<h4>Chapter 27: Quidditch match officially kicks off</h4>
In November, the weather in the Scottish Hignds became very cold.
The mountains surrounding Hogwarts were shrouded in heavy gray clouds, their peaks covered with thick white snow. Theke was as cold and hard as a steel te. Every morning, the ground was covered with frost.
In this season, the Quidditch season began.
On the Quidditch pitch, Keeper Hagrid was wrapped in a long mole-skin coat, wearing rabbit-fur gloves and huge beaver-fur boots, tirelessly de-icing the brooms. Outside the pitch, the Quidditch team captain gathered the yers together, quietly exining their tactics.
However, two Gryffindor Beaters were not attending to their captain''s speech or properly warming up before the match. Instead, they sneaked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor''s office.
At that moment, a pair of red-haired twins stood in front of Drac''s desk, staring intently at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who was leaning back in his chair.
"Professor, today is our first Quidditch match of the year; you muste and watch!" the twins said loudly.
Drac nced out the window at the clear weather, smirked, and casually replied:
"I''m not interested in Quidditch. You go and y. Good luck."
"Professor!" Fred eximed, pping the desk. "Today''s match is about your forty Galleons, and your most admiring student, Harry, will also be ying. Aren''t you tempted?"
Drac watched Fred''s desk-pping and the wine nearly falling off the edge of the desk, and then slightly raised his hand.
Immediately, Fred began to float uncontrobly, rising to the top of the office and hanging from a chandelier.
"Intending to damage the professor''s office property is a fitting punishment for you," Drac said casually, sipping the red wine that had moved to the edge of the desk.
George nced at his brother hanging from the chandelier, discreetly pulled back his hand from the desk, and took a step back.
"Professor, are you really so heartless?" George changed his tactic, starting to act dramatically.
He knelt in front of Drac, sobbing, with tears and snot streaming, and spoke pitifully.
"Poor Harry, who has lived with his harsh aunt since childhood and never met his parents, finally finds sce in a professor he admires in the magical world! A Quidditch match without you watching is iplete for Harry!"
Drac''s mouth twitched as he looked at George''s exaggerated performance. Feeling that the words had reached such a level that not going seemed too cold-hearted...
"Alright, stop crying. I see you''re working hard at your act," he interrupted George''s fake crying and said, "I will go and watch the match."
Upon hearing Drac''s confirmation, George immediately dropped his sad expression and showed a surprised face. Fred, hanging from the chandelier, also gave him a thumbs-up.
However, conceding was not Drac''s style, so he added:
"But George Weasley''s mess in the professor''s office also needs to be punished."
With that, Drac levitated George and hung him up next to Fred on the chandelier. The two red-haired boys, wearing the Gryffindor Quidditch team uniforms, hung side by side from the ceiling like two identical puppets.
Drac then ignored the two pranksters, opened a pure ck sunshade, and walked out of his office, standing under the long-lost sunshine.
The Weasley twins, relieved that the professor had left, sighed in relief and then exchanged knowing nces.
"Wow, that was too close!" George eximed. "If not for my cleverness, we''d be done for! Why did we have to provoke Professor Drac?"
"Don''t be ridiculous, George!" Fred retorted loudly. "Have you forgotten? We bet all our Galleons with Slytherin''s big spenders! If Harry doesn''t catch the Golden Snitch, we''ll bepletely bankrupt."
As they were about to resume their usual bickering, they suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Wait, we seem to be in trouble!" George abruptly interrupted Fred''s actions.
"What''s wrong?" Fred asked, btedly realizing.
"Wake up, Fred! We''re still hanging from the chandelier!!"
...
In today''s Quidditch match, the Gryffindor team members were confident.
They had a secret weapon—Harry Potter!
After weeks of training, Harry was about to participate in his first-ever match. This match was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, their position in the House Cup standings would rise to second ce.
As Gryffindor''s secret weapon, Wood decided to keep Harry''s participation a secret. Therefore, almost no one had seen Harry y Quidditch.
However, the news that Harry would be the Seeker leaked out.
Because of this, some of the Savior''s admirers came to tell him that he would y great, and some old Slytherin rivals said they would hold a mattress below him to catch him if he fell...
Harry didn''t know which was worse and was unaware that the leak also involved the Weasley twins—
The twins, in order to get Slytherin''s big spenders to bet against them, had secretly revealed Harry Potter''s name and dered that Harry would catch the Golden Snitch in his first match, ending the game!
Slytherin students were thrilled upon hearing this and didn''t think a first-year student who had only been training for two months could be a real secret weapon. They all bet that Harry would fall off his broom.
As for the culprits, the Weasley twins arrived at the pitch in a rush just before the match.
The two hung from Drac''s office chandelier for quite some time, until they remembered the Quidditch match and finally thought of using the Summoning Charm to call their brooms from the office door and then fly down from the chandelier on them.
Fred and George undoubtedly received a stern reprimanding from Wood.
Finally, amidst theughter of the Weasley brothers, Wood''s serious warnings and inspiring cheers, and the cheers of the spectators, Harry, along with Fred and George, walked out of the locker room and onto the roaring pitch.
The Quidditch match was about to begin!