https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-848-The-Quidditch-World-Cup-Finals/12527436/
Chapter 847: Shadows Lurking in the Background
Chapter 847: Shadows Lurking in the Background
"Sorry, Bagman, but I really do have to leave today," Sirius said with feigned reluctance. "Go ahead and settle the remaining galleons for me."
"You're not staying for the Quidditch World Cup final?!" Bagman exclaimed, his expression one of disbelief. "It's the final match, and you're just going to leave? Harry will be so disappointed. It's been thirty years since Britain last held the Cup; this is a rare opportunity."
"I have to go," Sirius said, glancing at Lupin, who was packing up. He shook his head and added, "But Harry will stay for the final. The Weasley family is coming to watch, and I've asked Arthur to look after the kids."
Bagman was still reluctant to let Sirius leave so easily. The man in front of him had won a large sum of galleons from him and had never lost once.
Damn it! "Look, Arthur is already here," Sirius said, pointing.
Bagman followed Sirius's finger and spotted Arthur Weasley's distinctive red hair.
"Well, do you want to place another bet? Ireland has a high probability of winning this year," Bagman said, switching tactics when he saw that changing the subject wasn't working. "Little Agatha Timms predicts that the final will last a whole week, and she's wagered half the shares of her eel farm."
"I agree with you, and I also believe Ireland will win," Sirius said, engaging Bagman in conversation. A stranger might have thought he was once an excellent Quidditch player. "But I don't think the game will last that long. Viktor Krum of Bulgaria is a formidable Seeker; it's hard to imagine him not catching the Golden Snitch within a week."
"To be honest, I think Krum is better than Lynch, and he's more likely to catch the Snitch and end the game," Bagman said. "But Bulgaria tends to fall behind Ireland in scoring. The skill gap between the players is obvious. So far, Bulgaria has been winning solely because of Krum catching the Snitch. Once they fall more than 150 points behind, they have no chance of victory."
"You make a good point," Sirius said. "So, do you want to continue taking bets?"
"Of course!" Bagman said, his face stretched in a wide grin. "If you bet that Ireland will win but Viktor Krum will catch the Golden Snitch, I can offer you very favorable odds. Don't look at me like that; I just want to beat you once. It's frustrating always losing."
"Alright, then I'll add another bet," Sirius said, seeming to take an interest. "I predict that Ireland will score first, and at the end of the game, the point difference between the two teams will not exceed thirty points. What odds will you give me for those four predictions combined?"
"How about this?" Bagman held up eight fingers.
"Deal," Sirius agreed. "I'll bet 500 galleons. But you have to settle the remaining coins with me first."
"I thought you were confident," Bagman said, his eyes widening in feigned surprise. "This is the highest odds I've offered. It's a rare opportunity."
"That's exactly why I can't bet everything," Sirius said, giving Bagman a pointed look. "Come on, settle up from yesterday."
Bagman reluctantly took out his money to settle the remaining amount, then gave Sirius a piece of parchment before turning to greet Arthur, who was approaching. He didn't notice the slight curve of Sirius's lips.
They had anticipated that Bagman might be reluctant to pay up, so they had placed the exaggerated bet to recover the remaining amount in galleons and prevent Bagman from welching on the debt.
To ensure that Bagman wasn't paying him with the house-elf's coins, Sirius opened the money bag and quickly inspected the coins. Although he didn't think Bagman would dare to do such a thing, it was better to be cautious.
However, Sirius also had a more relaxed way of handling the situation. Following Albert's suggestion, he had intentionally let Ludo Bagman see him hire a goblin to manage his winnings and express his intention to open a store in Diagon Alley.
"Arthur, please take care of Harry and Hermione," Sirius said, shaking Mr. Weasley's hand after Bagman had greeted Arthur.
"Don't worry, I'll look after them," Arthur assured him.
"Anyone else want to place a bet?" Bagman asked, his face wreathed in smiles.
Everyone looked at each other.
"Sirius here has won quite a few galleons from me," Bagman continued. "He even bet that Ireland would win and score first, but Viktor Krum would catch the Golden Snitch, and the final point difference wouldn't exceed thirty points. I offered very high odds, but does anyone else want to take that bet? Sirius has never lost; he's won thousands of galleons from me."
"Really?" Fred and George looked at Sirius together.
"Yeah, I've been betting on the winner, but the odds aren't that high, so I've only won a bit," Sirius admitted. "This year, Ireland has a high probability of winning, and Bagman thinks so, too."
"What are the odds?" George asked curiously.
"This much," Sirius said, holding up eight fingers.
"We'll put in 50 galleons, just like Sirius," Fred and George said after a quick glance at each other. They immediately pulled out a bag of galleons, which included Ron and Ginny's share.
"Kids, gambling isn't a good habit," Arthur said in a low voice. "And that's almost all your savings."
"Arthur is right; gambling isn't a good habit," Sirius said, remembering Albert's words. He didn't want Fred and George to fall into a pitfall. "If you want to make money, you can invest in the Dark Magic Defense magazine I plan to publish."
"Don't be a killjoy, Sirius," Bagman said hastily as he wrote up the Weasley's bet. He then turned to Arthur and asked, "Are you placing a bet, Arthur?"
"Well... I guess I'll bet one galleon on Ireland winning," Mr. Weasley said after a moment's hesitation. He pulled out a single galleon from his pocket.
In truth, the Weasley parents were anxious but didn't want to use their children's money for gambling. However, Bagman had helped them obtain the tickets, so they felt they should give him some face.
"Anyone else?" Bagman asked, looking at Harry, who seemed to be reaching for his galleons.
"Um... if Sirius is going to publish a magazine, I'd like to help out with some money."
"Harry knew the reason behind Sirius' magazine venture, so he invested all the galleons he had intended to bet on Sirius' magazine instead, and Harry planned to contribute a hundred galleons.
Since Albert seemed optimistic about Sirius' magazine, it probably wouldn't end up losing money.
'Don't listen to Black spouting nonsense, that guy doesn't lack money, the galleons he won from me are enough for him to publish several magazines,' Bagman said with a dismissive gesture. However, he was rather satisfied with the outcome. After issuing a receipt to Fred and George, he turned to leave.
'Albert seems to be here with his girlfriend to watch the match,' Fred asked Sirius, 'Have you met up with them?' 'Albert's at the neighboring camp, if you have the time, could you pass these parchments to him and ask him to take a look when he's free?' Sirius said as he handed Fred several parchments with their initial designs for the magazine.
'If we're quick enough, perhaps we can even have the first edition of the Defense Guide out before school starts.' 'Right, Bagman,' Sirius called out to Ludo Bagman, who was about to leave, 'I was wondering if it's too late to place an ad in the Quidditch finals?'
'This... it should still be possible, but advertising fees for the World Cup finals won't be cheap,' Bagman frowned and asked, 'Haven't you not even started on the magazine yet? You want to place an ad already?' 'The content of the magazine has been mostly finalized, it won't take too long, and it's only the 22nd today, we still have several days before September. Even if we can't get our hands on a printing press, we can always borrow Lovegood's,' Sirius said with a smile, 'As long as you can help make this happen, I'm willing to pay a consulting fee.'
As he spoke, Sirius took out ten galleons and placed them in Bagman's hand.
'Alright, I'll go ask about it, but I can't guarantee that it will definitely be added,' Bagman immediately agreed to help, as this wouldn't take up much of his time.
This whole situation seemed rather odd to Bagman, however, what he didn't know was that advertising in the Quidditch finals was actually Albert's idea.
In Albert's opinion, advertising during the World Cup was a great way to quickly establish their presence, and the Dark Mark that would undoubtedly appear after the match would be the perfect promotion. A magazine teaching people how to protect themselves, appearing amidst the panic in the wizarding world, would definitely attract attention. Residents who were lacking a sense of security would surely be interested as long as the magazine's content proved effective, and they would be eager to subscribe. By then, they wouldn't have to worry about money.
Although it would require a large sum of galleons initially, Sirius wasn't worried, as the amount he had won from Bagman was more than enough for them to splurge for a long time.
Moreover, Sirius didn't have a better idea on how to quickly establish their presence, so he chose to trust Albert's judgment and plan. After all, these were essentially free galleons, so he didn't feel any heartache spending them.
Furthermore, Sirius knew that he had to give Albert sufficient trust for him to help plan for the magazine.
'What's this about a magazine?' Ginny asked, looking at Sirius who was walking away with Bagman.
'Sirius is planning to start a magazine related to Dark Arts defense,' Ron explained.
'Apparently, it was Albert's suggestion,' Harry added.
'It's no surprise to us that Albert would suggest this, he's always complaining about how terrible Dark Arts defense is in the British wizarding world, even foreign students are aware of it,' Fred and George weren't surprised, they knew Albert had some peculiar interests, such as the field of Dark Arts defense.
'Alright kids, let's head over to our camp and set up our tent,' Mr. Weasley called out to everyone, 'Lupin, I'll take them over first.' 'Alright, goodbye Arthur, goodbye Harry, Hermione, and Ron,' Lupin waved his wand, quickly packing the tent into his bag, and then waited for Sirius to finish up before joining him to head home together.
'Goodbye, Professor Lupin,' Harry said as he left with Mr. Weasley.
'So, you guys really placed that bet?' Ron, who had been silent until now, suddenly asked Fred and George. Ron couldn't help but be concerned about this matter.
After all, a portion of the galleons Fred and George were betting with belonged to him, and if they lost, he would truly become a pauper.
'There's a high chance, and Albert also thinks Ireland will win,' Fred and George felt that Sirius' winnings from Bagman had something to do with Albert, especially when Sirius asked Albert to invest in the magazine, they were certain of it. After all, the two of them had helped Albert before and were familiar with this kind of operation.
'Stop chatting over there and come help with the tent,' Mr. Weasley called out to the three of them to come help, and it took them nearly half an hour to finally set up the tent, with Mr. Weasley's bumbling assistance.
'We need some water, and we should gather some firewood for fuel,' Mr. Weasley said to everyone, 'Let's divide the tasks.' 'Dad, we'll go find Albert, and we have our stove, so we don't need to start a fire with firewood,' The Weasley brothers threw down their bags and immediately left with the parchments Sirius had given them.
'When they see Albert's tent, they'll definitely be surprised,' Ron muttered, 'That guy's got a bunch of weird stuff, and he even has a house-elf helping him prepare food.' 'A house-elf?' Ginny asked in confusion, as far as she knew, Albert was a Muggle-born wizard.
'He must have hired it!' Hermione said without hesitation.
'Hermione, no one would spend money to hire a house-elf,' Ron felt that Hermione didn't understand the situation at all.
'Maybe Albert is an exception,' Hermione stubbornly insisted, 'He's always been nice to everyone.' 'Maybe, that guy's a weirdo too,' Ron didn't want to discuss this further with Hermione.
'If Mr. Anderson really has hired a house-elf, you should remind him to be careful, or else the Magical Creatures Department of the Ministry of Magic might cause trouble for him,' 'Mr. Weasley, can't wizards hire house-elves?' Hermione asked, frowning.
'Well...' Mr. Weasley's expression became awkward, as if he was afraid of being overheard, he lowered his voice, 'There's almost no precedent for this in the wizarding world, because no wizard would waste galleons to hire them. Of course, as long as no one finds out and it doesn't cause any big trouble, it's actually not a big deal.' (End of Chapter)
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