After the restart, Damian quickened the pace of the match. He wanted to ruthlessly cut down Ravenclaw's numbers.
A blitz strategy burned massive stamina, but if he could snowball their lead fast enough, the opponents would sink into a quagmire of defense and be ground to dust.
No sooner had Damian sent one Bludger away than the second iron ball came rocketing directly toward him.
Lee Jordan shrieked over the megaphone, "What is the Slytherin Beater doing? Why is he aiming the Bludger at Damian? Could it be—"
Damian smoothly flicked his bat, swatting the incoming Bludger with a terrifying crack. He had driven out two Bludgers in rapid succession.
This was the strategy he had briefed his teammates on earlier: the other Beater would act as a feeder, knocking the Bludgers his way so Damian could volley them with lethal precision.
Damian's primary target was the Ravenclaw Chaser currently disrupting Marcus Flint's positioning. Under official Quidditch rules, a Keeper could only be attacked when their hoops were actively threatened.
Otherwise, Damian would have already taken their Keeper out of the sky.
The two Bludgers streaked toward the Ravenclaw Chaser like guided missiles. Marcus, knowing exactly what Damian had planned, kept a close watch.
The moment the Bludger left Damian's bat, Marcus yanked his broom handle and braked sharply. Because the Ravenclaw Chaser's attention was entirely locked on Marcus, she never saw the twin dangers coming.
"Anna, get out of the way!" her golden-haired captain screamed.
Her reflexes were lightning-fast; she violently swerved her broom, and the first Bludger whistled harmlessly past her shoulder. But before she could even exhale, the second Bludger slammed heavily into her ribs.
Agony lanced through her waist, and she tumbled from the sky alongside her broom. She crashed hard into the sandy pitch, completely out of the contest, and the medical staff immediately rushed out to carry her off.
"A Double-Bludger Strike!" Lee Jordan yelled. "Damian's pulled off another pro-level move! Catching and re-hitting a flying Bludger in one fluid motion is almost impossible!"
"Is this really Damian Black? He's delivering one surprise after another—I can barely breathe!"
"Ravenclaw's other Chaser manages to score, but they've permanently lost a player! Can they rally while a man down?"
While Damian ruthlessly cut their numbers, Ravenclaw's remaining Chaser had managed to slip a Quaffle through the hoops. But the Slytherin team had fully anticipated this exchange, and the strategic trade-off was entirely worth it.
Up in the stands, Jerry clapped wildly and turned to nudge Geralt beside him. "I win my bet..."
However, when he turned around, he caught Lisa burying her face in Geralt's chest, absolutely heartbroken at her house's performance. Geralt completely ignored Jerry's murderous glare, gently patting Lisa's back.
"It's all right, Ravenclaw still has a chance..."
"Ravenclaw loses another player!" Lee Jordan's voice echoed a few minutes later. "They can't hold off Damian's onslaught at all!"
"The score is currently 20-40. After two early goals, Slytherin hasn't scored again, allowing Ravenclaw to temporarily pull ahead."
"But with their last Chaser grounded, Ravenclaw has absolutely no offensive hope left. They can only watch helplessly as the deficit shrinks."
"Their only salvation is if their Seeker grabs the Golden Snitch! Yet Ravenclaw's Seeker is being tightly boxed in by Slytherin's Seeker and two Chasers—there's no way through!"
"Wow—Ravenclaw's Keeper has been knocked out of the sky too!" Lee Jordan bellowed later in the match. "Ravenclaw is completely routed! They can only watch helplessly as Slytherin lines up uncontested shots!"
Up in the commentary box, Lee Jordan was on his feet, his face flushed scarlet. He was so fired up he looked ready to dash onto the pitch himself, shouting until he was hoarse.
"Slytherin's Seeker has caught the Golden Snitch! One hundred and fifty points to Slytherin!"
"The final score freezes at a brutal 360 to 40!"
"Game over! Congratulations to Slytherin, the absolute winners of this year's Hogwarts Quidditch Cup!"
"And let us all congratulate Damian Black! His name will be carved into Hogwarts Quidditch history forever!"
"Thank you, Damian, for this spectacular match! You've pushed the Beater position to its absolute peak. Without a doubt, you've claimed Best Beater again—no, scratch that! This year's overall Best Quidditch Player award will surely belong to Damian Black as well!"
The deafening roar from the stands drowned out every other sound on the pitch. The high-stakes replay between Slytherin and Ravenclaw to determine the Cup winner was finally over.
The moment Damian's broom touched the grass, his teammates swarmed him. He immediately sensed trouble.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
"Why, thanking our MVP, of course," Marcus grinned. He gave a quick hand signal, and the rest of the team aggressively hoisted Damian high into the air.
Then, the spectators flooded the pitch, converging on the Slytherin team. Confetti cannons popped, and bouquets were thrown from the stands; the airborne Damian was instantly buried in colorful streamers and flowers.
The crowd began a synchronized chant that swept across the entire Quidditch Pitch like a tidal wave:
"Black! Black! Black!"
The Quidditch Cup finals had concluded, the school term neared its end, and final exams had officially begun.
Having won the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, Slytherin House was awarded a massive influx of house points. Slytherin's total now led by an insurmountable margin, sitting far ahead of second-place Ravenclaw.
Following the Philosopher's Stone heist, Dumbledore had awarded enough last-minute points to bump Gryffindor into second place. The lions had briefly dreamed of overtaking Slytherin for the House Cup.
Alas, Gryffindor's tally not only failed to rise but actively plummeted; the restless lions couldn't hold their points and violently slipped back to fourth place.
The chief credit for this catastrophic drop went directly to Fred and George Weasley. Thanks to Damian investing 300 Galleons into their early development of "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes", the twins had the funding to cause commotion after commotion.
From unleashing the Frog Wallet Ponzi scheme that drained students' funds to their array of magical prank sweets, they steadily added to Gryffindor's point deduction tally.
"Why you?" Fred Weasley leveled his wand, his face grave, at the figure standing opposite him on the dueling platform.
"Why not me?" Damian replied mildly, his own wand resting easily in his hand.
Fred's brave expression instantly crumbled. "How can a Final Exam be like this?!"
Damian smiled innocently. "How should I know?"
Following Quirrell's death, Professor Snape had been officially appointed as the substitute Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the remainder of the term.
Damian had conveniently suggested to him that most students' practical combat skills were far too weak, and that he should add more live-duel content to the exams. Professor Snape had agreed wholeheartedly and immediately adopted the cruel idea.
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