Chapter 44: Little Malfoy, Under Control

Chapter 44: Little Malfoy, Under Control

"This is the Golden Snitch. Once I release it, it will fly at high speed around the pitch. Whoever catches it first will be the team's Seeker."

Flint, the captain who seemed to have some troll blood in him and was even taller than Snape, held a small, golden, walnut-sized metal ball with silver wings and explained.

"Alright, let's begin!"

Flint released the Snitch, and it immediately shot off at incredible speed. Malfoy and George kicked off the ground and followed closely.

The Golden Snitch was extremely fast and agile. Even if you caught up to it, a quick turn could easily leave you behind, as Malfoy soon discovered.

Due to his broomstick accelerating too quickly, when the Snitch made a sharp turn, Malfoy couldn't brake in time and overshot before turning back.

But George was different. When the Snitch turned, he immediately controlled his broomstick to follow, using the magnetic force from the wire to forcefully counteract the broom's inertia.

Once he fully caught up to the Snitch, George reached out like lightning to grab it. The Snitch dodged, but George's magnetic control came into play again.

Although the Golden Snitch was a magical object, it was still made of metal and thus susceptible to his magnetic influence.

Directly stopping it would be too obvious, but subtly slowing it down? Who would notice?

Thanks to George's magnetic interference, the Snitch's reaction slowed by a second—just enough for George to firmly grasp it.

"So fast! Less than a minute!"

Seeing George catch the Snitch, Snape and the team below were shocked.

Even though this wasn't an official match with opposing players, Quaffles, and Bludgers to interfere, making it easier to catch the Snitch, doing so in under a minute was astonishing.

In the history of Quidditch, the longest it had taken to catch the Snitch was three months, which showed just how difficult it was.

"Harry, if George becomes Slytherin's Seeker, you're done for!"

Among the trio secretly watching, Ron looked at Harry with sympathy, and Harry's face was equally grim.

But Hermione chimed in:

"But if George becomes Seeker, Malfoy will be furious. That's not so bad."

Ron and Harry's eyes lit up, and they nodded in agreement.

Seeing Malfoy humiliated was definitely something that would brighten their day.

"I lost."

As the two landed, Malfoy looked at the Golden Snitch in George's hand and deflated like a balloon.

From today onward, he would become the laughingstock of Slytherin and a deep disappointment to his father.

His father had spent so much money to make him the Seeker, allowing him to compete against Harry, but he had thrown it all away.

"If you want to be the Seeker so badly, then you can have it."

George handed the Snitch back to Flint and looked at the dejected Malfoy.

Malfoy's head snapped up, his eyes wide with disbelief. Snape and the others also looked at George in surprise, unsure what he was playing at.

"I think whether it's Seeker, Chaser, Beater, or Keeper, they're all equally important. And I'm confident I can bring glory to Slytherin in any position.

But after trying it out, being Seeker seems a bit boring—not much of a challenge."

George shrugged, then gave Malfoy a knowing smile:

"Besides, I don't like taking away someone else's dream."

The other players' expressions softened considerably.

"Thank you..."

After a few seconds of silence, Malfoy thanked George for the first time.

Previously, he had resented George for stealing his spotlight and openly mocking him.

But now, he suddenly felt that George wasn't so bad after all. In fact, he felt a small sense of gratitude toward him.

After all, George was truly skilled, and even in this situation, he had chosen to save Malfoy's face, giving him a way out.

"As fellow Slytherins, we should help each other and strive for the honor of Slytherin, right?"

George patted Malfoy on the shoulder, and this time, Malfoy didn't show any resentment.

Little Malfoy, under control!

That's how Slytherin worked. If you were weak, no matter how nice you were, they would only see you as an easy target.

But if you were strong, they would respect you and willingly follow you.

Was Malfoy an evil person?

Of course not. He was just a proud child, and deep down, he was kinder than his two lackeys.

Previously, because Malfoy had provoked him first, George had deliberately put him in his place.

But if there was a chance to win him over, it wasn't a bad idea. The Malfoy family held considerable influence among pure-bloods, and before Voldemort's return, there might be opportunities to use that.

As for Seeker, Chaser, Beater, or Keeper, to George, there was no real difference. In fact, he thought being a Chaser might actually help him gain more recognition than being a Seeker.

In a normal match, the Seeker was the most watched player.

Because only when the Seeker caught the Golden Snitch would the match end, and catching the Snitch earned the team a whopping 150 points.

In most cases, as long as the two teams weren't too far apart in skill, the score wouldn't differ by 150 points.

So it was generally assumed that whichever team's Seeker caught the Snitch would win.

If George, as a Chaser, could push the score ahead by more than 150 points before the Seeker caught the Snitch, he would outshine the Seeker.

This was an extremely rare occurrence in Hogwarts' Quidditch history.

Of course, these tactics worked on the inexperienced Malfoy. They wouldn't have the same effect on someone like Lucius Malfoy, a seasoned schemer.

Lucius Malfoy wasn't even particularly loyal to Voldemort.

"Well said. What Slytherin needs most is unity. Since George has voluntarily stepped aside, Malfoy will be the Seeker, and George will be the Chaser."

Snape, for once, showed a smile that looked more like a grimace.

As the head of Slytherin, seeing such a harmonious scene naturally pleased him, and his opinion of George rose another notch.

At this age, having such maturity and insight was truly rare.

Back in the day, if he had possessed even half of George's maturity and insight, instead of spending all his time studying Dark Magic, perhaps that damned Potter wouldn't have stolen Lily away.

"Train well."

After Snape left, the team began their Quidditch practice. George, as the new Chaser, demonstrated his exceptional skills.

The Seeker's job was to catch the Golden Snitch, the Keeper's job was to defend the goal, the Beaters' job was to hit Bludgers to disrupt the opposing team, and the Chaser's job was to grab the Quaffle and score.

Scoring could be done with hands, feet, or even the broomstick—just no magic.

George's physical prowess rivaled that of Captain Flint, who had troll blood, but George was far more agile. Combined with his absolute control over the broomstick, he seamlessly transitioned from grabbing the Quaffle to dodging and scoring.

(End of Chapter)