"Ah—"
William, sitting in the Quidditch stands, yawned.
He originally didn’t intend to come. With Ravenclaw and Gryffindor vying for the Quidditch Cup, why would a wizard who had "defected" to Hufflepuff join in the excitement? But Cedric, having completed all his assignments and essays last night, was quite excited today. "Cho is full of fighting spirit today, I have to go cheer her on—"
Cedric said earnestly as he held a glass of milk during breakfast.
"Hmm, then I wish you good luck..."
After being busy for two nights without sleep, he finally finalized the subsequent development direction with Mundungus, who was "undercover" in the Starry Sky Circus... Saying "undercover" might not be quite accurate, since in a certain sense, he’s already become the leader of the circus.
After assuming the identity with Polyjuice Potion and eliminating a series of people who might discover his identity, as long as nothing unexpected happens, he can solidify Toby Drake’s identity.
After all, William has always kept two cauldrons in the Room of Requirement for Polyjuice Potion—large quantities, very satisfying, and an uninterrupted 24-hour supply—though Derek, locked in the box, is almost bald... Hmm, maybe it’s a mid-life crisis?
The solution is simple: William is already preparing to brew Hair Growth Potion.
And now William, who feels sleepy, just wants to take advantage of Saturday to catch up on sleep. But he couldn’t refuse Cedric’s persistent requests... Okay, but the most crucial part is that after breakfast he saw Niffler cozying up to those two first-year young witches—he wants to find out what this Niffler has been plotting these past few days.
"...Do you think I should unfurl the cheer banner I made for Cho right now?" Cedric sat beside William with a crumpled-up banner in his arms, speaking as he unfolded the banner. "Although time was tight, I still pulled an all-nighter to make it—"
"..."
William glanced down at the unidentified object on the poster and was silent for a moment. "If you don’t want me to beat you again...you’d better not."
"?"
Cedric blinked in confusion, "What... uh, do you mean unfurl it later?"
"What I’m saying is... if next time you have any thoughts about drawing or writing poems, why not outsource it? That way, if there’s any problem, you can blame it on the intern," William shook his head helplessly.
At this moment, Cedric might as well be a Troll... wait, okay, Trolls indeed don’t understand, but Cedric is at least a normal person. He silently lowered his head, "...is my drawing really that bad?"
"I always thought you had eyes," William "comfortingly" patted his shoulder.
"..."
Without paying further attention to the withdrawn Cedric, William looked diagonally downwards, where Niffler was wiggling its bottom atop Luna’s head, and Ginny’s red-haired head was also gathered with them, seemingly continuously whispering secrets between the two with Niffler.
And at this moment, red and blue flags rose around the pitch, vaguely presenting a confrontational posture, and the cheers began to erupt from the stands one after another. The next moment, Lee Jordan’s voice boomed from the loudspeaker by the commentary desk—
"...Yes, we can see that the players from both sides are about to enter—the Gryffindor players have an imposing presence, evidently ready to greet victory the moment they set foot on the field, and the Quidditch Cup will certainly belong to them! As for Ravenclaw, uh, yes, they also look human..."
"Jordan, if you can’t commentate properly, then come down!"
Professor McGonagall’s voice routinely came from the nearby teacher’s seating area. Every time Gryffindor or Slytherin House participated in a Quidditch match, this kind of dialogue always occurred once or twice.
"Oh, alright, I’ll just... Wait, doesn’t Gryffindor’s team have a few extra people?" Lee poked his head out from the commentary desk, brushing his curls back from his face, "Can anyone tell me who’s following behind Wood? I can’t see... uh, Ms. Pomfrey?"
Due to the Amplifying Charm’s effect, Lee Jordan’s voice instantly spread across the pitch—everyone noticed the somewhat "bulky" Gryffindor team.
Ms. Pomfrey’s attire is quite recognizable; in everyone’s impression, that white hat draped to her back seems to never leave her head.
"What’s going on?"
Freshly recovering from William’s con(sol)ation (sol) and attack, Cedric raised his head. His gaze first swept across the Ravenclaw team and then turned to the focus of everyone’s attention, "...Hmm, where’s Harry Potter?"
"Sometimes I wonder who you actually like."
"That’s because our team analyzed the opponents from other houses, so I can immediately see who’s missing... I must say, Potter is a formidable opponent, but now he’s not here. If he’s absent the whole match, Cho... Ravenclaw is sure to win."
"Analyzed so much but didn’t make it to the finals?"
"...But those Slytherins are so shameless!" Cedric slammed the railing hard, face flushed, and argued, "Seven Nimbus 2001s in total! With all of Hogwarts’s brooms combined, they’re not that expensive, how do we win?"
"I remember Gryffindor won."
"..."
Cedric expressed he didn’t want to talk.
"Okay, so where’s Harry Potter gone?"
William turned back, looking toward the nearby teacher’s seating area, where Dumbledore sat in the center, frowning.
......
"Tick-tock—"
The sound of the clock, this kind of feeling disrupting a peaceful dream is truly... infuriating.