"Damn it, no wonder Alastor and Kingsley both suddenly had sothing to do and wouldn’t go to the Ministry of Magic. They already knew the Minister would co to Hogwarts today, but didn’t tell !"
Kael coughed dryly twice, saying nothing.
...
Tonks stayed in the common room until midnight before finally leaving. Because of this, Kael yawned several tis when he arrived at the pitch the next day.
"What’s up with you, are you okay..." Cedric asked nervously, "I feel like you haven’t woken up yet; didn’t you go back to the dorm early yesterday?"
"Yeah, but later on I got called out again." Kael said.
"Tonks...um, Professor?"
Obviously, Cedric had also heard about it, but still hadn’t gotten used to her change in status.
She had been a classmate before, and now suddenly she’s a professor; when Cedric first heard about it, he thought it was soone with the sa na.
"You’d better call her teaching assistant." Kael rubbed his eyes, "If you call her professor, both of them will be unhappy."
"Because of the curse?" Cedric pondered for a mont and asked, "Who’s the other one, that Teckros who teaches Apparition?"
"No, it’s Umbridge." Kael said, "Professor Teckros doesn’t really care about this, but Umbridge clearly doesn’t want to be on equal footing with the person who ca to help her."
Just then, a deafening cheer erupted outside, cutting off their conversation.
"I think we should head out." Cedric said, "Are you okay, do you need to be replaced?"
"No need." Kael shook his head, stuffing a piece of chocolate into his mouth, "Just slept a few hours less, it’s nothing."
The locker room door opened and they strode toward the center of the pitch, frost-crusted grass crunching under their feet.
The Quidditch pitch was packed with people all around, a dark mass, and almost all the professors were there—sothing rarely seen in ordinary matches.
Dumbledore sat in the very center of the teachers’ section; when Kael looked over, he smiled and waved.
"Go, Hufflepuff, go!"
Tonks’ hair had beco half yellow, half black. She shouted loudly from the teachers’ section, looking full of energy.
Do Aurors not need to sleep?
Kael was speechless.
But with Tonks stirring things up, the Hufflepuff crowd got even more excited, their cheers drowning out the nearby Ravenclaws.
They arrived at the center of the pitch; Ms. Hooch was standing there, just about to take the balls out of the box.
"Captains, shake hands," she said.
It’s worth ntioning that Ravenclaw’s captain Roger Davis was injured during yesterday’s Care of Magical Creatures class and couldn’t participate, so today the team was led by Cho.
Amid a series of teasing looks, Cedric stepped forward and shook her hand.
"Good luck."
"You too."
"Oh, good luck, tsk tsk..." Mikel muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Not a single harsh word between the captains—feels like sothing’s missing from the match."
Cedric and Cho both pretended not to hear.
Luckily, just then Ms. Hooch blew her whistle.
The match officially began,
Amid a sudden surge in cheers, Kael and everyone else shot into the air, effortlessly catching the tossed Quaffle.
"Alright, they’re off!" Lee Jordan’s voice ca from the direction of the stands.
"Kael’s got the Quaffle, he dodged Bradley and Stanton... Oh, Ingleby looks like he’s trying to use the Bludger to stop Kael’s attack... Missed! Kael dodged the Bludger, now there’s only the Keeper ahead of him..."
After a brief silence, the Hufflepuff stands erupted again with another wave of even louder cheers.
"Scored! Hufflepuff scores!"
Lee Jordan shouted, "The Firebolt is so dazzling, it and Kael are simply the best combo. Hufflepuff’s gained the advantage in less than a minute after the opening, Ravenclaw’s in trouble..."
"Block him!" Cho anxiously searched for the Golden Snitch and shouted, "Just like we practiced, Bradley, you take Davis’ position..."
Following Cho’s instructions, two Ravenclaw Chasers moved imdiately to Kael’s side, flanking him front and back, trying to pin him between them.
anwhile, the Bludger ca flying from the side.
Kael didn’t even need to think; he knew that Bludger wouldn’t bother with anyone but him.
Two Chasers, one Beater—he hadn’t expected Ravenclaw to send out half their manpower just to contain him; now that’s so treatnt.
"Kael’s slowed down... the Quaffle’s been grabbed by Derbis—oh my, I’ve never seen a match where the focus is on the Chaser instead of the Seeker."
Lee Jordan said excitedly, "But there’s no doubt Cho Chang’s decision is right: if Kael keeps scoring, they could call the match in twenty minutes, and by then not even catching the Golden Snitch would help..."
"But if you ask , it’s pointless—Firebolt isn’t sothing a Cleansweep Series can stop..."
Kael certainly knew the Firebolt was much faster than the Cleansweep; with just a little acceleration, he could easily break through Ravenclaw’s encirclent. But he wasn’t planning to do that.
A one-sided match could be entertaining, but it’d quickly get boring. Only back-and-forth action can truly fire up the audience’s passion.
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