You're the bastard who gave me such an ugly nickname…
Ivan was speechless. He had been wondering why the legendary title he had received on the pitch during his first year of school sounded so bad…
Combining this with previous examples of Dragoons, it must have been something Seamus secretly preached…
Ivan thought he might as well call himself Seamus the Bard instead of Seamus the God's Eye!
Seamus, who was standing at the side, did not realize that he had been recorded in a notebook and was waving at Ivan from time to time!
Ivan shook his head, too tired to deal with him, and turned his attention to Ravenclaw's table, where he spotted Luna.
At this moment, the little witch was sitting alone at the side. She was still dressed strangely, and she was wearing the lion's head hat that she had not seen in a long time.
She held up the sign high that read "Ivan Hals Go!" and looked over with her beautiful eyes.
Ivan inclined his head to her, noting the others cheering him on.
For example, Hermione and Ron put up a large banner to cheer him and Harry on.
Sirius was there, though his eyes were fixed on Harry.
Ivan was distracted by Malfoy's sarcastic voice.
"Hales! I thought you said you weren't going to compete?"
"Ah! Yes, that was true before! But I've changed my mind, and I think it would be nice to play once in a while!" Yvonne said playfully, turning her head.
Malfoy and the others didn't look happy. They hadn't expected Ivan to take the field so suddenly. After all, he had been so determined not to take part…
Unless these were tactics, a ploy by Gryffindor to get them to lower their guard!
Marcus, Slytherin's captain, thought of this and glared at Wood.
After hearing rumours that Ivan Hals would not be participating, Slytherin abandoned their hard-working defence system and opted for a more aggressive tactic.
Who would have thought it was all part of Gryffindor's plot!
Marcus looked exasperated, and Wood raised his eyebrows smugly at him…
At the same time, Madam Hodge, the referee, blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle.
"Art A!" Marcus shouted at the start of the match.
A tactic was a defensive system originally intended to be used against Ivan.
Although the tactic had fallen behind practice due to recent intelligence lapses, it still had a solid foundation.
The rest of the Slytherin team quickly got into position!
A Chaser and two Beaters rush to stop Ivan, creating an opening for another Chaser to snatch the Quaffle.
Yet Ivan's Firebolt was too fast!
In mid-air, like a flash of red lightning, it penetrated their defences in a matter of moments, leaving them in the dust…
"Stop… stop him!" The Slytherins screamed at Marcus, but it was to no avail. Their broomsticks were too slow.
Ivan took advantage of the fact that no one was adjusting to his speed and quickly grabbed the Quaffle, then went around the defensive line and threw the ball into the hoop…
"So fast…so fast! The first goal of the match, and Hales scored it in just over a minute. It was incredible! It was a miracle!"
Jordan's high-pitched voice carried across the pitch, and Ivan's unexpectedly impressive performance lit up the stadium.
Ivan's name was shouted so loudly that even some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff wizards stood up and cheered him on.
The Slytherins' faces darkened. How could he be happy when he had lost ten points in the first match?
However, they were able to quickly compose themselves and, under Marcus's command, attempt to stop Ivan.
It was clear to both Gryffindor and Slytherin players that the outcome of the match depended on only two things.
The first is whether Ivan can close the gap, and the second is when Harry and Malfoy will catch the Golden Snitch and end the game!
Preventing Ivan from closing the score seemed unrealistic to Marcus, who could only hope that Malfoy would catch the Golden Snitch and end the game!
Malfoy, who had taken on the team's hope, felt under pressure.
Normally, at the start of a match, the Golden Snitch would take the initiative to move away from people, deliberately avoiding them, and would only slowly approach over time, so it was not easy to find.
However, Ivan's goal was too fast, and as the score drew closer, Malfoy complained about his team's incompetence and desperately searched for the Golden Snitch.
Harry's task was relatively easy, as he had to wait for Ivan to close the gap to one-hundred and fifty points before he could act, otherwise catching the Snitch would be pointless.
As such, his only task was to keep an eye on Malfoy and prevent him from catching the Golden Snitch.
On the other side of the arena, the fight over the Quaffle was heating up, with Ivan taking advantage of the Firebolt's speed and his own superior flying skills…
Not to mention the fact that he had already experienced this type of squad-style interceptive tactics during training two days earlier.
Real matches were less stressful than training, as he had George, Angelina, and other teammates who worked well together, and could easily fool the Slytherin pursuers.
"No! Stop him!"
Seeing that Ivan's goal had officially brought the score closer to one-hundred and fifty points, Marcus was about to lose his mind, but he was powerless to stop it and could only rage in frustration!
However, his anger soon turned to numbness after Ivan's repeated goals, and Marcus could only hope that Malfoy would catch the Golden Snitch and end the match.
Because the match lasted only an hour, the score was almost tied, and the Slytherin Chasers tried their best to score two goals, but to no avail.
At this rate, Marcus doubted Gryffindor would be able to overtake them, or even score over one-hundred and fifty points, which would make the Slytherin team's capture of the Golden Snitch useless!
"Get the Golden Snitch, Malfoy, and I'll give you half an hour!" Marcus shouted, hoping against hope.