Back in the dressing room, Albert immediately picked up his wand and cast a drying spell on himself to dry off the rainwater.
"Put your protective gear and Quidditch costumes in the basket," Charlie reminded, pointing to a large basket in the corner. "Oh, and everyone go to the school clinic later to see Mrs. Pomfrey and get some cold medicine to drink, so you don't actually catch a cold from the rain."
"Actually, you just want to see those unfortunate Slytherin bastards and give them a piece of your mind!" Eileen immediately guessed Charlie's sinister intentions.
"Jack also needs to be checked by Mrs. Pomfrey; he was badly hurt in that fall too," Danny said with a light cough.
"It's all your fault!" Jack complained loudly.
"How did you manage to get your clothes...dry?" Wood asked, noticing Albert preparing to put on his winter cloak, quite surprised.
"Of course, we use the drying spell," Albert noticed the puzzled looks on their faces and asked, "You…don't know?"
The group looked at each other, none of them knowing about the drying spell.
Albert was at a loss for words.
"There's a record of the Drying Charm in 'Practical Household Magic'," Albert said, looking at the suddenly quiet dressing room, quoting the book Professor Flitwick had recommended he read. Of course, he himself hadn't actually read the book.
"You actually read this kind of book?" Eileen looked at Albert with surprise.
"Isn't magic all about saving trouble?" Albert rubbed his nose and said, "I feel like I'm about to catch a cold."
"Achoo!" Mario sneezed and complained, "Let's get back to the castle, I want to take a hot bath first."
"Thank you for your help," Eileen said with a smile.
After Albert used a drying spell to dry the others' clothes, they returned to the castle together.
The group arrived at the corridor of the school hospital on the second floor of the castle and found a large crowd already gathered there. They were all spectators who had braved the rain to watch the Quidditch match, and most of them were soaked. They had come to Madam Pomfrey to get some medicine to prevent colds.
The arrival of the Gryffindor team attracted the attention of a large crowd, who made way for them.
Charlie greeted acquaintances with a smile and led the team into the school hospital.
Mrs. Pomfrey was dispensing medicine when Charlie greeted her, then pretended to help Jack onto the bed. He even gave Monta, the Slytherin suitor in the next bed, a wicked smile. Albert read their lips: We won!
"Mrs. Pomfrey, we also need some medicine so that everyone doesn't catch a cold after getting wet in the rain," Eileen said to the approaching head nurse.
"There's a small cup for each person on the table. Go get it yourself." Mrs. Pomfrey came over to check Jack's injury, still complaining that their competition was too reckless and that he deserved to be injured.
She healed Jack's injuries in less than a minute.
While they were drinking their cold medicine, the Slytherin team members arrived, and the atmosphere in the ward suddenly became tense.
"Alright, stop crowding here." Mrs. Pomfrey ushered Charlie and his group out of the ward. Albert immediately spotted the substitute goalkeeper, Wiki, whose tooth he had knocked out, and the two unlucky guys who tried to stop him but couldn't stop their brooms and crashed into the stands. They were being helped up by other team members and seemed to have suffered quite serious injuries.
"Oh, by the way, the guy who threw the baseball bat at you got put in solitary confinement by Professor McGonagall." Before leaving the ward, Mark suddenly turned back and smacked his lips at someone's retreating figure. "The baseball bat he threw at you hit someone. He and another unlucky guy who tried to stop you couldn't stop in time and crashed into the Slytherin stands, injuring several people..."
Mark's voice was loud enough for everyone in the school hospital to hear, and the students picking up their medicine nearby couldn't help but burst out laughing when they heard it.
The Slytherin team turned around and glared at each other; if they hadn't been in the school hospital, they might have started fighting.
"What happened to your teeth? You've lost a few. Are you alright?" Danny asked, his gaze falling on substitute goalkeeper Wiki, barely suppressing a smile.
"Cough cough, let's go." Charlie quickly pushed everyone and led them away from the school hospital.
"I really hope Mrs. Pomfrey doesn't get his teeth fixed, or he'll have a lisp," Fred couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously, who did this? That's so cool."
"It looks like Albert knocked it off," Jack said. He had tried to stop Albert, but... Jack started laughing to himself before he could finish his sentence.
"Don't look at me, he bumped into my elbow and broke it," Albert said innocently. "I was focused on the Golden Snitch at the time, I didn't have time to fight him. I don't know why, but he just had to bump into my elbow. It still hurts a little."
"Perhaps he has a strange ailment where he feels uncomfortable unless he's slapped in the face. Hopefully, Mrs. Pomfrey can cure him." George's compassionate expression amused everyone.
"Let's go back and celebrate this victory."
"Let's go to the kitchen and get something to eat." George and Fred decided to try their luck in the kitchen.
"No need, Professor McGonagall has already prepared it for you!" Li Jordan suddenly appeared from around the corner, patted Albert on the shoulder and said, "I saw it all, you knocked out the Slytherin goalkeeper's teeth."
"He knocked it over himself," Albert corrected.
"None of you noticed how awful Professor Snape's face looked when you caught the Golden Snitch, like someone had smeared something on his face…" Li Jordan's voice stopped abruptly because he saw Albert raise his finger, signaling him to be quiet. He quickly looked around and, finding Snape not nearby, couldn't help but lightly punch Albert's shoulder with his fist.
Everyone else couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Of course, the only unhappy person in the hallway was Filch, the administrator who stood at the entrance of the school hospital with a mop and bucket, giving them a disapproving look. Filch was maintaining order and waiting for the students to disperse so he could clean up the muddy footprints all over the hallway.
As soon as everyone returned to the common room, a noisy cheer erupted inside. People shouted Albert's name when they saw him, and some even eagerly reached out to pull him inside.
On the table in the common room were cakes, pies, candies, and a large jug of pumpkin juice. Many people gathered around Albert, asking him to recount the thrilling moment before he caught the Golden Snitch, and some even mentioned the time he knocked out the Slytherin Keeper's teeth.
However, Albert insisted that it was Slytherin's backup goalkeeper who knocked out his teeth by bumping into his elbow.
He's such a good person, how could he do such a thing?
Having finally shaken off everyone's entanglement, Albert took a small plate of cake and sat down in an armchair in the corner.
"Not bad, I didn't expect you to be such a good Quidditch player." Field, resting his chin on his hand, teased, "If you were a bit older, I might even be tempted to pursue you."
Albert was immediately puzzled. Are all foreign girls this fierce?
Of course, he knew that Field was just teasing him, so he retorted in a low voice, "Actually, I don't really like girls older than me!"
"Old age?" Field couldn't help but roll his eyes at Albert, changing the subject: "How's your summoning spell coming along?"
"Not bad. I'm trying to summon other things now." Albert thought about his progress in learning summoning magic and nodded in satisfaction. "In a while, I'll be able to successfully summon the umbrella."
"Why are you summoning the umbrella?" Field asked, puzzled.
"Of course, it's so that I won't have to carry an umbrella when it rains in the future," Albert said seriously. "Britain is a rainy country. Sometimes when I go out without an umbrella, I come back soaked in the rain."
Field: "..." That sounds like it makes a lot of sense.