In the end, Hufflepuff failed to find any more players. The tryouts were canceled, and the four students who wanted to join the Quidditch team briefly got acquainted with the veteran players before going their separate ways.
When Roy and the others headed back to the common room, it was not even dark yet. Cedric was clearly unhappy. Of everyone there, he was the one who most wanted to win the Quidditch Cup. Cedric, who had arrived full of ambition and had even bought a new broom over the summer, had never expected his house team to be in such a sorry state. He was practically despairing already.
"Don't be too discouraged, Cedric."
Roy was in quite a good mood and even took the initiative to comfort Cedric.
"We're actually pretty strong. Don't underestimate us."
Cedric, for one, could not see any strength worth mentioning among them. All they had done was make fools of themselves in front of the other three houses.
Of course, Owen was in an even better mood than Roy after successfully stepping down. As a victim of several disastrous defeats last season, he was delighted to have escaped today.
"That's right, Roy's right. Don't be depressed, Cedric. You'll get used to it."
"..."
In any case, Roy had joined the team today. The first round of Quidditch matches would begin in mid-November, with Hufflepuff facing Ravenclaw. From now on, Roy would have to start training as well. Hufflepuff did not train much, though—only once or twice a week, usually in the evenings or on weekends.
There was no helping it. For Hufflepuff students, getting up at six in the morning to train was simply too difficult. Even a good student like Cedric had given up after keeping up morning reading for half a year. Now