Business Opportunity

Oleandra's family settled themselves in the Top Box's second row of seats, right behind Dobby, who was still sound asleep, despite the noise in the stadium. Over the next half hour, people gradually began streaming into the Top Box; mostly Bulgarians. Every so often, Oleandra would turn around and see Arthur Weasley, Ginny's father, getting up to shake hands with important people.

Eventually, even Fudge arrived in the box, accompanied by a man that Oleandra recognized from the pregame gala as the Bulgarian Minister of Magic. When Fudge arrived, Maxwell and Iris urged their children to get up from their seats to come and greet the Minister with them.

"Harry Potter, you know," Fudge was saying to the Bulgarian Minister, Oblansk. "Harry Potter… oh come on now, you know who he is… the boy who survived You-Know-Who… you do know who he is—"

"The scar!" said Oblansk excitedly while pointing at Harry's forehead. "The famous scar! To think a baby could resist the Killing Curse with barely an injury!"

"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Harry. "I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his House-Elf's saving him a seat... Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places... ah, and here's Lucius! I see he's also got his House-Elf saving him a seat."

"Hello, Fudge," said Iris Greengrass before the Malfoys could cut her off. "Thank you for the tickets; it was much appreciated. You remember my husband; and I believe you've already met my daughters…"

"How do you do?" said Oleandra, Daphne and Astoria simultaneously.

"Well met, young ladies…" said Fudge, before frowning. "I'm sorry; I was under the impression that your two eldest were twins; not your two youngest…"

"Your first impression was correct, Minister," explained Daphne. "I really am Oleandra's twin; it's just that I'm ageing so slowly that I resemble my little sister Astoria more than my actual twin."

At that moment, the Bulgarian Minister suddenly inserted himself into the conversation. And surprisingly, he was speaking in perfect English.

"You know Bulgarian?" said Oblansk suddenly. "To think little girls your age would learn our language… I'm moved!"

"What?" said Daphne distractedly. "When did I ever…"

"What's going on, O'blanks?" said Fudge. "Do you need something? Goodness, if only Barty was here…"

"I can actually speak your language," said Oblansk to the Greengrass sisters with a wink, "but it's funnier watching this man mime everything."

"It's the Translation Earrings, Sis," whispered Oleandra into Daphne's ear. "We never took them off after returning from Nidavellir; whoever's listening to us talk is hearing us speak in their mother tongue, and we likewise hear everything they say in English."

"It's no use, girls," sighed Fudge. "The man doesn't speak a word of English."

"I've got just the thing," said Oleandra, fishing out two pieces of paper from her pouch, before whispering, "Ansuz, Gebu. The Gift of Tongues."

"Mr. Minister," said Oleandra just low enough that Oblansk wouldn't hear, "If you'd like to understand Bulgarian, I'd be glad to help you; simply stick these to the interior of your bowler hat. I'm a Runesmith; you can trust my work."

"A Runesmith, at your age?" said Fudge incredulously. To his surprise, Oleandra's parents simply nodded. Well, what did he have to lose by doing as she said? He stuck the two pieces of paper into his hat, before putting it back on.

"Oblansk, can you understand me?" said Fudge hesitantly to his Bulgarian counterpart. 

"Fudge, you old fool, you had me going!" exclaimed Oblansk in astonishment. "You could speak Bulgarian all this time? I too was pretending not to know your language! Well, you know what they say; great minds think alike! Bwahaha!"

"Haha!" said Fudge weakly, before turning to Oleandra and hissing under his breath, "How much would you charge to make a pair of these for every member of the Foreign Affairs and Sports Department and the Department of International Magical Co-operation?"

"Er—" said Oleandra. "How many people is that, exactly?"

"Ahem!" said a voice coming from further up the stairs. "Fudge, how are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

It seemed as though Lucius Malfoy had grown tired of waiting around for the Minister's conversation with the Greengrasses to end.

"How do you do, how do you do?" said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk— Obalonsk— Mr.— well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, who apparently thinks it's very funny to let other people make a fool of themselves. And let's see, who else— you already know the Greengrass family, I'm sure— You know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

Now everyone around was watching in interest; whenever Arthur and Lucius met, sparks would fly! The last time they had met face-to-face, they had come to blows, and even Oleandra's father Maxwell hadn't been spared, accidentally receiving a nasty blow to the shin from Lucius.

"Good lord, Arthur," Lucius said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Oleandra was also curious to know which person had helped the Weasleys get such good tickets; they sure as Hel hadn't bought them, that was for sure. Everyone knew the Weasleys were poorer than dirt.

"Lucius and Iris have just given a very tidy sum as a contribution to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur," said Fudge. "They're here as my guest."

"How— how very nice of them," said Arthur Weasley, with a very strained smile.

With everything that needed to be said having just been said, the three members of the Malfoy family headed down to their front-row seats, but not before leaving Hermione with a contemptuous look. It looked as though every member of their family was a blood supremacist, then. The Greengrass family members also regained their seats; no use standing around until the match started.

"Dobby!" snarled Lucius once he reached his seat. "You're sleeping!? You lowly, lazy creature; how dare you cast dishonour on the Malfoy name! You know what this means; beatings!"

"Oh no!" Oleandra heard Ginny whisper in horror. "I forgot to wake him up!"