Chapter 108. Advancing Pixies
"Oh, my God, Duncan has torn through Ravenclaw's defence again and broken through!"
"Ravenclaw's supposedly tight defence is like paper to him; he could poke through it with a finger!"
"Now there's only Ravenclaw's Keeper left in front of Duncan.
Can he score?"
"Oh, the answer to that is yes!"
"Duncan feints past the Keeper again and scores with ease!"
"Hufflepuff now lead Ravenclaw by one hundred and twenty points, and the gap is still widening!"
"At present, only one question remains in the match."
"Whether Ravenclaw's Seeker can catch the Golden Snitch before the margin widens to one hundred and fifty!"
"He still has the chance of three goals; let us all pray for him!"
"Anyone who can join a Quidditch team in their first year really is a monster!"
"I'm already thinking about what Gryffindor should do when they face Hufflepuff..."
"I wonder whether Fred and George can use a Bludger to knock Duncan off and stop his crazy scoring!"
Lee Jordan stood on the commentary platform, excitement written all over his face, one foot set on the railing as he waved his arm and shouted himself hoarse.
At this moment he had obviously fallen into his old habit again, bringing his own emotions into the commentary.
This drew waves of boos from the Hufflepuff students watching below, who shouted for Jordan to get down.
"Jordan, focus on the commentary and stop talking about unrelated things!"
Sitting behind Jordan, Professor McGonagall issued a stern warning.
A helpless expression hung on her face.
If not for Jordan's professional and passionate commentary, with no one to replace him for now, she would have swapped him out.
"Alright, my dear Professor McGonagall!"
Lee Jordan shrugged, swallowed what he had been about to say, and continued the commentary.
At this moment, beneath the side stands, there was also a group of little fellows huddled in a corner, secretly watching Duncan's match.
"Nofi, did you understand it?"
A pixie's little face scrunched up as it stared at the humans flying about in the air.
"Of course!"
Nofi answered with full confidence.
"The ones wearing the same clothes as Duncan help him, so they must be on his side.
The others are his enemies.
And whenever Duncan throws the ball through that round circle, those people cheer.
That must be the way to win.
Isn't it simple?"
The pixie who had asked nodded slowly.
"Listening to you, it does sound quite simple."
A smile rose on Nofi's face, but just as he was about to go on, something caught the corner of his eye.
Several pixies had somehow slipped to the underside of the seats in the stands.
Two of them had undone the shoelaces of two students sitting side by side and tied the laces together.
The rest were clutching coloured berries and freely painting patterns on the hem of a student's school robe.
Nofi puffed out his cheeks angrily, flew over, and gave each of those pixies a pounding with his tiny fists.
"What are you doing, Nofi?"
Those pixies clutched their heads and spoke in pain.
"What did we come here to do?"
Nofi demanded of the pixies.
"To watch Duncan's match and cheer for him..."
The pixies replied weakly.
"Good that you know.
Come back with me at once.
If we're noticed, it will be bad!"
With that, Nofi led the mischievous pixies back to the corner beneath the stands.
"Look, is Duncan tired?
He can't even fly steadily!"
A pixie cried out in surprise.
Nofi quickly looked over.
Duncan was flailing about in mid-air, as if his broom were controlling his movements.
"Duncan may be in trouble..."
Nofi said.
He knew Duncan's flying.
Riding a broom, he was not much different from them.
He would never make such a low-level mistake.
Nofi saw Duncan dropping straight toward the ground, precisely toward where they were.
"Come with me, quickly!"
Nofi waved his little hand, flew down with all his strength, and gingerly stuck his head out from beneath a hanging giant banner.
Amid the crowd's cries of alarm, Duncan was already about to smash into the ground, about to be dashed to his doom.
The pixies tensed up at once.
Several even covered their eyes, not daring to watch what would happen next.
But Duncan's face was calm.
He tightened his arm and, at the very last moment, pulled off a hair's-breadth save, once again drawing waves of astonished cries.
Nofi let out a breath of relief and seized the moment to ask, "Duncan, what happened?
Why can't you control your broom?"
Catching sight of the pixies, Duncan was delighted and said quickly, "Go and drive away that turbaned wizard in the stands over there for me!"
As he spoke, his broom dragged him off at great speed.
A pixie blinked blankly.
"Nofi, did you catch what Duncan just said?"
"It sounded like helping him to drive away a turbaned wizard."
Nofi said, uncertain.
"Wearing a turban?"
Another pixie remembered something.
"Have you all forgotten?
The man Duncan set traps for in the forest was wearing a turban!"
"Ha, it must be that man.
He's taking revenge on Duncan now!"
"What should we do?"
"Follow me!"
Nofi raised his brows and led the pixies toward the stands Duncan had indicated.
He wove along beneath the stands and successfully found Quirrell, who was staring expressionlessly at Duncan.
"Did you bring the bows and arrows?"
Nofi asked the other pixies.
"No!"
Those pixies denied it with solemn faces, because Nofi hadn't allowed them to bring weapons when they came.
"Tell the truth.
I'm going to use them to save Duncan now!"
"Heh-heh..."
Two pixies exchanged a glance, shot off to the side at speed, and called back, "Wait a bit, Nofi!"
Roughly a few dozen seconds later, the two pixies returned, their arms full of bows and arrows.
"I knew you wouldn't listen..."
Nofi muttered under his breath.
"Catch!"
The two pixies handed out the weapons and asked excitedly, "What do we do now?"
"Shoot him!"
Nofi said, pointing at Quirrell diagonally above them.
"Oh, yeah!"
The pixies cheered with delight.
This was their favourite thing to do!
The pixies scrambled to nock their arrows, pulled back with all their might until the bows were full-drawn, and, amid shouts of joy, loosed.
Quirrell, sitting off the seat in a strained horse stance, did not expect that his backside would suddenly throb with pain again.
With a cry of agony, Quirrell abandoned casting at Duncan, sprang up, and cautiously reached a hand to his buttocks.
"Professor Quirrell, what's the matter?"
Beside him, Professor Flitwick asked in surprise.
He leaned sideways to look and saw a dozen or so objects slightly longer than a finger sticking out of Quirrell's backside.
"What is this?"
Curiosity getting the better of him, Professor Flitwick could not help pulling one out.
"Yow!"
Quirrell screamed in pain again.
"Sorry!"
Startled, Professor Flitwick instinctively pushed it back in.
Another stab of pain shot through Quirrell's rear.
He looked at Professor Flitwick with grievance and forced a smile.
"I—I probably can't watch the rest of the match.
I'm going to the hospital wing..."
"Go on, go on!"
Professor Flitwick said hurriedly, and watched Quirrell stick his rear out and head off.
Then Professor Flitwick glanced uneasily at the seat beneath him and muttered under his breath, "How did Professor Quirrell's backside suddenly sprout arrows..."
Meanwhile, in the corner under the stands, the pixies watched Quirrell leave and rolled over and over in celebration.
"Operation Save Duncan, successful!"
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