Gryffindor's Quidditch Victory

After returning from St. Mungo's, Harry took the time to express his gratitude to Percy and Ryan and conveyed Sirius's invitation for them to visit his house during the summer break.

Sirius's house? Ryan couldn't help but find it less exciting to think about. After all, the Black family's grand mansion, which held Voldemort's Horcrux, wasn't exactly what one would call a home. It was probably where Sirius had lived after being disowned by his family.

Time passed quickly, and after Sirius's situation settled down, it was soon Easter break. However, the Easter holiday wasn't as relaxing as they had hoped. The amount of homework for third-year students broke all records. Professor Binns seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and he wasn't the only one.

"Is this what they call a holiday?" one afternoon, Seamus shouted in the common room, "Exams are still far away, what are they up to?"

Seamus's outburst received agreement from many other students in the common room. However, Ryan, who was sitting by the window, sunbathing while working on his homework, didn't feel too bad. On one hand, this amount of homework couldn't compare to the endless assignments he had in his past life's senior year. There were no weekly quizzes, monthly tests, or surprise inspections either. On the other hand, after three months of rest, his meridians had finally fully recovered, and he felt even more resilient than before.

Due to the unprecedented amount of homework assigned by the professors, their study group had essentially turned into a discussion session for tackling the most challenging homework problems. Fortunately, the professors assigned the same homework to all houses, so there weren't as many difficult points to discuss as they had imagined.

Moreover, it was through this kind of collective discussion, where everyone summarized their wisdom to solve difficult problems, that this small organization had begun to stabilize. After all, helping others and receiving help from others to improve oneself was a great thing for all participants.

In addition to this, Ryan and Hermione made new breakthroughs in the knowledge provided by Professor Trelawney, which was evident in the recent Transfiguration classes taught by Professor McGonagall. They practically monopolized all the extra points awarded.

"I believe you both have reached an O.W.L. level in transforming objects into animals. As long as you can maintain this level, my N.E.W.T. advanced class will welcome you with open arms," Professor McGonagall said with a smile after one of their classes.

Perhaps the departure of the Dementors had reinvigorated the young wizards, and with the Quidditch final approaching, the atmosphere in public areas became increasingly charged.

After the Easter break, the tension between the two teams and the two houses reached a breaking point. Several minor skirmishes erupted in the corridors, escalating into serious incidents where a fourth-year Gryffindor and a sixth-year Slytherin both ended up in the school hospital with leeks growing out of their ears.

Especially as a key player on the team, Harry was constantly targeted by Slytherins trying to attack him. Slytherins didn't seem to care about bystanders during their attacks, especially when most bystanders were Gryffindor students.

"This is getting ridiculous," Ryan exclaimed, sending a Disarming Charm at a Slytherin who tried to curse Harry. He then turned to Ron and asked, a bit frustrated, "Isn't it said that pure-bloods have centuries of heritage? Can't they show some of that heritage by competing fairly for once?"

"I swear, our Weasley family will always compete fairly in these matches. But those Slytherin snakes with generations of heritage, who knows?" Ron replied after deflecting another curse.

While dealing with all the attackers and making their way to the next classroom, Ryan kept thinking about something. In Quidditch matches, which were the most common form of competition, Slytherin used all sorts of tricks, from players intentionally fouling to wearing cloaks and pretending to be Dementors to intimidate the opposition. Recently, they even resorted to attacking members of the opposing team before the match. It seemed they had tried every dirty trick in the book.

From all this, Ryan concluded that, at least from the current situation, the noble Slytherin students had some serious ethical issues. From a normal perspective, these means they employed to achieve their goals, even in a theoretically fair competition, couldn't be considered noble or elegant. Instead, it was closer to the level of street thugs.

So why were there so many portrayals in fanfiction of Slytherin House as noble when, based on what he had seen, the Weasley family, who were often portrayed negatively in fanfiction, seemed to embody centuries of heritage more faithfully?

In the midst of this chaos, the day of the Quidditch final arrived. All daily activities in the Gryffindor common room ceased. Even Hermione, who was always buried in her books, put them down.

In the common room, it was clear that everyone was nervous. Even the jovial Weasley brothers spoke louder and more extravagantly than usual, seemingly trying to relieve some of the pressure. Soon, under the command of Captain Oliver Wood, the team members went to bed.

"Do you think we can win?" Hermione asked Ryan quietly. Although she wasn't a big fan of Quidditch, she cared about this matter because it involved the honor of their house.

"We can definitely win," Ryan replied confidently. "Think about all the extra lessons we've given Harry these past few months. Every time he came over, he looked exhausted but still persevered. With his determination and natural talent, how can we fail?"

After comforting Hermione, Ryan continued to study for a while before going to bed. The next morning, he headed to the Great Hall for breakfast, and soon the other Gryffindor team members arrived. When the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall, there was a wave of applause throughout the room. Even the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables joined in the applause, but the Slytherin table resounded with loud boos.

No wonder pure-bloods were becoming less and less reputable. Their open and undisguised hostility made Ryan think they couldn't even qualify as proper villains. Truly formidable villains wouldn't display their hostility so openly from the start. Seeing the applause from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, it was clear that Slytherin's likeability was plummeting. And historically, villains with such low likeability usually couldn't advance beyond the level of terrorists. It was nearly impossible for them to progress further.

After breakfast, everyone headed to the Quidditch pitch. As expected, the match had turned into the dirtiest game Ryan had ever seen, with Slytherin using a large number of deliberate fouls. However, perhaps because Harry had found a real family member and was in better spirits, or because he possessed the best broomstick, the Firebolt, he easily caught the Golden Snitch and secured victory for Gryffindor with a score of 70 to 10.

When Dumbledore awarded the trophy to the Gryffindor team, the entire stadium erupted in cheers. The crimson-clad crowd, all supporters of Gryffindor, cheered wildly, celebrating Gryffindor's consecutive victories.