“The Quidditch World Cup,” Hermione said, very unenthusiastically. “Figures that I would get this chapter to be read.”
“Sorry,” Luna said.
“Can I say right now that I would prefer to get through this chapter as quickly as possible, so please, please, please, when it comes to the match itself, can we try not to comment so much?” Hermione asked.
“I'll try not to comment about the match itself, but if there is anything that doesn't pertain to the actual match, then I'll comment,” Cedric said.
“That's all I really want,” Hermione said. “I just...I want to get through this chapter as quickly as possible.”
“Because your not big on it,” Harry said.
“Exactly,” Hermione said.
“Well, when it comes to the match itself, I'll try to keep comments to a minimum,” Harry said.
“I'll do the same,” Luna said.
“Thank you,” Hermione said, going back to the book.
Clutching their purchases, Mr. Weasley in the lead, they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing.
“That would be interesting to hear,” Luna said,
The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; Harry couldn’t stop grinning.
“I can't blame you,” Cedric said
They walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until at last they emerged on the other side, and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. Though Harry could see only a fraction of the immense gold walls surrounding the pitch, he could tell that ten cathedrals would fit comfortably inside it.
“That sounds as if it's huge,” Harry said.
“It most likely is,” Cedric said.
“Seats a hundred thousand,” said Mr. Weasley, spotting the awestruck look on Harry’s face. “Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year.”
“It took five hundred people to build that?” Hermione said. Since the match itself hadn't started, she was willing to talk, and not frown at the others for talking at the moment.
“Apparently,” Cedric said.
“Muggle-Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they’ve suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again ...”
“I hope that, once they were away from there, they remembered that they actually didn't have any appointments,” Hermione said.
“Bless them,” he added fondly, leading the way towards the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.
“Yeah, that sounds like it would most likely be right,” Cedric said.
“Prime seats!” said the Ministry witch at the entrance, when she checked their tickets. “Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go.”
The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple.
“I wonder why it's carpeted,” Hermione muttered.
They clambered upwards with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. Mr. Weasley’s party kept climbing, and at last they reached the top of the staircase, and found themselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goalposts.
“That's probably the best seats to have,” Luna said. “You'll have a full, wonderful view of everything, after all.”
About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Harry, filing into the front seats with the Weasleys, looked down upon a scene the like of which he could never have imagined.
A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats which rose in levels around the long oval pitch. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light that seemed to come from the stadium itself.
“Probably so that it's well lit,” Cedric said.
The pitch looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the pitch stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at Harry’s eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant’s hand was scrawling upon it and then wiping it off again; watching it, Harry saw that it was flashing advertisements across the pitch.
“It's, when the game begins, is where the score for each team will be,” Cedric said. He might not have gone to a world cup match before, but he had gone to some other matches that would lead to the world cup before, and, while much more extravagant, it wasn't all that different from how it would be in regular
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Harry tore his eyes away from the sign and looked over his shoulder to see who else was sharing the box with them.
“Well, I will say right now that your probably among the first there,” Cedric said. “So it might be a bit empty at the moment.”
So far it was empty, except for a tiny creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind them. The creature, whose legs were so short they stuck out in front of it on the chair, was wearing a tea-towel draped like a toga, and it had its face hidden in its hands.
“It's a house-elf,” Luna said, sounding a bit confused. “What is a house-elf doing at a match?”
“Maybe it's saving the seat for it's master, whose too busy to come at the moment,” Cedric said, though he too was confused.
Yet those long, bat-like ears were oddly familiar …
“You're going to think that it Dobby,” Hermione said.
“Most likely,” Harry said.
“Dobby?” said Harry incredulously.
“Yeah, I probably wouldn't really expect to see him there, now would I,” Harry said.
“No, I don't think you would,” Cedric said.
The tiny creature looked up and parted its fingers, revealing enormous brown eyes and a nose the exact size and shape of a large tomato. It wasn’t Dobby – it was, however, unmistakeably a house-elf, as Harry’s friend Dobby had been. Harry had set Dobby free from his old owners, the Malfoy family.
“Which was brilliant, as they didn't deserve to have him,” Hermione said.
“Did sir just call me Dobby?” squeaked the elf curiously, from between its fingers. Its voice was higher even than Dobby’s had been, a teeny, quivering squeak of a voice,
“It's probably female, then,” Luna said.
and Harry suspected – though it was very hard to tell with a house-elf – that this one might just be female. Ron and Hermione spun around in their seats to look.
“You've probably told us a but about Dobby,” Hermione said.
“Yeah, I most likely did,” Harry said. “At least, I know of the two times I've mentioned him to either you, Ron, or the both of you.”
Though they had heard a lot about Dobby from Harry, they had never actually met him. Even Mr. Weasley looked around in interest.
“He probably heard about it as well,” Luna said.
“Sorry,” Harry told the elf, “I just thought you were someone I knew.”
“But I knows Dobby too, sir!” squeaked the elf.
“I don't know if it's surprising that she would know him or not,” Cedric said. “I mean, I can see some of them knowing each other if the families are friends or something, but, from what I've heard about Mr. Crouch, I don't see that as being possible.”
“What have you heard about him?” Hermione asked.
“Just that he doesn't like those who practice the dark arts, which would include the Malfoy family,” Cedric said. “He's against them to the extremes.”
She was shielding her face, as though blinded by light, though the Top Box was not brightly lit. “My name is Winky, sir – and you, sir –“ her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon Harry’s scar, “you is surely Harry Potter!”
“Yes, he is,” Luna said.
“Yeah, I am,” said Harry.
“But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!” she said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck.
“That's not surprising, considering not only what you did for him, but the fact that he admires you deeply,” Cedric said.
“How is he?” said Harry. “How’s freedom suiting him?”
“I have the feeling that Winky will most likely think that him being free is wrong,” Luna said. “Almost any elf who loves their positions will think that no favours were granted by having one elf be free or able to do what he wants because the person he's bonded with doesn't know about this fact, and most likely wants him to know freedom.”
“Winky most likely would be able to tell that he is bonded, but not to who, and she most likely won't tell anyone about it either, because it's not her business to do so,” Cedric said. “In fact, the only reason why she'd be able to tell that he's bonded is that he's not dying or something like that.”
“Ah, sir,” said Winky, shaking her head, “ah, sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favour, sir, when you is setting him free.”
“So, basically, she thinks it better that he have stayed with the Malfoys, being beaten for no reason other than that the fact that they're sadistic worthless idiots,” Hermione said, frowning.
“I doubt that she knew about the fact that they'd beat him or anything like that,” Cedric said. “It's not like it's something that's advertised a lot, and those who probably do know about it are those who think that it's the best thing to happen.”
“Why?” said Harry, taken aback. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He probably can't get another station, because, even if they don't know about the bond being needed, he's probably asking for things that they don't want to give him,” Luna said.
“Yeah, the need for the bond actually isn't known all that well,” Cedric said. “I only know because I was curious and asked.”
“And I was there when he asked,” Luna said.
“Freedom is going to Dobby’s head, sir,” said Winky sadly. “Ideas above his station, sir. Can’t get another position, sir.”
“I wonder, if Dobby is bonded to me, why he didn't tell me so” Harry said. “And I do have to wonder why he's going around trying to find work in other places.”
“It's possible that not telling you is more because of the fact that he's afraid that you wouldn't want him bonded to you,” Cedric said.
“And, as for trying to find work, that's most likely his instincts. He might enjoy having time to himself, but, as a house-elf, he most likely feels the need to clean things,” Luna said. “They're called 'house-elves' for a reason, after all.”
“Why not?” said Harry.
Winky lowered her voice by a half octave and whispered, “He is wanting paying for his work, sir.”
“Ah, that would earn shock and condemnation from other elves,” Luna said.
“Paying?” said Harry blankly. “Well – why shouldn’t he be paid?”
Winky looked quite horrified at the idea, and closed her fingers slightly so that her face was half-hidden again.
“House-elves is not paid, sir!” she said in a muffled squeak.
“In a way, they are, just not with money,” Cedric said. “Though I doubt house-elves think of what they get as being paid.”
He was, of course, thinking about how they got houses to clean, roofs over their heads, food to eat, and people to take care of, as well as being among their master's confidants.
“No, no, no. I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir, what is unbecoming to a house-elf. You goes racketing around like this, Dobby, I says, and next thing I hear you’s up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, like some common goblin.”
“Well, it’s about time he had a bit of fun,” said Harry.
“Winky isn't going to like hearing that,” Luna said.
“House-elves is not supposed to have fun, Harry Potter,” said Winky firmly,
Honestly, I don't think Winky likes you all that much,” Cedric said.
“Probably because I was instrumental in freeing Dobby,” Harry said.
“Most likely,” Hermione said, based on the way Winky was speaking. It was clear that she really didn't believe that Harry had done wrong to Dobby for freeing him from the Malfoys.
from behind her hands. “House-elves does what they is told. I is not liking heights at all, Harry Potter –“
“I don't think she should have to be up there if she doesn't like heights,” Hermione said.
“It's possible the at her master doesn't know,” Luna said. She didn't mention that it was also possible that they didn't care.
she glanced towards the edge of the box and gulped, “– but my master sends me to the Top Box and I comes, sir.”
“Why’s he sent you up here, if he knows you don’t like heights?” said Harry, frowning.
“Again, there is nothing saying that he does,” Luna said
“Master – master wants me to save him a seat, Harry Potter, he is very busy,” said Winky,
“That sounds as if it's more of an excuse instead of the real reason,” Harry said, frowning.
tilting her head towards the empty space beside her.
“If she's looking towards the space next to her, does that mean that she's in another person's seat,” Hermione said.
“I wonder who her master is, because I can't see any reason for them to send a house-elf in place of them,” Cedric said.
“Winky is wishing she is back in master’s tent, Harry Potter, but Winky does what she is told, Winky is a good house-elf.”
She gave the edge of the box another frightened look, and hid her eyes completely again. Harry turned back to the others.
“So that’s a house-elf?” Ron muttered. “Weird things, aren’t they?”
“I have to admit that he's right,” Harry said.
“And Dobby is weirder,” Luna said, thinking about everything he did in the previous chapters.
“Dobby was weirder,” said Harry, fervently.
Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started testing them, staring down into the crowd on the other side of the stadium.
“Wild!” he said, twiddling the replay knob on the side. “I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again ... and again ... and again …”
The four snorted.
“What a wonderful way to use them,” Hermione said, shaking her head.
Hermione, meanwhile, was skimming eagerly through her velvet-covered, tasselled programme.
“ 'A display from the team mascots will precede the match',” she read aloud.
“Oh, that’s always worth watching,” said Mr. Weasley. “National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show.”
“I wonder what these creatures will be,” Hermione said.
The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he was trying to sit on a hedgehog.
“So, basically, he's trying to draw attention to himself, to seem more important than he is, but all he really is doing is appearing like an idiot,” Luna said.
When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic himself, arrived, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand, and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend.
“Considering who you are, it's not surprising that he wants to appear like he's on friendly terms with you,” Cedric said.
They had met before, and Fudge shook Harry’s hand in fatherly fashion, asked how he was, and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.
“Harry Potter, you know,” he loudly told the Bulgarian Minister, who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold, and didn’t seem to understand a word of English.
“Seem is probably the key word there,” Hermione said. “He's probably just letting him make a fool of himself, for the fun of it.”
“Harry Potter ... oh, come on now, you know who he is ... the boy who survived You-Know-Who ... you do know who he is –“
The Bulgarian wizard suddenly spotted Harry’s scar and started gabbling loudly and excitedly, pointing at it.
“Not surprising,” Luna said.
“Knew we’d get there in the end,” said Fudge wearily to Harry.
“He's probably been trying to talk to the Bulgarian Minister all day, and I have the feeling he's not all that good when it comes to languages,” Cedric said.
“I’m no great shakes at languages, I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing.”
“Which makes me wonder why he's not there already,” Cedric said.
“Ah, I see his house-elf’s saving him a seat ...”
“So Winky is Crouch's,” Hermione said.
“good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places ...”
“Well, if he does understand him, I can see why he's purposely trying to appear like he doesn't,” Hermione said. “Fudge deserves it if he's going to be rude about him.”
“Very true,” Luna said.
“ah, and here’s Lucius!”
“Great,” Harry said, groaning. “That probably mean that Draco's with him.”
“It's probably the whole family, actually,” Cedric said.
Harry, Ron and Hermione turned quickly. Edging along the second row to three still-empty seats right behind Mr. Weasley were none other than Dobby the house-elf’s old owners – Lucius Malfoy, his son, Draco, and a woman Harry supposed must be Draco’s mother.
“Most likely,” Luna said.
Harry and Draco Malfoy had been enemies ever since their very first journey to Hogwarts. A pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair, Draco greatly resembled his father. His mother was blonde, too; tall and slim, she would have been nice looking if she hadn’t been wearing a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose.
“I wonder if it's because her son is there with her, and she knows how worthless he is,” Harry said.
“Most likely because she doesn't like the Weasleys, and Hermione's there as well,” Luna said, frowning as she did so.
“Ah, Fudge,” said Mr. Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister for Magic.
“I'm not sure I care about Fudge all that much if he's friends with Malfoy's father,” Harry said.
“How are you? I don’t think you’ve met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?”
“How do you do, how do you do?” said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. “And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk – Obalonsk – Mr. – well, he’s the Bulgarian Minister for Magic, and he can’t understand a word I’m saying anyway, so never mind.”
“He's definitely not the best Minister if he can't have some decent courtesy towards someone,” Hermione said.
“And let’s see who else – you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?”
“I don't think that it would be the best to have those two together again,” Cedric said, thinking about what happened the last time they were face to face.
It was a tense moment. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy looked at each other and Harry vividly recalled the last time that they had come face to face; it had been in Flourish and Blotts bookshop, and they had had a fight. Mr. Malfoy’s cold grey eyes swept over Mr. Weasley, and then up and down the row.
“He's going to make a comment about how we're all there, probably because he can't see anyone actually willingly inviting the Weasleys along as guest or willingly giving them a discount,” Cedric said, frowning.
“Good Lord, Arthur,” he said softly. “What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn’t have fetched this much?”
“I have the feeling that the Minister either won't have heard that, or that he'll just ignore it,” Harry said. Considering the fact that he seems to willingly be friends with Lucius, it would make sense if he willingly ignored anything bad that Mr. Malfoy did.
Fudge, who wasn’t listening, said, “Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He’s here as my guest.”
“So, basically, he bribed his way into being a guest,” Luna said. “He probably actually didn't do a contribution to St. Mungo's, but to Fudge himself, and Fudge is just pretending otherwise, because he knows that he'll be taken out as Minister otherwise.”
“How – how nice,” said Mr. Weasley, with a very strained smile.
Mr. Malfoy’s eyes had returned to Hermione,
“He's probably disliking the fact that he has to share the box with a Muggleborn,” Cedric said.
who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. Harry knew exactly what was making Mr. Malfoy’s lip curl. The Malfoys prided themselves on being pure-bloods; in other words, they considered anyone of Muggle descent, like Hermione, second-class.
“You know, I do have to wonder if, perhaps, they're not as pure-blood as they think that are,” Luna said. “I mean, they've probably researched their history quite well, but it's possible that they just ignore any signs of Muggle or Muggleborn blood in their family tree. And I'm only saying this because I know they have no title, meaning that they're family can't be traced that far back.”
“That is true, and I think they actually come from France as well,” Cedric said. “They probably, though, only count from the first of their family who lived in England over all family members, particularly if they were pretending to be pure-blood. All one has to do is say their foreign pure-bloods, since no one would actually bother checking to make sure that it's true.”
However, under the gaze of the Minister for Magic, Mr. Malfoy didn’t dare say anything.
“Somehow, I doubt that Fudge would do anything,” Harry muttered.
He nodded sneeringly to Mr. Weasley, and continued down the line to his seats. Draco shot Harry, Ron and Hermione one contemptuous look,
“And here I thought that he didn't know how to keep quiet,” Luna said.
then settled himself between his mother and father.
“Slimy gits,”
“So true,” Hermione said.
Ron muttered, as he, Harry and Hermione turned to face the pitch again. Next moment, Ludo Bagman had charged into the box.
“I wonder if it's time, then,” Cedric said, knowing that the head of the Department of Magical Sports was the person who was in charge of commentating.
“Everyone ready?” he said, his round face gleaming like a great, excited Edam. “Minister – ready to go?”
“Ready when you are, Ludo,” said Fudge comfortably.
“I think it's time to at least calm down on talking,” Cedric said.
“I don't mind it right now, since we know that there's going to be the display thing beforehand,” Hermione said.
Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat and said “Sonorus!” and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands: “Ladies and gentlemen ... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!”
“Wow,” Harry said.
The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message (Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans – a Risk with Every Mouthful!) and now showed BULGARIA: ZERO, IRELAND: ZERO.
“And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce ... the Bulgarian Team Mascots!”
The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.
“Well, we know where the Bulgarian fans are at,” Luna said.
“I wonder what they’ve brought?” said Mr. Weasley, leaning forwards in his seat. “Aaah!” He suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. “Veela!”
“What are Veela?” Harry asked.
“The answers coming up,” Hermione said, before Cedric could say anything. Having read ahead a bit – as well as seeing the look on Cedric's face at the mention – she wasn't all that enthusiastic about what they were.
“What are Veel—?”
But a hundred Veela were now gliding out onto the pitch, and Harry’s question was answered for him. Veela were women ... the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen ... except that they weren’t – they couldn’t be – human.
“They're not,” Luna said. “At least, not fully. I don't know what they're part of, but whatever it is gives them an affinity for air and fire, as well as makes them appear close to perfect.”
This puzzled Harry for a moment, while he tried to guess what exactly they could be; what could make their skin shine moon-bright like that, or their white-gold hair fan out behind them without wind ...
“They sound as though they're meant to seduce men,” Hermione said, frowning.
but then the music started, and Harry stopped worrying about them not being human – in fact, he stopped worrying about anything at all.
Cedric didn't say it, but he knew that what Harry was feeling was something that was common for males to feel when it came to Veela, form what his father said, anyway.
The Veela had started to dance, and Harry’s mind had gone completely and blissfully blank. All that mattered in the world was that he kept watching the Veela, because if they stopped dancing, terrible things would happen …
“No, it wouldn't,” Luna said, frowning now. She didn't like what she was hearing the effect that Harry was having about them.
And as the Veela danced faster and faster, wild, half-formed thoughts started chasing through Harry’s dazed mind. He wanted to do something very impressive, right now. Jumping from the box into the stadium seemed a good idea ... but would it be good enough?
“Your kidding me, right?” Hermione said.
“No, it's common for males to want to do something to impress Veela – in fact, truthfully, part of the reason why Veela are not well liked by females is because of that,” Cedric said.
“Harry, what are you doing?” said Hermione’s voice from a long way off.
The music stopped. Harry blinked. He was standing up, and one of his legs was resting on the wall of the box. Next to him, Ron was frozen in an attitude that looked as though he was about to dive from a springboard.
“At least they stopped before you could do something stupid,” Luna said to Harry.
Angry yells were filling the stadium. The crowd didn’t want the Veela to go. Harry was with them; he would, of course, be supporting Bulgaria, and he wondered vaguely why he had a large green shamrock pinned to his chest.
“I think it'll take you a few moments to remember why,” Cedric said. “It depends on how badly you were affected by them, since their looks are not the only thing about them that attracts people to them. Though, truthfully, the fact that you are even aware of your surroundings is good. It means that you weren't as affected by them as others probably are.”
Ron, meanwhile, was absent-mindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat. Mr. Weasley, smiling slightly, leant over to Ron and tugged the hat out of his hands.
“You’ll be wanting that,” he said, “once Ireland have had their say.”
“Huh?” said Ron, staring open-mouthed at the Veela, who had now lined up along one side of the pitch.
“Like that,” Cedric said. He wondered how he was at the moment.
Hermione made a loud tutting noise. She reached up and pulled Harry back into his seat. “Honestly!” she said.
“I don't think I'm happy with you,” Hermione said.
“And now,” roared Ludo Bagman’s voice, “kindly put your wands in the air ... for the Irish National Team Mascots!”
Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet had come zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling towards the goalposts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the pitch, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd ‘oooohed’ and ‘aaaaahed’, as though at a firework display. Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it –
“Leprechauns!” Cedric and Luna both said.
“How can you tell?” Harry asked.
“The golden rain,” Cedric said.
“They give out fake gold,” Luna said. “The gold will disappear after a few hours or so, so it's not really worth grabbing any of it. Of course, it's not a well known fact. I only know it because my father told me, and he knows about it, so, chances are, people are going to fight for that gold.”
“Excellent!” yelled Ron,
“I don't think that Ron knows that it's fake,” Luna added, having forgotten about that when she first mentioned it.
as the shamrock soared over their heads, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. Squinting up at the shamrock, Harry realised that it was actually composed of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red waistcoats, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.
“Leprechauns!” said Mr. Weasley, over the tumultuous applause of the crowd, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.
“So, they're among those that don't know,” Hermione said, shaking her head.
“As I said, it's not a well known fact,” Luna said.
“There you go,” Ron yelled happily, stuffing a fistful of gold coins into Harry’s hand. “For the Omnioculars! Now you’ve got to buy me a Christmas present, ha!”
“I most likely would have anyway,” Harry said, shrugging. Money wasn't something he dwelled on, and not just because he apparently had plenty of it. Friends were more important that money, in his opinion. Of course, the rememberence of what happened in the previous book made it appear that his book self thought otherwise.
The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the pitch on the opposite side from the Veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome – the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you – Dimitrov!”
A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the pitch from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.
“Well, it was mentioned in the previous book that the Irish had but in an order for seven Firebolts,” Cedric said.
Harry spun a small dial on the side of his Omnioculars, and slowed the players down enough to read the word ‘Firebolt’ on each of their brooms, and see their names, embroidered in silver, upon their backs.
“And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!”
A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a moustache to rival Uncle Vernon’s, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the pitch. A silver whistle was protruding from under the moustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. Harry spun the speed dial on his Omnioculars back to normal, watching closely as Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open – four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers and (Harry saw it for the briefest moment, before it sped out of sight) the minuscule, winged, Golden Snitch.
“Wow, you've got really good eyesight if you saw that,” Cedric said.
“Well, I think the match is about to begin,” Hermione said, giving fair warning so that the others would be less tempted to interrupt.
With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls.
“Theeeeeeeey’re OFF!” screamed Bagman. “And it’s Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!”
Harry's eyes were wide. This had to be like Quidditch he'd never heard played before, but considering that they were professionals at this, it did make sense that they would be rather good.
It was Quidditch as Harry had never seen it played before. He was pressing his Omnioculars so hard to his eyes that his glasses were cutting into the bridge of his nose. The speed of the players was incredible – the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to each other so fast that Bagman only had time to say their names. Harry spun the ‘slow’ dial on the right of his Omnioculars again,
Not smart Cedric thought, knowing that Harry was bound to miss something doing that.
pressed the ‘play by play’ button on the top and he was immediately watching in slow motion, while glittering purple lettering flashed across the lenses, and the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums.
‘Hawkshead Attacking Formation’ he read, as he watched the three Irish Chasers zoom closely together, Troy in the centre, slightly ahead of Mullet and Moran, bearing down upon the Bulgarians. ‘Porskoff Ploy’ flashed up next, as Troy made as though to dart upwards with the Quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian Chaser Ivanova, and dropping the Quaffle to Moran. One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, swung hard at a passing Bludger with his small club, knocking it into Moran’s path; Moran ducked to avoid the Bludger and dropped the Quaffle; and Levski, soaring beneath, caught it –
“TROY SCORES!” roared Bagman, and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. “Ten–zero to Ireland!”
That's going to confuse me, quite a bit Harry thought.
“What?” Harry yelled, looking wildly around through his Omnioculars. “But Levski’s got the Quaffle!”
“Harry, if you’re not going to watch at normal speed, you’re going to miss things!” shouted Hermione, who was dancing up and down, waving her arms in the air while Troy did a lap of honour of the pitch.
Hermione wrinkled her nose at that, wondering why she was doing that, since she really didn't see herself being a big fan. Then, she figured that it was more of the fact of where she was than any real enthusiasm to the game itself. Either that, or her book self had definitely changed a bit from how she was now.
Harry looked quickly over the top of his Omnioculars, and saw that the leprechauns watching from the side-lines had all risen into the air again, and formed the great, glittering shamrock. Across the pitch, the Veela were watching them sulkily.
Furious with himself, Harry spun his speed dial back to normal as play resumed.
Harry knew enough about Quidditch to see that the Irish Chasers were superb. They worked as a seamless team, appearing to read each other’s minds by the way they positioned themselves, and the rosette on Harry’s chest kept squeaking their names: ‘Troy – Mullet –Moran!’ And within ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more, bringing their lead to thirty–zero, and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters.
The match became still faster, but more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chasers, and were starting to prevent them using some of their best moves; twice they were forced to scatter, and then, finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks, dodge the Keeper, Ryan, and score Bulgaria’s first goal.
Which means that the Veela will be dancing again Cedric thought.
“Fingers in your ears!” bellowed Mr. Weasley, as the Veela started to dance in celebration. Harry screwed up his eyes, too; he wanted to keep his mind on the game.
That makes sense Luna thought, not saying it out loud in respect to keeping the slight promise not interrupt doing the match. While she knew that Hermione wouldn't get angry at her, she also understood why Hermione wished it to be that way.
After a few seconds, he chanced a glance at the pitch. The Veela had stopped dancing, and Bulgaria were again in possession of the Quaffle.
“Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova – oh, I say!” roared Bagman.
One hundred thousand wizards and witches gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the centre of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from aeroplanes without parachutes. Harry followed their descent through his Omnioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was –
“I have the feeling that, if you can't see it, then it's not there, which means that one of them is feinting,” Cedric said, unable to actually keep quiet about it. Hermione frowned a bit at him, but didn't actually say anything to him about it. She knew that they wouldn't be completely quiet about it, particularly Cedric, who actually seemed to really like the game.
“They’re going to crash!’ screamed Hermione next to Harry.
She was half-right – at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiralled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium.
Must've been close to the ground, then Luna thought. That would have really been the only way that to have happen, unless Lynch was an idiot and unable to control his broom all that well.
A huge groan rose from the Irish seats.
“Fool!” moaned Mr. Weasley. “Krum was feinting!”
“It’s time out!” yelled Bagman’s voice. “As trained mediwizards hurry onto the pitch to examine Aidan Lynch!”
“He’ll be OK, he only got ploughed!” Charlie said reassuringly to Ginny, who was hanging over the side of the box, looking horror-struck. “Which is what Krum was after, of course …”
Harry hastily pressed the ‘replay’ and ‘play by play’ buttons on his Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to his eyes.
He watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion. ‘Wronski Feint – dangerous Seeker diversion’ read the shining purple lettering across his lenses. He saw Krum’s face contorted with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and he understood – Krum hadn’t seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him.
That sounds cool Harry thought.
Harry had never seen anyone fly like that; Krum hardly looked as though he was using a broomstick at all; he moved so easily through the air that it looked as though he was unsupported and weightless. Harry turned his Omnioculars back to normal, and focused them on Krum. He was circling high above Lynch, who was now being revived by mediwizards with cups of potion. Harry, focusing still more closely upon Krum’s face, saw his dark eyes darting all over the ground a hundred feet below. He was using the time while Lynch was revived to look for the Snitch without interference.
Lynch got to his feet at last, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters, mounted his Firebolt and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to give Ireland new heart. When Mostafa blew his whistle again, the Chasers moved into action with a skill unrivalled by anything Harry had seen so far.
After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and the game was starting to get dirtier.
As Mullet shot towards the goalposts yet again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. Whatever happened was over so quickly Harry didn’t catch it, but a scream of rage from the Irish crowd, and Mostafa’s long, shrill whistle blast, told him it had been foul.
“And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing – excessive use of elbows!” Bagman informed the roaring spectators. “And – yes, it’s a penalty to Ireland!”
The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled, now darted together to form the words ‘HA HA HA!’.
I have the feeling that, sooner or later, if the leprechauns continue to do that, the Veela are definitely going to react Luna thought.
The Veela on the other side of the pitch leapt to their feet, tossed their hair angrily and started to dance again.
As one, the Weasley boys and Harry stuffed their fingers in their ears, but Hermione, who hadn’t bothered, was soon tugging on Harry’s arm.
“Unless Hermione is attracted to females over males, she has no reason to do that,” Luna said.
He turned to look at her, and she pulled his fingers impatiently out of his ears.
“That might not be the best idea to do, since he was affected by the Veela and, as far as it's known, they're still dancing,” Cedric said.
“Look at the referee!” she said, giggling.
Harry looked down at the pitch. Hassan Mostafa had landed right in front of the dancing Veela, and was acting very oddly indeed. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his moustache excitedly.
“Well, I think I can figure out what's so funny,” Hermione said, laughing a bit.
“Now, we can’t have that!” said Ludo Bagman, though he sounded highly amused. “Somebody slap the referee!”
A mediwizard came tearing across the pitch, his fingers stuffed in his own ears, and kicked Mostafa hard on the shins. Mostafa seemed to come to himself; Harry, watching through the Omnioculars again, saw that he looked exceptionally embarrassed, and was shouting at the Veela, who had stopped dancing and were looking mutinous.
“And unless I’m much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian Team Mascots!” said Bagman’s voice. “Now there’s something we haven’t seen before ... oh, this could turn nasty ...”
It most likely will Cedric thought.
It did: the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, had landed either side of Mostafa, and began arguing furiously with him, gesticulating towards the leprechauns, who had now gleefully formed the words ‘HEE HEE HEE’. Mostafa was not impressed by the Bulgarians’ arguments, however; he was jabbing his finger into the air, clearly telling them to get flying again, and when they refused, he gave two short blasts on his whistle.
Now that's just being petty Hermione said.
“Two penalties for Ireland!” shouted Bagman, and the Bulgarian crowd howled with anger. “And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms ... yes ... there they go ... and Troy takes the Quaffle …”
Play now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything they had yet seen. The Beaters on both sides were acting without mercy: Volkov and Vulchanov in particular seemed not to care whether their clubs made contact with Bludger or human, as they swung them violently through the air. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.
“Foul!” roared the Irish supporters as one, all standing up in a great wave of green.
“Foul!” echoed Ludo Bagman’s magically magnified voice. “Dimitrov skins Moran – deliberately flying to collide there – and it’s got to be another penalty – yes, there’s the whistle!”
The leprechauns had risen into the air again and, this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed across the pitch towards the Veela.
“That's not going to be good,” Luna said.
At this, the Veela lost control. They launched themselves across the pitch, and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Watching through his Omnioculars, Harry saw that they didn’t look remotely beautiful now. On the contrary, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders –
“And that's the hints of their non-human side,” Luna said.
“I take it that that's an example of why you should never go for looks alone,” Harry said. Luna nodded her head.
“And that, boys,” yelled Mr. Weasley over the tumult of the crowd below, “is why you should never go for looks alone!”
Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the Veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile, the pitched battle below was nothing to the one above. Harry turned this way and that, staring through his Omnioculars, as the Quaffle changed hands with the speed of a bullet –
But the cheers of the Irish supporters were barely heard over the shrieks of the Veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry members’ wands, and the furious roars of the Bulgarians. The game recommenced immediately; now Levski had the Quaffle, now Dimitrov –
The Irish Beater Quigley swung heavily at a passing Bludger, and hit it as hard as possible towards Krum, who did not duck quickly enough. It hit him hard in the face.
There was a deafening groan from the crowd; Krum’s nose looked broken, there was blood everywhere, but Hassan Mostafa didn’t blow his whistle. He had become distracted, and Harry couldn’t blame him; one of the Veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broomtail alight.
“Yeah, I can see how that would be distracting,” Cedric said.
Harry wanted someone to realise that Krum was injured; even though he was supporting Ireland, Krum was the most exciting player on the pitch. Ron obviously felt the same.
“Time out! Ah, come on, he can’t play like that, look at him –“
“Look at Lynch!” Harry yelled.
For the Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive, and Harry was quite sure that this was no Wronski Feint; this was the real thing ...
“He’s seen the Snitch!” Harry shouted. “He’s seen it! Look at him go!”
Half the crowd seemed to have realised what was happening, the Irish supporters rose in a great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on ... but Krum was on his tail. How he could see where he was going, Harry had no idea; there were flecks of blood flying through the air behind him, but he was drawing level with Lynch now, as the pair of them hurtled towards the ground again –
“They’re going to crash!” shrieked Hermione.
“They’re not!” roared Ron.
“Lynch is!” yelled Harry.
And he was right – for the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force, and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry Veela.
“Ouch,” Hermione said.
“Yeah, that would most likely hurt quite a bit,” Luna said.
“The Snitch, where’s the Snitch?” bellowed Charlie, along the row.
“He’s got it – Krum’s got it – it’s all over!” shouted Harry.
Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand.
The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY, IRELAND: ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY across the crowd, who didn’t seem to have realised what had happened.
“It looks as though the Weasley twins were right in their bet,” Hermione said.
Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet was revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.
“IRELAND WIN!” shouted Bagman, who, like the Irish, seemed to have been taken aback by the sudden end of the match. “KRUM GETS THE SNITCH – BUT IRELAND WIN – good Lord, I don’t think any of us were expecting that!”
“The twins did,” Cedric said.
“What did he catch the Snitch for?” Ron bellowed, even as he jumped up and down, applauding with his hands over his head. “He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!”
“Considering how good the Irish chasers and Keeper were, he probably knew that they'd never catch up,” Harry said.
“He most likely wanted to end in on his own terms,” Luna finished. Hermione read the next part to herself and bit her lip to keep from laughing at what was coming up next.
“He knew they were never going to catch up,” Harry shouted back over all the noise, also applauding loudly, “the Irish Chasers were too good ... he wanted to end it on his terms, that’s all ...”
“It seems that you two were thinking the same thing,” Cedric said, smiling at the two.
“It appears so,” Luna said.
“He was very brave, wasn’t he?” Hermione said, leaning forward to watch Krum land,
Cedric's smile disappeared as he frowned. Was Hermione interested in Krum?
and the swarm of mediwizards blasting a path through the battling leprechauns and Veela to get to him. “He looks a terrible mess ...”
Harry put his Omnioculars to his eyes again. It was hard to see what was happening below, because leprechauns were zooming delightedly all over the pitch, but he could just make out Krum, surrounded by mediwizards. He looked surlier than ever, and refused to let them mop him up. His team-mates were around him, shaking their heads and looking dejected;
“They're probably thinking like Ron, not happy that he caught the Snitch then, but I really don't think that they had much of a chance of actually beating the Irish, at the rate it was going,” Cedric said.
a short way away, the Irish players were dancing gleefully in a shower of gold descending from their mascots. Flags were waving all over the stadium, the Irish national anthem blared from all sides; the Veela were shrinking back into their usual, beautiful selves now, though looking dispirited and forlorn.
“Vell, ve fought bravely,” said a gloomy voice behind Harry. He looked around; it was the Bulgarian Minister for Magic.
“So, he was definitely making fun of Fudge,” Hermione said.
“You can speak English!” said Fudge, sounding outraged. “And you’ve been letting me mime everything all day!”
“Vell, it vos very funny,” said the Bulgarian Minister, shrugging.
“And it doesn't seem like he's even a little bit ashamed, either,” Harry said.
“Considering what Fudge said in his presence, I wouldn't be ashamed making Fudge look like a fool,” Hermione said.
“And as the Irish team perform a lap of honour, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!” roared Bagman.
Harry’s eyes were suddenly dazzled by a blinding white light, as the Top Box was magically illuminated so that everyone in the stands could see the inside.
“To bad they can't make it so our eyes don't deal with it,” Harry said.
Squinting towards the entrance, he saw two panting wizards carrying into the box a vast golden cup, which they handed to Cornelius Fudge, who was still looking very disgruntled that he’d been using sign language all day for nothing.
“Let’s have a really loud hand for the gallant losers –Bulgaria!” Bagman shouted.
And up the stairs into the box came the seven defeated Bulgarian players. The crowd below were applauding appreciatively; Harry could see thousands and thousands of Omniocular lenses flashing and winking in their direction.
One by one, the Bulgarians filed between the rows of seats in the box, and Bagman called out the name of each as they shook hands with their own Minister and then with Fudge. Krum, who was last in line, looked a real mess. Two black eyes were blooming spectacularly on his bloody face. He was still holding the Snitch. Harry noticed that he seemed much less co-ordinated on the ground. He was slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered. But when Krum’s name was announced, the whole stadium gave him a resounding, ear-splitting roar.
“Considering how good he's said to be, and what everyone there just saw, it does make a lot of sense. You don't even have to support Bulgaria to note that,” Cedric said.
And then came the Irish team. Aidan Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly;
“Being stomped on must've dazed him,” Hermione said.
the second crash seemed to have dazed him and his eyes looked strangely unfocused. But he grinned happily as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd below thundered their approval. Harry’s hands were numb with clapping.
At last, when the Irish team had left the box to perform another lap of honour on their brooms (Aidan Lynch on the back of Connolly’s, clutching hard around his waist and still grinning in a bemused sort of way), Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and muttered “Quietus.”
“They’ll be talking about this one for years,” he said hoarsely, “a really unexpected twist, that ... shame it couldn’t have lasted longer ...”
“Not really,” Hermione said. None of the others said anything, for, while Luna agreed with her, the boys really didn't, particularly Cedric. However, he didn't think that it was the right time to get into an argument about it with her.
“ah yes ... yes, I owe you ... how much?”
For Fred and George had just scrambled over the backs of their seats, and were standing in front of Ludo Bagman with broad grins on their faces, their hands outstretched.
“That's the end of the chapter,” Hermione said, handing the book over to Cedric.