Chapter 848 World Cup Final
“Merlin’s beard is really hard to find here.”
Fred looked around at the simple environment in the tent and looked at his friend in confusion, "Don't tell me, you've been living here in the past few days?"
"Don't be stupid Fred, Albert enjoys life more than you, how can he sleep here." George felt that Fred's words sounded stupid, and handed Albert the parchment that Sirius asked them to hand over. , by the way, the topic was brought back to the reason why the two came to find Albert.
“Did you ask Sirius to help you place your bet?”
George saw that Albert was reading the parchment carefully and had no intention of answering, so he knew that the other party acquiesced.
There are some things that you just need to know in your heart, there is no need to mention them explicitly.
George continued: "We took a bet on Ludo Bagman, like Blake, that Ireland would win the game and score first, but that Viktor Krum would catch the Snitch..."
“And, after the game, the score between the two sides will not exceed thirty points.” Fred grabbed George’s words and continued.
“How many times?”
“What?” Fred didn’t react for a moment.
“Eight times,” George said immediately.
"Ludo Bagman has lost a lot of Galleons recently." Albert took out a pen from his pocket and began to make notes on the parchment. He said without looking up: "He asked the goblin from Gringotts We borrowed a large sum of Galleons, and we probably won’t be able to pay it back.”
"You mean..." George frowned deeply, obviously understanding the meaning of Albert's words, "Is he planning to default on the bill? No wonder I thought his reaction just now was a bit strange."
“The goblins will not let Bagman default on his debt.” Fred shook his head, “They are not house elves.”
"No, you didn't understand what Albert meant." George raised his hand to interrupt, "What he meant was that Bagman might waste our galleons. Of course, there are also the goblins' galleons."
"Can you speak normally?" Fred felt that he couldn't keep up with the two people's thinking patterns. He and George were obviously twins, so why could George understand it but he couldn't?
“The Irish team’s mascot is the leprechaun, and they like to scatter magic gold coins on the pitch after performances.” Albert added.
“The Leprechaun’s gold coins do look a lot like Galleons. Do you think Bagman might use the Leprechaun gold coins to fool us?” George frowned and considered a countermeasure.
"As long as we check the gold coins immediately after receiving them, Bagman shouldn't be able to fool them easily." Although Fred had never seen the leprechaun's gold coins, he believed that Bagman wouldn't be able to fool them if they were alert. Fool them.
"Lee Jordan's tent is nearby. You can stop by him later and tell him about this." Albert took a sip from the teacup and warned, "You haven't seen him yet. Family!”
"It seems that you have gained a lot!" George couldn't help but sigh at Albert's method of making money, "But Bagman deserves it."
After learning from Albert that Bagman would fool him with fake gold coins, Fred and George's last bit of sympathy for Bagman disappeared.
"He is too good at gambling and has lost too many galleons. He will definitely not be able to repay the debt owed by the goblin, and he will probably choose to run away in the end." Albert reminded: "If you want to get the money, It has to be while he still has money, otherwise you won’t be able to get a Knut from Bagman.”
“Looks like it’s worse than we thought,” George muttered. “I’ll mention it to Lee Jordan.”
“Well...see you tonight!”
Before leaving the tent, Fred suddenly turned around and asked: "By the way, you seem to be very optimistic about the magazine founded by Blake?"
“Because people need it!” Albert said with a smile.
After the Weasley brothers left, Albert continued to flip through the parchment in his hand. For a moment, he seemed to remember something and called the house elf Bit over. He took out a glass bottle from the deformed 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.
Bit looked at the glass bottle in his hand uneasily, but nodded and said 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. Then you can just apparate and leave with the suitcase, and your hand That thing is a gift left for those troublesome dark wizards, remember to spread it out so that no one will suspect us."
"I know Master." The house elf Pit bowed slightly and went back to make preparations for leaving.
Albert put away the revised parchment and returned to the box, telling Catherine and Valeria about leaving overnight tonight.
As for whether the two of them would leave with them, that was not something he could decide.
…
“After watching the game, shall we go home?”
Nia held Albert's hand and walked with the crowd in the forest. They had walked this road several times and were fairly familiar with the environment here.
“What about the third-place game? Don’t you want to watch it?” Katrina knew that Albert had tickets for the third-place game, and the price of first-class tickets was not cheap.
“I have already asked someone to help sell the tickets for the third place game.” Albert looked at the crowd in front and said calmly: “After tonight, there will probably be martial law here.”
“It seems like the situation is really bad. How did you know something was going to happen tonight?” Valeria was curious about where Albert got the news.
"Don't you know he's a prophet?" Katrina muttered.
"Prophet?"
They both looked at Albert, "You are definitely not a bad divination person."
After a short pause of silence, Kathleen suddenly asked: "During the potion championship, did you cheat through prophecy?"
“You think I need to cheat?” Albert asked.
“Prophecy is really unreasonable.” Valeria looked at Albert with ardent eyes. No wonder Albert could always guess which team would win.
This time at the Quidditch World Cup, they won a large amount of money through betting. Although they had to share a portion with someone, the gold coins they earned were still considerable.
“What did you predict?” Catherine asked.
“Fire, dark wizards, and dark marks.” Albert said in a low voice.
“What is the Dark Mark?” Valeria and Catherine did not understand 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 only in Europe, and most of his followers stay in the United Kingdom. Unlike Gellert Grindelwald, who has a wide range of supporters, Naturally, no one told Catherine and Valeria not to call Voldemort by his first name, and no one told them what the Dark Mark was.
"I suggest you read tomorrow morning's Daily Prophet." Albert made a shushing gesture, indicating that they should not talk about this topic here.
“Can’t it be mentioned?”
"British wizards are very taboo about talking about this matter. You will know it by reading the newspaper tomorrow."
After arriving at the top floor and leaving, Albert and the others entered the familiar box and found that there were already many familiar people here.
Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were all in the same box. Fred and George waved vigorously at Albert, and Harry was chatting with a house elf. Hermione didn't know why. The reason looked angry.
At the corner of the back row, there was a house elf, who seemed to be occupying a seat for his master, but Albert knew that Crouch senior would not come to see the finals, because the empty seat was actually reserved for Crouch junior.
To be honest, Albert wanted to secretly pull off the opponent's invisibility cloak and give the audience in the box an unexpected surprise. He firmly believed that this would be more sensational than who won the Quidditch World Cup, and he also believed that Fudge would definitely Excited, the Dementor gave Little Crouch a kiss.
However, now is not the time. Little Crouch is still useful. Albert finally endured it. If he kills everyone, he will not be able to squeeze out panel tasks in the later stage.
“What’s wrong?” Isobel noticed Albert’s mood change.
“Nothing.” Albert shook his head.
She didn’t think it was nothing. Following Albert’s gaze just now, she looked at the empty seat next to the house elf and couldn’t help but frown and think. However, Isobel had no intention of continuing to delve deeper. After sitting down, she started talking to Katrina.
At this time, people began to enter the box again. Minister of Magic Fudge led the Bulgarian minister in.
Well, at least Fudge doesn’t understand Bulgarian, and the Bulgarian minister may not understand English.
If you don’t use English to communicate with Fudge, you are probably just making fun of Fudge.
The Malfoy family came behind them. Lucius Malfoy seemed to have had some unpleasant interactions with the Weasley family.
At least, after a few brief chats, the expression on Mr. Weasley's face was unnatural.
The Bulgarian minister who was sitting in the front row was no longer having fun with Fudge, and started chatting with Albert, who was sitting behind them.
The people in the box had strange 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 were very familiar with each other.
Speaking of which, does this guy have such a wide range of friends?
Even the Bulgarian Minister of Magic knows him? Those who didn't know better thought you were the pureblood.
Fudge suddenly understood why the British youth representative of the Wizengamot turned out 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!”
"We have met several times." Albert looked at his new friend in front of him again and asked in fluent Bulgarian: "Mr. Obalonsk should understand English!"
"I understand, but I think it's more fun this way." The Bulgarian minister shrugged, without any embarrassment at all being exposed, "Besides, that guy thought I didn'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 greater advantage. The Bulgarian team's championship point lies with Klum. As a result, if Krum cannot catch the Golden Snitch before the score gap between the two sides completely widens, he will lose the chance to win the championship. "Albert told the truth, "Both sides should know this very well. 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 shout. After the Bulgarian team's mascot Veela entered, many men present still suffered "social death". Harry and Ron were already on guard against the Veela. They closed their eyes while dancing and didn't get hit, but Fred and George were not so lucky, and even Percy got hit.
For this reason, Draco Malfoy, who was sitting behind them, pointed at them frequently, with a look of gloating on his face.
The Irish team's mascots were even more popular. These leprechauns wearing red vests and bearing beards flew over everyone's heads and formed various fireworks. In the end, they formed a huge, shiny clover. , hovering above the audience's heads and scattering a large number of gold coins, and the audience below were scrambling for it.
“Don’t they know that these gold coins will disappear?” Nia looked at the few leprechaun gold coins in her hand, somewhat confused by the audience’s mentality.
Moreover, after it rained gold coins from the sky, some people actually thought that the gold coins were real.
"Many people don't know." As Albert spoke, he caught a glimpse of a hand appearing out of thin air and taking the wand from Harry's pocket. The house elf who was originally looking after Crouch had been covering it with his hand. Face.
At this moment, the panel task was triggered. Although it did not give much experience, it still made Albert curl up his lips in pleasure. This was a good start.
Having just received the wand, little Crouch, who had not yet recovered from his excitement, suddenly shuddered and couldn't help but look around. He just felt an inexplicable malice.
who is it?
Little Crouch looked around and couldn't find the person who made him uneasy.
“Even if some people know they are fake, they will still collect them enthusiastically. Everyone cares more about this lively atmosphere.”
It was truly a World Cup. Both national teams showed great strength and did not test each other. The game went straight into the heat.
Especially the Irish team, they continued the American tactics and were quickly grabbing points from the Bulgarian team while suppressing Krum.
As expected, Ireland scored first. The Irish fans on the field cheered like crazy for the first goal.
The game is still going on, and the Irish team's suppression tactics are even better than that of the American team, which forces Krum to use Wronski's fake move to buy himself time.
This time, he did not fall to the ground, but his opponent Lin Qi was firmly hit, giving him the opportunity to find the Golden Snitch without any interference.
"I think they are risking their lives. Are they really not worried about breaking their necks?" Nia was still not used to seeing such a scene. If she were an ordinary person, she would have died by falling.
“If you fall to death, you will have to consider yourself unlucky.”
With the support of the Irish team's supporters and the treatment of doctors, Linzi stood up again, mounted his Firebolt and returned to the court.
However, it was not difficult for Albert to see that Linqi's condition was very bad. The close contact with the ground just now caused him serious injuries. The Irish team was obviously aware of this and accelerated its offensive against the Bulgarian team. Superb Their skills and exquisite coordination quickly allowed them to quickly grab a lot of points from the Bulgarian team. Perhaps, the Irish team did not expect Linzi to catch the Golden Snitch from the beginning.
After the score further increased, the pressure on the Bulgarian players became very high. Especially after the score reached 100 points, they had to once again adopt the method of dealing with the American team to break the game violently, giving Krum the chance to catch the Golden Snitch. Chance.
The game became unscrupulous.
The level of ferocity and intensity is something the audience has never seen before.
The batsmen on both sides were merciless, especially the Bulgarian team's batsmen. They swung the sticks hard and didn't care whether they hit the ball or the person. They just swung wildly to create chaos. .
Their seeker was equally fierce. In order to prevent the opponent from scoring, he rushed directly towards the pursuer holding the ghost ball, almost throwing the girl off the broom.
The Veela who were originally spectators also started to help create chaos, wrestling with the Irish leprechauns. In order to distract the referee, one Veela took advantage of the chaos and lit the referee's broom tail.
In the chaos, Krum tried to repeat his old tricks and break free from his opponent's suppression. However, Ireland's two batsmen were still on Croom, constantly using Bludgers to cause him trouble.
Free throws, free throws, free throws.
The Bulgarian team paid the price for their tactics. They lost a lot of points, but Krum failed to catch the Golden Snitch in a short time and was injured due to the Bludger. The expression on his face became even more gloomy. .
“Bulgaria lost!” Albert said softly, looking at the scoreboard.
Because Ireland is already far ahead of Bulgaria with 170 points.
However, many spectators did not notice this. They were staring at the fierce stadium and continued to protest dissatisfiedly, but they did not realize that the Irish team had actually won.
Krum is obviously aware of this.
They lost, and they lost miserably.
So, when he saw the Irish Seeker chasing the Golden Snitch, he speeded up and chased after him without hesitation.
Krum did not step forward to prevent the opponent from catching the Golden Snitch, but ended the game. He knew that he had to do this so that the Bulgarian team could end with dignity. This was the only thing he could do now.
After all, a slight difference in scores will make their fans think that the Bulgarian team is just unlucky.
If you are beaten badly, it will seriously damage the confidence of your teammates and fans.
Both of them were speeding up and diving to chase the golden snitch.
This time, Klum did not 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 Golden Snitch, had no 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 was indeed brave, he made the Bulgarian team lose the game honorably.” Albert agreed with Nia’s words.
"Yes, our boys fought bravely." The Bulgarian minister glanced at Fudge's face and said in fluent English.
“What! You speak English?” Fudge glared at the Bulgarian minister angrily, “But you let me sign here all day long, like a fool!”
“Hey, that was fun.” The Bulgarian minister shrugged his shoulders and stood up, heading towards the award podium below.
At this moment, above everyone's heads, the leprechauns began to scatter a large number of gold coins again to celebrate Ireland's victory.
Fudge, who knew he had been tricked, was very annoyed. The fact that the Irish team had just won the Quidditch World Cup did not make him happy. In the end, he went on stage with a straight face and an "I am not happy" expression to award the championship team.
“Let’s go, we should go back.”
Albert asked the others to leave before the awards were over, while Fred and George went to Ludo Bagman to ask for money. They obviously did not forget what Albert said.
(End of this chapter)