The Wager

For the next stretch of the road, they saw two little witches, about Kevin's age, riding on a toy broom that could only rise to the height of a girl's toe, barely enough to skim over the dew-kissed grass.

A wizarding official had already spotted them. He hurried past Su Yu and Hermione, muttering irritably, "In broad daylight! Don't their parents care? Ugh!"

Every now and then, adult wizards could be seen emerging from their tents to begin preparing dinner.

Some wizards glanced around furtively, then cautiously tried to light a fire with their wands. Others tried with matches with skepticism, as if it were impossible. At that moment, a man in a black coat would appear, pull out a lighter, and say, "Hey bro, need a light? Muggle -only, no risk of being caught, just press a button, quick and easy. Special price today, only three Galleon! Two for only five Galleon!"

"Why are two only five Galleon! Give me two, I need six!"

Three Africa witches were having a serious conversation; they were all dressed in long white robes and roasting something that looked like a wild rabbit over a blazing purple fire.

Just then, a security guard who looked like a manager appeared. "Oh! You damned bunch! Eating protected animals? 100 Galleon fine, pay up now! You ask who I am? Look closely, I'm Captain Jia, the detective captain! No money?" Then he slapped him twice across the face. "No money? Use your daughter to pay off the debt! Ugh, I misspoke, I don't want your daughter, you lowly thing! Search her! These three are definitely spies!"

A group of middle-aged United States wizards sat chatting happily under a glittering sign that read Salem Witches' Institute.

Hermione heard them talking in a strange language inside. Although she couldn't understand it, the tone of each voice was very excited.

On the Ireland Team supporters' side, all the tents looked like they were covered with clover, and through the tents with open entrances, you could see smiling faces.

On the side of the Bulgaria Team supporters, the red, green, and white Bulgaria flag fluttered in the wind.

Instead of being decorated with plants, each tent was covered with the same poster: one featuring an arrogant face with dark black eyebrows. The poster kept moving, but the face in the picture kept blinking and frowning.

"Is this Krum?" Daphne muttered to herself.

"What did you say?" Hermione asked.

"Krum," Ka-jie explained, "This is Viktor Krum, the Bulgaria Seeker."

"He looks really rude," Hermione said, watching the countless Krum around them winking and frowning.

Two men were arguing heatedly not far ahead. Su Yu hurried over and saw that one of them was quite old, wearing a long floral print nightgown, while the other was a wizard staff member who was holding a pair of pinstripe pants and was almost crying with anger and grievance.

"Please, put it on, Archie. You're a good man, right? You can't walk around like this. That Muggle at the gate has been suspicious of you for a while now..."

"I bought this dress at Muggle shop," the old wizard insisted. "Muggle wear these too! I don't!"

"Muggle women wear that, but Archie, you're a man! Muggle men don't wear skirts... Muggle men should wear these." The wizard staff member said, waving the pinstripe trousers.

"I won't wear it," old Archie said angrily. "I love the cool breeze! I love it even more when it blows across my backside. You're just jealous of my skirt!"

Hermione and the other girls almost burst out laughing when they heard this. They helped Su Yu laugh for a long time before they could stand up straight.

Gradually, various food stalls began to appear from the sky, all bearing the Fuli family's logo. The crowd grew even more lively, and Su Yu and his companions returned to their lodgings to prepare for dinner.

As soon as they arrived at the door, they saw Mr. Weasley squatting on the ground by the door, with matches scattered all around him. Su Yu went up to him curiously and asked what they were doing.

"Dad's having a great time playing with matches!" Fred was clearly excited too.

"We suggested he play with lighters, but he refused. And that damn lighter dealer! He dared to charge three Galleon for a lighter!" George kept pressing the lighter switch beside him.

Clearly, no matter how hard Mr. Weasley tried, he couldn't light the match.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, as he finally struck a match and dropped it in surprise.

"Watch me, Mr. Weasley," Hermione said gently, taking the box and beginning to teach him the correct way to do things.

The group simply lit a fire outside, chatted, and waited for dinner to begin.

A moment later, a laughing man walked over. "Haha!" Mr. Weasley quickly stood up and explained to his sons, "He's the hottest guy today! Ludo!"

Ludo Bagman wore a Quidditch Games robe with bright yellow and black horizontal stripes and a huge wasp pattern on his chest.

He had the physique of a strong man, and because of his large belly, his robes looked a bit tight; it seemed he hadn't worn them since he stopped Quidditch for England.

"Ah, here!" Bagman exclaimed excitedly, walking with the gait of a spring, full of joy.

After Bagman politely greeted Su Yu, he then faced Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur, old man," he said, coming to the campfire, slightly out of breath after a few steps, "What a wonderful day, oh? What a wonderful night! There couldn't be better weather, a cloudless night is coming... the whole organization is completely unobstructed, I have nothing to do!"

Behind him, a group of haggard wizard officials hurried past, running toward a twenty-foot-tall magical campfire Kakkō in the distance.

"Aren't you going to predict the outcome of the match, Arthur?" Bagman chuckled awkwardly, hastily changing the subject, his clothes jingling as if his yellow and black robe pockets were overflowing with gold. "I already bet Roddy Ponte that Bulgaria would score first, and I gave him very high odds, considering Ireland's number three striker is the best I've seen in years. And then there's Agatha Tims, who staked half her Eel Farm stock on the match lasting a week!"

"Oh, we'll see!" Mr. Weasley said excitedly. "I'll bet a Galleon on Ireland to win, okay?"

"A Galleon?" Ludo Bagman looked a little disappointed, but quickly recovered. "Very good, very good... Anyone else want to join a thrilling bet?"

"They're too young to gamble," Mr. Weasley said. "Molly wouldn't like it—"

"We're going to put up thirty-seven Galleon, fifteen Sickle, and three Knut," Fred said, counting his small sum with George. "We're betting on Ireland to win, but Viktor Krum will get the Golden Snitch. Oh, and we also have a fake wand; shall we bet on that too?"

"Don't show that junk to Mr. Bagman— " Percy said in a low voice, but Mr. Bagman didn't think the fake wand was junk at all. On the contrary, when he saw the wand from Fred, his childlike face lit up with excitement, and when the fake wand popped and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman squealed with delight.