Quidditch Trials

"Adam, blegh—"

Having found the empty classroom where Adam usually stayed, Bernard confidently pushed open the door and walked in, only to be driven back three steps after taking half a step inside. He had to take several deep breaths before he recovered.

"You…"

Bernard fell silent for a few seconds before finally searching his mind and figuring out what the smell resembled:

"Did you leave soy milk out until it went bad?"

"Hm? No, I’m brewing a potion."

Adam added the last bit of ingredient to the self-stirring cauldron and nodded in satisfaction at the color inside.

"It’s nearly done. Now it just needs to simmer for another twelve hours…"

"A potion?"

Bernard finally found his voice again.

"What kind of cursed potion smells this bizarre?"

"Wolfsbane Potion… soybean-juice version? Yep!"

Adam nodded affirmatively.

Thanks to his earlier experience flavoring the twins’ prank candies, Adam had become quite skilled at adjusting flavors without affecting a potion’s effects.

Of course, under the anonymous commission of a certain Potions Class professor, Adam’s finished product might end up yielding… two or three more bottles than a normal batch of Wolfsbane Potion.

"Wolfsbane Potion?"

Bernard thought about it and realized it was not something he had learned about, so he simply ignored it.

"Never mind that. Do you still need to do anything? Klon and Eugene’s team trials are this afternoon. We agreed to go cheer for them together."

"It’s done now. Let’s go."

Adam set an alarm and prepared to leave with Bernard.

"You weren’t around this morning. When their Nimbus 2002s arrived, they drew quite a lot of attention."

"Nimbus 2002?"

Adam thought back.

"I remember the best broom this year was supposed to be called the Firebolt…"

"Really? I don’t know much about that. I only heard it from them…"

The weather was quite nice today, which was rare with Dementors stationed around every entrance and exit. When the two arrived at the Quidditch pitch, a crowd had already gathered around it. The Hufflepuff team—wearing canary yellow and copper brown uniforms—stood in the middle, looking full of energy.

Uther spotted Adam and Bernard arriving and quickly walked over.

"You’re here. Come on, let’s head to the back."

"The back?"

"Yeah. The front is for official team members. The trials haven’t started yet, so Eugene and the others are in the back."

When they reached the rear of the pitch, they indeed found Eugene and Klon there.

"You’re here! So, how do I look in this uniform? Does it suit me?"

Klon could not resist spinning around.

To be honest, the uniform did not fit him very well. Klon was rather thin, and the right size looked a little awkward around his shoulders. However, Adam waved his wand and solved the minor problem, then gave him a thumbs-up.

"It suits you perfectly!"

Adam then looked toward Eugene, who was talking with another Quidditch player nearby…

Compared to Klon, Eugene’s tall, well-proportioned build filled out the Quidditch uniform perfectly. The goalkeeper’s armor bulged slightly over his muscles, making him look like a wall and giving people an immense sense of security.

The upperclassman beside him was almost the same size as him, and the two wore identical uniforms. At that moment, he was vigorously patting Eugene on the back, their uniforms colliding with dull thuds.

"Apefu is leaving the team after this year, but he thinks highly of Eugene."

Klon explained it to them.

Apefu had been the previous goalkeeper, and he was very capable. His team was rarely scored against during a match. It could be said that the main reason Hufflepuff had failed to win before was that they could not catch the Golden Snitch.

Klon then told them that Eugene was the only person applying to be a goalkeeper this year. Combined with the former goalkeeper’s approval, it was practically certain that he would get the position.

"I’m different!"

Klon sighed.

"There are three applicants for Beater this year, and my qualifications aren’t that great…"

His build was especially a weakness.

"Don’t worry. We all believe you can do it. A Quidditch player’s skill matters far more than their build."

Uther offered Klon a word of comfort.

"Well said! In theory, Seekers should be as small as possible so they can be agile enough. But look at Viktor Krum—he’s built like a bear and still gets great results!"

Apefu had just finished talking with Eugene and was about to leave when he heard that. Excitedly, he clapped Uther on the shoulder, though he seemed to forget to hold back his strength. Uther’s eye twitched from the blow.

"Oh! Sorry, force of habit…"

Apefu noticed the problem too and hurriedly apologized.

"It’s fine… I’m used to it too."

At Uther’s words, a hint of confusion appeared amid Apefu’s apologetic expression.

Uther rubbed his shoulder, suddenly recalling the time when he and Eugene had first started getting along well. Eugene used to pat them like that too… no, Eugene was even stronger.

Everyone clearly remembered that experience as well, and they all looked at Eugene.

Eugene silently turned around and began warming up.

Bernard glanced at his pocket watch.

"Looks like it’s about to start."

"Then we’ll go outside and wait to watch your performances."

"Drink some hot water, loosen up, and believe in yourselves. Once it’s over, I’ll make you a feast."

The three went up to the stands, and the first person to be tested was, surprisingly, Eugene.

"So it really is just a formality…"

Bernard shook his head.

"You can’t put it that way. Goalkeepers still need to meet a certain standard. If someone performs too terribly, they’ll still be rejected."

Adam said,

"Look over there. The others are clearly very satisfied with Eugene’s ability."

Bernard looked over and saw that several official Quidditch team members were repeatedly nodding.

After that, several more trials were held. Klon’s performance did not seem particularly outstanding, but compared to the other competitors, he did not fall behind in the slightest. No one knew what the final result would be.

Besides that, as the focus of a Quidditch match, the Seeker position had especially fierce competition. Twelve people competed together, but Cedric caught the charmed golf ball with an excellent result three minutes ahead of second place. There was probably no suspense left.

After it was over, Klon looked rather worried. He was probably more focused on the parts he felt he had not done well enough, so Adam comforted him.

"All right, don’t overthink it after the trials. Worrying won’t change the result. You might as well think more about what we’re having for dinner tonight."

It had to be said that Klon truly had a good mindset—or perhaps he simply loved food more than Quidditch? In any case, once he fell into the ultimate question of "What should we eat tonight?", he had no mind left for anything else.

In the end, Klon and Eugene still could not decide on dinner, so Adam made the call to have hot pot. They would eat grilled fish first, then add water and the other hot pot ingredients. Everyone was very satisfied—especially because the grilled fish had no bones.

The first class on Thursday was Divination, together with Ravenclaw, held on the rooftop of the North Tower. Adam and the others climbed the stairs all the way up. They rarely came to such high floors.

However, after reaching the top, they discovered there was no more way forward, yet they had not reached the Divination classroom. The space around them was cramped and empty. Soon, though, someone noticed a trapdoor in the ceiling, but there were no stairs leading upward.