Hermione's unbeatable tactic

"Professor McGonagall, isn't this a little..."

Wood looked constipated.

As Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, he wasn't questioning Professor McGonagall's judgment. After all, she had won a Quidditch medal back in her playing days.

But however promising they were, they were still just two first-year wizards. This was probably their very first day of flying class. Could they really handle those positions?

Gryffindor had been struggling at Quidditch for years, constantly suppressed by Slytherin. With only a month or two left before the official matches, even talented newcomers were unlikely to outperform the experienced older students.

Worse still, there were two of them.

They could just about manage to carry one newcomer, but two at once? Wasn't that a guaranteed loss?

Not that he'd expected to win in the first place, but they couldn't afford to lose too embarrassingly.

But seeing Professor McGonagall lost in her visions of the future, Wood ultimately chose to keep quiet. He smiled at Hermione and Harry. "Welcome to the Quidditch team, you two."

Harry looked thrilled.

Hermione merely shrugged.

After Professor McGonagall left, Wood thought for a moment and said, "How about this? After class, I'll take you outside and explain the rules of Quidditch. You can give it a try while we're at it."

The sun was setting.

The students had long since left the field.

Hermione and Harry followed Wood to the middle of the field, with a trunk floating in front of them.

Hermione released the spell, and the trunk landed heavily on the ground with a thud.

After class, Wood had immediately taken them to request permission to use the field, then fetched the trunk containing the Quidditch equipment.

Seeing Wood panting with exhaustion, Harry hurried over to help carry it.

Since Hermione was a little girl, the two had gentlemanly refrained from asking her to help.

Halfway there, Hermione couldn't bear watching any longer.

"Um... Wood, you do know we're wizards, right?"

"Of course. Why?"

Wood looked puzzled.

"So couldn't we save ourselves all this effort and use a little magic? Like this..."

Hermione raised her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa."

Harry and Wood immediately felt the load in their hands grow much lighter.

"..."

The two exchanged a silent glance.

"Ahem..." Wood cleared his throat. "Well, we may be wizards, but that doesn't mean we have to use spells for everything. Getting some exercise now and then is important too..."

Hermione gave him a flat look.

"...All right, I forgot." Wood pinched his nose.

Clearly, he didn't use spells much in his daily life.

"But Hermione, being able to lift such a heavy trunk with the Levitation Charm and move it so far... you're hardly like a wizard who's only just started school," Wood said in amazement.

He hadn't expected recruiting for Quidditch to bring him face-to-face with the two most famous first-years at once.

"The Boy Who Lived" and the "Library Witch."

He opened the trunk, revealing three balls arranged inside. The one in the middle was noticeably larger than the other two.

"The rules of Quidditch are actually quite easy to understand..." Wood explained patiently.

Through Wood's explanation, Hermione gained a basic understanding.

Quidditch was a ball game played by wizards riding broomsticks through the sky. Its most unusual feature was that it used three different kinds of balls at once.

Each team had seven players: one Keeper, three Chasers, two Beaters, and one Seeker.

The Chasers passed the Quaffle between them, aiming to throw it through the opposing team's hoops, rather like shooting baskets.

The Beaters protected their teammates from the Bludgers flying around the pitch and hit them toward their opponents.

The Seeker searched for and caught the smallest, fastest ball on the pitch, the Golden Snitch.

The Keeper's job was self-explanatory. Everyone understood that.

Wood was the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's Keeper.

As he spoke, Wood took out the largest ball from the middle.

"This is the Quaffle. Scoring a goal earns you ten points."

Next, he handed Hermione something resembling a bat. "You're a Beater. Your job is to hit these two Bludgers."

The remaining two, slightly smaller balls bounced restlessly inside the trunk. If they hadn't been chained down, they would probably have shot into the sky already.

Wood released one of them.

The Bludger immediately sprang up and flew wildly around the area.

"Remember, protect our players from the Bludgers!"

Seeing Hermione swing her bat with an audible whoosh, Wood's mouth twitched. He turned and ran a dozen or so meters away, and Harry followed his example.

From the way Hermione was swinging that bat, she looked less like she wanted to play ball and more like she wanted to fight.

As the ball flew closer, a flicker of excitement crossed Hermione's face, and she swung.

"Sho-ryu-ken!"

With a thunk, the Bludger shot away, heading straight for the two spectators in the distance.

Harry jumped in fright, his eyes widening. He ducked sharply, and the Bludger skimmed over his scalp in the nick of time.

Wood, standing behind him, wasn't so lucky. The ball struck him squarely in the lower abdomen, sending him toppling stiffly to the ground. He then clutched his stomach in agony, curled up like a cooked shrimp.

Harry hurried over. After confirming that Wood was all right, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief, though his heart was still pounding.

If he hadn't reacted so quickly, he would have become Nearly Headless Harry.

Wood struggled to his feet.

"H-Hermione... you've got... plenty of power. But could you... aim before you hit...?" Wood stammered.

Hermione looked apologetic.

Harry suddenly shouted, "Hermione, behind you!"

Hermione instantly went on alert. Feeling a rush of air behind her head, she tilted her head aside and instinctively swung again.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the dark shape hurtling toward them like a cannonball once more, Harry and Wood only had time to blurt out "Holy shit!" before both dropped flat.

Just look at what you've been protecting! Wood roared inwardly.

Hermione, however, sank into thought. After a long while, inspiration suddenly struck.

"Wood, I've thought of a foolproof winning tactic!"

"What?" Wood stared.

"We change things up. No Chasers or Keeper-just six Beaters chasing down the other team's players, with one Seeker left to catch the Golden Snitch..." Hermione looked as though she'd discovered the key to everything. She declared proudly, "I call this tactic Invincible Six Protect One!"

Wood's mouth twitched. "There's a fixed number of players for each position. You can't just change the rules."

"Oh..."

Hermione sounded a little disappointed, but then her eyes lit up.

"Then can we knock our opponents down with spells, or use the Summoning Charm to pull the Golden Snitch straight to us?"

Wood swallowed. "Um... that's against the rules too. Using magic is forbidden during a Quidditch match, and all three types of balls are enchanted to resist spells..."

"Hmm..."

After thinking for a moment, Hermione looked up again.

"Then can I take a few knives onto the pitch and throw them at our opponents, or just use the bat..." Hermione waved her bat, closing one eye as she lined it up with Wood's head. "You know what I mean."

Wood broke out in a cold sweat.