Too Many People Are Fascinated by Him

"Wait… Harry!" Ron gritted his teeth and called out to the pair as they were leaving.

Harry stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Ron in surprise. "What is it, Ron?"

Sirius also stopped and stared coldly at Ron.

Under their watchful eyes, Ron grew increasingly nervous.

Although he thought Sirius's actions today were strange, he was not 100% certain of this, and even wondered if he was being paranoid.

The jokes that had been thrown at him for talking too much in the past came flooding back, interrupting Ron's questioning courage.

"I mean, if you're really going to leave, shouldn't you let the professor know…" Ron stuttered.

As he spoke, Ron turned to look at the judges. He was not confident in his judgement and wanted to ask for help from the professors.

Ron looked around but could not find any professors or referees, only a few Aurors standing on the outskirts of the maze, barely maintaining order.

"There's no need to look; Dumbledore and the others have received word to go to the village early," Sirius said slowly, a faint smile on his lips.

After a pause, he looked at Harry and continued, "So he asked me to bring Harry along for protection after the game … McGonagall, Moody and the others were there!"

Sirius's reasoning seemed impeccable to Ron, who was beginning to think he was wrong, and his tone became weaker. "Should we tell Ivan… you haven't had time to congratulate him on winning the match…"

'No, that won't be necessary!' Sirius sounded impatient.

However, he quickly realised that his tone was off and tried to salvage the situation by saying, "I mean it's not too late to celebrate later! And Ivan, unlike the rest of us, is staying behind to protect Hogwarts. He can't possibly leave!"

"Now we must go, Harry! Dumbledore will be worried if we wait any longer!" Sirius was not keen on wasting time with Ron, and took Harry by the wrist and dragged him away with him.

Harry had no idea what was going on, but trusted Sirius enough to give Ron an apologetic look and follow.

Ron, who was left alone, hesitated as he thought about Sirius's words. He had a feeling that something was wrong, but he could not pinpoint what.

As he watched Harry and Sirius disappear from the Quidditch pitch, Ron gritted his teeth and decided to discuss the matter with Ivan and Hermione.

"Move… move aside!"

Ron charged into the crowd, trying to get to the podium.

Halfway through, someone threw a few sticks at Ron, and with a loud bang, sparks flew everywhere, and Ron choked on the smoke.

"Damn it!"

Ron cursed under his breath, but he didn't have the time to question which of the bastards had dropped it, so he continued to search the crowd for Ivan.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and placed itself on his shoulder.

Ron was so shocked that he turned around and saw that it was George.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Ronnie boy? Aren't you going to join us in celebrating?" George grinned at him as he shoved a few fireworks into Ron's hands.

Fred joined them. "This is our new and improved Bombing Smoke, which you should have seen, right? Not bad, huh?"

Ron knew they were teasing him, and he was furious.

"I don't have time for this…" Ron said angrily as he shoved George's cigarette back into their arms, then anxiously asked, "Where's Ivan?"

George and Fred looked at each other, unsure why Ron was so angry, but seeing how serious he was, George pointed to the right.

"No! Over there!"

Ron looked in the direction George was pointing, but Ivan was nowhere to be seen.

"What do you want with Ivan? He's got so many admirers, and all the girls are begging to have their pictures taken and autographs signed, and we can't get in. If you want to celebrate with him, you'd better do it later…" Fred tried to comfort her.

"It's important! Sirius just took Harry away and they're leaving Hogwarts and they won't let me come with them. I don't think Sirius is himself today…" Ron said urgently.

"What's wrong with that? Sirius might have wanted to show Harry around Hogsmeade and buy him presents," George suggested.

"Yes, Harry came in second, and Sirius would be very happy if I were him…" Fred agreed.

"Don't you understand? Sirius doesn't care how good Harry is today, that's why I said there was something wrong with him!" Ron scowled at them. "I suspect Sirius may have been Imperiused, like Professor Moody!"

George and Fred looked at Ron in surprise. They had naturally heard of the Imperius Curse, which Moody had given them in detail this year in Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

But now Ron is telling them that Moody and Sirius have fallen for it, which is a huge joke…

Noticing the expressions on their faces, Ron realised that his explanation had been wasted, and decided not to waste any more time on them.

"Hold on, Ronnie boy, I don't know if you're telling the truth, but if you're anxious to see Ivan, we should be able to help you!" George shouted suddenly.

Ron turned in surprise, curious about how they were going to get Ivan out of hiding.

George and Fred laughed at the same time, then threw all of their cigarettes in Ivan's direction.

The next moment, a dozen fireworks exploded in the crowd, and the sound of explosions filled the air.

The crowd erupted into chaos, with screams and abuse, and the young wizards on the outskirts who had seen the commotion turned on George and Fred.

Ron looked at them angrily, wondering if they were there to help or to cause trouble.

George and Fred gave him a knowing look.

As expected, Ivan emerged from the crowd a few seconds later…

(PS: Today's update…)