Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Wizard

Chapter 266 Quidditch School Cup! The Lions vs. Snakes Showdown Begins!

The Quidditch match at Hogwarts is a rare time of celebration for the students.

During the competition, everyone can skip classes and gather at the stadium to cheer on their college's team, creating a lively and exciting atmosphere filled with excitement and anticipation.

Dudley wasn't particularly interested in it, but he still came to the stadium to watch the game.

Today was his cousin's first official Quidditch match as the Seeker, against Slytherin, the Gryphon's arch-rivals, and he was there to show his support.

At the same time, he also needs to pay attention to whether any unexpected situations will occur during the game.

The original story's plot of Quirrell secretly casting a curse on Harry's flying broomstick and Snape secretly breaking the curse on Harry will naturally not happen, but there are still quite a few stubborn pureblood snakes in the Slytherin school team.

Open and covert attacks and underhanded tactics are these people's specialty.

Dudley couldn't guarantee that, in a close match where both sides were caught up in the heat of the moment, the Slytherin team members would maintain a certain level of rationality, considering his abilities and methods, and refrain from maliciously targeting Harry.

As for relying on Old Man Dumbledore... in such a public setting, given Old Man Dumbledore's status and persona, he can only act as a last resort, not directly help Harry in the immediate moment when he is about to be in danger.

In addition, there is another important reason.

Harry's main rival on the field is Draco Malfoy, the current Seeker of Slytherin, who has reformed and is now living life on his own terms.

Since Draco passed the Sorting Hat test, entered Dudley's classroom, and spearheaded the denial of pure-blood ideas, leading the two-faced Death Eaters to side with the white wizards, Harry and Draco's relationship was no longer as antagonistic as before, and they had the foundation to become friends.

This also makes it possible to resolve, or even perfectly resolve, the Class A regrettable event on the Dali system panel – the friendship between De Ha that ended as soon as it began.

Aside from guiding Draco to embrace his own goodness and side with the White Wizards, Dudley did nothing else to address this regrettable event.

These past few months, Harry and Draco have spent time together...

how to say?

There has been progress, but it feels awkward.

The two were competing with each other. They interacted like ordinary classmates, with a slightly polite demeanor. They seemed to get along well, but there was a distance between them.

Unlike Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and others, who would put their arms around each other and talk about almost everything.

Neither Harry nor Draco was willing to be the first to acknowledge their friendship, each guarding their own pride.

Harry believed that although Draco had changed his ways, he had been rude in the first place and should first formally apologize to him and his friends before talking to them about resolving their differences and becoming friends.

Draco, on the other hand, felt that he had already been treated terribly and lost face in front of Harry and the others. If he were to humbly beg Harry to be his friend again, where would his honor and face be? And if they were really friends, how low would his status be?

So Harry was waiting for Draco to speak first, and Draco was waiting for Harry to speak first, resulting in an awkward stalemate.

To this day, this barrier has not been broken down.

In this matter, Dali will not interfere with his cousin's wishes for the sake of system rewards; he will let nature take its course.

Since things have come to this point, one day the two of them will be able to become friends.

And it might even happen today.

Of course, their relationship might even worsen because of today's match.

It's hard to explain.

Dudley decided to be a proper bystander.

At this time, the students who were not participating and most of the faculty and staff had already taken their seats in the stands around the Quidditch stadium.

Each person used their Transfiguration spells to create banners or symbols that displayed slogans and emblems supporting their own academy team.

He even used amplification magic to cheer on his own school's Quidditch players.

Above the stadium, a young Norber, who was only a little over a month old but had the size of an adult Norwegian Spinosaurus, was rapidly circling at Hagrid's request, showing off its fiery dragon form.

And every now and then it would breathe out a huge mouthful of dragon flame, which would explode into fireworks, as an opening performance for the Quidditch match.

The Hogwarts students and teachers are now used to the presence of the three dragons and know that they have been bound by Hagrid and will not harm anyone. So at this moment, they only feel that the scene is shocking and exciting, and it does not cause them the slightest panic.

Meanwhile, the participants from Gryphon and Slytherin had already entered through their respective gates, carrying flying brooms, and were heading towards the center of the field.

There, Mrs. Hooch, acting as the referee, was waiting for them. Once they were in place and ready, she would open the box and blow the whistle to announce the start of the competition.

Dudley and his friends from Gryphon watched from the stands as Captain and Goalkeeper Wood, along with Seeker Harry, Beaters Weasley Twins, and three Chaser Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Arya Spinnet, took to the field to represent Gryphon.

On the other side were their opponents: Slytherin's captain and Chaser, Marcus Flint, Seeker Draco, and five other players.

Dudley, along with Ron and Hermione, were mainly focused on Harry.

Harry stood with his teammates, and while the two captains, Wood and Marcus, were ostensibly shaking hands in a friendly manner but were actually vying for power, Harry smiled and waved to his cousin and friends in the stands.

Ron and Hermione quickly took the lead, smiling and waving. Above their heads, the Gryffindor support banner, created by Transfiguration, kept flashing, and the lion on the banner roared several times, looking very imposing.

Ron's flying talent is not outstanding, and he is still training in the same goalkeeper position as Wood. Therefore, he cannot play in the competition this school year, and he doesn't even have the opportunity to be a substitute. He can only sit in the stands and relax as a spectator.

On the field, after a brief incident, the match was about to officially begin.

The dragon Norber flew away from the field on its own and returned to its dragon lodge by the Forbidden Forest, leaving the aerial field to the two participating teams.

The fourteen participants from each team straddled a flying broom, bracing themselves with their feet on the ground, ready to take off at any moment.

Mrs. Hooch looked around and saw that everyone had finished their preparations. She then bent down and opened the Quidditch ball storage box that had been placed at her feet, releasing a Golden Snitch, a Quaffle, and two Runners.

Four winged, differently sized flying balls soared into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the golden snitch almost disappeared, leaving behind the hovering Quake and the darting ball, which also left some afterimages.

Mrs. Hooch quickly straightened up, put the whistle hanging around her neck into her mouth, and blew it loudly.

"Beep beep—"

The contestants from Gryphon and Slytherin pushed off the ground almost simultaneously, soaring into the air on their broomsticks, officially beginning the competition.

In the stands, Lee Jordan, a black commentator from Gryffindor, began his witty but clearly Gryffindor-biased commentary into a magically enhanced microphone.