Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 477 The Opening Ceremony and Mutations

"This is Harry Potter! You should know it? It's very famous here! The Dark Lord... the dark wizard who couldn't mention his name more than ten years ago..."

Cornelius Fudge introduced Harry as an extremely rare and well-known treasure to wizard representatives of the Ministry of Magic in various countries, especially those from China.

He held Harry's hand like a kind old father, patted him on the shoulder,

Harry could only smile helplessly and awkwardly on his face.

Cornelius Fudge and Dumbledore led a large group of wizards from all over the world to squeeze into this box.

As soon as they came in, it filled the place.

Among the large group of people... there are wizard representatives from all countries, but most of them only have two or three in each country.

The rest of the people should have been shunted to other boxes.

Wizards in Bulgaria and Ireland stand on either side of each other, separated by other wizards, and even then the two sides stare at each other with bad eyes;
Russia is full of big wizards, and most of them are holding a small silver curved jug and drinking something. Harry suspects that there is vodka in it, because Mr. Crouch, who is in charge of translation, has been frowning;
New Zealand wizards look menacing, especially the lead wizard with some kind of black rune carved into his chin:
The wizards of North and South Goryeo almost knocked out the dog's brains, and Fudge had no choice but to arrange them in other boxes;

The Japanese witch wearing a traditional dress and a fox mask was staring at the wizards of the Chinese delegation with fear and curiosity. Next to her were one or two Japanese wizards from another faction wearing golden robes... who seemed to be familiar with Ludo Bagman, and were holding on to him, talking about something;
As for the Yankees, the leader, a very tall, burly wizard with long beards, was discussing something with Lucius Malfoy... Lucius' face was very ugly, and he stared angrily at his daughter De LS from time to time, and De LS Malfoy also stood there with a face of reluctance.

In the end, Fudge and Professor Dumbledore had been standing beside the wizards of the Chinese Ministry of Magic delegation.

As Harry had seen earlier, Chinese wizarding representatives dressed very differently from representatives of the Ministry of Magic in other countries, and they wore Muggle attire, even for such an occasion.

This made some pure-blood wizards in gorgeous robes look uncomfortable, and they seemed very dissatisfied with this.

There are three wizard representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Magic in this box, ranging in age from young to old...

The youngest one seemed to be only a few years older than Harry, and seemed to be about the same age as Cedric and George Fred. This guy was wearing a white sportswear, and he was yawning impolitely...

And behind him... stood the oldest wizard with all white hair and a big back. He was staring at the young wizard next to him with his mouth tightly pursed. His expression was the same as that of Professor McGonagall.

The man in the black suit with a slight smile in the middle was the leader of the three. He was chatting and laughing with Fudge in English, while greeting other wizard delegations in various languages ​​proficiently.

After coming here for half an hour, when the stadium was full, Fudge finally told Ludo Bagman to announce the start.

Ludo drew out his own magic spell, pointed at his throat and said, "The voice is loud!"

Then what he said was like thunder, reverberating over the entire gymnasium, and resoundingly spread to every corner of the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen... Welcome! Welcome to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup Final!"

The audience burst into cheers and applause.

Thousands of flags were waved at the same time, and the national anthems of various countries were played...

"Okay, enough gossip...I think most of you know it. Before the mascots of the two participating teams start...I have to announce an exciting news...a good news that will change the world..."

"I invite our honorable Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge... to give a short speech!"

Harry heard the strange sight of boos and applause coming from the underground stands.

"Thanks, Ludo!"

Fudge said amiably, and he also amplified his voice, then stood up at the front of the stands, took out a stack of parchments, and began to speak loudly——

"My compatriots, distinguished guests and friends from afar... Today will be a day remembered by the world, and today will be a day for all of us to witness history..."

"Not only because of the exciting Quidditch match that is about to start... but also because our magical world will become a real whole in the near future..."

"Today, I want to tell you..."

Fudge paused for a moment, and then said loudly, "The Ministry of Magic of China, the magical world with the largest number of wizards will join the International Association of Magic..."

Fudge took the lead in applauding, and gradually there was a sound in the gymnasium.

However, Harry always felt that the applause and cheers... were magically produced by the Aurors everywhere, so that Fudge would not be able to get off the stage.

Otherwise, why would there always be a burst of violent applause when boos were about to sound, suppressing all of this again.And if the applause and cheers are carefully identified, one can feel a repetitive rhythm.

"..."

"...Let us remember this day, remember that we are about to reconnect as one, remember who we are...remember that we live in the same world, this city, this world...no matter who it is, which country it is, wizards, goblins, or other intelligent creatures...we will eventually face common dangers and changes in the future, stand up to face it, overcome it..."

"Finally, let us forge tomorrow and dreams with hope and honor, so that the miracle of magic will be passed down forever from generation to generation!"

After Fudge said a lot of nonsense, the "applause of magic scenes" could not cover the dissatisfaction of hundreds of thousands of wizards sitting in the gymnasium.

He wisely ended his speech quickly, and handed over the right to speak to Ludo Bagman again, asking him to announce the continuation of the opening ceremony.

"Okay, Minister Fudge's speech is still as exciting as usual, and it makes people feel emotional..."

Seeing that some wizards were clamoring for a refund, Ludo Bagman hurriedly announced the start of the opening ceremony.

"Then I invite delegations from various countries to perform, and the first one to appear is..."

The first ones to appear are naturally hundreds of Maori wizards wearing animal skins or grass skirts. They have bare arms and thighs, humming and wowing into the field. You twist your thighs and arms in the half-person-high grass, dancing the Maori war dance just like not long ago.

Wild and primitive dances, swaying and dancing magical flames, circling around their bodies, reflecting the sweaty brown skin glisteningly.

It has a very exotic style, but... the wizards there are certainly not all Maori wizards from New Zealand.

Not just because there were so few wizards in New Zealand, but because the twins saw Lee Jordan's dad in the crowd through the panorama.

He's a real local wizard.

But it seems that this guy is very happy, and he likes this kind of excitement very much.

After that, there were the wizards of North and South Goryeo, and the performances of the two deadly rivals were almost the same... They were both dancing with thighs and short skirts taking off, but one showed more, which almost made Harry Ron's eyes go straight, and Hermione cursed in a low voice... The other one sang louder and wore more traditional clothes.

When I arrived at the Japanese wizard, it was still the same as the ancient dance story rehearsed in front of the stone house last time, but it was a little weirder and grander...

The vague fog, all kinds of weird music and dance moves, witches in fox masks, circling ghosts and will-o'-the-wisps... suddenly appear and disappear...

If there is a difference, it seems that another school of Japanese wizards in golden robes is also involved.

They drove the giant carriage with weird heads as wheels, whizzed and rolled through the mist, and appeared as villain BOSS, highlighting the other side of this ancient ritual song and dance, and making the story expressed without adding a bit of wildness and darkness.

Although some wizards were dissatisfied with this and wanted the competition to start as soon as possible and yelled loudly, the vast majority of wizards were still very interested in these exotic magic shows and were not bored.

Afterwards, American wizards performed a skit about the Salem Trial, in which the Muggles were crazy and ignorant and made the wizards laugh (Harry and Hermione were a little uncomfortable, they couldn't appreciate the joke, but Mr. Weasley and Ron were also amused);

The Magic Carpet Rodeo in the Middle East... The ice and snow magic century in Iceland almost turned the ground of the stadium into an ice sculpture art exhibition and a crystal castle... and the slap contest performed by magic wands in Russia shocked tens of millions of people into speechless and terrified...

Finally it's my turn...

Harry saw that... the young Chinese wizard in the white Muggle tracksuit smiled, then stood up and ran, leaping up from the stands, accompanied by a dozen other young wizards in other boxes who were also dressed lightly.

Amid the exclamation of the crowd, fluorescent broomsticks... no, huge long swords appeared at their feet.

Those wizards stood like that, flying and circling in mid-air like riding Muggle skateboards... Not only are they extremely fast, but their flexibility is also beyond imagination...

Harry compared and found that these flying longswords... were much faster than magic carpets and ordinary broomsticks, and even the leader...that is, the young wizard who jumped down from Harry's eyes, his speed was beyond the scope of the new type of broomsticks, and he could jump from the ground to the headspace in the blink of an eye...

When all this was over and the young wizards returned to their seats in the box, there was a burst of cheers and applause from the crowd.

After that, Ludo Bagman finally announced the start of the game, and the mascots of the two teams, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, began to perform on stage.

…………

At the moment when the Quidditch match is about to start and the atmosphere is getting warmer.

McGuffin, who was in the Ministry of Magic, gradually became cold, and every part of his skin was slightly numb due to the shivering sensation.

The hairs stand on end!

— Something was wrong with the Ministry of Magic from the very beginning.

pat!

pat!

that's the sound,

Inching closer to the Prohibition of Misuse Ministry of Magic office.

Even the old hag Mafalda Hopkirk couldn't keep her rigid face.

"Sit here and don't move, I'll go and see!"

The old witch said in a panic, then raised her wand and walked to the door, when she remembered something and stopped, turned around and returned the MacGuffin wand to him, and said, "Don't make a sound, if I don't come back... just hide under the table, you should have such magic power."

After that, she opened the door and disappeared into the depths of the dark corridor.

The sound of footsteps gradually receded and disappeared bit by bit, and the surrounding was completely silent, except for the sound of McGuffin's breathing alone.

--call!

--Suck!

Besides, there was that voice——

pat!

Crack - clap!

Clearer and closer.

As the sound came, McGuffin looked out of the window. The orange-yellow magic light that was originally on at the fountain in the magic atrium had long since disappeared, leaving only the golden statue in the fountain still reflecting light slightly.

With these few rays of light, he clearly saw that the guard sitting in front of the hall of the Ministry of Magic was also lying in the shadow of the ground, and the original desk and chair were pressing on him...he didn't know whether he was alive or dead.

And with a bang, the lights in the offices diagonally opposite also disappeared one by one, until... the lights in the Abuse of Magic office also—— bang, suddenly went out.

At the same time, thick black fog was pouring into the crack of the office door from the corridor outside.
Extremely black, so black that it cannot reflect a ray of light.

The fog continued to spread and gradually began to engulf the entire office.

McGuffin has an extremely urgent feeling in his heart that is warning him... Get out of here, don't make any bright noises, otherwise something very bad will happen.

This kind of unknown magic is difficult to deal with at first glance. If he has not found a spell or method to restrain it, he'd better not act rashly.

McGuffin backed away gently step by step, came to the window and looked out, the golden magic runes on the ceiling and floor of the atrium were still swimming irregularly, as if nothing had happened.

There is no black mist there.

Looks safe, just get out of here...just...

McGuffin was determined to leave here, but when he turned his head and looked at the wooden door of the office warily...

heart trembled,
That door has been opened at some point,
In the half-open gap of [-] to [-] inches, McGuffin could see with the faint light...the black mist wriggling in the crack of the door...like another world, forming a great contrast with the glimmer of light reflected from the door frame.

McGuffin raised his wand and pointed it at the door. If something really came out of it... he could only cast [Fiendfire]. This kind of hellfire that can almost burn most things should be able to delay himself for some time.

boom!
There was a very soft muffled sound.

A dead white hand tightly pulled the edge of the wooden door,

Then another hand appeared...

Shir!
Just when McGuffin was about to cast a spell, he suddenly found that the rings on those slender hands were very familiar.

—He just saw it not long ago.

(End of this chapter)