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"Troy scores!" Bagman roared in a loud voice, and the whole audience cheered and shook the stadium.
"10:0, Ireland is leading!"
"This is amazing! The school competition is nothing compared to this..." Hermione waved the flag in her hand and couldn't help but say, "But why do I feel like their Bludgers seem to be getting faster..."
She frowned and recalled carefully.
When she watched the games at school before, she could see the trajectory of the Bludger clearly, but now there were only two blurry shadows.
"This is a special ball for the game." Cedric explained: "The speed of the Firebolt is too fast. If we continue to use the previous ball, the game may be over in five minutes.
So in order to deal with this situation, the International Quidditch Federation made adjustments to the Bludger and the Golden Snitch a few months ago to increase their speed. "
"So that's how it is." Hermione nodded and continued to look at the arena.
Just as the analysis before the game showed, the Irish team, with three top-notch chasers, quickly took the lead at the start of the game. Within ten minutes, they scored two more goals, changing the score to 30:0.
Mr. Weasley couldn't help but cheer, but for Harry, Ron and Charlie who supported Bulgaria, their laughter was a little forced.
Fortunately, a few minutes later, the two Bulgarian hitters used the Bludger to force them to disperse and they could no longer use some of their best offensive tactics. Ivanoya also took the opportunity to break through their lineup, evaded the goalkeeper, and scored the first goal for Bulgaria.
"Cover your ears quickly, the Veela are about to start dancing again," said Mr. Weasley.
This time he didn't need to remind him. The moment those veela jumped up, Harry immediately lowered his head and closed his eyes, so as not to make a fool of himself again.
However, the Bulgarian supporters were not happy for long... In the next game, the score became one-sided.
The Irish team scored five goals in a row, which directly stunned Bulgaria.
But on the other side, Krum also used Wonski's fake move to successfully deceive Ireland's seeker Lin Qi, who fell heavily to the ground because he used too much force.
There was a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium, and there were groans and roars from the Irish seats.
Trained therapists rushed onto the field, checking Linzi's injuries, while Krum circled a hundred feet above him, his dark eyes scanning the court.
He was taking advantage of the time when Lin Qi was recovering his strength to look for the Golden Snitch without any interference.
"It's really exciting..." Various fake moves and classic tactics made Fred's blood boil. He couldn't help but say: "I hope the game can last longer."
"It would be best if it lasted five full days, like last time," said George.
"Oh... I don't want to..." Percy raised his voice, as if he wanted someone to hear him. "I shudder to think that my in-basket will be filled with papers if I'm gone for five days."
"Yeah, maybe someone will put dragon shit in an envelope and send it to you again," said Fred.
"That's a fertilizer sample sent from Norway!" Percy blushed, "It's not for private use!"
"Really..." Fred smiled and whispered to Kyle, "We sent it to him."
His voice was so soft, and masked by the noise from the stands, that no one except Kyle heard it.
Finally, Lin Qi stood up, and amid the cheers of his supporters around him, he mounted his Firebolt and leaped into the air again.
The Irish team's chasers reorganized their attack almost instantly. With their tacit cooperation, the opponent's defense was like the field in front of Hogwarts, and it was over in a flash...
Twenty minutes later, Ireland had scored five more goals and they were now leading 130:10.
The Bulgarian team, which had failed to score any goals, began to get anxious, and the game gradually began to develop in another direction.
Bulgaria's Zograf couldn't help but elbow Mallet when she was approaching the goal post, but the move was too big and was seen by the referee.
Ireland scored a penalty.
Next, the two Bulgarian batsmen turned into ruthless swinging machines, swinging and hitting wildly, not caring whether it was a person or a Bludger in front of them.
On one occasion, Moran was nearly knocked off his broom by them.
Bulgaria got another foul.
All the leprechauns rose into the air, and made a very rude gesture towards the Veela, as if to celebrate, or as if to mock.
The Veelas, who were already filled with rage, could no longer endure this and instantly became furious.
Instead of dancing, they flew up and threw handfuls of flaming objects at the leprechauns.
They were no longer beautiful, instead their faces were elongated into pointed bird heads with sharp beaks, and a pair of scaly wings were emerging from their shoulders...
"See, kids, this is what a Veela really looks like." Mr. Weasley's voice drowned out the noise of the crowd below, and he said with a smile: "So you can never just pursue appearance!"
Harry and Ron nodded.
Only Kyle's eyes brightened, and his hand unconsciously reached for the deformed lizard skin bag...his box was inside.
The battle between the mascots of both sides became more and more intense. Wizard officials rushed into the arena, trying to separate the Veela and the Leprechaun, but with little success.
At this moment, the fierce battle below is no less than the one going on above. Although the leprechauns cannot throw fireballs, they can throw gold coins.
If you throw a bunch of gold coins with all your strength, it will still make a bump on the head of a Veela.
For a moment, the screams of the veela, the explosions of the wizards' wands, and the cheers of supporters of both teams were all mixed together. The scene was quite lively.
The audience was so happy, because no one told them before the game that they could watch this... It was totally worth it to see two shows for the price of one ticket.
Kyle looked at the game above, and then couldn't help but glance at the Veela and Leprechaun who were busy fighting a roundabout battle with the wizards of the Ministry of Magic.
If he had known this earlier, he should have bought a panoramic telescope before the game.
……
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 464 Celebration
Fred and George's idea of having the tournament last five days was ultimately not realized.
One hour into the game, Ireland's Lindsay spotted the Golden Snitch, and Krum also saw it.
The little golden ball with wings was about five feet above the ground.
They dived down at the same time, accelerating at an astonishing speed.
"They're falling to the ground!" Hermione screamed!
"No!" said Ron firmly, "Krum is the best Seeker!"
"But Lin Qi can!" Harry, Cedric and Charlie shouted almost at the same time.
They were right. Lin Qi fell heavily to the ground for the second time.
The Veela were so excited that they all swarmed and laughed shrilly at the leprechauns.
Krum managed to stabilize the broom at the last moment. He flew close to the ground for a while, then rose lightly into the air, raised his fist high, and a golden light appeared between his fingers.
"Krum has caught the Snitch! The game is over!" Harry shouted.
The scoreboard flashed the score, 170:160
"Ireland wins!" Bagman shouted, but there was a hint of confusion in his voice, as if he was a little confused by the sudden end of the game.
"Krum caught the Snitch, but Ireland won... My God, I don't think anyone expected this to happen!"
Not only him, most Bulgarian supporters are also confused.
In their opinion, Krum had successfully stopped Qi Lin, and he should have given up trying to catch the Snitch until his teammates reduced the score to less than 150 points.
This is how the competition was done in previous years.
Just like last time, the reason why it lasted for five whole days was because the score gap was too big... The Seeker on the lagging side kept dragging it out and trying every way to prevent the other side from catching the Golden Snitch.
But Krum... many people thought it was stupid for him to end the game when Ireland was leading by 160 points.
"Perhaps he knew that it was impossible to catch up." Kyle looked at Ron, who had a regretful face, and said, "The Chasers were far behind. His judgment was correct. Ending the game at this time was the best option."
Although it is a pity to lose the game after falling behind by a large margin, it sounds better to say it out loud, at least it was a close defeat.
If we continue the competition and lose when we are 500 or even 1,000 points behind, it would be impolite.
Not only would it be embarrassing, but the players' reputations would also plummet, so it would be most appropriate to end the game at this time.
Kyle looked back toward the arena.
The leprechauns were flying around in the sky in ecstasy, but one could still vaguely see that the Bulgarian players were surrounding Krum, shaking their heads, looking dejected.
Not far away, the players of the championship-winning Irish team were dancing with joy, and their mascots once again threw down showers of gold coins.
The Veela had returned to their former beauty, but they all looked dejected and sad.
"I said, we fought bravely." A heavy voice came from behind Kyle. It was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.
"Yes, that's right..." Fudge said subconsciously, but then he was suddenly stunned.
"You just...wait, so you can understand what I'm saying, and you've been making me gesture here all day!"
"Hey, that's fun, isn't it?" said the Bulgarian minister, shrugging his shoulders.
Fudge was very angry, and even when he was presenting the trophy to the championship team, he didn't look very happy.
The Bulgarian minister next to them kept smiling happily, as if they were the winners.
At this point, Bagman put his wand to his throat again and whispered:
"I dare say this match will be talked about for years," he said hoarsely. "What an unexpected turn... It's a pity that the match didn't last longer."
He glanced down.
The game was over and it was time to leave, but some people did not leave the stadium. Instead, they moved towards the top box, which was completely opposite to the exit.
They basically all wore clover ornaments and were chatting and laughing with each other.
Bagman also saw those people, and his expression suddenly turned a little ugly.
"Sorry, Arthur." He stopped chatting with Mr. Weasley. "I have something else to do. See you next time."
After saying that, he quickly left the box and disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye.
Mr. Weasley also came downstairs with the others.
"Hey, Arthur." A bearded wizard stopped them at the exit. "Have you seen Ludo? I remember you were in the top box just now."
"He left after the Minister handed out the trophies," said Mr. Weasley. "Why, Ovo."
"Nothing," the bearded wizard said happily, "It's just that the generous Ludo is going to pay for my ticket. Ireland won, and the game lasted less than a day... He lost me a total of fifty Galleons!"
"Congratulations," said Mr. Weasley, smiling.
"Haha!" The other party smiled and waved his hand, "I'm going to find Ludo. See you next time."