"Seats a hundred thousand," said Dad, spotting the awestruck looks on our faces.
"Ministry task force of five hundred have 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 remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again . . . bless them," he added fondly, leading the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.
"It's magnificent!" said Hermione. "No club in any league has anything like this!"
"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."
The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. We clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. We kept climbing, and at last We reached the top of the staircase and found ourselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts.
About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and we, filing into the front seats, looked down upon a scene the likes of which he could never have imagined.
I made sure to sit in between Demelza and Harry. Hermione and Amy sat on Demelza's left.
"You're not wrong about these seats Amy!" I called to her "they're incredible!"
A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at our eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it, we saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field. The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family — safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burglar Buzzer . . . All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain! . . . Gladrags Wizardwear — London, Paris, Hogsmeade . . .
I looked at the match programme, which was handed out for free to all members of the box. It was very interesting, with details about all the players on both teams of course, and their path to the final. What stood out the most though was the passage about Viktor Krum.
"KRUM, Victor"
Possibly the greatest natural talent of the last 20 years, Viktor Krum has been sending shockwaves around the world with his sensational seeking performances for both club and country. His 25 snitch catches obtained in the Bulgarian First Division last season is a domestic record, just 5 short of the world record, and therefore it is no surprise that he is one of the first names on his country's team sheet. Many are of the opinion that he is already the best seeker in the world, and could prove to be the difference tonight to crown Bulgaria World Champions. At just 17, Krum will attend his final year at Durmstrang from this September. The future seems to hold no bounds for this man.
Krum hadn't even finished school, yet he was already playing in a World Cup final?! That was an incredible fact, and I opened my mouth to mention it to the others, but before I could, Harry suddenly called out "Dobby?!"
We all turned in the direction of Harry's voice, and saw that he was looking at a creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind us. We'd heard all about Dobby of course, but we'd never actually met him.
"Did sir just call me Dobby?" squeaked the elf curiously from between its fingers.
"Sorry," Harry told the elf, "I just thought you were someone I knew."
"But I knows Dobby too, sir!" squeaked the elf. She was shielding her face, as though blinded by light, though the Top Box was not brightly lit.
"My name is Winky, sir — and you, sir —" Her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon Harry's scar. "You is surely Harry Potter!"
"Yeah, I am," said Harry.
"But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" she said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck.
"How is he?" said Harry. "How's freedom suiting him?"
"Ah, sir," said Winky, shaking her head, "ah sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favor, sir, when you is setting him free."
"Why?" said Harry, taken aback. "What's wrong with him?"
"Freedom is going to Dobby's head, sir," said Winky sadly. "Ideas above his station, sir. Can't get another position, sir."
"Why not?" said Harry. Winky lowered her voice by a half-octave and whispered, "He is wanting paying for his work, sir."
"Paying?" said Harry blankly. "Well — why shouldn't he be paid?"
Paying a house elf? Well, it wasn't something that had ever been done before, but I supposed they deserved it in principle, giving it some thought.
Winky looked quite horrified at the idea and closed her fingers slightly so that her face was half-hidden again.
"House-elves is not paid, sir!" she said in a muffled squeak. "No, no, no. I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir, 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."
"Well, it's about time he had a bit of fun," said Harry. "House-elves is not supposed to have fun, Harry Potter," said Winky firmly, from behind her hands. "House-elves does what they is told. I is not liking heights at all, Harry Potter" — she glanced toward the edge of the box and gulped — "but my master sends me to the Top Box and I comes, sir."
"Why's he sent you up here, if he knows you don't like heights?" said Harry, frowning.
"I must admit that does sound rather cruel" I added
"Master — master wants me to save him a seat, Harry 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, Harry Potter, but Winky does what she is told. Winky is a good house-elf."
Then she turned to me.
"Master can treat me however he likes. Nothing master does is cruel. Winky follows orders. Winky is a good house elf"
"Of course it's cruel!" Hermione burst out suddenly, "no-one, human or otherwise, should be forced to do something that scares them!"
Winky gave the edge of the box another frightened look and hid her eyes completely again. We all turned back towards the pitch.
"So that's a house-elf?" Ron muttered. "Weird things, aren't they?"
"Dobby was weirder," said Harry fervently.
I was beginning to realise that house elves really didn't get a good deal.