Chapter 374: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff (Edited)

The fourth Quidditch match of February was between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Wood had been warning Harry and the boys since they returned from Christmas break that Hufflepuff was not to be underestimated this year.

The day before the match, Wood had been in the common room giving a pep talk to his team, but the Gryffindors, who knew what the Quidditch captain was like, had dispersed, leaving the common room to the members of the Quidditch team.

"They have a new captain and Seeker this year, it's Cedric Diggory, and he's a very formidable opponent!".

Wood mentioned Hufflepuff's new captain and Seeker again, "Even though Hufflepuff lost to Ravenclaw at the end of November, it was because their team hadn't fully adapted yet at that point! You saw what Hufflepuff did then, and Ravenclaw, who beat us last year, were narrowly beaten!".

Cedric was no stranger to Harry, last year he had put on quite a show at Lockhart's Dueling Club.

Not only was he an excellent wrestler, but he was also highly regarded for his hospitality and his relationship with Fish, whom many considered one of the best students Hufflepuff had had in a hundred years.

Harry had been at the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw match and it had been very different from the previous one, but because of the slight inexperience of some of the novice players, who had been confused by the intricacies of Ravenclaw's tactics, and the fact that Cedric seemed to be a little slow at the moment, Ravenclaw had no hope of winning.

Although Wood had said it many times before, he was right, and if he didn't play along he would have a lot more to say, so the boys, Harry included, nodded softly agreeing with Wood.

The girls, however, had a slightly different approach...

"And he's tall and handsome, isn't he?"

Angelina suddenly interjected as Wood insisted over and over again that Cedric was not to be trifled with, then laughed with Erica and Katie.

"Well, he certainly doesn't compare to our Fish." added Erica.

"He also has a solid body and doesn't like to talk."

Katie spoke up as well, followed by another giggle.

The giggly attitude of the three displeased Wood, and even more so the Weasley twins, who had a crush on Angelina.

"He doesn't like to talk because he's too stupid to form sentences." Fred said impatiently, "I don't know what you're worried about, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a piece of cake. Last time we faced them, Harry caught the Golden Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

Wood still looked nervous though, or rather, he basically looked like that whenever he was Quidditch related.

"Haven't I told you that many times already?! This isn't the same Hufflepuff as before!" shouted Wood, his eyes slightly bugged out, "Diggory's put together a strong team! He's a great Seeker! I'm afraid everyone has to realize, we mustn't relax! We must concentrate!"

This terrified look made the twins forget to be jealous, and Fred quickly comforted him, "Oliver, calm down!"

He held his hands up in front of him in a panic and gave two fake presses to Wood.

"We take Hufflepuff very seriously...very seriously."

Worried that Wood was still losing his temper, Fred emphasized repeatedly, while George and Harry nodded their heads quickly, the girls stopped giggling and laughing, but huddled together like three hamsters, looking at Wood with tears in their eyes.

At last Wood had calmed down a bit, but he was still prattling on to the team about the warnings he had been giving them for some time and the tactics for tomorrow.

Harry and the others listened anxiously to Wood's chatter, all with extremely pained expressions on their faces.

When they heard Wood mention Cedric for the sixth time, and he was about to go over tactics for the eighth time, they finally relented and with a bellow from the twins, the rest of the team, plus substitute Ron, swarmed around Wood and tied him up with rope.

George grabbed a handkerchief and gagged Wood; then, along with Fred, they led the struggling captain back to the boys' dormitory.

Once the drama was over, Gryffindor was soon preparing for the next day's match, and this time, Fish wasn't there.

The experience of going to watch Quidditch twice wasn't that wonderful, plus Harry learned the Patronus Charm, and there's Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, Fish is naturally too lazy to protect Harry.

In that weather, it would be better to sleep in the Common Room!

Wasn't he warm by the fireplace? Why did he have to go out into the cold?

Fish slumped in front of the Common Room fireplace, squinting comfortably.

(=￣ω￣=)

Like him, Hermione didn't go to the game, but stayed in the common room, sitting quietly next to Fish, working hard on her homework.

That didn't seem right...

Hermione must have been watching the match as well, but it was a different Hermione.

The reason for this was not clear to Fish, but Fish knew that Hermione could be in different places at the same time, as he had noticed something similar with Percy earlier....

The first time he noticed this was when Fish smelled Percy in two places at once, and out of curiosity threw a [Wild Mark] at one of them, and after about half an hour, the [Wild Mark] suddenly teleported to another place, and there was another Percy in front of Fish.

The curious little cat naturally would not let this interesting thing go, and immediately pestered Percy about it, who had no choice but to tell him that he had been helped by Professor McGonagall, and that if Fish wanted to know, to ask Professor McGonagall.

When Fish went to ask Professor McGonagall, the answer was that this method could only be used for studies, and that if Fish was sure he wanted to take all his electives in the future, then Professor McGonagall would agree to tell his what was going on in advance...

But how could Fish agree?!! The kitten immediately lost interest in the matter and decided not to ask again.

The price of knowing this is actually having to take five elective courses, I'd be crazy to want to know!

And someone actually invented a way to allow people to take more classes...

The person who came up with this method must have lost their mind!

And so did Percy and Hermione, both brain dead!

While Fish was quietly warming himself by the fire in the Common Room, the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff also started.

The Cat was not on the Quidditch pitch, but a large black dog had quietly appeared on the sidelines.

Instead of looking at Harry flying through the sky, Sirius Black looked at the spectators... and mainly at the Gryffindor spectators.

Unfortunately, however, he didn't see the figure he was expecting, and Fish hadn't come to the match today, which put a damper on Sirius' plans to sneak back into the Gryffindor dormitory.

"Whoa!"

There was a shout from the Gryffindor crowd as a fat, naive-looking boy slid under his seat after glancing at Sirius.

"Neville, are you okay?"

Ron helped him up.

"No, no, no, no...I'm not sure!"

Neville said warily as he raised his shaking hand and pointed at Sirius, who was standing on the sidelines.

Ron followed his finger and looked down the field, but saw nothing.

"What's not to see? are you seeing things?"

"No way! I must have seen something!" said Neville with conviction, and then he shouted, "Am I going to die? Professor Trelawney said that if you see a Grim you're not far from death..."

"Don't be silly, didn't Harry say he'd seen a Grim too? and he's still alive and kicking?" Ron grimaced, "Haven't you noticed? The Divination teacher likes to scare people, don't take her words too seriously."

Neville was a little relieved, and as the game got more intense, he forgot all about it.

After a hard fight, Harry finally caught the Golden Snitch before Cedric, and the Gryffindor students went into a sea of joy as they cheered and carried the entire quidditch team into the castle.

A conversation between Neville and Ron was faintly overheard in the crowd.

"Oh no, I think I've lost the slip of paper with the password on it."

"Don't worry, Neville, there are so many of us here that it's impossible to leave you out..."

As everyone left the Quidditch pitch, Sirius walked back out of the nearby forest, looked at the crowd in the distance, then turned around and jumped into the area where the Gryffindor students were a moment ago.

Not long after, a large black dog emerged from the pitch with a note written in its mouth, tail wagging.