453 game start
Meadows led the way, and everyone held their purchases in their hands and walked quickly into the woods along the passage illuminated by lanterns.They could hear thousands of people moving around, shouting, laughing, and intermittent singing.
The Duel Cup is no less exciting than the Quidditch World Cup.
After walking for nearly 10 minutes, they emerged from the other end of the woods, in the shadow of a huge stadium.
"At least it can accommodate [-] spectators."
Meadows explained as he handed the ticket to the wizard at the entrance.
"First class tickets!" the Ministry of Magic wizard at the entrance looked at their tickets and said, "Top box! Go all the way upstairs, Dorcas, to the top."
"Do you know her?" Karan asked curiously.
Meadows replied in a low voice: "She is a striker. She was also present when the Malfoy Manor was raided."
It seems that in order to make the game go smoothly, the Ministry of Magic has indeed made a lot of efforts, and even the beaters who specialize in dealing with dark wizards have become ticket sellers.
The stairs leading up to the stadium are covered in burgundy carpet.They climbed up the stairs together with the crowd, and slowly the crowd entered the stands on the left and right sides.The group led by Meadows kept going up until they reached the top of the stairs.They found themselves in a small box at the highest point of the stadium. There were about twenty purple and gold-plated seats divided into two rows.
Karan sat in the front row and looked down - one hundred thousand wizards were taking their seats one after another, and the seats were arranged in a staircase around the oval stadium.Everything here is shrouded in a mysterious golden light that seems to come from the stadium itself.From their vantage point, the field looked as smooth as velvet.
Karan inadvertently glanced behind him, but he was startled - a small-looking boy had a resentful expression on his face, and a thin woman next to him was constantly comforting him, but it had no effect at all.
"That's Barty Jr.," Snape reminded in a low voice, "Barty Crouch Jr., he is a Slytherin student and will be in his second year next semester."
Lily was also frightened by the expression on the little boy's face: "Why is he like that..."
"Little Barty's father is a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic." Snape sighed and said, "It is said that he hates his father very much. He hates it from the bottom of his heart. Only the relationship with his mother can be good. Up some, but it’s of no use…well, that’s pretty much it.”
Probably because he was reminded of his own experience, Snape stopped talking.
His father was just as bad, worse than not at all.
Just when Barty Jr. looked towards them, Karan slowly withdrew his gaze. He didn't want this crazy bleeding supremacist to interrupt his good mood today.
Meadows didn't care at all who was in the audience in the same box. She was flipping through the booklet in her hand with great interest.
Karan fiddled with Setur's wings with his fingers, and he asked casually: "Will there be an opening performance soon?"
"Which Quidditch World Cup are you referring to?" Meadows shook his head: "I don't know exactly how the Ministry of Magic prepared it. It's not written in the booklet. Maybe it's because it's not easy to arrange. After all, there's no way. Classified like Quidditch teams, there are many participating countries."
Over the next half hour, the box they were in gradually filled up with people.Callan didn't know those people, and Meadows ignored them, but they still saw the newly appointed Minister of Magic - Harold Mincham. He was a resolute middle-aged man with meticulous hair. With his back combed, a large group of wizards from other countries stood beside him.
"This is a war, not a simple trade. The flying carpet cannot legally appear in the UK. It would be too easy for Muggles to see it."
"Are you asking Dumbledore? Of course, our relationship is very good. At this critical moment, cooperation with Dumbledore is very important. Only he can-"
A curly-haired male wizard suddenly chattered a lot, making Harold's face become increasingly ugly.
"There was no quarrel, just a little installment in the Daily Prophet, and that was easily resolved."
Meadows sneered vaguely: "Tough talk."
Everyone knows that Harold and Dumbledore don't get along, and they had a very bad conversation, probably related to dementors - Harold trusts dementors, but Dumbledore doesn't. think.
The group of people quickly walked away, and Karan noticed that Harold glanced at a few people before leaving, but more eyes were on him.
"He seems to know me."
Karan endured the weird thoughts in his heart and asked: "Am I famous now?"
The reports about the genius little wizard all happened more than two years ago, so that couldn't be the reason why Harold locked himself up.
"This is impossible."
Meadows lowered his body quietly, trying not to let others hear: "Even in the club, there are very few people who know all your information. Apart from me, that is Principal Dumbledore. Of course, if you want Being famous is very simple, not everyone can escape from the hands of a mysterious man several times in a row."
Karan shook his head quickly, but at this moment, a strange idea suddenly came to his mind -
"The mysterious man also knows these things. Do you think he will...?"
Meadows's voice was even lower: "Is it against you? But why do you think I have to go back to Hogwarts again? Now Setur is back to normal, even if I face the mysterious man again, even if I have to go back to Hogwarts again, If you lose in the duel, at least I can successfully escape with you."
Karan gradually relaxed. He had put a lot of pressure on himself during this period. Voldemort must have known about the existence of his student, and the threat was probably greatly increased - once in the secret room, and again in the world of fire. Once, plus the failure of the basilisk's plan to shed its skin, not everyone can do these things continuously.
This also made him a little suspicious. Fortunately, Dumbledore would not ignore this. Meadows beside him was also a rare late bloomer, and not ordinary wizards could deal with it.
"What are you talking about in a sneaky way?"
Snape and Lily stared at the two of them suspiciously, and Lily even leaned her head towards them: "Let me listen too."
Karan didn't make a move, but Meadows flicked Lily on the forehead.
He has a clear voice and a good head.
Lily pursed her lips and retracted. She and Meadows were not as close as Callan. Snape also sat up straight, pretending that nothing had happened.
After a while, a man dressed like a department manager came over. He was wearing a straight suit, just like a Muggle.
Barty Crouch Sr. sat next to the boy and chatted casually with his wife.When his wife mentioned their son, Old Barty just looked at Little Barty with dissatisfaction, but he didn't even give him a lesson and refused to say anything.
The expression on the boy's face suddenly became more resentful.
But no one noticed this scene, because the game finally started.
Four wizards of different heights appeared in the center of the stadium, of which Professor Freevey was the most conspicuous.
Their voices echoed overhead and carried loudly to every corner of the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to watch the first Wizarding Duel Cup competition!"
"A world-class duel competition, this is a moment to witness history!"
The audience burst into cheers and applause.Thousands of flags were waving at the same time, accompanied by the national anthem, and the scene was really lively.
"Okay, without further ado, please allow me to introduce... all the contestants!"
They all appeared on the playing field, accompanied by dazzling lights and dazzling fireworks above their heads. The golden fire dragon flew around the field, and then exploded into countless golden light fragments. crumbs.
"Fingal!"
"Snow!"
"Arthur!"
.......
"Adam!"
"And - Hela!"
Every time a name is said, the faces of the contestants will appear on the big screen of the advertisement. Some people are happy and happy, while others seem a little impatient - for example, Adam, he seems to dislike such lively occasions. His brows were furrowed deeply.
"All right!"
One of them shouted: "Start getting ready!"
The players all disappeared, leaving only two people in the end. The four referees spread out and spread across the four corners of the stadium. The names of the two players appeared on the advertising screen - Klovsky and Hela. .
"Oh oh oh!"
Meadows raised the telescope excitedly, but even without doing so, he could see clearly that the projections of the two players appeared in mid-air in the stadium, like two little giants.
There were not so many cheers in the duel competition, and the tense atmosphere filled the hearts of all the spectators - Hela looked so weak in front of the strong Klovsky.
Klovsky raised his wand, but there was no wand in Hela's hand. She seemed to be a typical African wizard and a superb master of wandless spellcasting.
Lily almost put her eyes into the telescope, for fear of missing a move.
The two of them turned their backs to each other, each taking a few steps in the indescribable silence, and then——
Before Klovsky could turn around, he suddenly fell to the ground on his back.
There was a series of boos in the audience, and one of the referees stepped forward to check, and then shouted: "He fell asleep, Hella wins!"
The boos got louder. No one expected the first game to be so boring.
"Hela is the messenger of dreams."
Meadows explained in a solemn tone: "There is a group of dream messengers at Wagadu Magic School. This is their special enrollment method - the dream messengers will leave a token for the children when they sleep, usually a piece of The stone with the inscription... I didn't expect that Hela is so powerful. I remember that only the principal of Wagadu can send out the Dream Messenger, but she actually learned it..."
Lily blinked in amazement. She only saw Hela's fingers gently fiddling with it twice, and then left without looking back.
"Does anyone else have a chance to win?" Snape couldn't help but ask.
Meadows shook his head: "Keep reading."
Fortunately, the next game is not so boring, and even thrilling - they don't even bother to use the well-known spells, they only use them when occasionally parrying, and most of them are powerful spells - When a tornado reaching the sky appeared in the center of the playing field, almost all the spectators were dumbfounded.
One referee caught the contestant who fell from the sky, and the other three referees calmed down the tornado.
"Victor is unconscious - Adam wins!"
The sudden appearance of this participating student set off the entire competition. A large number of spectators clenched their fists and shouted in unison: "Adam! Adam! Adam!"
Karan took off the leaves that flew to Sethul. He blinked and asked, "Is that ancient magic?"
Meadows thought about it carefully: "It looks similar, but it seems to come at a price. Didn't you see that Adam's face suddenly turned pale? He should have done this on purpose, in order to attract people's attention. He will ignore his physical condition, but the semi-finals will be tomorrow at the earliest, so there is enough time for him to rest."
This Adam is really hard to understand. He was almost helped off the field by the referee and exhausted all his energy.
"Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry can actually teach such students..." Snape couldn't help but yearn for this magic school that was extremely lax about dark magic.
"You'd better forget it." Lily accused mercilessly: "Wait until you become as strong as him. Otherwise, with your small body, you will probably lose half your life at a time. "
Snape quietly squeezed his thin arm, unable to say anything in reply.
Karan thought that with such a speed, there was no need to set aside three days for a normal game, but he changed his mind when a Hebridean Islands black dragon appeared.
"Back! Back!"
Meadows quickly grabbed the three children and ran back. This damn fire dragon made the game a mess. They didn't even understand how the wizard named Arthur summoned it.
After the situation finally calmed down, the referee explained: "Well, this was a wrong demonstration. Player Arthur chanted the wrong spell in panic, and the result was..."
He looked at the darkened venue and the large hole that was knocked out of the gymnasium - they failed to catch the fire dragon and let it escape after crashing through the gymnasium. Fortunately, no spectators were injured and they escaped. The speed was still very fast, and the defensive magic lasted for a while.
The referee finally suppressed his words: "Today's game ends here and will continue tomorrow."
It turned out that the three days of reserved time were prepared in advance for mistakes. Several people had no choice but to leave the box and walk out of the gymnasium, surrounded by the sound of cursing.
Meadows glanced at the gray faces of the three children and asked with rare caution: "How do you feel? Do you want to come again tomorrow?"
The three of them stared at each other silently for a while.
"It's really exciting!"
"Inconceivable!"
"Of course I have to come and see it!"
Meadows was stunned for a moment, then slowly smiled.
It's like the moonlight is full of tenderness.