The New Season (Thanks to Tian Qiqi who likes paulownia trees for sending love and electricity!)

Ever since the minor incident where Lockhart almost died in the classroom because of the pixies, he no longer brought small creatures to class.

Instead, he read passages from his books to the students and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic snippets, presumably seeing that Su Yu never brought a book and wanting to amuse him. However, the unlucky one was Harry, because Lockhart usually picked him to help him act them out.

As Lockhart's performances escalated, he treated every class like a personal show.

So far, Harry had been forced to play a foolish Transylvanian villager whose spell Lockhart broke; a Himalayan Yeti with a severe cold; and a vampire that, after being dealt with by Lockhart, could eat nothing except lettuce. Every time a performance ended, he even took off his hat and bowed to Su Yu.

In their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Harry was once again dragged to the front of the classroom, and this time he played a werewolf. Yet Harry was thinking that if it weren't to keep Lockhart in a good mood, he definitely would have refused to do it.

Therefore, Harry Potter has long since taught us a truth: a bootlicker ranks behind a dog.

Harry stood at the front of the classroom with fuzzy wolf-claw gloves on his hands, a few whiskers painted on his face, and an exaggerated pair of fangs jammed in his mouth.

"A magnificent howl, Harry—just like that—and then, if you'll believe it, I pounce—like this—throw him hard to the floor—like this—with one hand—I'm going to pin him down—with the other, I press my wand to his throat—I then muster my remaining strength and cast a most complex spell—he lets out a pitiful groan—go on, Harry, a bit higher—good—the fur vanishes—the fangs retract—he turns back into a human. Simple yet effective—another village will forever remember me, a hero who saved them from the fear of monthly werewolf attacks."

The bell rang, and Lockhart strode off.

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

As soon as class ended, Su Yu saw the trio acting all stealthy, looking exactly like some detective gang, though the three of them combined couldn't even scrape together a single brain cell of Conan's.

Su Yu didn't disturb them, holding Daphne's hand as they walked out of the classroom.

Recently, the rumors among the students of the other three houses had been spreading more and more fiercely, all claiming that Harry Potter was the heir of Slytherin, and they even made them up with plausible details. Some said that Harry had snatched the Philosopher's Stone from the Three-Headed Dog back in his first year, and that was the power of Slytherin. Others said that the relationship between Harry and Malfoy wasn't good because Malfoy knew his secret—this claim was a bit absurd; when had Malfoy ever had a good relationship with anyone?

The Slytherins who knew about this scoffed at it. It wasn't as if they hadn't seen his pathetic state in the Otherworld back in his first year—scared by Voldemort to the point where he couldn't speak coherently, and even hauled up from the ground by Fa-jie. If Harry was the heir, then what was their prefect Su Yu? The heir of the universe? My Love from the Star?

To be honest though, Harry had been attending school for seven years; aside from his last year when he was rarely around and his third year where nothing major happened, he had simply been targeted for five solid years. Every time Su Yu thought about it, he wanted to laugh; this belonged to the category of must-watch annual programs. Especially Gryffindor, it was always they who took the lead in starting the isolation, rather pathetic, these little lions.

On Saturday morning, the new year's Quidditch match was about to begin, and today was also against our old rivals: Slytherin versus Gryffindor!

By nearly eleven o'clock, everyone began setting off for the Quidditch pitch. Yet why was the weather today so cold, with thunder rumbling from time to time? The sky was grayish-white, and the clouds pressed down very low, like a huge sheet of lead covering the top of their heads.

On the Gryffindor side, Wood was still continuously encouraging this group of little lions. He stood in front of the locker room, his face flushed red, talking wildly with grand gestures. Fred and George leaned against the wall, one tying his wrist guards, the other inspecting a broom.

As for the Slytherin side, it was much quieter. Under Ka-jie's tactical training, they had long been fully prepared to wipe out these Gryffindors.

Ka-jie stood in the stands, her green eyes sweeping across every team member's face. "Remember the tactics. Mark their Seeker to the death, and don't let the Bludger get near our Chasers. Malfoy, your task today is to harass Potter, not chase the Snitch."

Malfoy nodded, clutching his Nimbus 2001, his chin held even higher than usual.

When both sides walked out onto the pitch, a thunderous sound rang out, mostly cheers. For the people from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were eager to see Slytherin defeated. Yet the Slytherin folks also let out some jeers and catcalls in the crowd, the two sounds mingling together and echoing over the stadium.

Madame Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, made Marcus and Wood shake hands. They gave each other a threatening look and intentionally gripped hands heavily with deep meaning, after which Wood almost cried out—how on earth did Marcus have such strength? Wood's fingers were crunched until they cracked, his face distorted.

"On my whistle," said Madame Hooch, "three... two... one..."

Driven by the roaring urges of the crowd to begin, the four competitors rose into the slanted sky.

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

"Little fool, is it alright up there?" yelled Malfoy, speeding past beneath him, seemingly wanting to show off the speed of his broom. The Nimbus 2001 gleamed silver beneath the gloomy sky, its speed astonishingly fast, Malfoy's robes whipping loudly in the wind.

Harry didn't answer. Right at that moment, a dark, heavy Bludger smashed toward him. He dodged by a hair's breadth, feeling the Bludger mess up his hair as it passed. The sphere flew past his ear, stirring up a sharp whistling sound.

"Stay close, Harry," George said, gripping his bat and preparing to hit the Bludger back toward Slytherin. Harry saw George deliver a forceful blow with the Bludger toward the opposing team's direction, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and flew right back toward Harry.

Harry rapidly dropped down to avoid it. George tried to whack it hard at Malfoy. Once more, the Bludger bounced back like a boomerang, striking Harry on the head. Darkness clouded Harry's vision, and he almost fell off his broom, biting his teeth to steady his body.

Harry suddenly accelerated, turning toward the other side of the pitch. He heard the Bludger howling closely behind him. What was going on? Bludgers had never locked onto a player so persistently before; their job was to knock down as many people as possible, not to fixate on just one person.

Fred was waiting for the Bludger on the other side. When Fred dealt the Bludger a full-powered blow, Harry quickly lowered his head, and the Bludger was hit dead center.

"It's done for!" yelled Fred excitedly. But he was wrong; Harry seemed to attract the Bludger like a magnet, and it followed closely behind him once more. Harry had to fly away at full speed, with the Bludger in hot pursuit behind him like a black poisonous snake with eyes.

It started to rain. Harry felt heavy raindrops beating against his face, blurring his glasses. He was oblivious to everything else in the match until he heard the commentator Lee Jordan say, "Slytherin Academy has taken a commanding lead, one hundred and eighty to zero!"

Deafening cheers erupted from the Slytherin stands.

With a deafening crash, Harry plunged into the muddy ground, rolling off his broom. His arm hung at a strange angle, the bone protruding from beneath the flesh, stark white and enough to make one's scalp tingle. Pain overwhelmed Harry, and he heard what sounded like the mingled sounds of whistles and shouts coming from afar. He stared at the Golden Snitch gripped tightly in his hand—wondering when he had caught it, perhaps at the very instant he fell—and then he passed out.

The match was over. In the heavy rain, Harry had finally caught the Golden Snitch, but his arm had also been smashed and broken by the incoming Bludger.

The final score was Slytherin two hundred and seventy to Gryffindor one hundred and fifty, a complete defeat for Gryffindor.

Waves of cheers rose from the Slytherin stands. Malfoy raised his fist in the air, Crabbe and Goyle jumped while hugging each other in the stands, Pansy was so excited her tears came out, and Ka-jie merely smiled, turning her head to go look for Su Yu.

The ground below was already in complete chaos. The Gryffindor players, Ron, Hermione, and Lockhart surrounded Harry in a tight cluster. Colin was still snapping photos nearby without stopping, the shutter sounds clicking rapidly, and the flashbulbs blinking on and off amidst the curtain of rain, irritatingly annoying. Lockhart squeezed to the very front, shouting loudly, "Let me through, I know healing magic," his facial expression one of excitement as if saying, "It's finally my turn to shine."

Su Yu's stand had a large rain canopy. He was drinking cola while setting up a grill to eat skewers; the charcoal burned glowing red beneath the canopy, and grease from the meat skewers dripped onto the charcoal, sizzling and emitting a puff of white smoke.

Su Yu ate with his mouth covered in grease, and Kurama ate with cumin powder smudged on the tip of his nose. Both of them looked as though they had just returned from a battlefield, while Daphne exasperatedly wiped the mouths of him and Kurama without stopping. Fa-jie, on the other hand, sat gracefully on Su Yu's other side, though occasionally she would also find the smoke too heavy and pull out her wand to blow all the smoke toward Su Yu's side. Su Yu coughed twice from the smoke and glared at Fa-jie, who pretended not to notice.

Ka-jie walked over at this moment. During the match just now, she had been standing at the edge of the viewing platform directing the Slytherin team, which left her shoulders slightly damp from the rain, a large patch on the shoulder of her robe darkened in color. Daphne handed her a towel, which she took to dry her hair, then sat down beside Fa-jie, taking the skewer of roasted mutton handed over by Su Yu. She took a bite and her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Delicious," said Ka-jie.

Su Yu smiled at her and handed over another skewer.

Heaven knows what sort of stunt Lockhart pulled that made the scene below even more chaotic, and Harry's miserable screams pierced through the entire stadium.

Su Yu saw Hermione and Ron and the others carrying Harry and running toward the Hospital Wing. He also packed up his barbecue setup to head back to the common room, with Kurama grabbing the last piece of grilled mutton chop in its jaws. The few of them walked back leisurely, the rain pattering against the umbrella surfaces and making crisp snapping sounds.

By the next evening, Hermione sat next to Su Yu during dinner, though her complexion wasn't looking too good. Hermione told Su Yu and the others about how Lockhart had used the wrong spell yesterday; he had used a bone-removing charm instead of a bone-mending charm, making all thirty-three of Harry's arm bones completely vanish. Madame Pomfrey was furious, saying she had never seen anyone so foolish.

Su Yu ate his strawberry pie while listening to Hermione's nagging.

"However, she said later on that Skele-Gro can grow them back, it just takes time." Hermione took a deep breath. "Also, I've heard that last night there was another petrification. This time it was Colin—that Gryffindor boy who loves taking photos."

Su Yu's brow furrowed slightly.

"He sneaked out at night, wanting to go see Harry, and ended up being discovered in the corridor. Filch found him, and he was still holding a bunch of grapes..." Hermione's voice trailed off.

Hermione had already gotten hold of Su Yu's Kurama Cloak badge.

"Keep it on you all the time recently," Su Yu looked into Hermione's eyes and instructed. "If something feels off, open it right away. Not to mention it can directly prevent curses like petrification, I'll also be able to sense it instantly and rush right to your side."

Hermione lowered her head, looking at the small badge on her robe, her fingers gently brushing against the emblem.

Su Yu knew she liked adventures; after all, being little lions of Gryffindor, they naturally loved rushing into dangerous places and couldn't be stopped. Even with Fa-jie, Ka-jie, and Daphne, he had never tried to hold them back from things they liked, so he merely instructed Hermione to be careful.

Kurama lay flat on Su Yu's lap, looking at Hermione, and gently patted Hermione's arm with its tail, as if also wanting to tell Hermione, "You be careful too" and "Go ahead and cause trouble, big sis has got your back."