manynovel Chapter 25 Quidditch Training
Chapter 25 Quidditch Training
The morning sunlight streamed through the blue glass windows of the Ravenclaw Tower, casting dappled shadows on the floor.
"I woke up earlier on the weekend than I do in class. I don't know why, I just didn't want to sleep," Wesley muttered, his reddish-brown curly hair sticking up in a messy heap. He sprang out of bed with a somersault, quickly dressed, and exclaimed, "Finally, I can relax today!"
Fabian was already dressed and tidying up a stack of books by his bedside. He pushed up his glasses and said, "I want to go to the library to look up some information about the celestial phenomena from yesterday's astronomy class. There are some other things I'd like to know."
Karen rubbed his eyes and asked the owl Phobos to take the letter he had written the night before. The little guy affectionately pecked his finger, then flew out the window with the letter in his mouth.
At the breakfast table in the auditorium, four boys were having a lively discussion about their weekend plans.
"We should go back to 'Eagle's Nest' and tidy it up a bit more," Ernesto suggested, forking up a fried egg. "That alchemy station still needs some tweaking..."
"Or we could go to the library," Karen suggested. "I'd like to look up information about Professor Eisenberg's planetarium."
With his mouth full of sausage, Wesley mumbled, "If you ask me, we should find an open space to play soccer! I stole one from home—"
"Football? What's that?" a familiar voice interrupted. Fred and George had appeared behind them unnoticed, their signature smirks on their faces.
"It's a Muggle sport," George explained, feigning seriousness, "it's about kicking a ball with your feet, not your hands."
"Sounds much safer than Quidditch! But I'm sure it's not as fun as Quidditch!" Fred chimed in, the two working together seamlessly.
"Speaking of Quidditch," George suddenly lowered his voice, "we have a practice match today against Hufflepuff. Want to come watch?"
To everyone's surprise, Ernesto was the first to jump up. "Really? What time does it start?" His voice was filled with an unusual excitement.
Fabian's eyes lit up behind his glasses: "My dad took me to see professional league games, but I've never seen a school game live!"
"Quidditch? Where have I heard that before?" Wesley tried to remember.
"Quidditch is the best sport in the wizarding world!" Ernesto explained enthusiastically. "Seven players in a team, riding broomsticks through the air. There are three scoring rings, one Quaffle, and two Blinks—"
"—There's another Golden Snitch!" Fred and George exclaimed in unison.
"Sounds like wizards' football!" Wesley slammed his fist on the table excitedly. "Interesting, I want to see!"
Before Cullen could even offer his opinion, Ernesto turned to the Weasley brothers: "Cullen's flying grades aren't great, could we borrow a broom for him to practice with?"
"Of course!" George readily agreed. "We have a whole cabinet of practice brooms. Although most of them are quite old, they're more than enough for practicing flying."
Thus, Cullen's objections were completely ignored. After breakfast, the group walked across the dew-covered grass toward the Quidditch pitch.
The September wind carries the scent of fresh grass, and the distant Black Lake glistens with light.
The stadium was even more spectacular than Cullen had imagined. Three golden rings gleamed fifty feet in the air, and the stands formed a ring around the entire field. Several figures in scarlet jerseys were already circling the field.
"That's Charlie, our second brother, the team captain and finder," Fred proudly introduced. "He's in seventh grade and about to graduate."
A red-haired boy swooped down on a broomstick and came to a steady stop in front of them. Charlie Weasley was much taller than the twins, with a sunny smile on his face and several noticeable scars on his arms.
"New students? Welcome!" he greeted warmly. "I'm sure that once you've seen a Quidditch match, you'll fall in love with the sport!"
Seeing the captain fly over, the other team members on the field also flew over.
Charlie pointed to a burly young boy next to him and introduced him: "This is Wood, our team's goalkeeper, and the future captain of Gryffindor."
Wood listened to Charlie's introduction and scratched his head somewhat shyly.
Then, the other team members were introduced, including Angelina, who officially joined this year and is in the same grade as the Weasley brothers.
After introductions, just as Charlie was saying that Quidditch was a safe and exciting sport...
"As long as you can dodge the Wandering Ball and Slytherin's sneak attacks, it's really safe!" A female team member who had just been introduced suddenly interjected. Her nose was obviously crooked to one side, indicating that she had previously suffered a fracture.
Upon hearing this, the team members gathered around, chattering about the interesting things that happened during training and the "despicable tactics" of their opponents.
"Last semester, the Risleys beaters deliberately hit me in the face with the run!" complained a freckled chaser.
"That's nothing," Charlie laughed. "Last year in the final, their Seeker faked an injury and, when the referee wasn't looking, knocked our goalkeeper over!"
"But we're not bad either. We were attacked by those despicable Slytherin bastards, so we definitely have to fight back. Didn't Charlie elbow that Seeker off the broomstick before?" Wood said.
Karen and Wesley were dumbfounded. "This isn't a competition, it's a fight," Wesley muttered under his breath.
"As expected, even the Quidditch played within the school isn't much weaker than professional Quidditch!" Ernesto's eyes lit up. "This is the real Quidditch!"
Wesley asked cautiously, "From what you've said, it sounds so intense. Have any players died in Quidditch matches?"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure either," Charlie replied with an awkward laugh, seemingly aware of the problem.
"Alright, forget about that." Ernesto led the way towards the broom shed. "Let's try real flight!"
George went ahead and took out a few old but well-maintained brooms from the shed: "Comet 260 brooms for teaching purposes. They're not fast, but they're very stable."
Karen took the pen; his flight lesson results were indeed not ideal, and he needed to practice more.
"Don't worry," Charlie patted him on the shoulder. "I fell right off the broom the first time I flew. The key is to relax and let the broom sense your intentions."
The team members began warming up, and the twins joined in. Karen and her roommates stayed on the sidelines to practice basic flight maneuvers.
"Watch this!" Wesley leaped onto the broom and slammed his foot on the ground. The broom shot twenty feet into the air and began to spin wildly. "Whoaaaaah—how do I brake?!"
Ernesto gracefully ascended, easily catching up with the out-of-control Wesley, and grabbed his broom tail: "Relax your wrist! Just point gently in the direction you want to go with your knee!"
Karen took a deep breath and slowly floated to a height of five feet. The broom she was using this time, though old, was noticeably better than the one she used in flight class.
Ernesto, riding his broom, flew over to Cullen and found that Cullen had gradually gained control of the broom. He then pulled Cullen and Wesley along and took them for a couple of laps around the field to get used to it.
While Cullen and his teammates were practicing the basics, the Gryffindor team on the field were also intensifying their training and warm-up in preparation for the practice match later.