Hogwarts: I Am Such a Model Wizard

Chapter 299: Magic Defeats Magic

Kyle got up early on Saturday morning, eager to watch the upcoming Quidditch match. This season's schedule wasn’t favorable to Gryffindor—they had to face the fully-equipped Slytherin team right from the start. A lineup with all Nimbus 2001s... they might as well be up against a professional team. Given this, it was no wonder the Gryffindors were feeling low; even Fred and George didn’t seem in the mood for jokes.

When Kyle arrived in the Great Hall, he found the Gryffindor players clustered together around their long, empty table, looking tense and unusually quiet. Unsure what to say, he simply hurried over and gave both Fred and George a supportive pat on the shoulder as they were getting ready to head to the Quidditch Pitch.

"Come on, if you win, you won’t have to do that tap-dancing flight around the castle again," he said.

Fred and George had been looking for an excuse to get out of that bet all year, especially with that shiny Order of Merlin medallions to his name, yet they still hadn’t followed through.

The main issue was the absurdity of the moves they had planned—balancing three trophies on their heads while tap-dancing on a broomstick wasn’t just tricky; it bordered on impossible. Even managing one of those feats would have been a stretch, let alone both.

Fred’s eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Of course, it's a deal," Kyle laughed.

"Honestly, your pep talks work way better than Wood’s," George said, leaning over. "All he ever does is repeat the same stuff."

George cleared his throat and mimicked Oliver Wood's voice with a grand gesture. "‘Slytherin's broomsticks may be better than ours, but the players on our broomsticks are better than theirs...’"

"As if that isn’t the most obvious thing... and he’s our captain?"

"But he is the captain," Fred shrugged. "We’ve got to go along with it."

With that, they began joking about Oliver from both sides, and their earlier dejected expressions disappeared entirely. Kyle even suspected they might’ve put on that sad act just to set him up for his comment.

“Hey, Kyle, your face says exactly what you’re thinking," George said, raising an eyebrow. "But we weren’t faking…”

“We really were nervous...”

“Worried about losing the match…”

“Until we put these on…” Fred patted the scarlet and gold of his team jersey.

“And then we decided that if we win this time,”

“We’ll celebrate the same way…”

“Not because of a bet, just to celebrate!”

With that, Fred and George laughed as they headed toward the Changing Rooms, and Kyle made his way to the stands. Cedric had already saved him a seat.

“What’s the verdict?” Cedric asked.

“They seem pretty confident,” Kyle replied with a grin.

"Good." Cedric nodded. Down by the players’ tunnel, Oliver Wood was leading out the rest of the team. “Actually, I spoke with Hannah and Susan from the second year yesterday…” Cedric said, glancing toward the Slytherin lineup across the field, “and they both told me Draco Malfoy did poorly in flying lessons compared to Potter.”

“Not surprising,” Kyle said. “If he could actually fly, there’d be no need to buy brooms for the whole team… Nimbus 2001s are outrageously expensive, and buying seven at once isn’t exactly within reach for most people, even the Malfoys.”

“Exactly,” Mikel chimed in, pushing his way into the conversation. “Apparently, Malfoy’s allowance was cut in half because of those broomsticks.”

“If that’s the case, then Malfoy definitely bought his way onto the team,” Cedric said, giving Mikel a skeptical look. “But how do you even know that?”

“Oh, I overheard him say it himself.” Mikel patted his pocket absentmindedly, which was bulging with something.

As the boys chatted, the match was about to begin. "On my whistle," called Madam Hooch. "Three, two, one..."

The crowd erupted in cheers as the fourteen players soared into the gray sky. Harry quickly rose to the highest point, his gaze scanning for the Golden Snitch.

But Malfoy was behaving differently. Instead of

"Bad elf, a very bad elf! Kaka will handle it!"

As Kaka glanced up at the crazed Bludger still streaking across the sky, its large ears turned red—whether from fury or something else, Kyle couldn’t tell. With a sharp , Kaka vanished from sight.

A moment later, a small stool came tumbling out of the tunnel.

Simultaneously, the Bludger that had been trailing Harry abruptly changed course, hurtling straight toward Marcus Flint instead. Having watched the Bludger doggedly pursue Harry up until now, the Slytherin captain assumed it would continue to do so and didn’t even attempt to dodge.

The Bludger smashed into Flint's face with a sickening thud. His eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness, slipping from his broom.

In the stands, Professor McGonagall reacted swiftly, raising her wand to keep Flint from hitting the ground directly.