After a whole day of waiting, just as night falls, the Quidditch World Cup is about to begin.
Mr. Weasley led the way, and everyone held the various trinkets they had bought before and walked quickly into the woods along the passage illuminated by lanterns.
They could hear hundreds of people moving around, shouting, laughing, and intermittent singing.
The wild excitement was contagious and Harry couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.
They walked through the woods for twenty minutes, talking and laughing loudly, and finally came out on the other side of the woods. Then they found themselves in the shadow of a huge stadium. Harry could only see part of the magnificent golden wall surrounding the arena, but he could tell that ten cathedrals could easily fit inside.
"It can accommodate 100,000 spectators." Mr. Weasley saw the astonished expression on Harry's face and said with a smile, "Five hundred staff from the Ministry of Magic have been busy with this for a whole year. Every inch of this place has been cast Muggle-Repelling Curse."
He kept talking and without stopping, led everyone towards the nearest entrance. There, there were already many shouting wizards around.
"First class tickets." The Ministry of Magic wizard at the entrance looked at their tickets and said, "Top box! Go all the way upstairs, Arthur, to the top."
The stairs leading to the stadium were covered with purple-red carpets. They climbed up the stairs with the crowd, and slowly the crowds entered the stands on the left and right sides respectively.
"They and I are no longer together." Luna said dazedly, handing the ticket her father bought her to the witch.
"Oh - if I had known better, I would have gotten an extra ticket." Mr. Weasley said regretfully.
The Lovegood family has always been short of money, and he should have thought of it, but Luna's father came so unexpectedly that he had no time to prepare.
Although the Weasley family is not rich, it is better to have the convenience of a position, isn't it
The group led by Mr. Weasley continued up the stairs until they reached the top. They found themselves in a small box at the highest point of the stadium, facing the golden goalposts.
There were about twenty purple and gilded chairs arranged in two rows, and they looked really nice.
Luna's location is a few floors lower, but fortunately, this is a Quidditch match! For a three-dimensional sports event, there really isn't much difference in the viewing seats - it's just that the seats that are too low may be a bit taxing to watch.
One hundred thousand wizards are taking their seats one after another, and those seats are arranged in a staircase shape around the oval gymnasium.
Everything here is shrouded in a mysterious golden light, which seems to come from the stadium itself.
From Harry's and his vantage point, the arena looked as smooth as velvet. There were three pitching hoops on both sides of the field, fifty feet high; to the right of them, almost at eye level with Harry, was a huge blackboard with golden words flashing on it, as if there were A giant invisible hand wrote words on the blackboard and then erased them.
Harry took a closer look and realized that the flashing words were advertisements for the spectators in the stadium.
At this moment, Hermione was eagerly leafing through her velvet-bound, fringed competition instructions.
"There will be a performance by the team mascot before the game," she read aloud.
"Oh, that's always something to see," said Mr. Weasley. "You know, the national teams bring some exotic animals from their own countries to put on a show here."
Over the next half hour, the box they were in gradually filled up with people. Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with people, and those people looked like they were high-ranking wizards.
Percy, who had graduated and was working at the Ministry of Magic, stood up in a hurry again and again, looking like he was sitting on the back of a porcupine covered with thorns.
When Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge himself arrived, Percy bowed too low and his glasses fell to the ground, shattering. Embarrassed, he repaired the lens with his wand and then sat blankly in his seat.
And when Cornelius Fudge greeted Harry like an old friend, Percy cast a jealous look at Harry.
Harry and Fudge had known each other before, and Fudge held Harry's hand lovingly like a father, greeted him, and introduced him to the wizard sitting next to him.
Of course, if he had known that the person in front of him had sent Maka to Azkaban, he might not be like this now.
However, because the matter involved so much, it is still a highly confidential matter to this day. Therefore, even the people who work in the Ministry of Magic don't know much.
"Harry Potter, you know," Fudge shouted to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic next to him, who was wearing a gorgeous black velvet robe trimmed with gold and looked like he didn't understand a word of English, "Harry Potter. ... Oh, think about it, you should know who he is... the boy who narrowly escaped death in the hands of the mysterious man... You must know who he is, right?"
The Bulgarian wizard suddenly saw the scar on Harry's forehead, and immediately pointed at it excitedly, mumbling a series of words loudly.
"I knew I would always make him understand." Fudge said to Harry tiredly, "I'm not very good at languages. When it comes to this kind of thing, you need Barty Crouch. Ah, I saw his The house elf gave him a seat... What a thoughtful thought, these guys in Bulgaria always want to get the best seats... Ah, Lucius is here!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione immediately turned their heads.
Squeezing into the three still-empty seats in the second row behind Mr. Weasley were Dobby the house elf's original owners: Lucius Malfoy, his son Draco, and a woman, haha Leigh guessed she must be Draco's mother.
Lucius was still gloomy at this moment, but when he saw Fudge, he still walked over and forced out a smile.
"Ah, Fudge," he walked up to the Minister of Magic and extended his hand to introduce, "Hello! I don't think you have met my wife Narcissa yet? And our son Decorah."
"Hello, hello," said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy, "please allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oberanski - Mr. Obalonsk - the Minister of Magic in Bulgaria. , it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t understand what I’m saying anyway. Let me see who else—you know Arthur Weasley, right?”
Lucius glanced at Mr. Weasley and quickly looked away - he didn't have the energy to argue with Weasley, he was worried now!
Not long after, after everyone chatted for a while, Ludo Bagman, Director of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Magic, rushed into the box full of energy.
"Is everyone ready?" His round face shone like a giant ball of cheese. "Minister, can we start?"
"Start as you say, Ludo." Fudge said with a smile.
Ludo pulled out his wand, pointed at his throat and said, "Resonant!"
Then his words sounded like thunder throughout the packed stadium. His voice echoed above them and carried loudly to every corner of the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen... welcome! Welcome to watch the 422nd Quidditch World Cup Finals!"
The audience immediately burst into bursts of cheers and applause.
Thousands of flags were waved at the same time, accompanied by the national anthem. The scene was really lively. On the blackboard opposite them, the last line of the advertisement "Bibi's All-flavored Beans—Every bite is an adventure!" has been erased, and now reads:
"Bulgaria: 0, Ireland: 0."
"Okay, without further ado, please allow me to introduce... the mascot of the Bulgarian national team!"
On the right side of the stands was a neat bright red square formation, where loud cheers erupted at this moment.
"Wonder what they brought," said Mr. Weasley, leaning out of his seat. "Ah!" He suddenly took off his glasses and wiped them hastily on his robe, "Veela!"
"What is Mei-"
Seeing a hundred Veela already sliding towards the arena, Harry's question was answered.
The Veela was a woman—the most beautiful woman Harry had ever seen in his life! But they don't look like real people - why are their skins glowing as brightly and softly as the moon, and why are their hairs flying behind their heads without the wind...
Just then, the music started, and Harry stopped thinking about whether she was real—in fact, he couldn't think about anything else.
The Veela began to dance, and Harry's mind went blank, feeling nothing but extreme joy.
Nothing in the world mattered, as long as he could keep looking at the Veela, because if they stopped dancing, something terrible would happen...
And just opposite the box where Harry was sitting, in the top box at the other end of the arena, a small figure was also looking at the Veelas in trance.
She just watched so quietly, with no expression on her face, but there was an invisible sense of loneliness.
"Weili, don't worry, it has nothing to do with you." A middle-aged man comforted her softly.
"It's okay, Dad."
That little figure was none other than Willie Blois, who was specially taken from Hogwarts to watch the game by her father.
On the other side, as the Veela's dance became faster and faster, some crazy and shapeless thoughts began to swirl in Harry's dizzy mind.
He wanted to do something special and great, and he wanted to do it now. How about hopping from the box into the gym? It looks good... but is it exciting enough
"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione's voice came from afar.
The music stopped and Harry blinked blankly.
He stood there with one leg propped up on the wall of the box. Next to him, Ron stood motionless as if he were about to dive off the diving board.
Hermione made a loud smacking sound and reached out to pull Harry back to his seat.
"Oh, why are you like this! If Maka were here, I wouldn't be as embarrassed as you are!"
On the side, when Fudge heard the name "Maka", an unnatural look flashed across his face.