章节_60

ith the quaffle. okay, got

that. so what are they for?” he poihe three balls left

ihe box.

”ill shoood. ”take this.”

he handed harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.

”im going to show you what the bludgers do,” wood said. ”these

two are the bludgers.”

he showed harry two identical balls, jet blad slightly

smaller than the red quaffle. harry hey seemed to be

straihe straps holding them ihe box.

”stand back,” wood warned harry. he bent down and freed one of

the bludgers.

at ohe black ball rose high in the air aed

straight at harrys face. harry swung at it with the bat to stop it

fr his nose, a zigzagging away into the air --

it zoomed around their heads a wood, who dived on

top of it ao pin it to the ground.

”see?” wood panted, f the struggling bludger bato the

d strapping it dowhe bludgers rod,

trying to kheir brooms. thats why you have two

beaters ohe weasley twins are ours -- its their

job to protect their side from the bludgers and try and knock them

toward the other team. so -- think youve got all that?”

”three chasers try ahe quaffle; the keeper guards

the goal posts; the beaters keep the bludgers away from their team,”

harry reeled off.

”very good,” said wood.

”er -- have the bludgers ever killed anyone?” harry asked,

hoping he sounded offhand.

” hogwarts. weve had a couple of broken jaws but

nothihat. member of the team is the

seeker. thats you. and you dont have to worry about the

quaffle or the bludgers uhey crack my head open.”

”dont worry, the weasleys are more than a match for the bludgers

-- i mean, theyre like a pair of humahemselves.”

wood reato the d took out the fourth and last

ball. pared with the quaffle and the bludgers, it was tiny,

about the size e walnut. it was bright gold and had little

fluttering silver wings.

”this,” said wood, ”is the golden snitd its the most

important ball of the lot. its very hard to catch because its

so fast and difficult to see. its the seekers job to catch

it. youve got to weave in and out of the chasers, beaters,

bludgers, a it before the other teams seeker,

because whichever seeker catches the snits his team ara

hundred and fifty points, so they

nearly always win. thats why seekers get fouled so much. a game

of quidditds whech is caught, so it

fes -- i thihree moo keep

bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep. ”well,

thats it -- aions?”

harry shook his head. he uood what he had tht,

it was doing it that was goihe problem.

”we wont practice with the s,” said wood, carefully

shutting it baside the crate, ”its tht lose

it. lets try you out with a few of these.”

he pulled a bag olf balls out of his pod a

few mier, he and harry were up in the air, w the

golf balls as hard as he every dire for harry to catch.

harry didnt miss a single one, and wood was delighted. after

half an hht had really fallen and they t .

”that quidditch cupll have our his year,” said

ily as they trudged back up to the castle. ”i wouldnt

be surprised if you turhan charlie weasley, and he

could have played fland if he hadnt gone off g dragons.”

perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with quidditch

practice three eveop of all his homework, but

harry could hardly believe it whehat hed already

been at hogwarts two mole felt more like home than

privet drive ever had. his lessons, too, were beore and

m now that they had mastered the basics.

o