August 1994
Quidditch World Cup Venue
Arthur took lead in preparing food and tea. Being excited as he always was, prohibited complete use of any kind of magic. He used 'muggle' matchbox to light fire and had quite a fun using them.
One by one Percy, Bill and Charlie arrived at the location.
Arthur continued to introduce a lot of ministry people while Percy continued describing about his job.
Harry could not help but chuckle when he noticed that Percy's nose was much sharper and pointed sky high. Percy could not stop bragging how he was dealing with so much responsibilities.
"Mr. Crouch trusts me a lot more," continued Percy, "He has been very busy recently with all the different things happening and a lot of work is being handed to me. It is hard to get free time these days."
Harry caught Fred and George rolling their eyes.
Percy was about to continue more when Arthur stood up, "Ah! Boys here is the man of the moment, Ludo Bagman."
Harry caught a man striding forward towards their direction. He was one of the most noticeable man in the crowd and Harry could confidently say that he wore extremely strange attires even by standards of Wizard.
Ludo Bagman laughed, "Oh Arthur. Hello hello..."
Arthur smiled, "These are my children Bill, Charlie, Fred... no George... he is Fred, then Percy, Ron and Ginny."
He pointed towards Hermione, "And she is Hermione Granger, Ron's classmate," and he is, "Harry Potter."
Ludo's eyes instantly moved towards Harry's forehead to find the famous scar but Harry could see the slight disappointment in Bagman's eyes, on seeing Harry's forehead covered with his messy black hair.
Harry smiled in response and took Ludo's extended hand to give a firm handshake.
Arthur continued, "And you all must be knowing.. Ludo Bagman, Head of Department of Magical Games and Sports. Thanks to him we got the tickets. He is also a former Quidditch player and have represented England."
Ludo then took his seat on the grass and was immediately offered snacks and tea.
Soon time flowed, Ludo asked to place a bet. Arthur placed a bet of one galleon on Ireland, while the twins something more than 37 galleons on Ireland winning and Krum catching the snitch, despite Arthur trying to stop them.
Soon they were joined by Barty Crouch for a brief moment. Percy could not stop himself fawning over Crouch while it took all of Harry's occlumency to stop himself from lashing at Crouch.
He was one of the people responsible for Sirius false imprisonment as he was head of DMLE then and did not gave a proper trial to Sirius.
Ludo then described about some event about to happen at Hogwarts but Crouch intercepted him midway saying that any information is not to be released till ministry decides, leaving everyone curious. Even Arthur only smiled when the children questioned him.
Crouch departed soon but not before calling Percy, "Weatherby," making the Weasley burst out in laughing.
After having their dinner, the group crossed the woods and arrived near an opening, "seats a hundred thousand," informed Arthur.
He continued, "The ministry has been working to construct the stadium for a year."
They soon showed their tickets at the entrance and were then guided towards the top section of the stands in the VIP Box.
Entering the VIP box, Harry found that a lot of people have already arrived in the box.
Arthur shook hands with a lot of people who were important ministry officials and Percy tried to garner as much attention he could by introducing himself loudly enough.
Soon entered in the Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic accompanied by his Bulgarian counterpart. Percy was the first to his feet, "Good evening minister. I am Percy Weasley newly appointed in Department of International Magical Cooperation."
Fudge gave a small nod to Percy and strode forward towards Harry and offered his hands, "Harry! How are you?"
Harry smiled at being greeted like an old friend and from corner of his eyes he caught Percy and Ron getting a bit angry in jealousy.
Harry replied simply, "I am fine minister."
Cornelius turned towards Bulgarian minister, "This is Harry Potter... You know the boy who survived."
The Bulgarian minister also tried to look for the famous scar on Harry's forehead.
Fudge continued, "He can't understand a word I am saying. I need Crouch for this language job. Ah! his elf seems to have saved a seat for him."
From corner of his eyes Harry caught a house elf sitting in the front row shaking with fear.
Fudge then made enough fool of himself muttering unpleasant things about the Bulgarian minister. Harry was sure that it was not possible that the Bulgarian minister did not understand a word of English.
Fudge stated, "Here comes Lucius." And strode forward to greet Malfoy and his family.
Harry saw Draco accompanying his father along with a blonde woman; Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother.
"Lucius, here is Bulgarian minister and this is Arthur Weasley," introduced Fudge.
The air in the room turned thick at the moment and Harry remembered the scene in his second year when the two adult wizards have come to physical blows.
Lucius said expressionlessly, "Oh! Arthur what did you have to sell to get the tickets of the VIP box? I am not sure if your house fetched you this much."
Fudge unaware of the happenings was about to mutter something when Harry beat him to it, "For being merely a lord of Ancient and Most Noble house, you sure are too much confident Malfoy... considering specially when Lord apparent to two of Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter and Black is standing in front of you."
For a moment it felt that the whole room would drown in suffocation. Even the idiot Fudge felt the tension rising to high.
Malfoy was on the verge of lashing, especially when mentioned Black. He had been waiting all this time for Draco to get the Black Lordship.
Half his influence from the ministry came from the fact he had paraded about Draco being future Lord Black and other half came from the fact that none of the 5 Most Ancient and Most Noble houses except Greengrass Family were active in politics and Wizengamot.
Amelia Bones did her duty as DMLE head and though wielded the Bones vote as regent of Susan Bones, was not an active participant in Wizarding Politics. And Augusta Longbottom as regent Longbottom of Neville Longbottom hardly attended Wizengamot.
With Blacks and Potters out of the picture, Malfoy was one of the most powerful Lord actively involving himself with politics.
The whole room screamed of silence at that moment.