On the last Saturday of September, the Magic Rune Club recruitment assessment began.
Hermione woke Harry and Ron up early, and after breakfast, the three of them hurried to the Ancient Runes classroom.
Harry looked tired and Ron rubbed his eyes hard as he grumbled, “Hermione, we went too early. And besides, both of us just need to turn in our essay, it’s not like Professor Hap is going to grade it on the spot.”
Hermione looked at them seriously, “Of course, you’re going to help, you know, the essay you wrote …” She skimmed and didn’t say anything snarky, but her meaning is already clear.
Harry flushed a bit, it took him and Ron two weeks to barely scrape together a seven-foot essay, and it simply killed them.
The longest essay Harry had ever written was only three-foot, and that was an essay on “The Complete History of Wizards in Medieval Europe” that Professor Binns had assigned last year, and if he remembered correctly, Hermione had handed in an assignment that was four feet seven inches, an assignment that she had written in very little letters.
The ancient rune classroom door is locked, and a note is posted on the door: the magic rune club assessment location changed to classroom seven on the same floor.
Below the text, there is a sketch of an abstract figure pointing them to move ahead.
“The location changed?” Harry looked at Hermione in wonder, and Hermione shook her head, “I’m not sure, maybe it was a temporary change.”
A voice heard from behind, it sounded clean and clear, ” Hello there?”
The trio turned around, a tall, lean boy stood behind them, he looked handsome over the top, with dark hair and a straight nose, except for a somewhat pale face, almost no flaws could be found.
He offered his hand and introduced himself, “I’m Cedric, Cedric Diggory.”
Harry also extended his hand, “I know you, Seeker and the new captain of the Hufflepuff team, Wood has mentioned you, and you stood out in the dueling class as well. Oh, I’m Harry Potter, by the way.”
Cedric smiled, “No match for you, I don’t think there’s anyone at school who doesn’t know you, these two friends of yours?”
“Yeah, this is Ron Weasley and this is Hermione Granger, both third years,” Harry said as he introduced Ron and Hermione.
The two looked at Cedric curiously.
They walked in pairs towards classroom seven, Ron and Hermione talked less because of the strangers joining them, Harry is not really a talkative person either, but he is able to talk about Quidditch with Cedric.
Harry looked for a topic: “Cedric, are you new to the team this year? I remember Hufflepuff’s previous Seeker being a senior girl.”
Cedric laughed, “I joined the team earlier, and this is my third year.”
Harry looked a little embarrassed, he didn’t remember such a person in the Hufflepuff team at all.
Good thing, Cedric explained his confusion: “I was a chaser before, but last year several seniors left all at once, and it was hard to find the right person as a Seeker, so I stepped up as captain and assembled a new team …”
Harry somewhat understood, Wood also said in the previous conversation, Hufflepuff’s new captain can not be underestimated, so how could he be a newcomer.
But no matter who he is up against, he is confident that he will be victorious and able to take the second Quidditch cup home.
The two then began to discuss Quidditch tactics, which seemed like a strange thing to Ron and Hermione, the Hufflepuff captain discussing Quidditch tactics with the Gryffindor’s Seeker, knowing that they would most likely be rivals in a month or so.
Cedric said, “To be honest, I’m a little stressed out, at the brink of … reading various playbooks all summer, I didn’t have to think about that in the past when I was just a player.”
Harry also recalled the image of Wood desperately pulling the players through various tactics last year, and by the time the final was near, the twins thought Wood was a little hysterical and probably “needed a two-day stay in the Hospital Wing.”
Now he suddenly understood Wood.
Harry casually introduced a couple of Quidditch books that he had read for fun last year, which he had found useful. Cedric happily jotted down the names, ” Well, there’s one I haven’t heard of, thank you, Harry.”
“Speaking of which,” Harry asked, “can a seeker also become a captain? I’ve always flown alone and might not be able to take into account what’s going on in the field.”
Cedric happened to have read about this: “It’s two different strategies; some teams will go all out to guarantee the Seeker’s freedom to fly and stay out of team action, leaving him to his own game, which they think will allow them to spot the Golden Snitch faster.”
“Some teams, on the other hand, need the Seeker to be involved in the team’s offence and defense from time to time.”
Harry mulled it over for a moment, “Sounds like the latter is a little more demanding.” Wood never asked him to coordinate with the defense; the only thing he asked from him is to catch the golden snitch as fast as possible.
“You can’t say that,” Cedric explained, “for the talented seeker, that is, you, Harry, you can finish the game in half an hour, and if I had a talent like you in my team, I would certainly give you absolute freedom as well, because it’s hard to pull off a hundred and fifty points in such a short time gap.”
Hearing this, Harry almost understood the similarities and differences between the two strategies.
Ron suddenly said from the sidelines, “Harry’s fastest time, it only took him five minutes to catch the golden snitch! Which broke the school record.”
Harry remembered it with some embarrassment, that was his record against Hufflepuff last year, and he stole a glance at Cedric, the new captain of Hufflepuff indeed a little upset.
He hurriedly changed the subject and said, “Cedric, did you write an essay too, honestly, the whole seven-foot thingy, Professor Hap is too demanding.”
Cedric followed his lead and said, “I met the first requirement, a rough grasp of thirty practical magic runes.”
Turning around a dark corridor, Harry noticed with delight that they had finally found the well-hidden Classroom Seven, and he breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to run out of things to say.
The door to the classroom is half-open, and they glance into the room, which is pitch black with no light visible.
“Are we in the wrong place?” Harry asked. He felt bad, he could think of a similar scene when they were still in their first year, to avoid Filch, they mistakenly entered the trapdoor which leading the way to Underground Chambers where the Philosopher’s Stone was hidden.
At that time they saw a large dog with three heads, when the big dog stood up, its middle head could reach the ceiling. He later learned that the three-headed dog is raised by Hagrid, and it also has a name “Fluffy”.
“I don’t think so.” Hermione pointed to the note on the wall, which read “Magic Rune Club recruitment test site”.
They looked at each other and walked in with apprehension.
Surprisingly, the interior of the room is a meadow with birds and flowers, as if they had travelled through space, and arrived deep into the forbidden forest.
Taking a few steps forward, they saw the figure of Professor Hap –
He is sitting on the grass with a small, low table in front of him. The professor seems to have moved all his tea sets and is sipping his tea in a pleasant manner. In front of him were a dozen golems, ranging from male to female, old to young.
These golems were standing a short distance in front of him, rehearsing a play.
“Look, that’s the East, and you are the sun.”
As they approached, they happened to hear this dialogue.
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