In the days after the Quidditch World Cup, the Wizarding World in the United Kingdom was practically turned upside down.
Everyone was frantically discussing the Dark Mark that had appeared beside the World Cup campsite, and newspapers large and small ran report after report. In truth, though, there was not much they could report.
That was because they actually knew nothing-not just the newspapers, but the Ministry of Magic too.
A house-elf had cast a Dark Mark using a wand whose owner remained unknown. No one would believe that story. Not to mention that Mr. Diggory had openly admitted that Winky had been unconscious when he found her.
Yet even though the newspapers kept repeating the same stock phrases, or printing the baseless speculation, conjecture, and guesswork of so-called commentators, interest in the incident remained sky-high. In the United Kingdom, at least, it had already overshadowed Ireland winning the Quidditch World Cup final.
"I thought Ireland would get to bask in the glory for a while, at least. Turns out they didn't even last the night," Ron said, somewhat amused.
He had originally followed the crowd in supporting Ireland, but after being dazzled by Krum's performance (Harry: actually, by the Veela), he had switched to supporting Bulgaria.
He even had plans to move to Bulgaria. Harry suspected that might have something to do with something else Bill had told him.
While in Egypt, Bill had met wizards who had come over from Northern Europe and had Veela ancestry. Every one of them was very beautiful.
Wizards!
With Veela ancestry!
That was something worth giving some serious thought!
Since he supported Bulgaria, Ron, who had never liked Ireland much to begin with, took a certain amount of pleasure in Ireland's championship celebrations being interrupted by the Dark Mark incident.
Yes, Ron