In the private box, Ron was holding a pair of omnioculars, gazing at the playing field.
The omnioculars were bought with Mrs. Weasley's approval, of course... Mrs. Weasley only bought one.
Fortunately, Bill and Charlie both believed that as elder brothers, they should act like one, so they didn't compete with Ron for it.
As for Percy... Percy wasn't interested in the match, he felt he shouldn't be here, rather at the Ministry of Magic's office, handling the cauldron standardization issue.
The Weasley Twins each had an omniocular, and they even brought one for Ginny.
This was all bought earlier, given the money they earned, the Weasley family's usual rule was to spend as soon as they earned.
Ron fiddled with the omnioculars for a while, turning it towards the crowd on the other side of the stadium.
"This is great!" he said, twiddling with the replay knob on the side of the omnioculars, "I can make that old guy over there pick his nose again... and again... and again..."
"You're so bad, Ron." Ginny, mimicking the same position, was also watching the old man: "Aren't you afraid he'll damage his nose, honestly."
At this moment, Hermione was eagerly flipping through her velvet-covered, tasseled match program.
"There will be a performance by the team's mascots before the match." she read aloud.
"Yes, that's always something worth seeing," Mr. Weasley said, "You know, each national team brings some peculiar magical creatures from their own country to perform here."
"What will they be?" Hermione asked, looking up with interest, "I know Ireland's feature is the banshee, which was originally a point Professor Lockhart... oh no, Lady Rozier taught us in class—will they really bring a banshee? Really, really?"
Hermione's face was full of excitement, she really seemed to want to see a banshee.
"No, Hermione," Bill said, "that's not legal."
Hermione was a bit disappointed, she turned to look at her parents, finding both of them also looking through the omnioculars.
Especially Mr. Granger, who was very curious, marveling as he peered through them, that the creations of the magic world were truly astonishing; if he could have such omnioculars at the World Cup—football World Cup—he would probably be able to see Baggio's face clearly.
Indeed, although Mr. Granger was an Englishman, in competitions where England did not participate, he was an Italy fan.
Of course, he wouldn't shout 'Viva Italia, the great Italian left-back...' or anything like that.
Their box wasn't private, after a while, people started coming in from outside, one by one.
Such as the Malfoy family, and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge.
All who entered were big names, so even Mr. Weasley had to stand up to shake hands with them.
And when Cornelius Fudge himself entered, Percy bowed too low, causing his glasses to fall to the ground and shatter.
He was extremely embarrassed, mending the lenses with his magic wand, and then sat dumbly in his seat.
After greeting Sirius and Mr. Weasley, Cornelius Fudge shook Harry's hand warmly, inquiring after him, and introducing him to the wizard sitting next to him.
"Harry Potter, you know," he loudly told the Bulgarian Minister of Magic—the man in a resplendent, gold-trimmed black velvet robe seemed not to understand a word of English, "Harry Potter... oh, think, you should know who he is... the boy who survived from You-Know-Who... you must know who he is—"
The Bulgarian wizard suddenly saw the scar on Harry's forehead, immediately pointing at it with excitement, exclaiming in a stream of his own language.
"Alas..." Fudge looked exasperated, "I'm really not good at languages from other countries, this should have been Old Batty Crouch's duty, but what on earth is he doing?"
Before the words were finished, more people entered the box.
Leading the group was the current Austrian Minister of Magic, Lady Vida Rozier.
Following behind her was Vivi, dressed in a lady's business suit.
She even wore gold-rimmed glasses today, looking more like a career woman than a witch.
Seeing Lady Rozier, both the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and Fudge stood up to greet her.
"Still, I would like to welcome you to the United Kingdom once more, esteemed lady." Fudge said very gallantly, "It's an honor for us to have you here."
After exchanging greetings, Lady Rozier chatted a bit with the students, even teasing the Weasley Twins.
Observing this, Fudge's eyes flickered subtly, internally elevating the Weasley family by two notches.
"I thought you wouldn't come."
After Vivi sat down, Cassandra couldn't help but snark.
"I still miss you dearly, my dear little apple."
With that, Vivi bent down and gave her a light kiss on the forehead, to Cassandra's astonished gaze.
Cassandra was dazed for a long time before coming back to her senses, as if something dirty was on her forehead, rubbing it vigorously on Harry's sleeve.
The place on her forehead being rubbed was turning red, yet she wouldn't stop.
By this time, Ron had once again put the omnioculars to his eyes, scanning the field before suddenly pointing in another direction saying, "Hey? Why is there a group of people over there whispering to each other? They don't seem like the good kind..."