HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Chapter 125 The Eve of the Match

Lyra sensed that everyone was on edge since the Easter break. The tension between the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams had escalated to friction between the two houses, with the other two houses being dragged into trouble from time to time, becoming innocent victims.

Minor squabbles in class and in the hallways often escalate into group fights.

Last week, Fred and George couldn't resist getting into a fight with some Slytherin boys in their History of Magic class. Spells flew everywhere, ink bottles and books were flying around, and by the end of get out of class, no one in the classroom was able to leave clean and tidy.

Fred and George were injured, and Lyra wasn't much better off. She had large bruises on her left shoulder and back, caused by being knocked against the wall by a Slytherin—the blow was originally meant for George, but Lyra lunged forward to block it.

George and Fred were furious when they saw Lyra get knocked away! This made them even more frantic as they attacked the Slytherin boys, completely ignoring Lyra's shouts for them to be careful and not get hurt!

Professor Binns was completely unable to control the boys, and it was only in the end that Professor Flitwick, who was teaching in the next classroom, ended the fierce battle.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, whom she had brought along, both reprimanded the students with dark faces and deducted points, but this did nothing to calm the students down.

“Unless Slytherin follows the rules first, this is never over!” Ginny said incisively.

Lyra felt that the Weasleys could be a bit sharp-tongued at times. For example, Ron, who was sitting next to Ginny, quietly pointed to Snape in the teachers' table.

"I bet my head that if Professor McGonagall hadn't pulled him back, Snape wouldn't have cared what dirty tricks Slytherin was playing on Gryffindor!"

The two sides moved to a more secretive location after the fight.

Two days ago, a fourth-year Gryffindor student and a sixth-year Slytherin student were admitted to the school hospital together, and chives kept escaping from their ears.

Of course, they claimed to the outside world that there was no conflict, but that there was an accident while practicing the ** spell. In reality, all the students knew what this "accident" was all about.

The entire Gryffindor family is now united in protecting the team members from injury before the match, lest the Slytherin team win without a fight.

"These despicable, filthy Slytherins—"

Lee Jordan, fist pumping, delivered a speech in the Gryffindor common room, urging everyone not to let Slytherin's underhanded attempt to maliciously harm Gryffindor players before the match succeed.

This vicious cycle started with Harry, initially involving small tricks: deliberately tripping him while he was walking; intentionally dropping ink bottles or backpacks filled with stones on him from high places; and deliberately missing and hitting Harry during spell practice in class, etc.

Later, these malicious tactics escalated, even including poisoning incidents—people kept sending Harry candy and snacks, which were actually laced with potions. They wouldn't kill Harry, but they would just make him miss the competition.

The most dangerous incident occurred when Slytherin somehow slipped a potion into a glass of pumpkin juice on the Gryffindor table, which happened to be placed in Harry's usual seat.

Fortunately, Neville was sitting next to Harry that day and clumsily elbowed the cup of pumpkin juice, causing the black smoke from the juice to give everyone around Harry a fright.

The Gryffindor team only has Harry as their one and only Seeker, with no substitutes!

From then on, no member of the Gryffindor team would ever be alone again. Wood even gave a strict order that Harry must be accompanied by someone 24 hours a day to prevent Slytherin from preventing Harry from playing.

Everyone enthusiastically accepted Wood's instructions. Wherever Harry went, a large group of people surrounded him, all actively offering suggestions for the tactics of the game.

The academy even created a schedule to protect Harry, which Percy posted on the notice board in the common room.

Those who weren't on duty with Harry began to do their best in other ways, such as with the Firebolt that Harry kept in his dormitory. The importance of this first-class broom was obvious, and people rushed to Harry's dormitory during breaks to check if it was safe and sound.

At first, it was just the boys, but later the girls joined in the fun, coming to the boys' dormitory in groups to visit Harry's room. Of course, the main purpose was to protect Firebolt; the visit was just a side thing.

This forced the boys to stuff their smelly socks and dirty clothes into boxes or under their beds, and to open the windows for ventilation. If their girlfriends were boys from the same college, they would even spray some air freshener on their beds—which actually made the entire Gryffindor boys' dormitory look much tidier.

Harry kept the firebolt securely locked in the box and checked the key every five minutes to make sure it was still there.

The night before the match, everyone was excited and nervous. Even Hermione put down her book.

"I can't concentrate on a single word, I can't focus at all," Hermione said to the surprised people around her.

The entire common lounge was very noisy.

Wood practiced alone in a corner using a Quidditch pitch model, constantly directing the miniature figures to fly around with his wand.

George and Fred told jokes one after another, making the girls laugh out loud. Katie laughed so hard she slid off the sofa next to Arya onto the floor, while Lyra and Angelina kept rubbing their stomachs; Lyra even felt like she was having a cramp from laughing.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were chatting quietly on the sofa, but Lyra could tell that all three of them were a little nervous about tomorrow's match.

Lyra's gaze inadvertently fell upon the view outside the window. On the lawn, a giant black shadow moved, flashing by so fast it seemed like an illusion.

"Team! Time to sleep!" Wood shouted as he stood up.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Lyra followed the crowd back to her dorm, but she couldn't stop thinking about the dark figure she had just seen, worried that it might be Knight, hungry and sneaking out to find food.

Lyra finally decided to sneak out of the castle to see what was going on; maybe Knight had come out of the Forbidden Forest to find her!

This meant that Leila was one step closer to realizing her dream of adopting a big, fluffy black dog, Leila thought happily.