Chapter 38: Conflict and Embarrassment

It's the weekend, and Harry had planned to visit Hagrid with Hermione and Ron.

However, he was awakened early by Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, who wanted him to come to training.

Harry reluctantly got out of bed, rubbing his sleepy eyes and looking out the window at the misty sky. The birds outside were so loud that he wondered why they hadn't woken him up earlier.

He quickly left a note for Ron and rushed to the lounge, grabbing his Lightening Bolt 2000 broom as he went.

On the way, he ran into Colin Crivey, one of his admirers, and ended up getting stuck talking to him for half the morning.

Eventually, he made it to the Gryffindor dressing room and, after a while, they reached the stadium, where the sun was already high in the sky.

When they arrived, they saw that the Slytherin team was already practicing on the field.

Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, angrily shouted at Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin team, "This is our training time! We have a special arrangement for an early morning practice! Please leave!"

Flint replied with a smile, "But I have a special note signed by Professor Snape that allows the Slytherin team to use the Quidditch stadium for training today to work with our new seeker."

Wood was distracted by this news and asked, "You've added a new seeker? Who is it?"

Harry was surprised to see a platinum blonde head at the end of the Slytherin team and immediately thought of Draco's excellent casting skills and performance in Quidditch.

He couldn't help but feel nervous at the thought of Malfoy being a strong rival.

Flint replied, "Miss Pansy Parkinson."

As the Slytherin team members moved aside, Harry saw that there was also a man hidden behind Draco.

For some reason, this relieved him.

Wood asked, "You're letting a second-year girl be your seeker? And isn't that Draco with her? You have one more player than you're allowed. What's going on?"

Flint explained, "Draco used his summer vacation to work at the Gringotts Wizarding Bank and was generously rewarded by the goblins for his assistance. In thanks, we used the money to buy seven new brooms for our team, including the Lightening Bolt 2001 that Draco is using."

The Slytherin team members then raised their brooms, the gold-colored Lightening Bolt 2001s shining in the morning sunlight and catching the eyes of the Gryffindor players.

"Ah well, everyone is different," Flint said with a sly look at Fred and George.

"Maybe some people's fathers can't make that much money in a year and can only afford to use old broom to sweep their rooms." The Gryffindor team members were speechless for a moment, and the Weasley brothers could only glare at Flint in anger.

"But Draco didn't seem to want to join the team, so he gave this opportunity to Pansy. However, he did agree to be our team's technical adviser," Flint continued, more or less bragging now.

"Well, if he really wants to come, I think we might have a chance at winning this year," Flint said with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Let's go," Wood said, not wanting to argue with them. Even if he didn't like it, Slytherin at least had a good excuse.

"Harry, what happened?" Ron and Hermione asked as Harry and the other players returned to the stands with some frustration.

Harry explained the situation to them, but Ron's face became unsightly.

"This guy actually uses this kind of tactic?" Ron said angrily, and Hermione seemed to detect a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Harry, don't worry about it. That's the freedom of their team. We can't control it, and there's a professor who favors them. Just focus on being yourself," Hermione urged him.

"Yeah," Harry nodded and tightened his grip on his broom, but he was still a bit depressed because it wasn't just the issue of the stadium; the opponent's equipment had also been upgraded, which made the future games look very difficult.

He looked back at the stadium.

Although Pansy was certainly not a seasoned Quidditch player, she was clearly very excited, her small face full of excitement like a World Cup fan.

If given the chance to play for even a few minutes, anyone would be thrilled. Even just playing for the school team was enough to make her excited for a while.

"Attention everyone," Draco called out, holding a microphone under the court.

All the players who were warming up in the air stopped and waited for his instructions. Pansy also quickly stopped her broom.

"To look down on your opponent is to look down on yourself. Gryffindor is always a strong team, regardless of their equipment," Draco said, looking at each player.

Each player had a headset on their head to help communicate during training, as the wind could make it difficult to hear. Of course, Hogwarts also has a strong magnetic field, so Draco had slightly modified the headset to work better in the magical environment.

Draco may have been able to invent a similar spell, but it was more practical to save some effort and just use the Muggle technology. After all, why reinvent the wheel?

He continued, speaking seriously: "We have brand new equipment today, but this is by no means the deciding factor in a game. Not to mention that Harry Potter's broom is only one generation ahead of ours. Even the Weasley brothers' old brooms are ones they have been using for a long time. While our new brooms give us a faster speed, they also come with greater risks."

The members nodded thoughtfully. Although Draco was only in his second year, he naturally exuded a leadership temperament.

His own achievements, as well as some rumors that whether true or false, were enough to convince the players. Not to mention that he was also the sponsor of the new brooms.

Most importantly, he made a very reasonable point. After feeling the speed of the Wind and Lightning brooms, the players did feel a little uncoordinated and had difficulty controlling them at times.

"Actually, I didn't agree to come to training today. If we avoided intersecting with them and used the new brooms as a secret weapon, we could definitely surprise them by beating them. But after today, they'll be prepared," Draco continued.

He saw a team of disappointed faces and immediately added, "But I suddenly felt that this didn't matter. You just saw the expression on the face of the Gryffindor captain. They are mentally prepared, but the pressure on them is also greater." He paused before saying, "We want to strategically look down on the enemy, but tactically treat them with importance. Do you have confidence in this?"

"Yes!" the seven players shouted loudly.

"The pre-war mobilization is complete," Malfoy said quietly, wiping the sweat off his brow. He then began to discuss tactics.

The plan was simple: drag the game out.

Pansy's familiarity with the broom was not as strong as the others.

Both the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams were arguably the most skilled, not to mention that Harry himself was also very talented and had trained for another year.

It was basically impossible to rely on Pansy to catch the golden snitch.

Although the gap between the two teams' seekers was significant, the speed of the newest flying broom could still be used to Slytherin's advantage. Draco assigned Pansy the task of dragging Harry, while the other players relied on their superior equipment to score points with the ghost ball. This was the main strategy, and the details needed to be refined.

Slytherin's players were generally taller, which gave them an advantage in a long, physical game.

"I don't trust you at all, humph," Pansy complained to Draco while practicing normal flight maneuvers.

Malfoy shook his head helplessly.

"Don't forget our agreement," he said quietly, reminding her as she flew down beside him.

"Yes, I remember. Don't worry," Pansy waved him off impatiently.

"Formation is too scattered, everyone gather together!"

"It's too scattered, too scattered. Are you going to leave the door open for the other team to score?"

It seemed that Draco was quickly adapting to his role as a technical adviser.

The green robes of the Slytherin team billowed in the wind, making a loud, whipping sound.

Although the sun was shining brightly, the strong wind still made their faces sore and chilled.

However, they didn't care; they were determined to avenge their defeat by Gryffindor in last year's game with the help of their new brooms. Their hearts were full of motivation.

"Okay, I'll call it a day here," Draco said after a long practice session.

It was important to leave some room for improvement and not overdo it.

Pansy, who had landed on the ground, was clearly still excited. She held on tight to her broom, not wanting to let go.

"Don't get too excited. There will be more opportunities in the future. Playing in person is much more fun than just cheering from the stands," Draco said, trying to calm Pansy by holding her shoulders with both hands.

"Okay," Pansy nodded, her face flushing. It was unclear if it was from excitement or the remnants of the previous exercise.

"So you must remember to follow our agreement," Draco emphasized again.

"Yeah," Pansy responded, nodding. She then whispered shyly, "I can do whatever you want tonight."

The entire Slytherin team seemed to be frozen in place, and then there was a burst of inappropriate laughter on the court.

This attracted the attention of those in the stands, and all the players looked at Draco with frowns, making an understandable expression for men.

Draco felt like he could spit out old blood if he could.