My Multiverse Trip

"Knew we"d get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Harry. "I"m no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house-elf"s saving him a seat. . . . Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places. . . ah, and here"s Lucius!" Ryans smile grew ma.s.sive as he saw Lucius he had to thank the man for making him rich . A pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair, Draco greatly resembled his father. His mother was blonde too; tall and slim, she would have been nice-looking if she hadn"t been wearing a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose probably draco I"d be insulted if I had a kid like him too.

"Ah, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic. "How are you? I don"t think you"ve met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

"How do you do, how do you do?" said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk – Obalonsk – Mr. – well, he"s the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can"t understand a word I"m saying anyway, so never mind.

It was a tense moment. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy looked at each other and Harry vividly recalled the last time they had come face-to-face: It had been in Flourish and Blotts" bookshop, and they had had a fight. Mr. Malfoy"s cold gray eyes swept over Mr. Weasley, and then up and down the row.

"Good lord, Arthur," he said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn"t have fetched this much?"

"And what about you Lucius I"ve heard you"ve run into some financial problems and misplaced a bit of money." oooooh burn

Mr. Malfoy"s eyes had returned to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. Ryan knew exactly what was making Mr. Malfoy"s lip curl like that. The Malfoys prided themselves on being purebloods; in other words, they considered anyone of Muggle descent, like Hermione, second-cla.s.s. However, under the gaze of the Minister of Magic, Mr. Malfoy didn"t dare say anything. His time was limited anyway.

Next moment, Ludo Bagman charged into the box.

"Everyone ready?" he said, his round face gleaming like a great, excited Edam. "Minister – ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, Ludo," said Fudge comfortably.

Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said "Sonorus!" and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen. . . welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message (Bertie Bott"s Every Flavor Beans – A Risk With Every Mouthful!) and now showed BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce. . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

"I wonder what they"ve brought," said Mr. Weasley, leaning forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly whipped off his gla.s.ses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "Veela!"

"What are veel -?"

But a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and Harry"s question was answered for him.

Veela were women. . . the most beautiful women Ryan had ever seen. . . except that they weren"t –they were a type of avian human The veela had started to dance, and Ryans mind had taken a hit to his occulmency shields he sneered and shrugged it off.

And as the veela danced faster and faster, the pressure increased a little but he was fine he didn"t like the idea of anything messing with his mind.

"Harry, what are you doing?" said Hermione"s voice and Ryan looked over.

The music stopped. Harry blinked. He was standing up, and one of his legs was resting on the wall of the box. Next to him, Ron was frozen in an att.i.tude that looked as though he were about to dive from a springboard.

Ryan lost it he was laughing so hard he nearly fell from his seat. p.u.b.erty must have hit them harder than he thought. Angry yells were filling the stadium. The crowd didn"t want the veela to go. Harry was with them; he would, of course, be supporting Bulgaria, and he wondered vaguely why he had a large green shamrock pinned to his chest. Ron, meanwhile, was absentmindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat. Mr. Weasley, smiling slightly, leaned over to Ron and tugged the hat out of his hands.

"You"ll be wanting that," he said, "once Ireland have had their say. "

"Huh?" said Ron, staring openmouthed at the veela, who had now lined up along one side of the field. Ryan had scored some points with the girls being immune to the veela and Luna was now holding his hand.

"And now," roared Ludo Bagman"s voice, "kindly put your wands in the air. . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two b.a.l.l.s of light. The crowd oooohed and aaaaahed, as though at a fireworks display. Now the rainbow faded and the b.a.l.l.s of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it –

"Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. Squinting up at the shamrock, it was actually comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green."Leprechauns!"

Ryan wanted to steal one so bad he wanted to figure out how they work and see how they responded to lucky charms he needed to know.

The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome – the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you – Dimitrov!"

A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

"Ivanova!"

A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.

"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand – Krum!"

Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen.

"And now, please greet – the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting – Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand – Lynch!"

Seven green blurs swept onto the field

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International a.s.sociation of Quidditch, Ha.s.san Mostafa!"

A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a mustache wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under the mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other.