Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 557 Quidditch Match

Chapter 557 Quidditch Match

The next day, the snow fell even heavier, and the snow on the ground and treetops was more than a foot thick, almost covering all other colors.

To be honest, this kind of weather is not suitable for a match. The cold wind, carrying ice shards, cuts like knives on everyone's hands holding brooms. The snowflakes in the air also obscure the vision of the seekers and batters, making it difficult for them to see their surroundings and react correctly in an emergency.

In the morning, Ron left the castle and stepped down the stone steps, tightening his thick robe around his neck.

"No wonder those cunning Slytherin guys deliberately made up an excuse to postpone the match," he couldn't help but say.

In this kind of weather, let alone playing a match, if it weren't for their love of Quidditch, probably very few people would be willing to leave their warm castle to watch a game.

"I wonder how Harry is doing?" Hermione glanced worriedly at the castle behind her.

To be honest, she still didn't approve of Fred and George causing trouble for Umbridge. Umbridge wasn't just a professor, but also someone from the Ministry of Magic. If they were discovered, they could face far more severe punishment than a normal violation of school rules, possibly even expulsion. But Fred and George seemed completely unconcerned. And Hermione wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she sensed that Fred and George even seemed somewhat expectant after hearing her analysis.

"It must be my imagination," Hermione thought. "How could anyone want me to be expelled?" But she knew it was unlikely she could change their minds unless she went to Professor McGonagall now and asked her to stop them. She might have done that in her first year, but now she could only hope they wouldn't be discovered.

"Don't worry," Celen said. "Although Fred and George may seem unreliable, they've never messed up anything they've promised."

"Yeah—" Ron shivered. "Let's hurry up and go, it's too cold here."

Braving the wind and snow, the three arrived at the Quidditch pitch. Because of the weather, there were far fewer people watching the game than usual. They didn't have to rush and easily secured seats in the front row. Siron even spotted Gryffindor's captain, Angelina Jensen, pacing anxiously along the edge of the pitch, glancing up at the castle every now and then.

No wonder she was so nervous. Three of the seven Gryffindor players were absent, and the most important one, the Seeker, was even going to be put in detention. When Angelina heard the news last night, she felt like the sky was falling, and she wanted to strangle Harry. Although Fred and George confidently stated that they could resolve the matter if they could just find a way to delay the match by ten minutes, Angelina was even more uneasy.

This decision increased the team's absence from one player to three, including two positions without backup hitters. If they couldn't return in time, Gryffindor was doomed to lose, with no chance of fighting back.

Soon, it was almost ten o'clock. Five minutes before the game was to start, Angelina approached Ms. Hodge, saying that their Seeker had caught a cold and needed to go to the school clinic for some energy drinks, and hoped to delay the game by ten minutes. In this kind of weather, it was common for students to catch colds, so Ms. Hodge didn't suspect anything, but as usual, she asked the Hufflepuff team for their opinion—delaying the game required the consent of both sides.

"Of course, no problem." Cedric agreed without any hesitation. He also said that there was no need to be bound by ten minutes; the match could start whenever Harry returned.

Angelina breathed a slight sigh of relief. Fortunately, their opponent was Hufflepuff; if it had been Slytherin or Ravenclaw, they wouldn't have been so easy to deal with.

At 10 o'clock, Ms. Huo Qi announced the decision to postpone the match by ten minutes, which aroused dissatisfaction among many people.

"This terrible weather made us wait an extra ten minutes!"

"Merlin's Beard, refund!"

"Hey, are you crazy? This is Hogwarts, you didn't even buy a ticket."

"Isn't it because I'm so emotional? I feel like something's missing if I don't shout it out a couple of times?"

"Um, that makes sense—refund!"

A buzz of voices rose and fell from the stands, a cacophony of shouts. In the Gryffindor stands, Ron strained his neck to peer out, his eyes fixed intently on the entrance.

"Have they arrived?" Hermione asked.

“No,” Ron said. “It’s only the beginning of detention; they’re definitely outside Umbridge’s office.”

Five more minutes passed.

"Have they arrived?" Hermione asked again.

"No." Ron's voice was filled with anxiety as he leaned forward again, almost dangling over the edge of the stands.

Three minutes later, just as Ron was about to fall, he finally saw three blurry figures through the gaps in the swirling snowflakes.

"They're here!" Ron shouted excitedly, waving his arms and legs. "Look, they're here—oh, thank you, Siron."

He looked at the section of stone slab extending from the stands below and said with lingering fear. He had been so excited that he had forgotten most of his body was outside, and he had almost fallen off the stands. Fortunately, Siren used his Transfiguration spell to extend the railing, catching him in time. Ron quickly retreated back into the stands.

By this time, Fred, George, and Harry had also run into the Quidditch pitch. However, instead of heading straight for the dressing room, they went towards the teachers' stand.

"Professor," Harry said to Professor McGonagall, "I went to Professor Umbridge to request detention, but she wasn't in her office."

"And she couldn't be found anywhere in the castle," Fred continued.

"We suspect she may have misremembered the detention period," George said.

Professor McGonagall looked at them and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Did you really go to Dolores?" she asked.

"Of course." Hali nodded firmly, his expression calm.

“Nick, who’s almost headless, can testify,” Fred said. “And the fat monks from Hufflepuff, they watched Harry knock on the door for a full minute, but there was never any response from inside.”

"And it was Nick, who was almost headless, who told us that there was no Professor Umbridge in the entire castle."

"We think she probably went back to the Ministry of Magic to report for duty."

"Professor," George asked nervously, "in that case, can Harry continue the match?"

Professor McGonagall looked at them, pondered for a moment, and then nodded.

"Since Dolores got the time wrong, Harry can participate in this Quidditch match—"

"Very good."

"But you'll have to make up for the confinement when she gets back," she reminded her.

"No problem," Harry said happily, carrying his broom and rushing into the Gryffindor dressing room.

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