Cyberpunk 2077

While Slytherin's Bletchley had his eyes on Angelina, Hermione quietly approached from behind.

Just as he was about to repeat his earlier stunt, he suddenly noticed someone beside him.

Hermione flashed a crooked, swaggering grin.

Bletchley had a terrible feeling. He was about to accelerate and put some distance between them when a shout rang out beside his ear.

"Man!"

Hermione suddenly drove her elbow into him. A sharp pain shot through Bletchley's left ribs, as though several had snapped. The unexpected blow sent him spinning several times before he plunged headfirst into the sand.

"Beautiful!"

The Weasley Twins, always happy to see the chaos escalate, gave Hermione repeated thumbs-ups.

"You!"

Slytherin captain Flint saw the whole thing from a distance. He even forgot to shoot the Quaffle, simply freezing in place, which let Alicia steal the ball and score.

"Ten points to Gryffindor!"

Lee Jordan delivered his commentary in a loud, excited voice.

Flint looked a little dazed. Was this really the Gryffindor he knew?

Why did this first-year called Hermione seem even more underhanded than Slytherin?

Had she been sorted into the wrong house?

With two players down in an instant, Slytherin faced mounting pressure and switched from offense to defense.

Seeing Hermione head straight for her next victim, Flint's eyes widened.

Again?!

He hurriedly shouted, "Watch out!"

The other players had also noticed what had just happened, and they all became intensely wary of Hermione.

When one player saw Hermione charging toward him, he immediately began weaving up, down, left, and right, giving her no chance to touch him.

Seeing this, Hermione simply stopped chasing, raised her bat, and timed a swing to send a Bludger at him.

Seeing the Bludger flying straight toward him, her opponent was about to dodge sideways when a blinding light suddenly shone from the front of Hermione's broomstick.

The brilliant white light nearly blinded the poor bastard.

He instinctively covered his streaming eyes, missing his chance to dodge. The Bludger struck him square in the face, and he plummeted headfirst to the ground.

Fuck!

Flint swore inwardly.

"Cheating! She's cheating with spells!" he shouted, pointing at Hermione.

Madam Hooch shook her head, cast Sonorus, and replied loudly, "She hasn't drawn her wand, and there's no sign of spellcasting. Play on!"

Looking at Hermione's empty hands, Flint simply couldn't understand it.

Only when he looked more closely did he notice something like a laser flashlight shining at the front of her broomstick. Yet it was far brighter than any flashlight he knew.

It was nearly as powerful as a flashbang.

"My eyesight isn't great," Hermione said casually. "It's perfectly reasonable to put a headlight on my broomstick so I can see."

Before Flint could react, she headed straight for the next player.

The next player she targeted saw Hermione coming toward him. Remembering the sorry state of his three teammates, his gaze hardened, and he prepared to meet her head-on.

I'm big and strong. Surely I can take on one little girl?

He charged straight at Hermione.

"HOOONK!!!"

Just as they were about to collide, he heard an earth-shattering blast from directly ahead. For an instant, he felt as though he were face-to-face with a train sounding its horn. His eardrums nearly burst, and his head spun. His broomstick immediately went out of control, sending him crashing down.

Hermione took off her earmuffs and glanced back at Flint.

"I was worried about hitting someone, so I installed a horn on my broomstick to warn your players about an impending collision. No need to thank me."

Over the next thirty seconds, Hermione repeated the process, switching on her high beams, honking her horn, and blasting exhaust smoke. She sent all the remaining Slytherin players packing, leaving only their bucktoothed captain, Flint, still on the pitch.

By then, Hermione had scared him witless. Winning or losing no longer mattered. Only one thought remained in his mind.

I mustn't let Hermione get close!

With that thought, he turned and fled. With his broomstick accelerating flat out, Hermione actually couldn't catch him for a moment.

They were both riding Nimbus 2000s, so their top speeds were identical.

Hermione immediately pressed the red button on the side of her broomstick.

"Ahahaha! Here comes the nitro!"

The next second, an inconspicuous gold-and-red module at the tail of her broomstick rapidly unfolded, then blasted out blue flames like a rocket thruster.

BOOM!

As alternating red and blue neon lights lit up along the broom handle, Hermione's speed suddenly surged. In an instant, she was right behind Flint.

Flint was terrified. "Impossible! They're both Nimbus 2000s! Why is your broomstick so fast?" he screamed.

Hermione sneered.

A mere Nimbus 2000? Her broomstick had long since ceased to be one. Now it had a more advanced name.

Cyberpunk 2077!

Alternating red and blue light washed over Flint's face. He could only watch helplessly as Hermione drew closer and closer.

"One, two, three..."

"Eat elbow!"

Smack!

Looking at the utterly bewildered Wood, Hermione gave him a thumbs-up and winked, her expression smug:

"Forgot to mention-I'm damn good at Road Rash!"

Flint lay on the ground, surrounded by groaning teammates. He struggled to his feet and pointed at Hermione, his hands trembling slightly and his face filled with grief and outrage.

"You... are you even human?!"

Then, with a strangled squawk, he fainted.

The entire stadium fell silent. Even the other Gryffindor players had stopped moving. Only Harry, whose eyes were fixed on the Golden Snitch, remained oblivious to the chaos on the pitch and continued dutifully chasing it.

Hermione shrugged.

It was a ball game. A few casualties were perfectly normal.

Someone had even committed the heinous act of killing the referee during a match in 1357.

She had already shown plenty of restraint.

In the teachers' stands, even Quirrell was gaping, never mind everyone else. He had temporarily forgotten his grand mission of cursing Harry into falling to his death.

Three minutes later, with everyone silently watching, Harry finally caught the Golden Snitch.

Holding the Golden Snitch, he looked thrilled and was just about to shout when he suddenly realized that, at some point, everything around him had gone utterly silent. Everyone was looking at him with complicated expressions.

And for some reason, all the Slytherin players were sprawled about, unconscious.

Harry glanced at the scoreboard. Nothing was wrong there.

Hang on. I caught the Golden Snitch. We won. Why isn't anyone reacting?

Hermione flew over beside Harry and patted his shoulder.

"Congratulations on catching the Golden Snitch and scoring a whopping 150 points all by yourself! We won!"

"You were amazing!"

Sensing the strange atmosphere, Harry asked tentatively, "We... really won?"

"Yep, we won."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then they..."

"Oh, don't worry about those little details."

Hermione waved a hand.

In the stands, the professors exchanged looks.

Had she committed a foul?

Apparently not.

She hadn't used magic or thrown anything at anyone. It had all been ordinary physical contact within acceptable bounds, which was unavoidable.

Even if her actions had been somewhat excessive, Slytherin had started it. If anyone was to be penalized, they would have to be penalized first.

The headlight was merely there to let her see ahead, and the horn and light strips were to warn others against collisions... that was Hermione's explanation, anyway. As for why her broomstick spewed exhaust... the rules didn't seem to forbid modifications like that.

Everything seemed perfectly normal.

So why did the outcome look so strange?

After thinking for a moment, Madam Hooch looked toward the commentary box and gave a slight nod.

The commentator took the hint and shouted:

"Harry Potter has caught the Golden Snitch! The match is over! With a score of 160-0, Gryffindor wins! Let's congratulate Gryffindor!"

Beaming with joy, Harry raised the Golden Snitch high and basked in everyone's attention.

After two seconds of silence, the entire stadium erupted into thunderous cheers.

"Hermione!"

"Hermione!"

"Hermione!"

Harry: ???