An Interference of Portraits

It's All About Quidditch

Dai Llewellyn was really accommodating with us both. He immediately agreed to the charity match and I took a deep breath and smiled winningly in the way I knew the magazines liked.

'I'd like to run something else by you,' I said. 'Draco and I were talking about Muggle rugby last night; do you follow it at all?'

Dai's face lit up, 'oh my goodness, yes. You like rugby, Mr Potter?'

'Please, call me Harry. Yeah, I enjoy watching the matches when I get a chance. Saw a few live matches when I was in New Zealand.'

'Amazing, amazing. Did you watch the Welsh game last night?'

'A bit.'

'We hammered Scotland. It was superb.'

I couldn't help grinning at his enthusiasm. It was also playing straight into my hands.

'It got Draco and I talking about why we don't have anything similar to the Home Nations or Six Nations in Quidditch. I mean, we have the leagues for the regional teams and the World Cup and the European Cup for international teams every four years, but what about something annually between our national teams. I was thinking about a Home Nations Championship but setting up as not-for-profit charity. The profits would go to the War Veteran and Orphanage charities, maybe another one too. Personally, I'd like to support a sports charity for underprivileged kids, you know, those who don't get a chance to get on broomstick until they go to Hogwarts and then have to use one of those bloody-awful ancient Cleansweeps.'

There was a sparkle in Dai's eyes that told me I had hooked him.

'I think it's a marvellous idea, I know just the charity,' said Dai. 'Every year?'

I nudged Draco with my knee because I could sense him scowling that I'd hijacked his ideas and expanded on the charities without discussing it with him.

'That would be the plan. We need to talk to the other national teams first. This is very early stages, nothing's really formalised. We just wanted to run the idea past you first. Start putting the feelers out. We'd have to talk to the stadiums too, find a sponsor, set the right time of year. Also, we'd need to get the media involved, but I've got enough contacts that way now,' I laughed light-heartedly as if I loved the sodding media. 'Would you mind just keeping the idea between us for the moment? We'll focus on setting up the charity match first, especially as London has said yes to us holding it in their stadium but we can always talk to the Cardiff grounds' team, see if we can get a better deal, especially as the focus is fundraising. We could set this up as a teaser because I reckon the other home teams will want to be involved too...'

When we got out of the meeting and back to Grimmauld Place, Draco said in an exasperated voice, 'you bloody bullshitting liar!'

'Which bit in particular?'

We made our way down to the kitchen and I put the kettle on.

'Let's start with your sports charity—'

'That was the hook. Didn't you notice? He clearly loves all sport and that means something to him. Did you notice his face when I mentioned the school's Cleansweeps? He totally winced. And I took a punt, he had a letter on his desk from a local club asking for support. We've got to give them something they can relate to. The war was massive and we were at the centre of it, so we get the trauma. But, for some, it was just something happening to others three years ago that evoked sympathy or fear but didn't properly touch them. I learnt that when I was travelling. Funnily enough, a random Dark Wizard in Britain and an eventual battle in a hidden part of Scotland doesn't equate to the centre of the World news for everyone else. For many, it was irrelevant and life has moved on very quickly. Deprived kids though, it pulls heartstrings. It's that and the orphanage that'll pull people in and get them onboard.'