Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can only steal the amazing characters for a few pages at a time.

It all started when Cas entered the minister's box, though she wouldn't realize it until later. It was right as the opening ceremonies were going to start. She tripped making a loud thump as she tried to keep herself upright. Not that she could help it with her right arm in a sling and her rush to make it for the beginning of the match. Her stepparents wouldn't care what her reasons were so she didn't bother to explain as they continued to glare at her. She avoided their line of sight completely by slipping quietly next to her stepbrother, Dante.

"What took you so long?" Dante asked with a knowing grin.

"Shut up." She whispered knowing she would have had a better retort if he didn't know the situation. So she went for the physical attacking by attempting to elbow him with her good arm. Unfortunately all she managed to do was slam it into their shared armrest drawing the attention of the rest of the box.

With this unwanted attention it was inevitable that someone approached her. It just had to be the British minister. His eyes sparked with recognition he looked so proud of himself she almost wanted to ask him if he wanted an award. It wasn't like she was hiding, what with only a scarf in Irish colors wrapped around her throat to cover any of her pronounced features. "Ah Miss McElhinney I was so glad when your parents said you would be coming."

Cas was sure he couldn't care less but he probably figured that they had a normal family so it would put him in their good graces. He was the epitome of a politician. She smiled and thanked him before surveying the rest of the box. There was a group, who though Cas couldn't understand them she could make a reasonable assumption, where from Bulgaria. She tried not to hold it against them. There was another group that looked to be dignitaries and those who, like her family, had probably donated more money than most people made in a year. Then there was a rather ragged group sitting in the front row. They were made up with a group of redheads with only a couple of darker heads mix in with them.

They looked like they belonged in the cheap seat with their tattered appearance and Cas couldn't help but wish she was with a group like that, who could laugh without feeling persecuted. Sure Dante was a great friend but they were both too aware of the rest of their family. The group in front though didn't care, they may have looked like outsiders but that didn't bother them. So it caught her off guard when one of the group waved towards them like they were friends and even more surprised when Dante waved back. He was quick to clarify for her. "That's Charlie we work together. He's probably the only one more dragon obsessed than me."

Cas laughed soundlessly but realized that she had caught someone else's attention. "Harry look. Do ya know who that is? It's Cassie McElhinney of the Buckhannon Blizzards you know the team that beat the Harpies last year. She was even on the American team before they lost to Bulgaria."

The boy was obviously proud of himself as he told the dark haired children about it. Her career boiled down to a few sentences and all she had to show for it was her arm in a sling. She couldn't be more proud of herself. It was embarrassing enough that she used her thick blond side braid as a curtain; it was as wide as a rope. She stopped her pity party to look at the talking boy he was one of the redhead's, a younger one. The boy he was talking to made her pause. With the name and then the scar it couldn't have been anyone other than him. The miracle child, the boy who lived, he actually existed. She tried her best not to stare.

Her attention quickly changed when she heard Bagman's voice. It boomed loud and enthusiastic as the voice turned all of Cassie's attention to the field in front of her. She stayed equally entertained as her brother leaped to see the veela's dancing onto the pitch. Every male seemed to lose all sense of reason; some even tried to climb over the front of the boxes. Cas enjoyed the mascots but was much more interested in the actual match.

The red and green uniforms took over the sky accompanied by the swishing and sharp snap of the capes jutting out behind them. She couldn't help the mixed emotions as she watched the quick flying Irish against the thuggish Bulgarian's. It was exciting and reminded her of how she felt when she first learned to play the game, but she couldn't' help the envy that coursed through her body. The redhead hadn't helped, though unintentional, he still had to rub in that she was watching the team who had beaten them. The team who had ripped her teams chance for the cup out of their fingers.

She was watching the chaser going back and forth as the sound of dull thuds of the quaffle echo

as it hit the players' gloves, there was a rhythm to it that reminded Cassie of a big band intro. Eventually all of the sounds gave way to the sound of the roaring crowd as Krum dove quickly followed by Lynch. Cas wasn't a seeker for a reason but something didn't seem right to her. It wasn't until Lynch went head first into the ground, and the crowd cheered for Krum's fake that she knew for sure what had happened. It was a scary few seconds as Lynch got checked out and climbed back onto his broom. While most would say he shouldn't be out there flying Cas understood. There was an indescribable feeling when the only thing that matters in the world was playing. It was for that reason people like them would always climb back and continue playing.

Cas had tried to stay quiet and not yell or scream; after all she didn't really want to be cursed by her stepmother. Her self-control only went so far and she couldn't help but yell foul after the whole mascot incident. It did amuse her though that so many men could once again fall prey to the veelas.

Her outburst went relatively unnoticed given how upset the burly men in front of her were over the ejection of their now disturbing mascots and the other half of the stadium were Irish fans in an uproar. There were a few people who had seen her. One was one of the loud men in front of her. He looked too amused for Cas's liking so she simultaneously lifted her injured arm and simulated jacking off with the other, instead of being offended him simply smiled bigger and nodded his appreciation. She begrudging smiled back before she noticed someone else looking her way. Well actually it was two identical faces. Theses red-haired twins pretended to clap touching the tips of their fingers to their palms in mock sophistication. They got a couple half bows and a laugh out of her before going back to the match.

It wasn't long before Lynch seemed to find the snitch with Krum hot on his tail. They were diving fast staying even with each other as the ground got closer and closer. It was in those seconds that Krum's natural talented came through as he not only avoided a crash, but even managed to grab the snitch. The match was over as Bagman announced Ireland's victory.

The cup was brought in and as much as Cassie wanted to reach out and touch it she resisted the urge, not wanting to jinx her own chances of getting it someday. It was nerve racking waiting to her though as she tried to fight off her every growing anxiety. Cas kept her eye on the entrance behind her, hoping someone would walk through the entrance. She didn't even hear Bagman talking about the Bulgarian's performance, finally they walked in and even though he was clearly out of it even Lynch managed to walk himself up to the front of the box.

Seeing him relatively healthy was enough for her nerves settled and her anger to grow. The only reason she wasn't kicking Krum's ass for causing both of his crashes was because he seemed to have a gusher of a bloody nose and a look of complete defeat. That didn't' stop her from sliding her jacket out for him to slip on, even if he managed to stay upright. Aidan though had to be carried out of the booth. He reached out as he passed by her and grabbed the end of her platinum blond hair that had been hastily thrown into a side braid and mutter to her. "Incredible."

It wasn't long before the mass exodus began. She felt her brother start to move next to her. "So there goes your secret relationship. You gonna chase after him?"

Cas scoffed at him. "Hardly. First no one noticed. Secondly he's in good hand and finally he should have time to celebrate with his teammates. We'll have plenty of time to celebrate later."

"Things I don't ever want to know about my sister. But if you're going to have some time I got somebody for you to meet."

The rest of their family was too involved in furthering their political connections to care about the two of them. Not that it was a first, Dante was from a drunken mistake with a man whose name his mother could barely remember, though he was a pureblood, and Cas was the stepchild she'd been saddle with when her first husband died; neither were too important. Cas's pseudo-fame was nothing compared to a good majority of the box. They were happy to be ignored, it meant neither had to pretend to be a happy family nor actually enjoy spending time with them. Dante's job kept him away so any chance they had to spend time together was always welcome.

Dante gave a wave to the man he told her was his coworker. She would blame the excitement of the game for the fact that she couldn't remember his name. The man broke off from his large group bringing another redhead with him. They had similar features, but startling different looks.

"Hell of a match." The one who knew her brother started, presumably to break the ice. The shorter of the bunch he was a hair shorter than Cas, though it didn't mean he was below average. He looked like the type you would take to meet the parents, if the parents cared.

"Couldn't have scripted it better. Charlie let me introduce you to my sister Cassie. Better known as the pain in my ass." Dante said as the two shook hands. Cas chose to ignore her brother's comment; she would get even with him later. It may have been barehanded but both hands had a leathery feel to them and their calluses rubbed against each other.

She moved on to the next guy. He was everything cool and rebellious wrapped in one even if his name, Bill, didn't match the appearance. He had his long hair tied at the nape of his neck and it was enviously smooth. It wasn't the only thing Cas wanted as she caught a glimpse of his fang earring. He seemed like the type for a good time and just oozed confidence.

"Wow never thought I'd meet a huge quidditch star." Billy offered as Cassie struggled to get her jacket around her sling.

"Hardly." Cassie may have gained some recognition in her home country but the humiliating fact was most of those who recognized her now was only from the U.S. teams lose. Falling unconscious through the left hoop after getting bashed by a bludger would gain anyone a little fame just not the type she wanted. No one remembered that the previous game had been a shutout, the first time in the country's history. It wasn't like she played for the recognition, it wouldn't have bothered her if no one was watching she loved the sport, she would just rather not be remember for something she couldn't even recall.

"We're going over to the Irish players area wanna go. It's guaranteed to be fun." Dante offered as the stadium became more and more deserted. Neither of them had any shame in partying. This was a time to celebrate so why pretend it was anything else. They both agreed and before they could be stopped they were making their way towards the huge area of unnatural green. The closer they got the more crowded it became.

They all talked about their jobs and life in general. It was funny to Cas that in this group her job was the least exciting one. The other three seemed to live with constant danger and adventure and didn't even seem to realize it.

Everyone was in high spirits after the match, even those who had supported Bulgaria. The celebration reached highs of insurmountable proportions once they reached the green mounds of the Irish. It was elbow to elbow as they pushed their way through the crowd. She did her best to keep her sling from getting too jarred. Cas felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Bill.

"So we don't get separated." He winked at her. It was flirty but didn't cross over into uncomfortable. Cassie was pretty sure that this man couldn't speak without flirting, it was effortless.

Cassie for her part ducked down and lifted his arm onto her brother shoulder. "Thank you so much he's constantly getting lost."

When they finally made it had taken twice as long as it should of and most of the team and partygoers were three times as drunk. Cas split from the rest of the group with a promise to meet up with her brother later and made her way further into the chaos. She grabbed a beer out of one of the coolers as Moran tried to get her attention. She pointed Cas to a tent a little further down with a smile.

The medical tent was off to the edge of the team encampment, not that it lessened the noise, until she entered the tent. There was probably a silencing spell at work. Cas knew from experience that all of the team would have filtered through to have a once over, but now only Lynch and a healer remained.

The healer was in the middle of packing up her back so Cassie assumed she was done. Aidan looked better than he had during the trophy presentation; his eyes had lost the glassy look. The fact that there was only one lamp burning probably meant he had a justifiable headache. He could defiantly be sore the next day but at least he wasn't going to be stuck in a hospital bed. This fact was comforting enough for her to feel comfortable enough to take a nice long swig from her bottle.

"Hey." Cas announced herself. The healer gave her a friendly nod before ducking out of the tent. Aidan met her eyes as they both looked at each other for a minute. "You look wonderful."

He chuckled before moaning and grabbing the bridge of his nose before mumbling. "I'd feel better with a swig of that beer."

"Not going to happen. It might mix poorly with any of the potions you've got flooding through your system. So no you're not going to become a potato just cause you're an alcoholic."

"Me? How many does that make for you?" When she didn't answer he smirked, but moved on to another topic. "How's your arm feeling it didn't get jarred too much right?"

Cassie smirked and made her way over to him plopping down cross-legged in front of him. It wasn't comfortable but she had dealt with worse. Besides the chair was not big enough for the two of them and she wasn't the type to squeeze onto her boyfriend's lap. "You plow head first into the ground twice, but of course you'd ask about me. But yeah I'm fine."

He closed his deep brown eyes and let his head sink into his chest. "Please don't remind me."

"I'm shocked that you remember it as all." Cassie said softly. She took another long chug nearly finishing her drink.

"I really can't. I remember seeing the snitch and starting my dive then all I remember was Bagman calling Krum's name." He couldn't hide all of the bitterness in his voice as he spoke the seekers name.

"Seriously you're upset over that. Aidan you just won the quidditch world cup. I understand that you can't jump for joy right now but still a little enjoyment." He looked up at her. Cas hardly called him by his first name, he was always Lynch.

"My team did." He corrected her.

"Are you not part of the team?"

"I am but-"He tried to talk but Cas interrupted.

"No if it would have been me and I let in fourteen goals and only won by ten it's still a win." Cassie had excepted that she was partly jealous of his win so hearing him whine and complain about winning the cup made her want to punch something with her good arm.

"He caught the snitch." Aidan couldn't help but sound like a four year old.

Out of Cas's throat came an unintentional grumble. "Of course he did he's Krum. Don't take it the wrong way but he's the best natural talent around." She noticed his unimpressed look. "You're a much smarter player and can outsmart him every day, but today came down to the intangibles and you can't plan for that."

He nodded like he agreed, but the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes. Aidan was cautious when he spoke, clearly nervous he would sound like a whiner. "I was going to give you the snitch if I caught it."

"I'm a keeper what use do I have with a snitch." Cassie said not caring if she came off as harsh. The two of them had been around each other long enough to know the other's quirks.

"Some people would take it as a romantic gesture." Aidan explained, not taking offense at his girlfriend's casual dismissal of his would be present. "Are we going to join the party?"

"Sure if you're up to it. I met a few people I'd like to introduce you to." Cas finished her beer and pushed herself up using her one good arm. "Let's go."

The two of them had only just out of the tent when people came over to slap Aidan on the back. He smiled and thanked them, but Cas could see his nervous nature kicking in as he unconsciously backed away each time someone gave him a little too much attention. She maneuvered him through the crowd as they finally made it to Dante. Charlie and Dante were talking about dragons like two workaholics. Bill had moved to their left joining another group that seemed like they were having fun. Dante was the first to notice them.

"Lynch, why are you with this thing?" He was feeling good as he slung his arm around his sister's shoulder. Aidan just smiled as Cassie glared at him.

Cas pretended her brother hadn't ousted her relationship and continued with the introductions. "Charlie this is my friend Aidan Lynch. Lynch my brother's coworker and friend Charlie. His brother Bill is over there chatting up the brunette."

Bill must have felt his ears burning because he was back with the group in a couple of seconds. He was startled to see who had joined the group but quickly regained his composure as they went through the introductions a second time. They talked for a while and even Cas enjoyed herself, even if her face didn't always show it.

"We need to get back to the tent." Charlie told his brother after looking at his watch.

"You're right we told dad we'd be back at reasonable hour." He turned to look at Aidan. "Do you mind signing something for us, for our brothers? There is a very real chance if we go back empty handed they would probably change our hair color and set off fireworks in our rooms."

"Of course." He quickly signed the proffered scarf. His hands were unsteady and he was starting to get peaky. He would need to go to bed soon.

It was easy to convince Aidan that it was time; he was so tired his eyes were closed before she walked out of the tent. There was part of Cassie that wanted to stay with him but his teammates would take care of him. Also her brother would be leaving tomorrow and she didn't know how long it would be before she would get to see him.

The party was in full swing, a more adult feeling than it had been, as the two made their way to the family tent. "You know she expects us to show up."

There was a drunken edge to crowd as they pushed through the large group. Part of it was actual alcohol the other half was just caught up in the atmosphere. Unfortunately Cas felt herself growing more sober with each step and easily accepted another closed bottle of beer when a stranger shoved it into her face.

"Nah she only wants to show you off, she'd rather I'd disappear."

Dante who had stayed on the side of her injured arm to keep it from getting hit too often now reached over to open her beer for her. He did help himself to a drink before giving it back to her. "Are you kidding this is the perfect place for her to show you off, everyone's in quidditch mode so you're a perfect centerpiece."

They laughed together while commiserating how dysfunctional their family was and who was the least hated. They eventually decided that they were equally unloved and it was only their much younger brother, Flint, who was actually loved. The only child who Cas's stepmother wanted to have was a bratty thirteen year old. The three of them had lived together for ten years and did their best to keep all conversations to less than ten words.

When wine glasses replaced bottles Cas knew their parents would be nearby and in less than five minutes they were in front of their mother. There was a large group gathered around a magical green fire, completely ignoring the fact that they weren't meant to arouse suspicion. Cassie recognized some of them from the box before and some others from the parties they had thrown over the years. These people were the top of the food chain, those who considered themselves to be purer than everyone, including other purebloods. All it meant to her though was that their family trees didn't fork as much as they should.

Cassie heard Dante groan as his mother stopped them and motioned them to join her. In that instant she could feel her spine go straight and her mind grow hard. It was a conditioned response brought on by the years of rough training. There would be no weakness in her posture, no hint of submission. Dante had adopted a similar pose though his features and height made him seem even more intimidating.

She could never achieve such a scary look. Cassie's features were a strange mix that always left her image skewed. Her nose was long and thin. Her sharp cheekbones should have given her a model look, but her eyes were round and doll-like, same with her mouth. It left her always hovering between looking innocent or intimidating, she would rather it be the latter.

"-if it was me I wouldn't have let him into my family." The woman her stepmother was talking to announced, louder than necessary.

"With a squib for a brother he wouldn't be welcome on my property, even if he is a pureblood." Her stepmother agreed which was no surprise to anyone. Cas tried to distance herself as much as possible but it was no use once she was in grabbing distance, her bad elbow was caught in her viper like grip. She didn't let her discomfort show. "These two defiantly know better than that. These are my children Dante and Cassie; they're making time for their family."

"Like mine, they know where their priorities should be. I'm Gretchen Goyle." The stout woman offered her they both shook it with a moderate amount of force. Not even a minute in and the competition had already begun. To an outsider it may have seemed like an innocent exchange, but what it really meant to be was a comparison of the two families. As much as she hated to admit it there family won, especially when Gretchen introduced her son, Gregory. Cassie had no doubt that the woman probably thought she was being clever when she named him. Also why they claimed to be purebloods she was convinced that they only way for the child to turn out looking like that would have been if he part troll.

For the next hour and a half Cas introduced and reintroduced to more people than she ever wanted to know. It felt like she had to repeat every conversation over and over again. She was positive that they had laughed at the same joke three times. The only bright side was she was able to avoid her family.

It felt like her and Dante had been asleep seconds when they heard a loud commotion outside the tent. It took Cas a few moments to realize that people were shouting about death eaters. Cas was too young to remember when the group terrorized the world, but spending her formative years with an auror and the rest with those who favored the dark arts showed her just how horrifying their type of magic could be. It took her only a moment longer to jump up out of her bed and grab her wand. "I'm going to go check on Lynch."

Dante looked like he wanted to stop her, but changed his mind when he saw the terrified determination she was sporting. He sighed shaking his head. "Be safe and meet me at the edge of the forest. Close to where the portkey drop us."

She wanted to argue that he wasn't her father but just nodded. There were more important things going on and she wasn't going to waste time arguing, so she just shook her head.

There was some much gin on when she walked out of the tent that it was hard to take in everything. Spells seemed to be coming from every direction and the sound of the shouting stampede's overwhelmed her scenes. Instead of wasting her time trying to figure out which side was which she just shoved her way through the crowd

As Cassie pushed her way through the crowd she did her best to ignore everything, including the shooting pain that overtook her arm every time she ran into something. While everyone around her seemed to be growing more panicked by the minute all she could feel was her annoyance into anger, not that her face would betray her. If anyone would have looked at her they would have thought her to be totally calm and collected.

Eventually she made it back to Lynch's tent. All the chaos seemed to be moving away from them, but she wasn't going to be taking any chances. It was still dark in the tent and Lynch was sound asleep. Cas tried to wake him up for about five minutes, but all he did was mumble and fall back to sleep. So instead of trying to fight with him she just pulled him supporting him with a shoulder and apparted to the agreed location. It wasn't an easy task with a lifeless passenger.

When the world stopped spinning she saw Dante standing about twenty feet away from her. They waved at each other as Cassie slid down a nearby tree to rest. He had obviously gone to help Charlie with his large crowd of redheads but he quickly made his way towards his now seated sister. "You okay?"

She had her eyes closed but it sounded like he was concerned. It wasn't hard to guess the reason, what with her nearly collapsing next to her unconscious partner. "Just peachy. How did you managing?"

"Fine but some of the Weasley lot have gone missing. I'm gonna help them search." There was an unspoken question in his statement; he obviously didn't want to leave her.

"I'm going to take him home. You up for a late breakfast tomorrow before you head. You know assuming you don't die tonight." Cas offered as Dante turned his attention over to Charlie who seemed to be deciding if he should join them.

"Sure and even if I do my ghost will meet you. I always wanted to haunt a pub." He answered before trotting back to join his group. Cassie gathered her wits as she hoisted Lynch onto her shoulder. It wouldn't be until much later that Cassie would realize just how significant of a day it would be to her.