Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 253 Vivi: I'll give you a reward tonight

Inside the box, Ron was holding up a panoramic telescope, gazing at the competition field.

This panoramic telescope was purchased with Mrs. Weasley's approval, though... Mrs. Weasley only bought one.

Fortunately, Bill and Charlie both believed that the older brother should act like an older brother, so they didn't try to take it from Ron.

As for Percy… Percy wasn’t interested in the competition. He felt he shouldn’t be there; he should be in the Ministry of Magic’s office dealing with the standardization of cauldrons.

The Weasley twins each got a panoramic telescope, and they even brought one for Ginny.

These are all things they just bought. After all, they've made so much money, and according to the Weasley family's consistent rule, once they make money, they have to spend it.

Ron spent a long time adjusting the binoculars before turning them towards the crowd on the other side of the stadium.

“Great!” he said, fiddling with the playback knob on the side of his binoculars. “I can make that old guy over there pick his nose again… pick it again… pick it again…”

“You’re so mean, Ron.” Ginny was in the same position as him, also looking at the old man. “Aren’t you afraid he’ll pick your nose and hurt it? Honestly.”

At that moment, Hermione was eagerly flipping through her velvet-covered, tasseled competition manual.

"There will be a performance by the team mascots before the game," she read aloud.

“Yes, it’s always worth seeing,” Mr. Weasley said. “You know, national teams bring all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures from their countries to put on a show here.”

“What could that be?” Hermione looked up and asked with interest. “I know that Ireland is known for its banshees, something Professor Lockhart… oh no, it was something Ms. Rozier told us in class—do they really bring banshees with them? Really? Really?”

Hermione's face clearly showed she was looking forward to a good show; she really wanted to see the Banshee.

“No, Hermione,” Bill said. “That’s not legal.”

Hermione was a little disappointed. She turned to look at her parents and found that they were also looking into the distance with panoramic binoculars.

Mr. Granger, in particular, was extremely curious. As he gazed into the distance, he couldn't help but marvel at how truly amazing the creations of the magical world were. He thought that if he had such a telescope at the World Cup—the FIFA World Cup—he could probably see Baggio's face clearly.

Yes, Mr. Granger is British, but he is an Italian fan in matches that Britain doesn't participate in.

Of course, they wouldn't shout "Long live Italy, the great Italian left-back..."

Their private room wasn't for their own use; after a while, people started coming in one after another.

For example, the Malfoy family, and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge.

The people who came in were all important figures, so Mr. Weasley had to stand up and shake hands with them.

When Cornelius Fudge himself entered, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell to the ground and shattered.

Embarrassed, he repaired the lens with his wand and then sat blankly in his seat.

After greeting Sirius and Mr. Weasley, Cornelius Fudge warmly shook Harry's hand, asked him what was wrong, and introduced him to the wizard sitting next to him.

“Harry Potter, you know him,” he called out to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic—a man in a magnificent black velvet robe trimmed with gold who appeared to understand no English—“Harry Potter… oh, think about it, you should know who he is… the boy who escaped death at the hands of the mysterious man… you must know who he is—”

The Bulgarian wizard suddenly saw the scar on Harry's forehead, and immediately pointed at it excitedly, mumbling a bunch of words loudly.

“Sigh…” Fudge looked tense. “I’m really not good at other languages. This should have been Barty Crouch’s job, but what was he doing?”

Before he finished speaking, several more people entered the private room.

The one in the lead is Vida Rozier, the current Minister of Magic of Austria.

Following behind her was Vivi, dressed in a women's formal suit.

She even wore gold-rimmed glasses today, looking more like a witch than a career woman.

Upon seeing Ms. Rozier, the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and Fudge stood up together to greet her.

“Welcome back to England, madam,” Fudge said very politely. “It is an honor for us to have you here.”

After greeting everyone, Ms. Rozier said a few more words to the students and even made a couple of jokes about the Weasley twins.

When Fudge saw this, his eyelids twitched slightly, and he silently raised the Weasley family's status by two levels in his mind.

"I thought you weren't coming."

After Vivi sat down, Cassandra couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.

"I still miss you very much, my dear little apple."

After saying that, Vivi leaned down and gently kissed Cassandra's forehead, much to Cassandra's astonishment.

Cassandra stood there stunned for a long time before finally coming to her senses. As if she had something dirty on her forehead, she grabbed Harry's sleeve and rubbed it hard.

Her forehead was rubbed red, but she still wouldn't stop.

Ron had already put the binoculars back in front of him. He looked around the area and suddenly pointed to another side, saying, "Hey? What's that group of people whispering over there? They don't look like good people..."

"Where?" The twins, always eager for a good show, immediately turned their attention to where Ron was pointing.

“Look,” Ron pointed to where he was looking, “Do you see that? There’s a group of people wearing black robes and skull masks…”

"Shut up, Ronald!"

Mr. Weasley snapped.

When Ron turned his head, he saw his father shaking his head. Looking to the side, he saw his father's superior, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, sitting there with a very unpleasant expression, looking at him with a very uncomfortable gaze.

He immediately understood what was going on and corrected himself, saying, "Oh, I misread it—that must be some country's mascot? Maybe a clown?"

Fudge's expression calmed down after hearing Ron's explanation.

He turned to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and the Austrian Minister of Magic, Ms. Rozier, and explained, "It seems the child has misread it, haha... Such a grand event has very strict security checks."

It seemed the Bulgarian Minister of Magic hadn't understood a thing; he remained seated, staring at Fudge with a bewildered expression.

But Ms. Rozier understood, though she said nothing, only looking at Fudge with a calm and collected gaze.

It wasn't until Fudge turned his head that Mrs. Rozier casually said to Vivi, "See? This is the British Empire's four-stage strategy for dealing with emergencies."

“Yes, a four-stage strategy,” Vivi said with a slight smile. “I think I’ve seen it in a TV series, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone actually use it.”

Ms. Rozier smiled: "Yes, Miss—I've experienced a lot over the years, especially what I've witnessed firsthand..."

"A four-stage strategy?"

At this moment, Cassandra, who had been eavesdropping nearby, asked in a low voice, puzzled, "What is the four-stage strategy?"

“The British Foreign Office’s standard crisis response strategy,” Hermione, who was flipping through a Quidditch guide, suddenly said. “I know this—” Since they were sitting on the other side of the box, and Fudge’s attention was completely focused on the Malfoys who had just arrived, they couldn’t hear what was being said.

"In the first phase, we say—nothing happened."

"In the second phase, we said—maybe something is happening, but we shouldn't take any action."

"In the third phase, we said—maybe we should take action, but there's nothing we can do."

"In the fourth stage, we say—maybe we could have done something back then, but now it's too late."

Upon hearing Hermione's interpretation, Vivi put the back of her hand to her lips and chuckled softly.

Ms. Rozier then clapped for Hermione.

“You still understand the questions the professor asked, just like before,” she praised Hermione.

“Thank you, Professor.” Hermione smiled shyly, then realized her mistake and quickly corrected herself: “Oh, I’m sorry, Minister…”

“I would much rather be called Professor than Minister,” Ms. Rozier said to Hermione with a smile.

“Okay, Professor,” Hermione said happily.

Just then, the Weasley twins nudged each other.

“You know what?” Fred said to George, “If it were Percy, he would definitely make a statement—what professor! How many times have I told you, use his title!”

“Okay, Weatherby position,” George said, winking.

The two burst into cheerful laughter, completely disregarding how many high-ranking officials and leaders were in the private room.

In short, the emphasis is on freedom and spontaneity, since neither of them intends to pursue a career in government.

“Those two are really unruly, I'm sorry to have made you laugh,” Mr. Weasley explained to Fudge from the side.

Fudge waved his hand; all he wanted now was to cultivate relationships with the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and Ms. Rozier.

"It seems I'm not too late."

Draco had barely exchanged a word with Harry when his father grabbed fate by the scruff of the neck.

Lucius smiled apologetically at Harry, then sat down a distance away with Draco in tow.

That's why Lucius is so good at improving; his keen insight is something not everyone possesses.

The implication was clear: your great-aunt is getting closer to Harry, what a great opportunity—why are you, you little rascal, causing trouble?
The family sat down next to Fudge and began chatting with the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and Ms. Rozier.

Harry occasionally overheard a couple of sentences, but he couldn't quite make out whether the Bulgarian Minister of Magic was named Berlanski or Obalonsk.

Who cares? It has nothing to do with me anyway.

"Who do you think will win?" he asked, trying to make conversation with Vivi.

“I remember I bet on Ireland to win, but Viktor Krum will catch the Golden Snitch,” Vivi said with a slight smile, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

With just that one action, coupled with Vivi's current attire, Harry felt his heart skip a beat.

Seeing Harry's reaction, Vivi smiled with satisfaction.

Humph.

Just then, Ludo Bagman burst into the box.

"Is everyone ready?" Mr. Bagman's round face gleamed like a giant spherical cheese. "Minister—may we begin?"

"You say start, then start, Ludo," said Fudge kindly.

Ludo drew his wand, pointed to his throat, and said, "Loud voice!"

Then his words resounded like thunder throughout the packed stadium.

His voice echoed above them, resounding loudly to every corner of the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to watch the 422nd Quidditch World Cup Finals!"

The audience erupted in cheers and applause, thousands of flags waved simultaneously, accompanied by a jumble of national anthems, creating a truly lively scene.

The Grangers, sitting in the back, applauded enthusiastically; it was the first time they had ever seen such a loud and clear sound without amplification equipment.

“I don’t understand why they’re singing the Muggle national anthem?” Harry asked Vivi curiously as he turned around.

“The reason is simple, because a significant portion of wizards come from the Muggle world,” Vivi explained to Harry with a smile. “So it’s not hard to understand why they feel a sense of belonging to the Muggle nationality.”

As she said this, her eyes flickered.

Well……

Hopefully, the wizards in the German magical world won't feel any sense of belonging to Muggle countries.
At that moment, the last line of advertising on the blackboard opposite them (Bib Butter Beans - Every bite is an adventure!) was erased, and now it showed: Bulgaria: 0, Ireland: 0.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, please allow me to introduce... the mascot of the Bulgarian national team!"

On the right side of the stands was a neat bright red square, which at this moment erupted in loud cheers.

“I wonder what they brought,” Mr. Weasley said, leaning forward from his seat.

"Ah!" He suddenly took off his glasses, sat back in his chair, and remained motionless like a wooden statue, remarking with a sigh, "So it's a Veela!"

"Veela?"

Harry stood up curiously and looked into the arena.

He certainly knew what Veela were, but he had never actually seen a hundred Veelas gathered together.

After one glance, I immediately felt it was utterly uninteresting.

"Is it pretty?" Vivi and Cassandra's voices rang in his ears at the same time.

"I don't think so."

Harry sat back down in his chair, his left hand on Cassandra's shoulder and his right arm around Vivi's slender waist.

The two girls were very pleased with Harry's reaction.

"I'll give you a reward tonight," Vivi said to Harry in a barely audible voice.

(End of this chapter)