harry potter book of crimes

Climb, climb, and keep climbing!

Hermione and Luna were side by side, almost touching each other, both sprinting straight upwards at a very fast speed. Their hands reached forward almost at the same time, and the tip of their middle finger was only just shy of the golden snitch.

A few inches away.

There is no doubt that this is an evenly matched Seeker duel, and it is also the most thrilling scene of the season.

It's a pity that both of them followed the snitch too high. Under the bright sunshine, it was difficult for the teachers and students in the stands below to even see their shrinking backs, let alone being blocked by them at the moment.

The situation of the snitch.

However, at the moment when both of them were likely to catch the Golden Snitch and become the terminator of this game, an accident happened!

Under the gaze of everyone, one of the two figures climbing almost vertically to the ground suddenly fell far behind.

No! It seems that it is not just as simple as falling behind, she seems to be...

"She's stalled! She's stalled!"

The commentator was the first to exclaim loudly.

Yes, broomstick stalls are rarely encountered in normal flight, but the possibility has not completely disappeared with repeated improvements.

If a broom flies at the highest speed it can achieve for too long, it will over-operate due to part of the magic spell fixed in it, and there is a certain chance that the magical structure inside the broom will change.

Of course, as generations of broomstick craftsmen have perfected the broom design, the probability of this happening has dropped to a fairly low level.

At least in the past ten years or so on the Quidditch field, we have almost no longer seen such stalling accidents.

"That's...Luna?"

Maka raised his head and looked at the blue sky. He could see that the falling figure among them was obviously Luna with long pale golden hair.

Even though she had tied up her hair hastily for this competition, it still spread around her under the strong wind in the sky.

Just as she grabbed the broom and fell downwards, the dazzling sunlight illuminated her flying blond hair brilliantly.

Although Maka was a little surprised at Luna's stalling and falling at first, she was not too anxious. After all, even if someone fell from a higher place, he could guarantee to catch the other person safely.

You know, in the near future, Maka may become the first man in the world to catch a meteorite!

However, just when he quickly took out his staff and prepared to cast a levitating spell for Luna, he suddenly put down the staff he had just raised and gently placed it on the floor of the stand.

Then he raised his eyebrows and chuckled:

"Oh! She doesn't seem to need my help."

…

"Luna!"

In fact, just seconds after Luna's broomstick stalled, Hermione, who was sprinting side by side with her, already realized that someone was missing from her side.

However, the speed of the two of them was too fast at that time!

Even though Hermione didn't realize it too late, when she subconsciously looked back, she saw that a long distance had opened between herself and Luna.

Suddenly, Hermione just glanced at the Golden Snitch above her out of habit, then resolutely turned the broomstick and swooped away.

She had read about the stalling problem of broomsticks in the book "The Origins of Quidditch". This situation was not uncommon in games more than ten years ago, so there were always several safety guards on standby at the side of the field at that time.

.

And once a broomstick stall failure occurs, it will definitely not be recovered in a short period of time. If she doesn't save Luna, she can only wait for the professor in the stands, or simply Maka to come to the rescue.

But to be honest, Hermione was actually quite relieved just because Maka was also watching the game in the stands today.

After she discovered that Luna was stalled, she immediately thought of Maka, and...she believed that it would be much safer for Maka to rescue Luna than to go back and rescue her.

However, even if this is the case, can she not help Luna?

The answer is obviously no.

Just when these lightning-like thoughts suddenly flowed through Hermione's mind, her body moved faster than her thoughts. In the blink of an eye, she had already turned around and swooped down to Luna's side.

"Wow-hahahahahaha-"

Hermione had no idea why Luna was laughing, and why she was smiling so devilishly. She saw her grabbing the broom with one hand, stretching her limbs, and falling down laughing.

It seems that she still feels that free falling from a high altitude is a very happy thing!

"Luna! Stop laughing!"

Listening to the other party's inexplicably happy laughter, Hermione couldn't help but have a hint of helplessness on her face - she suddenly felt a little unwilling to save her.

Oh, okay! That's all she thought.

"Take my hand—sit behind me—"

Hermione shouted loudly under the swooping wind, while reaching for Luna's arm. After seeing her come down to pick her up, Luna stopped laughing and honestly put her own

He stretched out his hand.

After waving their hands several times, the two hands finally held each other tightly.

"Come up!"

While dragging hard, Hermione controlled the broom under her body to spin suddenly, allowing Luna to sit firmly on the broom handle behind her.

Immediately, the broomstick that had been turned horizontally to pick up Luna suddenly sank due to the sudden load of two people, and then stabilized again.

"Timeout—game timeout!"

In the arena below, Mrs. Hooch used a loudspeaker curse to interrupt the game, which could still be faintly heard even from such a high place.

So, Hermione carried Luna and hovered in mid-air for a while to calm down. Then, she pressed down on the broom handle again and gradually lowered towards the arena.

During the landing, Luna, with an excited smile on her face, hugged Hermione's waist and said loudly:

"Hermione! The wind was so strong when I fell just now! It was like it was holding me up to fly - it felt great! I think you should give it a try too!"

"I don't want to fall into pieces!" Hermione replied loudly.

But Luna seemed to have not yet come out of the pleasure of falling, and then said again:

"It's okay! I will follow you when the time comes! You can try it in a while!"

After the two of them rode a broom together and landed safely on the ground, the members of the two teams who had already returned to the ground hurriedly surrounded the two of them.

At this time, many people, including Maca and Professor McGonagall, gathered in the field.

"You're not hurt, are you? Does it hurt anywhere?"

Ginny and Qiu stepped forward to support Hermione and Luna respectively, and checked them up and down. Even though they themselves said it was nothing, they still insisted on letting them go after checking.

"I'm really fine! I think Luna should be fine too - when I picked her up, neither of us hit anything." Hermione waved her hands repeatedly, "Well... so, Mrs. Hooch just now

Is the game interrupted? Luna, go and change the broom, let’s continue!”

But soon, Luna, who was receiving Qiu's care, stretched out her hand and said very seriously:

"If you hadn't chosen to come down and save me, you would have caught the snitch by now! I don't think there's any need to compete. I lost -"

In response to Luna's two words, everyone present was silent. Including the captain of the Ravenclaw team, Qiu Zhang, and all the players behind her, they did not say anything.

On the Gryffindor side, Ginny and others did not open their mouths, but it was because it seemed inappropriate to express their opinions from their position.

But at this moment, Hermione suddenly said seriously:

"No! You can't say that - you lost your ability to compete because your broom stalled. If it hadn't been for this accident, who could have caught the snitch first might not be possible!"

Having said this, she paused for a moment, then turned around and said:

"What's more, according to the rules of the Quidditch game, broom stalling is considered a malfunction of the game equipment. According to Section 3 of Article 52 of the "Quidditch Game Rules and Regulations", all points scored after equipment malfunction will be cleared.

Even if the game is over, overtime must be arranged!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Luna was stunned for a moment by what Hermione said. After listening, she turned her head and looked at Mrs. Hooch not far away in confusion.

"Well, Miss Granger is right." Mrs. Huo Qi nodded, but then added, "However, this is just a rule of the Quidditch World Cup. Many regional competitions also have unclear rules.

Rule changes to continue with the schedule.”

Although Hermione is familiar with a lot of books, before this year, she basically never paid special attention to Quidditch events, let alone the rules of regional small competitions.

After hearing what Mrs. Huo Qi said, she couldn't help but nodded in understanding.

"At least, there is definitely no way to directly send points!" Hermione specifically reiterated to Luna.

When Luna heard this, she tilted her head and pondered awkwardly for a moment, then turned her head and said:

"I just won't compete anyway!"

After that, she gently pulled Qiu's hand, then turned around and hid in the crowd. While everyone was stunned for a while, she scurried around in the crowd like a small fish, and finally hid in the crowd.

Coming from behind Maka.

"Hey! Even if you want to thank Hermione, she definitely won't agree, right?" Maka looked back at her and said, "Stop hiding, she is already beside you!"

"Huh?"

Luna immediately turned her head and looked at Hermione who appeared next to her in surprise and said:

"When I was little, my mother always said that I was very good at hide-and-seek. How come you found me so quickly?"

Just as she said this, before Hermione could reply, she grabbed Maka's arm and pushed him in front of Hermione.

"He's yours tonight!"

"ah?"

Maka was dumbfounded. (To be continued)