Malfoy wore a smile. Two successful charges had put him at ease.
Before he could say anything else to taunt the other side,
he saw a raised leg kick straight toward Harry's head as Harry waited off to the side for play to resume.
"Watch out-!" Malfoy reached toward him, shouting in alarm.
No one had expected the dummies, which had only attacked after play began, to disregard even the basic rules of Quidditch.
They attacked outright during the setup phase, when movement was prohibited.
"What?" The dizziness in Harry's head slowed his reaction by a beat. The smile from scoring two goals in a row still lingered on his face.
The next second, the kick sent him flying. Blood sprayed through the air, and Harry fell from his broomstick like a torn sack, limp and weightless.
"Harry-!"
"Potter-!"
Cedric flew toward Harry like a madman, while Malfoy's eyes went red.
Throwing caution to the wind, Malfoy pushed his broomstick to its limit and flew toward the dummy that had delivered the underhanded blow, his face twisted with rage.
With the wind whistling around him, he drove the hard broom handle straight into the dummy's head!
"Tweeeet-!"
The dummy referee blew its whistle. Expressionless, it made a gesture and announced without a trace of emotion:
"Hogwarts Team: Harry Potter has lost consciousness. Number of participating players reduced by one. Draco Malfoy deliberately injured an opposing player with a dangerous maneuver and is sent off.
Current number of participating players remaining: one."
"F**k!!!"
Every spectator who had been anxiously following the Third Task leaped to their feet, cursing the dummy referee and players with the foulest words they had ever learned.
"Are you blind? Attacking an opposing player during setup isn't a foul?"
"Can't you see that boy's already been knocked