Hermione squinted slightly and looked at Cho with vigilance.
Then, she looked back at Evan next to her. Because of Luna's words, Evan seemed to be lost. He looked, with a red face, at Ravenclaw's Seeker.
Hermione hummed and unconsciously closed the magic book at hand and slammed it on Evan's lap.
With that bang, Evan came back to himself; he turned his head and looked at Hermione.
Hermione didn't look at him, she was talking to Ginny.
Evan scratched his head and didn't know what was going on.
Seeing his stunned and overwhelmed appearance, Ginny and Luna, who had just witnessed the whole matter, couldn't help but secretly giggle.
In the middle of the pitch, after Wood and Ravenclaw's captain Davies shook hands, with the whistle of Madam Hooch, the game officially began.
All the players kicked off into the air, and Evan looked up to find Harry. He saw a red shadow sweeping high.
He heard Lee Jordan's comment on the game. Jordan was the game's commentator. He was a friend of Fred and George, and they could often be seen together.
"They're off, and the big highlight of this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor." Jordan shouted excitedly. "This is a Christmas gift from Professor Black to Harry. According to "Which Broomstick", The Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship …"
"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" Professor McGonagall's penetrating voice interrupted, and could be heard by the whole audience.
"Right you are, professor… just giving a bit of background information. The Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and…"
"Jordan!"
"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal…"
Evan looked quickly at Ravenclaw's goal posts and saw Harry flying there, too, very fast. He was looking around for the Golden Snitch.
Cho noticed that as well and was tailing him closely.
She was a good seeker, although not as good as Harry, but she kept cutting across him, forcing him to change direction.
Because of Cho's disturbance, Harry lost track of the Snitch.
At that moment, Katie got succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the field went wild, and Evan heard deafening voices.
In the cheers, the Gryffindor team became more and more brave, and the score gap was getting bigger and bigger.
"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn… Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in this long…"
"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall said, "ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"
The game was very intense. Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead.
If Cho got the Snitch before Harry, Ravenclaw would win.
The key to Gryffindor's victory was entirely in Harry's hands, but he now seemed a little tied up, and every time Cho came up to stop him, he had to shift direction to avoid collision.
"HARRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" When he saw Harry's performance, Wood roared. Most of the pitch could hear his voice. "WE WANT TO WIN THE GAME. KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"
Hearing his shouts, there was a buzzing sound in the stadium below.
Cho's broom stopped in front of Harry, and she grinned as if they had exchanged a few words.
Then, Harry turned the Firebolt and let it rise. Soon he was twenty feet above the field, and everyone could only see him flying straight into the thick clouds.
Cho was following him; she'd decided to mark him rather than search for the Snitch herself.
Harry made a fake action. He pretended that he saw the Snicker and dived again. Cho hurriedly turned the broomstick and wanted to keep up with him. Harry pulled out of the dive sharply, and she hurtled downward.
Harry rose fast as a bullet once more, and then really saw it. The Snitch was glittering way above the field at the Ravenclaw end.
Followed by Cho who had also seen the Snitch, and was a few feet closer than Harry, they both flew forward, racing against time…
The audience held their breath, and now was the critical moment.
The Firebolt's superiority completely came out, and Harry was as fast as the wind.
He passed Cho, getting closer to the Snitch, his fingertips were about to touch it, and Gryffindor was about to win the game.
Just then, Cho suddenly pointed her finger to the ground below. She let out a cry of surprise, as if she had seen something, and everyone looked down.
Distracted, Harry looked down.
In the direction of Cho's finger, three tall, black, hooded Dementors were seen running into the Quidditch field. They were looking up at Harry.
There was a scream in the stands, and all the young wizards took a breath of air.
They didn't understand what was going on. The Dementors had evacuated Hogwarts and returned to Azkaban. Why did they appear on the field?
Out of instinctive fear, the young wizards felt subconsciously afraid and the scene was chaotic.
Because of Cho, Hermione, who had been secretly angry and did not plan to talk to Evan, was now subconsciously close to him, her small face full of tension.
Unlike other people, Evan saw at a glance that the three guys below were not Dementors, but Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle!
They should be pretending to be Dementors to scare Harry, so that he could be distracted, or so that he falls of the broomstick out of fear like last time.
Malfoy was really stupid enough to pull off such a silly prank. Evan was completely speechless. He didn't know what to say. He wondered where Malfoy's IQ had gone.
Last time, he was at the stairway to ambush him. This time, he thought of dressing up as a Dementor to frighten Harry in front of the Wizarding School.
Couldn't he use his brain before acting?!
In the surrounding panic, Evan pulled out his wand as quickly as possible.
"Expecto Patronum!" he shouted, easily summoning his Patronus.
With dazzling brilliance, Evan's Patronus rushed towards Malfoy.
Harry didn't stop to think. Because Evan reminded him to keep his wand before the game, he plunged a hand down the neck of his robes, he whipped out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy. A huge silver-white stag erupted from the end of his wand.
The stag glided away and Harry did not pause to watch.
His body leaned forward, almost leaping out of the Firebolt, and his fingers successfully closed on the struggling Snitch in front of him.
Just as Harry caught the Snitch, the young wizards reacted.
They pointed their wands at the Dementors. Suddenly, various Patronuses appeared from the stands, twice as many as the Patronuses that appeared in the previous game.
The scene was spectacular, and the glory of the Patronuses was even stronger than that of the sun.
With an astonishing momentum, hundreds of Patronuses rushed over to the ground, and all the three Dementors stood in their place, watching them rushing in amazement, and they subconsciously stepped back. They wanted to escape, but because their legs were soft, they knelt directly on the ground.
The three of them seemed frightened and didn't know what to do.
Malfoy's heart almost stopped beating, his eyes dilated, and he looked incredibly at hundreds of patronuses getting closer and closer. He seemed to have just realized that it was a foolish idea to act as a Dementor to frighten Harry.