The Stands Exploded

Chapter 47: The Stands Exploded

On Saturday morning, the first-year Gryffindors found Charles's face even gloomier than yesterday.

Harry forced himself to eat as much breakfast as possible, confidently telling Charles, "There's a Quidditch match today, just watch me win it."

Charles absently replied, "Good luck... watch your footing, keep an eye on their movements, watch out for feints..."

Harry's face went blank. "It's a Quidditch match, not a boxing match!"

Charles, still in the same state, said to him, "Oh... be careful not to fall off your broom."

Harry was speechless and asked him with a head full of question marks, "What's wrong with you? Heartbreak?"

Charles turned and stared coldly at the guy, scaring Harry into grabbing his half-eaten breakfast and fleeing to the other end of the long table.

Hermione, on the other side, unafraid of being hit by him, also asked curiously, "Are you really heartbroken?"

Charles calmly said, "I'll write to Mr. Granger and tell him you eat a lot of candy every day."

Hermione immediately caved. Let alone her daughter, even when Dumbledore came to their house to explain Hogwarts and brought out a few magical candies, saying he ate them often, her father tricked her into spending half an hour on the dentist's chair for an examination.

After finishing breakfast, Charles walked across the white frost on the grass to the Second Greenhouse.

Professor Sprout was about to move the flowerpots, which had been burned yesterday and frozen all night, back into the greenhouse. Seeing Charles approach, she asked in surprise, "Aren't you going to watch the Quidditch match?"

Today was the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and students from both houses were watching the game.

Charles just shook his head and helped the professor make the flowerpots grow legs to walk back into the greenhouse. It was much simpler than making a pineapple do a tap dance.

It was just too cold, and the legs growing out of the flowerpots were trembling.

"Professor," Charles suddenly asked, "Could those insects have been deliberately thrown into the greenhouse?"

Professor Sprout frowned and said, "No one would be that hateful, would they? If that's the case, I'll tie myself to the Whomping Willow!"

Charles had no evidence, only a guess, so he didn't say much more. After moving the flowerpots, he also helped move the Dragon Dung compost back.

The Quidditch pitch wasn't far from the greenhouse, and the commentary and cheers from the stadium could be heard clearly. Harry, high in the air, was also seen almost being thrown off by his unruly broomstick.

Charles didn't notice what was happening on the Quidditch pitch, but made an unexpected discovery outside the greenhouse.

"Professor!" he shouted, "Come here, quick!"

Professor Sprout hurried over and followed Charles's gaze, discovering footprints in the cheap medicinal herbs planted in the open space next to the greenhouse.

These herbs were calf-high and had already withered, only to sprout green shoots next year. Now, they were broken and trampled from the roadside to the greenhouse wall.

Professor Sprout went to inspect and found that the glass in the greenhouse in that spot had been removed, though it was loosely put back.

"Could someone really have thrown insects inside?" Professor Sprout's gaze sharpened. "Or perhaps they stole herbs to secretly brew some potion."

Charles thought for a moment and said to the professor, "I have an idea. Let's say the herbs in the greenhouse were recently watered with Muggle pesticide. Anyone who secretly uses them to make a potion will suffer from chronic poisoning, which will be difficult to detect at first, and they'll die suddenly a month later."

If they just stole herbs, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if someone deliberately threw insects to spread them, that person would be in big trouble.

At this moment, a gasp came from the Quidditch pitch. Everyone saw Harry in the air being thrown around by his broomstick, nearly falling off several times.

In the Gryffindor stands, Hermione snatched Hagrid's binoculars and scanned the stands for Snape.

Sure enough, she saw Snape staring intently at Harry in the sky, muttering to himself.

"It really is Snape, look," Hermione angrily shoved the binoculars into Ron's hands.

Seamus, nearby, hadn't heard clearly and asked curiously, "What's going on?"

Harry hadn't told many people about the Philosopher's Stone and Snape. Seamus, now having a wide circle of friends, didn't often hang out with the three of them. Charles was busy with his own affairs, so naturally, he hadn't heard about it.

Hermione didn't have time to explain and turned away from the stands.

In the sky, Fred and George tried to grab Harry, but as soon as they got close, the Nimbus 2000 shot up a considerable distance. The twins could only prepare below to catch Harry if he fell.

Hermione finally managed to get behind the stands where Snape was, slipped under the stands, and reached the area behind Snape. Directly above her were Quirrell's feet.

She took out her wand, thought for a moment, then took out a lipstick. She opened both the inner and outer caps, poured a little potion onto Snape's robe, and then pointed her wand at the hem of the robe, chanting a spell.

Blue flames leaped from the tip of her wand, instantly igniting the robe.

Hermione lit the fire and ran immediately. About half a minute later, after she had run far away, she suddenly heard a loud bang behind her.

Ron, looking through his binoculars, watched in stunned silence as Snape was sent flying as if his backside had been kicked hard, nearly falling onto the pitch and clinging to the railing.

Quirrell, behind Snape, wasn't much better off. He seemed to have taken an uppercut, flying backward and finally hitting the flagpole heavily with the back of his head, which prevented him from flying out of the pitch.

The students nearby were equally unlucky. A senior boy also flew up, knocking Malfoy unconscious.

The stands immediately descended into chaos. Snape was pulled off the railing, his usually cold face now filled with bewilderment.

At this point, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick arrived at the scene. Seeing that Snape was unharmed, they breathed a sigh of relief.

They directed students to carry out the students who had been knocked unconscious and sent them, along with other injured students, to the infirmary.

Quirrell, without waiting for students to help him, scrambled away.

Harry in the sky found that his broomstick had returned to normal and quickly rejoined the match.

In the end, Harry caught the Golden Snitch, and Gryffindor won the match. The cheers of the Gryffindor students could be heard all the way to the greenhouse.

That evening, Charles and Seamus were summoned to the Headmaster's office. One had an Exploding Liquid potion, and the other had a first-class talent for demolition, so Snape quickly suspected them.

Seamus said innocently, "I was in the stands at the time. I saw Harry about to fall, and I was so nervous I hugged Dean."

He vaguely felt that this matter was related to Hermione, so when he testified, he only mentioned Dean, who was sitting on the other side, and Lavender and Parvati, who were sitting in front and hadn't seen Hermione leave.

Dumbledore summoned the witnesses and repeatedly confirmed that Seamus was indeed in the Gryffindor stands at the time, so nervous that he accidentally kicked Parvati in the back.

It was simple for Charles. Professor Sprout testified that he was in the greenhouse with him at the time.

The matter was thus dropped and became a cold case.

Not long after, a rumor spread through Hogwarts that Professor Snape had developed a potion that, when drunk, would cause one to fart and fly into the sky. He had intended to fly into the air to save Harry, but he hadn't controlled the angle properly.

As Charles was preparing to return to the common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stopped him in the corridor and took him to an abandoned classroom.