Love Is In The Air: The Angelic Witch And Draco Malfoy (Book 4)

Draco And Charlie Fight

"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 highest 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 Heroneka, filing into the front seats with the Weasleys, looked down upon a scene the likes of which she 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 their 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, they saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field.

The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family - safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burgler Buzzer...Mrs. Shower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain!...Gladrags Wizardwear - London, Paris, Hogsmeade...

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Charlie was sitting next to her, with Ginny on his other side.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at the very end, then Mr Weasley, Fred and Geroge, Percy, Bill and then the three of them. Heroneka realised that the top box was empty. Only they were sitting there. She looked behind Harry and spotted an house-elf sitting there by herself. Harry and the house-elf talked for a few moments. She wanted to know what was going on, but now they all were seated.

"Why am I sitting so far away from them?" Heroneka had been so lost watching the magnificent stadium that she never realised who she was accompanied by.

"So we could talk," Charlie said casually, chewing some chips. "Want some?' He offered her.

"No" Heroneka shook her head.

"Can I try that?" Charlie asked Heroneka, staring at the Omnioculars Harry had bought for her.

"Yes!!" Heroneka gave it to him.

Charlie started testing them, staring 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..."

"Ewww--" Heroneka shook her head. "Why would you do that?"

Ginny, meanwhile, was skimming eagerly through a velvet-covered, tasseled program.

"'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,"' she read aloud.

"Oh that's always worth watching," said Bill, leaning towards them from the side of Ginny. "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. 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 Cornelius 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. He introduced Harry to the Bulgarian minister and then his eyes scanned for Heroneka.