Mysterious Journey
Chapter 849 All-Stars, The Mole
At Hogwarts, not every year sees graduates retiring from the team. More often than not, a single year group will produce several members of the house team. Only when they leave Hogwarts does a truly exceptional draft year occur.
Typically, unless there's a significant difference in skill or a severe internal conflict, changing team members isn't considered.
With the "Moonlight Team" advancing to their second year, they've pretty much locked up all the recruitment spots for this year. Apart from a few older students willing to take a shot, Hanna and the others faced almost no competition during the trials. Even Ron, who didn't make the starting lineup, received special treatment; Wood allowed him to train with the team as Gryffindor's reserve Keeper.
The only slight disappointment might be that Hufflepuff recruited another Seeker besides Hanna this year.
Zacharias Smith, the argumentative student who failed to make the new student team last year, successfully passed the new captain Cedric Diggory's assessment, just as he did in the original story, and became a member of the Hufflepuff house team.
After successfully joining the Hufflepuff team, Zacharias glanced demonstratively towards the Gryffindor side.
The news of Erina joining Gryffindor this term had spread throughout the school. While her "attributes" meant she could join any Quidditch house team, there was some grumbling within Hufflepuff—if Erina and Hanna had filled the two vacant Chaser positions this term, Hufflepuff could have locked down the championship.
However, Erina was too busy to pay attention to the provocations of some young ones.
"Um, Mr. Weasley, may I ask what's troubling you?"
Erina looked at Charlie Weasley with a puzzled expression. He was holding a list he'd just received from Professor McGonagall. Clearly, the older cat-woman had completely sold out Erina, the actual drafter of the list.
"Oh, look, this is just fantastic!"
Charlie said "happily," waving the parchment in his hand.
"You know, I never dreamed I could play on a team with Gerald."
"Well, now your wish has come true. We've taken into account the performances and records of all the older students during their time here and specially selected the most representative wizards among the returning graduates to form a Hogwarts All-Star team."
Erina replied calmly, nodding politely at the Slytherin wizard standing behind Charlie.
"All-Stars?" Charlie pursed his lips. "This isn't like picking potion ingredients at the apothecary..."
He unfolded the crumpled parchment and scanned it before saying with a disgruntled look, "Look at this strange combination—two Seekers, one Gryffindor, one Slytherin. Chasers, one from each house except Gryffindor. And the Keeper is a maverick Ravenclaw girl..."
"But your opponents are also a mixed-house team, and besides, you wouldn't just steal players from the Gryffindor team, would you..."
Erina spread her hands helplessly, saying sincerely, "It's just an exhibition match. The main purpose is to verify whether the new student team is qualified to participate. If you really don't want to be the captain, you can hand over command to Mr. Gerald. I believe he led Slytherin to two consecutive championships..."
"That's right, I think so too. It doesn't really make much sense for a Seeker to be the captain."
Gerald Howard shrugged, saying maliciously.
"After losing system protection or being targeted with specific strategies, the resource allocation towards the Seeker will instantly become meaningless, leading to the team being at an absolute disadvantage in the frontal Quaffle battle."
As the Slytherin star Chaser who personally ended Gryffindor's three-peat, the reason he was behaving so restrained largely depended on the metal badge hidden in his pocket.
If it weren't for the fact that this counted as a small task for obtaining points, he wouldn't team up with Gryffindor.
However, the only thing that puzzled him was...
Why was a Quidditch match at Hogwarts qualified as a special task issued to D-class personnel by the "sCp Foundation"? As one of the newest members, apart from the guides, he didn't recognize any other members of the organization yet.
Of course, if Charlie Weasley took the initiative to provoke him or give up, he wouldn't mind experiencing being the team leader again.
"Are you crazy?" Charlie said, "Of course, I'm the captain! Slytherin, don't even think about it—"
Glancing at the Slytherin rival behind him who was eager to move, Charlie repeated it once more without hesitation.
"Hmph, don't even think about it!"
If it was just this one game, that would be fine, but what worried Charlie most was the subsequent conclusion of the match.
According to Professor McGonagall, if the newly formed Hogwarts new student team failed to meet the most basic Hogwarts team standards after the exhibition match, then their "All-Star Team" would replace the new students and participate in the regular season.
On the other hand, if the new students performed well, it wouldn't mean they had no more games to play.
Just like the reformed new game system last year, the "All-Star Team" would join as the fifth team in the subsequent points race. However, they couldn't win the cup for themselves. After winning the championship, they would get extra points given to their respective houses.
Undoubtedly, under such rules, he, as the Seeker and captain, would benefit the most.
"Okay, if you don't have any other questions," Erina said with a smile, her eyes sweeping across the Ravenclaw audience stand in the distance, "perhaps...you should warm up and get your emotions up, and then you can go on the field?"
If all went as planned, Hermione and the others should be almost finished with their teamwork.
Anyway, the "All-Star Team's" mole has already been arranged. Two Ravenclaws, two Slytherins. More than half of the seven people on the team were talent reserves developed by the "sCp Foundation" in the past six months. Although they don't know each other yet, the scripts they received in this episode are quite similar.
The task is simple: without relying on teammates, use your abilities as much as possible. Counter-attacking Bludgers, Starfish hanging, Sloth rolling, Double 8 rings fly, Transylvanian fake moves... the more flashy and individualistic, the better.
In short, it is necessary to reflect the never-ending house barriers.
After all, if there were no older students as a reference, then how could she convince Dumbledore and demonstrate her importance in building a warm Hogwarts family and breaking down house segregation?
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Coo coo~