I'm the King of Curry at Hogwarts

Chapter 224 The Old Rascal Bagman

"Why can't I see anything?" Hermione put the binoculars down and turned to Louise in confusion. "What's going on?"

At that moment, the twins also came over and, with perfect coordination, cast a leg-locking charm and a tongue-locking choke on Ron. George put his arm around Fred's shoulder, a wicked grin on his face: "What's going on?"

Fred forced a similar smile: "Yeah, how could that be?"

Knowing the twins' mischievous nature, Hermione didn't think much of it. She just glared at them and then put the binoculars in front of her again.

After all, the telescope was brought by Louis, so it shouldn't have much to do with the twins.

Ron and Harry, who were standing nearby, reached out and slapped their hands onto their faces.

When Hermione still couldn't see anything, she twisted the telescope with her hand.

No sooner said than done, thick black smoke suddenly billowed from the binoculars in her hand, and at the same time, Hermione's scream rang out.

Emma, ​​who was not far behind Hermione, heard Hermione's scream. After seeing the black smoke, she reached out and cast a Gale Charm to dispel the black smoke that was enveloping Hermione.

Hermione emerged from the black smoke, coughing incessantly, still clutching the binoculars, her eyes now black and blue.

"I squeezed it, and—it gave me a jolt!" she gasped. Sure enough, they then saw two long springs extending from the top of the telescope, each with a small fist on it.

"Louis!" Hermione yelled, and Louise rushed to Harry's side.

That was so brutal! That roar was just like the furious roar of a lioness on the African savanna. It would be a waste if he didn't go practice his lion's roar with the landlady.

Incidentally, he raised his hand to dispel the spell on Harry and Ron.

"You didn't have to gag me, Louis," Harry whispered, covering his mouth. "Now that you've figured it out, someone has to take the fall. Why can't it be Hermione? I mean."

After saying that, Harry chuckled.

"Hermione must have done a lot of good deeds in her past life to have a sister like you," Louise said, patting Harry on the shoulder.

Harry didn't reply, turned and ran off, but he hadn't gone far when Hermione's spell bound him, and he fell face-first into the mud. Louise immediately hid behind Catherine, poked her head out, and shouted, "Hermione! You have to believe me, this has little to do with me. It's mainly because Harry came looking for me with binoculars, and I really didn't know there was a fist in those binoculars!"

"But you knew there was a trap in that telescope! Louis! I trusted you so much!" Hermione, sporting panda eyes, puffed up like a pufferfish, looking incredibly cute.

Louis couldn't help but chuckle: "You're right, but Miss Panda, I still suggest you go ask Aunt Molly for some ointment, oh my god... hahahahaha..."

Hermione didn't understand what Louise was saying. Seeing her confusion, Catherine couldn't help but laugh and took a mirror out of her pocket and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione opened the mirror, but to her surprise, a faint black mist hissed out of it, clinging to her face and turning it completely black.

"Hahahaha..." Catherine hugged Louise and laughed non-stop. Seeing Hermione's teeth grinning and looking incredibly white against her dark face, the two of them laughed even harder.

"You...you..." Hermione threw the mirror away. After the black mist dissipated, she saw herself in the mirror. She pointed at the gloating couple with trembling fingers, burst into tears, and squatted on the ground, feeling extremely wronged.

At this moment, others also gathered around, all wanting to see what had happened.

Hermione looked up, her face dark and menacing, revealing a face as black as Zhang Fei's.

Well, that's a good thing. Apart from Aunt Molly, no one else could hold back. Even Aunt Molly herself let out a "tsk" sound, but she quickly restrained herself, went back to the car, took out the potion, poured it down Hermione's throat, and then gave her face a thorough cleaning.

"That's much better. My little Hermione is the prettiest, no matter what those bad guys are like." Aunt Molly patted Hermione to comfort her, while glaring fiercely at Louis and Catherine.

……

The picnic went very well, and even Hermione quickly forgot about her earlier prank and started playing wildly with Ginny, chasing and frolicking on the grass like wild dogs that had been let loose, showing no signs of having just been upset.

Louis was fairly satisfied with the meal. To be fair, Aunt Molly's sandwiches were indeed delicious, unlike the kind of sandwich he had in the car when he was in first grade, which was the kind that Ron sat on. In fact, it was a significant improvement over that time.

After all, it's not... um...

Back at camp, they saw a man pacing in circles in front of their house. Mr. Weasley was delighted; he immediately got out of the car, waved, and shouted, "Hey, Ludo, I'm here..."

Following the direction in which Mr. Weasley greeted them, everyone saw a very eye-catching man, even more so than Snape in his bat form, dressed in a black robe.

Ludo Bagman wore a long Quidditch robe with wide yellow and black stripes, and a huge wasp was boldly printed on the chest—this outfit would actually be more suitable for Dumbledore, after all, Professor Dumbledore's nickname is The Old Bee.

He looked rather plump; it's said he used to be very strong, but now he's clearly starting to decline as he's reached middle age. His long robe stretched taut over his large belly, and everyone was certain that Mr. Bagman's belly wasn't this big when he represented England in Quidditch.

Goodness, she looks like she's been pregnant for several months; her belly is clearly full of fat.

Bagman had a flat nose, but his round blue eyes, short blond hair, and rosy complexion made him look like an oversized boy.

"Hey hey hey!" Mr. Bagman exclaimed happily. He walked with a bouncy gait, as if his feet had springs that made a buzzing sound. Clearly, he was in a state of extreme excitement, and judging from his movements, that was indeed the case.

Perhaps people grow younger as they age. Dumbledore was quite childlike, and Ludo Bagman also shows some signs of this. It seems that when he gets old, he will definitely be a very lovable old rascal.

"Arthur, old friend, oh, my dear old friend, it's been a long time!" He came to the fire, panting, and said, "What a beautiful day, isn't it? Absolutely fantastic! Where else can you find weather like this! There certainly won't be a cloud tonight… The preparations are going perfectly… I have nothing to do!"

Mr. Bagman truly lives up to his reputation as someone who works at the Ministry of Magic; his way of greeting people starts with a weather-related topic. It's a real shame he's not in London.

Behind him, a group of haggard-looking Ministry of Magic officials hurried past. In the distance, there were signs that someone was playing with magic fire, with purple sparks shooting up more than twenty feet high. This looked extremely illogical, and the Ministry of Magic officials were clearly exhausted by it. Serving these high-ranking wizards and having to be careful not to be discovered by Muggles, all without extra pay, was the most worrying thing.

Percy quickly stepped forward and extended his hand. Clearly, while he disapproved of Ludo Bagman's management of his department, it didn't stop him from wanting to make a good impression.

"Oh, right," Mr. Weasley said with a smile, patting his son Percy on the shoulder despite his dissatisfaction with Percy's petty bureaucratic manner, and introducing him to Mr. Bagman: "This is my son Percy. He just started working at the Ministry of Magic... This is Fred—no, look at my memory, this is George, sorry, that's Fred, this is Bill, Charlie, Ron, my daughter Ginny, and these are Ron's friends Harry and Hermione."

Then he introduced Louis to Ludo Bagman: "This is Sirius Black. You should have seen his wanted poster, but Sirius on the wanted poster wasn't as handsome as he is now."

Sirius smiled and greeted Mr. Bagman. Mr. Bagman instinctively put his hands in his pockets, as if to reach for his wand, but quickly realized that Sirius was no longer a wanted criminal. So he smiled awkwardly and reached out to shake Sirius's hand.

"This is Harry's classmate, Lewis, and his girlfriend Catherine." Mr. Weasley then pointed to Christa: "This is his maid Christa, that's his other girlfriend Liv, his mother Emma, ​​and Catherine's mother Solarian."

Mr. Weasley really wouldn't stop until he had introduced all of these people.

Upon hearing that Louis had two girlfriends who knew each other's identities and were both there at the same time, Mr. Bagman leaned back strategically, filled with awe.

This child…this child has a truly limitless future…Mr. Bagman’s respect welled up within him; he genuinely admired Louis from the bottom of his heart.

"You're destined for great things," Mr. Bagman said with absolute certainty, shaking Louis's hand.

"I'm sure of it even without you saying so," Louis said with equal certainty, he still had that much confidence.

"Let me introduce you all," Mr. Weasley continued, "This is Ludo Bagman. You know who he is. We got such good tickets thanks to him."

Bagman smiled broadly and waved his hand, as if to say that this was nothing at all.

"Want to place a bet on the game, Arthur?" he asked eagerly, rattling the pockets of his yellow and black robe, which seemed to be full of gold coins. "I've convinced Roddy Ponte to bet with me that Bulgaria will score the first goal—I've given him very high odds because I've considered that Ireland's number three striker is the best I've seen in years—and Agatha Tims Jr. has staked half her eel farm stock on the bet that the game will last a week."

"Oh... alright, alright then," said Mr. Weasley. "Let me think... shall I bet a Galleon on Ireland to win?"

"One Gallon?" Mr. Bagman's face fell immediately, seemingly not expecting his old friend to be so stingy. He appeared somewhat disappointed, but quickly regained his interest. "Very good, very good. Is there anyone else who wants to bet?"

"They're too young to gamble," Mr. Weasley said. "Molly wouldn't allow it..."

Before he could finish speaking, Fred and George quickly pulled a large wad of coins from their pockets.

“We’re betting 137 Galleons, 15 Sickles, and 3 Nats,” Fred said, as he and George quickly pulled out all the rest of their money. “We’re betting on Ireland to win—but Viktor Krum will catch the Golden Snitch.”

"Wow, you two lads have quite a bit of hidden money." Mr. Bagman was surprised by the twins' generous spending—he wondered if the two children in front of him were Mr. Weasley's biological children. How could their father be so stingy while the children were so generous?

George said with no small amount of boasting, "You probably don't know, Mr. Bagman." As he spoke, he pulled a fake wand from his pocket. "We've been selling these magical tricks around the school, and they're very popular among the students."

He was right. The credits Louis gave them were never exchanged for gold coins. Instead, they used some magical gadgets they made themselves to sell among their classmates. Obviously, they didn't exchange them for Galleons, but other students did. Over time, they accumulated a considerable fortune through business.

According to irresponsible speculation from insiders, the Weasley twins earned at least three thousand Galleons from their classmates.

Percy couldn't stand it any longer. He lowered his voice and said in a slightly reprimanding tone, "Do you really want to show Mr. Bagman this worthless junk?"

But Mr. Bagman didn't seem to think the fake wand was anything bad. He took the wand from Fred's hand, and the wand made a loud quacking sound, turning into a yellow rubber duck—the kind of little yellow duck that Europeans often put in the bathtub when they take a bath.

Mr. Bagman was amused and laughed heartily, his childlike face filled with childlike excitement.

"That's fantastic! I haven't seen anything this realistic and interesting in years. I've decided to buy it for five Galleons!" Mr. Bagman suggested with a smile.

"One Galleon will suffice, Mr. Bagman," Fred said to Mr. Bagman, adhering to the principle of honesty and integrity. "That's the price we sell to the students."

But Mr. Bagman didn't want to take advantage of the two children. He took five Galleons out of his pocket and put them in Fred's hand: "No, I think it's worth the price, children. I hope you can open a magic trick shop that's even better than Zonko's Joke Shop."

(End of this chapter)