New Season (Thanks to Tian Qiqi, Who Loves Paulownia Trees, for the Power of Love!)

Ever since that incident with the pixies, when Lockhart had nearly died in the classroom, he stopped bringing small creatures into class.

Instead, he read passages from his books to the students, sometimes reenacting some of the more dramatic snippets. He probably noticed that Su Yu never brought his books and wanted to amuse him. Unfortunately, Harry was the one who suffered, because Lockhart usually chose him to help act things out.

As Lockhart's performances grew increasingly excessive, he treated every lesson like a personal show.

By now, Harry had been forced to play a foolish Transylvanian villager whose curse Lockhart broke; a Himalayan snowman with a terrible cold; and a vampire who, after being dealt with by Lockhart, could eat nothing but lettuce. After every performance, Lockhart even removed his hat and saluted Su Yu.

During this Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Harry was dragged to the front of the classroom again. This time, he was playing a werewolf. Harry thought that if it were not for keeping Lockhart in a good mood, he would definitely refuse.

So Harry Potter had long taught them one lesson: bootlickers ranked below dogs.

Harry stood at the front of the classroom, his hands stuffed into furry wolf-paw gloves, several whiskers painted on his face, and an exaggerated set of fangs shoved into his mouth.

"Excellent howling, Harry—just like that—then, if you can believe it, I launch my surprise attack—like this—throwing him hard onto the floor—like this—with one hand—I hold him down—with the other, I press my wand to his throat—I then summon the last of my strength and cast an extremely complicated spell—he lets out a pitiful moan—keep going, Harry, louder—good—the fur vanishes—the fangs retract—he turns back into a human. Simple but effective—another village will remember me forever, the hero who saved them from the fear of monthly werewolf attacks."

The bell rang, and Lockhart strode away.

"Your homework is to write a poem about how I defeated the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! The best one will receive a signed handwritten copy of Magical Me!"

As soon as class ended, Su Yu noticed the three little ones sneaking about suspiciously, looking exactly like some detective gang. But the three of them together did not have even one Conan's worth of brains.

Su Yu did not disturb them. He took Daphne's hand and led her out of the classroom.

Recently, rumors among the students of the other three houses had been growing more and more outrageous. Everyone claimed that Harry Potter was Slytherin's true heir, and they made it sound convincing. Some said that Harry had snatched the Philosopher's Stone from the Three-Headed Dog in his first year, which was proof of Slytherin's power. Others said Harry and Malfoy had a bad relationship because Malfoy knew his secret—though that was a little absurd. When had Malfoy ever gotten along with anyone?

The Slytherins who knew the truth scoffed at it. It was not as though they had not seen Harry's embarrassing state in the Inner World during his first year—he had been so frightened by Voldemort that he could barely speak, and Sister Fa had even dragged him up from the ground. If Harry was the heir, then what was their prefect Su Yu? The heir of the universe? My Love from the Star?

But honestly, Harry attended school for seven years. Aside from his final year, when he was rarely around, and his third year, when nothing major happened, he had been targeted for a full five years. Every time Su Yu thought about it, he wanted to laugh. It was practically an annual show. Gryffindor in particular always took the lead in isolating him. Those little lions were rather pathetic.

On Saturday morning, the new year's Quidditch matches were about to begin. Today's game was between old rivals: Slytherin versus Gryffindor!

Near eleven o'clock, everyone began heading for the Quidditch pitch. But why was the weather so cold today? Thunder rumbled every now and then, the sky was gray and dim, and the clouds hung low, like an enormous slab of lead pressing down overhead.

On the Gryffindor side, Wood was still constantly encouraging the little lions. He stood before the changing room, face flushed red, waving his arms as he spoke. Fred and George leaned against the wall, one fastening his wrist guards and the other checking his broom.

The Slytherin side was much quieter. After Sister Ka's tactical training, they had long been poised and ready to wipe out those Gryffindors in seconds.

Sister Ka stood in the stands, her green eyes sweeping over every player's face. "Remember the tactics. Keep their Seeker pinned down, and don't let the Bludgers get near our Chasers. Malfoy, your task today is to interfere with Potter, not chase the Snitch."

Malfoy nodded, gripping his Nimbus 2001, his chin raised even higher than usual.

When both sides came out onto the field, a thunderous roar erupted, mostly cheers. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were both eager to see Slytherin defeated. But the Slytherins in the crowd also let out jeers and boos, the two sounds mixing together and echoing above the pitch.

Madam Hooch, the Quidditch instructor, had Marcus and Wood shake hands. They gave each other threatening looks and deliberately gripped each other's hands hard, as though trying to make a point. Then Wood nearly cried out—why was Marcus so strong? His fingers creaked under the pressure, and his face twisted.

"On my whistle," Madam Hooch said. "Three... two... one..."

As the crowd roared for them to begin, the fourteen players rose into the slanted sky.

Harry flew higher than anyone else, squinting as he searched for the Golden Snitch.

"Feeling all right up there, little fool?" Malfoy shouted as he sped beneath him, seemingly eager to show off his broom's speed. The Nimbus 2001 gleamed silver beneath the gloomy sky, moving astonishingly fast, Malfoy's robes snapping in the wind.

Harry did not answer. At that moment, a heavy black Bludger hurtled toward him. He dodged it narrowly, feeling it ruffle his hair as it passed. The ball skimmed past his ear, bringing a sharp whistle of wind with it.

"Get closer, Harry," George said, gripping his bat and preparing to hit the Bludger back toward Slytherin. Harry saw George give the Bludger a powerful strike toward the opposing team, but it changed direction in midair and flew back toward Harry.

Harry quickly dropped to avoid it. George tried to smash it hard toward Malfoy. Once again, the Bludger bounced back like a boomerang and struck Harry in the head. Harry's vision went black, and he nearly fell from his broom, but he gritted his teeth and steadied himself.

Harry suddenly accelerated toward the other side of the field. He heard the Bludger whistling after him. What was going on? Bludgers had never fixated on one player like this. Their job was to knock down as many people as possible, not chase one person relentlessly.

Fred was waiting for the Bludger on the other side. When he gave it a full-force hit, Harry swiftly ducked, and the Bludger was struck dead-on.

"It's done for!" Fred shouted excitedly, but he was wrong. Harry seemed to attract the Bludger like a magnet. It followed him again, forcing Harry to fly away at full speed, while the Bludger pursued him relentlessly like a black venomous snake with eyes.

It began to rain. Harry felt heavy raindrops striking his face and blurring his glasses. He knew nothing about the rest of the match until he heard commentator Lee Jordan say, "Slytherin is far in the lead, one hundred and eighty to zero!"

Deafening cheers erupted from the Slytherin stands.

With an ear-splitting crash, Harry slammed into the muddy ground and rolled off his broom. His arm hung at a strange angle, bone protruding beneath the flesh, white and ghastly enough to make one's scalp crawl. Pain overwhelmed Harry. He heard whistles and shouts mingling as if from far away. He stared at the Golden Snitch clenched in his hand—he did not know when he had caught it, perhaps in the instant he fell—then he passed out.

The match was over. Harry had finally caught the Golden Snitch in the pouring rain, but his arm had also been broken by the flying Bludger.

The final score was Slytherin two hundred and seventy to Gryffindor's one hundred and fifty. Gryffindor had suffered a crushing defeat.

The cheers from the Slytherin stands rose wave after wave. Malfoy raised his fist in the air, Crabbe and Goyle hugged each other and jumped in the stands, Pansy was so excited that tears came to her eyes, and Sister Ka merely smiled before turning to look for Su Yu.

The field below had already fallen into chaos. The Gryffindor players, Ron, Hermione, and Lockhart had all gathered around Harry. Colin was still taking pictures nonstop nearby, the shutter clicking away, flashes flickering through the rain and irritating everyone. Lockhart squeezed to the front and loudly declared, "Let me handle this. I know healing magic." His face was full of the excitement of someone thinking, Finally, it's my turn to shine.

Su Yu's section of the stands had a large rain shelter. He was drinking cola while grilling skewers, the charcoal burning bright red beneath the canopy. Grease dripped from the meat onto the coals, sizzling and sending up white smoke.

Su Yu's mouth was greasy, while Nine-Tailed Fox had cumin powder stuck to the tip of her nose. The two of them looked as though they had just returned from a battlefield. Daphne kept wiping their mouths in disgust, while Sister Fa sat elegantly on Su Yu's other side. Occasionally, however, she also complained that there was too much smoke and took out her wand to direct it all toward Su Yu. Su Yu coughed twice from the smoke and glared at Sister Fa, who pretended not to notice.

Sister Ka also walked over at this time. During the match, she had stood at the edge of the viewing stand directing the Slytherin team, and rain had dampened her shoulders, leaving a large dark patch on her robes. Daphne handed her a towel. She accepted it, dried her hair, then sat beside Sister Fa. Taking the grilled lamb skewer Su Yu offered her, she bit into it and narrowed her eyes.

"Delicious," Sister Ka said.

Su Yu smiled at her and handed her another skewer.

No one knew what Lockhart had done down there, but the scene only grew more chaotic, and Harry's screams pierced the entire stadium.

Su Yu saw Hermione, Ron, and the others carrying Harry toward the hospital wing, so he packed up the barbecue stall and prepared to return to the common room. Nine-Tailed Fox carried off the last grilled lamb chop, and the group slowly made their way back, rain pattering against their umbrellas.

The following evening, Hermione sat beside Su Yu while eating, but she looked unwell. She told Su Yu and the others that Lockhart had used the wrong spell yesterday. He had turned the Bone-Healing Charm into a Bone-Removal Charm and made all thirty-three of Harry's hand bones disappear. Madam Pomfrey had been especially furious, saying she had never seen anyone so stupid.

Su Yu listened to Hermione's chatter while eating strawberry pie.

"But Madam Pomfrey later said that Skele-Gro can grow them back. It'll just take time." Hermione took a deep breath. "Also, I heard that someone else was petrified last night. This time it was Colin—the Gryffindor boy who loves taking pictures."

Su Yu frowned.

"He sneaked out at night because he wanted to see Harry, but someone found him in the corridor. Filch found him, and he was still holding a bunch of grapes..." Hermione's voice trailed off.

Hermione had possessed Su Yu's Nine-Tails Cloak Badge for a long time already.

"Keep it on you at all times lately," Su Yu instructed as he looked into Hermione's eyes. "If anything feels wrong, activate it immediately. Not only can it directly prevent curses like petrification, but I can sense it too and get to your side right away."

Hermione lowered her head and looked at the tiny badge on her robes, lightly brushing the emblem with her finger.

Su Yu knew she liked adventure. After all, she was one of Gryffindor's little lions. They were born to charge toward danger, and no one could stop them. Even Sister Fa, Sister Ka, and Daphne had never been stopped from doing what they liked, so he merely told Hermione to be careful.

Nine-Tailed Fox lay on Su Yu's lap and looked at Hermione, her tail lightly patting Hermione's arm. She also wanted to tell Hermione, "Be careful too," and, "Go ahead and get into trouble. Big sister has your back."