"You have to go today," Gary grumbled, "There's a good show to watch."
Howard showed a puzzled expression like Young Master Yang, "What do you mean?"
Gary refused to say more, only telling him to be sure to go and see it live.
...
After sleeping for two hours, Gary finally felt a bit refreshed, though his legs were even sorer.
Howard was sitting at the desk doing his homework, and the two of them headed to the Quidditch pitch together.
Not many people came today; everyone believed there was no suspense in this match, the only question was by how many points Gryffindor would win.
Because of this, Gary immediately saw Kona and Alfrina sitting high up in the stands.
Howard and Kona seemed to have endless conversations, whispering beside each other, occasionally letting out bursts of laughter.
Gary and Alfrina were relatively silent, just sitting there watching the spectators take their seats and the players warm up on the field.
James and Sirius were the starting players for the Gryffindor team; these two, who usually performed excellently, seemed half-asleep today, completely suppressed by Ravenclaw's Chasers.
Only ten minutes into the game, Ravenclaw was already leading by thirty points, and the scattered spectators in the stands became excited; they were deeply surprised that tonight's game was not a one-sided affair.
James had a bitter expression as he flew through the air; he took the Quaffle passed by Sirius and looked at Ravenclaw's loose defensive system. Alfrina's words from this morning still echoed in his ears, "You can have these one hundred and fifty points, but you must go easy in this morning's Quidditch match. I don't care if you win or not in the end, but neither of you can score."
James looked at the open midfield position of the Ravenclaw team, gritted his teeth, and passed the ball back.
Sirius received the ball and passed it to a teammate on the other side.
Not only did the two not put effort into offense, but their defense was also like Sharingan, almost with their hands behind their backs.
Ravenclaw's lead further expanded, the score had already reached 100:40, and Ravenclaw Captain Nance Gro shouted excitedly on the field.
This was the match they had the most hope of winning this year; Nance had longed for this victory for a long time.
The Gryffindor captain noticed that James and Sirius were a bit off today, but he only thought it was because they had stayed up late in the Castle last night and hadn't slept well, leading to poor form. He never expected them to be throwing the game.
"Play more actively in defense!" He turned his head and shouted at James, "Show them your speed, James!"
James felt bitter; he had seen Gary and Alfrina in the stands early on, and if he increased his speed, these two Quidditch outsiders would surely see it as a breach of promise.
He continued to wander around the edges of the field, acting like an OB commentator; his vision was much wider than that of the commentary box.
Nance looked at the scoreboard with a burst of ecstasy; Ravenclaw was now leading by one hundred and forty points. As long as the Golden Snitch did not fall into Gryffindor's hands, Ravenclaw would achieve its first victory in three years.
He saw Gryffindor's Seeker, Sunny, start to accelerate on the other side of the field. Nance drove his broom to chase after her; he would never let Gryffindor win.
Indeed, Sunny had spotted the Golden Snitch; it was flying leisurely about ten meters from the stands.
Sunny hunched over, driving her broom towards the Snitch.
Never, never! Nance roared in his heart; his broom had accelerated to its maximum, but he was still several meters away from Sunny. If Sunny caught the Golden Snitch, Gryffindor would win by ten points, and all the efforts of the Ravenclaw players would turn into bubbles.
Nance was very unwilling; he didn't want all of Ravenclaw's hopes to die in his hands.
He knew that not many Ravenclaw students had come to watch their match today. Most Ravenclaw people were already used to losing. A quote from Shakespeare, a playwright Nance greatly admired, was: "Pity their misfortune, resent their lack of struggle."
He thought this was probably how Ravenclaw people felt about their team.
But he didn't want to lose today; this was a rare opportunity. Gryffindor's two Chasers were out of form, and Ravenclaw had already successfully taken a lead of one hundred and forty points. If they lost this match again, how could they face their classmates!
He had lost for three years; he wanted to win once.
He urged his broom, and the nimbus that had followed him for three years trembled with excitement. He carried all the hopes of the Ravenclaw team as he chased after Sunny.
Sunny slowed down slightly as she approached the Golden Snitch, to prevent herself from missing it. She reached out her hand to grab the Snitch that was within reach.
She heard the wind behind her and a proud smile appeared on her lips. If she caught the Snitch, Gryffindor would still be the victor.
However, Nance was much faster than she expected. As Nance got close to Sunny, he pressed his arm down on his broom, and with a leap, he snatched the Golden Snitch from between Sunny's fingers.
The entire stadium gasped.
At a height of thirty meters above the ground, Nance left his broom, recklessly snatching the Snitch from in front of Sunny, all for this one victory.
As Nance landed, he still wanted to raise his arms in triumph. His right hand felt the presence of the Golden Snitch, full and round, just like the victory of this match.
He closed his eyes; falling from this height wouldn't kill him, at most he would be confined to a hospital bed until school started in September.
He felt it was worth it; he had not let down his teammates' efforts.
However, he did not hear the sound of bones breaking upon landing as he had expected. He fell into an embrace, and when he opened his eyes, it was his opponent, Sunny.
The girl had descended rapidly for over ten meters, just barely catching him. She had short, windswept hair and a slender body.
Nance felt her hands were so warm, "Thank you," he said with a smile.
Sunny carried him to the ground, muttering curses under her breath, probably having never seen such a reckless Ravenclaw.
The referee blew the whistle, signaling the end of the match. Ravenclaw defeated Gryffindor by a large margin.
James and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief; facing Ravenclaw's almost undefended goal, they had tried their best to act.
The spectators in the stands were ecstatic; no one had ever dreamed that the perennial underdog Ravenclaw would become a water ghost and drag the top-ranked Gryffindor down.
Howard's mouth was wide open, probably wide enough to fit a burger, shaking his head in disbelief, much like a football fan seeing the national team beat Brazil.
Alfrina and Gary exchanged a smile, everything unsaid.
The surrounding Ravenclaw students jumped up excitedly; the team had brought them too much surprise today.
Nance smiled at Sunny, receiving an eye-roll in return, and then he was lifted up by the Ravenclaw players who had landed.
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