Eighteen Jin a Day for Each Person... Was That So Hard?
Faced with Professor McGonagall's eager gaze, Harry, the new Quidditch captain of Gryffindor, readily agreed and stated:
"We'll definitely win the Quidditch Cup this year to celebrate your birthday."
But as soon as Harry stepped out of the Transfiguration office, he regretted it and almost slapped himself.
He'd rather die than win the championship!
Captain Angelina and the twin brothers, the best Beater, have all graduated... Without the three of them, Gryffindor's strength has plummeted to its lowest point in history.
With this lineup... forget about the championship, they'll at least make it to the semifinals.
But even if they don't win the championship, Harry has his reasons.
Who were his former teammates?
He's a legendary goalkeeper, Captain Wood, who always needs a foot massage after matches; he's the perfectly coordinated twins; he's Captain Angelina, whose scoring is as delicate as embroidery...
Who are these people you have now? You want me to lead them?
What level is Gryffindor Quidditch at now? There are only a few players, and Ron is playing goalkeeper for everything.
Can he defend it? No, he can't. He doesn't have the ability, you know?
So let's abandon our illusions and face reality.
All I can say is that this attempt to set a flag... backfired spectacularly.
Before Angelina graduated, she clearly told him not to agree to win the championship, no matter what method Professor McGonagall used.
This was life advice that Wood imparted to Angelina before she graduated; even earlier, Charlie had told Wood.
Three generations of captains, ten years of life and death, none of them have won a championship.
Professor McGonagall applied relentless pressure, which almost turned into a traditional skill of Gryffindor.
What worries Harry the most is that he has already won two runner-up titles.
The last Sanya king to be sent away was Cedric.
Is he next to be recorded in this shameful chapter of history?
As he stepped outside, Ron was waiting there.
"What did Professor McGonagall say? Is it going to stick with last year's lineup?" Ron asked nervously.
Harry glanced at him. "Keep last year's lineup, what kind of championship are you going to win?"
This birthday surprise might turn into a shock.
Ron's performance last year, in particular, was so bad it made everyone sick of watching him.
One match, fifty mistakes, so ridiculously funny, it's no different from a cooking Triwizard Tournament.
But he couldn't say it outright; Harry couldn't bear to hurt Ron's fragile, sensitive, and young heart.
He patted Ron on the shoulder and comforted him:
"We'll hold another selection, but don't worry, Ron. You'll definitely earn your place as goalkeeper based on your ability."
You're the best!
Ron was somewhat disappointed; he had thought he could skip the selection process because of his status as a veteran player.
Putting aside the possibility of getting in through Harry's connections, he at least proved his worth on the field, right?
Aren't they going to give us any preferential treatment?
Ron felt a little awkward and changed the subject, saying, "Harry, how's your investigation into the Half-Blood Prince going?"
Harry perked up again when the topic came up.
He worked tirelessly for several nights, sleeping in class during the day and researching in the library at night, and finally found a clue.
He pulled a very old newspaper from his pocket, handed it to Ron, and said with a smile, "Look at this! Look at the picture on it!"
Ron took the tattered newspaper and stared at the old, yellowed photos of the event.
The photo shows a thin girl who is about fifteen years old.
She wasn't pretty; her hair was frizzy and looked like it hadn't been washed in days. She seemed both eccentric and sullen.
She had thick eyebrows, a long face, and a pale complexion.
The caption below the photo reads: Erin Prince, Captain of the Slytherin Stone Team at Hogwarts.
This is an old news report about the Gobstones inter-school competition.
"Eileen Prince... Prince?" Ron exclaimed in surprise. "You think the Half-Blood Prince is this girl named Eileen?"
"It's hard to say, maybe it's a relative of hers, or maybe it's her son."
"I'm going to investigate this person's family further," Harry said, mustering his enthusiasm.
He wanted to prove with irrefutable facts that his Prince, the white moonlight in his heart, was definitely not Snape!
Look at Snape, that little rascal! Does he even deserve to be called the Half-Blood Prince?
Harry put away the newspaper and led Ron toward the Quidditch Pitch.
Sitting in the stands at the Quidditch Pitch, William yawned, then rested his head on Hermione's lap and tried to catch up on some sleep.
Last night, after he and Hermione had gone to sleep, Tonks, a Patronus, rushed to the Ancient Runes office and summoned him to carry out Auror mission.
Do you Auror have no one else besides me?!
Even the production team's Niffler wouldn't dare use it like that if you stayed up all night.
William was annoyed, but he still got up and went to carry out his mission.
It turns out that Death Eaters attacked a Muggle village in preparation for continuing to create an army of Inferi.
A battle was about to break out, and William didn't return until late at night, so he's very tired now.
He hadn't intended to come to the selection process; he wasn't even interested in observing the strength of his opponents.
How lonely it is to be invincible!
But Anne needs to be selected; even though she's been a veteran player for a year, she has to start all over again.
So she dragged William and Hermione along to watch the battle.
With the arrival of the new captain Harry, the Gryffindor selection process finally began in earnest.
Harry seemed inexperienced, and with so many participants, the entire arena descended into chaos.
Everyone was huddled together, flying around haphazardly, causing many people's brooms to collide and fall to the ground like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
William had only ever seen stampedes; this was the first time he had ever witnessed a plane crash like this.
Of course, this group includes Gryffindor students.
Other colleges also came to deliberately cause trouble.
Although William saw several Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, don't ask, it was Slytherin who did it.
Anne was warming up, Luna was holding the "Loony" and helping her stretch her legs.
Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet when she noticed William resting his head on her lap, seemingly asleep. She used the newspaper to shield him from the glaring sunlight.
William opened one eye, reached out and twirled Hermione's hair, and asked softly:
"Any recent news? The Ministry of Magic seems quite busy."
Hermione works as a trainee assistant to Minister Bones, which gives her access to a lot of intelligence firsthand.
Hermione thought for a moment and said:
"It seems there's something wrong with the Mahoutokoro School of Magic in Japan."
Mahoutokoro is a magic school in Japan, located on the volcanic island of Minami Iwo Jima.
"What happened?" William asked curiously.
The Muggle government built a nuclear power plant near the magic school.
"But because of the wizard, the nuclear power plant exploded," Hermione explained.
"Now the Muggle government wants to dump nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean."
What did the ministry say?
"The ministry said they wanted to link this matter to the Death Eaters."
We must spread the word that Death Eaters seek to endanger the entire world, and unite all nations to fight against them.
"..."
The idea is good, but who the hell would believe it?
If you say it was done by the Muggle government of an island nation, everyone will believe you.
Because they are so shameless, they are capable of doing such a thing.
But if you say it was the Death Eaters who did it, Voldemort would cry out in injustice:
I want to conquer the world, not destroy it.
What puzzled William most was why they wanted to pour it into the sea.
With so many people in an island nation, is it really that difficult for each person to drink 18 jin (9 catties) of liquor a day?