Chapter 93
Soren and his group arrived at the edge of the first camp area, where the tents began to look ordinary, with some appearing quite old.
From a distance, Soren spotted a wooden sign that read "Weasley." Harry, Ron, and Hermione were struggling to set up a tent in a Muggle way. For some reason, he felt that Hermione seemed a bit thinner. Ever since their falling out at the end of last semester, Soren had not spoken to Hermione again; he thought that meeting would only make things awkward, so he took a detour to avoid the Weasley family's camp.
They entered the second camp area.
The administrator at the entrance, Mr. Payne, was also a Muggle, having his memory modified by a Ministry of Magic official. Perhaps the caster was too tired, and there was a problem during the modification process, causing Mr. Payne's memory to become confused, as he kept mumbling, "How many floors to carry a bag of rice, how many floors to carry a bag of rice..."
As soon as they stepped into the camp area, Astoria gasped in amazement. Looking around, the entire camp seemed like a green ocean, with each tent covered in layers of clover, resembling small green hills.
"These are supporters of the Irish team; the clover is a symbol of Ireland," Daphne explained.
At that moment, Soren heard someone calling his name from behind.
"Soren!"
He turned around to find it was Cedric Diggory.
"Oh, it's you, Ced," Soren said. He had some acquaintance with Cedric; they had gotten to know each other after the Trials of Merlin, and it was inevitable that they exchanged pleasantries upon meeting.
Cedric's father, Amos Diggory, was a wizard with a short brown beard and a red face. He worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic and was clearly proud of his son, often boasting to others that Cedric had defeated the famous Harry Potter in a Quidditch match, which made Cedric quite embarrassed.
The Diggory family once had a glorious period, with their ancestor Eldritch Diggory being a beloved Minister of Magic. During the 18th century, Eldritch established the Auror recruitment program for the first time and formed a committee to seek alternatives to Azkaban, at least to remove the Dementors that served as guards. Unfortunately, after he passed away from dragon pox, the plan was ultimately shelved.
It was surprising that just over a hundred years later, the Diggory family had fallen to this point. Amos did not hold a high position in the Ministry, and they couldn't even afford tickets to the first camp area. No wonder Amos had such high hopes for Cedric, perhaps hoping he could restore the family's former glory.
Then Soren encountered the tent of the Bones family. Aunt Amelia warmly welcomed Soren and the others inside and offered them a cup of herbal tea.
Susan was not in the tent; Aunt Amelia said she had gone out to find Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, and the others. During their time at Hogwarts, the four of them, including Justin Finch-Fletchley, formed a small circle and often spent time together, developing a strong bond.
The front half of the second camp area was almost entirely filled with Irish fans, including the Diggorys and the Bones, who were all there. Given Amelia's status, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to secure a spot in the first camp area, but she preferred to stay with other fans since she was a supporter of the Irish team. The tents in the back half looked much more ordinary, though there were some exceptions.
"Hey, whose tent is that?" Astoria suddenly asked, her voice laced with uncontainable curiosity.
Everyone turned to look in the direction she was pointing. It was a beautifully crafted tent, shaped like three stories, strictly following the style of Muggle tents but still exuding luxury and grandeur.
The open space in front of the tent was neatly trimmed with flowers and plants, making it look clean and tidy, quite different from the typical wizard tents. Even more strangely, there were no people around the tent, not even a house-elf. This was unimaginable for wizarding families that valued taste and display.
"Maybe the whole family went out for a while," Daphne said, not quite believing her own guess.
"It shouldn't be, the World Cup is about to start, and if we were to go out to play, it wouldn't be now. Moreover, this is the wilderness, and there aren't any famous attractions nearby," Soren shook his head.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, how may I assist you?" With a crackle, a house-elf suddenly appeared in the air, startling Astoria.
The little creature had a pair of huge brown eyes and a nose like a big tomato, and its voice was very high-pitched, probably a female house-elf.
"Sorry to interrupt, may I ask where this is?" Soren politely asked the house-elf.
"This is the tent of the Crouch family, Winky is here to serve Mr. Crouch."
"Crouch? Barty Crouch? Director of the International Cooperation Department?" Soren immediately reacted, "Is Mr. Crouch here as well?"
"Master is currently out on business, Winky has been tasked with guarding the tent," the house-elf said with big eyes, her tone firm and stubborn, "Since Master sent Winky to be here, Winky will stay here. However, I'm afraid I can't allow the ladies and gentlemen to visit Master's tent, Winky doesn't have that authority."
"Then excuse us, Winky." Soren and his companions left the tent, only Astoria frequently looked back to admire the somewhat eerie canvas structure.
"Don't you find it strange, Soren?" Meredith seemed to have thought of something, "Since Mrs. Crouch passed away, isn't Mr. Crouch the only one left in the family, yet he has such a big tent? Are they planning to open a hotel here?"
"Yes!" Daphne echoed, "With his family background and status, it seems unnecessary for him to choose a tent in the second camp area. He's also one of the organizers of this World Cup!"
Soren didn't respond.
Seeing everyone fall silent, Astoria changed the subject: "I really want to know what the Bulgarians have hung up in their tent?"
"Alright, let's go check out the next camp area!" Soren decided.
The fan zone for the Bulgarian team was relatively normal, not as exaggerated as the Irish fan zone. The biggest feature was that a Bulgarian flag was hanging on the tent, and the top was adorned with the same poster, featuring a very gloomy face with thick, dark eyebrows, the face constantly blinking and frowning.
"That's Viktor Krum, the Seeker for Bulgaria!" Daphne explained to Soren, as the three girls knew that he wasn't very keen on Quidditch, so he wasn't familiar with these things. "He's only eighteen and still studying at Durmstrang."
"He looks so gloomy," Soren said, "as if someone owes him money and hasn't paid it back."
Daphne couldn't help but laugh, "He's a genius, really amazing! Many critics say he's the best Seeker of this century, and you say that about him..."
Astoria held the opposite opinion, "Hmph, if it weren't for Brother Soren not being interested in Quidditch, I wouldn't believe he could be better than Brother Soren!"
Daphne was left speechless. To be fair, they hadn't seen Soren's performance on the field, but it really seemed like nothing could stump him. If Soren were to get into Quidditch, he could indeed become a terrifying presence on the field.
"Tori, thank you for thinking so highly of me, I'm not good at flying..." Soren said seriously, joking around.
Meredith lightly snorted, as if to say, "Who believes that?"
To be honest, regardless of Soren's flying skills, he could definitely become the best Seeker; under the gaze of the Divine Insight, the Golden Snitch would have nowhere to hide.
Then, the group came to a strangely shaped tent, which was a black cylindrical structure, resembling a rook in wizard chess, similar to a castle tower.
The entrance of the tent was covered in mistletoe, and there were some peculiar little plants in the small clearing ahead. Soren could barely identify a bump vine, as it was mentioned in "A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" as an aggressive and dangerous plant. Soren could roughly guess whose tent this was.
Sure enough, in an unusual outfit, Luna Lovegood saw Soren inside the tent and hurriedly ran out.
When Luna was in school, she often faced exclusion and even bullying from her classmates due to her strange outfits and unconventional personality. However, her kind nature meant she didn't care much about it; she chose tolerance and kindness and didn't let it change her optimistic view of life. Luna was very intelligent, and with Soren's discreet help, she achieved the highest overall score in her grade at the end of last term, even surpassing Ginny Weasley.
"Soren, when did you arrive? My dad and I came two weeks ago," the girl said, her gaze still dreamy, but her tone couldn't hide her excitement. "You know, he's the editor of 'Singing Out of Tune,' and we came early to interview the Ministry of Magic officials in charge of setting up the venue, as well as fans from other countries."
"I came with Daphne and the others, just arrived this morning," Soren replied gently. "You've been here for a while; have you discovered anything new and interesting?"
"Yes!" Luna took Soren's hand. "Come with me; I'll show you!"
Daphne and Meredith exchanged knowing glances at Soren. Astoria suddenly felt a bit sour; Soren was great, but he was just too popular.
Soren smiled awkwardly and gestured for everyone to follow Luna into her tent.
Inside the tent, the space was small but filled with many strange and interesting items.
In one corner of the hall, there was a small fish tank with over ten colorful ball fish swimming around. It was said that Luna had caught them herself from the creek in Saint Catchpole Village. Beside the fish tank, there was a flower pot floating with fluffy white tufts that emitted a humming sound.
Luna brought out four wooden teacups, steam wafting from them. Soren and the three girls took a sip, and a taste somewhat like scallions rushed down Soren's throat, nearly making him choke.
"This is your first time drinking Godegen tea, right?" Luna laughed at him. "Most people react like that the first time."
Luna pointed to a large round plant growing in a pot. "This is Godegen; it can be used to drive away the big-mouthed ball fish in the river to avoid being bitten while swimming." The Godegen looked like an oversized green onion.
"There are even more interesting things outside! Come with me." Then, Luna led them to an open area in front of the tent filled with small plants. She pointed to a harmless-looking hollow tree stump. "This is the Knob Vine; see how the stump is covered in knobs? Actually, the knobs can produce pods as big as grapefruits, but if you want to collect its pods—"
Luna poked a knob with a small dry branch, and suddenly five or six thorny vines shot out from the stump's opening, reaching for Luna. She deftly threw the dry branch away, and it was ensnared by the vines.
Daphne couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't this even more dangerous than a devil's snare?"
Meredith's face turned pale. "I remember reading about this plant in the 'Flesh-Eating Trees of the World' series; it's one of the quite dangerous plants."
Luna smiled and said, "Don't worry; it's just its defense mechanism. If you don't provoke it, the Knob Vine is very well-behaved and won't harm anyone."
Ahem, girl, are you sure your last name is Lovegood? Not Hagrid?
After introducing the Knob Vine, Luna went on to describe the purple flower spoon-leaf plant, and finally, they arrived at a short shrub hanging with numerous orange-red fruits that looked like small radishes.
Luna picked a few fruits and handed them to everyone. "Try this; it's called the Airship Plum, and it can enhance the consumer's ability to accept unusual things. My earrings are made from this." Luna's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Soren knew that Luna possessed a special intuition, capable of discerning true friends. Without hesitation, he picked up a crispy snack and bit into it, swallowing it down. The other three girls, seeing this, followed suit and did the same.
Seeing this, Luna unconsciously revealed a radiant and charming smile. The sunlight slanted down on her long, light golden hair, shining with a golden luster like sand. Coupled with her dreamy, dazed eyes, the girl before Soren had an indescribable ethereal quality, as if she were a fairy fallen to the mortal realm. Even with Soren's state of mind, he felt a soft spot deep within his heart being touched.
After bidding farewell to Luna, the group wandered into the wizard camp of another country, where they saw several tents resembling Egyptian pyramids and a few African wizards roasting something that looked like a wild rabbit over a pile of purple flames. As a former adventurer, Soren was very interested in the unique customs and cultures of other countries, and he marveled at the experience, feeling that the trip was well worth it.
*****
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