The Return to Hogwarts

The well-trained on-field doctor rushed onto the field to begin examining Lynch's injury.

"He's fine, he just used too much force!"

Charlie, equally outstanding in the field, comforted Ginny—Ginny moved to the side of the box, her face filled with terror, too afraid to look at the arena any longer. Hermione also gripped Harry's robe tightly as he watched the scene unfold through the panoramic telescope, holding her breath.

"Of course, that's exactly what Krum wanted to achieve!"

Sirius Black also stood up from his seat, came to Harry's side, and said with a touch of emotion...

"Lonski's feint, trapping the dangerous seeker, is an extremely difficult move. Apart from James, I haven't seen any seeker in real life execute it that well!"

Finally, Lynch stood up, and amidst the loud cheers of his supporters in green, he mounted his Firebolt, leaped into the air, and his recovery seemed to give the Irish team renewed confidence. When the referee blew the whistle again, the Chasers quickly organized an attack, their skill surpassing anything Harry had ever seen before.

After another tense and exciting fifteen minutes, Ireland scored ten more goals in quick succession. They are now leading 130-10!

Ron seemed to finally snap out of the tense and exciting match, and now the situation was unfolding as he had predicted. Ron stared at Ludo Bagman, who seemed completely unaware that he was about to lose a large sum of money, and took out Professor Blaine's Merlin commemorative coin from his pocket and began to pray.

Harry grinned. In any case, if the outcome of the match was as Ron predicted, he would also receive a large sum of gold. That way, he could buy himself a special maintenance kit for flying broomsticks, something he had been eyeing for a long time but hadn't been able to bring himself to buy.

Harry was about to turn his attention away from Ron and focus on the game when he glanced around the box. Faced with such an exciting match, most people couldn't stay calm and stood up, craning their necks to look at the arena so as not to miss any details.

The Bulgarian Minister of Magic stared wide-eyed, seemingly very worried about the outcome of the match, while Fudge was politely trying to comfort him.

This is not surprising, but—

Harry saw Lucius Malfoy leading his wife and Draco out of the box when no one was looking!

The competition is in full swing, what are they planning to do?

Harry blinked. He noticed that Lucius and his wife Narcissa looked anxious, as if they couldn't wait to leave, while their son, Draco, looked confused. Although he was following behind his parents, his eyes were filled with reluctance and bewilderment as he stared at their backs.

Under the cover of the tense match, no one noticed this except for Harry who accidentally caught a glimpse of it.

Lucius paused only when he reached the door of the private room. He glanced at Fudge inside, and after confirming that Fudge hadn't noticed his departure, he casually glanced at Sirius, his gaze carrying a chill in the dim light.

As Harry watched the Lucius family disappear from sight, a chill suddenly ran through him.

Chapter 469 Turmoil Begins

2023-09-09

As Harry watched the Malfoys disappear into the doorway, a sense of unease welled up inside him, and he immediately told Sirius about his discovery.

"The Malfoys left; they didn't watch the game?"

Sirius was still caught up in the increasingly intense match. It took him several seconds to calm himself down and understand what Harry was saying. He glanced at the seats reserved by the Malfoys and found them empty. His brow furrowed.

"What urgent matter prevented them from even watching the World Cup?"

"I don't know!" Harry said decisively. Lucius Malfoy's unfriendly look at Sirius after entering the box and before leaving was like a stone stuck in his heart, causing him great anxiety.

"Sirius, I have a feeling that the Malfoys are plotting something, maybe to get you!"

“I don’t rule out that possibility, Harry—”

Having lived through wartime, Harry was relieved to see Sirius seriously considering his words and offering his affirmation. However, Sirius frowned, glanced at Fudge, the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and the other important figures in the wizarding world in the box, and after a moment of contemplation, said...

“I’ll be careful, Harry, but I don’t think Malfoy would dare to cause trouble at the World Cup unless he wants to face the wrath of the entire Ministry of Magic.”

Harry followed Sirius's gaze and indeed, Sirius's judgment was reasonable.

"We can talk about it after the game, Harry. Right now, you should focus on watching the game!"

Sirius smiled and reminded Harry.

Neither Hermione nor Ron noticed their conversation; they were engrossed in watching the game, and Ron even burst out laughing.

"What's wrong?" Harry rushed back to the railing and asked anxiously, "What did I miss?"

Ron and Hermione ignored Harry's question, so Harry had to look for himself.

For some reason, the little monsters brought by the Irish team, like a swarm of shimmering bumblebees, angrily rose into the air and now formed the words "Ha! Ha! Ha!" The Veela on the opposite side of the field jumped up, angrily tossing their hair, and began to dance again.

Just as Harry was about to cover his ears, Hermione yanked hard on his arm. Harry turned his face away, and Hermione impatiently pulled his fingers out of his ears.

"Look at the referee!" she giggled.

Harry looked down at the arena and saw referee Hassan Mustafa suddenly descend in front of the dancing Veela. His behavior was very strange; he stretched his limbs, showing off his muscles, and excitedly stroked his beard.

"Oh, that won't do. Who's going to go up and slap the referee?"

Ludo Bagman also found the scene very amusing, he said with a smile.

From this point on, the competition gradually escalated into uncivilized behavior, becoming more ferocious and intense than anyone had ever witnessed before.

Both batters showed no mercy, especially Volkov and Vokanov of Bulgaria. They didn't care whether the skinny bat hit the ball or the person, and just kept swinging wildly. Dimitrov went straight for Moran, who had the Quaffle, and almost knocked her off her broom.

"foul!"

The fervent shouts of the crowd shook the Quidditch pitch. Without a doubt, Ireland had won two more penalties and scored them easily!

The goblins stole the show for the third time tonight, this time forming a giant hand and making a very rude gesture towards the Veela on the other side of the arena. The Veela, seeing this, immediately lost control. Instead of dancing, they flew across the arena and began hurling handfuls of fiery projectiles at the goblins. Harry, looking through his binoculars, saw that they were no longer beautiful. Instead, their faces had elongated into pointed, beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were emerging from their shoulders—

"Oh my God!"

Harry panicked and screamed.

"I've seen them before. Professor Blaine showed me the Veela!"

"Oh?"

Mr. Weasley, who was teaching his children not to judge a book by its cover, heard Harry's shout and turned his face toward him with great interest.

"Could you elaborate on this part, Harry?"

Harry turned his head and found Hermione staring at him with equally bright eyes, as if waiting for an explanation.

“Let’s talk about it later, Hermione—” Harry shrank back nervously. He had to think carefully before speaking about anything concerning Professor Blaine.

"170 points, Bulgaria!"

Ron's excited shouts temporarily silenced Hermione, allowing her to refocus on the game.

Krum is not flying as freely as he did at the start of the game. He is flying crookedly close to the grass. Ron is stamping his feet in frustration. Whether he can get the gold depends entirely on whether Krum can perform well at this moment. But Krum was injured during a previous dribbling game, and no one has noticed yet.

"The game should be paused; Krum is injured!"

Ron yelled at Bagman, and whether Bagman heard him or not, he didn't give the referee any hints.

Just as Ron was about to go find Buckman, Krum suddenly accelerated on the field. At the same time, Lynch also suddenly swooped down from the level of the hoop. Harry was sure that Lynch was not imitating Krum's Lansky feint this time. They, including himself, had all seen the Golden Snitch!

Many spectators had already realized what was happening. A green wave surged through the arena once more as everyone watched in disbelief as the two Seekers aligned themselves at a certain point, chasing each other forward, and then—

The world seemed to have been put on pause in silence. No one knew how to face the score displayed on the large screen opposite the sphere: Ireland vs. Bulgaria, 170:160!

"Won."

Ron was the first to speak in the box. He looked at Bagman absentmindedly, his voice barely audible.

"Can you believe it, Harry? I beat you! A whole five hundred Galleons—"

"But why?"

Hermione looked at the hook-nosed player, who was suspended in mid-air, panting, on the field.

"He caught the Golden Snitch when Bulgaria was 160 points behind, wasn't that stupid? He should have distracted Lynch and made him lose sight of the Golden Snitch--"

“Because Krum knows,” Harry’s excited shout was drowned out by the rumbling noise outside the box before it could even reach the box.

"They'll never catch up with Ireland!"

Many things were happening at that moment. Fudge was comforting the Bulgarian Minister of Magic; Ron and Fred George stumbled toward Ludo Bagman, who was shouting the result of the match with all his might; Sirius, Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie were all standing on stools, bewildered by the result; Hermione stared at the brilliant Seeker circling the field to greet the audience, and began to understand why so many people were crazy about him. On the Quidditch field, Victor Krum was indeed a valiant warrior!

Outside the VIP box, things were much more chaotic. Needless to say, the Irish team's goblins and the Bulgarian Veelas were fighting again. The Veelas, now in their true forms, were much more ferocious than before. They not only attacked the goblins but also hurled flames at the fans celebrating for the Irish team in the lower ranks.

The clashes between the fans were something the Ministry of Magic had anticipated, and many Ministry officials rushed to the scene to try to separate the angry fans.

"People will be talking about this game for years, James Haley!"

Sirius Black also applauded the players on the field with all his might, but for some reason, his expression suddenly darkened. He stared at Harry's back as he talked to Ron, a glint of light flashing in his gray eyes.

Ron and the twins each received a money pouch from Buckman. Ron awkwardly handed the pouch to Harry, his lips moving slightly, it was hard to tell whether he was crying or laughing at that moment.

Mr. Weasley stared at the money pouch in his three children's hands; he knew it contained nearly two thousand Galleons—a considerable sum.

“Children, if you’d like, I can open a vault for you right here in Gringotts. It’s not safe to keep such a large sum of money with you, especially if your mother finds out.”

"No!"

Ron snapped back to reality and clutched the money pouch tightly.

"Half of this money belongs to Harry, and I'd rather keep it in Harry's vault!"

"We have other uses, Dad!"

Fred and George also refused, leaving Mr. Weasley with nothing but a wry smile.

"Let's go, Harry—"

Sirius patted Harry on the shoulder, who was still unable to calm down, his voice much gentler.

"It's not something that can be done in a short time to evacuate 100,000 people. We'll leave before everyone can react."

Sirius's suggestion was wise, and Harry nodded, preparing to call his friends to leave together; they probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. But just then—

boom--