The first Flying Class for Gryffindor and Slytherin was a complete success. The scene from the original story where Neville made a fool of himself due to nervousness did not happen. Because Draco had given Neville special training before the Flying Class to help him overcome his inner fear, Neville managed to get through the class without any mishaps.
However, Harry made a huge splash in the Flying Class with his exceptional natural talent for flying. His precise maneuver of diving at an astonishing speed after controlling the broomstick to rise, followed by a smooth landing, drew gasps of amazement from everyone present. This scene happened to be caught by Professor McGonagall, who was secretly observing the freshmen's Flying Class from her office.
Professor McGonagall was very satisfied with Harry's performance. She believed Harry had the potential to become an excellent Quidditch player and decided to have Harry undergo a few trials with the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, Wood, to see if he was truly up to the position of Seeker.
After a few trials, Harry's performance was greatly praised by both Captain Wood and Professor McGonagall. In the end, just like in the original story, Harry successfully became the Seeker for the Gryffindor team in his first year.
Captain Wood had high hopes for Harry, treating him as a secret weapon against the other houses—however, the news of Harry becoming the Seeker spread throughout Hogwarts in less than a week, thanks to the "tight-lipped" members of the Gryffindor team.
Adelaide was quite happy to see this happen. She knew that towards the end of the school year, Harry would be unconscious in the Hospital Wing for a while after facing Lord Voldemort, thereby missing the final Quidditch match. The Ravenclaw Team would then take the opportunity to beat the Gryffindor team soundly. Jie jie jie~
One early morning, the Hogwarts students who were enjoying their morning had the peace shattered by a flurry of noisy wing-flapping.
They looked up in astonishment to see hundreds of Owls flying into the Great Hall like a swarm of black storms.
Their talons were tightly gripping circular packages of identical size, heading straight for Adelaide at the Ravenclaw table.
Adelaide was stunned. It took her a while to remember—these were the 200 bludgers she had ordered from a Quidditch equipment manufacturer on the pretext of needing practice after joining the Quidditch team!
"Merlin's perfume!" she couldn't help but curse under her breath. "They actually used Owls for delivery!"
Seeing that the Ravenclaw table was about to be buried under cardboard boxes filled with bludgers, Professor Dumbledore quickly waved his wand. A flash of golden light went by, and the bludgers that were flying wildly in the air were neatly lined up in front of the staff table, then floated one by one toward the Headmasters Office.
"Miss Grindelwald, please come to the Headmasters Office after breakfast."
Adelaide groaned inwardly, cursing the Quidditch equipment supplier thousands of times in her heart. How could these British merchant lords have no common sense at all!
For such a large order, couldn't they have sent an Owl to communicate with her before shipping?
Quickly scarfing down a few bites of food, Adelaide chewed while rapidly summarizing the rhetoric she was about to use in her mind.
After ensuring there were no omissions or flaws in her rhetoric, Adelaide said goodbye to Cho Chang and turned to walk toward the Headmasters Office.
Dumbledore did not get straight to the point as usual, but first chatted with Adelaide about her Great-Granduncle.
"Pick a weekend soon to go see Gellert; he misses you very much."
Dumbledore's voice was gentle and kind, but Adelaide couldn't help but roll her eyes inwardly.
Her Great-Granduncle had specifically instructed her before not to hang around him all the time if there was nothing important.
That old man in the late stages of being lovesick wished she wouldn't show up, so he could enjoy his weekly 'world of two' with Dumbledore a few more times.
Adelaide smiled politely and then said in a slightly apologetic tone, "I've been quite busy with training since joining the Quidditch team. I'll go see Great-Granduncle once I've settled in."
Such an answer would make it difficult for Dumbledore to press further, while also not making him feel she was too cold.
Sure enough, Dumbledore did not dwell on the matter of visiting Gellert at St Mungos. Instead, he naturally followed Adelaide's words and skillfully shifted the topic to Quidditch training: "Do you find Quidditch training very taxing? Filius was bragging to me just a few days ago—he said that because of the addition of a peerless genius like you, Ravenclaw is bound to win the quidditch cup this year."
Hearing Dumbledore say this, Adelaide shrunk her neck back, somewhat overwhelmed by the favor, and hurriedly waved her hands to explain: "Professor Flitwick thinks too highly of me. I'm no peerless genius, just a second-year rookie who just joined the team."
"My flying skills can only be considered mediocre... As the team's Beater, I still have a lot to learn and practice—such as various specialized training and tactics that require teamwork. All of these still require me to double my efforts and practice hard."
While listening to Adelaide, Dumbledore scrutinized her eyes carefully, as if trying to see some clue in her gaze.
However, Adelaide's gaze was too sincere. Dumbledore found no flaws and could only continue asking, "To conduct specialized training for a Beater, you specifically purchased 200 bludgers and twenty reinforced bats? Isn't that number a bit too high?"
Adelaide met Dumbledore's gaze firmly and then slowly nodded, saying, "I consulted Senior Natasha about this before. She told me that bludgers are easily lost when a Beater trains alone, and bats are also easily smashed."
"So she suggested I prepare more spare bludgers and bats—after all, the students of the entire Ravenclaw House have high hopes for me now. They've pinned their hopes of winning the quidditch cup this year on me, hoping I can knock the regular players of other teams off their flying broomsticks during matches. If I don't train well and cause Ravenclaw to miss the Quidditch championship, then I would be failing everyone's trust in me."
In fact, Natasha had indeed said these things to Adelaide, but she definitely never imagined that Adelaide's so-called "preparing more" would be exactly 100 times more bludgers than a normal Beater would prepare!
Dumbledore's eye twitched. It seemed the Hospital Wing would be very busy this year... But a Beater knocking down opposing players by hitting bludgers was within the permitted scope of Quidditch rules, so he couldn't very well interfere.
Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of Adelaide, Dumbledore could only wave his hand and let Adelaide pack those bludgers into boxes and take them away.
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