A/N: Wow… I do believe that this might just be the largest chapter yet in my Tera series…. I hope you can bear with me, I want to get Tera's story told, and though it might take me a while, I DO plan on finishing the series. This is the first chapter of year four, and things are hopefully going to fall into place for our favorite little Hufflepuff. Want to know the answers to any questions you may have thus far? Continue reading and hopefully your questions will be answers. Little bit impatient? Drop me a PM if you have any questions, and please leave a Review! I love to know what you guys think! Thanks guys and gals! Much love to ElephantShoes who has been a faithful reader since she stumbled upon my stories months ago. You are the best and I thank you so much for your faithfulness to this series of stories! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah (did I spell that right?) and whatever else you might celebrate. And that all of you have a very Happy New Year.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; if I did there would have been a lot less deaths, and more happy endings. I do however own this story and my Characters Tera, her family and her pets. There are some excerpts from the book in this chapter, but I tried to make them from Tera's point of view and may have changed very tiny details in the story itself. No hating, just read and enjoy the Tera moments in their random abundance. I hope you all enjoy, and leave me a review. Much love to you, now enjoy the story.
Chapter One
Quidditch Cup and Moments of Terror
Tera looked up at the clear blue sky from the comfort of her garden, knowing from the boy's letters that Harry would be arriving at the burrow today. She really hoped he had enjoyed the tin of cookies she had sent along with her birthday present for him, she had wanted to send him a cake but after hearing that Hermione and Ron were both doing the same she decided to instead send sugar cookies in the shape of his favorite things like a snitch, broom, wand, and there was even one shaped like a hippogriff.
Heading inside she dodged her brother, ducking under his flailing arms as he chased his pet owl Loki around the house, trying to get back his watch that Loki had stolen, the little owl liked shiny things a bit more than your average owl. Chuckling Tera pulled her brownies out of the oven, setting them out to cool next to her thumbprint cookies and putting her special walnut chocolate chip cookies in the oven to bake.
Callum came barreling through the kitchen, nearly tripping over his sister before hooting triumphantly, he had finally caught his owl. "Sorry about that Ter, been chasing this blasted bird for an hour now." Callum said, leaning down to help his sister off the floor, a sheepish smile on his face.
Tera took her brother's hand with a laugh as he helped her back onto her feet. "Don't worry about it bugga-boo. No harm, no foul." She said, smiling up at him, only slightly annoyed that he had hit another growth spurt and now towered over her at 5'7.
"Ter, I really wish you'd stop calling me bugga-boo. It's such a baby nickname." Callum whined.
"Cal, I gave you that nickname when you were a baby. I refuse to change it now, so just deal with it." She said with a smile, turning she left her brother to his own devices and went into the living room, plopping down on the couch next to her grandmother's rocking chair. Her grandmother was currently knitting hats and mittens to send with her and Callum when school started up, three sets of needles working magically while she herself knit with the fourth pair. "Hey nana."
"Hello dear." Rosella replied with a kind smile to her granddaughter.
"I'm just coming in to tell you I'm going over to the Weasley's for dinner tonight, Mrs. Weasley invited me this morning. She says I'll finally get to meet Charlie." Tera said with a smile, remembering all the things the twins had told them about their second oldest brother. "Oh and Harry's going to be getting there soon too."
"Okay dear, enjoy yourself. And do give this to Harry for me, heaven knows the boy needs things that actually fit him, and aren't hand-me-downs from that lump of a boy that's his Muggle cousin." Rosella said, handing Tera a pair of crimson and gold mittens and hat with the Gryffindor Lion on them, along with HJP hand stitched into them.
"Oh I'm sure he will love these nana." Tera replied with a smile before hugging her grandmother and heading upstairs to change out of her overalls and into something nicer. Looking through her closet Tera finally settled on a long loose fitting light purple sleeveless shirt with beading around the neckline, her favorite pair of blue jeans and a pair of sandals. She took her hair out of its ponytail and brushed it out, pushing it out of her face with a simple headband with a purple penny blossom on it and putting in her favorite pair of silver star earrings.
With a smile at her reflection Tera quickly made her way down the stair and pulled the cookies out of the oven, putting them on her quick cooling rack before setting aside a small plate of everything for her family and packing the rest away in a basket and putting a towel over it. She then threw on her oldest cloak and pulled the hood up over her hair, knowing how dirty travel by Floo powder could be. Grabbing a pinch of Floo powder Tera tossed it into the fireplace and watched as the flames turned emerald green. Stepping into the flames she yelled "The Burrow!" and she was off, she really did hate the spinning sensation, but it was the quickest way for her to travel, so she put up with it.
Once she stopped spinning she stepped out into the Weasley's kitchen, pulling her cloak off she folded it and placed it to the side of the fireplace and dusted her hands off. "Mrs. Weasley, I'm here!" Tera yelled as she set down her basket on the counter and walked into the living room.
"Tera, I'm so glad you could make it!" said Mrs. Weasley with a smile, pulling the poor girl into a bone crushing hug before leading the girl to the couch. "Please, sit down. Tell me how your summer has been. My, you sure have grown since the last time I saw you, become quite the beautiful young woman. The boys will all be fawning over you." Mrs. Weasley chuckled.
Tera blushed lightly with a smile, still not quite used to how her body had changed over the summer. Gone was the figure of an adolescent girl and in its place was the figure of a woman, she had also grown another few inches, though she was still smaller than almost all of her friends. "Thank you. And my summer has been very good. Mum and me went to Paris for a weekend and I got to buy all sorts of new clothes and while I was there I even did my Christmas shopping. Then I got to get a whole bunch of new books, both muggle and not, and mum got me a be-spelled purse the can literally hold anything." She said, holding up said purse which was black with purple and silver designs on it.
"Well that sounds wonderful." Mrs. Weasley said with a smile, turning her head as two sets of pounding feet came down the stairs. "That will be the girls."
Tera turned her head and smiled as Ginny and Hermione both came down the stairs, smiles on their faces as they saw their Hufflepuff friend.
"Tera!" they both yelled, running and tackling the poor girl.
"It's nice to see you too. Now… get off…. Can't… breathe…." she said around a laugh.
Both girls let go, laughing sheepishly. "Sorry Tera."
Tera got up and hugged each girl in turn, smiling as she did so. "I have missed you two. Oh, I have a book you might like Hermione." She said, pulling out of her small purse a large book all about how different accents can affect how spells work.
"Oh gosh! Thank you, this looks so intriguing!" Hermione gushed with a huge smile.
"I thought you might like it, I saw it and thought of you. I also got this for you Ginny." She said, pulling out a penny blossom hair clip the color of the noonday sky.
"Oh, it's so pretty. Thank you Tera." Ginny said, pinning it in her hair.
Tera smiled; glad they both liked her little gifts. "Oh! And for you Mrs. Weasley, I actually made this… so it might not be as good as something you could make… but I hope you still like it." Tera said, pulling out a cornflower blue scarf with white swirling designs on it. There were a few spots that had a bump to show a mess up, but overall it was a pretty nice scarf.
"Thank you dear. It's beautiful, and the fact that you made it yourself makes it even more so." Mrs. Weasley said with a teary smile, pulling the blushing girl into a motherly hug.
Tera smiled, so glad that Mrs. Weasley liked it, she had worked hard on it for a little over a week and had been please but a little apprehensive about the finished result. But seeing Mrs. Weasley's teary smile made Tera feel like she had given her something she would cherish for a very long time. "I'm so glad you like it." Tera mumbled into her shoulder.
"Hey mum – oh, who is this?" came a voice from the stairs, followed closely by a pair of feet coming down the stairs.
Mrs. Weasley let go of the girl and smiled, turning her around. "Tera, I'd like you to meet my second oldest son Charlie. Charlie this is the wonderful girl I've told you about."
"Oh, so you are the famous Tera. I've heard loads about you. My whole family basically loves you." Charlie said with a chuckle, holding out his hand to shake.
Tera smiled, shaking his hand, which was warm and calloused from his work with dragons. "I've heard lots about you too. How is it working with Dragons?"
"Ruff brutes they are, but once you get to know them and figure out all their quirks it's no different than working with any other animal, other than this one breathes fire and could eat you up in one bite if it wanted to." He said, laughing to lighten the mood a bit.
"See there need to be more people like you in the world, willing to give something a chance before writing it off as dangerous and to be killed rather than trying to understand it." Tera said.
Charlie blinked and looked at the girl for a moment before a huge smile broke out across his face and he laughed. "I can see why my family adores you! I like your style." He said, pulling her into a big hug.
"Charlie, let the poor girl got, she's turning purple for heaven's sake." came a laugh from behind them as Bill Weasley made his way down the stairs.
Charlie laughed sheepishly and let Tera go, who instantly gasped and took in a huge breath of air. "Sorry about that, I forget my own strength sometimes."
Bill just shook his head and smiled, holding his arms open for a hug. "It's been a while Tera, last time was your 12th birthday if I remember correctly."
Tera smiled and ran into his arms with a laugh, Bill had always been Tera's favorite out of the twin's siblings. "Yeah, you owe me two birthday presents and hugs!" she teased, smiling up at him from the hug.
"Ouch. You didn't miss me in the least, just my hugs and presents?" he teased back, a twinkle in his eyes.
Tera tried to keep a straight face but it soon dissolved into giggles. "Of course I missed you. I just happened to miss your presents and hugs a bit more." She teased again, a playful smile on her face.
Bill sighed, a chuckle escaping him. "You sure have grown since the last time I saw you. Lemme get a look at ya." Pulling away from the hug Bill gave her a once over and nodded. "Yup, you got taller and you definitely aren't a little girl anymore." He said with a playful smile.
Tera blushed and shuffled her feet, her shyness making Bill and Charlie both chuckle.
The boys both went into the kitchen to wait for their siblings and father to get home and the girls all sat down to talk, Tera listening to Hermione talk about her summer vacation and all the books she got. Not long after sitting down to talk they started to hear more voices coming from the kitchen, including Fred and George's excited ones, and what sounded like Harry replying and then a pop of someone apparating into the kitchen.
"Arthur's home" Mrs. Weasley said, getting up and heading towards the kitchen.
The girls got up and followed after her, smiling when they saw Harry, who grinned back at them, causing Ginny to turn a bright scarlet – she had been quiet taken with him ever since she had first met him.
"Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley repeated, in a dangerous sort of voice, having heard her husband reprimanding the twins just moments before.
"It's nothing, Molly," mumbled Mr. Weasley, "Fred and George just - but I've had words with them -"
"What have they done this time?" said Mrs. Weasley. "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes -"
"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" said Hermione from the doorway, trying to help make a getaway.
"He knows where he's sleeping," said Ron, "in my room, he slept there last -"
"We can all go," said Hermione pointedly.
"Oh," said Ron, finally catching on. "Right."
"Yeah, we'll come too," said George, who was starting to inch his way towards the exit.
"You stay where you are!" snarled Mrs. Weasley.
Harry and Ron edged out of the kitchen, Hermione, Tera and Ginny along after them down the narrow hallway and up the rickety staircase that zigzagged through the house to the upper stories.
"What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as they climbed.
Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't and Tera just smiled and rolled her eyes, remembering the last thing the twins had shown her that blew up in their faces.
"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," said Ron quietly. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that…"
Tera listened, just nodding and smiling, she already knew her boys were brilliant, at least when they wanted to be anyways.
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny. "We thought they just liked the noise."
"Only, most of the stuff - well, all of it, really - was a bit dangerous," said Ron, "and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms… She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected."
At that Tera rolled her eyes, knowing that Mrs. Weasley set high standards for her children, and how though the twins hated to disappoint her, they also wanted to be able to do their own thing and not follow in their brother's or their father's footsteps.
"And then there was this big row," Ginny said, "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop."
Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed
glasses and a very annoyed expression.
"Hi, Percy," said Harry.
"Oh hello, Harry," said Percy. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know I've got a report to finish for the office – and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."
"We're not thundering," said Ron irritably. "We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic."
At this Tera giggled lightly, causing Ron to smile and go a bit pink in the ears.
Percy kept talking and Tera tuned the conversation out, instead wondering just how much trouble the twins were getting into with their mother. Tera decided instead of following the others up to Ron's room, to quietly sneak back down the stairs and head outside, she always enjoyed being outside rather than in a cramped room anyways.
Slowly making her way past the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley's yells could still be heard, Tera slipped outside and headed straight for the garden. Sitting down she laughed and watched Crookshanks chase after gnomes, giggling when he'd catch one only to drop it when it would start screaming profanities at him. After a few minutes the yelling in the kitchen finally stopped and just a few short moments later out came the twins, Bill and Charlie.
The twins ran over and tackled Tera, making her fall over and be stuck under the twins. "What is it with everyone and tackling me today?" she asked with a laugh.
Bill and Charlie both chuckled, each of them grabbing one of the twins and pulling them off the poor girl, then offering her and hand and helping her up. "Told ya everyone is this family loves ya." said Charlie with a laugh.
Tera just smiled, pulling Fred and George into a big hug. "Merlin I've missed you two."
"We missed you too love." said Fred, smiling down at the little Hufflepuff.
Looking over at Bill and Charlie she saw them pull out their wands and aim them at the shed, two very old and battered looking tables floating out. "How about we have a bit of fun with these Charlie? It's been a while since I beat you."
"You're on Bill. Prepare to lose!" Charlie said with a grin that was just like the twins when they were at their most devious.
Tera laughed and cheered along with the twins as Bill and Charlie started dueling with their flying tables, making loud crashing noises and trying to knock the other's table out of the air. "Come on Bill! Knock his outta the air!"
"Hey, that's not fair! Bill you always get the pretty girls cheering for you!" Charlie said with a pout.
"What can I say little brother, the ladies love me." He said with a playful wink in Tera's direction.
Tera laughed and blushed lightly, knowing that Bill was just joking around. Eventually Bill smashed his table into Charlie's and knocked one of its legs off. There was a clatter from overhead, and they all looked up to see Percy's head poking out of a window on the second floor.
"Will you keep it down?!" he bellowed.
"Sorry, Perce," said Bill, grinning. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?"
"Very badly," said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the window shut. Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattached the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere.
By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Tera, Harry, and Hermione were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky. Harry of course shoveled large helpings onto his plate and listened instead of talking, this cause Tera to smile, knowing how much Harry enjoyed Mrs. Weasley's cooking.
At the far end of the table, Percy was telling his father all about his report on cauldron bottoms.
"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday," Percy was saying pompously. "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department just now -"
Tera tuned Percy out again with a roll of her eyes, instead focusing on the conversation the twins were having with their brother Charlie, though rolling her eyes again when it turned out to be about Quidditch, well at least it would be more interesting to listen to the Percy and his yammering.
"It's got to be Ireland," said Charlie thickly, through a mouthful of potato. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."
"Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though," said Fred.
"Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven," said Charlie shortly. "I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was."
"What happened?" said Harry eagerly, Tera knew how isolated her felt when he was stuck with the muggles on Privet Drive, so it was completely understandable how eager he was to find things out.
"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," said Charlie gloomily. "Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."
Fred looked over at Tera, smiling at how happy she looked spending time with his family, and knowing that his family absolutely adored the young Hufflepuff. "So Tera, are we going to be seeing you and your brother at the Quidditch cup?"
"Yup! Mum got us excellent tickets and is taking time off work to be there with us. Callum's so excited he's been jumping up and down all around the house. But since his last growth spurt he's gotten more gangly and keeps falling." She replied with a giggle, remembering when Callum had tripped over their grandmother's fat orange cat Waddlesworth. He still had the scratches from the little episode.
Fred laughed, knowing how growth spurts can be, having been through them himself and now was watching Ron go through them. "Well it's great that you guys will be going."
"Yeah, will be much more fun to have our little Hufflepuff there to pick on." George teased.
Mr. Weasley conjured up candles to light the darkening garden before they had their homemade strawberry ice cream, along with the goodies that Tera had brought in her basket and by the time they had finished, moths were fluttering here and there low over the table, and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle.
Tera smiled contently, her eyes drooping as she let out a small yawn, leaning against Fred so she wouldn't fall out of her seat. It was days like this that made her wish she had a large family, everyone here was so full of life, and there was always another interesting story to hear after someone finishes telling theirs, well except Percy's stories. They were all kinda bland and not all that interesting to listen to.
Closing her eyes Tera listened to the sounds around her, before her ears perked up at the conversation Hermione, Ron and Harry were having about none other than Sirius Black.
"So - have you heard from Sirius lately?" Ron asked in a quiet voice, though not too quiet for Tera and her excellent hearing.
"Yeah," said Harry softly, "twice. He sounds okay. I wrote to him yesterday. He might write back while I'm here." Harry seemed to pause after that, like he was thinking of adding something but decided against it.
"Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you; you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup; the match went on for five days last time."
"Wow - hope it does this time!" said Harry enthusiastically.
"Well, I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."
"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" said Fred.
"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" said Percy, going very red in the face, his cheeks puffing up indignantly. "It was nothing personal!"
"It was," Fred whispered to Harry and Tera as they got up from the table. "We sent it."
Tera smiled, knowing how much Fred and George enjoy picking on their brother Percy, and that Percy really does love his brother's, they just annoy him to no end. "Well I had better be getting home."
"Awww… why not stay the night! You could come with us in the morning and meet up with your mother and brother at the Cup." said George, slinging an arm over her shoulder.
"Nah, I have to help mom get everything together." She replied around a yawn, her arm wrapping around George's waist and hugging him. I'll see you boys tomorrow though, that you can count on." Letting go Tera pulled Fred into a hug too; her nose buried in the front of his shirt.
Fred smiled, wrapping his arms around the small girl, her light perfume tickling his nose pleasantly. "See you tomorrow then love."
Tera pecked them both on the cheek and then headed inside, hugging Bill, Charlie, Ron, Harry, who she handed the gift from her grandmother, Hermione and then getting smushed between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Grabbing her basket and pulling on her cloak Tera turned to the fireplace, grabbing a pinch of Floo powder and tossing into the fire. Stepping into the fire she turned and waved to all the faces smiling back at her, then yelled "Howell House!"
Looking around Tera was surprised at how many people were already here, a vast ocean of tents and people walking about, loud boisterous chants coming from people who had already drank themselves silly. Callum was bouncing from foot to foot, eager for the Cup to already start, decked out in Irish colors, a clover painted on his cheek.
Persephone lead them to a spot that had and sign that said 'Howell' and set down her bag, looking around to make sure no one was watching she smiled and with a wave of her wand a pristine white canvas tent popped out of the bag and set itself up, settling with a quiver. "Here we are lovies. Home sweet home."
Stepping inside Tera quickly rushed over to the purple bed that was designated as hers, plopping her pack down on it she headed back outside. "I'm going to go exploring mum, is that alright?"
"That's fine dear. You brother wants me to take him to see some friends over in another field. Just stay out of trouble." Persephone said with a glance at her watch to check the time.
"Don't I always?" Tera said with a laugh as she jogged off with a smile and wave. As she walked along she saw school mates, waving and saying the occasional hello, soon though she spotted a head of flaming red hair, bushy brown hair and messy black. Smiling to herself she kept hidden and slowly followed them until they reached their destination.
"You've been ages," said George as Harry, Ron and Hermione approached Weasleys' tents.
"Met a few people," said Ron, setting the water down. "You've not got that fire started yet?"
"Dad's having fun with the matches," said Fred.
Mr. Weasley, who was surrounded by splintered matches, was having a grand time, a wide smile on his face as he continued trying to light the fire. "Oops!" he said as he managed to light a match and promptly dropped it in surprise, smiling sheepishly as he looked up at the people around him.
"Come here, Mr. Weasley," said Hermione kindly, taking the box from him, and showing him how to do it properly.
Tera slowly made her way behind the tents, making sure no one saw her, and then pounced, tackling Fred and George both to the ground with laugh.
"Tera!" everyone yelled with delight, glad to see the young Hufflepuff.
"Hullo." Tera replied with a smile, joining everyone as they all sat down around the fire. The next hour until the fire was ready to possibly cook anything was spent with Tera joking around with the twins, giggling over some of the more off the wall outfits people came up with to act like muggles, and a few games of black jack with candy as ante.
At last, the fire was ready, and they had just started cooking eggs and sausages when Bill, Charlie, and Percy came strolling out of the woods toward them.
"Just Apparated, Dad," said Percy loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"
They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages, Tera only had one sausage and was sipping on a steaming cup of cocoa, when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them.
"Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"
Up strolled a rather large man, who was wearing Quidditch robes, in the colors of black and yellow, whom greatly resembled a swollen bumble bee. His nose was rather squashed, most likely from a Bludger to the face, but the rest of his face, including his bright blonde hair gave him a great resemblance of an overgrown school boy.
"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. He had a bounce to his step that had Tera in the mind that there might be springs attached to the bottoms of his feet; his movements made him seem to be in a state of wild excitement. "Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming… and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements… Not much for me to do!"
Behind him, a group of very frazzled and tired looking Ministry wizards rushed past, pointing towards the distance where there was evidence of some sort of magical fire that was shooting violet colored sparks about twenty feet into the air. Percy rushed forward with his hand outstretched, his disapproval with how Bagman ran his department not preventing him from wanting to lend a hand if it could help him make a good impression.
"Ah - yes," said Mr. Weasley, grinning, "this is my son Percy. He's just started at the Ministry - and this is Fred - no, George, sorry - that's Fred and their friend Tera Howell - Bill, Charlie, Ron - my daughter, Ginny and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."
Bagman did the smallest of double takes when he heard Harry's name, and his eyes performed the familiar flick upward to the scar on Harry's forehead.
"Everyone," Mr. Weasley continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets -"
Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing.
"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he said eagerly, jingling what seemed to be a large amount of gold in the pockets of his yellow-and-black robes. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first - I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years - and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a weeklong match."
"Oh… go on then," said Mr. Weasley. "Let's see… a Galleon on Ireland to win?"
"A Galleon?" Ludo Bagman looked slightly disappointed, but recovered himself. "Very well, very well… any other takers?"
"They're a bit young to be gambling," said Mr. Weasley. "Molly wouldn't like -"
"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," said Fred as he and George quickly pooled all their money, Tera sneaking in two Galleons without them noticing it wasn't theirs "that Ireland wins - but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand."
"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that," Percy hissed, but Bagman didn't seem to think the wand was rubbish at all; quite the opposite actually, his boyish face lit up with excitement as he took it from Fred's outstretched hand. When the wand gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman roared with laughter.
"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"
Percy's face turned an interesting shade of splotchy red; his expression froze in stunned disapproval.
"Boys," said Mr. Weasley under his breath, "I don't want you betting… That's all your savings… Your mother -"
"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" boomed Ludo Bagman, rattling his pockets excitedly. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance… I'll give you excellent odds on that one… We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we…"
Mr. Weasley looked on helplessly as Ludo Bagman whipped out a notebook and quill and began jotting down the twins' names.
"Cheers," said George, taking the slip of parchment Bagman handed him and tucking it away into the front of his robes. Bagman turned most cheerfully back to Mr. Weasley.
"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."
"Mr. Crouch?" said Percy, suddenly abandoning his look of poker-stiff disapproval and positively writhing with excitement. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll…"
"Anyone can speak Troll," said Fred dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt."
Tera giggled as George did an impression while taking on a very vacant and dim look.
Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look, aiming it a bit at George too and stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil, Tera heard him grumbling under his breath, but couldn't quite catch what he was saying.
"Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Mr. Weasley asked as Bagman settled himself down on the grass beside them all.
"Not a dicky bird," said Bagman comfortably. "But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha… memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."
"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Mr. Weasley suggested tentatively as Percy handed Bagman his tea.
"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," said Bagman, his round eyes widening innocently, "but we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh - talk of the devil! Barty!"
Tera looked the man over, he was so stiff looking you'd think he was related to statues, his clothes all in shades of gray that made him very drab and boring looking. His frown looked so natural on his face you have to wonder if the man even knew how to smile.
"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him as he looked up at the man who was his exact opposite in every way.
"No thank you, Ludo," said Crouch, a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."
"Oh is that what they're after?" said Bagman. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."
"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sinking into a kind of half bow that made him look like a hunchback or a servant whom desperately wanted to please their master. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Oh," said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise, almost as if he had to take a moment to remember who he was. "Yes - thank you, Weatherby."
Fred and George choked into their own cups, Tera nearly spilling cocoa down her front. Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.
"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur," said Mr. Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon Mr. Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."
Mr. Weasley heaved a deep sigh. "I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"
"I doubt it," said Mr. Crouch, accepting a cup from Percy with barely a nod of thanks, let alone acknowledgement. "He's desperate to export here."
"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" said Bagman.
"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle," said Mr. Crouch. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve - but that was before carpets were banned, of course." he stated.
"So, been keeping busy, Barty?" said Bagman breezily.
"Fairly," said Mr. Crouch dryly. "Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."
"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" said Mr. Weasley.
Ludo Bagman looked shocked. "Glad! Don't know when I've had more fun… Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organize, eh?"
Mr. Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman as if he was daft. "We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details -"
"Oh details!" said Bagman, waving the word away as one would an annoying nat. "They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts -"
"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," said Mr. Crouch sharply, cutting Bagman's remarks short. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby." He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily.
"See you all later!" Bagman said. "You'll be up in the Top Box with me - I'm commentating!" He waved, Barty Crouch nodded curtly, and both of them Disapparated.
"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" asked Fred at once. "What were they talking about?"
"You'll find out soon enough," said Mr. Weasley, smiling.
"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."
"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said Fred.
Tera not long after took her leave, though stopped and bought a few things from the salesmen, including a few things she knew the boys would like. When she reached her families tent she saw her brother standing outside of it with a few other boys his age. All of them wearing Irish colors and laughing as Callum attempted to do a jig. Tera just shook her head and walked past them, opening the flap and walking inside she sat down with her mother in one of the comfortable chairs, grabbing a cookie from a tin on the table.
Not even a moment after Tera took a bite of her cookie a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field.
"Time for us to be going sweetie." Her mother said, setting down the book she was reading and getting up, leading her daughter outside and along with Callum, following the lanterns into the woods. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing. The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; Callum couldn't stop grinning and bouncing along.
They walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until at last they emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. Persephone handed their tickets to one of the ministry workers there.
"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "Top Box, straight upstairs Miss Howell, and up as high as you can go."
"Thank you." Persephone said with a pleasant smile, leading her children with her up the long stairs until they reached the top, taking their seats near a house elf that looked to holding a spot for its master, hiding its eyes and quivering a bit.
Tera looked around her, wondering who all they would be sharing the box with. After another ten minutes in came Mr. Weasley followed closely by the twins, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron, Harry and Hermione. Tera smiled and waved as they took their seats, Callum bouncing in his own as he watched the field, impatient for the match to start.
Tera pulled a book out of her bag that she had brought with her and started reading, not the biggest Quidditch fan in the box she was getting shot dirty looks by her brother, though she just rolled her eyes and ignored him.
The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, arrived, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly
embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend, Fudge shook Harry's hand in a fatherly fashion, asked how he was, and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.
"Harry Potter, you know," he told the Bulgarian minister loudly, who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold and didn't seem to understand a word of English. "Harry Potter… oh come on now, you know who he is… the boy who survived You-Know-Who… you do know who he is -"
The Bulgarian wizard suddenly spotted Harry's scar and started gabbling loudly and excitedly, pointing at it.
"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Harry. "I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house-elf's saving him a seat… Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places… ah, and here's Lucius!"
Tera looked up at the new comer and frowned, looks like the Malfoy's are going to be here too. Looking back down at her book Tera tried her hardest to ignore the youngest Malfoy, not wanting to have an argument with him today.
"Ah, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"
"How do you do, how do you do?" said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk - Obalonsk - Mr. - well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else - you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"
Sparks seemed to fly between the two, as Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley looked at each other, neither blinking. Mr. Malfoy's cold gray eyes swept over Mr. Weasley, and then up and down the row.
"Good lord, Arthur," he said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"
Fudge, who wasn't listening, said, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."
"How - how nice," said Mr. Weasley, with a very strained smile.
Fudge looked over at Persephone with a smile. "I believe a large chunk of Mr. Malfoy's contribution went to your departments, am I correct Miss. Howell."
Persephone smiled politely, nodding her head. "Yes, and it has been put to very good use in the children's ward as well as helped with our overseas medical travels. We're able to take on more high profile cases in other parts of Europe that we hadn't been able to help before."
"Good, good." said Fudge with a smile, turning back to the Malfoy's.
Mr. Malfoy's eyes had returned to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. Harry and Tera both knew exactly what was making Mr. Malfoy's lip curl like that. The Malfoys prided themselves on being purebloods; in other words, they considered anyone of Muggle descent, like Hermione, second-class, unlike the Weasley's and Howell's who though pure-bloods were friendly towards those who weren't.
However, under the gaze of the Minister of Magic, Mr. Malfoy didn't dare say anything. He nodded sneeringly to Mr. Weasley and continued down the line to his seats, right next to Tera, who shifted uncomfortably and tried harder to focus on her book. Draco shot Harry, Ron, and Hermione one contemptuous look, then settled himself between his mother and father, sneaking a sneering glance at the Howell's.
"Slimy gits," Ron muttered as he, Harry, and Hermione turned to face the field again. Next moment, Ludo Bagman charged into the box.
"Everyone ready?" he said, his round face gleaming like a child whom had just been told Christmas was coming early. "Minister - ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Ludo," said Fudge comfortably.
Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said "Sonorus!" and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message (Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans - A Risk With Every Mouthful!) and now showed BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"
The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.
"I wonder what they've brought," said Mr. Weasley, leaning forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "Veela!"
"What are veel -?" started Harry before gulping and staring down at the field.
But a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and Harry's question was answered for him. Veela were women… highly beautiful women, when the music started though, Tera got thoroughly annoyed.
Callum, who had been staring at the veela with wide eyes was getting out of his seat, and trying to climb over the back of the front row seats, mumbling about impressing the beautiful women. Tera quickly smacked him upside the head; Callum, coming back to his senses quickly covered his ears, a sheepish smile on his face.
Looking at the twins Tera sighed, looks like they had been affected too. Getting up she grabbed them both by the ears and tugged, a displease frown on her face. "Plug your ears next time they start dancing before you make fools of yourselves." She grumbled, sitting back down as they both plugged their ears, which had turned a bright shade of crimson in their embarrassment.
Angry yells were filling the stadium. The crowd didn't want the veela to go. Harry was right there with them, looking down at the shamrock on his chest in slight confusion. Ron, meanwhile, was absentmindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat. Mr. Weasley, smiling slightly, leaned over to Ron and tugged the hat out of his hands.
"You'll be wanting that," he said, "once Ireland have had their say."
"Huh?" said Ron, staring slack mouthed at the veela, who had now lined up along one side of the field, his eyes a bit glazed over.
Hermione made a loud tutting noise and shook her head, exasperated. She reached up and pulled Harry back into his seat. "Honestly!" she said.
"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air… for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, and then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light.
The crowd oooohed and aaaaahed, as though at a fireworks display. Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it –
"Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. Squinting up at the shamrock, Harry realized that it was actually comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.
"Leprechauns!" said Mr. Weasley over the tumultuous applause of the crowd, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.
Tera picked up a coin, using it as a bookmark to hold her place, while her brother was diving under the seats in a mad dash for coins. Tera shook her head at her brother and went back to reading her book, only listening to what was going on around her.
The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!"
A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.
"Ivanova!"
A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.
"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaand - Krum!"
Callum booed along with all the other Irish supporters, though he did focus on Krum who was said to be one of the best players in the game.
"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand - Lynch!"
At this Callum cheered loudly, waving his Irish banner proudly and jumping around excitedly.
"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"
Tera happened a glance up and chuckled, the man had one of the largest mustaches she had ever seen. It by far rivaled the one Harry's uncle Vernon had, at least from what she had heard about the man from Harry and the twins. Chuckling Tera looked back down at her book, intent on finishing it before the end of the day.
"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screamed Bagman.
After that everything sort of became a blur to Tera, other than her brother jumping up and down in his seat and yelling at the top of his lungs, Tera mostly ignored everything, only looking up when people would gasp in surprise, or when she felt a pair of eyes watching her intently. Looking up it was none other than Malfoy, his usual sneer on his face.
Ignoring him as best she could, Tera decided to put her book away and focus on the game, gasping when the Irish Seeker smashed into the ground because Krum had lead him to believe he had seen the snitch. "Ouch… that looked painful."
Callum, who had on a pair of Omnioculars told her that the move Krum had used was called the Wronski Defensive Feint, a very dangerous Seeker diversion. His annoyance that the Irish Seeker had fallen for it was clear on his face.
Tera sighed and put her book down in her lap, deciding to watch a bit of the match, after another few minutes the Bulgarians fouled and a penalty was awarded to the Irish.
The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field. At this, the veela lost control. Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Watching them Tera sighed, looks like the veela were angry enough to show their true faces, not the beautiful ones they normally wore. Their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders -
"And that, boys," yelled Mr. Weasley over the tumult of the crowd below, "is why you should never go for looks alone!"
Tera chuckled when she saw the twins nod their heads quickly in agreement, their eyes bugging out of their heads as they watched the fight between the veela and leprechaun.
Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile, the pitched battle below was nothing to the one taking place above.
"Levski - Dimitrov - Moran - Troy - Mullet - Ivanova - Moran again - Moran - MORAN SCORES!"
But the cheers of the Irish supporters were barely heard over the shrieks of the veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry members' wands, and the furious roars of the Bulgarians. Then Krum ended up taking a Bludger to the face.
"That looks like it hurt…" Tera mumbled, staring with hide eye at Krum, whose nose clearly was broken, blood everywhere. "He seriously needs to get checked out." She said, hoping that the referee would blow his whistle soon.
There was a deafening groan from the crowd, but Hassan Mostafa didn't blow his whistle. He had become distracted, and Tera honestly couldn't blame him; one of the veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broom tail alight.
Tera was getting seriously annoyed, watching Krum trying to wipe the blood away and clear his vision. Ron obviously felt the same.
"Time-out! Ah, come on, he can't play like that, look at him -"
"Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled.
For the Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive, this was the real thing, not some sort of diversion.
"He's seen the Snitch!" Harry shouted. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"
Half the crowd seemed to have realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on… but Krum was on his tail. How he could see, let alone be coherent enough to know where he was going, Tera didn't have a clue; there were flecks of blood trailing behind his as he plummeted to the ground, but he was quickly drawing level with Lynch now as the pair of them hurtled after the Snitch.
"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.
"They're not!" roared Ron.
"Lynch is!" yelled Harry.
And he was right - for the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry veela.
"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" bellowed Charlie, standing and leaning over the rail to the point he might fall, trying to see the Snitch.
"He's got it - Krum's got it - it's all over!" shouted Harry.
Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising up slowly into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand.
The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 across the crowd, who didn't seem to have realized what had happened. Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight. Callum joining them, screaming his head off and jumping for joy.
"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS — good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"
"The twins were." Tera mumbled under her breath with a smile, knowing how excited the twins were and how much winning that bet would help them with their dreams.
"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron bellowed, even as he jumped up and down, applauding with his hands over his head. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"
"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry shouted back over all the noise, also applauding loudly. "The Irish Chasers were too good… He wanted to end it on his terms, that's all…"
"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione said, leaning forward to watch Krum land as a swarm of mediwizards blasted a path through the battling leprechauns and veela to get to him. "He looks a terrible mess…"
Tera couldn't agree more, Krum looked as though he had been trampled by the veela instead of Lynch, twin black eyes darkening his face even more, his nose at an odd angle, the blood still flowing freely from it.
"Vell, ve fought bravely," said a gloomy voice from down Tera's row, looking around she realized it was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.
"You can speak English!" said Fudge, sounding outraged. "And you've been letting me mime everything all day!"
"Vell, it vos very funny," said the Bulgarian minister, shrugging.
Tera hid a smile behind her hand; it was rather amusing if you think about it.
"And as the Irish team performs a lap of honor, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" roared Bagman.
Tera's eyes were suddenly dazzled by a blinding white light, as the Top Box was magically illuminated so that everyone in the stands could see the inside. Squinting toward the entrance, she saw two panting wizards carrying a vast golden cup into the box, which they handed to Cornelius Fudge, who was still looking very disgruntled that he'd been using sign language all day for nothing.
"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers - Bulgaria!" Bagman shouted.
And up the stairs into the box came the seven defeated Bulgarian players. The crowd below was applauding appreciatively; thousands and thousands of Omniocular lenses flashing and winking to see into the Top Box.
One by one, the Bulgarians filed between the rows of seats in the box, and Bagman called out the name of each as they shook hands with their own minister and then with Fudge. Krum, who was last in line, looked a real mess; two black eyes were blooming spectacularly on his bloody face. He was still holding the Snitch and though he was amazing on a broom, he seemed much less coordinated on the ground. He was slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered, but when Krum's name was announced, the whole stadium gave him a resounding, earsplitting roar.
And then in came the Irish team, Aidan Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly; the second crash seemed to have dazed him and his eyes looked strangely unfocused. But he grinned happily as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd below thundered its approval. Callum himself was smiling goofily; his hands numb with clapping.
At last, when the Irish team had left the box to perform another lap of honor on their brooms (Aidan Lynch on the back of Connolly's, clutching hard around his waist and still grinning in a bemused sort of way), Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and muttered, "Quietus."
"They'll be talking about this one for years," he said hoarsely, "a really unexpected twist, that… shame it couldn't have lasted longer… Ah yes… yes, I owe you… how much?"
Fred and George had just scrambled over the backs of their seats and were standing in front of Ludo Bagman with broad grins on their faces, their hands outstretched. Tera watched with a smile as the boys collected their winnings, their eyes twinkling as they thought about all the different things they could do with the money.
"Just you wait love, we're going to get you an amazing Christmas present this year." Fred said with a smile, shaking their money bag and smiling at the weight of it.
Tera hug her boys, congratulating both of them before turning to follow her mother down the stairs, waving farewell to the Weasley's, Harry and Hermione.
They were soon caught up in the crowds now flooding out of the stadium and back to their campsites. Boisterous singing was carried toward them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns.
When they finally made it back to their tent, Tera plopped down on her bed, laughing as Callum bounced around, doing a jig in celebration. Persephone made them each a cup of hot chocolate with whip cream on top, a tin of cookies placed between them. When Callum fell asleep upright in his seat, a cookie hanging from his mouth, Persephone finally told her children to turn in for the night.
Callum sleepily clambered behind his privacy curtain, falling into bed without changing. Tera kissed her mother goodnight, changing into her favorite pajamas, a pair of purple jammie bottoms with stars and moons all over them, and the baggy t-shirt she had borrowed from Fred during her second year and never gave back. Crawling into bed Tera lit an oil lamp, pulling out a book to read until she was ready to sleep. From the other side of the campsite there could still be heard much singing and an odd echoing bang.
Tera had no idea when she had fallen asleep, but what seemed like just moments later she was awaken by her mother's desperate yelling.
"Tera, Callum wake up! Hurry it's urgent! We have to get out of here!"
Tera sat up with a start, rubbing her eyes as she looked over at her mother. "S' matter?" she asked sleepily, Callum stumbling from his bed and sitting down on hers. Dimly, Tera could tell that something was wrong. The noises in the campsite had changed. The singing had stopped. She could hear screams, and the sound of people running. "Mum, what's happening?" she asked, becoming more awake and reaching for her clothes.
"There's no time to explain, just grab a jacket. Hurry!" said Persephone, glancing out the flap of their tent, her voice quivering slightly with worry.
Tera nodded, grabbing her jacket she shook her brother, trying to make him fully wake up. "C'mon Callum, we need to get out of here. Here's your jacket, let's go!" Pulling Callum along behind her Tera ran out of the tent, followed closely by her mother. By the light of the few fires that were still burning, she could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire.
Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene. Persephone quickly pushed her children, making them move quickly away from the group and towards the woods. Once or twice Tera saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.
Catching site of what was floating above the marchers Tera froze, her eyes widening in horror. Two of the four figures above the group were children, younger then both her and Callum. "Mum, they've got children!" she yelled over the screams, looking back at her mother, who had also noticed and was shaking with anger.
"Tera, listen to me, and listen good. I want you to get your brother out of here. Go find the Weasley's, stick together and do not let Callum out of your sight. Do you understand me?" Persephone asked, looking at her daughter, her eyes darting back to the marching group.
"Yes I understand. Mum, you had better stay safe." Tera said, knowing her mother was going to try to save the children.
Persephone nodded at her daughter and turned, running into the madness.
Tera turned to her brother, her eyes hardening. "We need to get out of here. Follow me." She said before turning and running towards the woods, her bare feet barely registering the rocks and twigs beneath them. After five minutes of running Tera took a moment and stopped, Callum coming up beside her.
Looking back they saw lots of ministry officials running here and there, trying to sort out this mess, amongst those that were heading towards the marchers were four sets of flaming red hair and right next to them was a strawberry blond.
"Mum… you had best not get hurt.." Tera mumbled under her breath before turning and running for the woods. Trying not to get run over by the people that were frantically making their way into the woods, Tera lost sight of Callum, her eyes widening as she frantically tried to find him. "Callum! Where are you?" she screamed, pushing past people and yelling her brother's name.
Throngs of people pushed past Tera, their terror making them not care as she fell to the ground, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. That is how the twins and Ginny found her, struggling to get up as people rushed past her.
"Love, what happened? Where is your family?" Fred asked as he helped Tera to her feet, noting her tears.
Tera sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Mum stayed behind to try to help, she told me and Callum to find you guys. But we got separated as soon as we made it to the woods, I have to find him! Mum told me to keep him safe!" she cried, looking around them frantically.
"We'll help Ter, he can't have got far!" said George, knowing how much he'd freak if they lost Ginny.
Fred nodded, looking down at the grief stricken young girl. "Tera, we will find your brother. Come on, let's start looking."
Tera nodded and along with Fred, George and Ginny, started looking for Callum. It took them another twenty minutes before they made any progress.
One of Callum's friends from school told them he had seen Callum just moments ago; he had been running around, looking for Tera. Thanking the boy Tera followed his directions at a run, her feet carrying her with a speed that had the twins and Ginny straining to keep up.
After five minutes of running, Tera spotted her brother, with a cry of his name Tera tackled him, her tears of relief streaming down her face in torrent. "Don't EVER do that to me again!" she yelled at him, hugging her brother so hard he was turning blue. Letting him go Tera scrubbed at her tears, her voice cracking slightly. "I thought I lost you… never could have lived with myself… no idea how worried…"
Callum hugged his sister tightly, sniffling as he whispered apologies to her. Looking up to see the twins and Ginny there Callum quickly let go of his sister and wiped his face, not wanting anyone to see his tears.
Tera sniffled and wiped her face, slowly getting to her feet with a bit of help from Fred. "It should be safe to head back. Do you think we can stay with you guys until mum comes to get us?" Tera asked the twins as they all headed back to the campgrounds.
"Yeah, it'll be safer that way anyways, you know safety in numbers and all." said George as they cleared out of the forest and peered out on the campsite. Seeing that it was clear they quickly made their way back to the Weasley tents, Tera holding onto her brother so they wouldn't get separated again. Ducking down they all crawled into the tent, coming face to face with Bill, Charlie and Percy.
"You guys are safe! Where are the others? Did you see the Dark Mark" asked Charlie, hugging both of his younger brothers and then his sister, even pulling Tera into a hug.
"We got separated from them as soon as we entered the forest. We ran into Tera though and helped her find her brother; they also get separated in the madness. Their mum had them run while she went to help the ministry." said George as he sat down in one of the chairs, finally showing how shaken this ordeal had him.
Charlie looked over at Callum, giving him a once over before smiling kindly at the nervous and worried looking boy. "It's nice to meet you Callum. Wish we could have met under better conditions." Charlie said with a chuckle.
Callum smiled sheepishly, for once in his life too shy to say anything. Tera placed her hand on her brother's arm, nodding to an open chair, giving him the signal to sit. Callum nodded and sat down with a sigh.
Looking up Tera gasped when she saw Bill and Percy. Bill was holding a sheet to his arm, blood slowly soaking through it and Percy seemed to have a broken nose. "What happened to you two?" she asked, rushing over to Bill and checking his arm, hissing at the angry looking cut.
"It's nothing, just had a bit of an altercation with the blokes causing all the madness." said Bill with a wince as Tera started cleaning his cut.
"You really do need to be more careful, don't want this getting infected." Tera chastised while pulling her wand out, mumbling the incantation to heal it as Charlie greeted Mr. Weasley who had just returned to the tent with Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"How do you know healing magic?" Bill asked in surprise, looking down at the young girl with a new found respect.
"Mum's a mediwitch, she taught me how, she wants me to be prepared for whatever life may throw at me." She mumbled while she worked, the skin slowly stitching itself back together, leaving behind only a pink line to show when the cut had been.
"That's pretty amazing for someone your age." Bill said while Tera turned her focus to Percy, who was looking at her like she was crazy and fussing about her not having the proper training.
"Percy, shut up and let me heal you, I assure you I was taught by a fully trained medical witch and if you keep refusing I'm going to punch you. Now shut up." Tera growled, finally getting Percy to stop arguing as she murmured Episkey after popping his nose back to its original shape.
Percy touched his nose gingerly after Tera finished healing it and smiled lightly, surprised at how well she had done. Before he could even thank her though, Tera had walked off, going over and sitting down next to her brother.
"Did you get them, Dad?" said Bill sharply. "The person who conjured the Mark?"
"No," said Mr. Weasley. "We found Barry Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."
"What?" said Bill, Charlie, and Percy together.
"Harry's wand?" said Fred.
"Mr. Crouch's elf?" said Percy, sounding thunderstruck.
With some assistance from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Mr. Weasley explained what had happened in the woods. When they had finished their story, Percy swelled indignantly.
"Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that!" he said. "Running away when he'd expressly told her not to… embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry… how would that have looked, if she'd been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control."
"She didn't do anything - she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Hermione snapped at Percy, who looked very taken aback. Hermione had always got on fairly well with Percy - better, indeed, than any of the others.
Tera tuned out the arguing, instead focusing on listening to what was going on outside, hoping that her mother was okay. Just as Mr. Weasley was telling the others to start getting ready for bed, Persephone showed up, her hair a bit tousled and a cut on her cheek.
"Mum!" yelled Tera, running into her mother's arms, Callum right behind her. "We were so worried! What kept you so long?"
"Sorry lovies, I had to help with the injured and I stay behind to help clean up as well. I didn't mean to worry you." Persephone said, holding her children close. Looking over at Mr. Weasley she smiled. "Thank you for keeping an eye on my children Arthur."
"Oh don't thank me, thank Fred and George. They're the ones who your young ones ended up with." Mr. Weasley said with a smile at his sons.
Persephone smiled, walking up to Fred and George, pulling them into a hug. "Thank you."
Both Fred and George blushed, awkwardly hugging Tera's mother back.
The Howell's said their goodbyes, Tera hugging her boys along with the other's, minus Percy, and left back to their tent. Each one of them fell into bed, exhausted from all that had happened that day they quickly fell into the welcoming arms of slumber.
A few hours later Persephone woke her children up, wanting to get home as soon as possible she rushed her children along. Packing up their ten with magic she quickly led her children over to where the Portkeys lay, having a rushed conversation with the man in charge of them Persephone secured them a Portkeys that would get them close enough to home that they would only need to hail a taxi.
When they finally made it back to the house they were nearly ran over by a very frazzled very concerned Rosella, her usually neat hair in disarray and eyes wide. "I was so worried! When I read the paper this morning, why I nearly went to find you myself!" she yelled, hugging her daughter and grandchildren to her, thankful they were safe.
The rest of the day saw Tera baking three dozen cookies, two batches of brownies and a pie, her nerves still bit frazzled from yesterday, Callum was in his room writing to his friends who hadn't been able to go to the cup and Persephone had been called into work, apparently some kid had gotten mad at their sibling and did something that resulted in them growing a second head out of their belly button of all places. Rosella, who had been keeping a close eye on them most of the day, finally calmed herself down and had gone back to her usual knitting, though stealing occasional glances at both her grandchildren as if to assure herself that they were safe.
Over the next week Tera visited the Weasley's almost daily, bringing goodies and sometimes even staying to help Mrs. Weasley make dinner, getting to know Charlie more and spending time with the twins. She saw how frazzled Mr. Weasley was with work and noticed that the twins were acting odd as well, keeping to themselves and though they still spent time with Tera, they seemed to be keeping something from her.
While the majority of the family had been at the Cup Rosella had gone to Diagon Ally and picked up the things that the children would need for school, including something that she told Tera not to open until the time was right, whatever that meant. As Tera went to bed for the last night at home she smiled, tomorrow she would be heading to her home away from how. Curling up, her cat Pixie nuzzled against her stomach, Tera fell into a deep and blissful sleep.