Chapter Seventy-Seven: Harry Wounded
But soon, Zhang Feng and the others won't be worried about Harry's parseltongue for a while. Because Harry was knocked off his broomstick by an out-of-control Bludger while playing Quidditch, he was injured and lying in the infirmary, restricted by Mrs. Pomfrey.
Actually, things were still a little strange that day, and here's how it happened......
Last Saturday the Quidditch Cup started again, and it was Gryffindor's turn to play Slytherin. The match attracted almost all of the students at Hogwarts, not only because Gryffindor and Slytherin were long-time rivals, but also because it was the first game for the Slytherin team after Draco Malfoy all changed to Halo 2001. This high-performance broomstick takes the Slytherin team up a notch overall, allowing them to compete with Harry's Gryffindor, who has the greatest Seeker talent of all time.
It was a hot and humid day, and there was a faint sound of thunder in the air.
"Listen to my whistle," said Mrs. Hooch, "three-two-one-" The crowd roared as they saw off their take-off, and the fourteen members of the team leaped together into the lead-gray sky. Harry flew taller than all the team members, squinting and looking around, looking for the Golden Snitch.
"Are you alright, Scarhead?" Malfoy shouted, his arrows flying beneath Harry, as if to show off the speed of his broomstick. Harry didn't have time to answer. Just then, a heavy black Bludger suddenly flew towards him, and he narrowly avoided it, feeling the ball ruffle his hair as it flew by.
"What a hang, Harry!" George said that he had a bat, with a bat, and sped past Harry, ready to hit the Bludger at the Slytherin players. Harry saw George hit the Bludger hard at Derian Pusey, but the Bludger changed direction and flew straight towards Harry.
Harry ducked down to dodge, and George slammed it down on Malfoy. However, like a spinning dart, Bludger spun around again and went straight to Harry's head.
Harry suddenly accelerated, swishing to the other end of the arena. He could hear Bludger whizzing after him. Fred Weasley was waiting for Bludger on the other end. Harry jerked his head, and Fred slammed the Bludger with all his strength, which was knocked to the side.
"Now it's good!" Fred shouted happily. However, he was wrong, and the Bludger seemed to be magnetically attracted around Harry, and once again it flew after him, and Harry had to flee as fast as he could.
It was starting to rain, and Harry felt a big drop of rain hit his face and splash on his glasses. He had no idea what was going on on the field until he heard the commentator Lee Jordan say, "Slytherin is ahead, sixty-to-zero." β
Apparently, the Slytherins' super broomsticks worked, while the crazy Bludger did everything in its power to knock Harry out of the air. Fred and George were now flying right and left close to Harry, leaving Harry with no hope of finding the Golden Snitch and catching it.
"Somebody's done something to - this - Bludger - " Fred muttered as he slammed the Bludger away from Harry.
"We need to pause. George said, gesturing to Wood to stop the Bludger from hitting Harry's nose.
Wood apparently caught his signal. Mrs. Hooch's whistle blew, and Harry, Fred, and George landed on the ground, still dodging the mad Bludger.
"What's going on?" Wood asked, as the Gryffindor team members gathered together, and the Slytherins in the crowd let out a burst of scoff. "We were defeated. Fred, George, where did you go when that Bludger stopped Angelina from scoring?"
"We're twenty feet above her, stopping another Bludger from killing Harry, Wood. George huffed, "Somebody swung the ball over - it wouldn't let Harry go, it didn't chase anyone else the whole game." The Slytherins must have done something to it. β
Time was limited, but Gryffindard was unanimous. It's to give up the protection of Harry, try to score, and for that Bludger Harry says to deal with it himself.
Soon, the pause was over.
Now it's raining harder. As soon as Mrs. Hooch's whistle blew, Harry kicked his feet and flew into the sky, and he heard the whizzing behind his head and knew that the Bludger was coming after him again. Harry rose higher and higher, turning and turning, spinning, turning sharply, spiraling upwards, and then going around and around, taking a zigzag route. He was slightly dizzy, but still kept his eyes wide open. Raindrops crackled against his glasses, and the rain ran down his nostrils as he hung headfirst to avoid another ferocious attack from Bludger. He began to fly around the edge of the field like a roller coaster, squinting his eyes and staring at the Gryffindor goal post through the silver-white rain curtain only to see Derian trying to overtake Wood. A whistling sound rang in his ears, and Harry knew that Bludger had nearly hit him again, and he turned his head and sped in the opposite direction.
"Are you doing ballet, Potter?" Malfoy yelled as Harry had to spin stupidly in the air to avoid Bludger. Harry sped away, Bludger chasing after him, just a few feet away. He turned his head and glared at Malfoy with hatred, and just then, he saw, saw the Golden Snitch, hovering a few inches above Malfoy's left ear - Malfoy was patronizing and laughing at Harry, not seeing it.
In that difficult moment, Harry hung in mid-air, not daring to speed towards Malfoy, for fear that he would look up and see the Golden Snitch. He paused for a little too long. The Bludger finally hit him, slamming into his elbow, and Harry felt his arm snap all at once. A burning pain that made him feel a little dizzy, and he slid to one side on the rain-soaked broomstick, one leg still hooked to the broom, his right hand dangling unconsciously beside his body. Bludger launched a second attack at him, this time aiming at his face. Harry jerked away from his original direction, with only one thought firmly in his already dull mind: to rush towards Malfoy. In the hazy curtain of rain, Harry endured the sharp pain in his heart and rushed to the shiny face below that was sneering. He saw the eyes on that face widen in horror: Malfoy thought Harry was going to hit him. "What are you doingβ" he gasped, scurrying away from Harry. Harry's uninjured hand let go of the broomstick and reached out to grab it, he felt his fingers grip the cold golden snitch, but as he was now holding the broom between his two legs, he fell straight to the ground, holding himself out of his way to keep himself unconscious, when he heard an exclamation from the crowd below.
There was a thud, and the water splashed, and Harry fell into the mud and rolled off his broomstick. His arm was dangling there at a very strange angle. In the midst of a sharp pain, he heard many whistles and shouts, as if coming from far away. He fixed his eyes on the Golden Snitch firmly in his wounded hand.
"Aha," he said vaguely, "we won." Then he fainted.