Soon, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stealthily surrounded Sherlock Cavendish.
Sherlock Cavendish put down the carrot in his hand, glanced at them, and immediately sensed their ill intentions.
"Do you need something?"
Ron was the most enthusiastic and excited about the matter, dryly rubbing his hands together.
"Professor, what are your thoughts on this Quidditch World Cup Final?"
Sherlock Cavendish picked up the kitchen knife, swiftly slicing the carrot into pieces and placing them on the plate Vera Hilke had brought, saying irritably,
"I'll watch it with my eyes."
Hermione Granger, who was still the most well-behaved of the three, blinked her bright eyes and pleaded,
"Please tell us your thoughts, Professor. Which team do you think is stronger?"
Every teacher tended to be more patient with good students, but Sherlock Cavendish still rolled his eyes helplessly.
"I know even less about these Quidditch teams than any of you three. Instead of asking me, you should judge for yourselves."
"We just want to hear your analysis." Harry Potter also looked at him eagerly. "After all, you are the Professor we trust the most."
Well, even though he knew it was flattery, pleasant words always made one feel happy.
Sherlock Cavendish's expression relaxed, and he shrugged.
"Since you all put it that way, I'm leaning towards the Bulgarian team. After all, they seem to have a star player."
At this moment, the breathing of Harry Potter and his two friends simultaneously grew heavier, and their gazes towards Sherlock Cavendish changed, as if they were looking at a walking money tree!
"Then, then, then what about the score?" Harry Potter even started to stutter. He tried hard to calm himself down and asked, "What do you think the final score will be?"
Sherlock Cavendish blinked and randomly guessed a few numbers.
"Bulgarian team 170: Irish Team 160 points. I'm just guessing. Since both teams made it to the final, the difference between them shouldn't be too great."
"Yay!!!"
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger instantly cheered with excitement. While Sherlock Cavendish looked bewildered, they impatiently rushed out of the tent, each pulling out all their savings and handing them over to Bagman.
Of course, they didn't bet as Sherlock Cavendish had predicted; instead, they bet on the Irish Team 170: Bulgarian team 160 points.
Bagman stared at them, confirming repeatedly. Betting directly on the score was extremely high-risk. Although the three of them didn't bet much money in total, even a hundred- or thousand-fold return would only amount to a few hundred Galleons (Harry Potter only bet the money he had on him).
But it was still children's pocket money, and he couldn't help but worry that if they lost all their money, Harry Potter and his friends would cry and complain to their families.
However, Harry Potter and his friends were naturally confident, directly stuffing the money into Bagman's hand. They were also quite clever, not saying anything about definitely winning, but simply saying that they were betting for fun and that, if they won, it would be a pleasant surprise.
After Harry Potter and his friends ran off, Sherlockshook his head in confusion, refocusing his attention on cutting vegetables.
Vera Hilke, who had witnessed Harry Potter and his two friends' actions, asked Sherlock meaningfully,
"Do your three students often ask you questions like this?"
Sherlock naturally had nothing to hide from Vera.
"Yes. I remember that at first, they would ask me strange questions, like what the weather was going to be like, whether Harry Potter could find money, or whether Seamus Finnigan would accidentally blow things up in class. Later, they even called me a jinx, believing that whatever I thought would happen, the outcome would go in the opposite direction. I just played along with them like children, and we did a test together. As expected, hehe, this kind of thing, neither magic nor science, is complete nonsense."
Vera listened to his words carefully and did not laugh with him about it, but remained silent and thoughtful.
It wasn't until Sherlock had completely forgotten about it and was skewering sausages, chicken wings, and drumsticks onto barbecue sticks under Mrs Weasley's direction that Vera suddenly said something inexplicable.
"You must never gamble with anyone in the future."
Sherlock didn't notice her serious tone at the moment, waving his hand dismissively and saying,
"I am completely immune to the word 'gamble'; I never make any bets with anyone."
Vera silently stared at Sherlock's back.
In the golden pupils hidden by black ribbons, a figure was reflected, entangled with countless invisible threads.
The ends of these threads disappeared into the air, yet seemed to connect to something unimaginable...
The Quidditch World Cup Final match began at night.
As night deepened, a deep, resonant gong sounded from somewhere far in the forest, and immediately, thousands of red and green lanterns bloomed on the trees, illuminating the path to the stadium.
Mr Weasley called back the children who were wandering around the stalls.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasley Twins all returned empty-handed, which made Molly Weasley look at them with confusion.
"Didn't you buy any souvenirs?"
Of course, none of them dared to tell her about the betting. George and Fred chuckled and said,
"We wanted to save some money, Mum, since you confiscated all those joke magic items we were going to sell."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione also nodded repeatedly in agreement, as if they really wanted to save some money.
Mrs Weasley still looked suspicious, but she didn't ask any more questions.
After all, it was their own pocket money, and she couldn't interfere with how they spent it.
Mr Weasley led the way. Except for Harry and his two friends, who were empty-handed, everyone else clutched their purchases and hurried along the lantern-lit path into the forest.
Sherlock bought Vera a dancing shamrock hat. The hat wasn't particularly pretty, but it was amusing to see it constantly dancing on Vera's head.
Vera didn't seem very interested in the hat, but she didn't take it off. Both she and Sherlock also had a pair of omnioculars hanging around their necks.
Not just them, but every Weasley child, along with Harry and Hermione, had the same binoculars around their necks.
Sherlock had paid for them, smiling and saying it was an early Christmas gift for them that year.
Hundreds and thousands of people could be heard moving around, shouting, laughing, and singing intermittently.
This fervent excitement was contagious, and the children couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. They walked through the forest for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, finally emerging from the other side of the woods to find themselves in the shadow of a colossal stadium.
Sherlock could only see a portion of the magnificent golden walls surrounding the arena, but he could tell that it could easily hold ten large cathedrals.