"We're eating out in the garden," Mum said when we came in. "There's just not room for twelve people in here. Could you take the plates outside, girls? Bill and Charlie are setting up the tables. Knives and forks, please, you two," she said to Ron and Harry, pointing her wand a little more vigorously than she had intended at a pile of potatoes in the sink, which shot out of their skins so fast that they ricocheted off the walls and ceiling.
Hermione and I grabbed half a stack of plates each and carried them outside. Crookshanks passed us almost immediately, chasing a garden gnome around. We went around to the other side of the house, and were about to put the plates down on the tables, when they rose into the air in front of us, very nearly smacking us both in the head! We looked around, and saw Bill and Charlie standing on either end of the garden with their wands out. They started smashing the tables into each other, each trying to knock the other one out of the air. It was pretty funny. Hermione backed away to the hedge, seemingly torn between amusement and anxiety, and at that moment Harry and Ron arrived with the cutlery.
Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocked one of its legs off. There was a clatter from overhead, and we all looked up to see Percy's head poking out of a window on the second floor.
"Will you keep it down?!" he bellowed.
"Sorry, Perce," said Bill, grinning. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?"
"Very badly," said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the window shut.
Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattached the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere.
By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mum's excellent cooking, and my family, Demelza, who had been called briefly back to her house, so had missed Harry's arrival, and Hermione were settling down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky.
Percy was telling Dad all about his report on cauldron bottoms.
"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday," Percy was saying pompously. "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman —"
"I like Ludo," said Dad mildly. "He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favor: His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble — a lawnmower with unnatural powers — I smoothed the whole thing over."
"Amy told me all about that, it must have been a tough night for you, having to go out to Wimborne at like 3am to deal with it all" I said
"Yes, well, I'd say it was worth it in the end, seeing how we're all able to go tomorrow as a result" Dad replied "What became of Otto? Why was he acting like that anyway?"
"Amy said they've moved him to hospital now, he's become too troublesome for them to deal with. His mental health has suffered ever since his wife died"
"That's very sad to hear. How is Amy anyway?"
"She's about as well as she can be considering her circumstances. She's been at all of England's games at the World Cup and will be there tomorrow. Percy, Ludo's great, I met him myself when I went to Amy's last summer"
"Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course," said Percy dismissively, "but how he ever got to be Head of Department . . . when I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?"
"Yes, I was asking Ludo about that," said Mr. Weasley, frowning. "He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now — though I must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried. . . ."
"Who's Bertha Jorkins?" Demelza asked
"A rather forgetful woman" Dad replied. "Works in Ludo's department but has been a pain in the arse wherever she's gone. Often forgets to show up to places and can be absent for long periods of time. She always turns up eventually though so I have no reason to doubt she will again"
"Oh Bertha's hopeless, all right," said Percy. "I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth . . . but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her — but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However" — Percy heaved an impressive sigh and took a deep swig of elderflower wine — "we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup."
Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"You know the one I'm talking about, Father." He raised his voice slightly. "The top-secret one."
Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to Harry and Hermione, "He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work. Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons."
Demelza and I shared a smug glance.
Mum was arguing with Bill about his earring, which seemed to be a recent acquisition.
". . . with a horrible great fang on it. Really, Bill, what do they say at the bank?"
"Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure," said Bill patiently.
"And your hair's getting silly, dear," said Mum fingering her wand lovingly. "I wish you'd let me give it a trim. . . .
"I like it," I said "You're so old fashioned, Mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's"
Fred, George, and Charlie were all talking spiritedly about the World Cup.
"It's got to be Ireland," said Charlie thickly, through a mouthful of potato. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."
"Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though," said Fred.
"Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven," said Charlie shortly. "I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was."
"What happened?" said Harry eagerly
"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," said Charlie gloomily. "Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."
"Amy was at that England game" I said "Ludo got her tickets for all our games and the final. She was proper miserable afterwards"
"I think we all were" Charlie replied.
"Seems like all the home nations were competing to see who can get embarrassed the worst"
"Definitely. Scotland qualify for the first time since 1928, only to go and throw it away like that, we celebrate hosting for the first time in 30 years, only to lose in that manner, and Wales become the first European country ever to lose to an African country at a World Cup. Hopefully the European Championship in two years will be better for all concerned"
"What happened to Northern Ireland?" asked Harry
"Didn't qualify" said Demelza, "and even they had to fuck it up in an embarrassing manner. Only needed a draw against Litchenstein to top their group, but lost 400-130, then lost in the play offs"
"Bloody hell" said Harry
Dad conjured up candles to light the darkening garden before we had our homemade strawberry ice cream, and by the time we had finished, moths were fluttering low over the table, and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle.
"Look at the time," Mum said suddenly. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you — you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."
"Wow — hope it does this time!" said Harry enthusiastically.
"Well, I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."
"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" said Fred.
"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" said Percy, going very red in the face. "It was nothing personal!"
"It was," Fred whispered to Harry and I as we got up from the table. "We sent it."