After grabbing their merchandise, Mr Weasley led the group through the lantern-lit trail. Hailey could hear people shouting, laughing, and singing. Hailey couldn't stop grinning with excitement while Mandy was bounced on her toes and breaking out into laughter every now and then. It was probably because of excitement or from a joke that the Weasley twins had made or it could've been both.
It took twenty minutes to get to the gigantic stadium. From what Hailey could see, through the shadow of the stadium, the walls were gold and surrounded the field and it looked large enough to fit ten cathedrals inside of it.
"Seats a hundred thousand," Mr Weasley told Hailey, spotting the awestruck look on Hailey's face. "Ministry task force of five hundred has been working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remember urgent appointments and had to dash away again…bless them," he sounded fond. He led them the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.
"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."
Mandy handed the witch her tickets as well, "Prime seats! Top Box! Straight upstairs, Brocklehurst, as high as you can go."
The carpets on the stairs were a rich purple colour. They climbed upward with the rest of the crowd, which was slowly dispersing through side doors that were on the left and right. Mr Weasley's group kept climbing the stairs and they finally reached the top of the staircase. They entered a small box which was set at the highest point of the stadium and it was situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. Hailey counted the purple-and-gilt chairs that were in two rows, seeing that there was twenty seats.
"I wonder who's going to be in the eight remaining chairs," Mandy said, sounding thoughtful.
Hailey took a chair in the front row and looked over the edge to see about a hundred thousand witches and wizards taking their seats. The seats rose in levels around the long oval field. It looked like everything was bathed in mysterious golden light, which was coming from the stadium itself. The field looked smooth as velvet from their high position. Across from them, there were three goal hoops that was fifty feet high. Opposite of the goal hoops, almost at Hailey's eye level, was a gigantic blackboard, where what seemed like an invisible giant hand was writing advertisements in gold:
The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family—Safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burglar Buzzer…
Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain!...
Gladrags Wizardwear—London, Pairs, Hogsmeade…
The writing looked like it was erased before being rewritten again.
In a way, the stadium was probably one of the most beautiful things that Hailey had ever seen.
"It's beautiful," Eva whispered and Hailey nodded in agreement.
Mandy nudged Hailey's shoulder. Hailey looked at Mandy, who pointed at a chair. She whispered, "Dobby?"
The creature was sitting in the second row, at the second from last seat. The creature's legs were so short that they stuck out in front of it on the chair, it was wearing a tea towel draped like a toga, and it had its face hidden in its hand. The long batlike ears were oddly familiar…
"Dobby?" Hailey asked, incredulous.
The elf looked up and stretched its fingers, revealing enormous brown eyes and a nose that was the size and shape of a large tomato. It wasn't Dobby—but it was unmistakably a house-elf, as Hailey's friend Dobby had been. Two years ago, Hailey had set Dobby free from his old owners, the Malfoy family.
"Did miss just call me Dobby?" squeaked the elf, curiously from between its fingers. The house elf's voice was higher than Dobby's; it was a teeny, quivering squeak of a voice. It made Hailey suspect that the house-elf was a female, even though it was hard to tell.
Ron, Hermione, Mandy, and Michael turned around to look, because they heard a lot about Dobby from Hailey, though they never met him. Mr Weasley looked around in interest as well.
"Sorry," Hailey told the elf, "I just thought you were someone I knew."
"But I knows Dobby, too, miss!" squeaked the elf. She was covering her face, as though she was blinded by light, even though the Top Box wasn't brightly lit. "My name is Winky, miss—and you, miss—" Her dark brown eyes widened as they rested upon Hailey's scar, that was half hidden by her bangs. "You is surely Hailey Potter!"
"Yeah, I am," replied Hailey almost monotonously.
"But Dobby talks of you all the time, miss!" Winky said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck.
"How is he?" Hailey asked, curious to know how he was doing. "How's freedom suiting him?"
"Ah, miss," said Winky, shaking her head sadly. Hailey immediately feared the worst. "Ah, miss, meaning no disrespect, miss, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favour, miss, when you is setting him free?"
"Why?" asked Hailey, taken aback at that and now growing worried for the elf. "What happened to him?"
"Freedom is going to Dobby's head, miss," said Winky sound sad. "Ideas above his station, miss. Can't get another position, miss."
Hailey, curious again, asked, "Why not?"
Winky lowered her voice and whispered, "He is wanting paying for his work, sir."
Hailey winced when she heard that. She knew that house-elves weren't paid for working for families or other positions, but she didn't know why no one wanted to pay him. She frowned, "What has he been getting up to?"
Winky closed her fingers so that her face was half-hidden again. "I says to Dobby, I says, 'go find yourself a nice family and settled down, Dobby.' He is getting up to all sorts of high-jinks, miss, what is unbecoming to a house-elf. 'You goes racketing around like this, Dobby,' I says, and next thing I hear you's up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, like some common goblin."
"I guess he can have a bit of fun, after being set free," Hailey replied, shrugging at that.
"House-elves is not supposed to have fun, Hailey Potter." said Winky sounding very firm from behind her hands. "House-elves does what they is told. I is not liking heights at all, Hailey Potter." Winky glanced at the edge of the box and gulped, "but my master sends me to the Top Box and I comes, miss."
"So, does your master know you hate heights?" Hailey asked, a little confused.
"Master—master wants me to save him a seat, Hailey Potter. He is very busy," said Winky, tilting her head toward the empty space beside her. "Winky is wishing she is back in master's tent, Hailey Potter, but Winky does what she is told. Winky is a good house-elf." She gave the edge of the box another frightened look and hid her eyes with her hands. Hailey turned to look at her friends, feeling bad for Winky.
"So, that's a house-elf?" Ron muttered, "Weird things, aren't they?"
"Dobby was weirder," Hailey said quickly. Dobby tried to kill or seriously maim her so she wouldn't go back to Hogwarts and then hit himself with objects after almost revealing information to her.
Ron picked up his Omnioculars and started testing them, staring down into the crowd that was on the other side of the stadium.
"Poor thing," Mandy muttered, looking at Winky. "I wonder who her master is. I ought to give him strong words for mistreating her like that."
"Wild!" exclaimed Ron, twisting a knob that was on the side of his Omnioculars. "I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again…and again…and again…"
Eva gave Ron a disgusted look, "That's disgusting!" Michael snickered at Eva's reaction while Mandy laughed at what Ron was doing.
Hermione was skimming through her velvet-covered, tasseled program eagerly and she read aloud, "'A display from the team mascots will precede the match.'"
"Oh, that's always worth watching," said Mr Weasley. "National teams brings creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show."
Hailey was standing at the edge of the Top Box, using her Omnioculars to show Michael Archie, who was now wearing a very bright coloured, floral styled nightdress. Michael had a very stunned look on his face as the sight when he saw Archie.
Michael asked if he could borrow the Ominoculars so he look the crowd, and Hailey gave them to him. Michael was was using some knobs and saying stuff like "This is so cool!" and "You can do anything with these things!"
Hailey couldn't help but find his enthusiasm endearing. Hermione was showing Eva how to use the Ominoculars.
Michael said, "Hey, Hail, look at the couple s—"
"Hailey Potter," a voice interrupted what Michael was saying. The voice sounded like it came from behind them. "It's so good to see you."
Hailey briefly wondered if Michael had called her 'Hail' for some reason and turned around to see Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. She had met him last year, when she ran away from the Durselys after accidentally blowing up her aunt.
Fudge proceeded to shake hands with Hailey, in an odd, fatherly fashion. "How are you doing?"
Hailey noticed that Percy was giving her a jealous look. Fudge apparently decided that he was going to introduce Hailey to the important looking wizards that was standing on either side of him.
"Hailey Potter, you know!" Fudge stated very loudly to the Bulgarian minister. The Bulgarian minister was wearing the most elegant looking robes that Hailey had ever seen. They were robes made out of black velvet, trimmed with gold. Hailey was sure that the Bulgarian minister didn't understand English. "Hailey Potter…oh, come on now, you who she is…the girl who survived You-Know-Who…you do know who she is—"
Hailey moved her bangs slightly up to show them the scar and the Bulgarian wizard's eyes widened once he saw it. He started speaking gibberish loudly and excitedly while pointing at it.
"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Hailey. "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!"
Hailey almost groaned at the name, but she turned around quickly. Apparently Hermione, Ron, Mandy, and Michael turned as well. Edging along the second row to the three remaining seats that were right behind Mr Weasley, were none other than Dobby the house-elf's former owners: Lucius Malfoy; his son, Draco; and a woman Hailey figured must be Draco's mother.
Hailey and Draco had been enemies ever since their very first journey to Hogwarts. Draco was a pale boy with a face and white-blond hair, Draco greatly resembled his father, and he also reminded Hailey of Piers, Dudley's friend who always held people's arms back while Dudley hit them. Draco's mother was blonde, she was tall and slim. Hailey was sure that she would have been nice-looking if she didn't look like she had something very foul smelling under her nose, which Hailey figured was that it was because Draco was there.
"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?" asked Fudge smiling and bowing to Lucius. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr Obalonsk—Mr—well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else—you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"
Hailey was sure that she could cut the air with a butter knife, because of how tense everything had gotten. Mr Weasley and Lucius looked at each other with distaste. Hailey remembered the last time they had came face-to-face, which had been in Flourish and Blotts bookshop, where they ended up getting into a fist-fight.
Lucius's cold grey eyes swept over Mr Weasley, and then up and down the row at the eleven others. In a soft voice, he said, "Good lord, Arthur. What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"
Fudge said to Mr Weasely, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest." Apparently he didn't hear the jab Lucius just said, or maybe he heard it, but just ignored it.
"Time to ask my mum to transfer jobs," Michael muttered. Mandy looked like she was considering through Lucius over the edge of the Top Box.
"How—how nice," said Mr Weasley, with a forced smile.
Lucius's eyes went to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but she held her ground, by staring back at him in a determine way. Lucius looked straight at Eva, who just stared blankly at him. Lucius's lip curled in disgust and Hailey knew that it was because the Malfoys thought highly of themselves because they were purebloods. They considered anyone, who was of Muggle descent, like Eva and Hermione, as second-class.
Since the Minister of Magic himself was in the area, Lucius couldn't say anything rude, but he did sneer at Mr Weasley. Draco gave the Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and the Hufflepuff a look of contempt, which Michael responded by making a rude-gesture at Draco, before he crossed his arms in satisfaction. It caused Ron, Mandy, Fred, George, and, surprisingly, Eva to laugh at that. Hermione and Percy both looked disapproving at Michael for it, before Percy looked disapproving at his brothers for encouraging it and probably embarrassing him in front of the important wizards.
"I won't tell your aunt that you did that," Eva whispered to Michael. "It made me feel a little better."
"Slimy gits," Ron muttered as they turned to face the field again.
Ludo Bagman charged into the box and asked, "Everyone ready?" His face was gleaming and he turned to Fudge, "Minister—ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Ludo," said Fudge, sounding comfortable.
Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it as his own throat, and said, "Sonorus!" Over the roar of the crowd, he spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen…welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
The spectators screamed, clapped, and thousands of flags went waving, adding their discordant national anthems to the cheers. The huge blackboard opposite of them was wiped clear of its last message: (Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans—A Risk With Every Mouthful!) and now it 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 stand, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.
"I wonder what they've brought," said Mr Weasely, leaning forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "Veela!"
Eva was confused, "What are veel—?"
Eva's question was answered when a hundred veela glided out onto the field. Veela were woman…very bland looking women in Hailey's opinion. Their skin looked silvery and their hair was white-gold, and their hair fanned out behind them without the use of wind. The music started and they started to dance and Hailey found herself, utterly unimpressed. She looked at Eva, who looked bored as well. She looked for Hermione, who was unimpressed. She looked at Mandy, who was flicking through the purple program looking bored out of her skull. Hailey looked through her program, wondering if she could get popcorn or something.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" Eva shouted, sounding terrified.
The music stopped, and Hailey looked up to see that Ron was frozen in a position like he was going to dive from a springboard.
Angry shouts were filling the stadium because the crowd didn't want the veela to leave. Ron was now shredding the shamrocks off of his hat and Eva was forcing Michael to sit down.
Hailey didn't like the veela, so she was glad that she had pinned a shamrock to her shirt. Mr Weasley grabbed the hat out of Ron's hands. "You'll be wanting that once Ireland have had their say."
"Huh?" said Ron, staring openmouthed at the veela, who had lined up along one side of the field. Hermione shook her head and Eva rolled her eyes.
"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air…for the Irish National Team Mascots."
There was great green-and-gold comet 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 across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd was ooh'ing and aah'ing as if it was a fireworks display. The rainbow faded and the balls of light merged, forming a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and soared over the sands. What looked like golden rain fell from the shamrocks.
"Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them and heavy gold coins rained down on them. Hailey squinting up at the shamrock to see that it was actually made up of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a tiny lantern of gold or green.
"Leprechauns!" said Mr Weasley over the applause of the crowd, many who were fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.
"There you go!" Ron yelled as he stuffed a fistful of gold coins into Hailey's hand. "For the Omnioculars! Now you've got to buy me a Christmas present, ha!"
Eva was grabbing as much gold coins as she can and Mandy was examining a coin with a scrutinizing look on her face.
The 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—Dimitrove! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volko!" He rattled off the names as each player in scarlet shot into the field for an entrance below. He dragged out the word, "And—Krum!"
"That's him, that's him!" yelled Ron, following Krum with his Ominoculars. Hailey focused on him with hers too.
Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. In a way, 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!" Again he dragged out the word, "And—Lynch!"
Seven green blurs swept onto the field; Hailey spun a small dial on the side of his Omnioculars and slowed down the players to read the word "Firebolt" on each of their brooms and to see that they had their names embroidered in silver on 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, who was completely bald but with a mustache to rival Uncle Vernon's, was wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the field. There was a silver whistle was protruding from under his mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. Hailey spun the Omnioculars back to normal, watching closely as Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open—four balls burst into the air; there was the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and the minuscule, winged Golden Snitch, which Hailey saw for a brief moment, before it went speeding out of sight. Mostafa did a sharp blast with his whistle and shot into the air after the balls.
"They're off!" screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"
It was Quidditch that Hailey had never seen it played before, because she was pressing the Ominoculars so hard to her eyes that it was beginning to hurt. The speed of the players were so incredible that the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to one another so fast that Bagman only had time to say their names. Hailey spun the slow dial on the right of her Omnioculars again, pressed the play-by-play button on the top, and she was watching in slow motion, while glittering purple lettering flashed across the lenses and the noise of the crowd sounding like a roar.
HAWKSHEAD ATTACKING FORMATION, she read as she watched the three Irish Chasers zoom closely together, Troy in the center, slightly ahead of Mullet and Moran, bearing down upon the Bulgarians. PORKSOFF PLOY flashed up next, as Troy made as though to dart upward with the Quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian Chaser Ivanova and dropping the Quaffle to Moran. One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov,, swung hard at a passing Bludger with his club, knocking it into Moran's path; Moran ducked to avoid the Bludger and dropped the Quaffle; and Levski, soaring beneath, caught it—
"Troy scores!" roared Bagman, and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. "Ten zero to Ireland!"
"What?" Hailey yelled, confused. She looked around wildly around through her Omnioculars. "But Levski's got the Quaffle!"
"Hailey, if you're not going to watch at normal speed, you're going to miss things!" shouted Hermione, who was dancing up and down, waving her arms in the air while Troy did a lap of honour around the field. Hailey looked quickly up the top of her Omnioculars and saw that the leprechauns watching from the sidelines had all risen into the air and formed the great, glittering shamrock. Across the field, the veela were watching them sulkily.
Angry at herself for missing something, Hailey spun the speed dial back to normal as play resumed.
She knew enough about Quidditch to see that the Irish Chasers were superb. They worked as a seamless team, their movements so well coordinated that they appeared to be reading one another's minds as they positioned themselves, and the rosette on Hailey's chest kept squealing names: "Troy—Mullet—Moran!"
Within ten minutes, Ireland has scored twice more, bringing their lead to thirty-zero and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supports. Mandy was screaming and jumping up and down.
The match became more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at Irish Chasers, and were starting to prevent them from using some of their best moves; twice they had to scatter and then, finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks; dodge the Keeper, Ryan; and score Bulgaria's first goal.
"Fingers in your ears!" order Mr Weasley as the veela started to dance in celebration.
Hailey covered her ears, unsure why she had to cover her ears, but she closed her eyes too. She didn't want to see the veela. After a few seconds, she looked at the field to see that the veela had stopped dancing and Bulgaria was in possession of the Quaffle.
"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova—oh I say!" roared Bagman.
Two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as if they were skydiving without parachutes. Hailey followed their descent through her Omnioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was.
"Oh, no, they're going to crash!" Eva shouted, drowning out what Hermione was saying. Eva had her hands covering her eyes and she was muttering something under breath, probably a prayer.
Krum pulled out of the dive at the last second and spiraled of, while Lynch hit the ground. Hailey winced, "Ooh."
"Fool!" moaned Mr Weasley. "Krum was feinting!"
"It's a time-out!" yelled Bagman, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"
Ginny was hanging over the side of the box, looking horrified. Charlie, in attempt to ease Ginny, said, "He'll be okay, he only got ploughed! Which is what Krum was after, of course…"
Hailey pressed the replay and play-by-play buttons on the Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to her eyes. She watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion. Across the lens, in shining purple letters it read: WRONSKI DEFENSE FEINT—DANGEROUS SEEKER DIVERSION. She saw Krum's face contorted with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and she understood—Krum hadn't seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him. Hailey had never seen anyone fly like that; Krum hardly looked as though she was using a broomstick at all; he moved so easily through the air that he looked unsupported and weightless. Hailey couldn't help but admire him for it and she can see why Ron admired him.
Hailey turned her Omnioculars back to normal and focused them on Krum. He was circling high above Lynch and Hailey can see that his dark eyes were darting all over the ground a hundred feet below. Hailey knew that he was using the time to look for the Snitch without interference and she couldn't help but think that it was low, but it was actually clever.
Lynch got to his feet, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters, mounted his Firebolt, and kicked off into the air once again. He seemed to give Ireland new heart. Mostafa blew his whistle again, the Chasers moving into action with a skill unrivaled by anything Hailey had seen so far.
After fifteen more minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten.
Mullet shot toward the goals posts yet again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. It happened so quickly that Hailey didn't catch it, but a scream of rage and Mandy yelling, "Foul!" repeatedly, told Hailey that a foul happened.
"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing—excessive use of elbows!" Bagman informed the roaring spectators.
"I could use a cob salad," Eva said, catching Hailey's attention than what Bagman said.
The leprechauns had rose 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 to dance again.
As one, the Weasley boys and Michael covered their ears, but the other girls didn't bother.
Mandy started laughing as Hermione tugged Hailey's and Eva's arms, giggling. "Look at the referee!"
Hailey looked down at the field. Mostafa had landed right in front of the dancing veela, and was acting very odd. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache excitedly.
"What is he doing?" Eva asked, giggling. "He's making a fool out of himself!"
"No, we can't have that!" said Bagman, sounding highly amused. "Somebody slap the referee!"
A mediwizard came running across the field, his hands covering his ears, and kicked Mostafa in the shins, apparently very hard.
Hailey was watching through the Omnioculars again, saw that Mostafa looked highly embarrassed and was now shouting at the veela, who had stopped dancing and looking furious.
"And unless I'm much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send of the Bulgarian team mascots!" said Bagman's voice. "Now there's something we haven't seen before…Oh, this could turn nasty…"
The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing with him, looking furious, and gesturing to the leprechauns, who formed the words "HEE, HEE, HEE." Mostafa didn't seem like he was impressed with whatever the Bulgarians were saying, because he was pointing at the air, apparently telling them to get flying and when they refused, he gave two short blasts on his whistle.
"Two penalties for Ireland!" shouted Bagman and the Bulgarian crowd howled with anger. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms…yes…yes…there they go…and Troy takes the Quaffle…"
The Beaters on both side 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 in unison, all standing up in a great wave of green.
"Foul! Foul! Foul!" Mandy shouted furiously, her face turning pink in rage.
"Foul!" echoed Bagman's magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Moran—deliberately flying to collide there—and it's got to be another penalty—yes, there's the whistle!"
The leprechauns' new formation was that of a giant hand making a very rude sign at the veela across the field. Mandy busted out laughing at that and the veela launched themselves across the field, throwing what looked like handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Watching through the Omnioculars, Hailey saw their faces were now elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings were busting from their shoulders—
"And that, boys, is why you should never go for looks alone!" Mr Weasley shouted over the roars of the crowd below.
Hailey kept her focus on the match above the field. She was trying to focus on the Quaffle, which was changing hands with the speed of a bullet.
"Levski—Dimitrov—Moran—Troy—Mullet—Ivanova—Moran again—Moran—Moran scores!"
The veelas' shrieks, blasts were coming from the wands of the Ministry, and the roars of the Bulgarians were drowning out the Irish supporters' cheers.
The Irish Beater, Quigley, swung heavily at a passing Bludger and hit as hard as possible toward Krum, who didn't duck in time, because he took the Bludger to the face.
Hailey groaned because Krum's nose looked broken and there was blood everywhere. However, Mostafa didn't notice because he was distracted with broom which was alight.
Hailey couldn't help but want someone to notice Krum's broken nose. Even though she was supporting Ireland, Krum was the most exciting player on the field at the moment.
Ron shouted, "Time-out! Ah, come one, he can't play like that, look at him—"
"Look at Lynch!" Hailey yelled, watching as the Irish Seeker went into a dive, and she was sure that it wasn't a Wronksi Feint. She was sure that it was the real deal. "He's seen the Snitch! He's seen it! Look at him go!" She reached over and shook Michael's shoulder from excitement.
The Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on…but Krum was on his tail. There were flecks of blood flying through the air behind Krum, but he was drawing level with Lynch now as the pair of them hurtled toward the ground again—
"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.
"They're not!" roared Ron.
"Lynch is!" yelled Hailey.
Lynch hit the ground with a tremendous force and was stampeded by a horde of angry veela.
"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" bellowed Charlie.
"He's got it—Krum's got it—it's all over!" shouted Hailey at Charlie.
Krum, his red robes shining with blood from nose blood, was rising gently in the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand.
BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 the scoreboard read. The crowd didn't seem to notice at first, then the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder, erupting into screams of delight.
"Ireland wins!" Bagman shouted, who also seemed to be 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!"
Ron was jumping up and down, hands over his head. He bellowed, "Why did he catch the Snitch for? He ended it when Ireland was a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"
Hailey was clapping loudly, "He knew they were never going to catch up! The Irish Chasers were too good…He wanted to end it on his terms, that's all…"
She put her Omnioculars to her eyes again, even though it was hard to see what was happening. The leprechauns were zooming delightedly all over the field, but she could just make out Krum, surrounded by mediwizards. He looked surlier than ever and refused to let them mop him up. His team members were around him, shaking their heads and looking dejected; 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; the veela were shrinking back into their usual, beautiful selves now, though looking forlorn and dispirited.
"Vell, ve fought bravely," a gloomy voice said behind Hailey. Hailey turned around to see that it was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.
"You can speak English!" exclaimed Fudge, sounding outraged. "And you've been letting me mime everything all day.
"Vell, it vos very funny," said the Bulgarian minister, shrugging.
"And as the Irish team performs a lap of honour, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" roared Bagman.
Hailey was dazzled by a blinding white light, as the Top Box was magically illuminated so that everyone in the stands could see inside. Squinting toward the entrance, she was two panting wizards carrying a vast golden cup into the box, which they handed to Cornelius Fudge, who was still looking disgruntled that he'd been using sign language all day for nothing.
"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers—Bulgaria!" Bagman shouted.
Up the stairs into the box came the seven defeated Bulgarian players. The crowd below was applauding and Hailey 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 Bagman called out the name of each players as they shook hands with their own minister and then with Fudge. Krum, who was last in line, looked like a total mess. He had two forming black eyes and his face was still bloody. He was holding the Snitch. Hailey noticed that he less coordinated on the ground, since he seemed slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered. When Krum's name was announced, the whole stadium gave him a resounding, earsplitting roar.
The Irish team showed up. Aidan Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly; the second crash seemed like it dazed him and his eyes looked strangely unfocused. However, he was grinning happily as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air, while the crowd below roared its approval. Hailey's hands were beginning to lose feeling with her frequent clapping.
At last, when the Irish team had left the box to perform another lap of honour 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), Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and muttered, "Quietus." Hoarsely, he said, "They'll be talking about this one for years, a really unexpected twist, that…shame it couldn't have lasted longer…" He finally noticed the Weasley twins, "Ah, yes…I owe you…how much?"
Fred and George scrambled over the backs of their seats to stand in front of Bagman. They were grinning broadly and had their hands outstretched.
