"Mom's calling us, Yu, wake up!"
Ginny whispered beside her pillow. She was already awake, quietly putting on her clothes.
Jane Yu struggled to get up, feeling as though her body was moving ahead while her soul lagged behind, chasing after. She couldn't help but yawn.
The only two who seemed energetic were the Weasley twins. They leaned in mysteriously beside her:
"Good news, Mom has approved our joke shop plan!"
"Thanks to you, she looked at those business plan parchments and listened to us talk for hours—"
"Although we got scolded quite a bit—but she finally agreed!"
If it weren't for all the people around, Fred and George would have almost lifted her up and tossed her into the air!
"But we still have to finish school," George shrugged. "Of course, the usual talk—no causing trouble at school—"
Jane nodded drowsily, not forgetting to suggest, "It's the World Cup, a great opportunity for promotion—want to sell something?"
The twins whistled. They opened a bag and showed her the contents—piles of Ton-Tongue Toffees.
"Too bad the bag doesn't have enough space, we could only pack some candies."
Jane glanced at the bag, feeling it was somewhat shabby.
She remembered Ginny mentioning the fake wands the twins had developed.
"Why not bring some fake wands? Use a suitcase to pack them. I can cast a non-space enlargement spell on it."
The twins' eyes lit up. They rushed upstairs and carried down their school suitcase. Under Jane's spell, it was filled with piles of fake wands.
Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed from the kitchen: "No trouble! Behave yourselves!"
"Mom—" the twins called out cheerfully, "Don't you trust your kindest, gentlest sons—?"
"Hard to believe!" she shouted back, though her voice carried a hint of laughter. "You all go ahead, have fun!"
She left the pot of syrup she was boiling, hurried over to give Jane a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then glared at the twins.
"Dear, thank you for the tickets. Originally, there weren't enough, and I wasn't planning to come."
"I'll join Bill, Charlie, and Percy at noon. They've mastered Apparition and are sleeping in."
"Mom, I'm not sleeping in," Percy descended the stairs, looking stiff and haggard, yet his eyes burned with enthusiasm. "My report—"
"Merlin's beard—" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "Look at you! Go back to bed!"
The group crossed the dark yard and set off.
"Wizards from all over the world are coming," Mr. Weasley pointed to the village ahead. "For those who can't Apparate, we use Portkeys. The nearest one is on the hilltop at White Weasel Mountain. That's where we're heading."
Jane, still groggy, began climbing the hill. Her excellent physical condition allowed her to reach the top smoothly, even helping Ginny along the way.
"Honestly, if you don't join a Quidditch team, I almost feel sorry for Flint—"
Suddenly, a male voice came from the other side.
She turned toward the sound and saw Cedric striding toward her, followed by his father, who was loudly calling Mr. Weasley's name.
"Long time no see," she greeted.
"The Portkey's over there," Cedric smiled, leading them to the other side. "A moldy old boot."
The two groups exchanged greetings and introductions, but perhaps due to rivalry on the pitch, the twins didn't look too pleased.
Their mood worsened after Cedric's father, Amos Diggory, turned into a son-praising machine.
"I've always hoped you'd come to watch the game," Cedric said, walking with Jane at the back of the group. "Last semester, I wrote suggestions for Quidditch improvements..."
"We did too," Fred and George interjected. "Don't forget there are other Quidditch players here—"
"Oh, I see," Cedric remained calm and composed, seemingly ignoring the barbs in their words. "That doesn't matter. I thought gathering everyone's ideas would help Yu improve the game better."
The twins were left speechless, rolling their eyes in frustration.
...
After the hook-like tug at her navel brought about a whirlwind sensation, Jane found herself standing in a desolate field.
Two Ministry of Magic wizards checked the list, and they continued forward, bidding farewell to the Diggorys at another camp and politely declining their invitation for Jane to watch the match with them. They arrived at the camp manager, Mr. Roberts.
Jane felt puzzled because Mr. Roberts was a Muggle. She didn't understand why a Muggle was managing the camp.
"Obliviate!"
A wizard in balloon pants suddenly descended from the sky, complaining about Ludo Bagman's lack of caution regarding Muggles.
"Because of him, I have to cast the Obliviate spell on this guy dozens of times a day! Though this camp belongs to him, if Bagman cared about safety, he could've assigned a wizard to replace him and just left the money for this Muggle—"
He grumbled and Disapparated, and Mr. Weasley led them further into the camp, where they set up their tent "the Muggle way."
Jane decided to step out of the tent for some fresh air.
She quickly realized her mistake because, as she walked, she had to deal with wave after wave of classmates popping up like mushrooms after the rain.
Wood... Flint... Davis... Macmillan...
The camping ground seemed to have turned into some sort of large-scale meet-and-greet.
Fortunately, Draco came to her rescue. The Malfoy family's tent stood prominently in the center, practically like a small palace.
He appeared taller but still spoke in the familiar tone, starting with complaints about the Weasley family:
"I saw them, the red-haired mole rats and those two duplicates. And you're hanging out with them again!"
But he quickly navigated away from the sensitive topic, turning to discuss the Irish and Bulgarian teams:
"I think Ireland will win. Their eagle-head formation and Boskov tactics are absolutely brilliant—"
"But Bulgaria has Krum. If he catches the Golden Snitch—"
His chatter continued until they reached his parents.
After some pleasantries, Lucius tapped his snake-headed cane and informed Jane about the progress of their promotion:
"I donated some money and gaming consoles to St. Mungo's and placed ads during the World Cup matches."
"You'll see the content during the opening ceremony with your guardian—"
Jane keenly noticed that he mentioned her guardian, Dumbledore.
That was unusual for Lucius. He typically avoided mentioning him in polite conversation.
Narcissa maintained her usual expression, but there was a hint of worry between her brows:
"In such a crowded place, it's not very reassuring for you to watch the match alone—"
"Your guardian had better come—if he's not here, after the match, come to our tent and sit with Draco."
Jane sensed something was amiss.
They were clearly worried about something.
And it seemed only Dumbledore could resolve it.
She decided to use her Patronus to send another message to her guardian.
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