The snow stopped, but the rain got heavier and heavier.
A chilling cold filled the air, but it did nothing to dampen the audience's enthusiasm for Quidditch; everyone cheered for their favorite team.
In an inconspicuous corner of the stands, Albert and several of his roommates were huddled together watching the game, with Hagrid sitting beside them, soaking wet. Completely oblivious to the cold rain, they were cheering for Gryffindor's goal.
Albert lowered his monoculars, drew his wand, and cast a water and fire impervious spell on the lenses to prevent rain from blurring his vision.
The fierce battle continued on the Quidditch pitch. Slytherin, never one to back down, quickly seized their counter-attack opportunity.
With his teammates providing cover, Chaser Monta carried the Ghostball into the scoring zone. Not far away, Beater Locke cleverly seized the opportunity and hit the wandering ball flying towards him at Gryffindor's goalie, Wood.
Wood was focused on Monta, trying to stop him from scoring, but he didn't notice a ball flying towards him. When he heard the sound of the ball cutting through the air, he hurriedly dodged and narrowly avoided the ball's attack.
Before Wood could fully recover from the panic, Monta seized the opportunity, broke through Danny's blockade, and slammed the Ghost Ball toward Wood's face.
Amidst the chorus of "Foul!" echoed from all areas except Slytherin, the heavy rain in the sky was subtly suppressed by this outcry.
In the stands, Albert watched this scene and felt his face sting. Being hit in the face by a ghost ball must have been awful.
"Being a Quidditch player is a high-risk profession!"
"What? What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly." Hagrid, who was holding binoculars and staring straight at the sky, asked loudly when he heard Albert's whisper.
"It's nothing." Before Albert could even express his feelings, Fred exclaimed, "Oh no, Wood's going to fall!"
At this moment, most of the audience members stood up in horror, staring at Wood who was spiraling downwards. Some screamed in terror, while others closed their eyes, afraid to see Wood's tragic state.
Wood, still dizzy from being hit in the face with Montaur's Ghostball, instinctively reached for a broom and slid down the scoring ring railing, falling onto the Quidditch pitch. His injuries weren't too serious.
Mrs. Hooch immediately blew her whistle to stop the game and went to Wood's side to check on the goalkeeper's injury.
Mrs. Pomfrey, her face dark with anger, walked onto the pitch. She used a spell to heal Wood's cheek injury and gave him a potion, allowing the Gryffindor goalkeeper to regain his composure and continue the game.
However, the violent Quidditch match still angered Mrs. Pomfrey, the head nurse, who said that if anyone got injured, they would have to go to the school hospital for a few days.
"Slytherin's Seeker Monta has attacked Gryffindor's goalkeeper! Such a despicable act is unheard of! Slytherin scores again! The score is now 80-50, Gryffindor leading by 30 points... Wait! The referee declares Slytherin has committed a foul! The goal is disallowed! The score is now 80-40!" The commentator excitedly shouted, "Gryffindor has a 40-point lead! Both Seekers are searching for the Golden Snitch. Who will catch it first? Which team will win? We'll have to wait and see!"
Unfortunately, the bad weather and poor visibility made it difficult to find the Golden Thief, and the competition continued.
Wood's recovery greatly encouraged the Gryffindor audience, whose cheers echoed throughout the stands.
"Mrs. Hooch blows the whistle again, and the game continues. How will Gryffindor fight back? Let's wait and see." The Ravenclaw commentator was so excited that he completely forgot he was commentating on a Quidditch match.
"Kill the Slytherin team, kill Monta; kill the Slytherin team, kill Monta!" At this moment, an unprecedented roar erupted from the Gryffindor audience.
The sound gave Albert a strange illusion that he was actually watching a duel, not a Quidditch match.
A few minutes later, the Gryffindor players lived up to expectations and launched a new round of retaliation against the Slytherin team, targeting Monta, the Chaser who had just attacked Wood with the Ghostball.
Mark and Erin are a couple with incredible teamwork. They exchange only a glance in mid-air before Mark accelerates and charges at batter Locke. With her boyfriend's help, the powerful batter Erin sends the stray ball flying, her target Monta, who is surrounded by the three acrobatic brothers.
Monta was blocked by three people and thought that the three chasing players were about to do something dirty to him. He didn't realize that the real game-winning shot came from the ball that was moving behind him.
"Oh my god, that's it! Power hitter Erin's lob hit Montain! That must have hurt! Hopefully he'll break a few more ribs... cough cough, I mean, I hope he's okay!" The commentator coughed lightly and quickly corrected himself, "The referee didn't blow the whistle, so this counterattack was definitely not a violation."
Although Slytherin managed to score ten points, their pursuer had already injured himself and fallen to the ground, making it a complete loss.
"What's going on? Mrs. Pomfrey isn't here. Could it be..." The commentator's tone was tinged with schadenfreude, "...or does our head nurse not like the Slytherin players either?"
Monta was forced off the field because the furious Mrs. Pomfrey had returned to the school hospital, and without treatment, he was clearly unable to continue the game.
Through his monoculars, Albert saw Snape, his face dark, pull out his wand and conjure a stretcher, instructing several students to take Monta to the school hospital on the second floor of the castle.
It is said that Mrs. Pomfrey set Monta's broken ribs in just a few seconds, but the unfortunate man was clearly no longer able to play.
According to the official rules established by the Department of Magical Sports: in the event of an injury, no other athlete may be substituted.
This means Slytherin is missing a Chaser.
However, most Gryffindor fans were disappointed that it wasn't Slytherin's Seeker, Marcus Flint, who was eliminated.
However, this dirty Quidditch match has only just begun.
With one less player, Slytherin were at a disadvantage and began openly attacking the Gryffindor players.
The series of changes on the field left Albert dumbfounded. Through his monoculars, he saw four batters riding brooms and flying through the rain, actually fighting each other with their bats like swordsmen.
Fred and George, standing nearby, were muttering violent words like, "Hit him, yes, aim for his head... stab him in the eye..."
The Slytherin players surrounded Charlie, intending to get him off the field first. Once Gryffindor lost their Seeker, it would basically mean losing the game.
Finally, a group of people riding brooms clashed in the sky. The most dangerous were the batters from both sides, who were attacking each other with their bats. Erin even knocked Locke's bat away. The unlucky guy was hit on the elbow by Erin's bat and before he could recover, he was kicked by Jack and almost fell off his broom.
However, several Gryffindor students also suffered minor injuries.
The furious Mrs. Hodge ruled that the four batters should be ejected, even though it was against the rules, since they had just hit the hardest.
In Mrs. Hooch's words, staying on the pitch was a disgrace to Hogwarts.
The original 15-a-side court suddenly had five fewer players, making the huge court feel much emptier.
Even without a batter, Gryffindor's Chasers still have a way; they perform what's essentially a relay race, taking the bat from the departing batter. At least, that's what Danny does—the acrobat acts as both a Chaser and a batter.
This time, their target is Slytherin's Seeker, Marcus Flint.
Charlie, Jack, and Mario compressed Marcus's flight path from three directions, forcing the Seeker to the edge of the field. Then, they all used Marcus's feints and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks at each other without restraint.
As for hitting the target?
Sorry, that was a tactical mistake.
Nobody cares about free throws.
If they can take down the opponent's Seeker, the victory will naturally belong to Gryffindor.
"Charlie, didn't you say we shouldn't use Mark's feints?" Jack teased his captain while swinging his elbow at Marcus, "accidentally" hitting the latter's kidney with his elbow, and his own nose was also knocked crooked by a fist coming from the right.
Behind them, Danny, holding the Ghostball in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, had caught up. He was being "hunted down" by two Slytherin pursuers.
Danny tossed the pesky ball to Jack, then grabbed his bat and swung it at Marcus from behind, ready to knock him off the stage.
However, Danny was unaware that Jack, who had just caught the Ghostball, was the first to suffer misfortune. One of the two Slytherin pursuers charged at him, while the other kicked him. Before Jack could react, he was kicked off his broom. Fortunately, he managed to grab the flying broom with one hand and crashed into the audience, getting quite a hard fall.
Fortunately, he didn't fall into the Slytherin audience section, otherwise he would probably have faced a large-scale brawl, with a group of spectators joining in to beat Jack up.
"Danny, you tricked me!" Jack clutched his injured back and couldn't help but curse.
On the other side, Slytherin's Seeker was also in a bad situation. Marcus, who was blocked by three people, was beaten up by them.
A sharp whistle pierced the rain, and an enraged Mrs. Hooch summoned both teams' players and gave them a severe scolding.
"Have you forgotten what I said at the beginning?" Madam Huo Qi started spitting, spraying everyone's faces with spittle. "Since you can't participate in the competition fairly and honestly, then you should stay off the stage. I'll give you an hour to let your respective substitutes take your place in this competition."
"What's going on?" Albert frowned as he watched both teams being severely reprimanded by Mrs. Hooch. The match had stopped, and both teams had returned to their respective rest rooms. The commentators were equally clueless about what had happened.
However, everyone soon received the latest information.
"We've just received the latest news: due to the egregious misconduct of both teams during the match, which seriously violated all the rules of Quidditch, all players have been ejected from the game." The commentator read out the information he had just received in surprise. "My goodness, to be honest, this is the first time I've ever heard of all teams being ejected. Both sides will have an hour to select a new batch of players to replace them and continue the match."
"Come on, to the locker room." Fred, soaking wet, pulled George and Albert toward the locker room, his face beaming with barely concealed excitement. "It's our turn!"
Before leaving, Albert glanced at Slytherin's Seeker, the unfortunate fellow being helped into the locker room, with Snape following behind them, his face incredibly gloomy.
"What are you guys up to?"
As soon as Albert and his team entered the locker room, they heard Professor McGonagall shouting. The dean angrily glared at the players present.
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"I'm sorry, Professor, but as you saw, it was the Slytherin team that started it. They don't seem to intend to play a fair and honest game with us." Charlie, as the Quidditch captain, immediately stepped forward to take the blame for everyone, bravely withstanding Professor McGonagall's angry glare: "Therefore, I have to take other measures to ensure the safety of our team members. Don't worry, I have made arrangements, and victory in this game will definitely belong to us."
Professor McGonagall was also taken aback, then Charlie said, "Look, our substitutes have arrived."
"Looks like you're planning to send a few of us into the ring?" Fred winked at Charlie and said, "That last blow was really amazing. I saw Marcus being helped away."
Professor McGonagall immediately stared at Fred, who immediately shut up.
"Kyle, you'll temporarily be the goalkeeper, taking over Wood's position. You're the only one here with experience as a goalkeeper," Charlie said to the freckled boy. He was the team's backup chaser, but there wasn't much else to do in the current situation.
"You two take over as batters. Albert is the seeker. Where's Angelina? Didn't she come?" Charlie, not seeing Angelina, said to Danny, "Go find her, and…"
Gryffindor can quickly assemble a complete reserve team, which, although far inferior to the regular players, has experience playing together and is unlikely to be worse than the cobbled-together Slytherin players.
"Go for it, Albert! You're our secret ace, don't let me down." Charlie patted Albert on the shoulder and said, "Whether we win the game or not depends entirely on you. You must catch the Golden Snitch."
Albert's lips twitched. He knew that Charlie's claim of being the secret ace was just a way of encouraging him, so he didn't take it too seriously.
However, Professor McGonagall, standing nearby, frowned slightly, looking at the new students who were replacing the players, somewhat puzzled by Charlie's arrangement.
"They are reserve players, originally slated to participate in the selection of the official players next year to replace the departing official players. Don't worry, they have all undergone excellent training." Charlie seemed to have guessed what Professor McGonagall was going to say and quickly explained.
"Alright, since you've made up your mind!" Professor McGonagall looked at the group and said, "I don't expect you to perform exceptionally well, but at least don't cause me any trouble."