"Wow, I was wondering where the Tournament Committee had found such a huge spider. I never imagined it was a Boggart. Champion Weasley handled that brilliantly-a very clever approach. It seems Hogwarts provides excellent instruction in this area.
"Now, may I ask my two colleagues from the Tournament Committee how many magical creatures like this you've placed in the maze?" Bagman was delighted as he watched Ron turn the enormous spider into an Octopus Balloon and burst into laughter.
As a gambler who had wagered a large sum on Ron and Harry, Bagman naturally hoped very much that they would perform well.
Today, Bagman also had two members of the Tournament Committee beside him. They were there to ensure the final event ran smoothly and to help with the commentary along the way.
After all, today's event featured so many elaborate tricks that someone of Bagman's caliber probably really could not explain them properly.
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Magic was counting on this tournament to make a good impression. They could not let Bagman embarrass them, so they had found him two staff members responsible for the final event to provide technical support.
Bagman welcomed this, too. After all, the Ministry's concerns were entirely real. Having devoted most of his energy in his youth to Quidditch training, he was pretty hopeless in other areas.
The two Tournament Committee staff members knew the situation inside the maze very well and immediately supplied an accurate figure. "There are nine Boggarts. With luck, half the champions should encounter one."
"If you ask me, Boggarts are quite difficult to deal with, especially when you don't know they're Boggarts," Bagman said.
Quite a few wizards in the stands looked approving.
Even adult wizards could not necessarily handle Boggarts well. Of course, some wizards thought