Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 234 The Final Match

As expected, Tierra was called to the principal's office for a talk again.

This time, however, Dumbledore didn't urge Tyrell to embrace her talent. Instead, he cared for Tyrell's studies, life, and emotions like an ordinary old man.

It wasn't until Tierra finished two pieces of cake, three egg tarts, and a cup of milk tea, and had nothing more to say, that she left the headmaster's office under Dumbledore's increasingly loving gaze.

The days that followed were uneventful, and soon the Easter holiday arrived.

But this year's Easter holiday won't be relaxing, because third-grade students have never had so much homework.
Neville Longbottom seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and he wasn't the only one—

"Is this what you call a holiday?" Simon Finigan roared in the common room one afternoon.

However, no matter how busy others are, they can't compare to Hermione—

Even though she stopped taking divination classes, she attended more classes than anyone else. She was often the last to leave the common room at night and the first to arrive at the library the next morning. After that divination class, she had developed shadows under her eyes like Lupin, but she didn't cry and whine like in the original story. Instead, she gritted her teeth and persevered.

And no matter how busy Hermione was, she always made time to read the gifts Tyrell gave her.

Ron has taken over the Buckbeak case and, in addition to his busy work, he is engrossed in reading thick files titled "The Hippogriff's Psychological Manual," "Domestic Poultry or Monster?" and "A Study of the Savagery of the Hippogriff," further squeezing out his spare time.

Meanwhile, Harry had to squeeze in time for homework between his daily Quidditch practice, not to mention the endless tactical discussions with Wood.

The Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match will take place on the first Saturday after Easter.

Slytherin leads the tournament by exactly two hundred points. To win the trophy, they need to score more than that number, which means—

The burden of scoring mainly falls on Harry, since catching the Golden Snitch will earn him 150 points.

Compared to the original trio who were penalized, Tyella was much freer. Although she had just as much homework and had to help Harry write the introductions for each of his papers, Tyella's super memory, comprehension far exceeding that of a young wizard, and the help of an automatic stylus allowed her to handle these so-called "heavy" assignments with ease.

But Tierra still pretended to be quite busy to prevent Ron from pushing Buckbeak's case onto her.

After the Easter break, the entire school eagerly anticipated the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match. Even Hermione, who didn't pay much attention to Quidditch, started snarling at Harry—

"I will not forgive you if you cannot defeat Slytherin!"

In everyone's memory, no competition had ever approached with such tension as this one. The atmosphere between the two academies was on the verge of exploding.

Several minor skirmishes occurred in the corridor, eventually escalating into a serious brawl.

To be precise, it was a fourth-year Gryffindor student who got into an argument with other Slytherin students in the hallway and was then ganged up on by the Slytherin students, just as Tyrell was leaving class—

Tiera was incredibly excited. She grabbed her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook and charged forward with powerful, fluid movements, quickly—

The Slytherin students who were involved in the fight were taken to the school hospital lying down, and didn't walk out standing up until three days later.

On the eve of the competition, all daily activities in the Gryffindor common room ceased, and even Hermione put down her books—

"Go for it, Harry!"

Hermione said.

“Don’t be afraid, Harry, you have a fire bolt!” Tierra encouraged him.

“Thank…thank you…” Harry said, but his tone was still a little listless, and his stomach was cramping.

After lights out, Harry received the calming potion that Tyrell had specially brewed for him.

After drinking the calming potion, Harry felt much better. His mind seemed to be much calmer, and he fell asleep almost the instant his head hit the pillow.

Harry slept until the next morning.

At breakfast that day, when Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall, they were greeted with enthusiastic applause.

The people at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were also applauding them.

Meanwhile, a chorus of boos erupted from the Slytherin table.

"Ha, child's play." Hermione scoffed as she passed the Slytherin table, but her grip on her book betrayed her true feelings—

Hermione was just as nervous as the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Hermione had never felt such a strong desire for Gryffindor to win.

Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, kept urging his teammates to eat more at breakfast, but he himself didn't touch anything.

Then, before anyone else had finished eating, the team members were ushered onto the field so they could familiarize themselves with the facilities. As the team members left the auditorium, everyone applauded them again.

However, the obvious clash between the two sides made the match highly charged from the very beginning, and even began to resemble a Quidditch brawl halfway through.

It's practically impossible to pinpoint who made the first move, but when the Quaffle flew over to Gryffindor, Slytherin's Chaser Montagu didn't try to catch it; instead, he reached out and grabbed Kitty's head.

Katie did a somersault in the air, still firmly on the broom, but the ball fell off.

Mrs. Hooch's whistle blew again, and she rose up to Montague, yelling at him. A minute later, Kitty bypassed the Slytherin goalkeeper and penalized them again.

This penalty point cost Slytherin dearly, allowing Gryffindor to take a 40-0 lead by four goals.

But soon, while the Gryffindor team and the Slytherin team were playing fiercely, Harry spotted the Golden Snitch!
It was flashing near a goalpost in Gryffindor, but Harry decided not to go get it now, because if Malfoy saw it, he would definitely get there before Harry.

So Harry pretended to suddenly concentrate, turned the Firebolt around, and quickly flew it towards Slytherin—

This plan worked.

Malfoy gave chase, clearly believing Harry had spotted the Golden Snitch there, and charged forward.

Harry, feigning panic, glanced back—

Harry confirmed the Golden Snitch's location while simultaneously showing Malfoy his panicked expression.

Clearly, Malfoy was convinced and charged forward with all his might. Just when Harry thought Malfoy had gone far enough, he swiftly used the superior performance of his Firebolt to launch a surprise attack, slipping lightly past Draco Malfoy and heading straight for the Golden Snitch—

Malfoy stood frozen in mid-air for a few seconds, then flew into a rage. He realized that Harry had tricked him, and angrily followed Harry back to kill him.

However, due to the vast difference in performance between the Nimbus 2001 and the Firebolt, Malfoy could only trail far behind Harry, and the distance between them was gradually increasing.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Tierra, sitting in the stands, watched the entire process of Harry playing Malfoy.

"Hehe, you really do become like the company you keep," Tierra said with a laugh. "Harry's acting has gotten so good now?"

This game quickly turned into the dirtiest game in Hogwarts' history.

Slytherin were furious that Gryffindor had taken the lead so early.

Quickly, by any means necessary, steal the ball. Bor hit Aria with a stick, trying to imply he thought she was a wandering ball.

George retaliated by elbowing Bolt in the face. Mrs. Hooch penalized both teams. Wood made another save, bringing the score to 50-10, with Gryffindor in the lead.

Knowing he couldn't catch the Golden Snitch before Harry, Malfoy started plotting against Harry—

Malfoy reached out, intending to pull the end of Harry's Firebolt to stop Harry from catching the Golden Snitch, but—

"Confusion."

Tierra stared at Malfoy's big golden head and read aloud—

For a fleeting moment, Draco Malfoy lost his composure, causing Harry and his Firebolt to slip out of his control.

By the time Draco Malfoy came to his senses, it was too late, because—

Harry had stopped charging down and was raising his hands high.

The stands erupted in chaos.

Harry flew above the crowd, a strange sound ringing in his ears. He clutched the small golden ball tightly, which flapped its wings hopelessly between his fingers.

Harry caught the Golden Snitch, Gryffindor wins!

"Ahhhhhh!" Hermione's piercing scream rang in Tyella's ears—

She was so excited that she shouted wildly and jumped around, clinging to Tierra's arm—

Hermione seemed to be venting all the frustrations and exhaustion she had endured this semester through this method.

Ron was overjoyed too, grabbing Thiera's other arm and jumping around like her—

Oh right, and his pet dog, it got so excited it was spinning around chasing its own tail.

Today's second update and tomorrow's first update are both transitional chapters. Tomorrow's second update will officially kick off the climax of this grade's story.
Thank you Korsi for the 100 Qidian Coins donation.

Thank you to Lazy Garfield for casting your January vote!
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(End of this chapter)