Veela and Gold Coins

As Ludo Bagman's voice echoed to every corner of the stands, the audience erupted in loud cheers and applause, with thousands of flags waving simultaneously, creating a spectacular scene.

Kyle ignored Ludo Bagman's predictable opening remarks and glanced again in the direction of the House-elf, Winky.

The entire private room was now full, except for the seat next to her... It was indeed an empty seat; he had already verified that.

Could it be that Winky really helped Barty Crouch claim this?

But if that's the case, the competition has already started, where are the others?

Reserved a seat but didn't show up—that's not in Barty Crouch's character... or rather, reserving a seat is simply not something he would do.

"Oh!"

A deafening cheer suddenly erupted from the right side of the stands, and everyone craned their necks to look up at the sky above the stands.

Kyle also looked away.

"Please allow me to introduce... the mascot of the Bulgarian National Team!"

As Ludo's voice rang out, Mr. Weasley leaned curiously out of his seat. "I wonder what they brought... Ah... Veela!"

"What is allure...?"

Before Harry could ask, a hundred Veela had already slid onto the field.

After Harry saw what they looked like, he was speechless.

They were so beautiful, their skin glowing with a simple, soft light like moonlight, and their long hair swaying behind them even without wind... Harry's eyes gradually became dreamy.

He had originally wanted to restrain himself and try to maintain a mature demeanor in front of Qiu, but he had completely forgotten that now.

Especially when the music started and the Veela began to dance, his mind went completely blank.

The Veela's dance grew faster and faster, and in full view of everyone, Harry suddenly stood up, straddling the partition wall of the box, as if he wanted to jump off.

Hermione finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"Harry, what are you doing!" she shouted.

At that moment, the music stopped.

The sound of girls' laughter came from behind him, and Harry snapped out of his daze. He looked at his leg that had stepped over the wall and finally realized what he had done.

The laughter was like Killing Curse, lashing at him again and again. An unprecedented sense of shame instantly overwhelmed Harry, his face turning bright red, and he wished he could jump out of the room.

Hermione smacked her lips loudly, but didn't say anything sarcastic.

Because everyone else around them was behaving similarly.

Ron, standing next to him, stretched out his arms as if diving... Fred and George embraced each other, as if they were dancing some kind of duet.

Cedric fared slightly better, but he still struck a rather affected pose... seemingly showing off his muscles.

Qiu gave a cold laugh and turned her head away, refusing to look at him.

Cedric's face was as white as the wall plaster next to him, devoid of any color.

As for Kyle, he too stared at the Veela with gleaming eyes.

Hermione clicked her tongue again, feeling utterly disappointed... She had thought Kyle would be different, like Mr. Weasley, Charlie, and Bill, who were completely unaffected.

Only Kanna glanced at Kyle suspiciously. If she remembered correctly, Kyle's eyes were exactly the same as when he first saw Norbert the little Dragon.

The same thing happened when we went to the Forbidden Forest to see the Mooncalf.

As the music stopped and the Veela left, the stadium filled with the angry roars of the crowd. Mr. Weasley pulled Harry back to his seat, where he tried to curl up into a ball and make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

Malfoy's mocking laughter echoed behind him, but Harry didn't care anymore. He only noticed the look of disappointment on Cho's face.

Is it disappointment in myself?

Harry didn't know, but if he could, he really wished he were in the stands below, so at least he wouldn't be so embarrassed.

However, Ron, Fred, and George, who were standing nearby, were different. They joined the others in making a fuss, hoping that Veela would stay.

"There's another match later," Mr. Weasley patted them on the shoulder. "This is much better than the Veela."

"Hmm?" Ron snorted dismissively, still staring at the Veela, who were now lined up on one side of the arena.

"Now!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed like a bell, "Raise your wands into the air... Welcome the Irish National Quidditch Team's mascot!"

Then, with a whoosh, something resembling Comet flew into the stadium. It circled the field once, then suddenly dispersed, forming a huge, dazzling clover that soared high into the air.

The crowd erupted in exclamations of "Wow!"

Something started falling from above with a pattering sound, like golden raindrops...

"Fantastic!" Ron forgot about Veela in an instant, excitedly taking off his hat to catch the falling gold coins.

Kyle looked up at the "clover," which was made up of countless little figures wearing red vests and with mustaches, each carrying a gold or green lantern.

They are Leprechaun, about the same size as Cornish Pixies, but much more intelligent, and are unique to Ireland.

And thankfully it was them...

Kyle watched the gold coins fall continuously, thinking that if it were any other mascot, it might not be able to overshadow Veela.

Inside the stadium, people no longer shouted for the Veela to return; they cheered while still scrambling and grabbing at the coins, or crawling under their seats to collect them.

"Is this for real?" Kanna caught a falling gold coin and couldn't help but ask.

"Of course not, the Ireland team isn't stupid," Kyle said with a laugh. "These are Leprechaun gold; they'll disappear in a few hours."

"So it's useless then?" Kanna asked.

"You can't say that, at least the visual effects are fantastic... You can't see a rain of gold coins anywhere else," Kyle said.

He moved his wand and collected all the gold coins around him, intending to give them to Niffler as toys later.

A few minutes later, the giant clover disappeared, Leprechaun landed opposite the Veela, sat cross-legged, and prepared to watch the match.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen... please give a warm welcome to the Bulgaria Quidditch national team, and I'd like to introduce... Dimitrov!"

A figure dressed in red flew into the arena from the entrance. He flew so fast that Harry had to slow down the Omnioculars by three times to make out his appearance.

"Ivano..."

A second red figure flew out, followed by a third...

Bagman shouted out the name of every player, and the applause from the stands never stopped.

"Next, and last to appear, is... Krum!"

The stands erupted like a bomb, with deafening cheers that made everyone's ears ring. Even many Ireland supporters were screaming.

Kyle looked over as well.

Viktor Krum was dark-skinned and thin, with a large hooked nose and thick, dark eyebrows, making him look like an eagle.

Moreover, he always had a gloomy face, which made him look like he was thirty years old, not a student who hadn't graduated yet.

Next up were the members of the Ireland Quidditch national team, who also received enthusiastic applause. While Chaser Moran's cheers weren't as loud as Krum's, they weren't far behind.

The two teams flew through the sky on broomsticks, eyeing each other menacingly.