A few days later, at three o'clock in the morning.

In the fog of an unknown swamp south of Newport, Wales, two figures carrying horse lanterns walked and argued.

"Damn come here so early, I really took that stupid guy from Bagman, let's stay here for the night!"

A man in a tweed suit with a gold watch threw a large empty box on the ground, tightened his nondescript long rubber galoshes on his lower body, pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, smoked one and lit it.

"Who's to say no, well, it's just a day, bear with me, Vast. Said a man wearing a Scottish Highland pleated skirt and a South American cape.

"Shinobi?"

Holding a gold watch and wearing a tweed suit, Vast angrily spit out a smoke ring and shouted: "Basil, you still help him talk at this time, that old guy gambled with a few goblins late at night, and now I don't know where to be happy with the Bulgarian Meiwa, I really don't know how a person like him became a boss." ”

"Shhhh

Basil, who was wearing a Scottish Highland pleated skirt and a South American cape, quickly covered his companion's mouth and warned: "Be careful, Vast, don't let people hear, that Bagman guy has a small heart. ”

Vast, whose mouth was covered, impatiently broke free from the restraints of his companions, tidied up his collar hatefully, and squinted his eyes:

"What are you afraid of, Basil, you are really cautious enough, Lao Tzu was also admitted to the Ministry of Magic by his ability, can he still open Lao Tzu? Besides, at this point, those wizards are sleeping, who would be stupid enough to come so early?"

"You are discouraged...... Let off steam...... No one dares to do anything to you. Basil hurriedly said good things and patted his colleague on the back.

As soon as Basil finished speaking, there was the sound of clackling footsteps in the mist of the swamp in the distance.

He was slightly stunned and looked at his watch, which showed that the time was three o'clock in the morning. It's a full day before the Quidditch World Cup, who would be here so early, could it be some wizard from abroad?

The irascible Vast next to him closed his mouth in amusement, and the two of them waited quietly in the black rumbling swamp, lifting the horse lantern.

Smack.

Smack.

Smack.

The footsteps are as precise and firm as a clock.

Then, Basil saw a tall figure slowly emerging from the fog of the Welsh swamp at three o'clock in the morning, dressed in a plain gray robe, dressed like a street wizard, but the only peculiarity was that on his head, there was a peculiar cage on top of it, so that people could not see his dress, and his long white hair like a waterfall slipped out of the cage, almost dragging to the ground.

Basil was stunned for a moment by the dress, he had never seen such a peculiar outfit, and the man walked leisurely and gracefully through the fog as if he were walking in the park......

It was his companion Vaster, who usually complained about his boss, who reacted first, he stepped forward and asked solemnly, "Wizard?"

The man in the peculiar birdcage nodded slowly.

"Did you come to see a Quidditch match?"

The peculiar white-haired man nodded again.

Basil hastened to take out a roll of parchment from his pocket, as well as a quill pen.

"Is there an invitation?"

Vaste asked routinely.

The white-haired man shook his head.

"Do you have tickets?" Vaster asked again.

The wizard with the birdcage on his head slowly stretched his palm to his waist, pulled out a crumpled note and handed it over.

Basil looked down, wasn't it a piece of waste paper?

He was about to rebuke the strangely dressed wizard, but the irascible Varys nodded and handed the scrap paper back.

Basil looked at it more closely, and felt that he should be overtired and dazzled, it was obviously a brand new ticket.

He breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Didn't you come here with a portkey?"

"Portkey?" the white-haired man tilted his birdcage-like head.

"Well, I just asked casually, it's not easy to find this location with phantom shifting, hahaha, please register here. ”

Basil smiled familiarly, and handed over the parchment and quill in his hand.

But the man with the birdcage didn't respond to him and didn't sign the paper, which made him scratch his head a little embarrassed, which made him a little embarrassed.

For some reason, although he couldn't see the man's face clearly through the birdcage, he could feel a pair of breathtaking eyes under the birdcage, and he was a little uncomfortable being looked at by this guy.

I saw the white-haired man standing in the moonlight, tilting his head and thinking for a while, and then asked with a smile: "Excuse me, where is the rest area with the most people in the arena?"

The soft voice made Basil feel like a spring breeze, and it seemed that the stars in the entire night sky were brightened at the same time, and he immediately forgot about signing and other things, and used his brain to think: "Uh..... This ....."

But his companion had already thought about it before him, and only listened to Vast's words: "The first venue is relatively crowded, all of them are foreign visitors, and the rest area with the most people is naturally the second venue, and the third venue is the least crowded, which is the rest area of the high-level of the Ministry of Magic. ”

"Oh, that's it, thank you. ”

The peculiar man in the birdcage bowed slightly and bent down.

Then, as he had appeared, he disappeared into the mist of the Welsh night, with clockwise steps.

After the man walked for nearly twenty minutes, Basil came back to his senses from the feeling of a spring breeze, and he slowly frowned: "What kind of strange dress is that?"

"Who knows," Vast looked at the place where the man disappeared with a smile, "I guess it's wizards from other countries, these foreigners are really weird and unique." ”

"Will there be any problems......

Basil muttered to himself, feeling as if he had forgotten something.

Crackling.

There was a soft crackling sound in the mist, followed by a commotion.

"This way, dear!"

"Oh shit, it's a swamp, my shoes!"

"I've told you to be careful!"

"Hurry up, hurry up, don't worry about your shoes, go sign, take advantage of the lack of people, let's find a good position!"

"Haha, yes, grab the position!"

Basil came back to his thoughts, and with the sound of joy, he saw a group of short figures rushing out of the fog, holding lanterns in their hands, looking like seven dwarfs from a fairy tale.

Vastor frowned: "Irish leprechaun....."

As soon as the words fell, a little leprechaun led by him jumped up and threw a worn-out can to Basil, and then snatched the parchment and quill in Basil's hand, and wrote a large list of names on it, and said with a smile while writing: "Your director has drunk too much, haha, he bet on Bulgaria to win, I really hope he won't regret it tomorrow, hahahaha!"

After laughing, he threw the messy parchment to Basil, and they held hands with each other, and jumped happily into the fog.

Tossed by this group of leprechauns, Basil forgot everything. Vast even began to scold again: "The director is personally involved in gambling, what does he think about doing this kind of thing, I bet Bagman can't work in this position for a few years!"

Basil didn't want to pay attention to his companion's complaints, as there was another crackling sound in the distance, and another group of people had teleported in from an unknown place through the portkey.

......

The hectic work began in the wee hours of the morning, with a constant stream of people coming in from all over the world, each speaking in a variety of accents, asking questions, signing, and handing back the portkeys. The big box with the key to the door changed again and again.

It wasn't until five o'clock in the morning that it was getting dark. The flow of visitors has become much sparser, and at this time, Basil is already tired and dizzy, and Vast's face next to him is even more gloomy, and he doesn't even have the strength to scold his boss.

I really hope I won't be so unlucky in the future, Basil thought to himself, on duty at such a time.

......

Crackling.

Accompanied by the sound of a doorkey falling to the ground.

Someone lamented and complained: "Hey, it's old, it's old, I really can't use the door key anymore, every time I use it, it will turn to... Go to nausea. ”

"Who told you to come along, old fellow? ”

"Please, that's Crouch! Do you really think you can meet him without my help? ahem..... Besides, it's wrong to watch the Quidditch World Cup, you're here, can you miss this kind of game?"

"Alright, shut up. A young voice said impatiently: "All of them are weak, if you want to leave, hurry up!"

Basil and Vast straightened up.

This time out of the fog were two figures, one tall and one short, and when they got closer, Basil saw clearly that it was a young man and an old man.

The tall boy had a peculiar appearance, he was about seven or eight meters tall, with a bright head, silver earrings inlaid on his ears, his eyes shining a dull golden light in the early morning sun, and of course, his clothes were more conspicuous.

He was dressed in a blue wizard's robe, with a double shawl on his shoulders, inlaid with a silver eagle pattern, and the tail of the robe was divided into three branches, which looked like the tail feathers of some kind of bird, which was very ornate. At first glance, it is a member of some ancient wizarding family.

In contrast, the old man beside him looked much shabby, he was wearing an old robe, wearing a hood, hunched over his waist, trembling, as if he would lie on the ground and die in the next second.

Because of the boy's peculiar and noble appearance, Basil cheered up, although the Ministry of Magic explicitly forbade wearing wizards' clothes to watch the game, this does not mean that all wizards must abide by the rules, and those who can break the rules are often more worthy of care.

"Hello. Basil stepped forward.

The trembling old man stepped forward, "Hello, my name is Ali Bashir, this one, this is my grandson, Horva Bashir. ”

"Ali Bashir, Horva Bashir ......"

Basil flipped through the list, "Oh, go ahead, the first field, turn left a hundred meters." ”

"Thank you," the old man smiled politely, "Xin... Great work. After saying that, he fell into a stupor, as if he was demented.

The bald boy covered his brow with one hand to block the sun, and with the other hand handed a battered soccer ball to Basil: "Is this the entrance to the Quidditch World Cup?"

"The entrance is inside, and we're in charge of recovering the key to the door, as well as the signature. Basil took the battered soccer ball and threw it into the box: "Oh, of course, if you're a guest invited directly by the Ministry of Magic, you don't have to sign it." ”

The bald boy nodded, "We're looking for Barty Crouch." He invited us here, how do we get there?"

"That's right. ”

Basil looked straight and looked for it on the parchment list, "Barty Crouch..... Barty Crouch...... Oh, found it, and walked about a halfway ahead, at the front of the third field. ”

"Thank you. ”

The bald boy shaded the sun and bowed politely. Then he pulled the old man next to him who was about to die: "Let's go, don't be in a daze!"

The old man reacted and complained, "You should feel sorry for me, Horva, I'm old and need enough sleep, I can't toss like you......"

"You don't come," said the young man lazily, "you won't die if I die." ”

"Crow's mouth, you want me dead so much?"

"Hmph, in the East, there is an old saying, I don't know if you have heard it, it is called - to be old and not die is to be a thief. ”

"You're ......!"

Accompanied by the old man's angry muttering.

The two figures, one old and one young, also disappeared into the morning mist.

Basil was confused, and he turned his head to look at Vaster: "Is that the attitude of the grandson to his grandfather?"

Vaste stared at his tired eyes and shrugged indifferently: "Maybe this is the virtue of foreigners." ”

The peculiar grandfather and grandson have just left.

There was another crackling sound in the distance, this time a large crowd.

"Five and seven o'clock, from Weasel Mountain. Vast said weakly.

Then a large crowd rushed out of the morning mist, led by a red-haired man in a golf shirt and old jeans, the pants were a little too big on him, and he tied them with a wide cow belt.

"Good morning, Basil. ”

The red-haired man said, picking up a boot from the ground and handing it to Basil.

Basil took the boot a little tiredly and threw it in the trash: "Hello, Arthur, not on duty, huh? Some people are so lucky...... We stayed here all night...... You'd better get out of the way, for a great crowd is coming from the Black Forest at a quarter past five.

Wait a minute, I'll find out where your camp is...... Weasley ...... Weasley ......"

Basil searched the parchment list, "about a quarter of a mile away, and the first field in front of me is." The camp caretaker is Mr. Roberts. Diggory ...... You're in the second field...... Find Mr. Payne. ”

"Thank you, Basil. Arthur Weasley said.

He beckoned behind him, and a large group of boys and girls giggled past them, two identical red-haired twins who playfully stuck their tongues out at the exhausted Basil.

When they had all left, Vaster said numbly:

"It's really hilarious. ”

"Who says it's not,"

Basil rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I hope these people don't make any trouble." ”