you have a matchup advantage before the score gap widens to 150 points, and catch the Snitch before the opponent's Seeker."

Harry thought about it, because Seekers can also see each other's positions, so there is both psychological game and direct confrontation of flying skills. Whether he can defeat Ma Erfu, he himself is not very sure.

"Late-game rhythm means that you must interfere with the enemy Seeker to ensure that neither of you can catch the Snitch. The Beaters will prioritize interfering with the Keeper to help the Chasers score with all their might. Because Quidditch is calculated by total score rather than wins, this tactic is also often used. But if our scoring speed is slower than the opponent's, then you'd better catch the Snitch before the gap widens."

In other words, an excellent Seeker can not only end the game quickly but also lead the team to turn the tide against the wind, Harry couldn't help but be excited. And Fred was already leaning on Angelina's shoulder and fell asleep.

"On a real pitch, unless the gap is really large, the performance of the Seeker mainly depends on luck and state. So the team's tactical choices are closely related to your actions. What I want to talk about next is the secret of our school team, and also the top priority of training, that is, how we pass information on the pitch and change formations in time. You have to let us know if you really found the Snitch or if you are bluffing. Not only is the state of the Seeker very important for the operation of the overall rhythm, but sometimes you can also let the Beaters relieve your pressure or establish an advantage. We will agree on a series of actions. When you lock the position of the Snitch, you can... when you haven't found the Snitch but want to deceive the enemy Seeker, it's best to... before making a feint... if you want the Beaters to help you, you can try..."

Harry's head also started to nod one by one. He had just come into contact with Quidditch and was poured so much long-winded talk that his head was buzzing, and sleepiness kept surging up, and his eyelids were too heavy to open.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Wood to turn to other players and start explaining early-game design, operational concepts, ball position handling, interference positioning, and the like. Harry originally wanted to take a nap, but Wood suddenly changed the subject: "... and in the interference formation, you can borrow the Seeker to form a pincer movement. Correspondingly, the Seeker can also borrow the formation to cover his actions..."

I don't know how long it took, Wood finally arranged the tactics. The players then stood up one by one as if they had just woken up from a dream and walked towards the pitch shakily. Harry noticed that Luo En and Zhang Qiu were already sitting in the auditorium, and they were waving at him. Colin was sitting next to Luo En, raising his camera to take pictures of him. And sitting on the other side of Zhang Qiu was a Slytherin girl, and next to her were Crabbe and Goyle.

He waved at the auditorium as a response, and then looked at their opponents.

Six tall people wearing green robes walked towards the center of the pitch, and the seventh one at the end was Draco Ma Erfu.

"Not good, their brooms seem to be better." Wood frowned. "Fred, George, you must play harder this time, we may not be able to gain an advantage by operation..."

There was not much time for Wood to arrange tactics. Under Marcus's urging, the players on both sides rose into the air, and the game officially began.

Harry wandered in the air at will, searching for the trace of the Snitch, and looking at Ma Erfu's direction from time to time. Ma Erfu was also serving as Seeker for the first time, and he was also at a loss.

Gryffindor's opening design was played out. Three Chasers used a Pocking Clamp to quickly control the Quaffle, and two Beaters drove the Bludgers on the side. They didn't hit the Bludgers at the opponent's players, but hit them as far away from the opponent's Beaters as possible. The five formed a team that was close and distant, pulling around the opponent's goal. And the people on the Slytherin team wanted to get the ball back by all means, bumping around on the pitch.

Harry calculated secretly that this situation was exactly what the first-game tactic was designed for. He needed to find the Snitch as soon as possible and end this game. Because there are three training matches in total, the faster the first one ends, the more physical strength the players can save.

Suddenly, he found that Ma Erfu started to accelerate. He obviously found something. Harry hurriedly chased after him, but he found a touch of gold from the corner of his eye.

That should be the Snitch. Harry looked back, and a light spot moving up and down was hovering above the pitch, while Ma Erfu was still rushing down without looking back.

Harry remembered Wood's statement. Sometimes Seekers will "bluff," letting the opponent Seeker mistakenly think that they have found the Snitch. In fact, this is just to wait for an opportunity to use feints to put the opponent in danger.

Ma Erfu's broom is a Nimbus 2001, while his own broom model is 2000. Harry thought to himself, he is very likely to want to use the gap in broom performance to set up such a trap.

Harry flew towards the light spot he saw, while Ma Erfu made an emergency stretch when approaching the ground and rushed in another direction. Two Seekers each looked for their own, not interfering with each other.

Just then, a Slytherin player suddenly appeared in front of Harry, and he had to turn his direction, trying to shake him off. After this toss, Harry lost the Snitch he had just found. But the good news was that because he diverted manpower to contain Harry, Angelina seized the opportunity to score a goal.

Immediately after, the Slytherin Chasers controlled the Quaffle and flew towards the goalpost several times. Harry was anxious, he had been looking for the trace of the Snitch. And Ma Erfu, seeing that two consecutive feints failed to deceive Harry, simply changed his strategy and bit Harry to death, flying by his side all the time.

A golden light flashed in Harry's eyes, and he started to accelerate towards that direction, but Ma Erfu followed by his side without showing weakness, and the two flew almost side by side. Just then, a Bludger flew straight towards him. Harry noticed then that the gold he saw just now was Fred's watch. He tilted to the right slightly, and the Bludger passed through the gap between the two, and Harry, seeing that he was about to shake off Ma Erfu, also accelerated and rushed down.

Ma Erfu relied on the broom performance being slightly better and followed. Two new Seekers directly added the speed of the brooms to the maximum in the first training match and fought fiercely.

Harry's idea was to rise steeply when approaching the ground to see if Ma Erfu would be too late to decelerate. But in the process of diving, he caught a touch of gold again.

Harry didn't turn his direction immediately. He maintained the posture of rushing to the ground. At the most extreme moment, he still didn't rise, but turned a direction and rushed towards the Snitch he had just glimpsed, almost sticking to the ground.

Ma Erfu didn't have so much confidence in his operation. He rose in advance and was now about ten meters above Harry, chasing in Harry's direction.

Harry estimated the distance. He didn't know if Ma Erfu also saw the Snitch or just kept staring at himself. Harry decided to test it. He turned direction suddenly again, turned right sharply and rose rapidly. Sure enough, Ma Erfu was side by side with him again.

Harry turned left sharply again and flew towards the position of the Snitch. Ma Erfu just thought it was a tactical move. After rushing over a small distance, he also turned his direction and followed.

It was just different from just now. He was on Harry's right side this time, while the Snitch was still on Harry's left front. Harry believed that the gap in broom performance could not erase this body advantage, and in the short confrontation, he realized that Ma Erfu's flying skills were slightly inferior to his own.

They flew to a position very close to the Snitch together. Harry could feel Ma Erfu constantly leaning towards him. He should have also found the Snitch. Ma Erfu was still accelerating, trying to overtake Harry. His broom reached the limit, but he only barely overtook half a body. Harry knew he wanted to use a left swing to force himself to stop, so he also pulled the speed of the broom to the limit again. Ma Erfu didn't dare to make extreme moves on half a body, he was a bit anxious.

Harry suddenly turned his direction, a beautiful copy, and gathered the Snitch into his hands. He held the small ball tightly and raised it high, shouting: "I caught the Snitch!" ===== CHAPTER 49 =====