Although Lucian's thoughts had already drifted toward Hagrid's hut, the noise around him pulled him back to reality.
Madam Hooch's whistle was completely drowned out by the cheering.
Lee was still shouting the score through his amplified voice charm.
The Gryffindor stands had turned into a boiling red ocean. Students hugged each other and threw their hats into the air.
In sharp contrast, the Slytherin stands were under heavy pressure. Green banners were torn down and trampled.
Older students stood with dark expressions while younger ones whispered among themselves.
The air carried open hostility.
"Hey! Catch!"
Two red-haired figures landed in front of Lucian with a rush of wind.
"Why are you standing around like that?"
Fred and George jumped off their brooms. Both of them had red and yellow paint smeared across their faces.
Sweat and dirt covered their robes, making them look messy but incredibly energized.
"Here." Fred pulled a small pouch from inside his Quidditch jersey and shoved it into Lucian's hands.
"A promise is a promise. Fresh dungbombs.
As long as you don't throw them into the Gryffindor common room, you can do whatever you want with them."
Lucian weighed the pouch in his hand.
George leaned closer and lowered his voice, his eyes bright with excitement.
"Besides the dungbombs, there are two special items inside. Remember that glass marble you helped us improve a few days ago?"
Lucian remembered the small sphere that had tiny lions swirling inside it.
"The prank fireworks," Lucian said.
"Exactly!" Fred snapped his fingers. "We followed your suggestion and added a pressure trigger and a delay charm."
George grinned widely.
"As long as it's squeezed hard enough or smashed on the ground..."
"Boom." George spread his hands dramatically. "A colorful cloud effect that won't disappear for half an hour."
"We tested it in the locker room earlier. Works perfectly. If those Slytherin idiots try to start trouble after losing, this will be their reward."
At that moment the crowd began pouring toward the exits.
Because of Snape's blatant bias during the match, the tension in the stadium was far worse than usual.
Students from both Houses were forced to squeeze into the same stairway.
Lucian slipped the pouch into his robe and looked toward the gathering vortex of people.
At the narrow exit, red and green collided.
Draco stood at the bend in the stairs with Crabbe and Goyle blocking the path. Pansy stood behind him, twisting a green scarf in her hands.
Harry and Ron led the Gryffindor group.
"Move, Malfoy," Harry said. The Golden Snitch was still clenched in his hand, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"What's the hurry, Potter?" Draco drawled in his usual irritating tone, looking Harry up and down.
"Running back to celebrate your pathetic House score at the bottom of the board?"
The words struck directly at the sore point of every Gryffindor present.
Even though they had won the match, the earlier corridor fight had cost them so many points that Gryffindor's hourglass still looked the worst among all four Houses.
"Shut your mouth," Ron snapped. His face was red and his fists clenched tightly.
"You hid behind Crabbe the whole time in the stands like a coward. Now you suddenly have the guts to block the way?"
"You think you won fairly, Weasley?" Pansy cut in sharply.
"If Professor Snape hadn't been generous enough to overlook your ridiculous fouls, you would've been disqualified."
"Generous?" a seventh-year Gryffindor pushed forward angrily. "Snape didn't want us to win at all!"
"That's because you fly like headless chickens!"
The pushing grew more aggressive.
Wands began to slide out of pockets.
The conflict was seconds away from exploding.
In the past, someone would have stepped in by now.
A voice would have shouted the twenty-third rule of the school regulations.
Someone would warn them that casting spells in the corridors meant detention. The crowd would have been forced apart by sheer authority.
But today there was no such voice.
Hermione stood at the edge of the crowd. She was neither looking at Draco nor at Harry.
The shouting, the sparks from raised wands, even the shove Ron took while shielding Harry did not change her expression.
She looked like a ghost drifting outside the world.
Lucian noticed immediately.
So she had already made her choice.
"Looks like someone needs to cool down," Fred murmured beside him.
He gave George a quick glance.
George stepped back slightly and flicked his wrist beneath his robe. A small glass marble rolled silently down the slanted stone steps into the Slytherin crowd.
The marble stopped near Draco's foot.
Draco was stepping backward while pointing at Ron's face. His heel came down directly on the marble.
The crisp cracking sound disappeared beneath the roar of the crowd.
A thick pink cloud suddenly burst out from beneath Draco's feet. The mist expanded incredibly fast, swallowing several Slytherin students in the front row.
Then the pink fog twisted and reshaped itself in midair.
Two seconds later, a line of shining golden words appeared above their heads.
I AM A BIG IDIOT
The glowing letters flickered brightly while a ridiculous trumpet-like sound effect echoed through the stairway.
The corridor fell silent for a moment.
Then the Gryffindor side exploded with laughter.
"Brilliant!" Lee even jumped up on the stairs.
"My eyes!" Crabbe flailed his arms blindly inside the pink mist.
Draco's face turned a deep shade of red.
He waved his wand furiously, trying to disperse the cloud and the humiliating words floating above him.
But just as the twins had promised, a simple cleaning charm did nothing.
The golden words followed Draco wherever he moved.
"Weasley!" Draco roared in fury, his wand glowing dangerously red.
But the Gryffindor students had already taken advantage of the chaos. Laughing loudly, they squeezed past the Slytherins and rushed toward the castle.
Harry and Ron even turned back to make mocking faces before disappearing with the rest of the group.
A fight that had been seconds away from exploding ended in a completely absurd way.
Lucian watched Fred and George clap hands midair before disappearing into the celebrating crowd.
He did not bother looking at the furious Slytherins any longer. Instead, he turned and walked toward another exit of the stadium.
Although the momentum of the story had still given Gryffindor their moment of glory, the powder keg filled with hatred and prejudice had already taken shape.
All it needed now was a spark.
.....
Gryffindor's wild celebration and Slytherin's bitter retreat did not fade with time.
They merely sank beneath the surface.
Like currents moving under frozen water.
The only thing capable of temporarily suppressing this hostility between Houses was the approaching final exams.
But everyone knew the ice would not hold forever.
__________
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