Chapter 27 — The Quidditch Match Officially Begins
By November, the weather in the Scottish Highlands had turned bitterly cold.
The mountains surrounding Hogwarts were shrouded in gray, heavy clouds, their peaks blanketed in thick snow. The lake's surface had hardened into an icy sheet, cold and unyielding. Each morning, frost coated the ground in a sparkling layer.
It was the perfect season for Quidditch—and the Quidditch season had begun.
On the Quidditch pitch, Keeper Hagrid, wrapped head to toe in a long moleskin coat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaver-skin boots, worked tirelessly to remove frost from the flying brooms. On the lawn outside the stadium, Quidditch team captains gathered their players, quietly explaining tactics and strategy.
However, two Gryffindor Chasers weren't exactly focused. They ignored their captain's instructions, skipped the proper warm-ups, and instead slipped off to the office of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
At that moment, a pair of red-haired twins stood firmly before Professor Dracula, who was reclining lazily in his chair.
"Professor, today's our first Quidditch match of the season! You absolutely must come watch!" the twins called out loudly.
Dracula glanced at the clear sky outside, gave a slight sneer, and waved them off casually.
"I'm not interested in Quidditch. Play your game and do your best."
"Professor!" Fred slammed his hand on the desk, frustrated. "This match involves forty Galleons of yours, and even Harry—your most devoted student—will be playing! Are you really not tempted?"
Dracula watched Fred pounding the desk and noticed the red wine on the edge teetering dangerously close to falling. He raised a hand, and immediately, Fred began to float uncontrollably, drifting up to the very top of the office and hanging from a chandelier.
"Attempting to damage a professor's office property—this is your punishment," Dracula said casually, lifting the wine glass that had nearly toppled and taking a slow sip.
George shot a glance at his suspended brother, quietly pulling his own hands off the desk and stepping back.
"Professor, can you really be so cruel?" George pleaded theatrically, switching tactics.
He half-kneeling before Dracula, he sobbed and sniffled, delivering a dramatic speech of victimhood:
"Poor Harry grew up in the care of his cruel aunt, never knowing his parents, and only in the wizarding world did he finally have a professor to look up to! Without you watching this Quidditch match, Harry's experience is incomplete!"
Dracula twitched his lips slightly. Watching George's desperate performance, he realized that to remain completely unmoved now would be excessively cold-hearted.
"Enough crying. You're putting in quite an effort," he interrupted George's feigned sobs. "I'll come watch the match."
Hearing this, George immediately dropped his sorrowful act, his face lighting up with relief. Fred, still dangling from the chandelier, gave him a thumbs-up.
Of course, simply conceding wasn't Dracula's style. He added:
"However, George Weasley soiled the office floor and must be punished as well."
With that, Dracula lifted George up and hung him from the chandelier beside Fred. The two red-haired boys, wearing Gryffindor Quidditch robes of gold and scarlet, dangled side by side like identical marionettes.
Dracula then ignored the twins, opened a jet-black parasol, and stepped out into the long-awaited sunlight.
The Weasleys exhaled in relief once the professor had left, exchanging a conspiratorial glance.
"That was close!" George exclaimed. "If it weren't for my quick thinking, we'd be done for! Why do we always have to mess with Professor Dracula?"
"Don't be foolish, George!" Fred retorted loudly. "Have you forgotten? We spent all our Galleons betting against Slytherin's top players! If Harry doesn't catch the Golden Snitch, we'll lose everything."
The twins were about to resume their usual mischief when George suddenly stopped.
"Wait… we're in trouble!"
"What now?" Fred asked, slow on the uptake.
"Wake up, Fred! We're still hanging from the chandelier!"
…
Today, the Gryffindor Quidditch team felt confident.
Their secret weapon? Harry Potter.
After weeks of training, Harry was about to play in his very first match. Gryffindor faced off against Slytherin. A victory would move them up to second place in the House Cup standings.
As Gryffindor's secret weapon, Wood had decided to keep Harry's participation highly confidential. Almost no one had seen Harry play Quidditch before.
But the news of him serving as Seeker had leaked.
As a result, fans of the "Chosen One" approached him, offering encouragement, while rival Slytherins warned that they'd follow him below with mattresses to catch him if he fell…
Harry couldn't decide which scenario was worse, nor did he realize the leak was partly thanks to the Weasley twins.
The twins had slyly revealed Harry Potter's name to entice the Slytherin elite into betting, announcing that he would catch the Golden Snitch in his very first match and end the game decisively.
Slytherin students were delighted, dismissing the notion that a first-year who had trained only two months could be any sort of secret weapon. They eagerly bet that Harry would fall off his broom.
As for the instigators, the Weasley twins didn't arrive at the pitch until just before the match.
After dangling from Dracula's office chandelier for what felt like forever, they finally remembered the Quidditch match and conjured their brooms with a Summoning Charm, flying down from the chandelier to join the game.
Fred and George undoubtedly received a stern scolding from Wood.
Finally, amidst the twins' laughter, Wood's serious warnings and rousing encouragement, and the cheers of the spectators, Harry followed Fred and George out of the locker room and onto the cheering Quidditch pitch.
The Quidditch match was about to begin!