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Thousands of red, green and yellow lanterns lit up from the trees, illuminating the path leading to the stadium.
"It's time to enter," said Mr. Weasley excitedly, "Come on, let's go."
He walked in front and led the way, and everyone walked quickly into the woods along the lantern path. They could hear thousands of people walking around, shouting, laughing, and intermittent singing... Everyone was excited.
About twenty minutes later, they left the woods and arrived in front of a huge stadium.
It was so big that you couldn't see the end of it. Kyle could only see part of the magnificent golden wall surrounding the stadium. It looked like it could fit ten Hogwarts castles.
"It can accommodate 100,000 spectators." Mr. Weasley said with a smile, and led everyone to the nearest entrance. "Five hundred staff members of the Ministry of Magic have been busy for a whole year on it."
There were many shouting wizards gathered at the entrance, and they waited in line for ten minutes before it was finally their turn.
"First class." The Ministry of Magic witch at the entrance looked at their tickets and said, "Top box, go straight up, Arthur, to the very top."
"Thanks, Ovi."
Mr. Weasley said as he led everyone up the purple-carpeted stairs, "Follow closely, don't fall behind, Bill you're at the end."
"Okay, Dad," Bill said.
They climbed up all the way, as if they were climbing the White Stoat Mountain all over again, and finally reached the top.
There were three boxes here. Mr. Weasley identified them and walked into the one in the middle.
There were about twenty purple and gold-plated chairs inside, arranged in two rows, facing the golden goalposts.
They walked to the front railing, which overlooked the entire stadium.
The most eye-catching thing is a huge drawing board in the audience seats, on which golden words keep flashing.
Cornflower: Broomsticks for the whole family...Feng Ya wizarding costumes, London, Paris, Hogsmeade...
"Oh, one day, there will be an advertisement for our Weasley Joke Shop here too..." Fred couldn't help but say.
"It would cost at least a few thousand Galleons to run an ad here," Kyle said, "or maybe tens of thousands..."
"So expensive?" George was dumbfounded.
Mr. Weasley smiled and said, "Don't forget that this is the most lively event in the wizarding world. You won't be able to see so many wizards at once anywhere else."
George pursed his lips and said to Fred, "I think that since everyone is here to watch Quidditch, no one will notice the advertisement."
"That's right." Fred nodded seriously, "I think it's enough to promote it in Hogsmeade..."
Then everyone looked away.
Fred noticed that Kyle was not looking outside, but was staring at one place.
"What are you looking at?"
He looked in the direction of Kyle's gaze and noticed that there was a house-elf sitting in the second to last seat in the second row.
At first Fred thought it was Kreacher Apparated by Connor, but he soon realized that Kreacher was much older than the house-elf in front of him.
"Dobby?" Harry also saw the house-elf and called out subconsciously.
"Did you call me Dobby just now, sir?" The elf raised his head and asked curiously, his voice was very sharp, a slightly trembling piercing sound.
"I'm sorry." Harry realized that he had recognized the wrong elf. "I mistook you for an elf I knew before."
"But I know Dobby, too, sir," the elf squeaked.
At this time, the door of the box was opened again and two Aurors walked in.
"Oh, Kingsley, Bofur..." Mr. Weasley walked over quickly, "Are you watching the game here too?"
"No, Arthur, we can't watch the game." One of the Aurors shook his head. "We just came to say hello to you. We are so lucky that we don't have to be on duty and we can get such good tickets."
"Thanks to Ludo," said Mr. Weasley with a smile.
Kyle looked at the two Aurors, thought for a moment, and walked calmly to the elf.
The elf was still talking to Harry about Dobby, and when she noticed, Kyle had already come over and seemed to want to sit in that seat.
"No, this is the seat that Shanshan reserved for the master..."
Amidst a scream, Kyle just sat down.
The screams were louder, as if they were going to pierce your eardrums.
The commotion here instantly attracted everyone.
Mr. Weasley turned around and said, "Kyle, you're sitting in the wrong seat. Our seats are in the first row."
"Oh, sorry."
Kyle stood up and walked naturally past the house-elf named Winky, but because the aisle was narrow, he accidentally kicked the leg of a chair on the other side when he walked past.
The chair was kicked far away and was shaking so much that it almost fell over.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Kyle reached out, grabbed the chair, rearranged it, and patted it.
Shanshan looked at him angrily, her eyes so big that they were like two plates filled with chili peppers.
But except her, no one else paid attention to this little episode. The two Aurors spoke a few words to Mr. Weasley and left soon.
Kanna did ask if Kyle's foot was okay.
"It doesn't matter." Kyle shook his head.
Then he looked at the house-elf Winky again and walked to the first row and sat down.
……
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 461 Fudge's Concerns
Over the next half hour, the top floor box where they were sitting gradually filled up.
Mr. Weasley was shaking hands with people who were obviously wizards of high rank, and Percy was standing up hastily again and again, as if his stool had suddenly grown a row of porcupine quills.
The last person to come in was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. The others stood up to greet him, but Fudge did something unexpected.
He strode towards the first row as if he had seen an old friend, and extended his hand from a distance.
Percy was absolutely ecstatic.
The adults were all on the other side, and there were only a few children here.
Bill and Charlie were abroad, everyone else was still studying at Hogwarts, only he was working in the Ministry of Magic.
Is it...
Percy's heart began to pound and he bowed unconsciously, holding out his hand.
Because he bent too low, his glasses fell to the ground.
But the next second, Fudge walked past as if he was an inconspicuous sculpture or a telephone booth on the roadside, without even looking at him.
"Oh Kyle, I'm so glad to see you here."
Fudge naturally put his hand on Kyle's shoulder and patted him hard, with a much more enthusiastic attitude than when he was with others.
"How was your vacation?" he asked kindly.
"Great." Kyle nodded and said, "The Quidditch World Cup is exciting."
"Yes, I specially reserved a ticket for you, but I didn't expect Arthur to get there first." He glanced at Mr. Weasley jokingly.
Mr. Weasley didn't know what to say, so he could only pull the corners of his mouth stiffly.
He had mentioned Kyle's name when he went to Ludo Bagman to ask for tickets, but the other party never mentioned this.
"But then again."
Fudge continued, "I waited for Albus's owl during my holidays, but you didn't write me a single letter.
Do you know what he's been up to lately? And that potion... I think you know what I'm talking about. It can turn that rat back into a human, right?"
Potion?
Kyle quickly realized that what Fudge was talking about should be the resurrection potion that can restore Peter Pettigrew's Animagus transformation.
No wonder he is so enthusiastic.
Because of this Quidditch World Cup, Crouch's international reputation has been greatly improved. I guess this makes him feel a sense of crisis.
"Don't worry, Mr. Minister." After figuring this out, Kyle immediately said with a smile, "As far as I know, the resurrection potion was already brewed a month ago. There is a big pot of it, and it was all used on the rat. I guarantee it will be fine."
"Then I'm relieved. Albus has never made any mistakes." Fudge said, and then he frowned again, "You should contact me. I think I said before that in this matter, I will do my best to help you on behalf of the Ministry of Magic."
"Perhaps Professor Dumbledore doesn't want to cause you any trouble." Kyle said, "It is not an easy task to organize a competition with 100,000 wizards participating."
"Albus is such a jerk." Fudge pretended to be unhappy and said, "Although I have been a little busy recently, I have always made time for him. I even turned down several important meetings in order to wait for his owl."
"Meeting? It should be a banquet." Kyle thought to himself, but he looked normal on the surface. He and Fudge condemned Dumbledore's awkward behavior.
This made Fudge look even happier.
He then introduced Kyle to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, who was wearing a gorgeous velvet robe with gold trim, but he seemed to not understand what Fudge said at all.
Fudge couldn't make him understand what "the youngest member of Sir Merlin's Order" meant, even after talking and gesturing.
But when he looked over here, his eyes accidentally fell on Harry's forehead.
He immediately pointed at the scar excitedly and muttered a bunch of words loudly.
"Oh, yes, Harry Potter..." Fudge walked over and held Harry's hand like a loving father, "You must know that he is the boy who escaped death from the You-Know-Who."
The Bulgarian Minister for Magic said something again.
But no one present could understand, and Harry was extremely confused. He didn't even know how he was dragged here.
"I'm not very good with languages," Fudge whispered beside Harry and Kyle. "For things like this, Barty Crouch is usually called for. Ah, but he's not here at the moment, but I see his house-elf has saved a seat for him, which is very thoughtful...ah, here comes Lucius."
Three more people entered the box. Lucius Malfoy, Draco, and a woman.
"Ah, Minister Fudge." Lucius came over and held out his hand. "Hello, this is my wife Narcissa, and our son Draco."
"Hello, hello." Fudge smiled and nodded to Mrs. Malfoy, while also introducing them to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.
But because the two sides did not speak the same language, the atmosphere seemed a bit awkward.
But at this moment, Malfoy suddenly noticed Mr. Weasley standing beside him.