[Congratulations to Draco Malfoy from Slytherin for the final blow, successfully killing Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff!]
The cold, high-pitched female voice echoed in the sky above Mist Valley, sending ripples through the eerie, drifting mist.
After repeating three times, the female voice finally disappeared completely. The sound was like a mute button, silencing the discussions on the viewing platform and petrifying the moving contestants in their tracks!
"Oh, I forgot to mention—"
Professor Delfino said smilingly to the young wizards.
"When a contestant kills another in the competition, there will be a broadcast announcing their achievement... letting their name resound through the sky. How about it, isn't this design cool?"
Imperceptibly, a trace of heat seeped into the desolate space.
Harry stared at Professor Delfino, his emerald eyes also tinged with "redness"!
This isn't just "cool"...
It's simply... "too cool"!
Damn it!
Why didn't I muster up the courage to participate in the competition just now?!
Harry was sulking with himself.
Controlling a flying broomstick doesn't seem that difficult—his momentary cowardice had allowed that annoying Malfoy to steal the spotlight!
"Malfoy killed Ernie, how is this possible?!"
Compared to the "envious" Harry on the viewing platform, Ron felt pure shock.
Malfoy... indeed, he had left Zabini and Nott behind just now, fleeing alone along the Bottom Lane towards the United Houses Team's Respawn Point.
Ron knew Malfoy would soon run into Neville and Ernie, but he wasn't too worried... Susan and Terry didn't care much either—after all, there were two people at the Respawn Point!
But how did Malfoy kill Ernie in the blink of an eye?!
"Wait!"
Susan from Hufflepuff suddenly realized something. She immediately pulled up her broomstick, avoiding Zabini and Nott's harassment, and looked towards her own Respawn Point. With just one glance, her heart went cold!
She puffed out her cheeks, glaring angrily at the Slytherin duo.
"There are many blue luminous cloaks... I know, the Slytherins have surrounded Neville!"
Ron and Terry also immediately pulled up their broomsticks and saw what Susan saw... At the same time, they understood the purpose of Zabini and Nott staying here to monitor them!
"You want to stop us from returning to rescue the captain, don't you?"
Terry glared furiously at the two smirking Slytherins.
"Idiots!"
Nott sneered.
"It's too late to realize it now!"
Blaise Zabini looked at them with equal disdain.
"Despicable!"
Terry shouted.
"You won't achieve your goal... Mandy, how much longer until you deal with that Nogtail!"
In fact, while the two groups were confronting each other, Mandy had been trying to take down the Nogtail under the silver-green triangular flag.
But obviously, it wasn't easy, was it?
That was a huge, lively, agile wild boar, not a stationary target, and it wouldn't stand still waiting for Mandy's Trip Jinx!
Of course, the bigger problem was Mandy herself.
Although she had successfully used the spell in previous practice sessions, she wasn't proficient.
The low success rate of spells while suspended in mid-air, coupled with the agility of the Nogtail and the interference from the Slytherin duo's words and occasional red light beams...
The quiet girl was so anxious that her bangs were soaked with sweat. She involuntarily lowered her flight altitude, trying to get closer to the Nogtail with its two slightly curled, sinister white tusks. Ignoring the soreness in her wrist, she waved her wand frequently.
"Soon—soon, buy me a little more time!"
"Ernie has been killed!"
On the other side, after the Patil sisters tossed and turned, they finally arrived at the Slytherin team's Respawn Point...
From a distance, they saw that the clearing was empty. No blue luminous cloaks, no captain's crown... but they gritted their teeth and flew over anyway.
When the voice praising Malfoy's achievement resounded through Mist Valley, the sisters' hearts, which had been in suspense for a long time, finally sank.
"I get it!"
Being a Ravenclaw student after all, Padma Patil, the younger sister, turned pale.
"Parkinson, Greengrass, and Bletchley... the three of them took the Middle Lane like us... The remaining five Slytherins, I guess they split into one or two groups and went to our Respawn Point from the other two passages... They surrounded Neville and Ernie!"
"Cunning Slytherins!"
Parvati, who had landed on the ground, kicked the weeds angrily to vent her rage.
"What should we do now, Patil?"
Padma panted, looking at her sister.
"We fly back!"
After a brief vent, determination flashed in Parvati's eyes.
"Malfoy killed Ernie. We're going to settle the score with him!"
"But flying back now takes at least three minutes... What about Longbottom?"
"We have to do something!"
Parvati said "hatefuly."
Parvati hesitated for a moment on which route to take back.
They had just come from the Middle Lane... If Neville could escape the encirclement... escape Slytherin's siege by luck, then someone had to meet him.
Ron and the others were dealing with the Nogtail on the Bottom Lane... So—
"We'll take the Top Lane back, Padma!"
Parvati said, mounting her broomstick and rushing up the straight gentle slope towards the high suspension bridge.
[Congratulations to Draco Malfoy from Slytherin for the final blow, successfully killing Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff!]
At the United Houses Team's Respawn Point, Malfoy pricked up his ears, listening to the victory report echoing through Mist Valley over and over again, his pale cheeks gradually turning red.
It was... Draco Malfoy's final blow that killed Ernie Macmillan!
Everyone heard it, everyone knows this fact!
Breathing heavily, his flushed face turned towards Neville and Ernie... The latter had been killed, and the red luminous cloak behind him suddenly extended and wrapped Ernie tightly, looking like a glowing red cocoon from afar.
This was the petrified state after being "killed." According to the rules stated by the professor, Ernie would remain immobilized for 30 seconds...
But since Ernie was killed at his own Respawn Point, he wouldn't be transported elsewhere.
As for Neville...
Malfoy came from the Bottom Lane and blocked his front. Pansy, Daphne, and Morag, the three girls, were approaching from the Turning Canyon on the Middle Lane. Goyle and Millicent flew from the high suspension bridge on the Top Lane, situated on the straight hillside, grinning hideously at Longbottom, whose every cell was trembling!
It's over!
Neville looked desperate.
He knew himself well. He wouldn't be a match for any single person in this competition in a duel, let alone now, when he had to face six alone?
There was absolutely no hope of survival.
Neville had dropped his special wand and closed his eyes, resigning himself to fate.
"Don't move!"
But suddenly, Malfoy shouted, panting heavily, his face flushed with excitement.
"None of you move... let me go one-on-one with Longbottom... Longbottom is mine! I'm going to deliver the fatal blow! I want everyone to hear that I killed Longbottom and won the match!"