Chapter 71: Quidditch Training

"They have three major wishes: to form their own circus and travel the world for touring performances." Mark introduced Mario, Danny, and Jack to Albert and the others, explaining why they were called the Acrobatic Trio.

"That's a great aspiration." Albert curiously observed the three of them and then made a throwing motion with his hand towards them.

"It's simple, watch!" Mario somehow had a few small balls with ribbons and tossed them while walking. The balls moved up and down like swimming fish, forming a circle. It was more impressive than Muggle juggling.

"Impressive." Everyone stopped to watch Mario's performance and couldn't help but applaud.

"Alright, you guys have had enough." Charlie shouted loudly at them. "Head to the Quidditch pitch."

Mario smiled at Charlie and threw all the balls into the sky. Then he opened the pocket of his robe and let all the balls fall into it.

This action once again earned him a round of applause.

Following Charlie's stern urging, they ran to the Quidditch pitch. They first went to the changing room next to the pitch and put on the protective gear they would need for the match. It felt a bit like the protective gear used when playing rollerblading. The training that Charlie arranged for Albert was flying, getting used to flying on a broomstick.

After all, Albert had only recently started using a broomstick and needed to become familiar with flying in the sky.

Most pure-blood wizards start to learn to fly on broomsticks in their childhood. George and Fred were the best examples; they could fly on broomsticks quite well.

In fact, not only Albert, but all the newcomers needed to learn flying, to adapt to flying and train their reaction speed when riding a broomstick.

Albert looked at the broomstick assigned to him. It was old and worn, with some twigs poking out in all directions. Obviously, it hadn't been well maintained.

He stepped onto the broomstick and waited for Charlie's command.

"We'll fly around the pitch and go higher!"

Charlie led the team, and they began to fly around the pitch.

After flying up, Albert realized that his broomstick was a bit like an old bicycle—not only did it fly slowly, but it was also not easy to control.

However, Charlie flew at a moderate speed, so it wasn't a problem for Albert to keep up with the team. The only one falling behind in the team was Lee Jordan. After all, he had only ridden a broomstick a few times and was a complete newcomer. Although his skill in riding a broomstick was already quite good among the newcomers, there was still a noticeable difference compared to Albert!

No pain, no gain!

This made Lee Jordan unable to keep up with the team's flying rhythm.

"Not bad flying."

After flying five laps around the pitch, the warm-up was over. Everyone was generous with their praise, considering Albert was just a first-year student. The fact that he could keep up with their pace showed that he had a certain foundation in flying.

Moreover, everyone noticed that Albert flew steadily and maneuvered the turns with agility. It didn't look like he had only ridden a broomstick a few times.

After this round of flying, everyone understood why Charlie had high hopes for Albert.

After finishing the fly-around, the official players began their training while the newcomers continued to train their flying abilities. However, this time the difficulty was slightly increased as two Bludgers were released by Charlie from a box. The Weasley twins' task was to hold their bats and fly alongside Albert's team, protecting them from the attacking Bludgers.

Of course, this was actually a simple training for the Beaters. Their task was to guard their teammates using the bats in their hands.

Once the Bludgers were released, everyone had to be more alert to avoid getting hit by them. The pressure suddenly increased, but as qualified Quidditch players, adapting to this pressure was a necessary process.

Fortunately, the Bludgers didn't cause too much trouble for them. George and Fred were able to hit away the approaching Bludgers skillfully.

"What's wrong with you?"

Halfway through the flight, Lee Jordan suddenly descended. Albert, who was leading the team in flying around, noticed and lowered his body, quickly landing beside Lee Jordan.

"Nothing, I just suddenly realized that I can't keep up with everyone else's progress, so I thought about giving up." Lee Jordan saw it very clearly. Fred and George had been in contact with broomsticks for a long time and could fly better than most people. Albert and he started using broomsticks at the same time, but this guy, who Charlie called a genius, had already mastered flying after just a few times. Angelina, although not as good as the three of them, flew really well, and she was also practicing hard.

What about himself?

Lee Jordan didn't think he flew poorly, but he knew he couldn't keep up with the pace of these four. He also hadn't forgotten Albert's words—a dormitory couldn't be all Quidditch players... that would make people resentful.

"I'm thinking of quitting," Lee Jordan said.

"Well, you know what!" Albert reached out and patted Lee Jordan's shoulder. "I never expected myself to become an official player. Do you know why I'm staying here?"

"Why?" Lee Jordan asked foolishly.

"Because games are meant to be played together. That's what makes it interesting." Albert smiled at the three people descending behind him. "Just consider it training with them. Besides, I actually enjoy the feeling of flying. It has nothing to do with participating in Quidditch matches."

"You must also enjoy this feeling," Albert smiled at Lee Jordan and said, "Alright, let's continue!"

"The feeling of flying?" Lee Jordan muttered. Undeniably, Albert was right. He did enjoy the feeling of riding a broomstick and flying. It was one of the charms of Quidditch.

The flying practice continued, and Albert didn't know how long he had been flying. Anyway, around the fifteenth lap, he began to let himself go.

He tried to make the broomstick go faster and attempted some more challenging maneuvers.

Unfortunately, whenever the broomstick flew too fast, it started to tremble as if it could disintegrate at any moment.

"It seems... broken?" Albert noticed that even when he slowed down, the old broomstick still trembled. Did he break it by playing around too much? He didn't hesitate and quickly landed on the ground. Falling from the broomstick wouldn't be fun if it was broken. He hadn't learned the cushioning charm yet.

"What's wrong?" George asked, confused.

"My broomstick is trembling. It feels like it's going to break," Albert said helplessly.

"It's probably because the broomstick is too old. My broomstick also trembles when I fly too high," Fred said, looking helpless.

"Mine tends to veer slightly to the left," George added, mentioning his own broomstick issue.

"I won't fly for now," Albert said. "I'm planning to take a look at that."

He pointed to the copy of "Quidditch Through the Ages" in the changing room. Charlie had specially borrowed it for them to read. According to Charlie, as Quidditch enthusiasts, how could they not have read this book?

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(End of this chapter)