Professor Vampire.

Chapter 136: Quidditch counter-buy, villa by the sea

After Halloween, it was November.

Entering November means that Hogwarts Castle has officially entered winter, and it also means that the first official Quidditch match of each school year will kick off this month.

After the draw, the first game of this year is Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.

Although the Gryffindor players did not show it on their faces, they were actually a little unconfident in their hearts.

This is because, with the support of Draco Malfoy's rich father, all the members of the Slytherin team changed to the latest Nimbus 2001 flying broom, whose performance simply crushed the Gryffindor's group of sweeping antiques. Only the Nimbus 2000 given to Harry by Professor McGonagall can compare with them.

Fred and George, the two batsmen, had already explored the enemy situation early. According to them, "Slytherin team members fly as fast as lightning!"

Because of Slytherin's top hardware equipment, Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, has been very anxious recently.

In order to defend the Quidditch Cup, he pulled the Gryffindor players out whenever he had time to conduct a devilish training that made Harry and others shudder.

According to Fred and George, Wood's devilish training was even more perverted than Professor Dracula's Defense Against the Dark Arts class and dueling club!

...

The first Saturday morning in November, the day when the first Quidditch match began.

Harry woke up early in the Gryffindor dormitory.

He lay in bed for a while, unconsciously looking out the window, looking at the Quidditch field in the distance from the tall Gryffindor tower, which was still green even in winter, thinking about the upcoming Quidditch game.

Harry was a little nervous.

He was mainly thinking about what Wood, who was eager to defend the championship, would say if the Gryffindor team lost; at the same time, he also thought that the teams they were going to face were all riding the fastest brooms that money could buy, and this obvious hardware gap could never be made up by a little bit of technology.

But when he thought of the arrogant faces of the Slytherin Quidditch players, the incident when Malfoy humiliated Hermione as a mudblood, and the pain when Ron was hit by his own slug curse... Harry had never been so eager to defeat the Slytherin team as he was now!

His heart was churning, and he lay on the bed with his eyes open, thinking about it for half an hour, then got up, dressed, and went downstairs to have breakfast early.

When he arrived at the hall, he found that the other members of the Gryffindor team probably had the same mood as him and had come here early.

They squeezed at the empty long dining table, each of them looked nervous and silent...

The eleven o'clock when the Quidditch game officially started was approaching, and almost all the teachers and students in the school began to go to the Quidditch stadium to watch the game between the defending champion of the previous school year and the second-place team in the standings.

It was a hot and humid day, and the sound of thunder was faintly heard in the sky.

When Harry walked into the locker room, his two best friends, Ron and Hermione, hurried over to wish him good luck.

Then, he and the other team members changed into the bright red Gryffindor Quidditch uniforms, and then sat down to listen to Wood's usual pre-match pep talk.

"The Slytherins' brooms are better than ours, that's undeniable," Wood said seriously, "but every one of us is better than them on the brooms! We train harder than them and have flown in all kinds of weather conditions. In weather like today, if it rains, it will be an advantage for us!"

"That's right," George shrugged and interrupted, "My clothes haven't been dry since August."

"Of course, Professor Dracula's Defense Against the Dark Arts class and the Dueling Club also contributed to it," Fred added.

Wood glared at the two of them and continued passionately, "We will make them regret it and let them know that the Seeker who gets into the team by spending money can't win the game!"

Harry nodded in agreement.

Wood was very excited, his chest was heaving, he turned to Harry and said: "It's up to you, Harry!"

"You have to show them that as a seeker, it's not enough to rely on a rich father. Harry, today you either catch the Golden Snitch before Malfoy, or die on the field! Because we must win today, we must win!"

He repeated "must win" twice, which shows how strong the Gryffindor captain's desire to win is.

"So don't be stressed, Harry." Fred winked at him and comforted him.

However, the next moment, Wood turned his vicious eyes to Fred and George.

"I heard you opened another bet, and bet on Slytherin to win?" He said fiercely, "If I see you guys not working hard in the game today, I'll see how I deal with you!"

"Ah... Hahaha, Oliver, how did you know?" Fred laughed, "Actually, this is just our strategy. Don't you know that catchy saying--"

"Quidditch reverse bets, villas by the sea; occasionally bet on a draw, ride on a light wheel; bet heavily on an underdog, surpass the big dog; bet on a strong team, line up on the rooftop... We are the strong team, so we can't bet!"

"After saying so much, don't you want us to lose the game?!" Wood's expression became even more dangerous.

"Stop, Oliver, Fred was just joking!" George quickly stood in front of Wood and held down his clenched fist. "In fact, we are deliberately spreading the limelight to retaliate against those big dogs in Slytherin..."

"Even if we both bet on Slytherin, they will definitely think that we have no confidence in this game and will bet with a fluke mentality... If you don't believe it, look, we have deceived half of Slytherin College!"

George took out a notebook full of various bet amounts and shook it in front of Wood.

"And we only bet two silver Sickles on Slytherin. The real big money was bet on Gryffindor by Lee on our behalf." Fred also said.

Wood saw the astronomical figure of "20 Galleons" behind Lee Jordan's name, and then nodded with satisfaction.

"In that case, to show my determination, help me put all my savings in!" Wood waved his hand, "I will definitely make a big profit this time!"

Fred: "?!"

George: "Do you want to reconsider... Buy a strong team, and line up on the rooftop, Oliver..."

"Don't persuade me, I've made up my mind!" Wood said confidently.

"Okay, then I'll wait for you on the rooftop of the Astronomy Tower." Fred gave him a thumbs up.

"..."

Harry looked at the players who had placed heavy bets and felt more pressure...

Finally, it was time for the Quidditch game to officially start.

When Harry and his friends came out of the locker room and walked towards the stadium, they were greeted by a noisy sound.

Mainly cheering and cheering, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff both wanted to see Slytherin defeated, but at the same time, they could also hear the boos and jeers from the crowd of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students.

Madam Hooch, the Quidditch referee, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands. They stared at each other threateningly and squeezed each other's hands more tightly than necessary.

"Listen to my whistle," Madam Hooch shouted, "Three... two... one..."

"All -"

The whistle sounded.

The crowd roared and sent them off. The fourteen players soared into the dark leaden sky together, each to their own position that had been practiced countless times.

Harry, as the Seeker, flew higher than all the players. He squinted and looked around, looking for the shadow of the Golden Snitch.

"Are you all right, Scarhead?" Malfoy shouted in a mocking voice.

He rode Nimbus 2001, flying under Harry like an arrow, as if showing off the speed of his new broom.

Harry had no time to pay attention to Malfoy. He was under great pressure in this game and just wanted to find the Golden Snitch as soon as possible.

Just then, a heavy black Bludger suddenly flew towards Harry and hit him hard on the head.

He barely dodged it by a hair's breadth, and even felt the ball graze his hair as it flew by.

"That was close, Harry!" George flew over, still in shock.

He rushed past Harry with a bat in his hand, ready to hit the Bludger at the Slytherin players.

George hit the Bludger hard at a Slytherin player on the opposite side, trying to knock him off his broom.

But what neither Harry nor George expected was that the Bludger suddenly changed direction midway and flew straight at Harry again.

Harry quickly lowered his broom and barely dodged it again.

George hit the Bludger hard at Malfoy again. However, the Bludger turned around again like a boomerang and went straight for Harry's head.

Harry felt something was wrong, and instantly sped up, whooshing to the other end of the field.

But he could hear the Bludger still whizzing after him.

'What's going on? ' Harry thought in surprise.

Fred was ready to go, waiting for the Bludger at the other end. Harry lowered his head suddenly, and Fred used all his strength to hit the Bludger hard, hitting the Bludger to the other side of the court.

"Good shot! It's okay now!" Fred shouted happily.

But he was wrong again.

The Bludger seemed to be attracted to Harry by magnetism and flew after him again. Harry had to speed up and run away desperately.

It began to rain in the sky, and big drops of rain hit Harry's face and splashed on his glasses.

According to Wood, this situation is beneficial to Gryffindor, who has experienced various weather training, but Harry is not happy at all.

Under the cover of raindrops, he has no idea of ??other situations on the court, and can only barely take care of himself to avoid the Bludger that has been around him.

"Slytherin leads, sixty to zero."

The commentator Lee Jordan's regretful voice rang out on the Quidditch field.

Apparently, Slytherin's latest broom worked, and the Gryffindor players could not stop their fast attack at all.

Meanwhile, the crazy Bludger was still trying its best to knock Harry down from the air.

In order to protect Harry from being knocked down by the Bludger, Fred and George were now flying close to him, so that Harry could only see them hitting the Bludger's arms continuously, and there was no hope of finding the Golden Snitch, let alone catching it.

"Someone has tampered with this Bludger..." Fred also discovered the problem. He frowned and muttered, while hitting the Bludger that launched a new round of attack on Harry.

"We need to pause." George nodded.

He raised his hands and crossed them together, signaling to Wood, and at the same time, he and Fred had to prevent the Bludger from breaking Harry's nose.

As a qualified captain, Wood obviously caught his signal. He gestured to Madam Hooch to stop the game.

"Dudu--"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle.

Harry, Fred and George landed on the ground, still needing to dodge the crazy Bludger.

"What's going on?" Wood came over with a broom and asked in confusion.

Harry flew too high and the raindrops were too big, so Wood didn't notice anything wrong with him.

"We were scored against repeatedly, and we couldn't organize an effective attack." He complained, "Fred, George, where were you when the Bludger stopped Angelina from scoring? Do you really want to make money by suppressing the two Sickles from Slytherin?"

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping another Bludger from killing Harry, Oliver." George said angrily, "Someone tampered with the ball - it refused to let Harry go. During the whole game, it kept ramming around Harry and didn't chase anyone else!"

"Maybe someone from the Slytherin team tampered with it." Fred speculated, "Or like last year, a dark wizard like Quirrell sneaked into Hogwarts and wanted to harm Harry!"

"But since the end of our last training, the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office. At that time, they were all fine..." Wood said anxiously, "I'll try to ask Madam Hooch to replace a Bludger."

He walked towards Madam Hooch and anxiously explained Harry's situation just now.

Then Madam Hooch nodded, took the Bludger and inspected it.

"I don't see any problem with this Bludger." She checked it inside and out, then shook her head, "The flight path of the Bludger is completely random. There have been examples of it flying around a person in previous games. Maybe you think too much?"

"But, Madam Hooch..." Fred wanted to argue, but was interrupted by Madam Hooch.

"Your break time is coming up, can we continue the game?" She looked at the watch and said seriously.

"Listen." Harry shook his head at Fred and George, "You two keep flying around me, I have no hope of catching the Golden Snitch! You should go back to the other team members, I can deal with the wild ball myself."

"But we can't watch you die!" George said excitedly.

The conscience of the Weiss twins could not let them abandon Harry, even if they paid twenty Galleons.

Just when several people were about to argue, an interested voice sounded -

"It seems that you have some trouble here?"