Tom's words drew everyone's attention. Mr. Granger looked at the young man, curious to hear his opinion.
"This year, there are a hundred thousand spectators at the World Cup. How many campsites do you think are needed? Besides Mr. Roberts, there are more campsite administrators in this area. The Ministry of Magic probably decided to keep them after considering it and placed wizards to monitor them. It would be complicated to send all those people on vacation, especially with their families..."
Although Tom's arguments had some gaps, they were also reasonable.
Mr. Granger sighed in relief, releasing the tension built up in his chest. It didn't matter if it was logical or not, as long as he believed it.
With his improved mood, Mr. Granger began to observe the campsite more closely. After a closer examination, he realized Mr. Roberts was quite clumsy. At the very first moment he arrived, he noticed something strange about the tents: they were very peculiar!
Most wizards were law-abiding and followed the Ministry of Magic's instructions to make their tents look as much like Muggle tents as possible. However, inadvertently, they went overboard and added strange things to the tents, like chimneys and weathervanes. Mr. Granger especially remembered two tents. One of them used a lot of silk and looked like a small palace, while the other was a four-story construction with multiple towers, resembling a castle.
He also saw a garden with a sundial, a fountain, and other garden decorations.
Coincidentally, the Weasley camp was next to the Granger camp, with their two adjacent plots tightly at the end of the area, near the forest.
"This is great! This is the best location! It really is like a front-row box!" Mr. Weasley said excitedly. "We're very close to the stadium, just have to cross the forest."
He dropped his backpack on the ground and told his children, "Well, we're in Muggle territory, so we can't use magic. We'll have to pitch the tents by our own hands... Oh, yes, Harry, come here for a moment."
Though Mr. Weasley was filled with enthusiasm and determination in his words, his body was honest. He called Harry and asked for advice on where to start.
Tom, on the other hand, didn't have as much trouble. He took out his tent and, with a wave of his wand, quickly set up a very sturdy tent.
"Isn't it a bit small?" Mrs. Granger said, looking at the tent and then at her daughter, thinking about something.
"It seems to have an inner world," Harry interrupted Tom's excuses.
"Tom, have you set up tents before?" He held a rod in one hand and a screw in the other, showing his frustration.
"Of course," Tom replied. Both he and Mr. Granger were skilled at setting up tents. They approached and helped Mr. Weasley set up two somewhat old-fashioned tents. Throughout the process, Mr. Weasley wasn't very skilled; rather, he was a burden to the team. Whenever someone needed a large hammer, he got overly excited, though no one knew what was so exciting.
However, at first glance, the two tents seemed a bit small. The Weasley family and Harry added up to nine people, and at first glance, the two tents could only accommodate five or six people.
"Would you like to stay with us?" Mr. Weasley remembered something before entering the tent and extended an invitation to Tom and his friends.
"It's a fantastic idea," Mr. Granger stepped forward to express his opinion. "Let the ladies enjoy a tent of their own!"
Tom: (／‵W′)／~╧╧
I'm innocent with Hermione! Why don't you believe me, Mr. Granger?
Even though he had many things to say, Tom obediently shut his mouth. He couldn't help but feel inferior in front of Mr. Granger. After all, why would Mr. Granger let that little lettuce cultivated for ten years slip away?
No, the lettuce hadn't escaped him yet! It was just lingering around Hermione like a guardian spirit of the grass.
Tom followed Mr. Weasley and entered the tent.
Sure enough, the interior space was much larger than the exterior. It looked like a three-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, a bathroom, and furniture. The only downside was a strange smell in the air.
In the room, there were four double bunk beds, resembling a student dormitory. Mr. Weasley counted the people present and decided to send Bill, Charlie, and Percy to sleep in the Grangers' tent.
In the room, there were four double bunk beds, resembling a student dormitory. Mr. Weasley counted the people present and decided to send Bill, Charlie, and Percy to sleep in the Grangers' tent.
Mr. Weasley decided to send Harry, Ron, and Ginny together to fetch water, while the rest would gather firewood and prepare the beds, which were covered in dust.
Of course, starting the fire would also be done in the Muggle way.
Tom had his own ideas about starting the fire. He had a highly praised Muggle method called the "Finnish Wood Stove."
First, he took a stroll in the forest and finally chose a large fallen tree, as clearly not all wizards had the time to pick twigs and dry leaves one by one. It was easier to create a bunch of them at once.
The fallen tree was already mostly stripped of its top, so Tom found a way to cut a two-foot-long piece of wood.
"Mr. Weasley, what I'm about to show you now is a traditional heating method used by Muggles in Northern Europe, highly effective and very traditional," Tom said as he rolled the two-foot-long, two-foot-wide piece of wood back to the campsite. Mr. Weasley's eyes widened.
The words "Northern Europe," "Muggles," and "traditional" caught his attention, so he hurried over to Tom to see what the legendary Finnish stove was like.
"Finland is a Muggle country located in Northern Europe, with extremely cold weather. Muggles don't have superior outdoor heating skills like wizards..." Before he started assembling the stove, Tom began telling a story, introducing the origin of the Finnish stove. This time, everyone was drawn in by his story.
"So, the natives of Finland came up with this heating method, not worrying about carbon monoxide poisoning and with high heat utilization efficiency."
Tom pointed to the piece of wood, "This piece of wood can burn for a whole day, keeping a large ten-square-meter tent warm in the Scandinavian tundra."
Everyone: Wow!
"Now I need an axe," Tom said.
Mr. Weasley quickly went into the tent and fetched an axe.
Tom split the piece of wood in front of him into three equal parts, then removed a portion from the center, and finally fitted the separated pieces of the trunk back together. Now, in the center of the wooden log, there was a hollow a little larger than a fist.
Next, Tom drove three posts into the ground around the wooden log to elevate it off the ground.
"Now, we can put something flammable inside," Tom said. He took the twigs and dry leaves that the others had collected and prepared them a bit, removing the moist parts and keeping the dry splinters and easily flammable dry leaves, and placed them inside the hollow.
Finally, he struck a match and tossed it into the hollow.