Tom: ???
What are you saying, Captain? Why are you talking about this so casually, as if you're asking me to bring you food from the Great Hall? The match is on Saturday, and you're informing me on Friday that I have to be a substitute? This puts me in a difficult situation!
"Please!" Richie clasped his hands together and raised them above his head with a pleading look.
At that moment, all the wizards in the common room looked over. The scene of Richie, covered in mud, and Tom Yodel, with a surprised expression on his face, couldn't go unnoticed. Everyone was curious about what had happened between them. Why had Captain Richie come to fetch Tom Yodel without even changing his clothes after training?
Richie explained the whole situation to Tom, leaving him dumbfounded. His initial reaction was to think about how serious Roger's injury was. If he was struck by lightning in a storm, he would surely die! Although there were cases of people being struck by lightning and surviving, one couldn't generalize about the resilience of the human body.
From a physics perspective, Roger was on a broomstick, and his waterproof cloak prevented him from getting wet. Could he be considered a poor conductor of electricity? This might not be an issue even if he were struck by lightning, but the voltage of lightning was so high that it could...
Many strange ideas came to Tom's mind, and he even posed a physics problem to himself. He sat there, dazed, not reacting to Richie's words.
Smack! Richie placed his hands on Tom's shoulders, abruptly pulling him out of the sea of physics.
"Tom, I need your help," his eyes displayed overwhelming sincerity.
Tom opened his mouth and said, "Captain, isn't there any substitute player in our house?"
Of course, there were substitutes in Ravenclaw, and one of them was Tom Yodel!
It wasn't Richie's fault for not being aware of the crisis; it was just that all houses couldn't assemble a complete team of substitutes.
Riding a broomstick was something many could do, but playing a Quidditch match was something very few could. When this generation of talents graduated, even recruiting new members for the team would be difficult. Even if many people tried out, it was normal for none of them to be qualified enough.
"We don't have anyone else here. Help me just this once, only once. When Roger recovers, you can go back to the bench..."
Under Richie's plea, Tom couldn't refuse. Winning the Quidditch match could influence the final House Cup result. Winning this match would bring Ravenclaw closer to the cup. That's what Hermione wanted to see.
Tom glanced at Hermione and noticed her expectant expression, but since Tom hadn't given his opinion yet, she didn't say anything.
"No problem, even though it's been over a year since I last played," Tom nodded.
"That's great!" Richie almost jumped with excitement. "It's okay if you haven't played a game in over a year; I believe in your talent."
Richie was open-minded; the fact that Tom hadn't been exposed to Quidditch for over a year wasn't a big issue. He had spent a whole year professionally training with the team back then, and once he returned to the field, he could quickly refresh his memories.
Moreover, Tom had a lot of talent.
Richie became optimistic.
"By the way, Captain, you'd better clean up the mud that has dripped in here, or Filch will come after us," Tom reminded Richie as he was about to leave to change his clothes.
There were precedents for this. Last year, Harry left mud in the hallway after practice and almost got caught. If it wasn't cleaned up properly, Richie would be in trouble.
"Alright," Richie was taken aback and immediately got up. Wizards' fear of Filch wouldn't diminish over time. When he stood up, he noticed that the mud on his clothes had stained a large portion of the common room's carpet.
"Tergeo!"
Fortunately, he was a wizard, and magic always came in handy for everyday tasks. Cleaning spells, summoning spells, repair spells; although they seemed harmless, they could greatly enhance the quality of life.
Wizards who know the Summoning Charm will never lose anything, unless what they're looking for is a wand. Wizards who know the Cleaning Charm should never need to clean their homes, unless they're too lazy even to wave a wand.
After quickly cleaning the common room floor, Richie took off his dirty and worn coat and changed into clean clothes before heading out to clean the hallways.
"You haven't played Quidditch in over a year, right?" Hermione was concerned, and now she wasn't sure about the outlook for this match. She was also worried that Tom would become the scapegoat after the match.
"Yes," Tom replied, acknowledging that it had been a long time since he'd been on a broomstick.
"So..."
"If someone can motivate me, I might be able to give my best performance," Tom felt that his expression at that moment, if shown as an animated gif, would definitely be that surprised expression or a humorous one.
"Motivation?" Hermione didn't initially understand what Tom meant, but seeing his expression, she also realized: this guy is thinking naughty thoughts again!
Hermione made a wry face. It wasn't until they became a couple that she gradually realized that Tom Yodel wasn't exactly a gentleman. But if he could really win this match, then she wouldn't mind giving him a little reward.
"If you win the match, I'll let you kiss me," Hermione raised her chin and looked at Tom, offering him her small reward.
[Mission activated: Defeat Gryffindor's team in the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch match]
[Failure reward: Kiss from Hermione x 1]
[Success reward: Mysterious reward x 1]
Tom: ???
What? Now I can get a reward even if I fail the task? But is this reward for real? I don't even need to complete the task to get it!
He leaned toward Hermione's face, who was sitting beside him, to give her a kiss but was stopped by a cold finger covering his mouth.
"You can't," Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed Tom back onto the couch.
"Since when do rewards get advanced?" she said before quickly running back to her dormitory.
The next day, Tom woke up to the howling wind. He watched bean-sized raindrops hit the window and felt the vibrations in the glass. He had a strong urge to curl up in bed and sleep the morning away.
It was barely six in the morning, and the room was very quiet, not even the sound of snoring, which made the outside world unusually clear: the sound of rain, thunder, wind, and even the sound of trees in the Forbidden Forest, all arrived in an orderly fashion, as if someone were conducting a symphonic meeting in the sky.
Unable to fall back asleep, Tom fetched his dusty broom from under the bed and tiptoed out of his dormitory.