The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 80 Quidditch Selection
"Books? Can you two think of a better idea to trick me?" Ada felt her intelligence was insulted.

Although the package in Fred's hand looked square and somewhat like a book, Ada still had some doubts. She felt that the things inside were not that simple.

"Stop...Ada, stop..." George stood in front of Fred and asked Fred to put his things away quickly.

Fred now felt a little regretful. What book was he talking about? Now Ada became even more suspicious.

"Shh... don't grab it. Isn't it okay for me to tell you?" Fred said while thinking of a solution in his mind.

Ada didn't try to grab it again, but sat back in the armchair, waiting for the twins to come up with a passable excuse.

"There really are books in here..." George was also thinking quickly, trying to come up with a suitable solution.

Ada pointed at the twins and said, "I beg you to come up with a plausible excuse. What on earth is in the book? Why would you two be so mysterious about it?"

"It's really a book!" George continued, "The kind you can't read!" He spoke the second half of the sentence in a very low voice so that only the three of them could hear it. It was not good to spread this kind of thing around because the noise they had just made had already attracted other people's attention.

"George is right, this kind of book...is not suitable for you to read..." Fred helped George explain in a low voice.

The matter has been put on hold. The twins felt that Ada would be too embarrassed to compete with them for the package again. In order to prevent Ada from snatching the package, the twins suffered a great loss.

Ada didn't blush as the twins expected, but she didn't rush to see it.

Ada said: "Since both of you said so... I won't ask what's in it..."

"It's just that I can't tell you now. You'll know in two days." The twins said together. Although they didn't fool him, at least they achieved their goal.

Ada and the twins waved goodbye and prepared to go back to sleep. The twins also breathed a sigh of relief. When the two were about to return to the dormitory, they were stopped by Ada who had returned.

"Wait a minute, you interrupted me and I almost forgot what I was doing. Registration for Quidditch tryouts is now open, and it will officially begin next Friday. You two should stay out of trouble recently, and we can talk about anything later."

After saying this, Ada left without looking at the depressed expressions on the twins' faces. Fred and George looked at the tightly packed "books", shook their heads and sighed, and walked back to the dormitory dejectedly.

The first-year flying lessons and the Quidditch registration for each college started almost at the same time. Looking at the students in the library holding books related to flying, Ada felt like she was seeing herself a year ago.

It was Friday afternoon in the second week of school. The weather was clear and sunny, perfect for Quidditch tryouts.

The twins, Angelina and Alia were still in a stable mood. They were confident in themselves, but Lee Jordan's nervousness was written on his face. He had been like this since morning. Ada and the twins kept comforting him, but it was of no use.

The group arrived early enough for the twins to take Lee Jordan for a round to warm him up and ease his emotions. Katie Bell was envious and she also wanted to ride a broomstick and fly over the field.

The half of the court near the castle was filled with Gryffindor students, and the other half was filled with Hufflepuff students. Because it rained heavily on the day of the Hufflepuff selection, their selection was only halfway through, so they had to select together with Gryffindor today and share the court.

On the Hufflepuff side of the field, a boy was flying in the sky. He flew very well and many Gryffindor students exclaimed in amazement.

After squinting for a long time, Ada realized that the boy was Cedric Diggory. Not only was he in the same grade as Ada, but his home was also in St. Catchpole Village.

Ada had a pretty good impression of him. Cedric had good grades. In the final exam last school year, his grades were only behind Ada's. He was also the first one to help his classmates in the Potions class last week.

Cedric is handsome and has a good personality. He is very popular with girls in school. Many girls are waiting for him to grow up. But if you think he only has female friends, you are wrong. Cedric is also very popular among boys in school. More and more people are on the court. The candidates for the selection have arrived. Captain Charlie and Oliver Wood begin to arrange the selection in batches.

The first test was a basic test. Charlie divided the applicants to join the team into groups and asked them to fly around the playground to eliminate those who performed poorly in flying.

After that, Charlie began to test the players according to their positions and select the best ones.

First, the Chasers, Angelina and Alia performed the best. Charlie started to pay attention to them last year, and he would take them with him during Gryffindor training in the second half of the school year, but they were too young at the time and were not recruited into the team.

Charlie was talking quietly to Oliver Wood, who was nodding and writing something down in a notebook.

Angelina and Alia, who performed well, returned to their group and celebrated with their friends by high-fiving. Lee Jordan's performance was not very good, but he did not feel disappointed. Instead, he felt relieved.

Then came the test of the goalkeeper position, and Oliver Wood performed well and successfully defended his starting position. Wood was a burly man who worked hard and always repeated a sentence during training, "Either win or die on the field."

This year, Wood was promoted to the position of vice-captain by Professor McGonagall. Charlie was very satisfied with his successor. It would be better if his personality could be a little softer.

Fred and George left their friends with a smile and rode their brooms to participate in the batsman selection. Charlie knew what level his two brothers were at, so he was very relaxed. The batsman position was basically a sure thing for them and the selection was just a formality.

When the selection of the beaters was just over, the captain of Hufflepuff came over with Cedric and chatted with Charlie. Charlie was a little jealous of the captain of Hufflepuff, who could find such an excellent seeker. He had known Cedric for much longer than the Hufflepuffs.

Fred and George stood beside Ada and said, "Charlie likes that Cedric very much. He is really good at Quidditch."

"Good at studying and good personality." Angelina said.

"He's a good person and always willing to help others." Alia also praised Cedric, "Now he's good at Quidditch, what a great boy."

"He's handsome too!" Katie Bell muttered quietly. No one expected her to say such a thing. Katie Bell also went to the Chaser selection just now. She performed well. Charlie even told Wood to pay more attention to her in the future.

Fred snapped his fingers in front of the three crazy girls and said, "Hey! Girls, wake up. We are his enemies from now on. Stop being crazy!"

"Diggory is just a pretty boy, good-looking but useless. We will definitely defeat them in the official competition!" Lee Jordan was also very dissatisfied. The way Angelina looked at Cedric made him a little jealous.

After showing off to Charlie, the Hufflepuff captain led his team members off the field, but Cedric walked towards the twins and Ada.

"Fred, George!" Cedric greeted the twins. "I heard you also passed the test. You better be lenient during the official competition!"

The twins nodded with a wry smile. To the twins, Cedric was someone else's child and they didn't want to be good friends with Cedric.

A few classmates chatted for a while. Cedric was smiling the whole time and looked very sunny.

After losing to Ada in the final exam last semester, Cedric wanted to be friends with Ada, but he never had the chance. During the conversation just now, Ada didn't say a word, so he had to take the initiative to talk to Ada.

Cedric smiled at Ada and asked, "Can I call you Ada like Fred and George?"

"Just call her Esmeralda!" For some reason, George felt a sense of crisis and he responded directly on behalf of Ada.

(End of this chapter)