Chapter 77: Cozy evening that was ruined

Tom vaguely remembered that in all the fanfiction he had read in his past life, Quidditch was always portrayed as something extremely exciting and important. But now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't see what was the big deal.

Whizzing through the air at high speeds on a broom... Tom's stomach turned when he was just thinking about it.

Now that he had witnessed it with his eyes, Tom was in horrified awe at how dumb a person must be to climb on a friggin' broom and play a wizarding version of rugby mid-air at speeds comparable to a car.

Even if he had wizarding magic and could fly with a broom, nobody would be able to persuade him to do it. Over his dead body.

Madmen. All of them!

Tom wryly smiled as he noticed Hermione's distraught expression, 'I guess that's one thing we have in common.'

Yes, Hermione did witness the sport quite often in her school but Tom imagined this was something else. The World Championships were a very different league from a School Cup. Actual, serious injuries happened more than once during the match because of how ferociously both teams played.

In the middle of the game, Natasha finally returned from her conversation with the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and ignoring her seat, she sat directly on Tom's lap.

"Had fun?" Tom asked with a small smile, to which the redhead nodded before she rested her head on his shoulder.

"And found out quite a bit. The Minister was happy to have someone to speak to in his native tongue here." She quietly responded, almost smugly.

Tom knew Natasha was a bit peeved she could not be very useful to him most of the time. That's why she made the blunder with the Jasin family and that's also why she was eager for every bit she could do for him.

It was cute... but also exasperating to Tom. He didn't really need her to be useful. He just wanted her to be there for him.

Then again, personal feelings were never really that simple...

"Mhm. Good girl." He didn't forget to praise her, making her green eyes happily brighten up. So much so that Tom couldn't help himself and his hands subtly strayed from her hips a bit lower due to how cute she was.

Natasha widely smiled at the praise, enjoying the tough of Tom's hands on her thighs and the slight brush of them on her posterior. Burying her nose into the crook of Tom's neck while ignoring all the indignant looks from the prudes around, Natasha started whispering, "Apparently, there is supposed to be some tournament..."

She continued talking about what she found out from the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, mostly mentioning the Triwizard Tournament and some small, unimportant scandals that happened in Bulgaria as of late.

It wasn't a lot and most of it was useless to Tom but she had definitely found out much more than anyone else could glean from the Minister. Just the fact she got enough hints from him to put together the fact there will be some secret tournament happening was amazing, in Tom's opinion. The participating wizarding countries wanted to keep that one under wraps quite tightly, after all.

Tom already knew about the tournament but he wouldn't tell Natasha that. He liked his girl happy and knowing she was useful brought her said happiness. It was as simple as that.

...

"Did you see how Krum caught the snitch!? That was bloody amazing!" Ron excitedly exclaimed for the twelfth time that evening like a fangirl in love.

Harry just gave him a placating, mostly wry smile in hopes the ginger boy would stop talking about his newest crush, but it was not to be as Ron started praising Krum to heaven, much to Harry's dismay.

The poor boy was too housebroken to tell Ronald to stop.

Hermione, on the other hand, 'ran away' long ago, preferring to sit and talk with Natasha about make-up and girly stuff rather than listen to Ron's blabbering about Krum.

Granted, Hermione was not really all that interested in this girly stuff but she couldn't help but marvel at Natasha's extensive knowledge on how to make oneself more appealing. Hermione definitely listened intently to all the advice the redhead was willing to give her.

If only the bookworm knew all the things Natasha could accomplish with simple make-up, she would probably be in horrified awe.

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Not that Natasha would ever go that far in her advice. There was no reason to tell the girl about all the dangerous poisons that could be put together with a bit of creativity and a properly filled make-up kit.

On the other side of the room, Tom was talking with the downtrodden twins while they were drinking butterbeer.

"So, you are saying that Bagman swindled you on a bet?" Tom amusedly asked, barely refraining from laughing at the two idiots.

Putting their whole savings into a bet with a man who was known for his dishonesty... who the heck did that?

Granted, the twins had no way to know about Ludo Bagman's track record with bets but it was still a stupid thing to do.

Alas, the Quidditch World Cup ended in the same way as in the cannon. Ireland won but Krum caught the snitch, making the twins win the bet against Ludo Bagman but their joy was short-lived as they got once again paid with Leprechaun Gold.

Tom didn't alert them. It was way too funny watching their elated expression turn into utter bewilderment, and later on misery, as the gold disappeared right in front of their eyes.

"Yes!" Both twins chorused at once, outrage in their tones as if they were wronged.

"Now we will have to start anew. All our savings for opening our Joke shop are gone!" George complained, clearly a tad bit angrier about the whole thing than Fred who was more dejected.

Well, that was yet another reason why Tom didn't alert them to the foul play.

"Tell you what, boys." He smirked at them. Nobody can say he didn't learn a thing or two during his dealings with Sarael. "If you can present me with a good business plan and at least twenty viable products, I might be persuaded to invest and become a silent partner in your business."

Because why wouldn't he? He already knew they would be successful and while he didn't exactly need this investment, there was no reason not to go for it.

"Really!?" Naturally, that brightened the twins' mood a lot. Their despairing situation no longer seemed so bleak.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't drop out of school or your mother will have my hide for encouraging you." Tom joked.

As if there was anything other than incessant nagging Molly Weasley could do to him...

Nevertheless, it made the twins and Arthur, who was 'subtly' listening in, chuckle and give Tom grateful smiles.

Arthur didn't really know what to think about his sons' ambition but even if he didn't fully support it, he wanted them to succeed as any good parent would.

Just for that, just this once, he would overlook his pride and not make them reject Tom's proposition. He'd rather pretend he didn't hear a thing.

Unfortunately, this cozy and homely atmosphere didn't last long as soon enough, shrieks and terrified screams started to come from outside alongside loud blasts, making the people in the tent instantly tense, realizing something went horribly wrong.

Not even Tom was spared that as despite him looking down on wizards to some degree, he wasn't arrogant enough to think he was invincible and despite his foreknowledge, he wasn't stupid enough to think he knew everything there was to be known.

The adults instantly ushered the kids out of the tent, knowing that the enchantments were not made to withstand an attack and being caught up inside could prove fatal if the tent was attacked.

The second they were outside, however, they saw a lot of fire and panicking people, running from masked individuals which made Arthur gasp in horror as fear and horrible memories flashed through his mind.

The biggest diplomatic blunder in the history of Wizarding Britain had started.

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