Chapter 26 Isn't it just one versus seven?
Aaron and Terence sat on their broomsticks, positioned on the east and west sides of the stadium.
The Golden Snitch was released by Snape; it rapidly vibrated its wings, moving at high speed up, down, left, and right across the stadium, and finding it in the twilight was no easy task.
About ten seconds later, a 'buzzing' sound rang in Aaron's ear, and he instinctively reached out his right hand to grab it, but caught nothing.
The Golden Snitch's speed was no joke, only slightly slower than a broomstick, and it evaded Aaron as he reached out.
His action also caught Terence's attention; upon spotting the Golden Snitch, he immediately controlled his broom to fly towards it.
Aaron, seeing this, shrugged his shoulders, gave him a harmless smile, and decisively turned to chase the Golden Snitch. Being closer still offered an advantage, though this advantage was negligible in Quidditch, even fleeting.
Unless the Golden Snitch flew in a straight line, the opponent would catch up in a few seconds, and trying to catch a Golden Snitch with no predictable flight path within those few seconds was almost impossible.
The Golden Snitch began circling the stadium, with Aaronclose behind. No matter how tricky its flight angle, he could keep up and continuously close the distance.
Everyone saw this, and though they were unwilling to admit it, Terence's flying skills indeed had a certain gap compared to Aaron's.
Terence also noticed this, so he temporarily changed his tactics, no longer chasing from behind, but instead predicting a direction and blocking the Golden Snitch's path.
But his sudden appearance caused the Golden Snitch's speed to noticeably pause. Although it was a ball, it was a ball that did not want to be caught, and it was not so foolish as to crash into someone's hand.
Yet, it was this tiny pause that allowed a large hand from behind to snatch it.
Terence stared blankly at the scene, then braked and fiercely swung his arms twice, venting his annoyance.
"My apologies, Senior!" Aaron said humbly, "It seems I was lucky to win this time."
Terence 'humphed,' said nothing, and turned back to his position.
Aaron also tossed the Golden Snitch to Snape, "Professor, we can almost start the second round."
"Don't you need a break?" Snape asked. Quidditch matches are very physically demanding, and although this wasn't a formal match, three consecutive rounds were more than most people could handle.
"I don't need one," Aaron said, then looked at Terenceopposite him, "I just don't know about Senior Terence..."
"If you don't need one, neither do I."
Seeing their firm attitudes, Snape nodded slightly, then walked to the center of the stadium and opened the box containing the bludgers.
Two black iron bludgers shot out from it. They were ten inches in size and always tried to knock players off their brooms during a match.
The Golden Snitch was once again active on the field. Snaperaised his wand, and a fireball ignited in the air.
After the signal to start the match appeared, both Aaron and Terence's expressions became solemn.
If it were just the Golden Snitch, they wouldn't be so nervous, but with two aggressive bludgers added, they couldn't help but be wary.
This was not a proper match; there were no Beaters to block the balls for them. While trying to catch the Golden Snitch, they also had to avoid the bludgers, otherwise, being hit by those two iron balls would at least result in a broken bone.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sound of rushing air constantly echoed in the stadium. The bludgers flew erratically everywhere, and Aaron and Terence also began to search for the Golden Snitch.
Aaron spotted it a step ahead of Terence, but his luck wasn't so good this time; the Golden Snitch was closer to Terence.
The chase quickly began. The Golden Snitch's flight angle was still as tricky, sometimes circling walls, sometimes accelerating downwards in a dive, sometimes drilling into pillars and bouncing up and down, using the wooden stakes of the elevated platforms to block the two Seekers behind it.
In short, it did whatever it could to shake off the Seekers.
These actions were a test of the Seekers' skill. If their understanding of their own flying abilities was not accurate enough, or if they were too eager for quick success, it could very likely lead to an accident.
Terence's ability to serve as a Seeker meant his skills were already considered excellent, but not excellent enough.
Compared to Aaron, he was too cautious, or perhaps, he was somewhat afraid of getting injured.
At the beginning of the match, he could still focus most of his attention on the Golden Snitch, but after a period of chasing, his pressure gradually began to increase, especially the sound of the bludgers hitting the structures, which made him constantly anxious.
And when Aaron caught up to him, he clearly put more energy into avoiding the bludgers, because the two bludgers focused their attacks on one target, doubling the danger. The feeling of an iron ball whizzing past his scalp was not pleasant in the slightest.
Finally, a few minutes later, Aaron won; he caught the Golden Snitch.
Snape immediately took out his wand and stopped the two bludgers to prevent them from flying around after the match ended.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Snape clapped expressionlessly, saying, "A very exciting match. So... do we need to proceed with the third round?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the members of the House team eagerly flew into the stadium. Marcus even gave Aarona challenging look.
In the first two matches, they had already acknowledged Aaron's ability, but this last match was one that Aaronabsolutely could not win, otherwise, they would be utterly disgraced.
Just imagine, the esteemed Slytherin House team, seven players, actually beaten by a first-year student. If this got out, how could they hold their heads high?
"Wait, Professor, I request a ten-minute break," Aaron said, raising his hand.
"Hmm?" Snape's lips curled slightly, and he sneered, "Not showing off this time?"
Aaron gave an awkward laugh, "I'm still very self-aware. In the first two rounds, Senior Terence was competing against me alone. I'm tired, and he's tired, so it was relatively fair.
But next, I'll be facing an entire House team. If I don't adjust my condition properly, I'll probably lose terribly!"
"Hmph! You've already proven your ability. It's not too late to regret it now; this third round doesn't really matter whether we play it or not.
Slytherin students still have a sense of shame. Seven against one, they'll definitely win, but that sounds much worse than bullying."
"So, there are only us here in the stadium.
As long as I don't say anything, Professor, you don't say anything, and they don't say anything, then no one will know, right?" Aaron chuckled.
Snape pondered for a few seconds, a hint of admiration in his gaze towards Aaron. "You have ten minutes. Ten minutes from now, the next round begins."
"Thank you, Professor!" Aaron said with a smile, then flew down, pulled a lollipop from Abey's clothing pocket, unwrapped it directly, and put it in his mouth.
"Cough, cough!" Snape stared at Aaron with a strange expression. "Mr. Gaius, don't you know that the Undetectable Extension Charm shouldn't be used casually?"
"Undetectable Extension Charm?" Aaron looked at the candy in his hand and the somewhat wronged Abey, secretly thinking he had been careless, but on his face, he feigned a bewildered expression.
"Professor, I think you've misunderstood. There's no Undetectable Extension Charm on his clothes; it's purely for holding snacks.
However, what you just said does have its merits. I've decided; tomorrow, I'll send a letter home and prepare a set of clothes for Abey with the Undetectable Extension Charmcast on them."
Snape's face darkened slightly, and he simply turned his head away.
Ten minutes later, Aaron flew above the stadium and confronted the House team, who were somewhat embarrassed but unusually determined.
As Snape released the starting signal, the Golden Snitch and the two bludgers appeared simultaneously in the stadium.
Aaron did not immediately search for the Golden Snitch but instead focused his attention on the six House team players other than Terence.
After all, for him, the third match was the most grueling and the most dangerous.
Terence could slowly search for the Golden Snitch, but Aaron did not have that luxury. Besides snatching the Golden Snitch, he also needed to defend against the encirclement of these six seniors.
And in this difficult match, the only thing he could utilize were the two bludgers that flew indiscriminately.
After the match began, Aaron's strategy was clear: to drag it out.
While painstakingly avoiding the House team's "Encirclement and suppression" (encirclement), he tried his best to prevent Terence from catching the Golden Snitch. During this process, he constantly treated the two bludgers as teammates, often leading them towards others, creating many perilous situations.
However, with this rigid, rogue, dangerous, and even somewhat foolish tactic, Aaron toughly endured for over an hour, even using the bludgers to knock Marcus off his broomstick.
The Captain was quite pitiful; he had intended to block Aaron but ended up blocking the bludgers heading for Aaron, and two of them at that.
This action made Aaron momentarily think he had misjudged him. The Captain was actually very considerate, grumbling with his mouth but incredibly honest with his actions.
He blocked two bludgers for a new player who hadn't even officially joined the team yet! Aaron had never seen such a good senior in his life.