Chapter 51.1- Doom Days

The World Cup was nothing compared to this, I thought to myself as Sirius and I were quickly ushered off the landing platform our protkey had deposited us on. Literally seconds after we landed, another group landed on the platform. They were similarly ushered off, smiling all the while as they chattered excitedly before another group took their place. It wasn’t just the arrival platforms that were bustling. The government of the magical Netherlands had set aside an entire magical city within Broekzele for the tournament. There was a massive stadium where the duels were scheduled to take place. There were hotels, pubs, inns, stalls that sold everything from fake wands that produced sparkles on command for children to duel each other, to figurings and models of famous duelling champions.

They’d even apparently retained the services of the best statue enchantress in the continent, Sirius excitedly whispered to me as he tried to relay just about every hit. He had learned about the place during his time house hunting. Of course now, I was beginning to suspect that he had been hunting the real estate witches rather than the houses, considering he hadn’t ended up closing on any of them and just secured us the penthouse suite in one of the hotels the Government had built.

It was designed after a modern muggle hotel and probably had all the expected luxuries but the lack of private training chambers would probably sting in time. I had so many kinks to iron out when it came to my runic fighting style but I didn’t expect to be pushed into revealing that trump card at this level of duelling. The less warning Voldemort had for what was coming his way, the better. We shoved and pushed our way tho=rough the bustling crowd that seemed to be heading in every direction and deciding that the best way to do that was through us. I felt the anti-theft enchantment on my robes kick in as someone’s hands were stuck in my pocket.

I stopped, looking down at the child that had been about to liberate my coin purse without me being any the wiser. Burying the temptation to just curse the munchkin for the assumption that he could steal from Doom and get away with it, I took a longer look at him. His roes were threadbare, his teeth were brown in some spots as he looked up at me with a look not too far from that of a deer caught in a car’s headlights. He could anticipate this not going well. At least he had some wits to him. Not enough wits to know not to steal from a wizard though.

I reached into my other pocket and tossed him a single Galleon. “Word of advice kid, don’t place your fingers into pockets that look as nice as mine. These are enchanted to catch you out. Wizards dressed more poorly are more likely to have failing, fading, or non-existent anti-theft enchantments”.