"So here's a legal question for you," Thom said, as he refilled both of their drinks from the tray the servants had left out on the table before letting the two of them alone on the patio. It was drizzling, but a weather charm encircling their chairs kept the droplets away from them, which was as good as having a gazebo, in Thom's estimation. Somewhere inside, Odessa and Alexander were probably tormenting poor Lysander; although they squabbled like any siblings when it was just the two of them in the house, they had a habit of banding together when any younger children came to visit. Under the supervision of the nanny, however, they were unlikely to do any real damage, which meant whatever happened would boil down to character building for August's ward.

"Say, hypothetically, that a lot of the World Cup players were on my payroll — British and otherwise," he said, returning to the chairs and handing August his drink. He was assuming, of course, that many of the Puddlemere players would make the team, because if he didn't think they were among the best in the league he wouldn't have hired them in the first place — but he'd also been considering sponsoring some foreign players even before news of the World Cup had broken. Different leagues had different rules on such things, and he wasn't looking for another major investment — but if he could outfit one of the star players in one of the other leagues in exchange for some free publicity for Quality Quaffle and Snitch, he was certainly interested in exploring that avenue.

"Do you think I'd get into any trouble? I mean, it certainly feels like it shouldn't be allowed — but I'm not sure who would actually do anything about it," he remarked as he took his own seat again.

August Echelon-Arnost