Study Days at Hogwarts

  Chapter 848 World Cup Finals

   "Merlin's beard, it's really hard to find here."

  Fred looked around the rough environment in the tent, and looked at his friend suspiciously, "Don't tell me, you've been living here for the past few days?"

"Don't be stupid, Fred, Albert enjoys life more than you, how could he sleep here." George felt that Fred's words sounded silly, and handed the parchment that Sirius asked them to hand over to Albert , By the way, bring the topic back to the reason why the two came to find Albert.

   "Did you ask Sirius to help you place a bet?"

  George saw that Albert was looking at the parchment carefully and didn't intend to answer, so he knew that the other party had acquiesced.

  Some things, just know in your heart, there is no need to point them out.

  George continued: "We bet on Ludo Bagman, the same bet as Black that Ireland would win the game and score first, but Viktor Klum would catch the Snitch..."

   "Besides, after the game, the scores of both sides will not exceed 30 points." Fred grabbed George's words and continued.

   "How many times?"

   "What?" Fred didn't respond for a while.

   "Eight times," said George at once.

"Ludo Bagman has lost a lot of Galleons recently." Albert took out a pen from his pocket, began to make notes on the parchment, and said without looking up: "He's looking for the goblin from Gringotts We borrowed a large sum of Galleons, so we probably won't be able to pay it."

   "You mean..." George frowned deeply, obviously understanding what Albert said, "Is he planning to renege on his debt? No wonder I thought his reaction just now was a bit strange."

   "The goblins won't let Bagman renege." Fred shook his head. "They're not house-elves."

   "No, you didn't understand what Albert meant." George raised his hand and interrupted, "What he meant was that Bagman might reject our Gallon. Of course, there is also the Goblin's Galleon."

   "Can you talk normally?" Fred felt that he couldn't keep up with the thinking patterns of the two. He and George were obviously twins. Why could George understand but he couldn't?

   "The mascots of the Irish team are leprechauns, and they like to throw magic gold coins on the field after the performance." Albert said again.

   "The Leprechaun's gold coins do look a lot like Garen, do you think Bagman might use the Leprechaun's gold coins to fool us?" George frowned and considered the solution.

"As long as we check the gold coins as soon as we receive them, we shouldn't be easily fooled by Bagman." Although Fred had never seen the leprechaun's gold coins, he believed that Bagman couldn't find them when they were vigilant. fool them.

"The tent of Lee Jordan's house is nearby, and you will stop by to find him later and tell him about it." Albert took a sip from his teacup and urged, "You haven't seen him yet. family!"

   "It seems that you have gained a lot!" George couldn't help but sigh with Albert's money-making methods, "However, Bagman deserves it."

  After learning from Albert that Bagman would use fake gold coins to fool themselves, Fred and George's last bit of sympathy for Bagman disappeared.

"He's a good gambler, and he's lost too many Galleons. The goblin's debt is destined to be repaid, and he will probably choose to run away in the end." Albert reminded: "If you want to get the money, Until he has the money, or you won't get a Knut from Bagman."

   "It seems that the situation is worse than we thought." George muttered in a low voice, "I will mention this to Lee Jordan."

   "Then...see you tonight!"

  Before leaving the tent, Fred suddenly turned around and asked, "By the way, you seem to be very optimistic about the magazines run by Black?"

   "Because people need it!" Albert laughed.

   After the Weasley brothers left, Albert continued to flip through the parchment in his hand. For a moment, he seemed to think of something, called the house elf Bit, took out a glass bottle from the shape-changing lizard skin bag, and handed it to the house elf. There were black beads in the glass bottle.

   Albert lowered his voice and told the house elf what to do tonight.

  Bet looked anxiously at the glass bottle in his hand, but still nodded to indicate that he would finish it.

"Oh, by the way, after watching the game tonight, we will leave here immediately. There is no need to pack up this tent, just throw it here. When the time comes, you can apparate and leave with your suitcase. That thing is a gift left for those troublesome black wizards, remember to spread it out, and don't let people suspect us."

   "I know the master." The house elf Bit slightly bowed and went back to make preparations before leaving.

  Albert put away the modified parchment and returned it to the box, and told Catherine and Valeria about leaving overnight tonight.

   As for whether the two of them will leave with them, that is not something he can decide.

  …

   "After the game, shall we go home?"

  Nia took Albert's hand and walked through the forest with the crowd. They had walked this road several times, and they knew the environment here fairly well.

   "What about the third-place match, don't you want to watch it?" Katrina knew that Albert had tickets for the third-place match, and the price of the first-class ticket was not cheap.

   "I've already asked someone to sell the tickets for the third place." Albert looked at the crowd in front of him and said calmly, "After tonight, there will probably be martial law here."

   "It seems that the situation is really bad. By the way, how did you know that something would happen tonight?" Valeria was curious about where Albert got the news.

   "Don't you know he's a seer?" Katrina muttered under her breath.

"Prophet?"

  The two looked at Albert together, "You are sure you are not a bad divination."

  After a short pause of silence, Catherine suddenly asked: "During the Potions Championship, did you cheat by prophecy?"

   "You think I need to cheat?" Albert asked back.

   "Prophecy is really unreasonable." Valeria looked at Albert with fiery eyes. No wonder Albert always guessed which team would win.

   This time the Quidditch World Cup, they won a large sum of money through betting. Although they had to share a part of it with someone, the gold coins they earned were still quite considerable.

   "What did you predict?" Catherine asked.

   "Flame, Dark Wizard, and Dark Mark." Albert said in a low voice.

   "What is the Dark Mark?" Valeria and Catherine didn't know anything about Voldemort's mark.

   In fact, today's young wizards don't know much about the Dark Mark.

No way, compared with the first Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's reputation is more spread in Europe, and most of his followers stay in the UK, unlike Grindelwald who has a wide range of supporters, Naturally, no one told Catherine and Valeria not to call Voldemort by his first name, let alone what the Dark Mark was.

   "I suggest you read the Daily Prophet tomorrow morning." Albert made a shush gesture to signal them not to discuss this topic here.

   "Can't be mentioned?"

   "British wizards are very taboo to talk about this matter. You will know it in the newspaper tomorrow."

  After leaving on the top floor, Albert and the others entered the familiarization box, and found that there were already many acquaintances here.

Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were all in the same box, Fred and George even waved at Albert vigorously, and Harry was chatting with a house elf, Hermione didn't know why The reason looks angry.

  In the corner of the back row, there was a house elf, who seemed to be occupying a seat for the owner, but Albert knew that Crouch the old man would not come to the finals, because the vacant seat was actually reserved for Crouch the younger.

To be honest, Albert really wanted to secretly pull off the invisibility cloak on the opponent's body and give the audience in the box an unexpected surprise. He was convinced that this would be more sensational than who won the Quidditch World Cup, and he also believed that Fudge would definitely Excitedly let the dementor give Crouch a kiss.

  However, now is not the time. Little Crouch is still useful, and Albert finally held back. If he kills people, he will not be able to extract panel tasks later.

   "What's wrong?" Isobel noticed Albert's mood changes.

   "Nothing." Albert shook his head.

  She didn't think it was nothing. Following Albert's line of sight just now, she looked at the empty seat next to the house elf, and couldn't help frowning and thinking, but Isobel didn't want to go any further, and started talking to Katrina after sitting down.

  At this time, the box began to enter again, and the Minister of Magic Fudge led the Bulgarian minister in.

  The two reached out to gesture to each other, and spoke to each other in a language that the other did not understand.

   Well, at least Fudge couldn't understand Bulgarian, and the Bulgarian minister didn't necessarily understand English.

  Do not use English to communicate with Fudge, 80% of them are making fun of Fudge.

   Coming up behind the two came the Malfoy family, and Lucius Malfoy seemed to have had some unpleasant exchanges with the Weasleys.

   At least, Mr. Weasley had an unnatural expression on his face after a few brief chats.

  The Bulgarian minister who was sitting in the front row was not making fun of Fudge anymore, and chatted with Albert who was sitting behind them.

  People in the box had weird expressions, and Fudge was no exception, because he found that Albert was actually chatting with each other in fluent Bulgarian, and the two seemed to know each other, and they looked very familiar.

   Having said that, does this guy have such a wide range of friends?

  Even the Bulgarian Minister of Magic? Those who didn't know thought you were pure blood.

  Fudge suddenly understood why the Wizengamot British youth representative became like that last time.

   "I should have asked you to translate for me just now. This kind of thing is usually handled by Barty Crouch. You should know Barty!"

   "Meet me a few times." Albert looked at his new friend in front of him again, and asked in fluent Bulgarian: "Mr. Obalonsk should understand English!"

"Understandable, but I think this is more fun." The Bulgarian minister shrugged his shoulders, without any embarrassment of being exposed, "Besides, that guy thought I couldn't understand English, so he didn't have much scruples when speaking. By the way, you Who do you think will win tonight?"

"It's hard to say, but Ireland has a bigger advantage. The Bulgarian team's championship point is on Krum. If Krum can't catch the Snitch before the score gap between the two sides is completely widened, he will lose the chance to win the championship. "Albert said truthfully, "Both parties should be very clear about this. In the end, it depends on who is more prepared and who has better luck."

"You're right."

  The Bulgarian minister is naturally very aware of the disadvantages of the Bulgarian team, but he does not think that the Bulgarian team has no hope of winning the championship.

The game kicked off with Ludo's shouts. After the mascot Veela of the Bulgarian team entered the field, many men present were still "communically killed". Harry and Ron had already prepared themselves. Closing their eyes while dancing didn't catch the trick, but Fred and George weren't so lucky, and even Percy was caught.

   For this reason, Draco Malfoy, who was sitting behind them, pointed at them a lot, with a gloating expression on his face.

The mascots of the Irish team are even more popular. This group of leprechauns in red vests and beards flitted over their heads, forming various fireworks, and finally they formed a huge, shining clover tree. , hovering over the heads of the audience and sprinkled a large number of gold coins, and the audience below were all chaotically fighting for it.

   "Don't they know that these gold coins will disappear?" Nia looked at the few leprechaun gold coins in her hand, and she didn't understand the mentality of the audience.

   Moreover, after it rained gold coins in the sky, some people actually thought that the gold coins were real.

"Many people don't know." When Albert was speaking, he caught a glimpse of a hand that appeared out of nowhere to take the wand from Harry's clothes pocket, and the house elf who had been guarding little Crouch had been covering it with his hand Face.

   At this time, the panel task was triggered. Although the experience given was not much, it still made the corners of Albert's mouth happy. This is a good start.

  Just got the wand, and the little Crouch who hadn't recovered from the excitement suddenly shuddered, and couldn't help but look around. He felt an inexplicable malice just now.

who is it?

  Little Crouch looked around, but couldn't find the person who disturbed him.

   "Even if some people know that it is fake, they will still collect them with great interest. Everyone cares more about this lively atmosphere."

   As expected of the World Cup, the two national teams showed their strength and did not test each other, and the game went straight to the heat.

  Especially the Irish team, they continued the tactics of the Americans, and when suppressing Krum, they were quickly grabbing points from the Bulgarian team.

   As expected, the Irish team scored first. The Irish fans on the field cheered frantically for the first goal.

  The game was still going on, and the Irish team's suppression tactics were better than the US team, which forced Klum to use Langsky's fake moves to buy himself time.

   This time, he didn't fall to the ground, but his opponent Lin Qi got hit firmly, giving him a chance to look for the Snitch without any interference.

   "I think they are risking their lives, so are they really not worried about breaking their necks?" Nia is still not used to seeing such scenes. If it is an ordinary person, she must have fallen to her death.

   "If you fall to your death, you can only consider yourself unlucky."

  Under the cries of the supporters of the Irish team and the treatment of doctors, Lin Qi stood up again, rode his Firebolt, and returned to the court.

However, it is not difficult for Albert to see that Lin Qi is in a very bad condition. The close contact with the ground just now caused him serious injuries. The Irish team obviously realized this and accelerated their offensive against the Bulgarian team. Their skill and exquisite coordination quickly made them quickly grab a lot of points from the Bulgarian team. Perhaps, the Irish team did not expect Lynch to catch the Snitch from the beginning.

After the score was further stretched, the pressure on the Bulgarian players became very high, especially after the score was stretched to 100 points, they had to take the approach of the US team to break the game violently again, giving Klum the chance to catch the Snitch Chance.

  The game started to become unscrupulous.

  The degree of ferocity and intensity is something no audience has ever seen.

The batsmen on both sides were merciless, especially the batsmen of the Bulgarian team. .

  Their seeker was also fierce. In order to prevent the opponent from scoring, he rushed directly towards the seeker holding the ghost ball, almost throwing the girl off the broom.

  The veela who were originally spectators also began to help create chaos, wrestling with the Irish leprechauns, and even in order to distract the referee, a veela took advantage of the confusion and lit the tail of the referee's broom.

  In the chaos, Krum tried to repeat his old tricks and break free from the opponent's suppression. However, Ireland's two batsmen were still on the lookout for Crum, using Bludgers to cause him trouble.

   Free throws, free throws, free throws.

Bulgaria paid the price for their tactics, they lost a lot of points, while Krum failed to catch the snitch on short notice and was injured by a Bludger, with a more somber look on his face up.

   "Bulgaria lost!" Albert said softly, looking at the scoreboard.

  Because Ireland already leads the Bulgarian team with 170 points.

   However, many spectators didn't notice this. Their eyes were fixed on the fierce pitch, and then they continued to protest dissatisfied, but they didn't realize that the Irish team had actually won.

   Krum obviously realized this too.

   They lost, and they lost badly.

  So, when he saw the Irish Seeker chasing the Snitch, he speeded up to chase the Snitch without hesitation.

  Krum didn't step forward to stop the opponent from catching the Snitch, but to end the game. He knew he had to do this, so that the Bulgarian team could end with dignity. This is the only thing he can do now.

   After all, a slight difference in scores will make fans who support them feel that the Bulgarian team is just out of luck.

   If you are beaten to the ground, it will seriously damage the self-confidence of your teammates and fans.

   Both of them were speeding down to chase the Snitch.

   This time, Krum didn't hit the ground like last time, but Lin Qi, who was accelerating with him, hit the ground for the second time.

  However, Krum, who caught the Snitch, didn't have a smile on his face. Instead, his face became more gloomy. He personally made the Bulgarian team lose the game.

   "A very brave person." Nia commented.

   "Krum is really brave. He made the Bulgarian team lose the game decently." Albert agrees with Nia's words.

   "Yes, our young man played bravely." The Bulgarian minister glanced at Fudge's face and said in fluent English.

   "What! You speak English?" Fudge glared at the Bulgarian minister in great annoyance, "but you make me gesticulate here all day, like a fool!"

   "Hey, that's fun." The Bulgarian minister shrugged and stood up, heading towards the podium below.

  At this moment, above everyone's heads, the leprechauns began to sprinkle a large number of gold coins again, celebrating Ireland's championship.

  Fudge, who knew that he was being tricked, was very annoyed. The Irish team won the Quidditch World Cup just now and didn't make him happy. In the end, he had a stern face, with an expression of displeasure, and came to the stage to present the award to the champion team.

   "Let's go, we should go back."

   Albert called the others to leave before the awards were over, while Fred and George went to ask Ludo Bagman for money. They obviously didn't forget what Albert said.

  (end of this chapter)