An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Nine

Not long after Oliver left, the fire was hot enough to cook on. Harry and Mr. Weasley started cooking eggs and sausages, and as I surveyed our surroundings I caught sight of Bill, Charlie, and Percy walking cheerily out of the woods.

We waved them over, and Percy plopped down next to me.

"Just Apparated, Dad," he said loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"

I turned and glared at him, and he gave me a strange look.

"What's the matter Alexa?"

"Nothing. But you're getting the firewood and the water next time, since you got to sleep in instead of helping with anything this morning." Percy just chuckled and turned his attention to the food. I sighed. It was a beautiful day, the air was buzzing with excitement, and I was surrounded by some of my favorite people in the world.

I really couldn't stay grumpy for long.

We ate and chatted for a while, and we were about halfway through our food when a boisterous-looking man in brightly colored Quidditch robes headed right for us.

"Aha! The man of the moment! Ludo!" Mr. Weasley called, jumping up to meet the man. Based on Percy's frown, I assumed this was the same Ludo Bagman that he'd been grumbling about for the past few days.

"Ahoy there!" Bagman called out, bouncing towards us and our tent. "Arthur, old man, what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming... and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements... Not much for me to do!"

As he spoke, I noticed a bunch of other Ministry wizards rushing around behind him, looking exhausted and stressed.

Maybe there was something to all of Percy's criticisms of this man.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Percy catapulted himself out of his chair and rushed forward to shake Bagman's hand.

A hypocrite and a kiss-up. Everything he did just gave his brothers more ammunition.

Mr. Weasley introduced us all, and Bagman didn't give anybody but Harry a second glance. To my surprise however, he didn't comment on Harry's presence. Instead, he launched straight into convincing us all to make bets on the match.

Much to Mr. Weasley's horror, Fred and George took the offer with everything they had. Percy gave them an especially long look down his nose. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what they were doing. They needed money to get Weasley's Wizard Wheezes up and running, and this was how they were going to do it.

"Mum's gonna kill them both," whispered Ginny, leaning over to talk to me.

"What makes you think she's ever gonna find out?" I whispered back.

"True, true... she can't kill them if she never knows about it... still, she has a way of finding things out. I wouldn't want to be them when that cat gets out of the bag."

I nodded in agreement. I leaned in closer to keep talking, but before I could another wizard appeared out of thin air. Percy's gasp was enough to identify the man, even if I didn't recognize him from our last meeting.

Mr. Crouch, Percy's asshole boss.

He and Bagman talked business while I glared daggers. He didn't notice, of course, but I felt better for doing it.

"Mr. Crouch!" Percy finally said, stooping over in front of the man he followed around like a lost puppy. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh. Yes—thank you, Weatherby," he said absentmindedly. Fred and George literally did a spit take, and Percy flushed scarlet as he focused all his attention on the teapot. I doubled the intensity of my glare.