"The Triwizard Tournament is still under discussion, and whether it can actually be revived has yet to be determined. Remember to keep this confidential," Professor McGonagall reminded him softly.
Lewis nodded in agreement.
"There's one more thing. As the Director of the Department of Magical Sports and a committee member, Ludo will inspect your maneuver this afternoon and then register it."
When she mentioned Quidditch, Professor McGonagall's tone became noticeably more excited.
"Of course, this is merely a formality," she added.
Lewis acknowledged her words without worrying too much.
Whether it was a formality or not, with his abilities, he could reproduce the maneuver perfectly.
"There's one more thing."
Professor McGonagall lowered her voice, her expression suddenly becoming unusually serious.
How many more things are there? Where did you even get all this information?
Lewis suppressed his impatience and looked at the professor attentively.
"If Ludo invites you to join the Wimbourne Wasps, you absolutely must not agree."
"It's no longer the era when Ludo played. That club has declined long ago and has no future whatsoever."
The Wimbourne Wasps were founded in 1312, with their headquarters in the town of Wimbourne in the west of England. Their robes featured yellow-and-black horizontal stripes, with a wasp emblazoned across the chest.
The team had once enjoyed tremendous glory.
They had won the League Cup eighteen times and reached the semifinals of the European Cup twice.
Ludo was a legendary player of the club, helping the team win three consecutive League Cups. He had also played for the English national team before ultimately being forced into retirement because of his involvement with matters concerning Death Eaters.
But as Professor McGonagall had said, the team had long since declined.
Victory and defeat were the nature of competition. No team could remain undefeated forever, and fluctuations in performance were perfectly normal.
Even the famous Chudley Cannons had declined, let alone the Wasps.
Lewis naturally had no intention of joining them.
Or rather, he had never intended to join any Quidditch club.
The reason he wanted to participate in the Quidditch World Cup, aside from increasing his reputation, was to give his Quidditch career a perfect ending.
After that, he would devote his energy to dealing with Voldemort.
Or, more precisely, he would use dealing with Voldemort as an excuse to expand his own influence and establish a new order in the wizarding world.
At that point, his identity would no longer be suitable for participating in a sport like this.
Therefore, it was better to have one last glorious run before making the transition.
It would also give him and Shirella a perfect experience to remember.
And afterward, if he still liked Quidditch, he could simply buy a club and become its owner.
In this regard, he could imitate the Russian oligarch Abramovich, who invested in Chelsea, or the Abu Dhabi consortium that invested in Manchester City.
If he wanted the team to perform well, he only needed to follow the three-word strategy:
Throw money at it!
Whichever player was good, buy him.
If he couldn't get the player, that simply meant he hadn't offered enough Galleons.
But with the Philosopher's Stone in his possession, how could Lewis possibly run out of Galleons?
He could even have the Chosen One, Harry, work for him as the Seeker.
What a wonderful plan.
Before leaving, Professor McGonagall kindly reminded him of one last thing.
"Ludo Bagman is a complete gambling addict and has accumulated an enormous amount of debt because of it. So whatever you do, don't gamble with him."
Lewis naturally agreed immediately.
As a fine young man of Hogwarts, he was absolutely opposed to gambling and drugs.
Under the midday sunlight, Ludo Bagman appeared in the Great Hall like a celebrated hero, immediately earning enthusiastic applause from the young wizards.
His name was famous throughout the British wizarding world, and he held a legendary status.
He had been the greatest Beater in the history of the Wimbourne Wasps, and his skills had once helped the English national team reach the World Cup.
The Bulgarian Krum had even been praised by the Daily Prophet as the "Ludo Bagman of the modern era."
This praise was not without reason.
It fully reflected Ludo's historical status among British Beaters and the extraordinary influence he had once possessed.
His skills had unquestionably placed him among the top five Beaters in British history, and some of his fanatical supporters had even boldly shouted the extreme slogan of "second place guaranteed, first place in sight."
However, there was one major blemish on his record.
He had never won the Quidditch World Cup.
This shortcoming had greatly affected his historical ranking.
As a result, rumors that Ludo might make a comeback and return to professional Quidditch had never truly died down.
There was even a saying circulating among the public:
"Whoever leads the English national Quidditch team to a World Cup victory will be the next savior!"
From this, it was easy to see how desperate the English public was for a champion.
After all, in the eyes of the general public, Voldemort was already dead.
But the English team was still a long, long way from winning the World Cup…
In that case, the title "the Ludo Bagman of the modern era" was not so much an honorable compliment as it was a curse.
The frightening part was that Ludo had never won a World Cup throughout his entire career.
Could this be an omen that Krum would also remain without a championship for his entire career?
At least in the original story, Bulgaria did not win the championship that year.
In fact, it was not until 2014—twenty years later—that the Bulgarian team finally won the World Cup for the first time.
By then, Krum was already a 38-year-old veteran.
The power of the curse was evident.
In fact, the people involved in discussions concerning the Triwizard Tournament should also include Barty Crouch Sr.
After all, he was the Minister for International Magical Cooperation, so he should logically have been involved in organizing an international event involving multiple countries alongside Ludo.
But Lewis knew that Barty Crouch Sr. had another task.
He was currently busy overseeing the construction of the World Cup venue and had no time to concern himself with a school event.
In fact, the reason he had been assigned this responsibility was entirely because Fudge and Gianna had jointly kicked the problem over to him.
Fudge's reasoning was perfectly sound.
The security arrangements for the Quidditch World Cup were a thankless and exhausting job.
As his political opponent, Minister Fudge naturally wished to hand the entire responsibility over to Barty.
If nothing went wrong, all the glory would belong to Fudge.
But if something did go wrong, Barty would bear all the blame.
As for Gianna…
Since she already knew that Death Eaters would appear at the World Cup, naturally she wanted to hand this enormous pitfall over to her political opponent.
After finishing his meal, Ludo stood up and beckoned Lewis toward the Quidditch pitch.
Many young wizards followed closely behind, eager to watch.
After athletes left professional competition, without intense training and disciplined diets, their physiques quickly deteriorated.
This happened to many athletes.
Ludo was naturally no exception.
He had already put on considerable weight, and his robes stretched tightly over his large belly.
His nose was flat, while his round blue eyes, short golden-blond hair, and flushed complexion made him look like an oversized—
"I heard that you have a very good relationship with Director Gianna?"
Ludo bounced along as he walked, almost as if there were springs attached beneath his feet.
Lewis nodded.
"I met her at the ceremony for the Order of Merlin. Because we got along very well, we became good friends."
"I call her my sister."
Upon hearing this, Ludo's gaze toward Lewis became even more intense.
Gianna Prodmour, Deputy Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was currently one of the hottest figures in the Ministry of Magic.
"Yes, the Order of Merlin ceremony… A recipient of a First-Class Order at such a young age. No wonder you've achieved such impressive results in Quidditch as well."
Ludo showered him with compliments.
"And your partner, Miss Shirella, is the same. I remember she received a medal that day too. I never expected the two of you to be such a good team on the pitch."
"Hamish has mentioned you two to me. He's very interested in recruiting you into the English national team…"
"Just like Bulgaria recruited Krum."
"I strongly support it."
"I dare say that even Krum in his current form wouldn't be much stronger than you."
"Oh, and perhaps you don't know this, but Hamish has been observing you from the stands since your very first match this year."
Ludo grinned as he revealed this "inside information" to Lewis.
He had no idea that Hamish MacFarlane's evaluation had been arranged entirely through Tonks.
Lewis swore that Ludo Bagman had never personally watched him play.
His so-called admiration and support were entirely motivated by his desire to curry favor with Gianna.
After all, the official Ludo currently worked with most closely was Barty Crouch Sr.
But thinking about it carefully, perhaps this was precisely why he was behaving this way.
Maybe he wanted to distance himself from Barty Crouch Sr.
As a close collaborator, perhaps Ludo had already sensed that Barty Sr.'s situation was deteriorating.
From this perspective, the player who had once dominated the Quidditch pitch had now become a qualified politician whose mind was filled with nothing but money and political maneuvering.
Lewis did not like people like this.
But he had to admit that with Ludo's support, his and Shirella's selection for the English national team was basically guaranteed.
No matter how much Ludo schemed and maneuvered, he was still the genuine Director of the Department of Magical Sports.
He was the superior of the national team's leader, Hamish.
And officially, he was even one rank higher than Gianna.
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