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Lily didn't come out of her room until that evening when they had dinner. And she didn't emerge from the tent until they had to leave to get to the stadium.
When Lily had found out that she was going to the Quidditch World Cup with all the Weasley's during the summer, she thought that the Quidditch pitch would be similar to the one that they have at Hogwarts but Merlin is she wrong.
When they get to the stadium that morning, Lily is in awe. The stairs into the stadium are carpeted in rich purple. On the pitch, three fifty foot golden goal posts stand on either side of the long oval field whilst seats wrap around the edge of it.
When Lily sits down next to Fred, she looks out of the window to see a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing keeps dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand is scrawling upon the blackboard then wiping it off again; watching it, Lily sees that it's flashing advertisements across the field.
The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family – safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Bludger Buzzer... Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain!... Gladrags Wizardwear – London, Paris, Hogsmeade...
Lily tears her eyes away from the sign and looks over her shoulder to see who else is sharing the box with them. So far it is empty apart from them, except for a tiny creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind them. She turns back around to watch the pitch until Hermione says, "A display from the team mascots will precede the match."
"Oh that's always worth watching," Mr Weasley says. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show."
The box fills gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr Weasley keeps shaking hands with people who are obviously very important wizards. Percy jumps to his feet so often that he looks as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, arrives, Percy bows to low that his glases fall off and shatter. Highly embarrassed, he repairs them with his wand and thereafter raimains in his seat.
Lily pays no attention to everyone walking in and Fudge introducing them to Harry, because he's the famous child out of the two of them and she's just invisible, until she hears Fudge say, "Lucius." which causes her to spin her head around to find Lucius Malfoy, Draco and Mrs Malfoy standing in the box.
"Ah, Fudge," Mr Malfoy says, holding his hand out. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"
"How do you do, how do you do?" Fudge asks, smiling and bowing to Mrs Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr Oblansk – Oblansk – Mr – well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else – you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"
Lily can see the tension rise between the two as they stare at each other. "Good lord, Arthur," he says softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house would't have fetched this much?"
