Without a doubt, Cho Chang was an excellent flyer.
Even compared to Harry, she was only slightly inferior.
From the very beginning of the match, she demonstrated this point clearly—she frequently overtook Harry, constantly interfering with him and forcing him to change direction.
"Harry, I told you I'd give it my all!"
As she crossed paths with Harry once again, Cho Chang called out to him, as if challenging him.
"Come on, defeat me!"
Harry couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.
He had known Cho Chang for nearly three years now.
Ever since his good friend Sherlock had successfully solved the case of Cho's missing cosmetic, this beautiful, kind, and brave girl had entered his heart.
By now, they had become very familiar with each other.
But he hadn't expected that in this formal match, the usually gentle and considerate Cho Chang would become so assertive.
It was as if she had become a completely different person.
She was still as beautiful and captivating as ever, but now she possessed an additional, distinct charm.
Just like her words just now, as if waiting for Harry to conquer her.
In that moment of distraction, Cho Chang had already rushed ahead of him.
"Show her your speed, Harry!"
Just then, Fred flew past, chasing a Bludger aimed at Alicia, while shouting loudly to Harry.
Harry immediately snapped back to attention.
Oh no, careless!
Cho Chang clearly hadn't used any feminine tricks, yet he had still fallen for it.
This wouldn't do!
So, as he rounded Ravenclaw's goal posts, Harry urged his Firebolt to increase speed.
As a Seeker, Cho Chang was excellent enough. Her already outstanding flying skills combined with her natural feminine advantages made her perfectly suited for the Seeker position.
She was more agile than both Cedric and Malfoy.
However, talent was something that couldn't be envied.
Compared to the youngest Seeker in a century, Cho Chang still fell somewhat short.
Not to mention, the gap between the Firebolt and the Comet was even greater than the gap between Harry and Cho Chang.
If Cho Chang was only slightly inferior to Harry, then the Comet was several tiers below the Firebolt.
So in a straight acceleration, she was almost instantly left behind Harry.
Just then, Katie successfully scored the first goal of the match.
The Gryffindor side of the pitch erupted in excitement.
At the same time, Harry's eyes became sharp.
He had suddenly spotted the Golden Snitch near the ground, flitting back and forth by a fence.
Without a word, Harry dove down.
Although Cho Chang hadn't seen the Golden Snitch, she was very aware of Harry's abilities.
So as soon as she saw Harry do this, she immediately gave chase.
Harry glanced back at Cho Chang, his heart racing with excitement.
Diving was originally his forte. He kept accelerating, instantly reducing his distance from the ground to ten feet.
He was absolutely confident he could catch the Golden Snitch before Cho Chang.
At this critical moment, Ravenclaw's Beater Duncan Inglebee came through.
Noticing Harry diving toward the ground while his own Seeker Cho Chang couldn't catch up to Harry, he immediately decided to take preemptive action.
He changed his original plan and sent a Bludger hard toward Harry.
Harry was in a state of high-speed movement. As a mortal, he naturally couldn't collide head-on with the Bludger traveling in the opposite direction, so he quickly dodged to the side.
Relying on his excellent reflexes and the Firebolt's superior braking effect, he missed by only an inch or two—it was extremely dangerous.
But in those critical few seconds, the Golden Snitch disappeared.
"Oh!"
The Gryffindor supporters let out a disappointed sigh.
The Ravenclaw side, however, was cheering and celebrating for their Beater Duncan Inglebee.
To vent his frustration, George sent the second Bludger directly at the troublesome Beater.
To dodge, Duncan Inglebee had to do a wild somersault in midair.
"Sherlock, what do you think?"
With Harry not on the ground, the best person to ask about Quidditch was obviously Sherlock.
"Gryffindor has already won," Sherlock said calmly.
"That certain?"
Although Hermione and Ron had vaguely guessed the outcome, neither had expected Sherlock to be so definite.
"Gryffindor has the advantage in every aspect."
Sherlock pointed toward the pitch.
"First, the broomsticks: The Ravenclaw team all use the Cleansweep series, which isn't much different from the other Gryffindor members' brooms. But Cho Chang's broomstick is a Comet 260, and the gap between that and the Firebolt is definitely not easy to overcome.
Second is the people themselves: From the current pace of the match, the Gryffindor team has almost replicated their performance from yesterday's practice. Although the Ravenclaw players coordinate well with each other, compared to them there's still a certain gap.
Third is the decisive factor—the Seekers, which is also the most crucial point: Cho Chang is no match for Harry. Finally, there are external factors that could affect the match outcome. Don't forget, this match won't have any Dementors appearing."
Hearing Sherlock's words, the nearby friends all nodded thoughtfully.
Luna suddenly spoke up. "What if someone pretends to be a Dementor to scare Harry?"
Everyone looked toward her.
Ron rubbed his chin, glanced in the direction of the Slytherin stands, then withdrew his gaze.
"Hey, you know what, you really have a point there!"
"Gryffindor leads eighty to zero!"
Lee Jordan's voice interrupted Ron, causing everyone to look toward the Quidditch pitch.
Lee Jordan merely stated the match situation, then managed to turn the topic back to the Firebolt itself.
"Look at Potter—no, look at the Firebolt's moves! Potter is testing its performance right now!
See that turn—Cho Chang's Comet can't compare at all. The Firebolt's precision balance is especially evident in prolonged—"
"Jordan! Did the Firebolt pay you to advertise? Get on with the commentary!"
Professor McGonagall roared angrily.
Jordan hunched his shoulders and quickly became more serious.
Next, Ravenclaw finally showed some improvement. They gradually closed the score gap.
After scoring three goals in succession, Gryffindor led by fifty points.
This wasn't a safe margin.
If Cho Chang caught the Golden Snitch before Harry, Ravenclaw could instantly reverse the situation and win the match.
This was not something Harry wanted to see.
So, he lowered his altitude and began scanning the pitch more anxiously than before.
As a result, he nearly collided with a Ravenclaw Chaser.
Just then, he noticed a golden gleam and a pair of fluttering little wings.
Excellent—the Golden Snitch was circling around the Gryffindor goal posts.
It's mine!
Harry kept his eyes fixed on the small golden dot ahead and accelerated toward it without a word.
"The Golden Snitch is mine!" he thought to himself.
But in the blink of an eye, Cho Chang appeared out of nowhere, blocking his path.
"Not a chance!"
"Harry, now's not the time to be chivalrous!"
Seeing this, Wood shouted angrily.
Because at this critical moment, Harry had swerved sharply to avoid a direct collision with Cho Chang.
Wood waved his hands furiously, saying, "If necessary, knock her off her broom!"
In first year, Slytherin captain Marcus Flint had nearly knocked Harry off his broom.
The referee ruled it a deliberate foul—because Flint, as a Chaser, was only responsible for throwing the Quaffle through the opponent's goals.
To stop the opposing Seeker from catching the Golden Snitch by making such a collision was naturally ruled a deliberate foul.
Even as a Beater, you could only stop them by hitting a Bludger toward the opposing Seeker.
Directly hitting an opposing player with your bat would definitely still be a foul.
But Seekers were different.
Once you spotted the Golden Snitch and the opponent was blocking your path, you really could collide directly with them.
In basketball terms, this would be a legal charge.
However, Seekers rarely did this.
After all, Seekers were typically light and agile in build.
Strong, tall types like Cedric were always in the minority.
But if someone with such a physique could become a Seeker, it often meant they possessed exceptionally strong abilities.
Harry didn't follow Wood's advice to ram Cho Chang, mainly because he felt it was completely unnecessary.
Even without using this method, he would definitely be able to catch the Golden Snitch!
Harry glanced at Cho Chang, only to see her give him a challenging smile.
Distracted by her interference, the Golden Snitch disappeared again.
"Despicable!"
Off the pitch, Ginny couldn't help crying out when she saw this scene. "Using Harry's kindness against him—that's too much!"
"Hah, isn't that a bit much?" Ron blinked. "As a Seeker, isn't preventing your opponent from catching the Golden Snitch the natural thing to do?"
"Hmph, just because she's pretty, you're taking her side, aren't you? She knows Harry won't knock her off, so she's deliberately doing this!"
Ginny glared fiercely at her sixth brother, thinking this was who knows how many times now—this idiot brother of hers always sided with Cho Chang instead of her. Did he even consider her his sister?
Unable to count on Ron, she turned to complain to her good friend Luna instead.
"Sherlock, what do you think?"
Hermione curiously turned to Sherlock.
"The correct tactic."
As soon as Sherlock spoke, Ginny, who had been talking to Luna, and Luna, who had been listening to Ginny, both turned their heads simultaneously.
"Cho Chang's broomstick is inferior to Harry's. Once Harry gains the advantage, she has no chance. On the other hand, both times the Golden Snitch appeared, Harry spotted it first.
This shows Cho Chang's observational and detection abilities are inferior to Harry's. Cho Chang obviously realized this herself, so she changed tactics to shadow Harry. After all, tracking one person is much simpler than tracking the Golden Snitch."
"See, even Sherlock says so!"
Ron proudly puffed out his chest.
Seeing him like this, Ginny turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
Hermione nodded, understanding Sherlock's meaning, then asked again.
"But you just said Gryffindor had already won, so even if Cho Chang changes tactics, it won't help, right?"
"Correct. Harry will figure out a solution soon enough."
Sherlock's words were quickly proven right.
After losing track of the Golden Snitch once more, Harry first pulled his Firebolt up, rising directly to twenty feet above the pitch.
He also noticed that Cho Chang had been following him all along.
Almost instantly, he understood Cho Chang's plan.
"Not looking for the Snitch yourself, just keeping an eye on me?"
A smile appeared at the corner of Harry's mouth. "Very well, Cho. If you want to track me, you'll have to bear the consequences of doing so."
He began wandering aimlessly around the pitch.
One moment flying near Gryffindor's goal posts, the next moment flying over to Ravenclaw's side.
Facing Cho Chang, Harry would sometimes sprint at full speed, sometimes suddenly slow down.
Alternating between fast and slow, shallow and deep, it made Cho Chang feel extremely uncomfortable.
She looked at Harry with fake anger, yet felt somewhat helpless.
After this boy had taken control, this was how it was.
Just then, Harry suddenly dove from high altitude again, exactly as he had done before.
Cho Chang tensed up, immediately thinking Harry had spotted the Snitch, and followed closely without a word.
However, when still several inches from the ground, Harry suddenly stopped his dive.
The Firebolt had such braking capability, but Cho Chang couldn't stop and kept descending.
Harry, however, rose like a bullet at that moment, turning toward the Ravenclaw side of the pitch and accelerating away.
By now Cho Chang knew she'd been tricked and could only accelerate from low altitude toward the other side of the pitch, following Harry.
At this moment, Harry's mind was exceptionally clear.
Cho Chang definitely couldn't catch up to him. Even if she could catch up, she'd still need to adjust her position to rise.
But the Golden Snitch was currently on his level.
He had won!
Harry's eyes were locked dead ahead. At the last moment, he stretched out his right hand and firmly grasped the still-struggling little Snitch in his palm, then, as before, raised the Golden Snitch high above his head.
Madam Hooch's whistle sounded.
"Victory! 230 to 30—this is Potter's victory, Gryffindor's victory, and even more so, the Firebolt's victory!"
Lee Jordan's voice echoed throughout the pitch.
This time, Professor McGonagall didn't stop him.
Harry turned in midair and saw six scarlet-red blurs flying toward him.
His teammates all embraced him hard, nearly knocking him off his broom.
He heard the roar of Gryffindors in the crowd below.
"Well done! You really didn't let us down! Harry, you're brilliant!"
Wood shouted over and over again.
Alicia, Angelina, and Katie—all three girls even excitedly kissed Harry.
In all the chaos, the team finally landed.
Only then did Harry leave his broom, and looking up, he saw a group of Gryffindor supporters rushing quickly toward the pitch.
Leading the charge were Ron and Ginny, followed by Neville, Dean, Seamus, Percy... Before he could react, he was surrounded by the cheering crowd.
When he was thrown high into the air by everyone, his gaze was still searching around.
Huh, where were Sherlock and Hermione?
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