<h4>Chapter 235: Final site and final results</h4>
"How did this happen?!"
Fred and George were as anxious as hotcakes, circling around Drac.
"What can we do, that''s our start-up money for the joke store!" Fred muttered.
"I kinda liked this Wimborne Hos yer before." George said in frustration, "Darn it, how does someone like that get to be Head of the Sports Division?"
Mrs. Weasley sighed, then scowled again and gave the twins a stern look.
"Consider this a lesson for you," she eximed in reprimand, "If you can learn from this and never bet against anyone again, then these galleons will not have been spent in vain!"
Fred and George, however, of course, could not spare those golden galleons, and in their anxiety they had a sudden sh of inspiration, and turned to face Drac.
"Professor, you likewise pressed a sack of gold Galleons, you can''t just give it all away to that gambler Bagman, can you?" George said with an indignant face, "No matter whether you care about the money or not, but if you win the bet and he doesn''t give you any money, then he obviously doesn''t have you in his sights!"
"Yeah, Professor." Fred chimed in, "We know you''re rich, but you can''t spend money like that right?"
Drac gave them a somewhat amused look and ticked the corners of his mouth.
"Yeah, I''ve pressed a lot of gold Galleons into it." He had a smile on his face, but his voice grew cold, "Even if Bagman can dodge anyone''s debt, he would never dare to renege on mine as well."
The reason why Drac had ced a bet to get involved was that he was actually nning to help Fred and George out. After all, these two living treasures were his own students, what was it like to be bullied by others?
If they lost the bet, it would be fine, but if they really won the bet, Drac, who had pressed arge amount of Golden Galleons, definitely had every reason to go to Bagman to collect the debt, and by the way, it would be normal to help Fred and George get the money over as well.
Let the twins save up some money, Drac was looking forward to the release of their joke store!
...
As the hours passed, an emotion called excitement spread over the camp like a palpable cloud. At dawn, even the still summer air seemed to tremble with anticipation.
Thest traces of concealment and camouge disappeared as day drew back like a curtain and the sun shone from the distant horizon on the thousands of eagerly awaiting wizards - the
The crowd was wild with excitement at the news of the impending start of the tournament, and continued to celebrate using all manner of magic.
The Ministry of Magic, thoroughly out of control, could only sumb to the inevitable tendency to stop working against the people and listen to the signs of obvious magic use popping up everywhere.
Every few steps, phantom manifestation vendors descended from the sky, carrying trays and pushing carts filled with strange and bizarre contraptions:
There were glowing rose-shaped badges, green for Irnd and red for Bulgaria, which shouted out the names of the yers; green tall hats decorated with clovers that danced in the wind; Bulgarian sashes with lions roaring from time to time; gs of the two countries, which yed the anthems of their respective countries when they were waved; and collectible statues of the famous yers, the figurines of which could be carried in the palm of the wizard''s hand. could walk around in the palm of a wizard''s hand with a smug air ...
Ron had saved up his pocket money all summer for these souvenirs, with a small statue of a Bulgarian star finder, Viktor Krum, being the most expensive, and he was quite fond of it.
But when heter discovered the more practical panoramic telescope, he immediately regretted buying so many useless objects.
Sirius could see that the Weasleys were strapped for cash, so he waved his hand, ying up his usual advantage of being rich and generous, and directly underwrote all of the young wizards'' purchases for the day.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still a little overjoyed, but were pushed back by Sirius on the grounds that he was repaying them for the top floor tickets they had bought.
And so, when the gym officially opened for admission, every Weasley junior had a panoramic telescope in their hands.
Fred and George were the most excited, holding these telescopes with their marvelous and intricate features as if they wanted to secretly take them apart and study their construction.
"Professor Drac, which side of the room are you seated on?" Mr. Weasley asked to Drac, "We can go all the way in if it''s not too far away."
"Oh, I don''t have a ticket." Drac said with a calm face.
"What?" Mr. Weasley froze in ce, "Uh, well, wait a minute, I''ll call Ludo right away, he should still have some reserved spots in his hand."
"No need, I didn''te here to watch the game in the first ce." Dracughed lightly and shook his head, "Not to mention, no one can stop me when I want to go in. You guys watch-"
Saying that, as if to verify his im, he suddenly disappeared in ce.
"Huh, where''s Professor Drac?" Mr. Weasley lost sight of Drac without reacting at all, and had to turn his head to ask his wife and children around him, "Did any of you see Professor Drac? He wouldn''t just leave without saying a word, would he?"
The young people of the Weasley family looked around but could not find Drac''s figure, and could only look at each other and shake their heads.
Just then, Fred suddenly shouted:
"Look guys, is that Professor Drac?"
The crowd turned their gazes to Fred and realized that he was holding his panoramic binocrs up in front of his eyes, looking in the direction of the stadium.
"Oh my God, it really is Professor Drac!" George eximed as he too raised his own panoramic binocrs, "And he''s waving at us!"
Harry and the others hurriedly picked up their respective panoramic binocrs and looked in the direction Fred and George were looking away from.
They saw that a silver-haired figure was sittingfortably inside the tallest goal on the Quidditch pitch, leaning against the edge of the circr frame, one foot on the other side of the frame and the other hangingzily down.
The panoramic binocrs were able to see that Drac was smiling softly and waving in their direction, as if he could still see their movements from so far away.
Crowd: "..."
"What''s Professor Drac doing ...," Mr. Weasley asked nkly.
"I guess Professor Drac has been wanting to go up and sit down for a while, and our conversation just now was just an excuse for him to do so ..." Ron had a look on his face that he didn''t see anythinging, "Dad, you don''t understand Professor Drac, and when you doter you''ll realize it''s not surprising what he does."
Harry nodded approvingly next to him.
"This professor of yours is really ... different." Mr. Weasley thought for half a day before finallying up with a more subtle adjective.
A gust of wind blew by, and before anyone could react, Drac''s trademark long silver hair was once again flowing around them.
"What are you guys saying about me?" Dracughed softly.
"Ah, how!" Mr. Weasley was startled and hurriedly denied in a slip of the tongue, "It''s their good fortune to have a professor as different as you, who can definitely lead the children to a brand new path that is different from the original education system!"
"Professor Drac, how does it feel to be on top of the goal at the Quidditch World Cup Stadium?" Fred asked gleefully, "If I wasn''t sure I''d be stopped by security, I''d be tempted to go up there and give it a try."
"It''s okay, the view is nice, and the texture of the goal is a bit softer than expected, it should be wrapped in sponge, it''s quitefortable to sit on." Drac thought for a moment and thenmented.
"But the disadvantage is that it''s a bit windy up there, plus the goal is still a bit narrow in the end, and it''s easy for your feet to slip off when you put them on it, so it''s better to forget about staying up there for a long time."
"It''s still you, Professor." George gave an admiring thumbs up.
Of course, the Wesleys apparently didn''t realize that Drac had another purpose.
His presence on the highest goal was to give a signal to the eagerly awaiting Lucius Malfoy that Lucius was present and could act without fear.
Because Lucius, as a Death Eater, was explicitly in a hostile rtionship with Drac, direct contact with him in public would ultimately put Lucius at risk of being exposed - in fact, Drac didn''t care about this at all, it was the timid Lucius who brought it up.
After the little interlude, Mr. Weasley led the way, and everyone, clutching their purchases in their hands, walked briskly down the crowded passage into the woods.
Along the way, hundreds of people could be heard crowding around and walking around, shouts,ughter, and intermittent singing could be heard. The wild excitement was contagious, and the Weasleys could not helpughing.
They walked through the woods for twenty minutes,ughing and joking loudly all the while, and finally came out on the other side of the woods. By this time, they were within the shadow of the huge stadium.
Standing at this angle, they could only see part of the magnificent golden wall surrounding the ying field, and the tall Quidditch goal stand inside was blocked.
But it was clear that it wouldn''t be a problem to fit ten cathedrals inside.
"This ce can hold a hundred thousand spectators." Mr. Weasley introduced, seeing the stunned expressions on the faces of the young wizards, "Five hundred staff members from the Ministry of Magic have been working on this for a whole year. Every inch of this ce is under a muggle banishing spell ..."
"Oh, and in case you haven''t learned the Muggle Banishing Spell, it''s the one that whenever a Muggle approaches this ce, they suddenly remember the 100,000 things they need to do and hurry away ... May Merlin bless them."
Mr. Weasley said cheerfully as he led the way towards the nearest entrance, which was already crowded with many shouting wizards.
It was only when they reached the entrance that they realized Drac had once again disappeared into thin air and had no idea where he had gone.
"First ss ticket." The witch from the Ministry of Magic at the entrance looked at their tickets and said, "Top floor box! Go all the way upstairs, Arthur, to the very top."
The stairs leading up to the gymnasium were carpeted in fuchsia. The Weasleys picked their way up the stairs with the crowd, and slowly those streams of people made their way into the left and right bleachers.
The top tier boxes were positioned at the highest point of the stadium and were directly in front of the gold goal posts, the same rack Drac had just sat on. There were about twenty purple and gold-ted sitting chairs here, divided into two rows.
The Weasleys were seated in the front row, and shortly afterward, Fudge, the Minister of Magic, arrived on the scene.
When Fudge saw Sirius, who was with the Weasleys, and Harry in the middle of them, he instantly furrowed his brow and his face became grim.
But Sirius looked unconcerned and sat in his seat with his legs crossed, not caring at all about Fudge''s behavior.
With the fall of Bagman''s voice, amplified with a sound amplification spell, the Quidditch World Cup final officially began.
Even Harry, who was a talented ball chaser at Hogwarts, had never seen such an exciting Quidditch match. He pressed the panoramic binocrs so tightly against his sses that they were almost sunk into the bridge of his nose.
The speed of the yers on both teams was unbelievable - the
The ball chasers kept passing ghostly fly balls to other yers so fast that Bagman, thementator, only had time to announce their names, not even to exin the situation on the field and the tactics used by each of the two teams.
Harry, who was very good at Quidditch, had read all sorts of Quidditch rted books and had experienced many real life battles, could easily tell that although both teams were very strong, the Irish ball chasers were superb.
They worked together seamlessly and moved in perfect coordination, as if they could read each other''s minds.
Sure enough, within minutes, Irnd scored the first goal.
In the next few minutes, the Irish team, with their tacit cooperation and toughness, almost suppressed the Bulgarian team, and the score kept widening. When the Irish team got more than a hundred points, Bulgaria just scored a goal.
But the point that cannot be overlooked is that Krum, who was the Bulgarian ball finder, was too good.
With a Lansky fake he made a flying dive, fooled Irnd''s ball finder Linzi, managed to injure his opponent, and caught the Golden Flyers on his second dive to end the normal game.
However -
The gap between the two teams'' ball-chasers was ultimately too great, and the final score was set at 160:170.
Bulgaria: 160; Irnd: 170.
"Irnd have won!" Bagman eximed, who also seemed a little bewildered by the sudden end of the match, "Krum caught the Golden Flyers ... But Irnd won. Gosh, I don''t think anyone expected it to end like this!"
Meanwhile, Fred and George were about to burst with joy.
The two of them had actually guessed the ending of the game correctly!
And both of the twins were sure that with Professor Drac''s help, Ludo Bagman wouldn''t dare to renege.
The two of them really had the start-up money for their joke store!