The World Cup
Harry looked around in awe, he had never been to a magical event
like this and he was gaping at it all. In the distance was the biggest
stadium Harry had ever seen. It was at least thirty stories tall and
they would be at the top box. Around the area were thousands of
little tents for the wizards to sleep in.
"They have been portkeying people in since last week, some people
have been here for almost five days just to see the game." Mr
Weasley explained.
"How many people will be there." Harry asked curiously.
"I was told the official count was two hundred and eighteen
thousand, four hundred and fifty three tickets were sold. Come this
way, our tents are section B site 324." Mr Weasley said and led them
through the camp site, pointing out various important locations such
as the information centre for B block.
"Here we are kids." Mr Weasley said dramatically at the small site. It
was about twenty square metres and had a small tent that looked
like it would three people in it.
"How are we all going to fit in that." Harry asked.
"Just look inside, the other boys will be inside. They arrived about
twenty minutes ago to set up." Mr Weasley told them all.
'Merlin I love magic' Harry thought not for the first time as he entered
the tent. The inside was closer to an apartment than a tent. There
was a large living area with a crackling fire in the middle and various
camp chairs and couches thrown haphazardly around the place. To
the left was a fully functional kitchen and the right was a bathroom.
Three more zip up flaps led to four bedrooms. The first was Mr
Weasley's which he had to himself. The second was reserved for the
girls, the third held Charlie, Percy and the twins which left the fourth
room for Harry Ron and Bill to share.
"This is amazing, where did you get it." Harry asked no one in
particular.
"It came with the tickets." Mr Weasley replied. "A friend at the
ministry had tickets for his family but sadly they all came down with
dragon pox. Fortunately for us, he owed me a favour and lent us the
tickets. If you ever meet a Jerome Grant be sure to say thank you."
"What did you help him with Mr Weasley and how did he get the
tickets." Hermione asked curiously.
"Oh Jerome works as the head of the international portkey office. He
had tickets for setting up portkeys into the world cup. A few years
back he had a problem with warming charmed coats his son was
selling to muggles during winter. Would have been quite the scandal
but I was willing to help him out." Mr Weasley answered.
"Interesting, you must see a lot of odd charmed objects in your line
of work Mr Weasley." Harry said
"I got the car from Jeferson Anderson when the muggle military tried
to steal the technology to make it invisible. Half my shed is full of
confiscated items, just don't tell Molly that." Mr Weasley replied.
"Well you kids shouldn't e holed up in here, it's a nice day, go explore
or something."
So with the kids being shooed away, Harry, Ron and Hermione left
the tent to find something to do. Hermione being Hermione, went into
extreme detail of the charms that must be on the tent. A lot of their
conversations went along the lines of.
"Of course I have only read about it in theory… I've never seen it in
such standard application… Its not an overly complex charm, only
OWL level but at that scale…" She appeared to have read about
every single charm in the tent. Harry and Ron being the dutiful
friends they were just nodded and agreed where appropriate. Neither
were very interested in the charm work of the tent when in four hours
they would watch the quidditch world cup final.
They met Neville with his grandmother who true to the impression
that Ron and Hermione recieved from the boggart, wore an ugly
stuffed vulture on her head. Somehow she still managed to look like
the most intimidating woman any of them had met, including
Mcgonagal.
Seamus and Dean were there and Dean was comparing it all to a
football world cup final. Lavender Brown and the Patil twins were
present and the golden trio were stuck in a conversation about which
player was the best looking. They crossed paths with the twins and
Lee Jordan, Suzan Bones with her aunt and Hannah Abbott along
with her brother and parents. Harry also caught a glimpse of Cho
Chang as she walked past with her group of friends.
Finally it was time to return for an early meal before the game began.
They made their way with the crowds to the looming stadium in the
distance and slowly up the many stairs to the top box. Unfortunately
the climb was disturbed by two very annoying white headed snobs.
"How did you manage to afford these tickets Weasley, sell your
house or something. I guess that would get you halfway there."
Draco Malfoy taunted.
"Now now Draco, be nice." Lucius Malfoy said to his son, Draco
seemed to have missed that the minister of magical britain was just
behind the Weasley's.
"Harry Potter, what a pleasure it is to meet you again." Cornelius
Fudge, Minister of Magical Britain said.
"Good evening Minister, the pleasure is mine." Harry replied
smoothly, slipping into some of the lessons Sirius had taught him.
"May I introduce to you Minister Oblansk of Magical Bulgaria.
Minister this is Harry Potter, defeater of the Dark Lord of recent."
Fudge introduced very slowly. "Minister Oblansk does not have good
english." Fudge explained
"It is a pleasure to meet you also Minister Oblansk, may I introduce
my friends and somewhat family Arthur Weasley and his children,
William, Charles, Percival, Fredrick, George, Ronald and Ginerva
and my other close friend Hermione Granger." Harry said in German
as he shook the man's hand.
"It is nice to meet you all." Oblansk replied in the same language,
nodding slightly to each of them.
"I wish your country luck in the game today." Harry said.
"Thank you, sadly our team only has our one star player, the rest are
not very good. I do not expect to win but a win would be nice."
Oblansk said.
"It is unfortunate, I hope to meet you again sometime Minister." Harry
said, trying to wrap up the conversation."
"And I you Harry Potter, enjoy the game and entertainment .
Bulgarian mascots are very easy on the eyes." Oblansk answered
and they parted ways to find their seats.
"When did you learn Bulgarian Harry." Hermione asked confused
once they had taken their seats.
"I didn't, I learnt German last year." Harry answered.
"If he didn't speak english why would he speak german." Hermione
replied.
"Because he most likely attended Durmstrang and german is the
common language there." Harry said.
"Why learn german, surely there are more useful languages."
Hermione pointed out.
"In the muggle world maybe other languages would be more
beneficial but I have become semi fluent in German and French. Any
witch or wizard in Europe would speak either of those to or english
because those are the common language of the three magical
schools. Being a wizard in Europe those are the most useful
languages." Harry replied.
"Oh, I myself know a bit of french, spanish and italian from holidays.
I don't think I could hold an entire conversation anymore but if I
moved there I would pick it up again quickly." Hermione said.
"That's great, looks like the games about to start." Harry replied.
Sure enough, Ludo Bagman stood from his seat and walked to a
stage like area with a large seat. He pointed his wand to his throat
and began to speak.
"Wizards and witches, welcome to the 422nd Quidditch Woorrlld
Cuuuup!" He annoumced to a cheering crowd. "And now to introduce
the teams, from the Irish side we have in chaser Troy, Mullet and
Moran. Beaters Connoly and Quigley, our keeper Ryan and lastly,
seeker Aiden Lynch." The irish team flew out in robes of green as
their names were called.
It was amazing for Harry to watch the players fly so fast. The irish
team showed off a few loops, dives and rolls at speeds that Harry
couldn't wait to try. The precision and speed that they showed with
the practice quaffle to warm up was amazing.
"And on the Bulgarian side we have Dimitrov, Ivanova and levski in
the chaser position. Beaters are Vulchanov and Volkov, Zograf in
keeper and last but certainly not least, your favourite seeker, Viktor
Kruuum!" The bulgarians wore scarlet robes and the crowd went wild
at Krums name.
"Before we begin we have the performances from the Bulgarian and
Irish mascots to witness as is accustomed to the finals. Ireland is out
first with the standard leprechaun's" Ludo called.
A large, glowing ball of green and gold zoomed into the stadium like
a meteorite. They branched off and dashed around the stadium as
they sang songs. Suddenly what looked like glitter was falling onto
the crowd. Clings and clangs of metal gave it away to be golden
galleons, the universal currency of wizards. Harry new better than
the people scrambling to collect it all though, leprechaun gold would
disappear in a day or two.
"Absolutely amazing just like the 1942 world cup. Now for the
newcomers. Bulgaria is attending their first ever world cup final so
let's see what they bring to the table." Bagman said over the cheers
from the crowd.
A group of fifty women with silver blond hair walked onto the pitch
and began to sing and dance. Harry thought they were the most
beautiful people he had ever seen. However it seemed to be a
forced attraction and rather faked to him. Harry shook his head to
shake the funny feelings away and clamped down on his stray
thoughts.
Others seemed to be a little less controlled than Harry. Men and
women all around the stadium were drooling and staring with glazed
eyes. The dancing women seemed to enjoy their reactions and sang
louder than before. Harry had to physically restrain Ron from
jumping over the railing. Malfoy also seemed to be strongly affected
but took the easier path and sprinted down the stair cases to get to
them. Eventually they stopped dancing so the game could begin.
"Would you look at that" Bagman announced once the women had
left the stadium to change. "It looks like Bulgaria have brought in the
beautiful veela to represent their side. With the performances over,
lets get flying people. The referee has released the snitch, there
goes the bludgers and the quaffle is released. Troy takes the toss,
speeding up left side, passes to Mullet, back to Troy and he scores
right ring. That's ten to nil for Ireland."
Harry thought it was a rather quick goal and soon understood what
Minister Oblansk had meant. Bulgaria's team was fairly average with
the exception of Krum. Ireland was flying circles around them
literally, one of the chasers had flown a circle around all three
opposing chasers causing them to crash into each other. With such a
boring game Harry focused on the seekers, tuning into the
commentary every now and again.
"Ivanova scores the first goal for Bulgaria taking the score to 120 to
10. What's this, krum has spotted the snitch. Krum and lynch go into
a steep dive for the pesky golden ball. Closing in on the ground
quick, wow they are going fast. Krum pulls up, it's a feint. Lynch
doesn't make it and crashes into the ground. A perfect Wronski Feint
by Krum, that's why he's the best ladies and gentlemen."
Harry was awestruck at the move, he had seen it in many seeker
tactics books but never seen it executed so perfectly. It was definitely
one he would be practicing. The look on Malfoy's face when he
realises he was tricked and then that he can't pull up in time only to
smash into the ground. It would be brilliant.
"Lynch looks to be okay and is mounting his broom once again. We
get the okay from the healers and the game is back in swing. Levski
has the quaffle, over to Ivanova, intercept by Mullet. Down the centre
line, passes to troy, long pass to Moran, shoots, scores on centre
ring 150 to 10, Ireland in the lead."
The game was getting close to Krum being irrelevant Harry realised.
Two more goals from Ireland and the game was theirs. Bulgaria had
taken another shot on goal but it was weak and blocked away easily.
"Mullet up centre, takes it all the way to the shot line, fakes to Moran
and fools the keeper. Open goal and he scores left ring. Looks like
Krum is in trouble now and he knows it. Owww." The entire crowd
groaned as one as Krum got hit in the face with a bludger. "Bulgaria
needs to get the quaffle to call a time out for Krum to get that fixed.
Oh no, Lynch dives fast, the snitch just ahead of him. Krum will have
to wait as he takes chase. It's anybody's game here. Krum gets the
snitch but Mullet scores. Officials call the goal was scored first.
Ireland win the 442nd Quidditch World Cup 170 points to 160."
Half the stadium cheered in excitement at the win for the team they
supported whilst the other half groaned in disappointment. Harry was
slightly disappointed that his first ever professional quidditch game
was so one sided. It was still brilliant but he learnt a lot. Soon the
trophies were being awarded to the winners and runner ups.
"Can we get a round of applause for our Quidditch World Cup
Champions one more time for Troy, Mullet, Moran, Quigley, Connoly,
Ryan and Lynch." Bagman announced as each recieved a gold
medal and hoisted the golden cup above their heads. "And our
runners up, the Bulgarian side Dimitrov, Ivanova, Levski, Volkov,
Vulchanov, Zograf and Krum." Each recieved a silver medal and
Krums was instantly turned crimson from the blood on his robes.
Lucky for those in the top box, the bulgarian team were directed to
meet their Minister after the game. All seven shook their ministers
hand and mingled around the box.
"You are a very good player Mr Krum." Harry said in his accented
german when the man came around.
"Thank you," Krum replied, he glanced at Harry's forehead and
raised an eyebrow. "It is a pleasure to meet you Harry Potter. He
slipped back into english.
"The pleasure is mine, it is unfortunate your teammates hold you
back from winning. You fly with great skill, I cannot wait to get home
to try that feint." Harry said.
"You play seeker too." Krum asked.
"I do for my hogwarts house, I am not as good as you but I do
alright. I don't often lose but the opposition tends to score more
points against other teams. Our draw is rather strange in the sense
that we play each team once and the most points accumulated over
the games wins."
"Well if you keep practicing you might get to play me in the next
World Cup, England has a poor seeker at the moment." Krum shook
Harry's hand again and slipped something into it. "I hope to meet you
again sometime." he said before walking off.
"You too."Harry said quietly but he was gone.
"Wow, you got to talk to Viktor Krum." Ron squealed from beside
him. "I wish I could have shook his hand, or got his autograph."
"Ron you were right beside me, all you had to do was say hello or
ask." Harry said, shaking his head. It was only then he noticed the
thing Krum had slipped into his hand.
"No way, Krum gave you the snitch, that's amazing." Ron giggled
with excitement.
"I guess he did, it's no use anyway though. Snitches have a flesh
memory so once he's touched it it will always drift towards him."
Harry said.
"Alright boys, we need to head back to the tent. It's already eight and
we want to get back before the irish go crazy." Mr Weasley said. The
group of redheads plus Harry and Hermione began to make their
way down the many flights of stairs to the bottom of the stadium. It
took them all thirty minutes to get past the partying Irish supporters
to their tent.
"Now I'm going to bed and you all should too. We need to be up
early to get the portkey back, It leaves at eight in the morning." Mr
Weasley said and left to his room in the tent.
"Well me and Charlie are off to join the Irish, you young kids should
go to bed." Bill said as he and the dragon tamer left the tent.
"Me and Gred need to find Ludo Bagman, he owes us a hefty sum of
galleons from our bet. We might almost have half with this Gred."
Fred said as the twins also left the tent.
"I think I might go join the party too, not every day something like this
happens." Ron decided.
"Ron no, you aren't even of age and Mr Weasley said we should go
to bed." Hermione said.
"Hermione is right Ron, you're only fourteen so nobody's going to
give you anything. On the other hand, Fred and George have a case
of Butterbeer in their bags and Percy is already asleep. Why not
have a celebration of our own." Harry suggested.
"Harry, we can't just drink their butterbeer, that's stealing and an
entire case is expensive." Hermione said.
"We won't steal it, I'll buy it off them at retail price. Two sickles a
bottle that's a galleon and seven sickles. Seven sickles profit for
them, they are trying to make money any way so they won't mind."
Harry replied as he grabbed the case of twelve bottles, Handing one
each to Ron, Hermione and Ginny, keeping one for himself.
"To Ireland" Harry toasted.
"To Ireland" the other three called and took a long sio from the drink.
The four of them sat out the front of the tent watching all the
celebrations while they talked and drank. The Irish were really going
all out, they had fireworks and leprechaun gold flying everywhere.
Music was blasting all around and the yells and cheers of everyone
set an atmosphere that Harry found amazing. Everyone from all
nations were celebrating and congratulating Ireland on their victory.
There were no fights or riots of people upset about losing, just
happiness for the winning side. Anyone who said quidditch was just
a game clearly had not seen this.
At nine thirty that last drop of butter beer was gone. Ron, Hermione
and Ginny were slightly wobbly on their feet after consuming so
much of the drink at their age. Harry however was not affected in the
slightest and was just fine. They all made it to bed and were asleep
almost immediately. After all they had been up since almost five in
the morning.
"Harry, Ron, get up." Bill said from the door. Harry groggily sat up but
Ron slept on.
"What is it Bill." Harry asked.
"Death eaters are muggle baiting after drinking too much. They've
started burning all the tents and a fire is spreading." Bill answered
quickly.
"Shit, Ron get up." Harry jabbed him between his ribs and hip and
the redhead jerked awake.
"What was that for." Ron moaned at Harry.
"We've got to go, there's a fire spreading across the camp grounds"
Harry replied as he quickly through on a shirt and began to tie his
shoelaces.
"Hurry, get to the forest on the other side of the camp. That's where
you will be safe, I need to go help stop this." Bill said and dashed out
the door. Harry stuffed all his things in his bag and slung it over his
shoulder before leaving the room.
"Harry, what's going on, Charlie just told us we needed to leave for
the forest and ran out." Hermione asked him.
"Drunk old death eaters are muggle baiting on the far side of the
camp away from the forest. They set fire to some tents and its
spreading across the camp. We need to get to the forest, that's the
line the ministry is holding to stop the fire." Harry answered.
"What's muggle baiting." Hermione asked.
"Dad said they did it in the last war, death eaters raid muggle towns
and torment the muggles with magic. They don't kill anyone but
make sure there are lots of witnesses. It makes it difficult for the
Ministry as they need to clean it up. It's like using muggles to bait
away the ministry to attack a wizarding place somewhere else."
Ginny explained.
"Finally Ron, lets go." Harry said when Ron entered the room. "If we
get separated just keep heading for the forest and don't look back."
Harry told them as they ran towards the tree line.
The campsite was a mess, tents were on fire and the flames were
spreading fast. Behind them a group of muggles were floating in the
air and writhing in pain. It made Harry sick to see. Men in black
robes with white skull masks walked through the camp, setting fire to
everything in site and causing havoc.
A vendor's stand, covered in flames exploded ahead of them,
covering the path way. Death eaters were behind them and moving
towards them.
"What are we going to do, they're going to kill us." Ron yelled.
"Aguamenti" Harry said pointing his wand at the flames to their left.
The water put them out and made a path to get around the burning
carts.
They continued running down the new path towards the trees. They
weaved between the flaming patches on the ground and Harry put
out those in their way to clear a path. They stuck together and
quickly made their way to the safety of the trees.
A thick wooden support beam from the information stand creaked
and feel on top of the group. Ron, Hermione and Ginny dived
forward and just avoided it. Harry was at the back of the group and
stopped to jump backwards.
"Harry." Ginny yelled.
"Don't worry, I'll go around it. Keep running for the tree line." Harry
shouted back over the roaring flames.
He turned right and cast the water conjuring charm to put out the
flames. His path was still blocked to get to the trees so he kept
moving along to the right. Over another set of tents and the path was
only blocked by one thing. A death eater with a girl pinned beneath
him. The girl looked no older than seventeen and was screaming
and thrashing to try and escape the man's hold.
"Hold still bitch, this will hurt less if you do." The man grunted. She
screamed louder.
"Stupify." Harry yelled, the red jet of magic streaked across the camp
towards the death eater. He looked up and dodged it just in time.
"Piss off little boy, you don't know what you're doing." The death
eater said, what scared Harry the most was he recognised the voice
from somewhere but couldn't place it.
"Stupify." Harry cast in answer. The death eater simply shielded and
laughed.
"Reducto." The death eater cast in return. Harry's shield was up by
instinct from his duels with Sirius. Harry's mind shifted and he fell
into a stance with ease. All other sounds drifted away and his sole
focus was on the creature in front of him.
"Bombarda." Harry cast at the mans shoulder. He stepped to the left
to avoid it. "Bombarda, Bombarda, Bombarda." Barry cast always at
his right shoulder. Every time the death eater simply stepped to the
left and avoided it, laughing all the way at Harry's 'poor aim'
"You will need to do better than that boy. Confringo." The explosion
hex flew towards Harry and exploded behind him when he dodged it.
"Reducto, Expulso, Expelliarmus." Harry cast in quick concession.
Now that the death eater was away from the girl Harry could cast
whatever he wanted.
"Protego." The death eater shielded and followed with another
explosion hex and a stunner.
"Diffindo, Langlock, Petrificus Totalus." Harry cast, the last non
verbally. It was one of the only ones he could cast like that. The
death eater shielded again and tried to disarm Harry.
Harry began to banish flaming chunks of tent at the death eater and
one clipped him on the shoulder. The man was thrown away and his
wand lost from his hand.
"Come on, we need to get out of here." Harry said as he helped the
girl up.
She stumbled to her feet and lent heavily on Harry's shoulder. Her
ankle was twisted and she couldn't run properly.
"Crucio." Harry heard from behind him. He dropped to the ground
and the curse sailed over head. The girl landed on top of him and he
was stuck.
"Lacero." he cast towards the death eater." The stronger cutting
curse hit him in the throat and the death eater was no more.
"Come on, we need to get out of here." Harry said, helping the girl to
her feet once again.
They started to limp towards the forest slowly, it was only another
five hundred metres but it was slow going. Harry looked up and his
heart sunk. The dark mark was looming over the forest, that mark
only appeared when someone was killed. The sound of apparition
cracks fillies the area as the death eaters left and ministry officials
went to investigate the mark. The two slowly limped over to the
medical tent that was set up and found the nearest healer.
"I think she has a broken ankle and some small cuts and bruises.
She might need a mind healer two, they were going to do some
terrible things to her before… they left." Harry said, his interference
did not need to be known.
"Okay, we will take it from here. Healer Montgomery, come check
this young man over for any injuries." The healer said.
Said healer waved his wand over Harry a few times and deemed him
healthy and just needed a good rest. It was three in the morning after
all. Harry quickly left the tent and found a tree somewhere to sit
down. Only now had what he had done came into his mind. He had
killed someone, cut their throat open and killed them. He threw up
next to him and emptied everything in his stomach.
"It was justified" he told himself, "The things that person was going to
do to her meant he deserved it." Harry remembered the emotions in
his head when he did it, a stunner would have been fine but he was
angry. This man had tried to rape this poor girl and when Harry
edcaped he cast an unforgivable curse at them. Harry was so furious
that they could do something like that so casually.
"The unforgivables are life in azkaban, a fate worse than death.
That's what Sirius said." Harry mumbled to himself. But no matter
how he looked at it Harry had killed a person. Harry was no better
than Voldemort. He threw up again at the thought.
"Voldemort, he was still out there and had nearly returned twice."
Harry remembered. "I can't stop him every time he tries and he will
come back. And when he does there will be a war where more
people will die. This is why I need to train, because if he comes back
I will be his first target, he won't leave me be until he is gone for
good."
It had taken Harry along time for him to come to this decision.
Nobody, not even Sirius knew that Harry had decided this. Harry
knew that Dumbledore would not defeat Voldemort. The ministry
would not defeat him, nobody would defeat him for good. The only
way Harry could make it to the end with his family and friends alive
was if he finished Tom himself.
Of course that was quite the dream for a fourteen year old kid and
Tom would have fifty years of knowledge and experience up his
sleeve. That is why Harry was no so dedicated to his studies. He
needed to learn as much as he could before Tom came back.
Because then, time would be up and war would begin.
"Harry." Hermione called to him from a few meters away.
"Hermione, are you okay." Harry called back, getting up to go over to
her.
"It was horrible, after we made it to the forest we just kept running.
We didn't know how far in we needed to go so we kept going. Then
someone ahead of us cast some spell and that mark was above us
in the sky. Ministry people apparated all around us and we all got hit
by a bunch of stunners. They found Ron's wand that he couldn't find
and it turns out the person stole it and used it to cast the mark. The
ministry started accusing us of doing it and were about to arrest Ron
when Mr Weasley showed up and stopped them. It was all so scary
and I was so worried. What happened to you after we got
separated." Hermione said at a million words a minute.
"I moved across until there was an open path to move down. I found
a girl who was injured and helped her get back to the trees. Where is
everyone else." Harry asked.
"Oh, they are all back over by medical tent seven. It's about fifty
metres that way." She pointed to where she had come from. "We
should head back, I was sent out to check the other tents for you."
The two found their way back to medical tent seven where all the
Weasley's were waiting. They all took the first portkey out of the area
and Mr Weasley, Bill and Charlie side along apparated them all back
one by one.
(Medical Tent Six)
"My baby are you okay." An elder woman with silver blond hair called
across the tent as she raced to her daughter.
"Yes maman, I am okay." the young girl replied.
"What happened, I am so glad you are safe." the elder woman, the
girls mother asked.
"Eet was horrible. Zee man, he cursed my ankle and eet broke. He
waz going to do horrible zings to me, but zen zat boy, he saved me."
The girl said.
"What happened, what boy." The mother asked worriedly. When your
daughter speaks about horrible things happening to her anyone
would be worried.
"I did not get his name, all I remember eez zee eyes. Beautiful
glowing green eyes, he saved me and zen he left. He took me here
and zen left wizout asking for a zing in return."
"And he was not affected by you, he did this and left without giving a
name or anything." The mother asked.
"Non, nozing, he waz not fazed by me at all. His arm waz around me
zee entire way back and he did not do a zing he shouldnt ave."
For the first time ever, this girl was caught thinking about a boy. No
boy had ever affected her like this before. But him, he was different
and she knew it. If only she knew who he was.
A/N I like the idea of Mr Weasley following a rule I once saw
somewhere "Never say you're welcome, always say I know you'd do
the same for me. It makes people feel obliged to repay you." He is
just a little dude in the background that helps the big players out of
trouble and racks up favours. I mean he works for muggle artifacts
office. He must help tonnes of purebloods out that screw up and
need help to avoid legal problems with illegal enchanted objects. I
want to make him a minor character that hides behind his gentle and
poor facade, adding up all the favours people owe him to get what
he wants.