Quidditch World Cup – Part 5
"Professor Wanda!" Fleur exclaimed, throwing her arms around Wanda in a warm, affectionate hug. Behind her stood her mother, Apolline Delacour, who immediately followed with a hug of her own, smiling broadly.
"It's good to see you again," Apolline said, while Wanda welcomed them both with a warm smile.
"Good strategy," Selene remarked with an amused tone as she observed the interaction.
"What?" Sirius asked, looking confused as he glanced at the newcomers, clearly not understanding what Selene meant.
"Never mind. That's why you're single," she replied, her tone teasing and almost disdainful.
Sirius bristled immediately.
"What did you say, bitch? If Edward weren't half blind, he wouldn't have even looked at you," he shot back without thinking.
"That's not true. My husband loves me madly," Selene replied with a smug look before turning toward Edward, who was focused on the schedule. "Right, dear?" she asked.
Edward lifted his head slightly before answering, without hesitation or delay.
"Yes."
Direct. Absolute. As if doubting that fact were simply impossible.
"Poor single dog," Selene said to Sirius, wearing an expression of exaggerated pity for his miserable life.
"You really are…" Sirius began, but before he could continue the argument, Harry turned around with a serious expression.
"Godfather, you're being loud. You're not letting anyone enjoy the match," he said, his tone dry and sharp.
"But the match hasn't even started yet," Sirius muttered, dejected.
"Hello, everyone. It seems we keep running into each other quite often, even if we're from different countries," Luciel said, approaching with his usual smile, the kind that could melt a thousand hearts.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised," Harry replied, then glanced at Fleur with a faintly mischievous smile, as if he were about to say something. "After all, aside from being a villain…"
"Ah!" Fleur suddenly let out a loud cry to drown out whatever Harry was about to say, instantly drawing everyone's attention in the box. "Ahem… this is my sister, Gabrielle. I may not have introduced her," she added quickly, trying to hide her embarrassment while shooting Harry an annoyed look.
Behind her, a tiny miniature version of Fleur clung to her skirt, hiding shyly. Gabrielle Delacour looked to be around eight years old.
"Hello," Gabrielle said, gently nudged forward by her sister.
"Hello," the younger ones replied, each in their own way. Calm, amused, dry, kind, adorable, or bored.
At that moment, Daphne began pulling out snacks she had smuggled in and started handing them out, especially to little Gabrielle, who looked absolutely adorable. While the adults talked among themselves, the younger ones were clearly enjoying the snacks.
As Harry sipped his juice, he felt Gabrielle's gaze fixed entirely on him.
"Are you a villain? Then are you going to kidnap my sister and make her your wife?" she asked suddenly.
Harry immediately spat out his drink. And not just him; several others did the same, laughing uncontrollably. After all, no one expected that kind of question from an eight year old.
Fleur froze completely in shock. Luciel covered his mouth to hide his laughter, though he only succeeded in making it more obvious how amusing he found the situation.
"Do I look like that kind of villain?" Harry tried to steer the conversation away.
"Yes," Gabrielle replied instantly.
"And aren't you scared that I might take you instead, since I'm a villain?" Harry tried again.
"No. Because I'm little," she said confidently. "My sister is big," she added.
"Yes, but she's bigger than me," Harry insisted, a third attempt.
"But only by a few years. Mama and Papa are ten years apart," Gabrielle answered calmly.
Everyone watched with amusement as Harry, who normally could bend conversations to his will, was utterly defeated by an eight year old girl.
"My cousin Lu already has a fiancée and they're going to get married. But Fleur is older and she doesn't even have a fiancé. If she doesn't get married, she'll be very sad in the future," Gabrielle said, her face turning slightly sorrowful at the thought of her sister being unhappy.
Harry glanced at Fleur with a teasing smile. She was still completely frozen.
"Oh really? She'll be lonely and sad if she doesn't find someone?" Harry said, deciding that if he was going to suffer, he might as well take someone down with him. "Then maybe I should kidnap her," he asked Gabrielle.
"Mmm… I think it would be better if she agrees. It's not good to do it against her will," Gabrielle replied, looking serious and genuinely concerned.
"Enough!" Fleur finally exclaimed before the situation escalated any further. Her face completely red, she grabbed her sister and covered her mouth. "Don't listen to her. She watches… too many novels with Mama," she said quickly. "Let's go sit over there," she added, pointing to some seats not too far away, but far enough to keep Harry at a safe distance.
"Huh? But I wanted to talk a bit more…" Luciel started, but Fleur's threatening glare silenced him instantly. With an amused smile, he waved goodbye to the group before following them to their seats.
Apolline, who had been watching everything from behind, maintained a faintly amused expression as she continued to look at Harry with clear interest, just like the other women present, who shot him playful, knowing looks. Looks that seemed to say: another one?
"Enough already. You're going to get me annoyed," Harry said, addressing his aunts and his mother.
"If you don't want them calling you a playboy, then you should stop acting like one whenever you get the chance," Daphne said in an amused tone.
Harry pulled an annoyed expression; he had no intention of acting like one, neither now nor in any of the previous situations. However, it seemed that saying anything would only make things worse, so he chose to stay silent.
Then the area seemed to fall into silence as Minister Fudge suddenly entered, accompanied by several high ranking political figures. In truth, the silence came more from the other families, who immediately stood up to greet him.
Even Percy Weasley made such an exaggerated bow that his glasses fell to the floor and shattered, only to be repaired moments later by himself, utterly embarrassed. He then sat back down, casting envious glances toward Harry and his group, as Fudge quickly approached them with a flattering expression. After all, he had lost many economic supporters when the evidence related to the Death Eaters surfaced, and many of those supporters had been tied to him, something that was already beginning to be publicly pointed out. Because of that, he was trying to clean up his image by currying favor with the neutral faction.
On top of that, things with Dumbledore had been truly tense ever since last year, when the man had dumped all the blame squarely on him.
Fudge also approached Harry, who looked at him coldly, as if he were observing a monkey wearing a bowler hat.
"You see, Harry Potter," Fudge said to the Bulgarian minister, as if Harry were something like his own nephew.
The Bulgarian minister wore a black velvet robe adorned with golden details, and judging by his expression, he did not seem to understand a single word Fudge was saying.
"It's Harry Potter, the boy who survived You Know Who. You have to know who he is," Fudge insisted.
The Bulgarian looked at Harry with confusion.
He then turned his gaze back to Fudge, who wore a tired expression, and instinctively looked toward Harry's forehead, searching for the scar he should recognize. However, it had disappeared long ago. Fudge let out a sigh, frustrated at being unable to inflate his ego by presenting the Boy Who Lived, and simply led the Bulgarian away with him.
But he was immediately stopped by a familiar voice.
"Oh, Fudge," someone said, drawing everyone's attention.
It was a well known figure, dressed in an elegant black robe made of fine fabric, perfectly tailored, and bearing that serpent tattoo on his neck that always caught the eye. Corvin Carrow, who appeared to be suffering not at all from the relentless investigation into his past that had been circulating in the news. At his side stood a short woman with heavy dark circles under her eyes and a face permanently marked by fear, trembling at every glance cast her way. Her hair was golden, streaked with a few visible strands of gray, and though she stood slightly hunched, her beauty was still evident.
"I don't know if you've met my wife, Silvina," Carrow said with a false smile, lightly pushing her back forward so she would greet the minister. "Ah, and our son, Luis," he added, pointing toward Luis, who had been sitting with the other Slytherins and now approached with his usual arrogant air.
"How are you?" Fudge greeted them politely, though the distance he kept was obvious; he did not want to be associated with Carrow while it was still under investigation whether he was a Death Eater or not.
For a brief moment, Corvin looked at Fudge with narrowed eyes, a hint of contempt slipping through, but he quickly returned to his fake smile.
Fudge did not even introduce the Bulgarian minister and hastily excused himself to continue on his way. That caused Corvin's expression to darken, visibly irritated.
Arthur, who had remained standing while greeting Fudge, also returned to his seat, completely ignoring Carrow.
But Corvin seemed to find an opportunity to lash out and spoke loudly and deliberately, looking toward Arthur and his entire family seated nearby.
"Good heavens, Arthur, what did you have to sell to afford these seats? It wasn't one of your children, was it? After all, you have plenty," Carrow said with mockery and disdain.
Arthur was filled with anger, but knowing it was neither the time nor the place to respond in such a crowd full of watching eyes, he closed his mouth.
Carrow, on the other hand, seemed to take that silence as a victory.
"Well, Carrow, I thought you'd be much busier trying to clean up your name instead of coming to watch a Quidditch match and harassing those who just want to enjoy the show. Although, to be honest, what can really be cleaned once something has already fallen into a full septic pit?" Sirius's voice suddenly cut in, dripping with mockery.
Carrow, who only then seemed to notice Sirius and the others, showed a flash of fury on his face. Fudge, who was not very far away, immediately turned his gaze in that direction.
That was enough to force Carrow to shut his mouth and walk off toward his seats along with his wife and son.
Arthur cast a grateful glance at Sirius, but Sirius simply ignored it; it was not that he was truly helping Arthur, but rather taking the chance to mock Corvin, since he could not do the same to Selene.
Then Ludo Bagman appeared, practically running with visible excitement, asking if everyone was ready and, most importantly, waiting for the minister's approval, which he promptly received to begin at once.
Ludo cleared his throat, raised his wand, and said:
"Sonorus."
His voice rose above the murmur of the crowd, echoing throughout the entire stadium.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Quidditch World Cup," he announced, as the spectators shouted and applauded, waving the flags of their countries.