When Halloween ended, the Quidditch League began. For the young wizards at Hogwarts, Quidditch was undoubtedly the top priority. With Victoria's recovery, the influence of the Chamber of Secrets had been reduced to a minimum. A room that had been hidden for a thousand years and an object of dark magic were not worth the trouble; the upcoming Quidditch match was far more important than the Chamber of Secrets.
When Victoria regained consciousness, she had a long talk with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore left, she cried into the front of her nightgown. Madam Pomfrey complained for a long time to Dumbledore about this, as she did not think it right to subject a patient recovering from a serious illness to such violent mood swings.
Before leaving, Dumbledore asked Victoria if she wanted to erase that unpleasant memory, and she thought long and hard about it, but decided to keep it.
"This lesson is important to me." That was her answer.
Victoria had been recovering in the school hospital for a period of time, and when she came out, her complexion was even better than before she went in. After the severe physical and psychological damage caused by Riddle's possession, Victoria had been freed from Riddle and, like a mountain picker who has unloaded his load, had a chance to breathe.
Victoria, who had been lying in the hospital for some time, was in desperate need of fresh air. So, although it was hot and humid, with thunder rumbling faintly in the sky, and despite Madam Pomfrey's advice that she had time to recover, she went to the quidditch pitch to watch the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match.
With one team well equipped, the other well coached and, most importantly, a history of animosity between the two teams, there couldn't have been a more exciting match. While the wizards of Gryffindor and Slytherin, not to mention the students of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, also await the match. On the one hand, both teams are good, and on the other hand, they will be able to gather first-hand information!
They were very curious about how strong the Nimbus 2001 team was and also how the Gryffindor team would respond.
It's still very rare for a Slytherin team to be in this situation. Because there are many things in the magical world that are slow to change, like textbooks, but there is one thing that changes as fast as the Muggle world, and that is the flying broom.
Last year, Harry received a Nimbus 2000, and it performed the best in the school, and the following year the company brought out the Nimbus 2001, which was above the Nimbus 2000. In Harry's fourth year, the Fire Saeta became the best broom, and other broom companies, such as the Sweeping Broom Company and the Comet Trading Company, were developing affordable brooms that matched the Nimbus 2001 in terms of performance.
This is reminiscent of Muggle cell phone companies. Especially since the Nimbus Racing Broom Company releases a new broom every year, one wonders if this company has a division in the Muggle world called "Apple."
Since the updates are so frequent, little wizards who are not professional players are naturally a per capita "waiting party" How can they spend money to buy the most advanced brooms until they meet a big dog?
Therefore, it was the first time for the little wizards to see such a powerful broom that could overwhelm their opponents. So almost all of the young wizards headed to the quidditch pitch.
Before the match started, there was a subtle change in the mindset of the young wizards, as the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses this time supported Gryffindor, they all wanted to see Slytherin defeated. It was as if Slytherin was playing on the road.
Flags were waving and fireworks were shining on the pitch.
Tom also took a seat in the Ravenclaw stands. Seeing Professor Lockhart, a group of young wizards gathered around him to hear the story of his adventures in the Chamber of Secrets.
"It wasn't much of an adventure this time, but the first part of the puzzle took me a bit," Tom said modestly, realizing with some embarrassment that he was surrounded by schoolgirls! He glanced discreetly at Hermione, who was sitting two rows away from him, he discovered that she seemed to be keeping an eye on the competition with her roommates.
He slyly moved closer to the boys around him, unintentionally distancing himself from the starry-eyed girls.
"Reading is very important, there's a lot of unexpected knowledge in books, and speaking of which I have to commend Miss Granger, in case you didn't know, her essay has appeared in Wizardry magazine...".
Just then Jordan, Fred and George's good friend Jordan, who was trying to gossip a little first-hand before the game started, crowded in and shouted with his neck in the air, "Professor, tell us what the Chamber of Secrets is like!"
Tom didn't hold back and patiently described the layout of the chamber to the audience around him: the long pipes, the mechanism that could only be activated by someone who speaks Parseltongue, the elaborate doors and the eerie corridors....
Speaking of the Chamber of Secrets, the conversation inevitably drifted to Slytherin.
"Slytherin is a badass! I don't understand why the other three founders hang out with people like that." The speaker was Justin Finley. A second year Hufflepuff, from a muggle family. It was natural for him to have a bad impression of Salazar Slytherin.
What Professor Lockhart said next surprised him.
"Actually, in Slytherin's time, his theories had some merit."
Professor Lockhart was actually defending Slytherin!
"Is Professor Lockhart a fan of the pureblood theory? But Professor Lockhart is a half-blood!" Hearing Professor Lockhart say such a thing, the students around him thought.
Tom understood what Slytherin meant by "purification" differently than the others. The first thing people think of when they think of Slytherin in recent years is that he was a fanatical advocate of paganism and wanted to purge Hogwarts of all Muggle-born wizards.
In fact, this is a stereotype for later generations. Slytherin did not approve of Muggle-born students entering Hogwarts because he did not trust them. Considering the era in which Slytherin lived, it makes sense. A young wizard from a Muggle family was more likely to lean towards the Muggle world. In those days, there were no secrecy laws either. When wizards and Muggles came into conflict, it was easy for them to align themselves with the Muggle side or be bought off by Muggle nobles. In the case of Nick Nearly Decapitated, wizards who were captured tended to meet bad ends. Ultimately, it is the conflict between Muggles and wizards that makes the difference.
Tom explained his point of view to the boys.
"As for the pureblood theory, I think it's very funny," Tom said, taking the opportunity to tell the young wizards what he thought about the pureblood theory: it's just the ravings of a delusional person, a way to achieve higher status.
"What does it mean to be of mixed blood? What is pureblood?" wondered Tom: "A half-blood is usually a wizard whose parents or grandparents were Muggle or Muggle-born. A pureblood is a wizard or wizarding family with no Muggle or Muggle-born in the family tree, and I mean family tree. But actually, if you go back far enough, you can find Muggle ancestors in almost any wizarding family."
The young wizards were struck by this definition, they had only ever met someone who was a pureblood, someone who was from a Muggle family, and the rest were classified as half-bloods. But they still knew nothing about this definition of pureblood or mixed blood.
"It turns out that pureblood only refers to ancestors who are all wizards in the family tree, ah..." The more astute of the young wizards present had already spotted the problem: so-called pureblood wizarding families were only purebloods on paper.
So the so-called pure-blooded families are only pure-blooded on paper. Isn't this cheating oneself and others?
In fact, to maintain purity, most pureblood families choose to marry only members of other pureblood families, but this obviously leads to inbreeding, and since pureblood families are so few, there are not many mates of the right age. As a result, some wizarding families turn a blind eye and allow their members to marry half-bloods. Pureblood families who adhered to the "only marry purebloods" rule were left to their own devices.... The most representative are the Gaunt family, the Lestrange family, the Crouch family and the Black family.
"In reality, the number of pureblood families has been dwindling. In a few decades, some of the current twenty-eight pureblood families may also disappear." Tom counted on his fingers, "The Gaunts became extinct decades ago, the Blacks have only two direct descendants, one died during the Magical War and the other was imprisoned in Azkaban, and the Crouch family also has only one descendant..."
If you don't count them, you may be surprised to learn that the famous 28 purebloods have reached the end of their rope, with a large number of them in a single line. They may have many wizarding relatives, but they are really the only ones left.
Mainly because purebloods disappear so easily. Harry was also technically a half-blood wizard, since Lily was a witch from a Muggle family. The Potters were one of the three Peverell siblings, a long-established pureblood family, but from Harry's generation onwards, they are theoretically no longer a pureblood family.
This is a very serious issue from the point of view of a young pureblood wizard, but almost all the half-blood wizards present don't care. The start of the Quidditch tournament clearly interested them more than the news of the impending demise of a large number of purebloods.
The match began with Gryffindor on the back foot, the Slytherins' super brooms came into play as they scored consecutive goals, catching Gryffindor off guard. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff quidditch teams looked serious. They thought their team would not have done as well as Gryffindor had they been there.
"Is this the end?" They stared up at the leaden grey sky, depressed: the Quidditch Cup was going to Slytherin this year, I'm afraid.
As if to match the mood of the young wizards, it began to rain. Large raindrops hit the roofs of the stands, and small drops of water clung to the faces of the audience in the wind, disturbing everyone's mood.
Tom remembered something: it was not a good day for Harry to play.
Bang! Fred hit an errant Bludger as hard as he could towards Harry, and it spun towards Adrian Pucey, only to change direction and head straight for Harry.
"Bloody hell!" Fred shouted, "Something's wrong with this Bludger!".
The rain was pouring down from the sky, blocking the players from seeing the pitch, and Harry couldn't even see what was happening on the pitch, the rain lashing his face, the cold drops sliding down his clothes, his cloak and pants soaked through.
He also had to dodge the crazy Bludger.
As the rain blurred his vision, Harry suddenly understood the function of windshield wipers. He scrambled to shake the water off his face with a blast of air. It was then that he heard the voice of the commentator, Lee Jordan.
"Sixty to zero, Slytherin leads."
I don't know how he could see what was going on, but of course, he probably didn't see anything and was just reading the numbers on the scoreboard.
At Fred's signal, Wood called time-out.
The players knew about the crazy Bludger, but according to the outrageous rules of Quidditch, if Gryffindor stopped playing now and threw an inquiry, they would be disqualified from the match and automatically awarded a loss.
Harry refused, insisted on continuing to play and told Fred and George to stop covering for him.
From the looks of the spectators in the stands, who could only see a little due to the heavy rain, they knew that Gryffindor had called a time-out, but the game resumed shortly thereafter. As the game continued, Harry flew through the air in a very funny position, causing much laughter, little did they know that Harry was being chased by a mad Bludger.
After a while, Harry suddenly moved forward, and the mad Bludger hit him hard in the arm. But instead of stopping, he accelerated towards the Slytherin Seeker, Malfoy. Everyone thought there was a confrontation between the two, but Harry simply swept past Malfoy, then lost control of his broom and plummeted to the ground.
Thank goodness the ground was muddy with water, and with a thud Harry fell to the mud with a big splash. At the same time, the whistle blew, and the game was over! Harry had caught the Golden Snitch.
Harry realized that his arm was bent at a very odd angle: the mad Bludger had just broken his arm. His teammates and the Gryffindors who had realized something was wrong gathered around him, but Harry felt as if their voices were far away....
Madam Pomfrey was brought in.
In less than a second, she had healed Harry's arm, allowing him to move freely. Harry struggled to his feet from the muddy water and made his way towards the castle, surrounded by his companions. But Harry had taken no more than a few steps when he suddenly collapsed again, covering his forehead: the scar gave him a burning pain that came without warning.