The twins certainly listened to Charlie's words; they knew well how much their mother loathed their development of the Weasley magical tricks.
So in an instant, they decided that under no circumstances could they let their mother see them develop those things. If those little gadgets got burned and all the orders scattered, they'd be doomed.
"So who do you think will win the championship?" Charlie asked again. "Ireland? Or Bulgaria? I know Bulgaria has that great Seeker, Victor Krum, right? Ron even has his poster above his bed."
Ron didn't feel embarrassed at all; after all, Krum was his idol.
"Let me ask you," Fred's eyes twinkled with mischief as he began teasing Ron, "Do you think as a Seeker, Harry is better, or Victor Krum?"
Ron: ?
What the heck, mate?
The question stumped Ron, because actually, in Ron's eyes, Harry was a pretty good Seeker.
"This is a tough question to answer," Ron's brain went into overdrive, showing a rare high emotional intelligence, "If you insist on me choosing, I actually prefer Harry, whether from a friend's perspective or from Gryffindor's point of view—besides, they haven't really competed against each other, right?"
"Speaking of which," Charlie suddenly said, "I once received a letter from Professor McGonagall and Wood, they both praised Harry—I've never seen Professor McGonagall praise a student this much... Oh, it seems like when I was at school, Professor McGonagall occasionally praised Harry's dad, saying he was an excellent Chaser."
"After all, like father, like son," Harry said with a grin.
"What are you folks chatting about here?"
Mrs. Weasley finally came over, glaring at the Weasley Twins, "Are you discussing your grand ideas again? I warn you, George! Fred! You two are not allowed to mess with those Weasley tricks! Do you hear me?"
When she mentioned their names, Mrs. Weasley pointed at each son individually.
"Got it, Mum," Fred and George said in unison, "But it really breaks our hearts because I'm Fred and he's George—even Mum can't tell us apart, it's so sad."
"Oh, sorry, darlings," Mrs. Weasley sighed.
"Just kidding, Mum," Fred and George put their arms around each other's shoulders, chuckling, "Actually, you guessed right—"
Mrs. Weasley got so angry she picked up the baguette on the table and began smacking the twins, causing them to yelp in protest.
Mrs. Weasley made dinner that night, slightly distrustful of Kreacher, as the old house elf looked shabby.
Of course, Mrs. Weasley enjoyed cooking for family.
The main reason being, Kreacher was still holding Regulus's hand, and Mrs. Weasley found it quite unreliable to cook while holding a Yin Corpse.
If drool fell into the food, wouldn't it be disgusting?
"Have a taste, your favorite beef stew with potatoes," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully, placing a huge pot on the table, and cupping Harry's face with her hands, "Eat more, eat more."
"This beef stew with potatoes is nourishing, you know," Ron winked at Harry, grabbed a spoon, and scooped half of a plate for Harry.
Harry picked up some bread nearby, stirring the beef stew with potatoes in the bowl, and the taste was simply delightful.
Cassandra raised her eyebrows slightly but didn't say anything.
This fellow...
Really quite rude!
"We'll rest here for the night," Mr. Weasley said, "Then tomorrow we'll take the carriage to the Quidditch match venue—"
"Carriage?" Bill raised his head, shaking his ponytail, "Shouldn't it be some kind of door key instead? Then we all hold onto it, and with a whoosh—"
"Oh, that was years ago," Mr. Weasley chuckled, speaking to Bill, "Now things have changed, so we naturally have to travel using some new methods—and, of course, this isn't our rented carriage, dear."
The latter part was addressed to Molly.
"Ludo Bagman specially arranged it for us; it's a privilege of box-seat VIPs," Mr. Weasley beamed, his forehead gleaming, "Naturally, other people can only get there using traditional methods—we can't have too much commotion, can't attract too much attention, and must not draw the Muggles' notice, otherwise we'd have to trouble someone to erase memories..."
"Why? Don't we have the Muggle-Repelling Charm?" Hermione asked curiously while nibbling on bread, puzzled as to why such measures were necessary despite the existence of the charm.
"Organizing this is quite challenging," Mr. Weasley sighed, "The main problem is, around ten thousand wizards are coming to watch the World Cup, and we definitely can't find a magical venue large enough to hold that many. Some places are inaccessible to Muggles, but imagine, how could we possibly cram ten thousand wizards into Diagon Alley? Even with the Muggle-Repelling Charm, having tens of thousands of people going through the Broken Cauldron Bar in such a short time is too conspicuous."
"Firstly, of course, we must stagger the arrival times; those with cheaper tickets have to come two weeks early, some using Muggle transportation methods, but the number is limited, as we can't overcrowd Muggle buses and trains—remember, wizards from all around the world are coming. Naturally, some will use the Apparition Spell, but we need to designate some safe environments for apparition, away from all Muggles."