Hogwarts: What wicked thoughts could a little wizard possibly have?

Chapter 58 The Quidditch Season Begins

Harry's Occlumency training continues.

But because of the Dream Curse, his attitude became much more positive afterward.

The only problem was that his roommates weren't too happy—every night, when they were sound asleep, Harry's sudden, inexplicable laughter would startle them awake.

Ron then asked, "What wonderful dream were you having that made you jumping and laughing like that?"

Harry stammered, claiming he was too tired and had forgotten everything from his dream.

He was indeed very tired, attending classes during the day and studying Occlumency at night. As the Quidditch season approached, Wood went crazy again, increasing his weekly training to four nights, with two of those nights concentrated on the weekend.

The only thing Harry was thankful for was that, since their last dangerous experience together, Hermione had started allowing him and Ron to copy her homework. Although she would still urge them to do it themselves, her impatient temper would always make them blurt out the answers whenever they pretended to be clueless.

She would only get angry when the two of them were even preparing to copy her paper.

"Are you trolls? What would a professor think if he saw three identical papers?"

Harry and Ron had no choice but to slink to the library, where they faced the four-foot-long paper requirements with long faces.

They often ran into Vaughn at the library.

He was the object of envy and admiration for all the first-year wizards. They admired him because he had killed a troll, and envied him because he didn't have to do homework and the professors never cared if he read other books in class.

Harry, at least, envied that.

He also discovered that Vaughn was participating less and less in Slytherin Quidditch training, and when he told Wood about this discovery, Wood's gloomy brow finally relaxed a little.

He slapped Harry hard on the shoulder:

"Go Harry! The match is on Saturday, try to beat Slytherin!"

That's right, the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin is this Saturday.

Time is such a strange thing. If you use "mid-month" or a specific date, it usually feels like it's still a long way off. But once you say "this week," the sense of urgency seems to come down all at once.

The day before the match, Harry became increasingly anxious staying in his dormitory, so he called his friends to go for a walk in the courtyard to calm down.

It was very cold, so Hermione helped them summon flames and hide them in a jar to keep warm before running off to learn from Vaughn.

The two of them, clutching the jar, stood in the courtyard, lost in thought, the cold wind blowing.

Ron shared his knowledge of Quidditch with Harry: "...I think you have an advantage over Vaughn. You see, all the famous Seekers in Quidditch are skinny and small, because that's how they can fly fast and agile. Vaughn is taller and stronger than you."

Then he added, "It's a pity that because they're small, Seekers are often knocked away by Chasers and Beaters. Last year, an England Seeker broke his arm; I heard the bone..."

Harry sniffed, suddenly regretting listening to Ron.

He had seen the Slytherin team members; they were all big and burly.

For an entire day, the image of him being repeatedly beaten by them and falling from the sky kept flashing through his mind.

Therefore, that night, he specifically asked Vaughn to cast the Dream Spell on him, preferably with a strong one.

Vaughn reminded him, "Harry, the Dream Charm only gives you sweet dreams; it doesn't have a calming effect."

Harry, who was just looking for some psychological comfort, didn't listen.

Although they would be rivals the next day, facing off on the Quidditch pitch, it didn't affect their relationship. Harry trusted Vaughn completely, and when they parted that evening, he solemnly told Vaughn, "Good luck tomorrow. Friendship first, competition second."

"You too," Vaughn said with a smile.

Both rivals and friends, both competitors and collaborators, this relationship, reminiscent of that between adults, gave Harry the illusion that he had matured and his thinking had been elevated.

Then, he couldn't sleep that night.

It turns out he really wanted to win!

He wanted to beat Vaughn, his friend who was better than him in every way.

This also proves that the Dream Curse did not have a sleep-inducing effect; he kept his eyes open until dawn.

The second day at Hogwarts was sunny and cold, perfect weather for a Quidditch match.

Harry was in a bad mood at all.

"Eat something, Harry, you look terrible."

"I don't want to eat."

Hermione urged, "At least eat one bite; you'll be flying in the sky soon!"

She shouldn't have said anything, because as soon as she did, Harry turned pale with nervousness, and looking at the breakfast on the table, he felt a sudden nausea in his stomach.

The young wizards around were excitedly discussing today's match, mainly because there were so many things to focus on: the love-hate relationship between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and the fact that both teams' Seekers were famous figures.

Everyone who passed by cheered Harry on.

The twins secretly slipped Harry a chocolate cookie, but Harry didn't want to eat it. They gave it to Ron when he arrived.

Ron also advised, "Harry, you need to conserve your energy. The Seeker is someone every team is focused on defending against, so you need to have the stamina to compete with them."

As he spoke, he took a bite of the biscuit: "Hmm, it tastes good. Where did you get it?"

"Fred and George gave it to me."

Then, Harry saw Ron's expression freeze instantly.

Two seconds later, there was a loud bang.

Ron transformed into a giant canary, startling everyone, while the twins jumped and danced with glee in the distance.

"A perfect piece of work, Fred."

"Yes, George, Canary Cookies, proudly presented by Weasley's Magical Tricks Studio!"

The giant canary stared at them with its tiny eyes in disbelief, and soon began to shed its feathers. Once all the feathers were gone, Ron transformed back into his original form and roared at the twins, "You two traitors, you gave Harry the prank cookie..."

"No, no, no, little Ronnie, we know Harry can't eat, he'll definitely give you some."

"Yes, Fred, a perfect plan."

"Yay!" The twins high-fived in celebration.

Although it's not quite appropriate to say it like that, seeing Ron being pranked by his brothers again made Harry feel much better.

Just before going on stage, he finally managed to drink a bowl of pumpkin juice and eat a piece of pie.

After changing into his red jersey in the team's locker room, Harry turned around and saw Ron huddled by the door, looking at him with envy. Harry felt a little strange.

"Uh, Ron, where's Hermione?"

"She went to find Vaughn. Humph, she's a traitor too!"

The Slytherin team locker room.

Slytherin's uniform was a dark green cloak trimmed with silver and embroidered with silver snakeskin.

Aside from the color, which I don't like, the design is still very cool.

Hermione, clutching the book, gave Vaughn a fist bump with sparkling eyes: "Go Vaughn!"

"Thank you, Hermione."

Vaughn ruffled her hair, and the girl ran away blushing.

When he turned around, the other team members quickly looked away, pretending they hadn't seen anything.

"What are you all standing there for? Get ready to go on stage!"

"yes!"