Chapter 1004: Continued Probation (Patreon)

No one knew how Angelina did it, but she finally convinced that little girl to temporarily abandon the Charm Club and join Quidditch training. Perhaps she felt that it was time to do something for Gryffindor.

As a result, all members of the Gryffindor team except Ron were girls, which was unprecedented in Hogwarts! Fortunately, amidst the misfortune, the girls' performance was quite good. (TN/ Vicky Frobisher had been introduced as a boy in former chapters; and now as a girl, which is her true gender in the original Harry Potter.)

Although not as good as Harry, Fred and George, they still had hopes of winning the Cup.

In Angelina's words, they were stronger than those wooden heads.

Moreover, there was no need to worry about them rushing into fights or showing violent tendencies, and being banned by Umbridge.

As the training progressed, Ron recovered somewhat and no longer blamed himself as much as before.

Harry was right, now the Gryffindor team could only rely on him. As the only male in the team, he should perform better.

He couldn't afford any more mistakes, even though he didn't have much confidence in himself!

Two weeks after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match, the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match also began!

Before the game, no one had high expectations for the Hufflepuff team. After all, they had lost their excellent captain, and morale had plummeted. The Ravenclaw team, on the other hand, consisted of experienced players who had been honing their skills for many years. There was no reason for them to lose to Hufflepuff.

But the final result was really surprising. Hufflepuff actually won the game by a huge margin.

Hufflepuff staged a textbook defensive counter-attack. They played very cooperatively and had a good sense of teamwork.

From the initial difficult struggle, even being behind, to later overtaking the opponent, they played remarkably well.

Their seeker caught the snitch in front of Cho. Maybe it was luck, but they undoubtedly won beautifully.

Cho cried bitterly when she fell from her broom.

After the D.A. meetin ended that evening, Harry stayed alone with her.

It was unknown whether the incident brought any progress between them.

Likewise, Ginny was busy comforting Michael.

The entire Ravenclaw team had low morale, but there had been no physical altercation between the two teams.

In contrast, Hufflepuff celebrated as if it were a festival. After the evening's event, they even invited Evan to join a celebration party in the Hufflepuff common room, commemorating their unexpected victory.

It was indeed unexpected, because the best performer on the Hufflepuff team turned out to be Alecia Esther.

She was a very shy little girl, a first-year.

Before coming to Hogwarts, she had never even touched a Quidditch Quaffle.

She also joined Dumbledore's Army, but blushed easily every time she spoke to Evan.

The feeling was exactly the same as when Ginny saw Harry a few years ago.

It was such a newcomer who drove the rhythm of the entire game. She was Hufflepuff's Chaser. She scored almost ninety percent of the points alone, reaching a terrifying one hundred and twenty points.

It was not that the Ravenclaw team was too bad. Although they initially underestimated their opponents, they later took it seriously, using their full strength and quickly devising tactics. However, Alecia's flying sense and throwing skills were simply exceptional!

Her broom was an old-fashioned Cleansweep Ten, a model from three years ago. It was very slow, but her reactions were quick, and she was excellent at coordinating with teammates. She consistently found loopholes in Ravenclaw's defense, skillfully carried the Quaffle, and scored points with agility.

Evan had noticed her talent in flying and Quidditch when Alecia tried out for the Starcatcher earlier. Like Harry in his early years, she performed astonishingly well, leading Professor Sprout to approve her inclusion in the team.

But now it seemed her talent surpassed even Harry's.

If this development continued, Hogwarts might produce a student who would become a world-class Quidditch star, similar to Krum. The glory, especially being associated with Hufflepuff, was particularly rare and valuable for them.

But this was not good news for Ron. A skilled Chaser meant increased pressure for him!

They were both newcomers, but the difference between him and Alecia was undeniable.

No one required him to perform beyond his abilities; he just needed to show his normal skills.

Meanwhile, Hagrid's inspection results also came out, on the same morning Umbridge went to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

This malicious woman, even while receiving treatment, didn't forget to inform Hagrid of the inspection results.

Not surprisingly, it was continued probation.

They saw Hagrid in the Great Hall that morning. He was standing beside the doors into the entrance hall, waiting for a crowd of Ravenclaws to pass. He was still as heavily bruised as he had been on the day he had come back from his mission to the giants and there was a new cut right across the bridge of his nose. It was a tough job to take care of Grawp.

“All righ’, there?” he said, trying to muster a smile but managing only a kind of pained grimace.

“Are you okay, Hagrid?” asked Harry, following him as he lumbered after the Ravenclaws.

“Fine, fine,” said Hagrid with a feeble assumption of airiness; he waved a hand and narrowly missed concussing a frightened-looking Professor Vector, who was passing. “Jus’ busy, yeh know, usual stuff … heard ‘bout you. What a pity. I was there, plannin’ ter help, but the students blocked my way … an’ I’m on probation."

“You’re on probation?” said Ron very loudly; his eyes wide-open, so that many students passing looked around curiously. “Sorry — I mean — you’re on probation?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” said Hagrid. “ ’S’no more’n I expected, ter tell yeh the truth. Yeh migh’ not’ve picked up on it, bu’ that inspection didn’ go too well, yeh know … I asked others and they said I should have acted more naturally. But...well, forget it, See yeh ‘roun’!"

He trudged away, out the front doors and down the stone steps into the damp grounds.

They watched him go, wondering how much more bad news they could stand.

The fact that Hagrid was now on probation became common knowledge within the school over the next few days. Not everyone appeared to be upset about it. Some, especially Slytherin students, seemed positively gleeful. The tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin had reached its peak.

In short, in such an atmosphere, time quickly moved into December.

December bought with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth years.

Because of the upcoming exams, Evan was requested by Hermione to study together. One night, neither of them even returned to the dormitory.

It was indeed a crazy night. Evan had never imagined he would be doing such things with Hermione. He had also never thought he would come to enjoy studying so much...

And as Christmas approached, Ron and Hermione’s prefect duties also became more and more onerous.

They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle, to watch over first and second years spending their break times inside because of the bitter cold, and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels.

Evan was glad that his role as Head Boy had been revoked; otherwise, these tasks would have fallen on him.