Chapter 151: Ways to Improve Your Winning Rate
"What are you all standing around for?" Marcus chided. "Hurry up and get on the field for practice. You especially, Draco, the Seeker position is crucial."
"Got it," Draco nodded at Aaron, then mounted his broom and flew into the air above the Quidditch field.
Marcus looked at Aaron, silent for a long moment before saying, "You really can't rejoin the House team? If you join, me giving you the captaincy isn't a problem."
"No, I'm very busy usually. At most, I can give you some not-so-professional advice," Aaron politely refused.
Are you kidding? Being a team member is already a waste of time, let alone being a captain.
Look at the Gryffindor team members; getting up a few hours early is one thing, but they don't even have time to eat breakfast. They are both tired and hungry.
Then look at their captain, Wood; he can talk tactics with the team for several hours, so the time he spends creating tactics must also be considerable.
Marcus didn't try to persuade him further. After simply stating that the Slytherin team would always welcome him, he joined the training.
Ron, seeing the spirited Slytherin team, couldn't help but murmur, "I have a feeling the Gryffindor team will have a hard time this time."
"Instead of worrying about that, why don't you first think about how to deal with your wand!" Aaron said. "You've seen its power; it's not just ordinarily magical."
Ron lowered his head, looking gloomily at the tape on his wand. In the end, he decided to make do with it.
If he was careful when casting spells, perhaps he could make this wand last until the end of the semester.
This was a desperate measure; he had crashed his family's car, and his father was being investigated by the Ministry of Magic, his work hours for the month were not up to standard, and a portion of his salary would be deducted.
If he were to ask for another wand from home at this time, it would undoubtedly make their already struggling family even worse off.
"I think it might be able to last a bit longer," Ron said, somewhat unconfidently.
Hearing this, Aaron was slightly stunned, then gave him a thumbs up. "You're a warrior!"
"Don't praise me like that; it's embarrassing."
"No, you're overthinking it." Aaron, with an air of disdain, moved a little further away from him. "In the future, I'll have to sit further away from you in Class. It wouldn't be good if I got caught in the crossfire."
Ron:... Just then, Harry ran over from the changing room. "I gave the robes to Fred. We can go find Hagrid now."
"Aaron, are you really not coming with us?" Hermione asked.
"No," Aaron pointed to the Slytherin team training in the air above the Quidditch field. "I still need to observe Draco's training and give him some pointers."
"Malfoy?" Harry frowned. "You're giving him pointers?"
"Is there a problem? I'm Slytherin, after all. Besides, I stayed at his house for a day during the holidays, so it's only right to return the favor, isn't it?"
Harry smiled and shrugged, pretending not to care, but he couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Draco's flying ability was not much weaker than his, and now he had a new model of magic broom, giving him an equipment advantage.
The only thing he could still surpass Draco in was experience, as he had a very responsible captain, and their training time was the longest among the four House teams.
But if Draco had Aaron's guidance, the gap in experience would be greatly reduced, and then it would be an evenly matched battle, with an unpredictable outcome.
The last time he felt this way was when he learned that Aaron had joined the Slytherin team as the Seeker. He didn't expect to feel the same pressure from Malfoy this time.
It seems he must ask Wood to intensify training when he gets back. He had already lost to Malfoy academically; if he lost in Quidditch too, he would truly be unable to hold his head high.
Hermione and Ron exchanged glances, seemingly sensing Harry's heavy mood.
"Um, we should go," Hermione reminded him. "We can't keep Hagrid waiting."
"Right." Ron grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him towards the Forbidden Forest. "Don't forget, we still need Hagrid to help us find the car!"
Hermione looked at Aaron with some difficulty, after all, he had given that quaffle to the Gryffindor team because she had pulled him over to mediate.
"Why aren't you leaving yet?" Aaron teased. "Are you trying to scout for information on us Slytherin?"
"Of course not, I'm not that bored. It's just, the compensation you gave Wood and them, I..."
"Don't overthink it. That quaffle might be precious to those who love Quidditch, but to me, it's just that. Giving it to Wood to resolve a conflict was worth it," Aaron said indifferently. "To be honest, at Hogwarts, I can earn it back very quickly."
In fact, this was true. The collector's edition quaffle in the System Store was worth thirty magic points.
And he earned ten magic points for signing in at Hogwartsfor one day, so he could earn it back in three days.
Hearing Aaron say this, Hermione still felt a little guilty, but she also felt much lighter.
"Well, then you enjoy Quidditch! I'll be going now."
Aaron impatiently waved his hand, then returned to the platform.
He took out a few pieces of scratch paper from Abey's pocket, used his finger as a pen, and magic energy as ink to practice magic formations on the paper, trying to shorten the time as much as possible.
During this time, he also took some time to watch Quidditchto relieve eye strain.
Click!
A flash suddenly went off, Aaron's eyes blinked, and his finger trembled slightly.
Because of this accident, the half-drawn magic formation instantly failed, turning into black dust and dissipating into the air.
"I'm going to..."
Aaron looked furiously in the direction of the flash and spotted Colin with a camera about ten meters away. His expression instantly became incredibly complicated.
This first-year student was overly naive, and he didn't feel right criticizing him, otherwise, the child might cry.
"Senior, what are you writing?" Colin asked, walking over curiously.
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't," Aaron said irritably. "I must warn you, control your curiosity in the future, or something bad will happen sooner or later."
Colin instinctively tightened his grip on the camera and nodded meekly.
"By the way, Senior, do you know where Harry Potter went? I secretly went to the Gryffindor changing room just now, but I couldn't find him," Colin said with some regret. "I haven't gotten his autograph yet!"
Aaron's eye twitched slightly. Indeed, there's always someone better!
He originally thought Hermione was talented at celebrity chasing, but he didn't expect Colin to be even more outrageous than her.
Such a paparazzo is rare even in the Muggle world, and at eleven years old with this level, he definitely has a boundless future.
"Sorry, I don't know," Aaron said.
It wasn't that he wanted to cover for Harry, but Colin had just caused him to scrap a magic formation!
He couldn't criticize Colin, so letting him search around the Castle a bit more wasn't too much, right?
"Is that so? I'll go check the Gryffindor common room first then, I won't bother you anymore."
"Wait a moment," Aaron stopped him and said, "I don't know where Harry is right now, but I do have a little clue."
"What clue?" Colin asked eagerly.
"Don't rush, I have conditions," Aaron said, looking unhurried. "Don't point your camera at me in the future, and I'll tell you, how about that?"
"This..." Colin hesitated for a moment but still nodded in agreement. After all, in his opinion, nothing was more important than Harry Potter, the savior of the Magical World.
"Very good." Aaron snapped his fingers. "Today is Saturday. If all goes as expected, he and Ron will be in detention tonight, since they drove to school!"
"Senior, do you mean...?" Colin felt he had grasped something important, but it was still very vague.
"Professor McGonagall. All detentions for Gryffindorstudents are decided by her. Find Professor McGonagall, and not only will you find Harry Potter, but you'll also know where he'll be tonight."
Colin's eyes lit up, feeling his thoughts much clearer.
If he couldn't find Harry Potter, couldn't he find Professor McGonagall? At worst, he'd just wait outside her office.
"Thank you, Senior," Colin said excitedly, about to turn and leave.
"Wait," Aaron called out to him again. "If anyone asks, don't say I told you."
Colin immediately nodded and ran towards the Castle, hugging his camera.
Aaron silently mourned for Harry for one second in his heart, then took out a new blank paper and continued practicing basic magic formations.
When it was almost noon, the Slytherin team's training also ended, and Draco flew down in front of Aaron.
"How do you feel?"
"It's alright. The House team's strength is good, and I can barely keep up. But there's still a long time until the Quidditch match, and I'm confident I can win this year's championship."
"You're a bit overconfident." Aaron immediately poured cold water on him. "Although I'm reluctant to admit it, you're still a bit behind Harry."
"Are you saying I can't beat Harry Potter?" Draco asked, unconvinced.
"Probably not in the short term. Playing Quidditch relies on talent, and Harry's talent is stronger than yours; that's an undeniable fact. Moreover, his experience is quite rich; that's the biggest gap between you and him. Most importantly, how much worse can a Nimbus 2000 be compared to a Nimbus 2001?"
Draco frowned upon hearing this. "So that means our chances of winning the match aren't as high as we thought."
"You could say that, but there's a way to increase the winning rate to over eighty percent," Aaron said after hesitating for a moment. "It just depends on whether you're willing."
"Tell me," Draco said, unfazed. "My father will also be at Hogwarts on the day of the match, so I absolutely cannot lose."
"It's very simple." Aaron held up one finger. "One word: delay."