78 The Triwizard Tournament: The Weasleys

Quidditch is a strange, illogical, violent and 'fun' four-ball game. Wizards flying on high-speed brooms catch these balls, throw them at each other and try in every possible way to prevent the opponent from getting points. Some may complain about the unfair value of the Snitch, and others about the long matches, but in England, France and Bulgaria, Quidditch was the most beloved sports there could be.

After Danil told Ron the cookie recipe, Bellatrix and Xeno were finished with their conversation. So the two groups went their separate ways, deciding to spend their time having fun.

"How long do you say games can last?" Danil asked, rubbing his face.

"Until they catch the Snitch. The record for longest is a match that lasted three months." Luna replied, ignoring the way the monster boy started coughing violently. "But you shouldn't worry, both the Bulgarian and Irish players are very good at their chosen positions. It will be over quickly."

The girl's words didn't do much to calm Danil's nerves. But he knew that she wouldn't lie to him.

"Is he that good of a – Catcher? – Is this the right word?"

"Experts say yes, otherwise he would not have been taken to the national team while he's still in school."

Danil and Luna walked around the camp around the stadium, looking at the various games where all wizards and twitches were offered to participate.

Some flew animated kites of various shapes and sizes, controlling their movements with their Wands. Children flew on small brooms just a couple of feet above the ground, chasing golden balls that Danil was sure wasn't real Snitches.

How they were allowed to do all this in front of Muggles, he did not know, nor did he care. Apparently the Obliviators really had too much work to do.

"Playing on the national team without even leaving school is impressive. This Krum sounds like a talanted man."

"Who do I see!" A familiar voice rang out and a hand fell on the boy-monster's shoulder. The fact that they could reach his height surprised Danil, but not their sudden appearance. He could feel them move– feel their magic getting closer. It wasn't like anything he felt before, his Beastial side showed some benefits already.

"Our old friend!" "You were off for only a month." "And already got on the side of Bulgaria?" "You need to reconsider your views." "Ireland will definitely win this match!"

The Weasley twins weren't the kind of people who could be found so easily if they didn't want someone to find them. They already considered the fact that Danil noticed their approach unusual, but not something that deserves attention. At least for now.

"Greetings to the valiant men of England!" Danil answered with the same enthusiasm in his voice. "I take it you're here with your family?"

"Of course!" "The Minister himself invited us." "We think he wants to get to Harry through us though."

The monster boy snorted in displeasure, but calmed down, feeling Luna pat him on the chest. Politics was not something Danil loved. He hated both politics and politicians, preferring to watch the see the bubbling of poisonous shits from afar like a true journalist.

"Our brother said that you also came with your family?" Fred –and it was definitely Fred, he had one more wrinkle in his left eye – said with a smile on his face, playing with his eyebrows in Luna's direction.

"Not yet." The girl replied calmly, continuing to look around in search of something interesting.

The three guys looked at each other awkwardly. Fred muttered a quiet "sorry," and quickly removed his hand from Danil's shoulder. And the monster boy himself was staring at the back of the short blonde's head. It wasn't the first time Luna had said something like that to him, and he knew it wouldn't be the last.

'I'll talk to her about it tonight.' He decided, leaving the problem for later.

Now that the greetings were over, the twins started circling Danil like a pair of sharks that smelled blood in the water, looking at him from every direction.

"Hmm, a press badge?" "Did you find a job, our friend?" "Does it have anything to do with your sudden change in your looks?" "We liked you more as a huge black monster." "No offense." "And no racism."

Luna wrinkled her nose in displeasure. She didn't like it when her work was devalued for no apparent reason. But she quickly forgave the twins, they just liked the original, not the remix. She couldn't blame them for that.

"Wait for my articles in the new issue of Quibbler. And for my new, brilliant and fresh appearance, you can say thanks to Luna." Danil put his hands on the little girl's shoulders and looked at the twins. They straightened up under his gaze and stood at attention like soldiers. "Now tell me, how do four handsome people like ourselves have fun here?"

The smiles on the twins' faces told a lot, but the next tour of the most notorious places of the World Cup.

It turned out that thoughts in the world of carnival entertainment in the normal and magical worlds didn't differ too much from each other. The games of the wizarding world and muggle games looked like two drops of water, it was impossible to even guess who was stealing ideas from whom, but money flowed freely to the owners of carnival attractions.

"It's not very fair, but that's life. Ideas are stolen from everywhere and remade in a new way." Commented Danil, looking at the magical version of the game 'put a ring on a bottle.' Only the bottles were running, jumping and rolling away from the thrown rings, and the rings themselves changed size and followed the bottles like homing missiles. All the player had to do was throw the ring and watch the unusual game of cat and mouse. "But everyone is having fun."

But the games were not limited to "live bottles" alone. There were a lot of games around, it seemed that new ones were coming up right on the spot to cut down a quick buck. Danil's eyes soon began to ache from the overly bright colors of this festive place.

They stumbled upon a magical version of a shooting gallery, which was created only so that people could legally practice their spells. Fortunately, the use of more dangerous spells was prohibited by the rules of the shooting range and two Aurors who stood next to the tent and kept order.

"And that's only half of it!" George said proudly. "I remember there's a chess dueling tournament going on somewhere around here." Fred chimed in. "People are dueling and playing chess at the same time!" "Interesting enough, but strange to look at."

"No. It was enough for me." Danil muttered, holding his bag in his hands, inside of which were toys that he and Luna had won in the games. Although most of them were earned by the girl, for some reason, people didn't want to let a man with a two-and-a-half-meter tall staff to play. "Where are we anyway? It feels like we were thrown here by the crowd."

"Oh!" George looked around. "We are back from where we started, our tents are quite close. Feeling up for some tea?" "Or for lunch, if you don't want to melt."

"I won't say no to tea," Luna nodded.

Seeing the familiar tents and immediately noticing the one belonging to the Weasleys, the teenagers headed there.

"How many people do you have in your family? Eight?" Danil asked. "It feels like every time I count, there are more of you."

"There are seven of us here." George started. "Charlie and Bill work abroad." "So our team consists of our parents, Molly and Arthur." "Older brother Percy." "Younger sister Ginny." "You've seen Ron before." "And your humble servants, Fred and George!" "Who will stop the march right here!"

The group of friends stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary tent. It was made of red and yellow fabric, and a brick chimney protruded from the roof, the heat from which did not ignite the fabric only thanks to magic. Strangely enough, it was one of the most normal ones in the camp.

"That's nice. Even cozy, I would say." Danil commented.

Fred wanted to say something, but a red-haired, rather young-looking woman came out of the tent.

It was hard to give her more than thirty years old, even despite the worn-out clothes that had seen better days. Her choosen clothing didn't fit the woman, but still, it added some kind of homely charm to her. Danil was once again amazed at how well magic affects people. The woman in front of him didn't look like a mother of seven.

"There you are! And with friends – hello Luna, dear." Luna waved back with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Molly Weasley. There are kwyorks flying around you as always, that's good. They always choose kind people."

The woman smiled at the girl and turned back to her sons. It was interesting to see how quickly her face could change its expressions.

"I was just going to look for you, lunch is ready and on the table. Come in quickly."

"Yes ma'am!" Two voices rang out and the boys marched forward, Luna following close behind. Molly shook her head and let them in, only Danil was left outside, he had not yet greeted the Matriarch of the Weasley family.

"And you must be Danil Khromov. My sons have told me a lot about you."

"I hope only the worst." He said with a grin.

"Merlin forbid! All I hear them say is praise, as if you were some kind of god among men. What kind of prank did you help them with, that they are almost ready to accept you into the family?"

"No pranks, ma'am. I'm just keeping them out of trouble."

"For some reason, I thought so." She murmured with a knowing smile.

Danil held the curtain open for Molly and only then went in himself. From the inside, the magic tent looked as cozy as it did from the outside. Soft red armchairs stood at the entrance and around the armchair, and there was a clothes rack to the left of the entrance.

"Oh, more guests!" A man's voice rang out from the small kitchen inside.

Danil blinked when he saw how many redheads were in one place. He was not sure that he had seen at least three natural red-haired people in his entire past life, and now there were seven of them sitting in front of him. The names that the twins had given him slowly took on faces.

Arthur Weasley didn't look much older than his wife, except he had more laugh lines on his face. Thin red hair and a small stubble adorned his head, and old robes hung on his shoulders. But even so, he looked like a kind and strong man at the same time, it was strange to look at him. This combination was quite rare.

The guy sitting next to the twins was definitely Percy. A serious look, smoothly ironed clothes and a poker face. He looked out of place, as if a very bad spy had been planted in this chaotic family. But judging by how actively Fred and George talked to him, he was just like that.

Ginny was sitting next to Luna and the girls were whispering about something. Danil could have sworn that he saw a red tinge on the blonde's cheeks, but she quickly turned away from him. Ginny was a beautiful girl, with a small nose, blue eyes and fiery red hair. She had an air of mischief around her, but hers was more subdued, not like the burning one around her brothers.

"Well, don't just stand there, take a seat! You're a guest after all." Arthur said and Danil complied.

His day was about to become more interesting at the very least, he was sure of it.