Hogwarts: Harry's Path to Witches

Chapter 263 People’s XP is free... except for those who like lizards!

As time went by, other spectators arrived at the game one after another.

The Weasleys were the third to reach the top box.

After seeing Mr. Weasley, Sirius stood up and gave him a hug:

"Arthur, my dear old man, you are finally here!"

"Oh, I can't help it. It's really stressful to raise seven children." Mr. Weasley sighed.

"Dear old Arthur, would you like to have a drink tonight?"

After inviting Mr. Weasley to sit down next to him, Sirius put his arms around him and said with a smile,

"The kids are old enough to stay in the tent by themselves without any problem."

"I know there are some nice pop-up locations around here, let's go have a few whiskeys!"

Mr. Weasley hesitated for a moment, touched his pocket, and finally nodded:

"Of course. After all, the World Cup final only happens once every four years!"

The Weasley family all found seats in the box, and half of the box was filled in an instant.

George and Fred quickly chose the seats behind Harry and said hello across the seats:

"Harry, Hermione, good evening! You are so early!"

"By the way, where is your friend from Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour? Isn't she with you?"

Fred asked as if casually.

"She came with some students from Beauxbatons, so she also watched the game with them."

Harley replied softly, "What? Are you interested in sex? I remember you like Angelina, don't you?"

"Senior sister should also be in the audience below now. Do you need me to talk to senior sister?"

Before Fred could say anything, George stabbed his brother in the waist with his fist:

"Fred, look, this is your fault. Didn't you swear that you were devoted to Angelina this morning?"

Fred rolled his eyes back at his brother: "Don't think I don't know, you obviously want to ask too!"

"And you clearly said that you gave your heart to Aaliya."

The two living treasures played and joked for a while. After calming down, they chatted with Harley seriously:

"Harry, we listened to your opinion and didn't find that guy Ludo."

"We chose Gringotts and won against the Irish team, but Krum of the Bulgarian team will capture the Golden Snitch."

"Gringotts is much more reliable than Ludo. Dad gave Ludo a gold galleons, but Ludo just registered Dad's name in his notebook."

"Gringotts is more formal. A magical contract has been signed. Today, the director of the Goblin Liaison Office of the Ministry of Magic, Sbert Mockridge, will supervise the whole process."

"The only pity is that the odds given by those greedy goblins are really low!"

"That's because Gringotts has to pay taxes and negotiate with the Ministry of Magic." Hermione turned around and lowered her voice and said,

"And they consider many more factors than those odds that may not pay back money, so the odds they give cannot be too high."

Fred said with some surprise: "That makes sense, we didn't expect this information!"

"And Hermione, how do you know so much?"

"Sirius and Harry also went to Gringotts to gamble,"

Seeing that Harry didn't stop her, Hermione couldn't help but said in a somewhat proud tone,

"I bet on the England team versus Transylvania. Transylvania won. I bet on 200,000 gold galleons, and finally earned back 8 million!"

Harley nodded. Anyway, the goblins were not obligated to keep information for themselves. This was already a semi-open secret in the camp.

"Eight million!" Before the Weasley twins said anything, Ron, who was listening to the conversation between the four people, became unable to sit still.

He let out an exclamation, causing everyone in the box to look back.

But now there are only the Weasley family and Sirius in the box, plus the house elf who has no sense of existence and the hidden little Barty Cratchit.

So Mr. Weasley just glared at Ron:

"Ron! If you dare to make such a fuss during the game and interfere with other people watching the game, then I will have to use magic to temporarily silence your voice!"

Ron still wanted to defend himself, but other people in the box also arrived one after another.

Mr. Weasley quietly warned the children to observe etiquette, and then he and Percy stood up frequently to greet their colleagues.

When facing these officials, Mr. Weasley's attitude seemed relatively easy-going, and he even fist-bumped two senior officials from the Ministry of Magic with whom he had a good relationship.

Percy appears to be much more immature than his father. His expression was very excited, and he wanted to bow ninety degrees every time.

"You know, Harley." Fred muttered in a voice as loud as a mosquito while an official was sitting down.

"Percy has great ambitions and wants to be the Minister of Magic!"

George on the side also hid his head behind the chair and made a face.

But at this moment, Professor McGonagall happened to walk in. George and Fred were so frightened that they suddenly lowered their heads, and their previous grimaces disappeared.

However, Professor McGonagall did not pay attention to the two naughty troublemakers in her college. She just said hello to Mr. Weasley and Sirius, and then sat in the empty seat next to Hermione.

This made Fred and George even more scared...the dean they feared most was sitting in front of them, what should they do! Help! Waiting online!

Until finally, the time came to seven o'clock.

Fudge walked in together with a wizard with red hair but a white beard and wearing a gorgeous black velvet robe with gold trim.

Fudge was followed by Umbridge, and another wizard was followed by a burly wizard with the same hair color.

After seeing Harley, Fudge's eyes lit up.

But because there were guests nearby, he just said hello loudly: "Harry! Good evening. How are you enjoying your trip to the World Cup?"

"Come on, let me introduce you. This is the Minister of Magic of Bulgaria...um...Mr. Oblansk...no, maybe Mr. Oblonsk..."

Fudge muttered something, glanced at the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and whispered:

"Forget it, it's not important, he doesn't understand English anyway."

Then, Fudge pointed at Harry solemnly and introduced the Minister of Magic:

"Harry Potter! You know! The child who survived the mysterious man also won the British Order of Merlin, First Class!"

"And she broke records by being the youngest ever recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class!"

The burly wizard, whose muscles stretched his robe tightly, frowned at first, looking confused.

After looking at Harley up and down, he seemed to have remembered something, and suddenly started dancing excitedly, with the gold chain on his body dangling constantly.

Harry frowned, feeling that the pronunciation of the big-bodied Minister of Magic sounded very similar:

"Laben~Laben~Fake~Labeng~"

Fudge spread his hands helplessly, with a look of despair: "Oh, I don't know where Barty Crouch has gone."

"I don't understand Bulgarian, but Crouch is better at this stuff."

"Minister, I will send someone to find him right away." Umbridge, who was behind Fudge, immediately came up.

"I will send someone to question him. At such an important moment when meeting foreign dignitaries, as deputy director, he is running around instead of completing the most important work!"

"Oh, Umbridge, you are still so dedicated!" Fudge had admiration in his eyes, but nodded with a heavy face.

"But there is no need to criticize Crouch so harshly. After all, he is old and about to retire, and he has no heir yet..."

Harry glanced at the position in the corner without leaving any trace. The young man didn't react at all, as if the Imperius Curse had completely deprived him of his consciousness.

I really don’t know how Fudge would react if his invisibility cloak was suddenly ripped off.

Hmm... I'll probably be frightened first, and then faint from surprise because of this sudden political achievement.

Finally, the box fell silent.

Ludo trotted all the way to the box. After asking Fudge for instructions, he stood at the window of the box and cast magic on his throat:

"Ladies, gentlemen, and distinguished guests!"

"Welcome everyone! Welcome everyone to come and watch the 422nd British Quidditch World Cup Finals!"

"I am your old friend and the commentator for this game, Ludo Bagman!"

"Without further ado, let's enjoy this Quidditch feast together!"

"First of all, let's invite...the mascot of the Bulgarian national team!"

On the right side of the stands, the bright red sea that was the same color as the hair on the head of the Bulgarian Minister of Magic gave out loud cheers.

Under the spotlight, Miss Veela makes a shining appearance!

One hundred Veela wearing long skirts slid towards the arena as if they were riding the wind.

Their bright silver hair flows behind their heads, exuding endless charm.

But Harley felt a little sleepy after just one glance. After all, she had seen this scene too many times.

And to be honest, they really can't compare to Furong.

The other people in the most important box where Harley was sitting did not make any changes.

From the very beginning, these high-ranking officials who valued their appearance had taken potions in advance that could keep wizards calm, or they had used magic that could protect their brains and consciousness.

However, some of the Weasley children suffered severely.

Bill, Charlie and Patsy performed fairly well. As good wizards, they basically controlled their thoughts.

Fred and George's performance was much worse. They almost stood up, but luckily they restrained themselves in the end.

As for Ron, as the worst behaved child, if Mr. Weasley hadn't pulled him back, he would probably have dived from the window of the box during the performance.

Harry also keenly noticed that in the corner, the young man under the invisibility cloak suddenly trembled, and the magic power on his body began to change.

"Controlled by the Imperius Curse, he is unable to use Occlumency or other magic to protect himself."

The contents of several ancient magic books obtained from Sirius's home suddenly appeared, and an idea flashed through Harry's mind,

"So his spirit was stimulated and he began to resist the Imperius Curse on his own."

"Interesting, really interesting. This young man named Barty Crouch Jr. seems to have good magical attainments."

When the Veela finished their dance and were about to leave, the audience roared with anger.

Apparently, no one wants Bulgaria's mascot to leave that much.

But Veela are still very experienced in dealing with this situation.

They stood on the spot and rotated gently, their faces suddenly elongated out of thin air and turned into bird heads with sharp beaks, and their skin, as bright as the moonlight, was also covered with scales.

The wizards who had no experience and admired the Bulgarian mascot for the first time were immediately frightened and sat back in their seats.

But some wizards, especially those who dressed very much like Ah San, were actually... even more excited!

One of them, a middle-aged wizard with a turban on his head and only a piece of cloth on his upper body, jumped up, threw away the pet lizard lying on his shoulder, and ran towards the competition venue.

But soon, two Aurors flew over on broomsticks and held him down.

Many wizards couldn't help but twitch their mouths when they saw this scene.

Although people's XP is free...but...forget it, I can't make up any more excuses, just destroy it!

After the Veela girls left the stage, the Irish team's mascot also made its debut.

There was only a "whoosh" sound, and a green and gold thing like a big comet flew into the stadium and lingered in the sky.

Then, the two colors suddenly separated and turned into two smaller comets, rushing towards the goalposts of a set of goals.

Outside the field, several wizards in overalls waved their magic wands, and an arched rainbow appeared out of thin air on the field, connecting the two small comets.

The rainbow gradually faded away, and the two small comets gradually connected and merged. Finally, a huge, shining clover was formed in the mid-air.

The clover rose higher into the sky, hovering above the stands.

This clover is actually made up of countless little people wearing red vests, black mustaches, and holding gold or green lights in their hands!

"It's an Irish leprechaun." Sirius muttered with some disappointment, "It really doesn't feel as good as a Veela."

The little leprechauns waved their hands, a "crackling" sound sounded, and a large number of glittering gold galleons fell from the sky!

It's a gold coin made by a leprechaun!

……

……

(Thanks to the two big guys "Nine-tailed Yanhu" and "Floating Life and Annihilation" for their rewards!)

(ps. As one of the unforgivable curses, the Imperius Curse cannot be lifted by other spells, and the person who is cursed will not have any special performance.)

(However, based on the information in the original work, it can be judged that people with strong enough willpower, or people who are proficient in Occlumency, can completely escape the control of the Imperius Curse on their own.)