How It All Goes Down
Bagman and Crouch
- At the other end of the Portkey, two wizards are standing around looking tired.
- One of the wizards knows Mr. Weasley. He directs them to the field where Mr. Weasley has reserved a tent site for his family.
- The Diggorys head off to find their own site.
- At the correct field, there's a Muggle named Mr. Roberts. He's supposed to bring Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Mr. Weasley to the reserved Weasley campsite.
- Mr. Roberts starts asking questions: why so many reservations out of the blue? Why such a huge crowd? And the people are weird – they all seem confused by ordinary English money.
- A wizard suddenly appears, points a wand at Mr. Roberts, and shouts, "Obliviate!" (7.28).
- This is a spell that alters memory. The wizards are trying to keep Mr. Roberts from figuring out too much about who they really are.
- Keeping security tight around the Quidditch World Cup is a nightmare.
- The field is full of weird, obviously magical tents that would make any Muggle suspicious.
- Mr. Weasley and Harry put up two tents, which are (luckily) much bigger on the inside than the outside.
- Then Ron, Harry, and Hermione troop off in search of water.
- As they walk through the campground, they see lots of ordinary wizarding families enjoying themselves (and Ministry officials running around trying to make them less conspicuous).
- In a section of the campground filled with Ireland supporters, they bump into a friend from school who also lives in Gryffindor, Seamus Finnegan.
- Seamus has brought his best friend from Gryffindor, Dean Thomas.
- Over at the Bulgarian section of the camp, all the tents are covered with posters of a scowling boy with heavy black eyebrows. It's Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker.
- (To figure out which position the Seeker plays in Quidditch, check out this guide.)
- They spot lots of students from Hogwarts with their families, and they also see a bunch of unfamiliar teenagers – kids who go to other wizarding schools.
- Harry had no idea that there were other wizarding schools (neither did we), but of course, it makes sense – Hogwarts can't be the only one.
- Back at the tent, the rest of the Weasleys turn up: there's Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Percy all ready for lunch.
- As they settle in to eat, Ludo Bagman comes by (Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports – so he's in charge of the World Cup).
- Ludo is looking excited about the upcoming match.
- Ludo asks Mr. Weasley if he wants to make a bet on who will win.
- The twins jump in and bet a huge amount of money (over 37 Galleons) that Ireland will win but Viktor Krum will get the Snitch. (For more on how this is possible, check out the section on scoring at the Harry Potter Lexicon)
- Ludo accepts the bet, though he thinks it's a real long shot.
- Mr. Weasley asks Ludo about that missing witch in his department, Bertha Jorkins.
- Ludo doesn't seem too worried. She has a "memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. [...] She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July" (7.123).
- A "stiff, upright, elderly man" (7.126) approaches the party. He's about as different from relaxed, happy Ludo as a person can be.
- This is Barty Crouch, Percy Weasley's boss at the Ministry.
- Sucking up hugely, Percy asks Mr. Crouch if he would like a cup of tea.
- Mr. Crouch responds: "Oh [...] Yes – thank you, Weatherby" (7.131).
- The twins snicker over the fact that Percy's beloved Mr. Crouch has totally gotten Percy's name wrong.
- Ludo starts dropping hints that some new event is coming after the Quidditch World Cup: "Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh?" (7.144).
- But Mr. Crouch stops Ludo from giving up "classified information" (7.152) about this mysterious event.
- As the day goes on, the excitement builds over the World Cup match.
- Harry spends a small fortune on a set of three "Omnioculars" – "You can replay action ... slow everything down ... and they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it" (7.159).
- He gives one to Ron and one to Hermione – very generous!
- Ron, who is "touchy about the fact that Harry, who had inherited a small fortune from his parents, had much more money than he did" (7.162), almost refuses the gift.
- But Harry says the Omnioculars will be a Christmas present "for about ten years, mind" (7.163).
- And Ron feels better.
- Mr. Weasley calls: "It's time!" (7.168). The match is about to start!