TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT 7 страница

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and had to dash away again. . . bless them, ” he added fondly, lead- ing the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already sur- rounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.

“Prime seats! ” said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. “Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go. ”

The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. They clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. Mr. Weasley’s party kept climbing, and at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, set at the high- est point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Harry, filing into the front seats with the Weasleys, looked down upon a scene the likes of which he could never have imagined.

A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at Harry’s eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant’s hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it, Harry saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field.

The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family — safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burglar Buzzer. . . Mrs.

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Skower’s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain! . . . Gladrags Wizardwear — London, Paris, Hogsmeade. . .

Harry tore his eyes away from the sign and looked over his shoulder to see who else was sharing the box with them. So far it was empty, except for a tiny creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind them. The creature, whose legs were so short they stuck out in front of it on the chair, was wearing a tea towel draped like a toga, and it had its face hidden in its hands. Yet those long, batlike ears were oddly familiar. . . .

“ Dobby? ” said Harry incredulously.

The tiny creature looked up and stretched its fingers, revealing enormous brown eyes and a nose the exact size and shape of a large tomato. It wasn’t Dobby — it was, however, unmistakably a house- elf, as Harry’s friend Dobby had been. Harry had set Dobby free from his old owners, the Malfoy family.

“Did sir just call me Dobby? ” squeaked the elf curiously from between its fingers. Its voice was higher even than Dobby’s had been, a teeny, quivering squeak of a voice, and Harry suspected — though it was very hard to tell with a house-elf — that this one might just be female. Ron and Hermione spun around in their seats to look. Though they had heard a lot about Dobby from Harry, they had never actually met him. Even Mr. Weasley looked around in interest.

“Sorry, ” Harry told the elf, “I just thought you were someone I knew. ”

“But I knows Dobby too, sir! ” squeaked the elf. She was shield- ing her face, as though blinded by light, though the Top Box was

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not brightly lit. “My name is Winky, sir — and you, sir —” Her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon Harry’s scar. “You is surely Harry Potter! ”

“Yeah, I am, ” said Harry.

“But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir! ” she said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck.

“How is he? ” said Harry. “How’s freedom suiting him? ” “Ah, sir, ” said Winky, shaking her head, “ah sir, meaning no dis- respect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favor, sir, when you is setting him free. ”

“Why? ” said Harry, taken aback. “What’s wrong with him? ” “Freedom is going to Dobby’s head, sir, ” said Winky sadly. “Ideas above his station, sir. Can’t get another position, sir. ” “Why not? ” said Harry.

Winky lowered her voice by a half-octave and whispered, “ He is

wanting paying for his work, sir. ”

“Paying? ” said Harry blankly. “Well — why shouldn’t he be paid? ”

Winky looked quite horrified at the idea and closed her fingers slightly so that her face was half-hidden again.

“House-elves is not paid, sir! ” she said in a muffled squeak. “No, no, no. I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir, what is unbecoming to a house-elf. You goes racketing around like this, Dobby, I says, and next thing I hear you’s up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, like some common goblin. ”

“Well, it’s about time he had a bit of fun, ” said Harry. “House-elves is not supposed to have fun, Harry Potter, ” said

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Winky firmly, from behind her hands. “House-elves does what they is told. I is not liking heights at all, Harry Potter” — she glanced toward the edge of the box and gulped — “but my master sends me to the Top Box and I comes, sir. ”

“Why’s he sent you up here, if he knows you don’t like heights? ” said Harry, frowning.

“Master — master wants me to save him a seat, Harry Potter. He is very busy, ” said Winky, tilting her head toward the empty space beside her. “Winky is wishing she is back in master’s tent, Harry Potter, but Winky does what she is told. Winky is a good house-elf. ”

She gave the edge of the box another frightened look and hid her eyes completely again. Harry turned back to the others.

“So that’s a house-elf? ” Ron muttered. “Weird things, aren’t they? ”

“Dobby was weirder, ” said Harry fervently.

Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started testing them, star- ing down into the crowd on the other side of the stadium. “Wild! ” he said, twiddling the replay knob on the side. “I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again. . . and again. . . and again. . . ”

Hermione, meanwhile, was skimming eagerly through her velvet- covered, tasseled program.

“‘A display from the team mascots will precede the match, ’” she read aloud.

“Oh that’s always worth watching, ” said Mr. Weasley. “National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show. ”

The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour.

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Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. When Cor- nelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, arrived, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend. They had met before, and Fudge shook Harry’s hand in a fatherly fashion, asked how he was, and intro- duced him to the wizards on either side of him.

“Harry Potter, you know, ” he told the Bulgarian minister loudly, who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold

and didn’t seem to understand a word of English. “ Harry Potter. . .

oh come on now, you know who he is. . . the boy who survived

You-Know-Who. . . you do know who he is —”

The Bulgarian wizard suddenly spotted Harry’s scar and started gabbling loudly and excitedly, pointing at it.

“Knew we’d get there in the end, ” said Fudge wearily to Harry. “I’m no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house-elf’s saving him a seat. . . . Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places. . . ah, and here’s Lucius! ”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned quickly. Edging along the second row to three still-empty seats right behind Mr. Weasley were none other than Dobby the house-elf’s former owners: Lucius Malfoy; his son, Draco; and a woman Harry supposed must be Draco’s mother.

Harry and Draco Malfoy had been enemies ever since their very first journey to Hogwarts. A pale boy with a pointed face and

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white-blond hair, Draco greatly resembled his father. His mother was blonde too; tall and slim, she would have been nice-looking if she hadn’t been wearing a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose.

“Ah, Fudge, ” said Mr. Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic. “How are you? I don’t think you’ve met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco? ”

“How do you do, how do you do? ” said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. “And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk — Obalonsk — Mr. — well, he’s the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can’t understand a word I’m saying anyway, so never mind. And let’s see who else — you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay? ”

It was a tense moment. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy looked at each other and Harry vividly recalled the last time they had come face-to-face: It had been in Flourish and Blotts’ bookshop, and they had had a fight. Mr. Malfoy’s cold gray eyes swept over Mr. Weasley, and then up and down the row.

“Good lord, Arthur, ” he said softly. “What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn’t have fetched this much? ”

Fudge, who wasn’t listening, said, “Lucius has just given a very

generous contribution to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Mal- adies and Injuries, Arthur. He’s here as my guest. ”

“How — how nice, ” said Mr. Weasley, with a very strained smile.

Mr. Malfoy’s eyes had returned to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. Harry knew exactly what was making Mr. Malfoy’s lip curl like that. The Malfoys

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prided themselves on being purebloods; in other words, they con- sidered anyone of Muggle descent, like Hermione, second-class. However, under the gaze of the Minister of Magic, Mr. Malfoy did- n’t dare say anything. He nodded sneeringly to Mr. Weasley and continued down the line to his seats. Draco shot Harry, Ron, and Hermione one contemptuous look, then settled himself between his mother and father.

“Slimy gits, ” Ron muttered as he, Harry, and Hermione turned to face the field again. Next moment, Ludo Bagman charged into the box.

“Everyone ready? ” he said, his round face gleaming like a great, excited Edam. “Minister — ready to go? ”

“Ready when you are, Ludo, ” said Fudge comfortably. Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and

said “ Sonorus! ” and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now

filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.

“Ladies and gentlemen. . . welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup! ” The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message

( Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans — A Risk With

Every Mouthful! ) and now showed BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.

“And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce. . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots! ”

The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

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“I wonder what they’ve brought, ” said Mr. Weasley, leaning for- ward in his seat. “Aaah! ” He suddenly whipped off his glasses and

polished them hurriedly on his robes. “ Veela! ”

“What are veel —? ”

But a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and Harry’s question was answered for him. Veela were women. . . the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen. . . except that they weren’t — they couldn’t be — human. This puzzled Harry for a moment while he tried to guess what exactly they could be; what could make their skin shine moon-bright like that, or their white- gold hair fan out behind them without wind. . . but then the mu- sic started, and Harry stopped worrying about them not being human — in fact, he stopped worrying about anything at all.

The veela had started to dance, and Harry’s mind had gone com- pletely and blissfully blank. All that mattered in the world was that he kept watching the veela, because if they stopped dancing, terri- ble things would happen. . . .

And as the veela danced faster and faster, wild, half-formed thoughts started chasing through Harry’s dazed mind. He wanted to do something very impressive, right now. Jumping from the box into the stadium seemed a good idea. . . but would it be good enough?

“Harry, what are you doing? ” said Hermione’s voice from a long

way off.

The music stopped. Harry blinked. He was standing up, and one of his legs was resting on the wall of the box. Next to him, Ron was frozen in an attitude that looked as though he were about to dive from a springboard.

Angry yells were filling the stadium. The crowd didn’t want the

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veela to go. Harry was with them; he would, of course, be sup- porting Bulgaria, and he wondered vaguely why he had a large green shamrock pinned to his chest. Ron, meanwhile, was absent- mindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat. Mr. Weasley, smil- ing slightly, leaned over to Ron and tugged the hat out of his hands.

“You’ll be wanting that, ” he said, “once Ireland have had their say.

“Huh? ” said Ron, staring openmouthed at the veela, who had now lined up along one side of the field.

Hermione made a loud tutting noise. She reached up and pulled

Harry back into his seat. “ Honestly! ” she said.

“And now, ” roared Ludo Bagman’s voice, “kindly put your wands in the air. . . for the Irish National Team Mascots! ”

Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd oooohed and aaaaahed, as though at a fireworks display. Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light re- united and merged; they had formed a great shimmering sham- rock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it — “Excellent! ” yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. Squinting up at the shamrock, Harry realized that it was actually comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.

“Leprechauns! ” said Mr. Weasley over the tumultuous applause

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of the crowd, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.

“There you go, ” Ron yelled happily, stuffing a fistful of gold coins into Harry’s hand, “for the Omnioculars! Now you’ve got to buy me a Christmas present, ha! ”

The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome — the Bulgar- ian National Quidditch Team! I give you — Dimitrov! ”

A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

“Ivanova! ”

A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.

“Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand — Krum! ”

“That’s him, that’s him! ” yelled Ron, following Krum with his Omnioculars. Harry quickly focused his own.

Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an over- grown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen. “And now, please greet — the Irish National Quidditch Team! ” yelled Bagman. “Presenting — Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet!

Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand — Lynch! ”

Seven green blurs swept onto the field; Harry spun a small dial on the side of his Omnioculars and slowed the players down enough to read the word “Firebolt” on each of their brooms and see their names, embroidered in silver, upon their backs.

“And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed

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Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa! ”

A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a mustache to rival Uncle Vernon’s, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under the mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. Harry spun the speed dial on his Omnioculars back to normal, watching closely as Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open — four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and (Harry saw it for the briefest moment, before it sped out of sight) the minuscule, winged Golden Snitch. With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls. “Theeeeeeeey’re OFF! ” screamed Bagman. “And it’s Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran! ” It was Quidditch as Harry had never seen it played before. He was pressing his Omnioculars so hard to his glasses that they were cutting into the bridge of his nose. The speed of the players was in- credible — the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to one another so fast that Bagman only had time to say their names. Harry spun the slow dial on the right of his Omnioculars again, pressed the play-by-play button on the top, and he was immediately watching in slow motion, while glittering purple lettering flashed across the lenses and the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums.

H AWKSHEAD A TTACKING F ORMATION, he read as he watched the

three Irish Chasers zoom closely together, Troy in the center, slightly ahead of Mullet and Moran, bearing down upon the Bul-

garians. P ORSKOFF P LOY flashed up next, as Troy made as though to

dart upward with the Quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian Chaser

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Ivanova and dropping the Quaffle to Moran. One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, swung hard at a passing Bludger with his small club, knocking it into Moran’s path; Moran ducked to avoid the Bludger and dropped the Quaffle; and Levski, soaring beneath, caught it —

“TROY SCORES! ” roared Bagman, and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. “Ten zero to Ireland! ” “What? ” Harry yelled, looking wildly around through his Om- nioculars. “But Levski’s got the Quaffle! ”

“Harry, if you’re not going to watch at normal speed, you’re go- ing to miss things! ” shouted Hermione, who was dancing up and down, waving her arms in the air while Troy did a lap of honor around the field. Harry looked quickly over the top of his Omni- oculars and saw that the leprechauns watching from the sidelines had all risen into the air again and formed the great, glittering shamrock. Across the field, the veela were watching them sulkily. Furious with himself, Harry spun his speed dial back to normal as play resumed.

Harry knew enough about Quidditch to see that the Irish Chasers were superb. They worked as a seamless team, their move- ments so well coordinated that they appeared to be reading one another’s minds as they positioned themselves, and the rosette

on Harry’s chest kept squeaking their names: “ Troy — Mullet —

Moran! ” And within ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more,

bringing their lead to thirty-zero and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters.

The match became still faster, but more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chasers, and were starting to prevent

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them from using some of their best moves; twice they were forced to scatter, and then, finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks; dodge the Keeper, Ryan; and score Bulgaria’s first goal. “Fingers in your ears! ” bellowed Mr. Weasley as the veela started

to dance in celebration. Harry screwed up his eyes too; he wanted to keep his mind on the game. After a few seconds, he chanced a glance at the field. The veela had stopped dancing, and Bulgaria was again in possession of the Quaffle.

“Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova — oh I say! ” roared Bagman.

One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from airplanes without parachutes. Harry followed their descent through his Om- nioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was —

“They’re going to crash! ” screamed Hermione next to Harry. She was half right — at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the sta- dium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats.

“Fool! ” moaned Mr. Weasley. “Krum was feinting! ” “It’s time-out! ” yelled Bagman’s voice, “as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch! ”

“He’ll be okay, he only got ploughed! ” Charlie said reassuringly to Ginny, who was hanging over the side of the box, looking horror-struck. “Which is what Krum was after, of course. . . . ” Harry hastily pressed the replay and play-by-play buttons on his Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to his eyes.

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He watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion.

W RONSKI D EFENSIVE F EINT — DANGEROUS S EEKER DIVERSION read

the shining purple lettering across his lenses. He saw Krum’s face contorted with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and he understood — Krum hadn’t seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him. Harry had never seen anyone fly like that; Krum hardly looked as though he was using a broomstick at all; he moved so easily through the air that he looked unsupported and weightless. Harry turned his Omnioculars back to normal and focused them on Krum. He was now circling high above Lynch, who was being re- vived by mediwizards with cups of potion. Harry, focusing still more closely upon Krum’s face, saw his dark eyes darting all over the ground a hundred feet below. He was using the time while Lynch was revived to look for the Snitch without interference. Lynch got to his feet at last, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters, mounted his Firebolt, and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to give Ireland new heart. When Mostafa blew his whistle again, the Chasers moved into action with a skill unri- valed by anything Harry had seen so far.

After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and the game was starting to get dirtier.

As Mullet shot toward the goal posts yet again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. Whatever happened was over so quickly Harry didn’t catch it, but a scream of rage from the Irish crowd, and Mostafa’s long, shrill whistle blast, told him it had been a foul. “And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing —

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excessive use of elbows! ” Bagman informed the roaring spectators. “And — yes, it’s a penalty to Ireland! ”

The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled, now darted to- gether to form the words “HA, HA, HA! ” The veela on the other side of the field leapt to their feet, tossed their hair angrily, and started to dance again.

As one, the Weasley boys and Harry stuffed their fingers into their ears, but Hermione, who hadn’t bothered, was soon tugging on Harry’s arm. He turned to look at her, and she pulled his fingers impatiently out of his ears.

“Look at the referee! ” she said, giggling.

Harry looked down at the field. Hassan Mostafa had landed right in front of the dancing veela, and was acting very oddly indeed. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache excitedly. “Now, we can’t have that! ” said Ludo Bagman, though he sounded highly amused. “Somebody slap the referee! ”

A mediwizard came tearing across the field, his fingers stuffed into his own ears, and kicked Mostafa hard in the shins. Mostafa seemed to come to himself; Harry, watching through the Om- nioculars again, saw that he looked exceptionally embarrassed and had started shouting at the veela, who had stopped dancing and were looking mutinous.

“And unless I’m much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots! ” said Bagman’s voice.

“Now there’s something we haven’t seen before. . . . Oh this could

turn nasty. . . . ”

It did: The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing furiously with him,

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gesticulating toward the leprechauns, who had now gleefully formed the words “HEE, HEE, HEE. ” Mostafa was not impressed by the Bulgarians’ arguments, however; he was jabbing his finger into the air, clearly telling them to get flying again, and when they refused, he gave two short blasts on his whistle.

“ Two penalties for Ireland! ” shouted Bagman, and the Bulgarian

crowd howled with anger. “And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms. . . yes. . . there they go. . . and Troy takes the Quaffle. . . ”

Play now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything they had yet seen. The Beaters on both sides were acting without mercy: Volkov and Vulchanov in particular seemed not to care whether their clubs made contact with Bludger or human as they swung them violently through the air. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.

“ Foul! ” roared the Irish supporters as one, all standing up in a

great wave of green.

“Foul! ” echoed Ludo Bagman’s magically magnified voice. “Dimitrov skins Moran — deliberately flying to collide there — and it’s got to be another penalty — yes, there’s the whistle! ”

The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field. At this, the veela lost control. Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Watching through his Omnioculars, Harry saw that they didn’t look remotely beautiful now. On the contrary, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders —

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“And that, boys, ” yelled Mr. Weasley over the tumult of the

crowd below, “is why you should never go for looks alone! ” Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile, the pitched battle below was nothing to the one taking place above. Harry turned this way and that, staring through his Omnioculars, as the Quaffle changed hands with the speed of a bullet.