Chapter 64: Sacred 28 assemble part 2
As everyone took their seats, as the host, Oakley stood up and greeted them, "ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the Avery Mansion of the Tagues village and thank you for attending this Sacred 28 assembly. Well, I hoped only 7 or 8 would come but 13, huh. Now that's a great number.
Too bad some of the old families didn't make it. Anyway, there are two reasons I called upon this meeting. First, let me introduce my grandson, heir to the House of Avery and the House of Slytherin, Neal Slytherin".
As Neal stood up and introduced himself in proper etiquette like a noble, everyone lightly clapped while nodding in appreciation. Barty Crouch then said, "I'm hearing quite a lot about your grandson these days, Oakley.
A snake as a pet, opening the chamber of secrets, getting record academic scores, Quidditch records, and selection to the National team. Everyone in the Ministry keeps talking about Mr. Slytherin. It seems he's just as popular as Harry Potter".
Rupert Carrow then said, "Ah, Harry Potter, the boy who lived, eh! I heard that he stopped the Dark Lord in his first year and Sirius Black in his third year". As Selma Yaxley snorted, "what lies! the Dark Lord never returned. It's just a lie on Dumbledore's part", Malfoy replied with a dark face, "I'm afraid it's not. Rise of the Dark Lord is imminent. No one can stop..."
As he stopped while everyone is looking at him, Oakley said, "kids, go upstairs and get acquainted with each other. We have a lot to discuss. Neal, lead them the way". Marcus Flint, the former Quidditch captain who just graduated asked, "can't I stay? I'm an adult".
His mother Fauna replied sternly, "no, you can't. There are a few things that you don't need to know. Leave now".
Neal leads Draco, Daphne, Flint, Pansy, Milicent, Celia Yaxley, Theodore Nott, Tomas Macmillan, and the twin Carrow sisters to the upstairs living room and while everyone sat on their seats, Celia Yaxley sat next to Neal on the sofa and started the conversation with him while Flint and Draco are chatting.
As Pansy and Milicent were busy talking with Daphne, she wasn't concentrating on her conversation with her two friends and Theodore who was trying to flirt with her but was staring at Neal and Celia who were in their own world telling each other experiences in their schools and busy petting Isle.
Meanwhile, Tomas was awkward trying to get into the conversation with these two groups but failing to do so, he stayed silent. But after the twin sisters asked him about the Hogwarts, he started explaining to them about it with enthusiasm.
As Pansy realized the situation, she called out Celia and asked, "Ms. Yaxley. I heard that Beauxbatons is an all-girls school, is it true?". Celia replied, "yeah. We get asked about it every time. No, it isn't actually. It's just that their number is small like a 10:1 ratio. So we rarely meet a handsome one like Neal".
Then as she turned towards him and said, "it's really a wonder that you are still single, you know". Neal replied with an awkward smile, "I'm just 14 for your information". Celia then said, "so what! People just start dating at 12-13 age, you know". As Neal asked, "really?", Daphne commented, "so, you must have dated at least a couple of them, right?".
She replied with a crestfallen face, "unfortunately, no. I'm just average". Tomas then asked, "what are you saying? You are the most beautiful I've ever met". As Daphne narrowed her eyes at him, Theodore thought, "Daphne looks more beautiful though". Then, Celia replied "please, if you see other girls, you would change your opinion. Especially Fleur, her beauty is off the charts, you know".
Draco then said, "okay. Stop talking about those things. Let's talk about something else. Is anyone interested in Quidditch? World cup soon going to start". Hearing the Quidditch changed the mood of everyone else as its the favorite sport in the magical world especially among the purebloods.
Flint then asked, "so, Neal, how is the National team? Are you participating?". As everyone looked at him, Neal replied, "not sure. I just turned 14 a week ago and haven't participated in Qualifying matches which were held during the past year. We'll have to see if Coach Briar will let me play. There's still a week left".
Meanwhile, the adults were discussing various things about the Ministry, Voldemort and as well as Dumbledor without any reservations that Crouch is here. After talking for a long time, Malfoy stood up and said, "I will accept this so-called Alliance and the protection from Ministry is also tempting but I must refuse to live in the new all Wizarding village you are planning to build. Although I would still provide the funds needed".
Oakley replied, "well, I'm not asking you to leave your ancestral home and move there. You can just set up a safety residence, you know just in case if you want to hide from someone". Lucius narrowed his eyes and nodded a few seconds later.
After everyone has gone, Neal said, "I'm going back to my room", as he turned back, Oakley stopped him, "wait, aren't you curious what did we talk about?". Neal replied, "no, I would like to stay in my limits and behave until I reach the legal age. I hope you'll use your connections then, to let me meet Leon Avery".
As Neal's going upstairs, Oakley sighed, "I guess this boy is adamant about meeting Leon. Well, at least I hope that foolish son of mine gets back his senses and applies for retrial".
A couple of days later, Neal finally got the letter from Kylan Twigs that he has been selected for the World cup and asked him why he hasn't shown up at practice these days. Neal then went to Ireland Quidditch Association along with Marsh, his bodyguard, and met his teammates.
Neal asked Aidan, the team's captain, "so, who is our opponent?". Aidan replied, "France. Quite a strong team I should say but they probably won't expect our trump card". Neal replied seriously, "I definitely will not let the team down".
On July 4th, all sixteen teams gathered at the gigantic Quidditch Stadium which was specially constructed for this World Cup on Dartmoor with seats for a hundred thousand wizards and witches who came to see the Worldcup knockout matches from all over the world.
The stadium was approached through a wood, a twenty-minute walk along a lantern-lit trail. It had immense gold walls, suffused with a mysterious golden light which seems to come from the stadium itself, and with Muggle-Repelling Charms on every inch of it.
Since it's just the first match, not many arrived except their respective team supporters and people from the Ministry of Magic from both sides. There are also people from the International Confederation of Wizards (I.C.W) along with Dumbledore who is the Supreme Mugwump, head of I.C.W. seated in the VIP section.
As the Ireland team entered the stadium on Firebolts, the audience cheered loudly. Dumbledore clapped lightly along with Kylan and others while people from the French Ministry murmured among themselves seeing a 14-year-old Neal in between several 20s.
The France team chaser and Captain Jess mumbled, "so, he is that genius, huh". As Kylan Twigs already mentioned and talked about him in the interview describing him as the most talented Quidditch player he has ever seen, the audience also was looking forward to seeing Neal's performance.
As everyone took their position, Troy, a chaser for team Ireland said, "Neal, let's take the first goal like a flash". Neal nodded and looked at the Quaffle seriously which was moving up and was about to reach the highest point.
As the Quaffle reached the highest point and was about to fall, Neal flew like a lightning on the Firebolt using the burst skill and caught it in a fraction of second. Just when the other team is surprised to see Neal got possession of the Quaffle, Neal passed to Troy quickly who then passed it to Neal.
Just when they recovered from the shock, Neal already reached the scoring area and the Quaffle went through one of the goalposts.
The scoreboard quickly became 10-0 when not even 5 seconds has been passed. The audience erupts in applause while the others amazed while looking at Neal.
Meanwhile, at the Little Hangleton, a lone old house stood on the hill as if it is overlooking the entire village. Inside that creepy house, Peter Pettigrew who escaped with his life from the Hogwarts successfully spoke to someone in the dark, "there's a little more in the bottle, My lord if you are still hungry".
He heard a reply, "Later. First Move me closer to the fire, Wormtail".
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