The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 181 Three Matches, Three Tactics

"It was Moriarty who taught me!" Jericho shouted proudly toward the stands.

Roman thought to himself, "You've got a big heart, and your hearing is pretty good too..."

A hint of surprise flashed across Ludo's eyes, and his evaluation of Moriarty and Jericho rose to another level.

"Would you believe me if I said he invented a new technique, Roman?"

"I can't believe it, but the facts speak for themselves!" Roman scratched his head, puzzled. "Rapidly swinging, swaying from side to side, violently bobbing up and down—thank goodness the broom didn't throw him off! How did he do that?"

"If you ask me why," Ludo said slowly, "I think it's because of Mr. Moriarty's ideas and this child's talent! Don't you find the name Blanche familiar?"

"Maxi Blanche III." Roman's eyes changed, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

Ludo nodded: "The US team roster has been announced, and Maxi is still captain. Next year's US team will be a formidable force..."

"Jellico is attacking, and I'm sure you don't want to miss this moment. Let's turn our attention to the field, gentlemen."

Dumbledore interrupted Ludo and Roman's discussion about the World Cup as they saw Wood turn his head back and forth.

Wood couldn't keep up with Jericho's speed in changing direction, his eyes started to sting, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"The opportunity has arrived!"

Jericho seized a good opportunity and rushed towards the small goal to Wood's left rear, and Wood hurriedly lunged to meet him.

Jericho chuckled, then abruptly lifted the broom handle and stopped moving forward.

Then he gathered the Quaffle over his head, turned around, and threw it into another small goal to Wood's right rear!

"Goal! Slytherin 10-0 Gryffindor!"

Tonks shouted first, "Jellico used a change of direction at the last moment of his shot, fooling Wood's defense."

From the Slytherin stands, a little snake waved a flag and shouted, "Speedy Boy! Speedy Boy!"

"Jellico earned the nickname 'The Speedy Kid' last year; he impressed us with his speed and agility," Tonks echoed the cheers of the fans, further explaining, "and this goal showed us Jericho's cunning side; young Wood was no match for him!"

Wood flew around in circles, dejected. He needed to adjust his mindset before the second ball was served.

Charlie flew to his side to comfort him, and then gathered the other players.

"We were too hasty," he said. "Our focus on offense led to them picking us off one by one. We need to change our tactics!"

"But...but do we have any other options besides attacking?" Mandy asked weakly. Charlie was stunned. If Gryffindor didn't attack, would they still be Gryffindor?

Charlie looked toward the opposite goal, where the Slytherin players were closely surrounding Moriarty, their faces beaming with excitement.

Moriarty would glance in their direction every now and then, muttering something under his breath; Charlie was certain he was making decisions.

Charlie suddenly realized that they had been thoroughly investigated.

Their desire to win and their thirst for victory have led to Gryffindor's current situation where they only know how to attack!

"The ball has been kicked off, but the Gryffindors are completely unmoved. I must say they're stunned by the goal!"

Tonks' voice rang out, and Charlie vaguely realized that Leon had already taken the Quaffle.

But the Slytherin team didn't rush to attack. They seemed in no hurry at all, as if they were riding broomsticks and slowly flying over here.

"Cheer up, organize the defense!" Charlie roared, then flew towards Leon on his broomstick.

"Ignore the Golden Snitch?" Moriarty made another feint, diving towards the ground, but Charlie remained unmoved.

Moriarty stopped his dive and shouted to Leon, "Give the ball to Jericho, everyone else spread out."

Leon did as he was told, and Jericho took the ball and launched a solo attack!

Tonks exclaimed again, "Is it Jericho's birthday today? The Slytherin players are giving him a real chance!"

The protagonist of Slytherin's team has become the Sprinter, but what about Moriarty? What is the Eternal Shine, who led the team to victory against two Weasley Kings last year, plotting?

"He's always so unpredictable, isn't he?" Tonks said in a mysterious tone.

Jericho lost the ball—was that part of his calculations?

The teachers and students immediately stood up and looked around. Mandy had intercepted the Quaffle, and Charlie yelled in her ear: "Slow down!"

However, Slytherin had spread out in advance, like casting a large net, and they followed behind the three Gryffindor Chasers like cats playing with mice.

Charlie was anxious, and every time he went to help, Moriarty would fly over to stop him.

"I never knew you were not only fast, but also had top-notch stamina!" Charlie panted as he complained, while Moriarty remained unfazed, not even breaking a sweat.

"Charlie, Gryffindor's characteristics are so prominent that I can easily exploit them. I think you've already guessed it, but you're powerless to change it because it's an inherent quality of every Gryffindor."

Moriarty gestured for Charlie to watch the game, and Manti charged left and right like crazy, as did the other players.

Leon and his team, like sailors waiting for fish to fall into their nets, slowly tightened their encirclement until Mandy lost possession of the ball.

They immediately launched a counterattack, passing the ball back to Jericho, who was lingering in the attacking third, and Jericho finally finished the attack!

"The second goal came five minutes earlier than the first!" Tonks kindly reminded him. "Gryffindor must find a way to resolve the current predicament. As captain, I know that a team's playing style is not easy to change, but the problem is that Slytherin's playing style has changed drastically."

Three years ago, the Slytherin team was notorious both inside and outside the school for its numerous fouls, a situation that only changed when William Romutter became captain.

A year ago, Moriarty joined the team, bringing his clean and efficient style with him. Slytherin said goodbye to fouls and made every game quick and decisive!

This year, we've seen Slytherin make another change, perhaps in an effort to defeat Gryffindor by a large margin, as they've specifically targeted Gryffindor's strengths!

Gryffindor's aggressive, win-oriented mentality became the root cause of their loss!

Tonks pointed this out mercilessly, and the excited little lions fell silent. They never expected the competition to turn out this way.

"As a commentator, I shouldn't be reminding any particular team, but I must remind Charlie: change your tactics and playing style as soon as possible, otherwise this game will be a foregone conclusion!"

We can only hope that Gryffindor doesn't suffer its greatest defeat in a thousand years!

Tonks temporarily ended her commentary. She knew Gryffindor had lost. She pondered quietly what tactics Moriarty would devise for Slytherin's next match against Hufflepuff.

As the commentator fell silent, a deathly stillness descended upon the Gryffindor stands, for they understood the predicament Charlie faced.

It's not that their skills are inferior; this year's Gryffindor team has mastered world-class ball skills that they didn't have last year.

Rather, they were completely outmaneuvered by Moriarty on a tactical level from start to finish!

Will Gryffindor give up their attack?

No, a lion will fight to the death, preferring to fall on the charge rather than cower and fight a positional war with a snake.

This made things very comfortable for Slytherin. They only needed to mark the opposing player who was dribbling and breaking through, wait until he had nowhere to go, then intercept the ball and pass it to Jericho.

Jericho was the most exhausted, having to contend with Gryffindor's batters and goalie all by himself, while also performing difficult shots to confuse his opponents.

However, all the hard work was released the moment Jericho scored, and soon the score was 80-0.

This number means that even if Charlie catches the Golden Snitch, it will be to no avail; Gryffindor's crushing defeat is inevitable.

Professor McGonagall left early, and many of the hawks and badgers also left to study the upcoming match—they didn't want to lose so badly.

Moriarty caught the Golden Snitch before Jericho scored his ninth goal, saving Gryffindor some face and preventing the score difference from exceeding 300 points.

Somewhat surprisingly, both the lion and the snake gave each other high praise.

The professors also commented that both colleges had brought their own unique characteristics to the fullest.

Lions are fearless and never give up. They charge forward even knowing they will die.

The snake, on the other hand, deploys its plans slowly and deliberately, appearing quite adept in the battle.

In this atmosphere, Ludo and Roman agreed to watch the next match, and Moriarty invited them to watch Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff on the second Tuesday morning of November.

Charlie became the commentator for this match.

"This is my first time as a commentator. If I say something wrong, could you please be gentle with me?"

Charlie first cracked a few jokes to liven up the atmosphere, and then began to commentate on the game.

Slytherin's two batters took the lead, and Moriarty entrusted them with a heavy responsibility this time. The new tactic of "focused hitting" will also revolve around them, and the team's resources will be tilted towards them.

Despite Tonks' thorough preparations, adjustments were made to Hedgehog's style of play and tactics, resulting in a highly threatening forward line and a solid defensive line.

Hufflepuff did just that, putting up a close fight with Slytherin, with the score reaching 60-40, Slytherin in the lead.

But Tonks himself was nearly knocked off his broom by two Slytherin batters!

Of course, with Moriarty by her side, Tonks wouldn't fall to the ground. On the contrary, the two had several intimate encounters when Moriarty lifted her onto the broom.

Many of Moriarty's actions were so offensive to his female fans that they looked down on Tonks and complained that she was hogging the spotlight.

To prevent the match from turning into a steamy scene, Moriarty ordered the batsmen to target Hufflepuff's Chaser. The Chaser was quickly routed, and Jericho and Leon seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Moriarty caught the Golden Snitch at 60-50, ending the game.

After they landed, Tonks' cheeks were flushed, and he could barely get off his broom.

Roman was displeased when he saw this. He felt that if Moriarty was recruited into the national team, his few female fans might decrease.

But he was still willing to come and watch the last match, Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw.

People are eagerly anticipating which new tactic Moriarty will employ, considering that Ravenclaw doesn't have any particularly outstanding strengths or obvious weaknesses.

However, Moriarty's research revealed that most of the Ravenclaw players were relatively young.

For example, Penelope, a second-grade ball chaser.

The fourth-grade batter and the fifth-grade goalkeeper.

Moriarty adopted a new tactic of "old guard against newcomers, experience prevails".

Jericho was no longer the main attacker, and Leon became the team's focus.

He possessed both the cunning inherited from Slytherin and the world-class skills taught by Moriarty, quickly outmaneuvering the young Ravenclaw players.

Moriarty continued his consistent performance, decisively catching the Golden Snitch and bringing the score to 190-20.

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(End of this chapter)