Once the Twins closed in on Marcus, they exchanged a glance and began harassing the big fellow with a sandwich tactic.
Marcus lost his patience and swung his bat, ready to give the pair a nasty hit.
George immediately warned him with a grin.
"The Deputy Headmaster said no deliberate fouls! Careful, or you'll be warming the bench from now on."
Marcus shuddered involuntarily. Gritting his teeth, he jostled with the Twins in midair, keeping both of them occupied in the process.
Shawn was now short of someone to feed him balls, but that hardly mattered.
He could just put backspin on every shot from now on. Two Bludgers were more than enough.
After a while, he spotted an opening and was about to send a reverse shot out to disrupt the opposition.
But just then, his vision blurred, and his bat sliced through empty air.
The Bludger skimmed his scalp and flew behind him.
That sudden, perilous miss made all the young wizards gasp.
Hermione, who was recording the match with a video camera, immediately noticed something odd.
She hurriedly rewound the footage and saw a beam of light shine onto Shawn's face.
Hermione was fairly good at mathematics, physics, and chemistry. She immediately understood what had happened and knew someone had to be playing a prank.
Fuming, Hermione began using the camera as a magnifying glass, turning its lens toward the stands to find whoever had dared break the rules.
But she probably would not find them anytime soon, and distant help could not solve an immediate crisis.
Once Shawn's vision cleared, his gaze sharpened. He traced the light back to a tower nestled among the stands, its tip made of polished iron.
That thing had just reflected an intense ray of sunlight into his eyes, temporarily blinding