With Ivan's addition, Wood was in high spirits!
When he met the Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint, two days ago, he boasted that the Quidditch trophy was destined to be Slytherin's!
This was because Slytherin had managed to pull away from Gryffindor by over a hundred points in the previous matches.
However, having seen Ivan's flying and pitching abilities, Wood was confident that he could bring the score back!
They were the perfect, invincible Gryffindor team!
It's time to show those Slytherin bastards who's king of the field!
Wood went to great lengths to prepare a new tactic.
However, the training did not go as smoothly as Wood had hoped.
Harry was so distracted as a Seeker that he often missed training sessions and did not even notice when the Snitch flew past him.
"Stop, all of you, stop!" Wood snapped, quickly calling a halt to the training.
"Harry! What the hell are you doing?! That Golden Snitch was right in front of you and you didn't even notice it! If this was an official match, we'd lose!"
Wood was furious; Harry's performance was worse than ever.
"I'm sorry, Captain, I was just thinking about something…" Harry said sheepishly. He was still trying to figure out where he had dropped his Cloak of Invisibility, so he was distracted.
"I don't care what you think, but when it comes to the game, your only job is to catch the Golden Snitch! Win! Do you understand?" Wood interrupted Harry sternly.
Harry gave a reluctant nod.
Training then resumed, and Ivan was under a lot of pressure as one of the two cores of the new tactic.
Because Wood gave him the target of fifteen goals in an hour!
This means an average of four minutes to score a goal…
Even more unexpectedly, Wood called for the rest of the team to form a blocking team in an attempt to stop him from scoring.
According to Wood, if Ivan could get past them, the Slytherins would not be able to stop him during the match!
However, for Ivan, who did not cheat, it was too difficult for him to face the pursuit while also having to juggle fast goals.
However, when the sudden proposal was made to make it less difficult, Wood shook his head and looked at him with trust.
"I'm sure you can do it! Go for it… Hals!" Wood pumped his fist solemnly against Ivan's chest.
With that, he and his team split into three teams and ran Ivan around the stadium.
Ivan was distracted for a moment, and then he saw Wood, who was chasing him, hit the Bludger with his club.
You son of a bitch! Ivan cursed to himself as he dodged to the side, then turned his body to avoid George and Fred's attacks, and threw the Quaffle into the hoop.
Ivan did not look happy about scoring again.
In the space of half an hour, Wood had figured out his strategy, and under his command the defence was watertight, making scoring increasingly difficult.
"Faster! Faster…"
"There he is! George, go and stop him!"
"It's not the left. He's playing dirty. He wants to score!"
…
Surrounded by the mob, Ivan was having as much trouble dealing with them as he had been on the battlefield.
He was beginning to regret agreeing so quickly, not knowing that he could back out now…
Ivan spent the rest of the afternoon on the Quidditch pitch, managing to reach his goal once before the sun set, thanks to the speed of his Firebolt.
"Alright, that's all for today's training!" Wood said as he landed on his broom and waved everyone over.
After an afternoon of hard work, George and the others were relieved, but when they reached the ground, Wood scowled and scolded them.
"What the hell just happened?! There were five of you, but you couldn't stop one of them! What if he was our enemy? Waiting for death? And you, George, you were too slow when I told you to intercept him on the left… Angelina, you too!"
Wood's mouth was like a cannon as he rattled off instructions to correct their mistakes in the confrontation.
Ivan then realised that the training was not just for him.
Wood really had a good plan. If he hadn't scored fifteen goals in an hour, he would probably be the one getting scolded.
George, on the other hand, curled his lip at Wood's rebuke. Wood himself had been there during the chase for Ivan, and had failed to stop him from scoring.
Fred, Angelina, and the others defended themselves.
"Ivan's Firebolt was too fast, like lightning! How could we have caught up?"
"Yes! Hales is also very good at flying. It's only natural that we can't stop him. Those Slytherins certainly can't!"
…
However, no matter how they tried to explain, Wood scolded them and said that he would continue training in the future!
The stadium was suddenly filled with the cries of George and the others…
Wood ignored their protests and turned to Ivan, smiling.
"Hales, you've done well. If you can keep this up the day after tomorrow, we'll win!"
In fact, Wood did not expect Ivan to be able to score fifteen goals in an hour.
He just wanted to set a high goal for Ivan to work towards!
To her surprise, Ivan did it!
Wood praised Ivan's flying skills and then changed the subject, saying that he would try harder next time and try to score twenty goals in an hour!
Ivan rolled his eyes. He had pushed himself to his limits, and it would be impossible for him to improve in a short period of time.
As he spoke, Wood reminded Ivan to keep it a secret and surprise his opponents!
"Those Slytherins don't know you're in yet," Wood said proudly. "You're our secret weapon!"
Ivan nodded. He certainly wasn't going to go around spreading the word. At most…he would just inform one person.
(PS: third chapter later)