Chapter 3
"The World Cup Match"
As soon as Aiden got back to his camp, he found his teammates and sat down to rest thinking that Karania's dad made an idiot out of him and decided against telling his teammates about the bunny incident since he knew that they'd laugh at him. Aiden's teammates shook their heads and continued chatting about last minute strategies since the match was in an hour.
Back at the Bulgarian camp, the doctor had finally let Karania out of bed and she walking around glad to be out of that forsaken bed that wasn't very comfortable. Viktor and his teammates were over on one edge of the camp going over last minute strategies.
Viktor wanted to go talk to Karania, but Andrei stomped that idea flat when he said, "She'll be here later, you idiot! We worked hard all year to get here! Don't throw our efforts away over some girl!"
"Alright, alright, I get the point, I'll talk to her later." Viktor said sounding defeated.
Viktor and his teammates went over strategies for about twenty minutes before they got up again and walked over to where Karania's dad was. Karania and her parents were now wearing red rosettes and that pleased the Bulgarian team. Viktor noticed that Karania didn't have a flag so he doubled back and retrieved the one that they had somehow obtained without meaning to and brought it to Karania and presented it to her. Karania looked surprised and accepted it and it started to play the anthem as she took it. Viktor and his teammates smiled and then excused themselves to go to the locker room to change into their robes. Little did they know that the Irish team was now doing the exact same thing.
About thirty minutes later, a deep booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and then, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the tree, lighting a path to the field.
Karania and her parents hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter and snatches of singing were heard as they walked towards the pitch. In all the excitement, Karania couldn't stop smiling, to her this was better than anything she could read in a book. They kept walking through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly until at last they emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. Though Karania could only see a fraction of the immense gold walls surrounding the field, and she could tell that ten cathedrals would fit comfortably inside it. Still gawking at it in amazement, Karania's dad shook his head and then grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the stairwells up to the boxes. The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. They clamored upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. Karania and her family kept climbing and at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, which was set at the highest point of the stadium and was situated exactly halfway between the golden gold posts. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Karania and her parents filed into the first row and Karania ended up being to the right of her mother and father, sitting next to the empty chair beside her. A minute or two later, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley arrived in the top box and filed into the seats next to Karania and her family. Karania turned her head and saw them and smiled and their faces lit up.
Hermione ran to Karania and threw her arms around her and hugged her, "Karania! How have you been?! I haven't seen or heard from you since school ended!"
"Well, it didn't occur to me to owl you, I got so settled back in at home in Bulgaria that I must've forgot about just about everything else." Karania replied.
"You live in Bulgaria? I don't think you ever told us that before." Harry said sounding incredulous.
"I must've forgot to mention it to you, but the point is you know now and you know which team I'm supporting." Karania replied smiling.
"Yeah, Bulgaria, we know I'm sure..." A slimy voice that could come from none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Well, if it isn't the Malfoys, don't we get enough with one at Hogwarts." Ron muttered under his breath.
"I wouldn't be talking Weasley, these seats must've cost your family your house!" Draco said grinning malevolently.
"Why I outta!" Ron cried.
Harry and Hermione were trying to hold Ron back who seemed to think that beating Draco up would make him feel better.
"That's enough, son, let's take our seat." Draco's father said glaring at the Weasleys and led Draco to the second row of seats and they all sat down. Next to a house-elf who was covering its face like it was afraid of heights.
Karania's mother handed her a program and a pair of omnioculars that she had bought for her. Karania took the program and the omnioculars and then began skimming eagerly through her velvet-covered tasseled program. According to the program a display from the team mascots would precede the match. Karania was eager to see what sort of creatures the different teams had brought to show off. Karania's father from time to time was shaking hands with many people, who Karania thought from her viewpoint must be very important wizards. Cornelius Fudge and the Bulgarian Minister of Magic now arrived up in the top box and when the Bulgarian Minister saw Karania, he smiled at her and greeted her warmly and then did the same to her mother and father before he headed on to take his seat. A few minutes later, Ludo Bagman charged into the box, looking eager and excited about what was about to happen.
"Everyone ready?" Ludo Bagman asked, his face gleaming with excitement. "Minister, ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Ludo." Fudge replied comfortably.
Ludo whipped out his wand and 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, and thousands of flags were waved, which added to the noise as their discordant national anthems played. The scoreboard now read 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. Karania looked eager to see what kind of creatures her home country had brought to show off at the match. A minute later, a hundred veela were gliding out onto the field and she could see that they were very beautiful women, but what seemed strange to Karania was how their skin shone moon-bright or how their white-gold hair fanned out behind them without wind. Karania's thoughts were pulled away from this as the veela started to dance. A few minutes later, the veela finished their dance and there were a few angry yells from the stadium and some people in the crowd didn't want the veela to leave.
"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
The next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium and then split into two smaller comets, and each went hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd ooood and aaaaahed as though they were at a fireworks display. Now the rainbow faded and the balls 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 and something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it. Karania recognized them now as being leprechauns and looked on in awe. The shamrock soared overhead and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. The great shamrock dissolved and 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!"
Karania trained her omnioculars on Viktor, who she had met earlier that day along with most of his teammates, though Karania thought that she could almost say that she knew Viktor best.
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 that 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; Karania spun a small dial on the side of her omnioculars and slowed the players down enough to read the word "Firebolt" on each of their brooms and see their names embroidered in silver upon their backs.
"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"
A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a mustache that would have easily rivaled Harry's uncles, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under his mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick in the other. Karania spun the speed dial on her omnioculars back to normal and watched closely as Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open and four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers and the miniscule, winged Golden Snitch. Then with a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls.
"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"
It was quidditch as Karania had never seen it played before, the games at Hogwarts were one thing but seeing professionals play it took the game to a whole new level she had never begun to imagine until now. Karania was pressing her omnioculars close to her eyes, determined to see everything happen as the action unfolded as the game continued. The speed of the players was incredible, the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to one another so fast that Bagman only had time to say their names.
The play continued for a few minutes until Bagman roared, "TROY SCORES!" The stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers, Karania and her family not among them while Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys joined in cheering and celebrating the score. "Ten zero to Ireland!"
Karania sighed, she had been hoping that Bulgaria would've been first to score, but that thought quickly faded when she realized that the game wasn't over yet and that they still might have a chance to score. Troy did a lap of honor around the field and then play continued. Karania knew enough about quidditch from what her father had told her on several different occasions and even though she wasn't cheering for them she could see that the Irish Chasers were superb. They seemed to work as a seamless team and their movements were so well coordinated that they appeared to be reading one another's minds as they positioned themselves. Though all the while her rosette on her chest kept squeaking the names of the Bulgarian players names. And within ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more, bringing their lead to thirty-zero and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters.
The match became still faster, but more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chaser, and were starting to prevent them from using some of their best moves; twice they were forced to scatter, and then finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks, dodge the Keeper, Ryan; and score Bulgaria's first goal.
Karania and her parents cheered as did the other Bulgarians sitting behind them and meanwhile in celebration the veela had started to dance. After a few seconds, play resumed and Karania glanced at the field and observed that the veela had stopped dancing and that Bulgaria was once again in possession of the Quaffle.
"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova – oh I say!" roared Bagman.
One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from airplanes without parachutes. Karania followed their descent through her omnioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was.
"They're going to crash!" screamed Hermione, who was sitting next to Karania.
She was half right, but at the last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats.
"Fool!" Karania's dad cried. "Krum was feinting!"
Karania couldn't help but think that that maneuver was quite impressive in the way that Viktor had pulled it off flawlessly, never betraying his true intention to his rival Seeker.
"It's time-out!" yelled Bagman's voice, "As trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"
Karania hastily pressed the replay and play-by-play buttons on her omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and then put them back up to her eyes. She watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion. 'Wronski Defensive Feint – Dangerous Seeker Diversion' read the shining purple lettering across her lenses. She saw Krum's face contorted with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and she now understood what he had done, Krum hadn't seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him. Karania had never seen anyone fly like that; Krum hardly looked as though he was using a broomstick at all because he seemed to move so easily through the air that he looked unsupported and weightless. Karania turned her omnioculars back to normal and focused them on Krum; he was now circling high above Lynch, who was being revived by mediwizards with cups of potion. Karania focused still more closely upon Krum's face, she saw his dark eyes darting all over the ground a hundred feet below. She realized that he was using the time while Lynch was revived to look for the Snitch without interference.
Lynch got to his feet at last, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporter, mounted his Firebolt, and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to give Ireland new heart. When Mostafa blew his whistle again, the Chasers moved into action again with a skill unrivaled by anything Karania had seen so far. After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and to Karania this didn't look like a good sign for a Bulgarian victory. The game now began to get dirtier, as Mullet shot toward the goal posts yet again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. Whatever happened was over so quickly that Karania didn't catch it, but a scream from the Irish crowd and Mostafa's long, shrill whistle blast told her that it had been a foul.
"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper for cobbing with excessive use of elbows!" Bagman informed the roaring spectators. "And... yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!"
The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled now darted together to form the words, "HA, HA, HA!" The veela on the other side of the field leapt to their feet, tossed their hair angrily and started the dance again.
A minute later, Hermione tugged at Karania's arm. "Look at the referee!" she said giggling.
Karania looked down at the field, Hassan Mostafa had landed right in front of the dancing veela and was acting very oddly indeed. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache excitedly.
"No we can't have that!" said Ludo Bagman, though he sounded highly amused. "Someone slap the referee!"
A mediwizard came tearing across the field; his fingers stuffed into his own ears and kicked Mostafa hard in the shins. Mostafa seemed to come to himself, Karania thought watching through the omnioculars again, saw that he looked exceptionally embarrassed and had started shouting at the veela, who had stopped dancing and were looking mutinous.
"And unless I'm much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots!" said Bagman's voice. "Now there's something we haven't seen before.... Oh this could turn nasty...."
It did: The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing furiously with him, gesticulating toward the leprechauns who had now gleefully formed the words, "HEE, HEE, HEE." Mostafa was not impressed by the Bulgarians' arguments however; he was jabbing his finger into the air, clearly telling them to get flying again and when they refused he gave two short blasts on his whistle.
"Two penalties for Ireland!" shouted Bagman, and the Bulgarian crowd howled in anger, Karania and her parents among them. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms... yes... there they go... and Troy takes the Quaffle..."
Play now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything they had yet seen. The Beaters on both sides were acting without mercy: Volkov and Vulchanov in particular seemed not to care whether their clubs made contact with Bludger or human as they swung them violently through the air. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.
"Foul!" roared the Irish supporters as one, all standing up in a great wave of green.
"Foul!" echoed Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Moran, deliberately trying to collide there, and it's got to be another penalty, yes, there's the whistle!"
The leprechauns had risen into the air again and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field. At this, the veela lost control. Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Watching through her omnioculars, Karania saw that they didn't look remotely beautiful now. On the contrary, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders.... Karania could see at once why looks weren't everything and why you should never judge on looks alone.
Ministry wizards were floating onto the field to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile the pitched battle below was nothing to the one taking place above. Karania turned this way and that, staring through her omnioculars as the Quaffle changed hands with the speed of a bullet.
"Levski – Dimitrov – Moran – Troy – Ivanova – Moran again – Moran – MORAN SCORES!"
But the cheers of the Irish supporters were barely heard over the shrieks of the veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry members' wands, and the furious roars of the Bulgarians. The game recommenced immediately; now Levski had the Quaffle, now Dimitrov...."
The Irish Beater Quigly swung heavily at a passing Bludger, and hit it as hard as possible toward Krum, who did not duck quickly enough so it hit him full in the face, and there was blood everywhere. There was a deafening groan from the crows, Krum's nose looked broken. Karania gasped at this sight since she didn't like to see that one of her team's players was hurt. However, Hassan Mostafa didn't blow his whistle, he had become distracted and Karania couldn't blame him as one of the veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broom tail alight. Karania wanted someone to realize that Krum was injured so badly that she almost wanted to scream that he was hurt. However, Karania glanced over at Lynch, and saw at once that he had gone into a dive, and Karania was sure that this was no Wronski Feint, but the real thing...."
Karania gasped realizing at once that he had seen the snitch and hoping beyond hope that Viktor would be still be able to catch it despite the mess he was in. Half the crowd seem to have realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on... but below and behold, Krum was there on his tail. How he could see where he was going, Karania had no idea, there were flecks of blood flying through the air behind him, but he was drawing level with Lynch as the pair of them hurtled toward the ground again....
"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.
"They're not!" roared Harry.
"Lynch is!" yelled Karania.
And she was right, for the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry veela.
"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" Ron bellowed, looking frantically trying to spot it.
"He's got it, Krum's got it, it's all over!" Harry shouted.
Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, a giant glint of gold in his hand. The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 across the crowd, who didn't seem to realize what had happened. Then slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters drew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.
"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be very taken aback by the sudden end of the match. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH, BUT IRELAND WINS.... Good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"
"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron bellowed as he jumped up and down clapping enthusiastically. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"
"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry shouted back over all the noise, also clapping loudly. "The Irish Chasers were too good.... He wanted to end it on his terms, that's all...."
"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Karania said, leaning forward to watch Krum land as a swarm of mediwizards blasted a path through the battling leprechauns and veela to get to him. "He looks a terrible mess...."
Karania put her omnioculars to her eyes again. It was hard to see what was below because leprechauns were zooming delightedly all over the field, but she could just make out Viktor, who was surrounded by mediwizards. Krum looked surlier than ever, but let them mop him up nonetheless while his teammates were around him, shaking their heads and looking dejected. While a short way away, the Irish players were dancing gleefully in a shower of gold descending from their mascots. Flags were waving all over the stadium, the Irish national anthem blared from all sides, and the veela were shrinking back into their usual, beautiful selves now, though they looked dispirited and forlorn.
"And the Irish team performs a lap of honor, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup is brought into the Top Box!" roared Bagman.
Karania's eyes were suddenly dazzled by a blinding light as the Top Box was magically illuminated so that everyone in the stands could see inside. Squinting toward the entrance, she saw two panting wizards carrying a vast golden cup into the box, which they handed to Cornelius Fudge.
"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers, Bulgaria!" Bagman shouted.
Karania looked slightly sad since she had hoped that her country would have pulled out on top, but alas that didn't happen and they had to settle for a valiant second place.
And up the stairs into the box came the seven defeated Bulgarian players. The crowd below was applauding appreciatively, and Karania could see thousands and thousands of omnioculars lenses flashing and winking in their direction. One by one, the Bulgarians filed between the rows of seats in the box and somehow or another Viktor ended up standing in front of Karania. Viktor turned around, saw her, smiled at her red rosette she still wore and the Bulgarian flag she was clutching tightly and then patted her on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear, which made Karania blush. A minute later, Bagman called out the name of each as they shook hands with their own minister and then with Fudge. Krum was last in line, and he was still clutching the Snitch; Karania noticed that he seemed much less coordinated on the ground, she thought that he seemed to be slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered, but she thought that this was only due to his being on a broomstick for the past hour and a half. However, when Krum's name was announced, the whole stadium gave him a resounding, earsplitting roar.
And then came the Irish team. Aidan Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly since the second crash seemed to have dazed him and his eyes looked strangely unfocused. Karania thought that he had gotten what he deserved for turning her into a rabbit even though his team had won. Though he grinned happily as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd below thundered its approval, and Karania smiled weakly, while trying to be polite.
At last when the Irish team had left the box to perform another lap of honor on their brooms (Aidan Lynch on the back of Connolly's, clutching hard around his waist and still grinning in a bemused sort of way), and Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and muttered, "Quietus."
"They'll be talking about this one for years," he said hoarsely, "a really unexpected twist, that.... Shame it couldn't have lasted longer...."