The Quidditch match wasn't just closely followed by the team players—it had also captured the attention of the prefects from all four houses.
In fact, ever since the gemstones in the hourglasses reset to the same starting point, the prefects had been more on edge than anyone, obsessively monitoring the rise and fall of the gems every day.
When it came to Quidditch matches, which could earn house points, every prefect firmly believed that their team would win and recover some of the house points they had lost.
—Even though this was a match between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and even though the day of the match brought howling winds and torrential rain, the prefects of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff still dragged their teammates to the pitch, determined to study the tactics of both sides.
Gemma was just as anxious. She privately approached Jane Yu, requesting to rent the Firebolt for the Slytherin team and handed over a bulging pouch of coins on the spot.
"This is my last year here. Winning a Grand Slam of house cups has been my lifelong dream—"
"It would also honor the legacy of Slytherin's ancestors and all the alumni—"
Jane happily agreed to the deal, which prompted Flint to drop to his knees on the spot and perform a dramatic bow of gratitude. He then ordered their Seeker, Draco, to catch the Golden Snitch at all costs—or else the pitch would become his grave.
The Slytherin Quidditch captain strongly urged Jane to personally witness the great victory they were about to deliver for her, inviting her to come and see how they would use "cutting-edge tactics" and "the world's greatest broom" to crush Gryffindor.
Under such enthusiastic persuasion, Jane found it hard to refuse. She donned her Invisibility Cloak and made her way to the rain-soaked pitch—thanks to Harry's help, she avoided being mobbed by the frenzied crowd.
She chose the very last row of the emptiest stands and quietly took her seat.
The entire pitch was alive with cheers and shouts, but she felt like she might be blown away by the fierce wind, with cold rain slapping relentlessly against her face.
The joy was theirs; she had none of it.
But soon, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.
—Because of the astounding synchronization between the two teams.
The two captains, Flint and Wood, first exchanged a round of fierce trash talk, trying to crush each other's morale before the match even began.
Flint viciously declared that he had seen through all of Gryffindor's tactics and would send them crying home to their mothers. Wood, not to be outdone, shouted that they would catch Slytherin off guard, claiming they had guidance from a mysterious expert and had already ascended to the pinnacle of Quidditch.
Thanks to the Omnioculars Dumbledore had bought her, Jane could clearly read their lips.
The match officially began, and everything went smoothly at first—both sides scrambled for the Quaffle, taking turns in possession. But when Slytherin's Chaser Warrington executed a Porskoff Ploy, and the players began using the Woollongong Shimmy to confuse Gryffindor's Chasers, things started to go awry.
"Cheating! Cheating!" Gryffindor Chaser Alicia Spinnet shouted angrily. "Slytherin stole our tactics!"
The two teams seemed to have flipped roles, mirroring each other's moves. This was especially evident among the Chasers and Beaters—when Fred executed a Bludger Backbeat, Slytherin's Beater Derrick performed the exact same move almost simultaneously. Then, the Beaters began targeting the opposing Seekers, sending Bludgers hurtling toward Harry and Draco.
"Marcus, this is bad!" Derrick yelled. "Gryffindor is using the same tactics as us!"
What followed was a perfectly synchronized Hawkshead Attacking Formation. When the opposing team mirrored the move, the Chasers' expressions changed, and they immediately switched to the Parkin's Pincer, only to find the other side doing the exact same thing. It was as if they were twin siblings.
—This uncanny synchronization quickly drew laughter from the stands, the sound of which even drowned out the wind and rain.
"Merlin's beard—" commentator Lee Jordan exclaimed from the announcer's booth. "Do they train together? Coming up with identical tactics like this—Flint and Wood must be sharing a bed!"
The Slytherin and Gryffindor stands erupted with boos. Flint looked like he wanted to grab a Bludger and personally hurl it at Jordan's face, while Wood seemed ready to drag Jordan to the goalposts and let a Quaffle knock some sense into him. The two captains' thoughts were so in sync that they simultaneously glared at the commentator.
To save Lee Jordan's life, Professor McGonagall scolded him with remarks like "Listen to yourself!" and "There are younger students here!" as she snatched the microphone from his hands.
On the pitch, the players executed several more identical moves, making it look less like a Quidditch match and more like a synchronized slapstick performance—
The audience laughed even harder.
Wood had no choice but to call a timeout. The players landed in the muddy field with a series of splashes, immediately breaking into arguments and shoving matches.
"Despicable! Shameless!" Flint shouted, swearing profusely as he shoved Wood's shoulder. "Stealing our tactics and denying it—you filthy thieves!"
Wood, furious at being accused of what he considered Flint's own crime, turned red with anger. He threw a punch, which Flint, apparently prepared, caught.
The Gryffindor captain roared:
"What are you talking about, Flint?"
"Bloody hell, you Slytherins are the ones stealing our tactics, spying on our plays, and refusing to admit it!"
Seeing their captains start to brawl, the players refused to be outdone. They stepped forward, chest to chest, face to face, standing tall and ready to fight—
Someone threw the first punch, like a battle cry, and chaos erupted. They tumbled together, pulling at someone's hair, choking someone's neck—whether it was an opponent or a teammate didn't seem to matter. Fists and kicks flew wildly.
Swear words and punches filled the air. Harry's glasses were sent flying, Draco's hair stuck to his face in wet clumps, and everyone's robes were soaked through with muddy water, making them look like a pack of swamp creatures rolling on the ground.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle repeatedly but couldn't separate them on her own—
Professors rushed down from the stands, shouting, to break up the brawl. Only then were the noisy players pulled apart.
They were all battered and bruised, their mud-covered faces unrecognizable.
The sight prompted Hufflepuff captain Cedric Diggory and Ravenclaw captain Roger Davies to quietly shove their gaming consoles deeper into their robes.
Shouts erupted from the audience, some jeering, some laughing, and others hurling insults.
"Fighting in public, and they're supposed to be Quidditch house teams—"
"Great example you're setting, Wood and Flint—"
Professor McGonagall scolded them furiously, and faint sounds of house point deductions for Slytherin and Gryffindor could be heard in the air...
But Jane had no time to care about any of that.
She was busy catching a dog.
A few minutes earlier, a large black dog had suddenly appeared in the empty top row where she was sitting.
It moved stealthily, as if trying to avoid being noticed. Unfortunately, it hadn't expected a student in an Invisibility Cloak to be there, and as it dashed past, it collided headfirst with Jane, flipping onto its back!
Fortunately, Perenelle's robe, embroidered with defensive runes, was durable enough that Jane didn't feel a thing from the impact.
Quick as a flash, she cast a Stunning Spell, taking down the culprit—
Judging by its matted fur and bony frame, it was clearly a stray black dog!
It was practically a gift from Merlin!
A step closer to her dream of having both a cat and a dog!
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