In the end, Kate still wasn't able to retrieve her clone, so she could only temporarily leave it there.
A few days later was the Quidditch match. This time, Harry, holding his new Nimbus 2000, had been praying since before the match started that there wouldn't be any accidents.
There wouldn't be any accidents, because this time Dumbledore was also in the teachers' stands; surely Quirrell wouldn't dare to act recklessly.
Kate finally wasn't late this time. However, in the afternoon, as soon as she arrived at the stands, she was targeted by Malfoy.
In the stands filled with so many people, this guy stood right beside her. Even when the Wilson siblings wanted to come over, they were haughtily rejected by him.
"I wonder how long Potter will be able to stay on his broomstick this time. Do you want to make a bet with me?" Malfoy deliberately asked with a cheeky smile upon seeing her unpleasant expression.
Kate glanced at him and wanted to shift to the side, but she accidentally bumped into Pansy beside her, instantly feeling a wave of helplessness.
Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, Pansy, and Blaise—these few people practically surrounded her seat so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through.
But after what happened last time, she couldn't well flare up, lest people misunderstand again that she was losing control of her magic.
"I think he and Gryffindor will both win," she said indifferently, just as she happened to see the Weasley twins team up to score a goal.
Malfoy's face darkened. "Kate, you—"
"We are not familiar enough to call each other by our first names." Kate turned her head, looking at him with a calm gaze. "Student Malfoy, what do you think?"
She saw Malfoy's already pale face turn flushed red with anger at her words, and she smugly raised an eyebrow. "Look, Harry seems to have already spotted the Snitch."
On the pitch, Harry suddenly executed a beautiful dive, causing the audience to let out a wave of exclamations and cheers.
Immediately after, he pulled out of the dive and raised his arm in victory—the Snitch was right in his hand.
The stands boiled over once again as everyone cheered for him. The team members landed and surrounded him, loudly chanting the name Harry Potter.
Only the Slytherin stands were shrouded in gloomy clouds. They all knew that Gryffindor's victory meant they could potentially surpass Slytherin in the House Cup points.
Kate stood among a group of dejected little snakes, looking from afar at Dumbledore in the teachers' stands.
The ever-kind old man was smiling gratifyingly at Harry. Noticing her gaze, he turned his head and gave her a mischievous wink.
Kate smiled and nodded at him, only then turning back to look at Malfoy. "Can you let me go now?"
Perhaps the news of Gryffindor's victory had provoked him a bit, for Malfoy, out of anger, grabbed Kate's wrist. "The match just ended, and the people in the stands haven't left yet. What are you rushing for!"
Kate frowned in displeasure, her gaze resting on Malfoy's hand for a moment.
Aside from elders like the old butler or Dumbledore, she didn't quite like being touched by other males.
Unfortunately, Malfoy happened to fall exactly into the "other" category.
"Let go, otherwise I'll—"
Kate's words abruptly came to a halt because the Lover's Chain on her wrist had inexplicably begun to vibrate and grow hot again.
The last time there was such an anomaly, it was also when Malfoy touched her.
Kate's expression changed slightly. As the bracelet on her wrist rapidly became scalding hot, she immediately threw off his hand.
"Hiss..."
Her body was forced to bend over due to the intense pain. Kate gritted her teeth tightly, revealing her left wrist under the astonished gazes of the few people before her.
"This is..." Upon clearly seeing the burn marks on her wrist, Pansy was the first to cover her mouth.
Malfoy also looked panicked. "What's going on?"
"Shut up, I need to go to the Hospital Wing. Get out of my way!" Kate threatened him in a low voice, her burned wrist still trembling slightly.
With such a thing suddenly happening, no one dared to stop her, and they all made way for her.
It wasn't until Kate's figure disappeared into the crowd that Malfoy said with a trembling voice, "I only grabbed her hand just now, how could this happen?"
Yeah, how could such a thing happen?
Kate walked briskly toward the Hospital Wing while quietly asking the System.
[Sets of alchemical items will have mutual resonance with each other. On Draco Malfoy's person, there should be an alchemical item that pairs with the Lover's Chain.]
"Paired alchemical items wouldn't burn their owner, right? And how come Malfoy is fine!"
[It should be that the alchemical item worn by Malfoy has had dark magic applied to it after the fact, which triggered the strong reaction from the Lover's Chain.]
Hearing the System's answer, Kate felt as if she almost couldn't catch her breath.
What was this little brat doing using an alchemical item infused with dark magic for no reason?
Even so, Kate was still completely baffled. "Isn't this something made by Ancestor Ariel Shafiq? How could it be in his hands?"
[Please explore this on your own, Host.]
Damn it, what use are you!
Kate suppressed the urge to swear and made her way all the way to the Hospital Wing.
For a frequent visitor to the Hospital Wing like her, Madam Pomfrey initially thought she had caught a cold again, but as soon as she saw the burn on her wrist, her expression instantly changed.
"Sit down first, dear. Getting rid of this kind of scar might hurt a little." She was busy preparing the medicine while giving Kate a heads-up.
Kate clutched her wrist, momentarily speechless. Covered in sweat, she sat on the edge of the bed and could only force herself to nod.
She thought about it carefully. Based on the Shafiq family's tradition of loving to collect things, there was a high probability that the alchemical item in Malfoy's hand had already been circulated out during Ariel Shafiq's generation, and had never been taken back since.
As for how Malfoy got it... it was probably scavenged by his dad from Knockturn Alley.
Only things that came from there would be infused with bizarre dark magic.
Then here came the problem. Previously, she had always thought that the matching alchemical items were kept in her family's collection room.
But the fact that even Malfoy had one of them meant that the other alchemical items might have also been lost long ago, it was just that no one had ever known.
Then the difficulty of this Family Mission had suddenly spiked. She had to find those five matching alchemical items in the entire wizarding world... no, in the whole world.
After all, judging by the aesthetic appeal of the Lover's Chain, it was highly probable that Ariel had crafted the whole set of six alchemical items into the shape of jewelry.
Jewelry, huh. Wizards could use it, Muggles could use it too. Moreover, after several hundred years, who knew which obscure nook and cranny it could have ended up in.
This was even harder to find than Voldemort's Horcruxes!
Kate couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. Before she could speak, she saw Madam Pomfrey walking in with a jar of prepared ointment.
She blinked blankly, watching as Madam Pomfrey debrided and disinfected her wound before applying the ointment to it—
"Ah!!!"
Malfoy tiptoed to the door of the Hospital Wing. Before he could even knock, he heard an agonizing, blood-curdling scream coming from inside, and his body instantly shuddered in fright.
"Pan... Pansy," he immediately turned back, gripping his close friend's hand with a face full of panic. "Kate, she... she..."
"It looks like it must hurt a lot." Pansy also furrowed her brows tightly. "What exactly happened, Draco?"
Malfoy hurriedly shook his head. "I don't know either! I just grabbed her wrist, and then it felt a bit hot, but why am I completely fine!"
He clearly just wanted to find an excuse to get close to Kate, but... how did it turn out like this?
Pansy looked at his terrified and pale appearance, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Are you planning to wait for her here?"
"Let's just forget about it..." Malfoy's face twitched. "As for apologizing, I'll wait and talk about it later."
If he were to appear in front of Kate right now, she would definitely kill him!
"That's fine too. Then let's head back to the Common Room." Pansy nodded. "Remember to call Goyle and Crabbe."
If they were going to be beaten up, three people enduring it was always better than one.
Malfoy suddenly remembered something, and his face instantly flushed red. "Do you think it could be because of what my dad bought for me..."
"Shh! Don't talk about this kind of thing outside!" Pansy shook her head at him and pulled him away from there.
Not long after they left, the Gryffindor trio, who had heard the news, also hurriedly rushed over.
"Kate!"
Hermione was the first to rush into the Hospital Wing. It was only when she saw Madam Pomfrey that her reason returned.
"I... I'm sorry, I just wanted to see how Kate is doing."
"Remember to knock next time, Miss Granger." Madam Pomfrey put her hands on her hips and scolded her a couple of times before making way for her to pass.
At this moment, Kate's wound had already been bandaged, and the Lover's Chain had already been taken off and placed in her pocket beforehand.
Seeing Hermione and the others rushing over so anxiously, she forced a relaxed smile. "Don't worry about me so much. It's just an accidental scrape."
"You wouldn't need to enter the Hospital Wing for an ordinary scrape, would you?" The grandmaster of adding insult to injury, Ron, arrived late but still delivered.
Kate gave him a speechless look and had no choice but to get up and say, "Alright, I'm going back to my dormitory to rest. Are you guys planning to follow me back?"
Harry and Ron naturally respectfully declined. If it weren't for having to attend Potions, the two of them absolutely wouldn't take a single step near the dungeon.
"I'll walk you back!" Hermione immediately held onto her arm, her eyes swimming with tears, looking as if she would burst out crying right away if Kate didn't agree.
What could Kate do about her little childhood friend?
There was absolutely nothing she could do!
"Then you guys go first, having Hermione is enough for me." Kate was forced to lean against Hermione's shoulder, her small face still a little pale.
Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and tactfully left.
Having finally walked from the Hospital Wing to the dungeon, Kate glanced at Hermione beside her, who still refused to stop walking.
"Aren't you going back? Gryffindor is holding a celebration feast."
"In the future, you should try your best not to go to the Quidditch pitch anymore," Hermione said, puffing her cheeks out forcefully.
Two consecutive accidents while watching a match; it was hard to say there wasn't a hint of metaphysical bad luck involved.
Hermione couldn't help but wonder if Kate and the Quidditch pitch really clashed with each other.
Amused by her, Kate wanted to retort, but at a time like this, she could only play along and say, "Mm, I'll listen to you."
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