As the game-over sound effect rang out, the screen finally froze on the Hufflepuff still standing in place.
Sains had won.
Draco stood below the stage, sharing in the glory, and collected his betting winnings from Quirrell.
Lucille was a competitor with excellent sportsmanship. Not only did she congratulate Sains, she also said that the best-of-one format had let her scrape past several opponents thanks to an information advantage, and she offered her highest respect to every contestant.
It was a perfect speech. Lorne almost wondered whether she was a plant he had hired himself.
But decent wizards in the Wizarding World generally had high standards of conduct. Not one of the spectators below the stage resented Lucille for losing them money. Instead, after comforting her, they began roaring Sains's name.
Taking advantage of everyone's excitement, Lorne used the Levitation Charm to bring out the special-edition Magic Mobile Phone he had prepared long ago.
The eagerly awaited special-edition Magic Mobile Phone slowly descended from midair like a true gift from the gods.
Lorne had painted the entire Magic Mobile Phone using Moonlight Grass and expensive pigments. All eight characters from Street Wizard Fighter appeared on it in vivid detail. A huge golden S1 trophy was painted in the center of the back, and Lorne had deliberately left plenty of blank space in the middle of the trophy.
A quill descended after it, and both floated into the hands of Sains, who was surrounded by the crowd.
Lorne watched. Draco watched. The crowd watched.
Sains picked up the quill and solemnly signed his name on the painted trophy.
The lettering flowed freely. Sains had never felt that his name looked so graceful.
After a silence spent holding their breath in concentration, the crowd erupted into cheers again. They congratulated Sains on being crowned champion and lavished praise on the special-edition Magic Mobile Phone Lorne had produced.
"This is simply a work of art!"
"If Magic Mobile Phones take off in the future, this will definitely be the crown jewel of a museum's collection."
Draco smiled too. What an extraordinary journey it had been. It had been ages since he had felt his blood race like this.
The first-year Quidditch matches? He had not participated, and they certainly would not have been like today's match, with someone using his finishing move to bring the competition to a perfect close.
He cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a cheer like a caveman.
This was no breach of the Malfoy family's etiquette.
His father had done the same thing when his favorite Quidditch team won the championship.
The other contestants who had placed went up onstage one by one to collect their prizes, though compared with Sains's grand championship prize, their Magic Mobile Phone discount vouchers were little more than a sideshow.
With a tearful victory speech from Sains, the tournament finally came to a perfect end.
The first person Sains sought out after leaving the stage was Draco.
Draco had regained his haughty, untamed air, but his eyes were still shining. "You didn't have to mention me in your victory speech. Anyone could pull off that combo."
Sains understood Draco's excessive modesty. "All right, even if ten thousand people could pull it off, you were still the first to do it. I'm planning to call it the 'Draco Slytherin Combo.' What do you think?"
Draco was a little dazed. Draco? This was the first time someone had used his given name rather than his surname for publicity.
Crabbe provided a perfectly timed assist from the side. "Your servant is outside looking everywhere for 'Young Master Malfoy' again."
Draco gave Sains a light chuckle. "Suit yourself."
Before leaving, Draco did not suggest buying Sains's Magic Mobile Phone. For one thing, he felt that with Sains's name written on it, Sains would not sell it, and even if he bought it, he would not dare bring it out. For another, he felt that doing so between friends would be rather impolite.
He could simply borrow it to play with. He imagined Sains would not refuse.
In the carriage on the way back, Goyle could not help speaking up. "If only he were a Slytherin graduate. Then we could go to his house to play on the Magic Mobile Phone under the pretext of paying him a visit."
Draco sat in the seat of honor with his eyes closed, resting, but a voice was clamoring in his heart.
It didn't matter.
Who cared whether he was a Slytherin? It didn't matter. So what if he was a Hufflepuff? His own second house was Gryffindor, after all.
After all the emotional ups and downs, a mess was left scattered across the floor.
It was not rubbish. There might be an accessory knocked off someone's shoe by an accidental step in the packed crowd, or a handkerchief that had fallen out of someone's pocket while they were taking out Galleons to place a bet.
Quirrell was just about to gather these things up for their owners to claim when he saw an official in the Ministry of Magic's classic suit push open the door.
"Wow, a glass revolving door." The official took off his hat. "I've seen these in the Muggle world. Quite an innovative idea, really."
Lorne came downstairs. It was nearly closing time, and he and Quirrell were exhausted today. They had deliberately cleared the shop early to make tidying and cleaning easier, so he had not expected another visitor.
"Allow me to introduce myself. Arthur Weasley, from the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. I'm here for a routine inspection to check whether this new shop is in violation of the Prohibition on Enchanting Muggle Artefacts Act."
Hearing the surname, Lorne understood. This was Ron's father, the head of the Weasley family.
Lorne politely invited him upstairs and only began introducing himself after pouring him a full cup of tea.
"My name is Lorne Miles. You could say I'm in charge of this shop."
"Lorne?" Mr. Weasley smiled softly. "I'm not trying to claim familiarity, Mr. Myles, but I have a son named Ronald, and when we call him, we use the same name as yours."
Lorne: "..."
One was Ron, the other Lorn. He really was starting to wonder whether there was something wrong with his pronunciation.
And this Mr. Weasley's tact... Hopefully, that had only been a joke.
Arthur caught on too. "I didn't mean anything else by it. I just thought it was quite a coincidence."
"It's all right. Speaking of which, I know Ron too. I serve as the director of the General Affairs Office at Hogwarts."
Arthur's eyes suddenly lit up. "I often hear my sons discussing their school's director at the dinner table. I never imagined it was you. Please forgive my rudeness just now. I came to investigate whether the goods being sold were merely Muggle items with curses placed on them. It seems there's no need to investigate after all."
Lorne had not expected his Hogwarts title to be so useful, but he still followed proper procedure.
"Go ahead and check. We can't have you making the trip for nothing."
Arthur had actually heard of Magic Mobile Phones long ago. He himself felt bad about conducting these unprovoked inspections of products. It always felt a little like using his official position to falsely accuse innocent people.
So they had gradually developed a habit: if there was nothing wrong with a product, they would buy one to take home as an apology to the owner.
"There's nothing wrong with it," Arthur said after studying the little Magic Mobile Phone for a long while. "It's incomparably ingenious."
But it was precisely that ingenuity that brought a fine sheen of sweat to Arthur's forehead.
Something this ingenious... He felt he could not afford it.
Still, Arthur spoke. "I'm very sorry for doubting your merchandise. I deliberately chose a time when no one was here, and I hope I haven't affected your business."
"As an apology, I'd like to buy one. May I ask how the Magic Mobile Phones are priced?"
"They aren't available for sale yet."
"What a shame." Arthur felt a wave of relief.
Lorne really wanted to remind Arthur that the relief on his face was very obvious.
But this had indeed reminded him of something.
How should he price the Magic Mobile Phone?