Saturday morning, Kael got up early, ready to watch the upcoming Quidditch match.
This year's schedule is not very friendly to Gryffindor, as they have to face Slytherin, who have all upgraded their equipment, first.
All Nimbus 2001s... that's already professional team level.
Faced with this situation, their spirits were naturally quite low, and even Fred and George didn't feel like joking anymore.
When Kael arrived at the auditorium, he saw the Gryffindor players huddled around the empty long dining table, each looking nervous and silent.
Kael didn't know what to say, so he just patted Fred and George on the shoulder as they were heading to the Quidditch Pitch.
"Do your best. If you win, you won't have to do that tap-dancing broom ride around the castle anymore."
Last school year, due to the Merlin Order Medal bet, Fred and George constantly came up with excuses to avoid it and still haven't carried it out.
Mainly because the moves they thought up were too bizarre; whether it was carrying three trophies or tap-dancing on a broom, they were all high-difficulty actions.
Even one alone was tough, let alone combined... it was impossible.
Fred's eyes lit up, "Really?"
"Of course, it's a deal," Kael replied with a smile.
"Seriously, your way of boosting morale is way better than Wood's," George chipped in, "He's all about those old cliches."
He cleared his throat, mimicking Oliver Wood's gestures, "Slytherin's broomsticks are better than ours, but our broomstick riders are stronger..."
"Isn't that obvious... does he really need to say it?"
"But he's the captain, after all," Fred shrugged, "We just have to go along with it."
The two teased Oliver Wood from either side, looking nothing like their previously downcast selves.
Kael even suspected they were just acting earlier, waiting for his comment...
"Hey, Kael, your expression is obvious; I can guess what you're thinking," George raised his eyebrows, "But no, we really were nervous earlier..."
"Worried about losing the match..."
"Until we put on these..." Fred patted his gold-and-red team uniform.
"And we've decided, if we win this match..."
"We'll celebrate in the same way..."
"It's got nothing to do with the bet, just pure celebration!"
Fred and George laughed as they walked into the players' locker room, while Kael headed to the stands, where Cedric had already saved him a seat.
"How are they?"
"They seem pretty confident," Kael replied with a smile.
"That's good." Taking a glance at the players' passage, Oliver Wood had already led the other players out.
"Actually, I asked Hannah and Susan from the second year yesterday..." Conna eyed the Slytherin team on the other side, "They all say Draco Malfoy's flying class grades are way worse than Potter's."
"That's to be expected," Cedric said, "If he flew well, there'd be no need to buy brooms for the whole team... Nimbus 2001 is ridiculously expensive; buying seven at once, no matter how rich the Malfoy family is, they can't squander money like that."
"You're right."
Mikel squeezed in from the side, "For those brooms, his pocket money got cut by more than half."
"If that's the case, then Malfoy probably bought his way onto the team," Cedric glanced at him, "But Mikel... how do you know all this?"
"Oh, I heard it from him myself."
Mikel subconsciously patted his bulging pocket, its contents unknown.
As they talked, the match was about to begin.
"Listen for my whistle," Ms. Hooch said, "Three, two, one..."
The crowd roared, sending them off as fourteen players shot into the leaden skies.
Harry immediately flew to the highest point and started searching for the Golden Snitch.
But Malfoy was different; he didn't seem to care about the Golden Snitch at all, his gaze fixed on Harry, flying back and forth on his broom as if showing off.
It looked exactly like a Fwooper during mating season.
And that lasted for a whole five minutes.
"What on earth is Malfoy doing!"
Cedric frowned, "He's a Seeker... does he think the Golden Snitch is in Potter's jacket pocket?"
Even the Bludger couldn't stand it anymore, whistling as it flew toward them.
Harry quickly turned his broom and dodged it, the Bludger missed, heading straight for Malfoy's face.
Seeing the Bludger get closer, Malfoy seemed petrified, standing there like a wooden post, his pale face full of disbelief.
Wasn't it said that a Seeker only needed to worry about Bludgers when capturing the Golden Snitch?
But the match just started, and they hadn't even seen a glimpse of the Golden Snitch!
The Bludger grew larger and soon flew right up to Malfoy; he instinctively shut his eyes.
However, the pain he imagined never came. The Bludger, less than an inch away, suddenly changed direction, flying straight toward Harry again.
Harry dodged once more, yet the Bludger returned, as if it was locked onto him, ignoring everyone else.
Fred and George also noticed this and, to prevent Harry from being knocked off his broom by the crazed Bludger, flew closely on either side of him, protecting him with all their might.
Rain began to fall,
"Someone's... tampered with this Bludger!" Fred shouted loudly, hitting the charging Bludger away with force.
The spectators in the stands also noticed something was wrong.
"Marcus Flint scores... it's now fifty to zero, Slytherin in the lead..."
On the commentary platform, Lee Jordan shouted, "But what's with that Bludger, how much Galleon does Harry Potter owe it..."
Wood gestured to Ms. Hooch...
"Oh, Oliver Wood called for a timeout! I say he should've done this sooner... before Harry Potter gets his head cracked open by that crazy Bludger..."
The Gryffindor team members huddled together to urgently discuss a solution.
In the stands, Kael, with a waterproof badge, searched carefully through the rain curtain.
Finally, in the Slytherin players' passage on the opposite side, he saw a vague, small figure.
"I'll be right back." Kael left a remark and squeezed out of the crowd.
But he didn't head to the opposite passage; instead, he ran toward the castle.
A few minutes later, Kael returned, followed by a House-elf from the kitchen.
The game had resumed, and that Bludger was still crazily chasing Harry around the pitch.
"Kaka, do you know that elf?" Kael pointed toward the passage, "It seems to be interfering with the Bludger."
"Kaka doesn't know it, sir!" The little elf squealed, "It's not from the kitchen..."
"Bad elf, it's a bad elf! Kaka will drive it away!"
Watching that crazy Bludger in the sky, for whatever reason, the little elf Kaka's large ears turned red with anger, and with a pop, it vanished from sight.
A second later, a chair rolled out from the passage.
At the same time, the Bludger in the field's air no longer made any turns, crashing directly towards Marcus Flint, following its original path.
Because of what just happened, the Slytherin captain assumed the Bludger was going for Harry again and didn't dodge.
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, the Bludger smacked into his face hard.
Marcus Flint fainted on the spot, tumbling off his broom wobblingly.
In the stands, Professor McGonagall, watching the match, quickly raised her wand, preventing him from crashing straight to the ground.