Hogwarts: I Am Such a Model Wizard

Chapter 423: Ravenclaw’s Plan Fails

By the end of the class, Mikel hadn’t managed to spot anyone who fit Professor Trelawney’s description. For the next few days, he remained on edge, glancing around anxiously.

Kyle was fairly sure that the “person with messy hair” Trelawney had mentioned was probably Harry. She’d likely misremembered the schedule and thought Hufflepuff’s next opponent was Gryffindor, hence the cryptic warning. And with Harry’s eternally untamed hair, it wasn’t a stretch.

This theory was soon confirmed. A few days later, Fred caught up with Kyle and shared his own encounter with Trelawney’s “prophecies.”

“She called me by the wrong name and thought I was George,” Fred said, doubled over with laughter at the table. “Then she warned me to be wary of a ‘handsome young man with dark hair.’ I’d put my money on either you or Cedric.”

“Oh, Fred!” George gasped in exaggerated horror. “Maybe we ought to avoid Kyle! Professor Trelawney did warn us.”

“Yeah,” Fred chuckled, “he might transform into a dragon and gobble us up…”

“Or knock us off our brooms on the Quidditch pitch…”

“Too bad our match is already done…”

“Guess he’ll have to wait ‘til next year to get us…”

“So, Kyle, can you turn into a dragon?” They both asked in unison, cackling as if it was the funniest joke they’d heard all year.

Their banter only confirmed Kyle’s suspicions—Trelawney had clearly mixed up the schedule. Then again, it wasn’t surprising. Ever since the Dementors had shown up at Hogwarts, it seemed Trelawney hadn’t attended a single Quidditch match. Kyle certainly hadn’t seen her in the teachers’ box lately.

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On the last weekend before Easter, the highly anticipated Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match began.

Ravenclaw seemed intent on replicating Hufflepuff’s strategy from the previous game, focusing heavily on their Chasers instead of their Seeker, hoping to rack up points quickly to reduce the score gap. But Gryffindor’s captain, Oliver Wood, had anticipated this approach and trained his team accordingly.

Most importantly, Ravenclaw didn’t have an outstanding Chaser who could consistently break through Wood’s defense. Consequently, their game plan unraveled from the start.

As soon as the match began, Gryffindor seized control. Angelina Johnson caught a pass from Wood and shot forward like an arrow, backhanding the Quaffle straight through Ravenclaw’s goal.

Twenty minutes in, Gryffindor led 80-20. The Ravenclaw stands fell silent, their fans grimly reminded of the darker days from two years ago, when victory felt like a distant dream and the team played merely for participation.

Forty minutes later, Gryffindor was 150 points ahead. By then, only one hope remained for Ravenclaw: Cho would need to catch the Golden Snitch immediately. However, Harry ultimately spotted the Snitch first, ending the game with Gryffindor’s win.

“You should have waited a little longer, Harry, at least until we’d scored more points…” Wood grumbled afterward in the changing room. “Now we’re only two hundred points ahead of Hufflepuff. That’s hardly secure. They could overtake us in the last match.”

“Uh… Cho had already spotted the Snitch,” Harry replied, scratching his head. “She almost caught it…”

“Then block her or grab it yourself!” Wood burst out. “This is about winning the Quidditch Cup, not gentlemanly behavior…”

Harry said nothing. He didn’t want to leave a poor impression on Cho, and he’d already stretched out the match to forty minutes—any longer would have been unreasonable.

“It’s fine, Oliver,” Fred and George chimed in, trying to calm him down. “Hufflepuff might not score that many points.”

“Plus, Slytherin’s team isn’t half-bad…” George admitted reluctantly. “Maybe they could even win the game.”

“But we’re only 250 points ahead of Slytherin!” Wood pointed out.

“Then let’s hope they catch the Snitch within five minutes,” Fred said. “Their Seeker isn’t the brightest, so the moment he spots it, he’ll make a straight dash without a second thought.”

“Exactly,” added George. “Once Malfoy goes for it, Cedric will have to follow, just like you did today, Harry.”

Wood sighed. “I hope you’re right,” he muttered as he led the team out of the changing rooms.

As they exited, they ran into the Ravenclaw team heading off the field. Wood attempted a friendly greeting, but the Ravenclaws ignored him, leaving in silence. Harry noticed Cho walking away without looking back and briefly considered going over to apologize, hoping to smooth things over.

But he soon forgot the idea as the Easter holidays arrived.

Unlike the Christmas break, the two-week Easter holiday was far from relaxing. Homework piled up at an overwhelming rate.

“It would’ve been better if we didn’t even have a holiday,” Mikel complained one afternoon as he set down his quill in frustration. “During term, we could at least spend the evenings doing what we wanted, but now we’re buried in homework with no end in sight!”

His words struck a chord with everyone around him.

“It’s not even exam time yet! What are they doing?” grumbled Susan Bones from the corner.

Soon, complaints echoed through the common room as students voiced their frustration over the avalanche of assignments.

“Kyle, have you finished the essay on Switching Spells?” Kanna asked in a low voice. “How many essays did Professor McGonagall assign?”

“Twelve Transfiguration essays in total, and three are on the Switching Spell,” Kyle replied.

“What exactly were the topics?” she asked, sounding a bit lost.

“There’s been so much work lately, I can’t remember them all,” Kyle said, gesturing to a tall stack of parchments beside him. “But I tackled the Transfiguration essays first and finished them all. You can have a look.”

“Thanks…”

Kanna rummaged through the stack and quickly found the Transfiguration assignment near the bottom.

“‘Summarize the incorrect actions that cause the Switching Spell to fail?’” she read aloud in surprise. “I thought it was supposed to be a theoretical analysis.”

As Kyle had said, with the sheer volume of assignments, it was easy to mix up the topics. The common room was full of students lamenting that they’d written the wrong essay.

Eventually, someone suggested not to worry too much, pointing out that the professors were unlikely to read every single assignment closely given the sheer number they’d assigned. This bit of reassurance helped calm those who had been on the verge of a breakdown.