The arrival of friends made the Shabby Residence more lively than before. Everyone was noisily chasing goblins in the garden or using their wands to make two tables duel, until late at night when Mrs. Weasley chased them back to their rooms.
The next day arrived.
At dawn, Kael was woken up and, after dressing neatly, went to the Shabby Residence.
The Weasleys seemed to have just gotten up as well, everyone's hair was messy, and they kept yawning, looking as if they hadn't fully woken up.
"Dear, I was just thinking about whether I should go wake you up." Mrs. Weasley came over, holding a plate of corned beef sandwiches, "We're about to leave, have something to eat first."
Kael nodded, picked up a sandwich, and took a bite.
Next to him, Mr. Weasley was showing Harry the clothes he was wearing today.
"What do you think?" he asked eagerly, "We should conceal our identities when we go, do I look like a Muggle, Harry?"
"You do," Harry laughed and affirmed.
Although the combination of a golf shirt and jeans didn't really match, it wasn't too bad; no one had thought it strange when he walked down the street before.
"Where are Bill, Charlie... and Percy..." Fred asked while eating a sandwich.
"Aren't they able to use Disillusionment?" Mrs. Weasley placed a large pot on the table and started serving porridge into everyone's bowls, "So they can sleep in a bit longer."
Fred mumbled something, but with his mouth full of sandwich, no one heard clearly.
Kael sighed.
He could use Disillusionment too, but was underage and hadn't passed the test to get a permit, making him an unknown entity which would cause trouble if caught by the Ministry of Magic, so he had to get up early and go with the main group.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor, Cho, Hermione, and Ginny walked into the kitchen, their faces pale, their hair resembling bird nests.
Ginny sat at the table, quite resentful of having to wake up so early.
Everyone had some porridge and hurried bites of sandwiches, not wasting much time.
"It's time to leave, enjoy yourselves."
Mrs. Weasley checked the time, "I'll dispatch Bill, Charlie, and Percy over around noon."
Then everyone walked through the dark courtyard towards a distant small hill.
On the way, Harry curiously asked about the location of the Quidditch match.
"Organizing was truly challenging."
Speaking of this, Mr. Weasley sighed suddenly, "About a hundred thousand wizards are coming to watch the World Cup. Of course, we couldn't find a place to accommodate that many people. Imagine, how could you fit a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or Platform 9¾.
So we had to find an uninhabited marsh and take all precautions against Muggles. The department has been busy with this for several months."
"Then how do we get there?" Harry asked, "Are we walking?"
"Of course not," Mr. Weasley said, "We use a Portkey. This thing transports wizards from one place to another at a set time. The nearest Portkey to us is on Weasel Mountain, and that's where we're headed."
The journey was far longer than they had imagined, especially when ascending Weasel Mountain, Kael could clearly hear Harry's increasingly loud panting.
When they stepped back onto flat land, it was already bright, and everyone was quite exhausted.
Mr. Weasley wiped sweat from his forehead, breathlessly saying, "Not bad, we arrived just on time... still ten minutes."
"Hello, Arthur!" A voice suddenly came from the front, a bearded man stood there holding a moldy old boot in his hand.
"Come over quickly, we've found the Portkey."
"Amos," Mr. Weasley said, smiling as he walked quickly towards the man who called him.
Cedric stood beside the man, smiling and waving at them.
"Let me introduce everyone." Mr. Weasley looked at Harry and Hermione... "This is Amos Digory, he works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. This is his son, Cedric, I think you all know him."
As for Cedric, they certainly knew him.
"Hi, how are you!" Cedric came over and greeted them, then headed straight to the back of the group.
"Cho, how was your rest last night."
"Not bad, just got up too early."
Due to the climb, Cho's cheeks were flushed, making it hard for Cedric to take his eyes off her.
"Tsk..." Fred said disdainfully to Kael, "Why doesn't he look at us? Are we invisible?"
"At least in his eyes... pretty much," Kael said.
"Heh heh," George let out a strange laugh, "I really want to stuff Balloon Candy in his mouth, let him float off to the World Cup venue."
"Stuff a few more," Kael said, "Let him float a bit higher."
While Kael and his group were planning how to deal with Cedric, the adults were talking.
"Quite a long walk, eh, Arthur." Mr. Digory said, handing over the old boot in his hand.
"There's no choice, it's the only place nearby without Muggles passing by," Mr. Weasley said, "What about you guys."
"Been up since two," Mr. Digory rubbed his eyes, "To be honest, I really want Cedric to pass the Disillusionment test as early as possible. But there's nothing to complain about... It's the Quidditch World Cup, after all, can't miss it."
"Where are your tickets."
"Top-tier box," Mr. Digory smiled happily, "Chris helped that fellow Ludo Bagman solve a little problem before, thanks to him, I got the best ticket.
Unfortunately, there's only one left, I decided to let Cedric go."
"Didn't you get a ticket?" Mr. Weasley frowned.
"I got stand tickets, but I didn't take them," Mr. Digory shook his head, "but it's okay this way. As you know, most people are busy with the World Cup, quite understaffed for something else.
Just that Bagman said you'd be going, help me look after Cedric."
"No problem at all," Mr. Weasley said, "but I remember, you really like Quidditch, right?"
"That's right, but I don't like this time's teams!" Mr. Digory's voice suddenly grew louder, "Even the Peru team didn't make it to the finals, what's the point of this World Cup."
Mr. Weasley realized that Amos was a loyal fan of the Peru team, which had been eliminated by Ireland in the semifinals.
Looking at Amos still fuming and accusing the match of corruption, Mr. Weasley wisely said nothing further, simply nodding, "Don't worry, I'll look after Cedric well."
Then he checked the time and shouted:
"One more minute, hurry over here, we should all be in position... Just reach out a finger to make sure you can touch the Portkey?"
Everyone, carrying large bulging backpacks, managed to gather around Mr. Weasley's hand holding the old boot.
They stood there, tightly circled.
"Three..." Mr. Weasley eyed his pocket watch, whispering, "Two... One..."