Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 204 Harry and the Black Dog

While Sirius and Sirius were talking, the Quidditch match had already ended.

When Xiren returned to the common room, he noticed that everyone was sitting there in silence, their usual smiles gone, and the atmosphere was terribly somber.

At that moment, Xilun guessed what was going on.

As expected, Gryffindor lost their Quidditch match today, and by a mere ten points, to Slytherin.

"Just one second short!" Harry said in frustration, gripping his broomstick tightly. "If I had been just a little faster and caught the Golden Snitch before Marcus Flint threw that ball, we wouldn't have lost to Slytherin!"

Siren looked at Navee beside him and asked in a low voice, "So what happened on the field?"

"You didn't know?" Neville asked in surprise, looking as surprised as if he had heard someone say Hermione hadn't done her homework.

“I got pushed to the very back of the crowd…” Xiren said. “I couldn’t see anything from there, so I just came back.”

“Okay,” Neville said. “Just like you just heard, we lost today’s Quidditch match.”

"The final score was 180-170. Marcus Flint scored the decisive goal before Harry caught the Golden Snitch."

“Their brooms are too fast,” Dean Thomas said. “Even though the Nimbus 2001 is last year’s model, it’s still the fastest broom besides the Firebolt. Our sweeping brooms simply can’t keep up with them.”

“And then there’s the weather today,” someone continued. “It’s really bad for us because it’s so stormy and the Seekers can’t see the Golden Snitch clearly.”

"And that Slytherin Seeker, Draco Malfoy, didn't actually intend to find the Golden Snitch; he was just distracting Harry the whole time!"

"Because they know very well that their seekers are unreliable," Fred said angrily.

The thought of Malfoy buzzing around Harry like a fly during the match made him furious.

If it weren't for his constant interference, Harry might have caught the Golden Snitch long ago, and the match wouldn't have lasted so long!

"Where's Oliver?" Celen suddenly felt a bit quiet, and after looking around, he realized that the most crucial person was missing.

“He’s still on the field,” Fred said. “Malfoy has fouled several times, but it’s raining too hard and Ms. Hodge didn’t see it. He’s trying to get another chance.”

"is that useful?"

“We don’t think so,” George said. “The team members and the fans are back, and it’s unlikely that Ms. Hodge will arrange a replay.”

This was the first time in three years that they had lost to Slytherin, and everyone was in low spirits. Harry buried his face between his knees and pulled at his hair.

Fred grabbed his shoulders and shook him roughly.

"Alright, Harry, if there's anyone on the team who doesn't have to take responsibility for this defeat, it's you."

“You caught the Golden Snitch,” George said. “We’re not that far behind, only ten points, are we? We’ll definitely win it back.”

Everyone chattered and encouraged each other, but their spirits didn't improve much.

Regardless, they lost... their first loss to Slytherin.

This low mood persisted into the evening.

Silence noticed that Harry hadn't come to the Great Hall for dinner, so before leaving, she packed some buttered bread and roasted potatoes in a bag.

Back in the common room, Harry was indeed there, staring blankly at his broom.

"Want to get a different broom?" Siren asked.

Harry was startled by the sudden voice, and when he saw it was Siron, he quickly shook his head and said, "No, it's my fault for not catching the Golden Snitch. This broom is great."

“I mean, I have a broom over there, maybe you can give it a try.” Siren sat down opposite Harry, handed him the food he had brought, and winked at him.

"Believe me, apart from being a little slow, that broom is perfect in every other way."

"And most importantly, once you get on it, you'll never have to worry about Malfoy doing anything to you again."

“Thank you, Siron, but really, it’s not necessary.” Harry clearly didn’t understand Siron’s meaning and refused again. “Oh, wait…” He suddenly looked at Siron’s feet, “I just noticed, when did you get another dog?”

“It’s not mine… to be precise, it’s Tom’s pet, his new sidekick.” Celen lightly kicked the black dog in the belly. “Hurry up and say hello, you idiot.”

The black dog whimpered twice, then walked over and rubbed its head against Harry's leg.

Harry was actually a little afraid of big dogs, especially a few months ago when he was terrified by a black dog of about the same size when his aunt ran away from home, and he fell into a flower bed.

However, it was precisely because of this that he unintentionally waved his wand, attracting the Knight Bus.

Speaking of which, that black dog back then looks so much like the one we see now, they're practically identical.

Of course, they just look alike; they're definitely not the same dog... Harry thought to himself.

After all, the place where he saw the dog was in Little Huigkin, which is hundreds of miles away from Hogwarts. How could it have run all the way here?

What interested Harry even more was another remark by Siren.

"The Tom you're talking about, is it that cat?"

“That’s right, it’s that big fat cat.” Xilun nodded, then looked down and kicked the black dog again in annoyance.

"Just say hello, are you never going to stop? Do you even know how dirty you are?"

“It’s alright, my robes aren’t clean either. But your cat is really amazing, it even has a pet.” Harry said, as he mustered up his courage and reached out to gently stroke the dog’s head.

The black dog immediately squinted its eyes in comfort, making a purring sound.

Seeing its worthless appearance left Xilun speechless, and he couldn't help but kick it again.

But this time the black dog was very skilled and dodged it.

“It’s really smart,” Harry couldn’t help but say.

"Yes, in a sense, its intelligence is actually similar to that of a human."

Harry didn't understand what that meant, nor did he find it strange.

When he accompanied Hermione to buy a pet in Diagon Alley, the pet shop owner always said that their pets were smart, with an IQ similar to that of a child of a few years old.

So he subconsciously assumed that Xilun meant the same thing.

Before long, more and more people finished their dinner and went into the common lounge.

They were all very interested in the black dog that had suddenly appeared, but there were exceptions.

Lavender Brown screamed in fright and cowered in the corner, motionless.

She's recently become obsessed with divination classes, and in divination, black dogs symbolize bad luck and are the last thing they want to see.

“Alright, I should take you back now.” Xiren stood up and said to the black dog, “You can’t stay here overnight, understand?”

The black dog pretended not to hear and continued to sit there staring at Harry, making Harry feel very uncomfortable.

He instinctively felt that this dog was different from other pets, especially its eyes... its eyes were more expressive, as if it were looking at a family member.

Oh, damn it… Harry shook his head.

He must have been starving to see this through a dog's eyes.

After being urged repeatedly by Siren, the black dog reluctantly stood up and followed him out of the Gryffindor common room.

……

(End of this chapter)