H.P.S.T Chapter 266: Quidditch Training
Evan left Sirius’s office and headed for the library, thinking about the Centaurs’ colony.
Since he was going to the colony the following day, he had to be prepared.
In order to ensure that, Evan was going to the library to study the trend of the constellation in recent days, and see what it stood for. He remembered that there were some magic books in the library that specifically introduced the astrology of the Centaurs, which could come in handy.
Also, he had to inform Harry, Ron and Hermione about this as soon as possible.
A few minutes later, Evan had just arrived at the door of the library when he saw Harry panting out of it. Behind him, Madam Pince, the librarian, was shouting harshly, and she was scolding Harry for running around the library.
“What are you doing?” Evan said in amazement, reaching out to stop Harry.
“I, I am looking for you, Evan!” Harry replied with a gasp.
“Very nice, I am also looking for you.” Evan looked around. He lowered his voice and said, “You remember the other day, in the Burrow when I told you, Ron, and Hermione about the Secret Treasures left by the Four Founders of Hogwarts?”
Harry didn’t expect Evan to say that. He froze, looked serious, and nodded carefully.
“According to my reasoning, the treasure key left by Gryffindor is kept in the Centaurs’ colony deep in the Forbidden Forest.” Evan said, “I just talked to Sirius, he is going to take us four to the Centaurs’ colony tomorrow evening.”
Harry seemed surprised when he heard Evan’s words.
It took him a long time to understand what Evan meant.
“You mean the magic item that was kept in the Centaurs’ colony and left behind by Gryffindor himself to enhance magic?!” Harry couldn’t believe it. “Tomorrow night, Sirius will take us four to the Forbidden Forest to look for it?!”
After seeing Evan nod and confirm, Harry became more and more excited.
It was the greatest adventure to be able to explore the Centaurs’ colony in the Forbidden Forest, to find what Gryffindor himself had left behind, to explore a mystery that had not been solved for a thousand years.
It took a while before Harry calmed down.
“Tell Ron and Hermione about this and let them both get prepared.” Evan continued, “By the way, you just said you were looking for me. What’s the matter?”
“I hope you can go to the pitch with me to see Gryffindor’s last training before the game.” Harry said excitedly, “Ron and Hermione are there too. You can talk to them about this.”
“Hold on, Harry, you tell them both.” Evan hurriedly said, “I still have something to do, I am going to the library to study the trajectory of the nearest constellation. It’s very helpful to understand the Centaurs.”
“When the training is over, we can study together. Let’s go, Evan. Ron and Hermione are waiting for us on the field!” Harry didn’t seem to hear Evan’s refusal, he couldn’t help but push him to the direction of the Quidditch pitch. “You can’t always remain in the library. You need to relax and breathe fresh air!”
“All right!” Evan thought about it. He really needed Hermione’s help.
His astrology was not particularly good, and Hermione might be able to give some professional advice on this. Many parts of arithmetic divination involve planetary orbits, and Hermione had been observing and recording them for a whole year.
It was known that Hermione’s divination scores were the best of Hogwarts.
Evan was dragged to the Quidditch pitch by Harry. He stood on the edge of the field. They were forming a circle and listening to Madam Hooch’s explanation of the Firebolt.
Madam Hooch was just as impressed with the Firebolt as everyone else had been.
She took it in her hands and gave them the benefit of her professional opinion.
“Look at the balance it has! If the Nimbus series has a fault, it’s a slight list to the tail end. You often find they develop a drag after a few years. They’ve updated the handle too, a bit slimmer than the Cleansweeps, reminds me of the old Silver Arrows; a pity they’ve stopped making them. I learned to fly on one, and it was a very fine broom too…”
She continued in this vein for some time, until Wood interrupted her. Madam Hooch returned the Firebolt to Harry, and went to the edge of the stands and sat down.
Wood conveyed the tactics to the players. Evan waved to Ron and Hermione. The three of them climbed to the top of the stands and found a place where no one was sitting down.
In the center of the field, the Gryffindors Quidditch players kicked off from the ground.
Evan saw Harry flying in the air with the Firebolt. He was very fast, almost like the wind, and could see only a vague shadow.
“Harry, I’m letting the Snitch out!” Wood called, standing in the middle of the field and waving to Harry in the air.
As soon as his words were finished, Harry turned sharply from the sky.
He looked like he had no weight. He went into a perfectly controlled dive, brushing the grassy field with his toes, then he stopped abruptly, with a slight twinkle of his shadow, flashed out of Wood’s back and grabbed the newly released Snitch.
The whole process took less than ten seconds.
On the pitch, there were the deafening cheers of the Gryffindor team, Harry let the Snitch go again, gave it a minute’s head start, then tore after it, weaving in and out of the others; he spotted it lurking near Katie Bell’s knee, looped her easily, and caught it again.
“Great, the Firebolt is the best!” Ron screamed. “Come on, Harry, we will win tomorrow!”
Hermione was very happy to see Harry’s performance.
The two of them looked as usual, but Evan was keenly capturing the faint tension and weirdness of the air. What must have been born between Ron and Hermione? They almost never looked at each other’s eyes.
Evan shook his head, not thinking too much.
In his opinion, that was how Ron and Hermione were. It was too normal for both of them to quarrel.
But most of the time, Hermione was right.
Evan stood at the top of the stands and looked at the Forbidden Forest in the distance.
It was as quiet as ever; not even a bird could be seen. Looking into this green sea, the towering trees at its edge barely left anything to be seen.
As the oldest living creatures in the Forbidden Forest, the Centaurs had been there for so long, and before Hogwarts was established, their footprints spread all over the land.
Evan didn’t know what they would ask him to do. Thinking of Firenze’s melancholic expression when he left, his feeling of uneasiness gradually increased.
He also thought of Professor Trelawney’s prophecy that Voldemort would mark the chosen person in the temple, perhaps the place where the Centaurs used to preserve the key to Gryffindor’s secret treasure.
Evan didn’t know what to expect next, and he shook his head hard.