The Order of the Phoenix's First Baseball Game
Harry Potter is a 17-year-old wizard who lives at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger; Ron's family, the Weasleys; Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, who owned the house; and the Order of the Phoenix, which consisted of Remus and Tonks Lupin, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Narcissa Malfoy.
One evening, Hermione came running into the kitchen after a day in the town. "About time, Hermione," Tonks said, "What took you so long?"
"I GOT US ALL TICKETS TO THE PHILLIES GAME!!!" She screamed to everybody in the kitchen.
"Are you serious?! That's awesome!" Harry said, who had been in the huge stadium only once before. "U ot us ickets o wat?" Ron said with a mouthful of Shepard's pie.
"I got us tickets to see the baseball game tomorrow!" Hermione repeated.
"What's baseball?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Baseball." Harry said slowly and clearly.
"Er, is it a new version of Quidditch?" Remus asked. Harry turned to Hermione. "They've never heard of baseball, have they?"
"Apparently not." Hermione said reluctantly. Harry gave a heavy sigh. "Oh, man. We've got a lot of explaining to do. Alright everyone, into the living room."
As everyone gathered into the living room, Harry and Hermione explained everything about baseball to the Order; from the baseball diamond, to the rules of the game, to the food that was served there.
After everyone understood the gist of the baseball, they all went upstairs to get ready for the baseball game tomorrow.
The next morning, everyone woke up quite early. The whole house seemed to be very excited about their first game. They ate breakfast, got changed, and came downstairs dressed as Muggles. Well, almost everyone. Harry and Hermione were in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, but everyone else had a very wrong idea of what a Muggle wore. Sirius had come down in a pinstriped shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants; Ron was wearing a very ugly green sweater and a pair of black office pants; Ginny had pretty much nailed the whole Muggle clothes thing, except for the color matching part; Fred, George and Mr. Weasley were all wearing the same black long-sleeved shirt, polka dotted tie, and cargo pants; Mrs. Weasley was wearing a pink shirt with red flowers on it and a gray skirt; Bellatrix had finally changed out of her typical black corset and dress, but was instead wearing a black shirt and black sweatpants; Narcissa was wearing a purple tang top and blue skirt; Remus was wearing his typical office clothing; and Tonks was wearing a pink dress with her favorite loud purple hair style.
After finally getting everybody into appropriate clothing, Sirius said, "Alright everybody, just let me put an enlargement charm on the motorcycle and we'll be ready to go!"
"No, no, Sirius, we're not taking the motorcycle." Harry said quickly.
"Oh, okay then, everybody find your apparition partners!"
"No, Sirius, we're not going by apparition, either."
"Floo powder?"
"No."
"Portkey?"
"NO!"
"Well, then, we're going by broomsticks!"
"No, Sirius, we're not taking broomsticks to a Muggle convention!" Harry said angrily.
"Well, then, what in god's name are we using then!?" Sirius yelled.
"I am driving us all to the baseball game in a Muggle van." Harry said slowly.
"YOU'RE WHAT!?!?" Sirius yelled so loudly that the mantelpiece above their heads quivered slightly. "Sirius, calm down," Harry said calmly," Everything will be fine. I've driven before, and there's no reason to enlarge it, because it's big enough to hold all of us."
"Oh, fine. But can I sit in the front? I'll feel a lot better if I'm in the front with you." Sirius said in a defeated voice. "Yeah, of coarse. Now, come on, or we'll be late!"
So, everybody shuffled out the door and into the very large blue van.
Once they had gotten onto the highway, Sirius started to become a nervous passenger.
"Harry, Harry, not so fast. You could crash into someone!" Sirius said anxiously.
"Alright!" Harry said irritably.
"No, no, stop! We're supposed to go down that route up ahead!"
"Sirius, you're getting really annoying! Just shut up and let me drive! Until you get a driver's license, I am the one in charge of the wheel!" Harry said very irritably.
"Well, I'm just saying that I know we're supposed to go down that route and you're going to get us lost, and then-" Sirius began to say, but within seconds, Harry had swerved to the side of the road so quickly that the wheels screeched loudly. After finally pulling over to the side of the road, Harry turned to Sirius.
"Get in the back." Harry said simply.
"What?"
"You heard me. Get in the back. Ginny is sitting up here, you are moving back there." Harry said, pointing to the back of the van.
"I am your godfather; you will not tell me what to do-"
"I SAID GET IN THE BACK NOW, SIRIUS!!" Harry yelled.
Reluctantly, Sirius unbuckled himself and mumbled something that sounded like Harry being a jerk. "What was that?" Harry said angrily. "Nothing." Sirius said bitterly. Harry glared at Sirius, eyes narrowed, for a few seconds before saying through gritted teeth, "Get."
After Sirius and Ginny switched seats, Harry started driving again.
Finally, the van parked right in front of the Phillies stadium, and everyone piled out of it. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the stadium. "It's bigger than the Quidditch World Cup!" Ron said incredulously. "Wicked," Fred and George said together.
So, they all went to the gates, got their tickets (Harry and Sirius had yet another row about who was holding the tickets for everybody, Harry finally winning), and walked into the stadium. Everyone was enjoying themselves very much, pointing things out to each other and talking excitedly, until they met a certain green fan. As they were walking around and looking at the shops, the Phillies Phanatic came up from behind them and grabbed Tonks by the arm. Tonks screamed and yanked her hand out of its reach. She was about to dive for her wand, but harry grabbed her hand and brought it away from her jean pocket. After the Phanatic left, Sirius grabbed Remus by the shoulders and said, shaking him with every word," Lupin, you're a Dark creature expert, what was that thing?"
"I… don't… know." Remus said, eyes wide, staring into space. "Guys, it was a man in a suit!" Hermione said. "No it wasn't, it tried to grab my wife! It's some kind of Dark creature or something!" Remus said, grabbing Tonks and pulling her closer to him.
"Oh my god. IT WAS A MAN IN A STUPID SUIT!" Harry yelled, "That's the Phillie Phanatic, he's a green god-only-knows-what that acts like a goof on the field before every Phillies game! You'll see him again when the game starts." Harry said, glaring at everybody in turn.
"Oh, come on, let's just get some snacks and find our seats." Hermione said, beckoning for everyone to follow her.
Mr. Weasley very much enjoyed looking at all the Muggle artifacts and plug-ins. There were many times that Mrs. Weasley had to pull Mr. Weasley away from the gift shops.
After finally getting a snack and drink for each person, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Order found their seats and sat down just in time for the game to start. Immediately, the Phillie Phanatic came onto the field riding his little rover. Mr. Weasley wanted very much to ride the little rover that the Phanatic was on, while Remus, Tonks, and Sirius sat quietly in their seats; Remus and Tonks holding on tightly to each other and Sirius quivering in his seat.
And then, the game began. Ron kept mistaking the baseball for a Snitch, which he thought was quite odd that the snitch wasn't flying, and that nobody was riding brooms. Harry and Hermione were soon bombarded with questions to the point that they could no longer pay any attention to the game whatsoever.
Then, right in the middle of the game, the batter hit a fly ball that was coming right towards Sirius!
"Put your hand out, Sirius!" Harry yelled to Sirius, who was completely oblivious to the fact that a fly ball was aiming right toward him. "What?" He yelled back.
"I SAID 'OPEN YOUR HANDS! THERE'S A BALL FLYING TOWARDS YOU!!" Harry screamed over to Sirius.
"What do you mean?" Sirius yelled, holding out both his hands. At that precise moment, the ball landed right in the palm of Sirius' right hand. Everyone in the stadium was screaming, the Order was staring dumbfounded at the ball lying in Sirius' hand, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were whooping and screaming, and Sirius was looking around the stadium with a huge grin on his face. Everything went from good to better from there. Bellatrix tried her first corndog, which she ended up eating very quickly and going back for another; Narcissa got a baseball cap that had the Phillie Phanatic on the front; Tonks and Lupin got their picture taken next to a huge statue of a baseball player; and the Order, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were filmed on the big screen.
The game ended with the Phillies winning and the Phanatic doing some completely crazy victory dance. After the game had ended, everyone piled into the van again, and Harry started driving them home. Everyone was showing off the little souvenirs they bought at the shops, and Sirius sat in the front seat, examining the fly ball that he had caught. About halfway through the car ride, Sirius passed the ball around to everyone, so that they could see what a baseball looked like up close.
Finally, they made it back to Grimmauld Place, and everyone had a quick dinner and went to bed. All in all, it had been a very good day.
