Section I

As the afternoon passed, a feeling of excitement spread over the camp like a cloud that could be touched. At dusk, even the silent summer air seems to tremble in anticipation. As the night shrouded hundreds of eagerly waiting wizards like a curtain, the last vestiges of camouflage vanished: the Ministry seemed to succumb to the inevitable tendency to stop working against the people, allowing the obvious signs of magic to pop up everywhere.

Every few steps, a phantom hawker descends from the sky, holding a sign and pushing a cart, filled with strange gadgets. There are glowing rose-shaped badges – green for Ireland and red for Bulgaria – and the names of the players are screamed; There are green tall hats decorated with clovers dancing in the wind; There is a Bulgarian belt, and the lion that adorns it will really roar; There are the national flags of the two countries, and when they are waved, their national anthems are played; There is also a small model of a fire crossbow arrow that can really fly; There are statues of famous team members for collection, and those small statues can walk around in the palm of your hand with a triumphant look.

But at the moment, the bustle around him seemed to have nothing to do with Sauron—he stood alone at the door of the tent, his eyes closed, as if listening to something, the black phoenix crouching on his shoulder, its feathers glowing with a faint cold glow in the night. After a long time, Sauron spread out his left hand, wisps of black fire gathered in his palm, and a strange magic eye loomed in the flames, inlaid with pupils like blades. Sauron stared at the magic eye in his hand for a moment, then stretched out his right hand and gently brushed it over the black phoenix, and a black feather remained in his hand silently.

Sauron pinched the black phoenix feather to his fingertips and pointed it at the burning Eye - and in an instant, the feather burned violently, and the black flames churned, turning into hideous faces and silent wails. Sauron muttered an obscure incantation, then blew the feather in his hand into a dozen balls, fluttering through the air like ghostly fire, and turning into black birds—black crow-like bodies, with only a strange yellow one-eyed head.

"It's up to you, Forbertol." Sauron stroked the black phoenix's feathers and said quietly, "Go, old man, find those little mice." ”

Phobertol let out a soft cry and flew off Sauron's shoulder, and the strange black birds disappeared into the darker night with the black phoenix.

Sauron stood there, squinting his eyes in the direction of the Dark Phoenix's disappearance, not knowing what he was thinking, when Fleur's voice came from the tent: "What are you doing, dear, come and help, bacon is about to fry-"

"Oh, come on." Sauron replied, gasping for breath and pulling open the door to the tent and slipping inside......

Since the game started in the evening, and it was not known how long it would last, so in order not to watch the game hungry, Sauron and the maiden had a somewhat hurried dinner in the tent. By the time the two men had changed their clothes and stepped out of the tent, the atmosphere in the camp was so lively that the fan noise almost turned the camp upside down, and the words "Ireland", "Bulgaria" or "Krum" could be faintly heard.

Suddenly, a low and thick gong sound was heard from somewhere in the distance of the woods, and immediately, thousands of red, green, and green lanterns bloomed brightly on the trees, brightening the road to the arena, and in an instant a wave of cheers seemed to be set off on the camp, and the originally chaotic crowd began to move slowly towards the defense line of the arena.

Sauron and the girl wore the same couple outfit as before, holding hands, and walked in the bustling crowd - the Ministry of Magic was forbidden to apparition in the area outside the gymnasium due to safety concerns, so all Sauron could do was use magic to open up a small space around him, so that the two of them could walk more calmly in the dense flow of people. Feeling the frenzy and excitement of the crowd around him, Sauron, who had never been very interested in sports competitions, couldn't help but mutter, "A group of brain-dead. ”

"What did you say, dear?" Fleur asked aloud, surrounded by shouting and laughter, and the sound of chaotic music, making it difficult to hear even face-to-face conversations.

"I'm talking." Sauron looked at the girl with a smile on his face and said out in a sincere voice, "You look so beautiful tonight, my dear. ”

Following the lantern-lit passage into the woods, the two men came out of the other side of the woods after about twenty minutes of the flow of people, and before their eyes they could see a part of the grand walls of the gymnasium, illuminated by countless huge projected light sources, showing a dazzling golden color.

Sauron and Fleur walked to the nearest entrance, which was already filled with yelling wizards.

"First class ticket." The Ministry of Magic wizard at the entrance looked at their tickets and said, "Box Twelve!" Follow the sixth staircase all the way up to the top. ”

The fuchsia carpet was laid on the staircase leading to the top floor of the stadium, and the two men followed the crowd up the stairs, slowly entering the stands on the left and right. The two walked up until they reached the top of the stairs, where they found themselves in a small box, located at the top of the gymnasium, facing the golden goalposts, and looking across the pitch to see the VIP box with an extended podium, where the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, would announce the start of the game.

Sauron looked around, there were twenty purple and gilded chairs in the box, divided into two rows, Sauron and the girl made the front row, looking down, and even he felt a little shocked by the sight - 100,000 wizards were seated one after another, and those seats were arranged in a ladder around the oval gymnasium. Every qiē here is shrouded in a mysterious golden light, which seems to come from the stadium itself. From their condescending vantage point, the arena looks as smooth as velvet. On each side of the court were three pitching hoops, fifty feet high; To their right, almost parallel to Sauron's line of sight, was a large blackboard with golden text flashing from it, as if an invisible hand was writing on the blackboard and then erasing it, and Sauron noticed that the flashing words were advertisements for the audience in the arena.

"This place is wonderful, my dear." The girl said excitedly, she looked at Sauron, raising her eyebrows slightly, "It seems that you have a lot of friends in the Ministry of Magic." ”

Sauron shrugged his shoulders, there were twelve boxes on the top floor of the stadium, and the specifications were about the same, which meant that there were less than 300 first-class tickets sold for this World Cup. Compared with the total number of more than 100,000 spectators, this box ticket of less than 300 is definitely not much, except for celebrities and political dignitaries, they are basically digested by the Ministry of Magic, if it weren't for Epikos, I'm afraid Sauron wouldn't be easy to get.

"Aha, now all we have to do is wait for the game to start." The girl said excitedly, she took out a small telescope and looked around in front of her eyes - it had just been bought on the road, and it could be replayed at normal speed or in slow motion, and it could quickly flash an analysis of the game if needed.

"Honey, are you sure you're not going to buy one, this thing works great......" said the girl, looking through the binoculars.

"Well, I probably don't need that." Sauron said nonchalantly, narrowing his eyes and scanning the arena, then his gaze lingered on the VIP box No. 1 on the opposite side of the arena, where several familiar figures were clearly visible in his slightly narrow golden pupils hundreds of feet away......

Section II

Harry and the Weasleys had just taken their seats in box number one behind the podium, and Harry looked around to see who else was sitting with them. There wasn't much in the box yet, except for a surprisingly small guy sitting in the penultimate seat in the row behind them. Short calves, with a tea towel around his body to wipe the tea set, as if wearing a loose robe, burying his face in two hands, a pair of long, bat-like ears trembling slightly.

"Is that a house elf?" Following Harry's gaze, Hermione asked uncertainly.

Harry nodded, having seen Dobby and Bono, and he could tell that they were house-elves all along. Harry scanned the elf's surroundings to find the elf's owner, but his eyes couldn't help but stop on the seat next to the elf - it was empty, but Harry had a vague sense that there was something there.

Hearing someone speak, or sensing Harry's gaze, the little one looked up and let go of his fingers, revealing a pair of huge brown eyes and a nose shaped and sized like a large tomato.

"Good evening, miss, sir." The elf whispered from between his fingers, a high-pitched voice, at least sharper than Dobbie and Bono's, a slightly trembling, harsh voice, so Harry suspected that - though house-elves had a hard time distinguishing between genders - that this one was probably female.

"My name is Twinkle, sir—you—" She said nervously as she glanced into Harry's eyes, but when her gaze fell on the scar on Harry's forehead, her dark brown eyes opened like two small dishes. "You must be Harry Potter!"

"Yes." Harry nodded, not surprised that the elves recognized him.

"Oh, Dobby talks about you all day long, sir!" She said, lowering her hands a little, with a look of awe on her face, "Do you remember Dobby?" ”

"You know Dobby, how is he?" Harry was a little surprised, he didn't expect the little guy to know Dobby, so he turned his attention to her, and asked curiously, "Is he used to living after he is free?" ”

"Ah, sir," said Twinkle, shaking her head, "ah, sir, to say something disrespectful to you, sir, I am afraid it will not do him any good if you free Dobby." ”

"Why?" Harry was surprised and asked, "Is there something wrong with him?" ”

"Dobby's mind is full of freedom, sir," said Twinkle sadly, "all unrealistic ideas, sir. He can't find a job, sir. ”

"Why can't I find a job?" Harry asked.

Twinkle lowered her voice by half an octave and whispered, "He wants to be paid, sir." ”

"Remuneration?" Harry asked blankly, "How- shouldn't he be paid?" ”

Twinkle seemed frightened by the thought and closed her fingers so that her face was half covered again.

"House-elves are not paid to work, sir!" She shrieked from behind her fingers, "No, this doesn't work, it doesn't work." I said to Dobby, and I said, find yourself a decent family to settle in, Dobby. He knows all day long that ** is fun, sir, that is not appropriate for a house-elf. I said, you play around like this, and then I'll hear that you're like a lowly goblin, and you've been caught and questioned by the Magical Beasts Management Division. ”

"But he should have some fun, too." Harry said.

"House-elves shouldn't be fun, Harry Potter," Sparkle said earnestly, covering her face with her hands, "house-elves are completely at the behest of their masters. I'm afraid of heights, Harry Potter—" she glanced to the edge of the box and took a breath of cold air, "but my master sent me to the top box, and here I am, sir. ”

"He knows you have a fear of heights, so why did he send you here?" Harry asked, frowning disapprovingly.

"Master-Master wants me to give him a seat, Harry Potter. He's too busy," Twilight turned his head and looked at the empty seat next to her, "Twilight would have liked her to return to her master's tent, Harry Potter, but Twilight did as she was told, Twilight was a very good house-elf." ”

She looked at the edge of the box again in fear, and quickly covered her eyes completely. Harry looked back at everyone.

"That's a house-elf?" Ron whispered, "What a weird guy, huh?" ”

"Dobby is even weirder." Harry said with emotion, adding in his heart, "It's the little guy named Bono from the Sauron family who looks the most normal."

Now, Harry didn't care much about the seat next to the elf, as she had said, to give her master a seat, maybe she had some kind of magic on it, and the attention turned to the arena again, Ron adjusting his panoramic telescope while Hermione flipped through her velvet-covered tasseled race manual.

As the clock passed, Harry condescendingly glanced at the grand arena and the dense crowd of spectators, feeling a certain inexplicable joy and power in his heart, as if the frenzy and excitement of the audience, mixed with the tidal noise, had turned into wisps of power and poured into his body......