Harry Potter 04 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by authors_sort Page B

binoculars, except that they were covered in all sorts of weird knobs and dials.
    ‘Omnioculars,’ said the saleswizard eagerly. ‘You can replay action … slow everything down … and they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it. Bargain – ten Galleons each.’
    ‘Wish I hadn’t bought this now,’ said Ron, gesturing at his dancing shamrock hat and gazing longingly at the Omnioculars.
    ‘Three pairs,’ said Harry firmly to the wizard.
    ‘No – don’t bother,’ said Ron, going red. He was always touchy about the fact that Harry, who had inherited a small fortune from his parents, had much more money than he did.
    ‘You won’t be getting anything for Christmas,’ Harry told him, thrusting Omnioculars into his and Hermione’s hands. ‘For about ten years, mind.’
    ‘Fair enough,’ said Ron, grinning.
    ‘Oooh, thanks, Harry,’ said Hermione. ‘And I’ll get us some programmes, look –’
    Their money bags considerably lighter, they went back to the tents. Bill, Charlie and Ginny were all sporting green rosettes too, and Mr Weasley was carrying an Irish flag. Fred and George had no souvenirs as they had given Bagman all their gold.
    And then a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and, at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the pitch.
    ‘It’s time!’ said Mr Weasley, looking as excited as any of them. ‘Come on, let’s go!’

 
     
— CHAPTER EIGHT —
     
The Quidditch World Cup
    Clutching their purchases, Mr Weasley in the lead, they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing. The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; Harry couldn’t stop grinning. They walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until at last they emerged on the other side, and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. Though Harry could see only a fraction of the immense gold walls surrounding the pitch, he could tell that ten cathedrals would fit comfortably inside it.
    ‘Seats a hundred thousand,’ said Mr Weasley, spotting the awestruck look on Harry’s face. ‘Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle-Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they’ve suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again … Bless them,’ he added fondly, leading the way towards the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.
    ‘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 upwards 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 goalposts. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Harry, filing into the front seats with the Weasleys, looked down upon a scene the like of which he 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 pitch. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light that seemed to come from the stadium itself. The pitch looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the pitch stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at Harry’s eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant’s hand was scrawling upon it and then wiping it off again;