Quidditch Tryouts

Wizet slowly opened his eyes and caught a distinctive scent of sandalwood.

In his hand, a length of branch had appeared. It gave off the fragrance of sandalwood, and a mistletoe leaf was still attached to it.

Without a doubt, this was a wholly magical product, with rather a mixed-and-matched feel to it.

"Why do you have a tree branch in your hand?" Anthony asked curiously.

"Because I'm going to borrow this book," Wizet said with a smile, tapping the branch lightly with his wand.

The branch rapidly shrank, turning into a mistletoe-leaf bookmark scented with sandalwood.

"Let's go!" He slipped the bookmark into the book.

Theory of Metamorphic Transfiguration had benefited Wizet greatly, so much so that on the way to the Quidditch pitch, he was still waving his wand, trying out more applications of Transfiguration.

If he gained an insight, he had to practice it more. That was a study method he had summed up in his previous life, and now that he was in the magical world, the method still worked.

He walked across the grass, waving his wand like the conductor of a symphony orchestra. With every step he took, the grass he trod on changed, turning into a pale white primrose.

Theory of Metamorphic Transfiguration recorded a large number of structural diagrams, with plants and animals separated by difficulty.

The primrose was one of those structural diagrams. Its structure was not particularly complex, making it very suitable for practice.

Wizet turned to look at the primroses vanishing behind him, and a sense of accomplishment filled his heart.

As an important branch of the field of magic, Transfiguration possessed a unique charm of its own.

Freedom of will and unpredictable change were both distinctive features of Transfiguration, drawing him in until he could hardly pull himself away.

In fact, Michael had noticed this long ago. He stared at primrose after primrose, his mouth hanging open, until at last he could not help plucking one.

Petals scattered through the air. The pale white primrose lay in his hand, then turned into a blade of grass.

He tugged at Wizet's sleeve. "How did it turn into this?"

"The most basic Transfiguration. Turning grass into flowers isn't very difficult," Anthony explained from the side. "It's just that Wizet uses it very skillfully... very, very skillfully..."

"How can he be that skilled!" He sighed somewhat dejectedly. "He casts Transfiguration too fast. I'm afraid that for him, first-year lessons have already lost their meaning."

"It's just practice makes perfect." Wizet put away his wand. Behind him, petals instantly scattered, and the primroses returned to the form of grass. "I usually practice quite a lot. It's nothing much."

"If you're interested, I can lend you my notes." He raised Theory of Metamorphic Transfiguration and waved it. "This book gave me a lot of inspiration. You can take a look."

Faced with Theory of Metamorphic Transfiguration, which was over ten centimeters thick, Anthony subconsciously swallowed. "Let's talk about it when we get back... It's the weekend, after all. We should balance work and rest!"

"That's right! That's right!" Michael immediately chimed in. "Look! The tryouts seem to have started already!"

Wizet's range of activity had still been limited to the castle. At most, he had only looked at this Quidditch pitch from afar through the dormitory window.

The oval pitch was shaped very much like an olive, and its size was comparable to a football field. The starting area was located in the center of the field, specially marked out with a white ring pattern.

As a ball sport involving high-altitude confrontation, the stands had also been built up high. Like the columns of an ancient Greek temple, they encircled the pitch.

Three gold-painted goalposts stood tall at both ends of the pitch, with hoops attached to the tops. The hoops functioned somewhat like basketball hoops; to score in a match, one had to throw the ball through them.

Faced with Wizet, who knew nothing about Quidditch, his two roommates proudly straightened their backs and lifted their chins. Seizing this rare opportunity, they began explaining the player lineup in Quidditch, as well as how points were scored.

This was a sport with a long history, one that had always been deeply loved by wizards around the world. There was even a major event like the Quidditch World Cup.

Four balls were used in this sport: one Quaffle, two Bludgers, and one Golden Snitch.

Each side participating in the sport sent out seven players: three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker.

The Chasers' duty was to fight for the Quaffle. Throwing it through a hoop earned ten points, and this was the main method of scoring in Quidditch;

The Bludgers contained magic and would attack players at random. The Beaters were equipped with bats, and they had to prevent the Bludgers from injuring their teammates, while also hitting the Bludgers toward their opponents to cause trouble;

The Keeper was responsible for guarding the goalposts and preventing opposing players from throwing the ball through the hoops to score;

The Golden Snitch contained flying magic. It was about the size of a ping-pong ball, flew extremely fast, and made no sound. The Seeker had to find the Golden Snitch as quickly as possible, and catching it would end the match.

Wizet asked curiously, "One hundred and fifty points? If someone catches the Golden Snitch right at the start, then they win outright?"

"That's exactly what makes Quidditch so fascinating!" Anthony said, gesturing wildly. "A team that was originally behind seizes the chance, takes the Golden Snitch, and turns the whole match around in one go. How exciting is that!"

Wizet nodded in agreement. The existence of the Golden Snitch could indeed fill the match with variables and make it far more entertaining to watch.

As soon as they walked into the pitch, they heard Cho Chang call out, "Wizet! Come over here!"

Quite a few people were already sitting on the benches on both sides of the team changing room.

Some, like Cho Chang, had brought their own Flying Broomsticks to take part in the tryouts, while others were using Flying Broomsticks provided by the school.

Cho Chang was wiping down her Flying Broomstick, her voice a little hurried. "I thought you'd forgotten."

"Sorry, I really did almost forget." Wizet sat down on the bench. "Anthony reminded me."

Cho Chang waved her hand. "Hello! Thank you!"

"H-hello... Ah... It was nothing, just that..." Anthony's ears were bright red, and he kept his head buried low, not daring to look at Cho Chang's face.

"Right... Anthony's right!" Michael was not doing much better, his ears as red as if they had been scalded by boiling water.

Wizet could not help laughing. When these two had been walking on the road, they had been animated and full of grand commentary, but after greeting Cho Chang, they had turned into bashful mimosa plants.

It was not yet time for the tryout for the position Cho Chang wanted, and she still needed time to adjust.

To calm her somewhat nervous mood, she started chatting with Wizet about the team's current situation.

The Ravenclaw team had suffered serious losses in personnel. Whether it was Seeker, Beater, or Chaser, there were vacancies.

Cho Chang sighed. "So the captain and the others are still pretty anxious. Before you all arrived, twenty people had already been screened out."

"How were they screened out?" Wizet asked. He was quite interested in the Quidditch tryouts.

"Hovering, accelerating, weaving, sharp turns..." Cho Chang counted them off on her fingers. "The captain would call out moves at random. If you couldn't keep up, you were out..."