422nd Quidditch World Cup

422nd Quidditch World Cup
Name	422nd Quidditch World Cup
Date	August 1994
Location	Deserted moor, England
Purpose	Quidditch World Cup
Book Information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Last appearance	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The 422nd Quidditch World Cup is an event that takes place during Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Ireland win the World Cup with a score of 170-160 against Bulgaria in the final.

History

Preparations

The 422nd World Cup was hosted in Britain. The Department of Magical Games and Sports and the Department of International Magical Cooperation were involved in preparations for the tournament and were very busy over the summer. However, the employees of the Department of International Magical Cooperation did not feel the Department of Magical Games and Sports were providing enough support to them.

To ensure Muggle attention was not drawn to the event, the organisers had to follow guidelines. Arrivals had to be staggered and various types of transport accomodated for. Those with a cheaper ticket had to arrive two weeks before. An Apparition point was set up in a wood area, and two hundred Portkeys were placed at strategic points around Britain, including Stoatshead Hill, which transported people at a prearranged time. Portkeys were also set up in other countries, including the Black Forest of Germany.

The biggest problem for the organisers was finding an obscure site big enough for a hundred thousand people, which Britain does not have enough of. They chose a deserted moor which they protected with as many anti-Muggle precautions as possible.

Campsite

Campsite for the World Cup

Upon arrival on the moor, visitors were greeted by a British Ministry of Magic employee who directed them to their campsite. Each campsite had its own site manager who was a Muggle that had been put under a Memory Charm. If they noticed anything peculiar about the event while they were working, an Obliviator reproduces the Memory Charm.

Visitors had to book a plot for their tent and pay for it upon arrival with Muggle money. The plot displayed the witch or wizard's surname. They had to bring their own tent to put up. Use of magic was banned within the campsites, which had rows of tents that were supposed to look ordinary but witches and wizards had ignorantly added things like chimneys, bellpulls and weather vanes. Other tents were obviously very magical, with one extravagant tent looking like a miniature palace with live peacocks, and another visibly had three floors and several turrets. There was also a tent with a front garden attached with a birdbath, sundial and fountain. In the corner of one campsite, there was a tap with a queue of people waiting to collect water.

There were tents decorated with the flags and colours of the owner's country or company, with the Irish having a patch of tents covered in shamrocks. In addition, there were furtive witches and wizards trying to use magic to light fires and carry out other tasks without drawing the attention of the authorities. Children were also proving to be troublemakers, using their parents' wands and riding toy broomsticks.

Vendors also sell merchandise and other items like programs to fans within the campsite, appearing there shortly before they are able to go to the stadium. Rosettes that squealed the names of the players, green pointed hats with dancing shamrocks, scarves for Bulgaria with roaring lions, flags singing national anthems, tiny flying Firebolts and collectible player figurines that moved and preened were among the offerings.

Stadium

The gigantic stadium had gold walls surrounding the long oval field in the middle with Muggle-repelling charms covering every inch of it. If a Muggle got close to it, they'd suddenly remember they had an urgent appointment and run away. There were seats for a hundred thousand people which rose around the entirety of the oval field. At every door were Ministry officials checking for tickets. The stairs had rich purple carpets with doorways to the stands on the left and right.

The field itself looked velvety smooth. Right in the middle at the very top of one side was the Top Box, and on the other was a gigantic blackboard advertising companies and products before the game. The adverts were written in gold, flashing scrawls. This turned into a scoreboard when the game started. Spectators who were wealthy or important were able to purchase tickets for the Top Box.

The stadium stands were brightly lit but the Top Box was darker. With the spell Sonorus, every part of the stadium could hear the speaker's voice.

Tournament

During the tournament, Ireland flattened Peru in the semifinals. England lost to Transylvania with a shocking performance and a score of three-hundred and ninety to ten points. Wales lost to Uganda and Luxembourg thrashed Scotland. Ireland and Bulgaria reached the final.

Final

Pre-match

The final was held in England on a Monday night in August. Opinions on whether Ireland or Bulgaria would win the final varied. Bulgaria had what some considered the best player, Viktor Krum, but others thought Ireland had up to seven decent players.

Before leaving Hogwarts at the end of their third year, Ronald Weasley invited Harry Potter to go to the World Cup final with him if he got tickets. His father, Arthur Weasley did get tickets from Ludo Bagman after he helped out his brother Otto. A few days before the final, Molly Weasley sent an invitation for Harry to his guardians, the Dursleys. Arthur, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter arrived with Amos and Cedric Diggory at a Portkey point early in the morning of the final. They were greeted by Basil and a colleague and were directed to their campsite.

Before the fans could go to the final, vendors opened up shop on trays and stalls selling items like figurines, Omnioculars and velvet tassled programs. When the final was about to begin, spectators staying in the campsite were made aware that they could go to the stadium when a very loud gong was sounded beyond the woods, and a path of green and red lanterns in the trees lighted the way to the field. Before the game started, advertisements for the Bluebottle, Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, Gladrags Wizardwear and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans appeared on the blackboard.

Bulgarians fans were seated to the right, and Irish on the left. Representatives for both teams put on a display before the game. Bulgaria memerised spectators with dancing veela who reacted angrily when they left the pitch. Ireland used leprechauns to create a green-and-gold comet, which split into two, hurtled toward the goal posts and reconnected under an arched rainbow. They formed a huge shimmering shamrock which soared over the crowd and poured heavy gold coins over the crowd.

Gameplay

At the start of the game, the three Irish Chasers took the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. Troy bore down on the Bulgarians and then darted upwards with the Quaffle using the Porskoff Ploy. Bulgarian Chaser, Ivanova was drawn away and Troy passed the Quaffle to Moran who lost it to Levski. Eventually, Troy took back possession of the Quaffle and scored Ireland's first goal. Within the next ten minutes, Ireland scored two more goals. The score was now 30-0.

The match started getting faster and harsher. Bulgarian Beaters Volkov and Vulchanov kept hitting Bludgers at the Irish Chasers and scattering them. Ivanova finally broke through to score Bulgaria's first goal to bring the score to 30-10. Bulgaria kept possession of the Quaffle when play resumed.

Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, then pretended to catch sight of the Golden Snitch and tricked his Irish counterpart, Aidan Lynch by using the Wronski Defensive Feint. They plummeted toward the ground until Viktor lifted up at the final second and Lynch hit the ground. There was a time-out while mediwizards tended to Lynch. Krum tried to use the time to look for the Golden Snitch. Lynch returned to a revitalised Irish side who scored ten more goals. The score was now 130-10 points.

Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf tried to prevent Moran from scoring another goal for Ireland by flying out to meet her while she flew towards the scoring area. Zograf fouled her by cobbing to which the referee gave Ireland a penalty. Before they could take it, the Irish leprechauns started taunting the Bulgarians and garnered a reaction from the Bulgarian veela who started dancing. The referee was distracted and had to be kicked in the shins to snap him out of a trance. When he returned to normal, he ordered the veela to be kicked out of the stadium. Vulkov and Vulchanov tried to intervene and argue with the referee, refusing to get back on their broomsticks until the referee awarded Ireland an additional penalty.

After this, the game grew very ferocious. Moran had the Quaffle when Dimitrov flew straight at her and nearly knocked her from her broom. Ireland received another penalty. The leprechauns made a rude sign at the veela across the field who started throwing fire back. The veelas had transformed into hideous birds and continued fighting with the leprechauns while Ministry officials tried to intervene. The Quaffle was still being passed around until Moran caught it and scored another goal for Ireland.

Quigley swung heavily to hit a Bludger toward Krum. He did not get out the way quickly enough and was hit in the face. His nose was broken but nobody responded because the veela had now set fire to the referee's broomstick. Lynch then saw the Snitch and dived after it, with Krum in pursuit behind him with a bleeding nose. They both dived towards the ground until Lynch hit the pitch and Krum caught the Snitch. With the capture, the game ended in a victory for Ireland with a score of 170-160.

Ireland celebrated around the pitch to a roaring crowd. Both sides shook hands with the Bulgarian and British Ministers for Magic before the Irish players lifted the Cup together.

Aftermath

Irish celebrations continued into the night after everyone returned to the campsites. Harry Potter could still hear singing and cheering when he was going to sleep. However, the campsites were later attacked by Death Eaters who were firing spells producing flashes of light while laughing and drunkenly cheering. They attacked any Muggles working or staying there, including Mr Roberts and his family. Tents were burned, blasted out the way or crumpled where they fell. A green light illuminated the area.

People staying in the campsites run and fled into the nearby forest while Ministry officials tried to counterattack. Harry and his friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger hid out in the forest for a while and crossed other witches and wizards doing the same. When the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports Ludovic Bagman appeared, he was surprised to learn that there was chaos occuring in the campsites and Disapparated. They were then startled by a figure heading towards their clearing. They could not identify who it was, but would later discover it was Barty Crouch Jnr. who used the spell Morsmorde to produce the Dark Mark in the sky. This drew the attention of Ministry officials led by Barty Crouch Snr. who Apparated there shortly after Crouch Jnr. left.

Crouch Snr. tried to lay the blame on Harry, Ron and Hermione but the other officials with him knew that was unlikely. His own house-elf, Winky was then captured nearby holding Harry's wand which led Amos Diggory to accuse her of being reponsible for producing the Dark Mark. Crouch Snr. was insulted by the implication he taught her the Dark Arts. According to Arthur Weasley, only Death Eaters could have produced the Dark Mark because its cast was not common knowledge.

The media reported on the night's events. An article in the Daily Prophet, written by Rita Skeeter, alleged that Ministry blunders and lax security was responsible for the Dark wizards running unchecked and the culprits escaping capture. She thought the response of the Ministry after the Dark Mark, where a representative (publicly unidentified) said nobody was hurt, was a disappointing effort to calm the wizarding community. She then suggests that bodies had been discovered in the forest, which was not true.