Why is Ron allowed 2 friends at the World Cup?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 130911

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Nathaniel" <natti_shafer at y...>
wrote:
> ... Why is Ron allowed to take two of his friends to the World Cup 
> and none of his many siblings are allowed to take any --  especially 
> considering Hermione doesn't even particularly like Quidditch?  
> 
> ... It seems unfair to me that Ron gets to bring both his best 
> friend and his second best friend, but no other Weasleys get to 
> bring anyone. I know Hermione is also friends with Ginny, but she 
> doesn't appear to be one of Ginny's best friends.  Comments anyone?
>
> -Nathaniel (Natti)

bboyminn:

I haven't been following this thread to closely but I do want to make
a few comments.

First, consider the tickets themselves, and focusing on that one
point, ask yourself why?

These are TOP BOX tickets. The same seats at a muggle sports stadium
would each be worth a king's randsom. Affordable only to Large
Corporation, multi-millionaires, Kings, Presidents, and other high
dignitaries. Yet, Harry and the entire Weasley family are right there
with the Ministers from Bulgaria and the UK Minister of Magic. 

The answer is, it has to be Harry. Harry is a dignitary; he's the
darling hero of the wizard world. Certainly, given how many ticket
Arthur needed, if Harry hadn't been there, Arthur would have rated the
worst seats in the house. But given Harry's presents and the good PR
it brings to the Minister and the Ministry, and, let's not forget the
favor Arthur did for Bagman, they all rate the premium seats.

Certainly the Minister at that point would want to be seen with Harry
Potter, and he would want to be seen as kind and friendly to Harry's
friends. I won't do, at least not in Harry's eyes, to put Harry in the
Top Box, and cram the rest of Harry's party down in the bleachers with
the dregs of society. For Fudge, it's just a sound political move. To
be associated and even friends with a hero, to be seen as kind and
generous is all good public relations. 

So, to your question, Arthur got tickets because he helped Bagman out
of a spot of bother. That in in itself isn't a big think. But the got
THOSE specific premium seats simply because Harry was there and
Hermione was allowed to tag along because she is Harry's best friend.

In reality, I suspect that the ticket didn't cost anyone anything.
These are probably part of a large block of courtesy or complimentary
tickets that are given to the Ministry. The Ministry then in turn
gives away the ticket to dignitaries, generous donors like Malfoy, and
other people who palms or egos they want to grease. So, the actual
/cost/ of the tickets isn't that important, but that doesn't change
the fact that the tickets had /value/ and that value was indeed a
king's randsom.

Not sure if that helps.

Steve/bboyminn