Chapter 61.5- Doom Days

“I’ve seen the bills and I’ve seen your accounts. If you keep running through them at present rates, you’d be poor as a Weasley by the time you turn twenty.” He said.

“I’m sure I’d have found something to do by then. But back to the issue, you think the goblins would come back with an improved offer which you are then going to reject, and then they’ll try to fix the outcome of the duels themselves?” I asked, getting a nod in return. Of course. That was just fucking perfect.

— XXXXXX—

I watched her from across the room. Watched her out of the corner of my eyes while I kept Sirius in my sights with the rest of my attention. He was certain that the goblins way of cheating would involve trying to change the outcome of the duel by messing with me, and while that was a possibility, I guaged their chances of success to be middling at best. There was another possibility he didn’t consider. While they wouldn’t kill him once they had a debt to pay him for fear of the reputational damage, there was a chance they would do it now before any debt became due.

It would be much harder to trace things to them if they removed him before he won the bet. So I watched him as he walked from table to table. I reached out to a passing tray and picked a flute off it. Tapping my wand against it assured me it had not been altered in any way so I took a sip as I walked out of the corner and towards my quarry.

This was the Finalists Banquet so no Cece or Angel. This was probably a chance for the sponsors to get to meet those who would be dueling the next day. The kind of exclusive access that people paid good money for, I knew. Julian Russo, if he had been the one to put this all together, had to be a man of considerable intellect or expertise.

Everything about the tournament had basically gone without a hitch. And from the number of people I was seeing in this hall, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that the Ministry had made a massive amount of gold from this, even despite the considerable investments that had gone into raising a town from the ground and creating a stadium better than any that most people had ever seen before. It was the kind of event that someone could decree as their magnum opus and not be judged for doing so. It was just that good. And from what I could tell, Russo was still looking into moving upwards.

Why else would he be schmoozing and making himself available to all these people? She was surrounded, I noted as I got closer to her. Well, that would have to be fixed. I waved my wand, creating a smaller scale version of my earlier aversion ward. I was probably going to get a reputation for using these by the time this was over, but I was sure they’d care more about the fact that I won than about any perceived rudeness. Okonkwo smiled happily, allowing people to excuse themselves. I leaned against the nearest pillar, sipping my wine.

My assessment of her turned out to be accurate. She hadn’t even reacted to the aversion ward going up.