Mysterious Journey
Chapter 848 Scattered Like Stars Across the Sky
“But… I’m not a first-year, won’t I be laughed at and talked about for a long time?”
Cho Chang, tightly clutching her Comet 260 which she had just groomed this morning, said anxiously in a low voice.
Filius Flitwick had no intention of refuting this point. Having served as head of house at Hogwarts for decades, he was one of the professors who knew his house students best. In the Ravenclaw common room, gossip and rumors were never in short supply.
“Go fly if you want to,” he said, “Don’t leave regrets in your Hogwarts experience.”
“But the others from the team didn’t come to the pitch,” Cho Chang whispered. “Wouldn’t this be… a betrayal?”
“Oh, that would be terrible,” Flitwick said, “After all, from the current situation, at least half of the new student team are Ravenclaw first-years. I thought the house team could come back next year after a year off.”
Professor Flitwick had long sensed the unusual atmosphere in the house, but he hadn’t expected it to be this serious.
The clamor of the mob—that was Eileen/艾琳娜·卡斯兰娜’s assessment of Ravenclaw these days.
Following the crowd, lacking independent spirit and initiative, easily replacing rational thinking with emotional sensibility in everyday life, and even a certain amount of rationality being often swayed by emotional impulses… A conceited mentality, terrible sensitivity, extreme irresponsibility, this kind of group borrowing the name of freedom and the majority is not what Ravenclaw should be presenting.
“If I go, Marietta will definitely break off our friendship.” Cho Chang struggled.
“Cho, there are many ways to maintain and salvage friendships.” Professor Flitwick held up a finger and replied earnestly, “Never lightly try to be jointly irresponsible or commit mistakes together. Even if it succeeds temporarily, it may bury a bitter taste in your friendship – besides, Ravenclaw still needs a captain if it wants to return next year.”
His voice echoed in the empty Quidditch stands, a territory belonging to Ravenclaw students.
“The road ahead is long,” the short half-goblin professor said softly, “Doubts and setbacks are inevitable, but these are not for you to bear. Whether to continue flying and enjoying the game, that is what you should consider right now.”
Cho Chang looked longingly at the flying figures on the field, and pursed her lips tightly.
She had only joined the house Quidditch team last year with great difficulty. For so many years, she had always hoped to fly freely in the sky like her favorite Tornadoes team members and win one exciting game after another.
This kind of expectation cannot be easily crushed by a slightly heavier Bludger.
…
Just as Eileen had said before, the new student tryouts went on for almost the entire morning.
First-year students from all four houses had almost all come, clutching nervously the old brooms they had picked out from the school warehouse, submitting their applications to join to Eileen and Hermione with excitement.
A whole week was enough for the new students to find out what had happened on the Quidditch field last year.
With the power of an example to follow, most of the new students were quite confident.
Perhaps they couldn’t do what Eileen/艾琳娜·卡斯兰娜 did as the "King of Takedowns," but if they took the other members of last year's Hogwarts new student team as their goals, it didn't seem completely unattainable? At least, that's how the new students saw it.
Obviously, this undoubtedly greatly increased the workload for Hermione and Eileen.
Some of the first-year students who submitted applications had never even flown before. Besides last week's flying lesson, this was probably only their second time touching a broomstick. At the beginning of the tryouts, the scene was extremely chaotic.
Especially with a group of older students watching the fun around them, the chatter almost made the two of them explode.
However, after the two of them sorted out a set of screening mechanisms, the process quickly became simple and efficient.
"Huff, finally almost over…"
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, glancing at the last batch of applicants remaining.
The easiest position to determine was the Seeker. Luna Lovegood's talent in this area was like cheating; she was too dazzling in the tasks of catching the Golden Snitch, predicting its deflected trajectory, and dodging Bludgers.
On the other hand, her personality was also suitable for the Seeker's position, which was relatively detached from the team.
As for the Beaters, they were two boys from Ravenclaw:
Hofa Bach, a somewhat restrained little wizard, but surprisingly powerful and cunning when hitting the Bludgers; and Verne Kaymond, a stern-faced boy with a sturdy build like a knight's servant from an oil painting.
In order to drive away Bludgers, Beaters usually need good stamina, so this position, compared to other positions on the Quidditch field, tends to be held by male wizards rather than female wizards. And since Beaters sometimes need to let go of the broom with both hands during the game, the requirements for leg strength and balance are also high in addition to arm strength.
It must be said that Ravenclaw, a house known for its prevalence of females over males, had finally broken a curse this year.
The proportion of boys among the new students reached more than one-third for the first time ever, and it was no wonder that Professor Flitwick was full of confidence in future Quidditch matches—from past experience, males were obviously more advantageous in Quidditch.
"Hmm, Kira Bi Carroll… As for your position…"
Eileen frowned with some distress, looking searchingly at Hermione standing next to her.
Standing in front of them was a small, shy-looking girl, and what did not match her appearance was what the girl had filled in on the Hogwarts new student team application form.
"Are you sure you want to be a Keeper? Hmm, you fly so well, you could actually consider being a Chaser."
Hermione's eyes lingered on Kira Bi's petite figure for a moment, weighing her words.
In her memory, it wasn't that there hadn't been similar "small keepers" before, but compared to a certain witch who played Quidditch as a takedown game, this shy Ravenclaw first-year didn't seem like a dangerous element with that kind of possibility.
"The Keeper's range of movement is the smallest, right? I've studied the rules carefully."
Kira Bi Carroll said timidly, yet extremely seriously.
"Even the brooms used for Hogwarts teaching can balance all three hoops in terms of instantaneous acceleration, so as long as you judge the Quaffle's path correctly, the difference between an arm being a foot long or a foot short is not significant."
“…Sounds like there is a lot of feasibility.”
Hermione nodded noncommittally, drew a circle on the clipboard in her hand, and pointed behind her.
"Okay, then the test for Keepers has an extra step. During the Chaser assessment later, you and a few other little wizards will defend for ten minutes each, and we will make a judgment based on the final comprehensive situation…"
In regular professional Quidditch matches, Keepers are usually tall wizards.
However, strictly speaking, most of the little wizards at Hogwarts are not qualified. Putting aside this condition that most people cannot meet, flexibility and brains are indeed more important than body.
"Hmm… okay, so now we're just missing the last two people…"
Eileen looked down at the form and then at the little wizards who were still on the field.
In Quidditch matches, each team can only have seven players on the field.
Apart from the Seeker, Keeper, and two Beaters, most of the hot spots and contention in Quidditch matches actually occur during the high-frequency offensive and defensive transitions of the three Chasers on each team.
"Well, Eileen, you default to one Chaser position, so we only have two spots left now—"
Hermione nodded, glancing at the eager little wizards standing in front of her.
If she remembered correctly, from the flying qualification test just now, Ron's sister clearly flew better than the other little wizards by a large margin. If nothing unexpected happened, that Ginny Weasley was probably locked in as well.
Unfortunately, apart from Ginny, the performances of the other little wizards were much worse.
The reason they put the Chaser tryouts last was also in hopes of watching a few more rounds of the little wizards' performances and picking out suitable candidates from them—if that didn't work, they would just have to leave it to fate and grab someone to fill the spot.
"Excuse me… can I try?"
Just then, a witch flew over from the stands not far away.
Before Hermione and Eileen could react, the witch deftly turned the broom head and hovered on the edge of the field, carefully looking at the two lower-grade students standing behind the review table, gathering her courage to ask.
"I heard, hmm, I saw it written on the announcement in the hall, you're not just recruiting first-year students here…"
"Uh—are you kidding me?"
Hermione said with some surprise, frowning as she sized up the older girl in front of her.
As someone who aspires to become an excellent Quidditch coach at Hogwarts, she naturally recognized the witch wearing the Ravenclaw house robes at first glance, the Seeker from last year's Ravenclaw Quidditch team—Cho Chang.
"No, no, look, I've already filled out the form—"
Having made up her mind, Cho Chang shook her head quickly, took out a form from her arms, and said earnestly.
"Because there weren't enough seven players, the Ravenclaw house team withdrew from the competition this year, so I am now a free agent. As for the position, you don't have to worry, I can play every position… not necessarily limited to Seeker."
"But—" Hermione pondered for a few seconds, thoughtfully sizing up Cho Chang.
"If you obey commands and are willing to participate in the tryouts, then I don't think there's any problem!"
Eileen reached out, took the completed application form from Cho Chang's hand, her eyes paused on the broomstick behind her that was a bit old but obviously well maintained, and pointed calmly to the back.
"By the way, one thing to clarify in advance, even if you pass the tryouts, our team is not qualified to participate in the competition yet—after all the Quidditch tryouts are over this afternoon, we still have to play a practice match with those returning graduates. If you perform too badly, then we may only be able to cheer from the stands this year, so I hope—"
Eileen didn't finish the rest of her words.
Also from a wizarding family, she could see this older girl's love for Quidditch, and although everyone was used to calling them the "Hogwarts New Student Team," this team wasn't actually called that name.
Eileen looked down at the silver-white wing badge pinned to her chest.
"Hogwarts Moonlight Team… what a simple name—"
…
Two hours later, the Quidditch tryouts for the remaining three houses also began one after another.
Compared to the "New Student Team" being built from scratch, the lineups of most houses were relatively fixed. Rather than being an open selection for everyone, it was more like a special recruitment ceremony open to some "star players."
As the batch of "Moonlight Devil Kin" from last year advanced to the second grade, a new Quidditch era had finally begun.
"Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, the Beater duo who played for the Moonlight Team last year…"
In the stands, Hermione seriously introduced them to the members behind her.
The final selection results in the morning were not suspenseful. Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley became the team's Chasers with absolute advantages, along with Eileen Ivanova. At this time, the tryouts for Slytherin House were underway on the field.
Unlike other houses, the intensity and practicality of their Beater duels were much more ruthless.
Goyle and Crabbe hovered in the sky, dodging the flying Bludgers while swinging their bats hard, trying to knock down the other two active Beaters from the Slytherin House team—the winners would join this year's team starting lineup, while the losers would be relegated from the starting lineup to the second team to serve as daily training tools.
"It is worth noting that they have both knocked down other players last year and assisted the main attacker Eileen in nearly 50 takedown attacks… Compared to the Weasley twins from Gryffindor, they are much more aggressive."
Bang!
Accompanied by a muffled sound.
Goyle and Crabbe skillfully completed an aerial relay, knocking down Derrick who was trying to counterattack.
Then, using the advantage of more players, they blocked Ball's movement space and directly announced the changing of the guard for the Slytherin Quidditch team's Beater position through a one-for-one exchange.
"Draco Malfoy, the final data is 005, this is his takedown assist—but compared to this somewhat dim data, as the main Chaser of the Moonlight Team, he put a lot of pressure on most houses on the offensive end. And when he becomes the Seeker of Slytherin, his danger may be even greater…"
Hermione glanced at Draco Malfoy who was warming up, frowned and continued to introduce.
Compared to when he first started school last year, Draco now restrained his sharpness, as if he were a venomous snake hiding in the darkness waiting to strike at any time. Even Hermione didn't know the little wizard's true strength now.
However, from his performance in class, he was at least in the top five in the grade.
…
Half an hour later.
At the Gryffindor House team tryouts.
"Ron Weasley, served as Gryffindor's Keeper last year, but this year he should just be a substitute goalkeeper."
Compared to the other little wizards, Ron was undoubtedly the most depressed and unlucky.
After all, the current Gryffindor captain Oliver Wood is the goalkeeper, and the Beaters are his twin brothers. The three Chasers are all lionesses, and one of them is likely to be the next captain.
"Harry Potter, served as a Chaser last year, served as a Seeker once in the last game."
Hermione looked at the data she had copied from Madam Hooch, recalling the few games she had watched.
"Previously in the team, Harry was mainly Malfoy and Hannah's second and third passers—he does fly well, he ate the Golden Snitch in the last final, helping the Moonlight Team complete a double score multiplier. Hmm… it seems like he is also a Seeker this semester…"
It must be said that Harry was indeed somewhat of a slacker in last year's game.
Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on him. After all, Eileen's previous way of ending the game didn't rely on the Seeker, and compared to the other little wizards, Harry didn't have that much of a desire to attack or a "killing heart."
…
Another half an hour later.
Boom!
"Hannah Abbott, Hufflepuff's new Chaser… In the sky, she's half Eileen…"
Hermione watched the huge white air wave passage that the iron-headed girl had pierced through with the Quaffle in the sky, turned her head and looked at the little guys behind her who were obviously frightened, rubbed her temples helplessly, and sighed softly.
"One of the biggest favorites to win the championship this year, so, just be careful…"
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Hooray~