The First Upcoming Match

After a long silence in the headmaster's office, Snape finally spoke:

"By the way, Albus, what were those black flames and frost that Harley unleashed?

That black fire and frost were incredibly powerful; Harley killed that troll using only those two spells."

"I don't know." Dumbledore folded his fingers together and said calmly, "Those two spells appeared suddenly as Harley approached her eleventh birthday.

I have some theories about it, but I cannot tell you. However, I can assure you that it is likely not a bad thing."

Snape nodded silently, turned quickly, and left the headmaster's office without looking back.

Dumbledore sighed again, stood up, and pulled a large, black-bound book from the shelf behind him.

On the cover was a row of blurred words: Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Dumbledore flipped through the book and stopped at a certain page.

His fingers gently brushed over the title of the page, Horcrux, and he suddenly said softly:

"What do you think would happen to a living person if they were used as a Horcrux, and then that Horcrux was inexplicably shattered?"

In the headmaster's office, all the portraits remained silent.

They had not said a word since McGonagall entered the office, and they remained that way now.

Upon hearing Dumbledore's final sentence, the headmaster's office fell into a deathly silence.

Even Fawkes the phoenix, who was eating herbs on a stand nearby, felt the oppressive atmosphere and cautiously raised its head to look at Dumbledore's back.

Dumbledore did not expect an answer; he simply stared out the window, lost in thought.

The next day, Harley woke up very early.

She felt a weight on her body, as if something was pressing down on her. Opening her eyes, she saw Hermione's head resting on her chest.

Harley wore a look of amused helplessness; Hermione's sleeping habits were truly terrible.

She reached out to pinch Hermione's delicate nose and then tickled her chin.

Under Harley's interference, Hermione finally woke up.

"Morning... Harley..."

Hermione rolled over and ended up sprawled on top of Harley. She looked bleary-eyed, her eyes not even fully open, just mumbling in a daze.

After a long moment, she finally woke up completely and noticed the awkward position she was in.

The young girl's face turned bright red, and she agilely scrambled out of the bed curtains in one motion, not even taking her pillow with her.

Harley couldn't help but chuckle, but remembering that her other two roommates might still be sleeping, she stifled her laughter.

By the time Harley had changed her clothes and finished washing up, Hermione finally poked her head out from her own bed curtains.

However, upon seeing Harley, Hermione couldn't help but want to shrink back into her curtains.

Seeing her cute appearance, Harley couldn't resist teasing her.

"Your pillow is still in my bed, don't forget to take it." Harley walked over to Hermione's bed.

"I'm heading to the Great Hall now, you should get up quickly too!"

As she spoke, Harley couldn't resist flicking Hermione's chin again before grabbing her school bag and leaving quickly.

Hermione's face turned red again, and she dove back into her curtains, starting to roll around on her bed.

She secretly felt relieved that Lavender and Parvati hadn't woken up yet and hadn't seen this scene.

What happened at the Halloween feast had a great impact on Hermione.

At the very least, from that moment on, Hermione stopped caring so much about other people's rule-breaking, which made her much more lovable.

Of course, Harley felt this might not be because Hermione's personality had changed, but because she was too clingy to her and no longer paid attention to others' rule-breaking.

Yes, Hermione was now almost inseparable from Harley. They went to class together and went to the library together.

When Harley was at Quidditch practice, Hermione would sit in the stands, chin in her hands, watching intently.

At first, Harley was a little worried about Hermione's mental state. But after thinking it over carefully, Harley understood the situation.

An eleven-year-old girl had been subjected to long-term cold violence and then told directly that she was a "nightmare."

When she was hiding in a corner crying alone, she had faced a life-threatening crisis.

At that moment, a good friend had stayed by her side, comforted her, and saved her life.

Afterward, this best friend had talked with her all night, guiding her and helping her emerge from the gloom.

In such a situation, anyone would develop a distorted attachment to that friend!

Having realized that Hermione didn't have any mental issues, Harley felt relieved and focused on dealing with the increasingly crazy "fan club."

The news of how easily Harley had defeated the troll had spread like wildfire throughout Hogwarts, leaving many older students in awe.

Thanks to the tradition of Hogwarts having a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year, many adult wizards didn't even possess such strength!

Thus, Harley's image in the hearts of many young wizards was elevated once again, and she became increasingly the center of attention.

As November arrived, the weather turned bitterly cold.

The Quidditch season was about to begin, so the Gryffindor Quidditch team increased the intensity of their training.

Harley also placed great importance on her first Quidditch match.

After chatting with children from many wizarding families and reading quite a few magical periodicals, Harley deeply realized the weight of Quidditch in the wizarding world.

Although multiple forms of entertainment existed in the wizarding world, such as Wizard's Chess, Exploding Snap, and Gobstones...

Quidditch would always remain at the top of the popularity rankings for entertainment in the wizarding world.

Therefore, Harley was determined to showcase herself as much as possible during the Quidditch match and gain sufficient attention.

Because of this, Harley invested a great deal of energy.

Benefiting from the abilities brought by being an Assassin, Harley possessed the vision of an eagle and powerful night vision, allowing her to quickly catch the Golden Snitch.

Consequently, Harley remained very confident, provided that the Golden Snitch didn't keep hiding in some obscure nook or cranny.

Time flew by until the day of the match, where the old rivals, Gryffindor and Slytherin, launched the first confrontation.

Harley woke up early as usual and felt that she was in great shape.

Although the air outside was filled with a biting chill, the weather was very clear and the sun was shining brightly.

After enjoying a hearty breakfast, Harley headed to the locker room, while Hermione parted ways with her to prepare a banner to cheer Harley on.

Inside the locker room, Wood gave everyone a pre-match pep talk, stating that this was the best team he had ever led.

Fred raised an objection to this, as Wood had just become captain this year, making this the first team he had ever led.

But he was quickly silenced by his twin brother George, as the other team members were glaring at the two of them.

Wood concluded, "We are the best team Gryffindor has had in years, so we will win.

It's time, good luck to us."

(Thanks to Fernando Torres for the tip!)

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