"That was such a miserable loss. It was painful to watch!"
Daphne lowered her Binoculars and pressed a hand to her forehead, as though she could not bear to look at the utterly one-sided situation on the pitch any longer.
Ravenclaw had always dominated the pitch with an absolute advantage. When had they ever been mercilessly crushed like this?
"That's perfectly normal. I warned them long ago."
Alice followed the crowd out in an orderly fashion, without the slightest guilt over Ravenclaw Team's complete collapse after her departure.
After all, she had warned the other Ravenclaw players long ago: it was time to wake up from their dreams.
Moreover, Alice had a perfectly reasonable excuse for leaving the team. As a sixth year, she simply had too many courses to take, and no longer had enough energy to devote to Quidditch Matches.
No one could find any reason to blame Alice for leaving the team. Anyone taking eleven Advanced Classes could say that with complete justification.
"But they won't see it that way. They'll only think today's miserable defeat was all your fault." Daphne glanced at her close friend beside her and stared blankly at that beautiful, expressionless face for a moment before offering a kind reminder. "Anyone would be dissatisfied after being abandoned by their own Goddess of Victory."
Daphne truly did not understand Alice's decision. Anyone could see that Hogwarts' Advanced Classes could not possibly put any pressure on Alice. Just like when she was in third year and took Twelve courses, she still had it easier than most students.
So the pressure of Advanced Classes was merely Alice's excuse for giving up Quidditch.
Daphne was not the only one who thought so. The other Ravenclaw students thought the same, which was why, after their crushing defeat to