Richie handed Tom the broom and the two took a few quick laps around the field. When Tom landed, Richie nodded and praised him, "Nice flying, you really are a genius, as Professor Flitwick said." At that point he looked across the field at Harry, "You're as good a flyer as he is."
He then pulled a bag of golf balls out of his robes and together they flew through the air, Richie threw them in all directions and let Tom catch them, Tom probably managed to catch about 70% of them. Richie looked at Harry and Wood, who were not far away, and noted that Harry had not missed a single golf ball so far.
It was a talent that made Richie's mouth water. Unfortunately, Harry was a Gryffindor. In comparison, Tom's talent as a Seeker was not enough. Tom only had 70 points out of 100, and Harry managed to score 100 points out of 100, which was a big difference. Their new Seeker, Cho Chang, had a 90% catch rate, far superior to Tom's.
Next, Richie released the Bludger, and then acted as goalie himself, allowing Tom to try to get the Quaffle into the goal under the harassment of the Bludger. This time, Tom's performance was incredible, he was able to make a few feints before throwing the Quaffle, dazzling Richie, and then when Richie didn't fall for the trap, he actually threw the Quaffle.
The feints gave him a very high probability of scoring with the Quaffle, almost all the time, but this was also because Richie had no experience being a goalie, and no Batter to hit the Bludger for more effective interference, so it was set up as something akin to a penalty kick. But for a pure Quidditch rookie, it was an impressive performance.
Richie stopped Tom after he scored several points, and was relieved when he looked sheepishly at Wood and saw that he was concentrating on throwing golf balls. With Tom's excellent talent, Richie didn't think Wood needed to know.
"Come on, let's go back" Richie descended from the sky, put away the items he had brought and prepared to return to the castle.
"Why are you back so early?" shouted Wood from afar.
"Too long to get things done." Richie replied ambiguously. Leaving a confused Wood hovering in the air. But he soon put that out of his mind and went back to throwing golf balls at Harry. It wasn't until half an hour later, when it was completely dark, that they stopped practicing.
"Our names will be etched on the Quidditch Cup this year." said Wood cheerfully on the way back to the castle.
By this time, Richie had joined Tom outside the Ravenclaw common room, and handed him a broom.
"You can use this broom first, you'll be our House Beater, don't worry about its lesser reputation, but it's of a similar level to the Nimbus 2000."
[Magical item obtained: Flying Broom - Sweeper Seven]
Richie told him to use the broom first, but the broom was actually a gift for Tom. Even if it's just a Sweeper Seven, a Flying Broom costs a lot of money, so it's a big expense. As for Richie's last words, they got Tom thinking: maybe the Sweeper Seven and the Nimbus 2000 were as close to each other as European and American medicine and Indian medicine?
"Captain, you really care about Harry's Nimbus 2000, don't you?" said Tom.
"Of course, it's a Nimbus 2000! But it's not a big deal, after all, it's the person using the broom that counts." said Richie with a bitter smile.
Tom thought about Malfoy and felt that Richie was right. But he had a bold idea, after all, the hardware had a big impact. It was like a video game tournament, where your opponent had a custom-made keyboard and mouse, and you had a set of the cyber cafe, which made all the difference.
"Captain, since Professor Flitwick is so good with magic spells, why don't we have him modify our brooms?" Tom said.
[Hidden Mission Triggered: You Can Always Do New Tricks]
[Mission objective: Convince Professor Flitwick to help you modify your broom]
[Task Reward: Magical Animal Hatching Agent (An ancient potion to speed up the hatching of oviparous magical animals)]
Tom's eyes lit up at this assignment, a magical potion he really needed. But Richie frowned, "Is this really a good idea?"
"Why not? the other teams can use more advanced brooms, why can't we use the dean's modified brooms? As long as they don't have offensive attachments, they'll be fine. If we're not allowed to modify brooms, why should other teams be allowed to use new brooms in the tournament? Isn't the Nimbus 2000 an improved version of the Nimbus 1700?"
Richie had a thoughtful look on his face. Clearly, he was impressed by Tom's words. So a few minutes later, the two were in Professor Flitwick's office.
"So, do you guys want me to help you modify the broom?" Professor Flitwick lifted his head from his book and looked at his two students, "Are you sure this isn't against the rules? If you trust me, and the rules allow it, then naturally I can help you with your flying broom."
Richie nodded after carefully remembering for a moment that there was no "no modifying brooms" rule, and with Richie's affirmative answer, Professor Flitwick agreed to Tom's idea.
"Leave the broom here for now, I need to work on it, after all I have never made a flying broom, what function do you want me to incorporate into it?" Professor Flitwick asked Richie and Tom to put the broom on his desk. The two organized their words, described their requirements to Professor Flitwick and left.
When they returned to the Common Room, Tom clicked on the system panel, clicked on [Claim Reward], and a line appeared: [Reward has been issued, please go to the Room of Requirement, location: turn left at the first intersection, first turn right at the second intersection, first red bottle in the first row of the second cabinet, first red bottle in the third row].
Tom: What the hell?
System: [First in the first row, first in the third row! Take the red!]
Tom: "..."
I'm not asking you to repeat yourself! I mean why can't this crappy system deliver the stuff to me! Wouldn't a normal system allow you to just "click and collect" to claim the prize? And now I have to personally collect my rewards?
Tom frantically complained in his mind to the system, but the system seemed to be dead, not saying a word. Tom could only get dressed and go to the Room of Requirement, what else could he do? There was no option to uninstall the system or contact customer service.