Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 57 Before the Quidditch Match [Please Read On]

Sunday evening, Gryffindor common room.

Loren and Hermione came in from outside and saw Harry and Ron gathered around a group of young wizards. Ron was talking animatedly about something, while Harry and the other young wizards looked pained and full of rejection.

The two walked over and saw a brand new magic wand on the table.

Ron also saw the two and stood up to greet them, "Hey! Loren, Hermione, come and see my new wand."

Before Loren and Hermione could react, the young wizards around them looked even more pained upon hearing this.

The two found seats and sat down.

Ron looked pleased. "This was carefully chosen for me by Ollivander. It's fourteen inches long, made of willow, and the core is made of unicorn tail hair—"

Harry interrupted Ron, quickly adding, "Willow is an extremely rare wand wood with extraordinary healing properties. Willow wands have beautiful grain and are very suitable for casting advanced silent spells. However, willow wands are usually chosen by wizards with great potential."

He speaks very fast, like an emotionless reading machine.

Ron glared at Harry, intending to continue.

Before Ron could speak, Seamus quickly interjected, "Unicorn hair usually produces the most stable spells, and is least likely to fluctuate or become blocked. Wands with unicorn hair cores are generally the least likely to succumb to dark magic. They are the most loyal of all wands."

Ron couldn't take it anymore. He'd been interrupted twice, the very thing he was about to say. He glared at the two of them angrily. "Hey! This is my wand."

"Yeah," Harry said, clutching his head in pain. "You've been talking for an hour now, pulling everyone who comes in and telling them the same thing, and you won't let us leave."

Simo also complained, "We can all recite it from memory."

Loren and Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

Ron, realizing he was in the wrong, immediately lost his temper and muttered, "I was just sharing my joy with you guys, and you're supposed to be my roommates..."

"So how many buttocks do you have now?" Loren was more curious about this question than the magic wand.

Speaking of this, Ron perked up, "I can't believe it myself. I told my parents the whole thing, and they didn't blame me. They just asked me if my injury was fully healed."

Every parent gets angry when they hear their child has gotten into trouble, but every parent worries when they hear their child is in danger. The Weasleys weren't really angry; they were just worried about their child.

Ron suddenly remembered something and added, "My mom asked me to invite you all to visit us this summer."

Mrs. Weasley wanted to properly thank the group for risking their lives to rescue Ron, especially Harry and Loren.

Harry and Hermione were both intrigued; it was a pure-blood wizarding family! They were very curious. Loren was also very curious about the Burrow.

They all agreed.

After talking about Ron, the young wizards relaxed and the conversation gradually drifted off into other topics.

Harry started talking about the Quidditch team, where he would be playing his first ever game on the third Saturday of November, against the Slytherin team.

"We haven't won the Quidditch Cup in four years, and Wood feels bad for our former seniors," Harry said, referring to their past record.

Hermione thought of the picture she had seen of Professor McGonagall jumping and waving at the Quidditch pitch; Gryffindor must have been very strong in Quidditch in the past.

Harry, on the other hand, was reminded of his father's Seeker of the Year medal and wanted to be like his father.

Ron, on the contrary, was quite relaxed. "Don't worry about Harry. This year, our team has two Nimbus 2000s, and you're a genius Seeker. The Quidditch Trophy is definitely ours."

Harry sighed. It was this reliance on others that put a lot of pressure on him. After November, Wood turned the three nights of Quidditch practice each week into dragging whoever he could find to the Quidditch pitch. He couldn't escape it every night and had no free time for the whole week.

Loren recalled the Quidditch match, how Harry was cursed by Quirrell and flew through the air in great danger, but survived with the help of Snape and Hermione and even caught the Golden Snitch.

He had always had a question: why did Snape, knowing that Quirrell was behind it all, not just attack Quirrell directly, but instead cast some kind of anti-curse?

Unable to find an answer, the only explanation is that the incident happened suddenly, and Snape had no evidence, so he couldn't directly confront Quirrell.

Lost in thought, Loren picked out another matter that concerned him and said to Harry, "You said you're always being dragged to Quidditch training, you don't have a single day off all week?"

Harry looked at him and nodded. "Is that so? Is there a problem?"

Loren's gaze swept between Harry and Ron. "Before that, let me ask you something: can you two imitate a troll's scream?"

This is a strange question; why would you ask about the roar of a troll?

Ron nodded, his tone uncertain, "Maybe?"

Loren straightened up, leaned close to their heads, and whispered, "Have you done your Transfiguration homework?"

Harry and Ron's pupils dilated in shock as they suddenly remembered what happened on Monday.

Ron heard himself making a solemn vow in his mind: I swear in the name of the giant-slaying hero, the first thing I will do after waking up from my nap is to do my Transfiguration homework, and I will never stay up all night to do my homework again. If I can't do that, I am a giant!

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, both understanding the meaning in each other's eyes: Who remembers homework after catching up on sleep?

"Ahem!" Luo Lunren adjusted his non-existent tie, sat back in his chair, and gestured, "Please begin your performance."

"roar!"……

Neville has a poor memory, and he has a habit of keeping a diary. Every night before going to bed, he writes down the things he can remember from that day.

Sunday, November 10, 1991 (Cloudy)

...My two roommates are still copying the Transfiguration class assignments; they call it a reference. I don't quite understand why they always leave the assignments until before bed, even someone with a bad memory like me remembers to finish them. It's a bad habit, don't follow it...They swore they would never do it again, so I heard the trolls howling, which was very interesting..."

Monday, Transfiguration Classroom.

After class, the students packed up their belongings and gradually left the classroom.

Loren approached Professor McGonagall, who was packing her things, and said, "Professor McGonagall, I have a request."

"Go on," Professor McGonagall said, tidying up the books on her desk. She knew Loren was no easy child.

"I want to be a commentator for Quidditch matches," Loren said, looking for the best viewing spot.

Professor McGonagall stacked the books together, picked them up, and said, "The commentator has been confirmed as Lee Jordan, and there will be no change." With that, she prepared to leave the classroom.

Loren quickly caught up with him, saying, "I can explain it with him."

"There's no need." Professor McGonagall didn't want to stay or agree. Loren was not an easy student to deal with, and she was worried that Loren would give her a big surprise in front of the whole school.

Loren tugged at Professor McGonagall's sleeve, trying to look innocent and pitiful. "As a Muggle, I just want to get closer to my classmates. I promise I won't cause trouble."

Professor McGonagall paused, trying to discern whether this was another troublemaker like the Weasley twins, but Loren had always behaved well in class and had never done anything out of line.

"Come to my office tomorrow night. I'll test you on some Quidditch rules. If you pass, I'll let you be a commentator." Professor McGonagall conceded, but not completely.

"Of course!" Loren ran off excitedly.

……

At the dinner table, Loren sat next to Harry and asked if there was any quick way to learn the rules of Quidditch.

Harry said he trains with the team and learns a rule for every foul he commits; he's already learned over a hundred rules. However, he can't recite them verbally, but he can guide Loren through practicing which actions constitute fouls.

Loren shook his head violently. "I'm just going to be a commentator, I don't need to actually go to the battlefield. You guys break arms and legs all the time in Quidditch, and now I have to experience fouls? I can't come, I can't come."

"Perhaps you could take a look at the book 'The Amazing Quidditch'," Hermione suggested to Loren after overhearing their conversation.

Loren was surprised; he had always thought Hermione didn't like Quidditch much. "You actually read books about Quidditch?"

"This book is very interesting; you can read it as a story." Hermione didn't mention that she had read some Quidditch books because of Professor McGonagall.

Loren went to the library and, with Mrs. Pince's help, found the book, which looked like a dictionary.

This book records the origins of Quidditch.

The sport of Quidditch takes its name from Quidditch Marsh, its birthplace. An 11th-century witch named Gertie Kiddell, who lived near the marsh, described the early development of Quidditch in her journal over several days, mentioning how various elements of the game were introduced.

Gertie initially complained about her annoyance when a group of people were playing ball on flying broomsticks over the swamp, and the ball ended up falling into her vegetable garden. She confiscated the ball and cursed those who came looking for it. The next day, the players didn't give up; they made a new ball. They even started throwing it into the woods at one end of the swamp to score points. This was the earliest prototype of the Quaffle and the scoring ring. On the third day, the players brought two stones and flew them around in the air, trying to knock them off their broomsticks. This was the precursor to the bouncy ball.

Later, the rules were gradually perfected and evolved into what they are today.

Each team has 7 players, including 1 goalkeeper, 2 batters, 3 chasers, and 1 seeker. The game is played with 4 balls.

The Chaser is responsible for the Quaffle; scoring 10 points by shooting the ball into the opponent's goal during an attack. The goalkeeper is responsible for defending the goal, so they can touch the ball with their entire body, and can also use the Quaffle in the attacking third.

Two heavy loitering balls automatically fly around the field, trying to knock players (especially those with the Quaffle) off their brooms. The batter must use the bat to hit the loitering balls to protect his teammates or to attack and interfere with the opposing players.

The final ball is the Golden Snitch, which flies rapidly around the field. The Seeker catches the Golden Snitch and scores 150 points. The game cannot end if the Snitch is not caught. The story mentions a game that lasted three months, with players taking turns to complete it.

Further details about the historical evolution of Quidditch will not be elaborated upon here.

Loren quickly skimmed through the book, then took "The Amazing Quidditch" back to his dorm and went to sleep. He was rapidly familiarizing himself with the various rules and fouls within the fantastical book.

Flamel was indignant and scolded Loren for not studying harder than he usually did...

It wasn't until the next morning that Loren shook his throbbing head, walked to the window, and took a few breaths of the cold, fresh air before gradually clearing up.

Please read on.

Also, thank you kopcn for the donation. As a newbie struggling to make it, receiving such a donation is incredibly touching, sob sob.

(End of this chapter)