A/N: Loosely follows the basic plot of Yuuri! on Ice but takes place in the Wizarding World.
Just so you know, everyone's ages have been changed. Like literally everyone. No age was spared.
Also, this story has been fully written. I'm posting a chapter every 2-3 days (as I put on the finishing touches/edits)
so if you have abandonment issues caused by reading too many incomplete fics, then have no fear because you won't be burned again by this one!
Prologue: Russia vs. New Zealand: World Cup of Dreams!
Yuuri Katuski let go of the old ice skate he'd been grasping and felt himself crash face down on solid concrete. He tried to ignore the churning in his gut that was threatening to expel the oyakodon he'd wolfed down for breakfast. Portkey was not his favorite way to travel—it never had been—but he was willing to suffer just about any indignity for a chance to attend a Quidditch World Cup.
"You alright there, Yuuri?" said a voice directly to his left and from above. A hand reached out and pulled his shoulder. Phichit Chulanont had apparently already gotten his bearings and was trying to hoist Yuuri to his feet.
Wiping bits of gravel off of his face, Yuuri stood to take in the view.
"Yeah," he breathed, nausea all but forgotten, "I'm more than alright." He stood before a gently sloping street that culminated in the longest shoutengai he'd ever seen—thousands and thousands of portable shops arranged along a street that seemed to stretch into the sun peeking over the horizon. Signs in dozens of languages boasted merchandise beyond his wildest imagination—souvenirs and food seemed to be the most common, but he also saw a stall of dragon kites breathing what looked to be real fire. Before he could take much more in, an official-looking man in a crisp suit approached their group.
"6:30 arrival?" he asked, checking a clipboard stacked with paper that appeared to be struggling to escape, "House Tanuki Quidditch Team from Mahoutokoro?"
"Yes," Yuuko confirmed, stepping up to greet the man. "Yuuko Tsurumine, Team Captain."
The man counted them, making a mark on his clipboard as he did so. One of the pages detached, folded itself in midair into a long ticket, and landing neatly in Yuuko's outstretched hand.
"Area 14, all the way down and to your right. Next group!" said the man. Yuuri hurried out of the way as a large group of wizards and witches dropped to the ground immediately behind him.
"You'd think they'd give us something softer to land on," Takeshi Nishigori complained, rubbing his back.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Yuuko chimed in with a smile.
"Thanks a lot," Takeshi said, "You won't be so cheerful when it turns out I'm too injured to play and you'll have to find yourself another Beater who's willing to make nice with Seung-gil."
"Yes please," said Seung-gil Lee. Yuuko ignored him.
"Guang Hong could step in!" she offered.
Guang Hong Ji looked up at her in terror.
"Kidding!" she told him quickly.
They made their way down the shoutengai. Yuuri found it difficult to keep walking—the urge to stop and stare (or worse, shop) was nearly overwhelming. One token, he'd told himself before he left. A cup, a flag, a figurine, anything was fine. But just one.
"Look!" Phichit cried, grabbing his arm and pointing at a stand full of self-playing ocarinas. What felt like seconds later, Yuuri's wallet was out and his bag was crammed to bursting with a hat, pins, a bathrobe, several posters rolled into scrolls, enough stickers to cover his entire school trunk, miniature Quidditch figurines made of chocolate and a full-color commemorative magazine.
"I thought we all agreed we were rooting for New Zealand," Seung-gil said, grabbing one of the posters out of Yuuri's bag and unrolling it as they once again began to make their way down the shoutengai—much poorer than when they started.
"You agreed," Yuuko said, butting in between them and beaming at the poster, "Yuuri isn't rooting for a team so much as a person."
"I can see that," Seung-gil replied, glaring judgmentally at the moving figure on the poster. "Are all of these of...?"
"Of course they are!" Yuuko told him, snatching the poster and handing it back to Yuuri, who carefully re-rolled it and placed it back in his bag, face burning. They reached the end of the shoutengai—with only a couple more shopping stops, mostly for Phichit—and took a right up a short hill. The camping area was arranged into hundreds of neat rows of small red-roofed tents. As they reached the summit of the hill, the ticket Yuuko had been holding onto folded itself into a paper crane, wrested itself from Yuuko's grasp, and sped off down one of the rows.
"C'mon!" Yuuko shouted, sprinting off after it. The rest of the team followed her—Yuuri couldn't get a good look at anything as he hurtled past families and groups of friends gathering outside the tents.
After several careening turns, the crane stopped abruptly outside an empty tent, unfolded itself once more, and flew into a plaque in the top of the tent. It now read "House Tanuki Quidditch Team."
Yuuri had never been in a wizarding tent before, but at seventeen, after ten years in the wizarding world, he knew enough about how things worked not to be too surprised at how big it was on the inside. It honestly wasn't much different than the House Tanuki dormitory. Floors covered in tatami, futons separated by partitions, a communal area in the center with sliding doors.
Seung-gil made a beeline for the closest futon and started to collapse.
"Nice try!" Takeshi told him, grabbing his arm and forcing him back upright.
"Ugh," Seung-gil groaned. "We got up so early. I just want to take a nap."
"Sorry Grumpy, no can do." Phichit told him cheerfully. "Game starts in an hour and a half, we have to get to the stadium."
"You're kidding?" Yuuri gasped. He glanced down at his watch. Sure enough, Phichit was right. How long had they spent shopping?
"I wish he was," Mitsumi Yoshimura muttered, dumping her bag on one of the futons. She reached into her bag and pulled out a headband with New Zealand bobbles sticking out of it. Mitsumi was normally a fairly solemn girl, so it was kind of a treat to see her looking so ridiculous. The pin she'd stuck to the front of her jumper read "I'm a Keeper!"
"Just drop your stuff Yuuri, come on!" Yuuko grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the front of the tent. Yuuri just barely managed to put on his hat and stuff his program into his pocket before he and the rest of the team were once again sprinting down the rows of tents.
Yuuri was positive that No-Maj's regularly vacationed to the stretch of beach on which the stadium was erected, but there was no sign of them now. An open-air field above the sand with goalposts higher than any Yuuri had ever seen was encased by twenty thousand glittering golden chairs set into stands. He didn't have much of a chance to take in the view before Yuuko was once again pulling him up the stairs by his arm to reach their box.
"We made good time!" Yuuri protested. "The match won't start for another hour!"
"You want to miss the pregame show?" Yuuko called back.
Well. Yuuri didn't know what to expect in a pre-game show, but there'd been no mention of such thing in his program. That sort of thing was probably the hardest thing about being a wizard in a family of No-Majs—learning things about the world as he went along that other people just seemed to know. Although, to be fair, he wasn't sure how Yuuko knew either. Her parents were No-Majs too—they'd grown up in Hasetsu together, and Yuuri didn't know what the odds were that he and his childhood friend would just happen to be a wizard and a witch, but they couldn't have been high. He counted himself very lucky for her company at Mahoutokoro.
"How did you know about the pregame show?" Yuuri called up to her. It was getting difficult to hear her through the crowd.
"Takeshi," was her answer. Ah, of course. "Here's our box!"
Calling their box the nosebleeds would've been generous. They were directly behind the Russian goalpost—not exactly ideal for seeing the New Zealand Keeper, Mitsumi whined, but, as Guang Hong pointed out, a great way to check out their Chasers. Yuuri feigned interest in this discussion, but it was hard to concentrate through his excitement. The Quidditch World Cup, and of course the Russian team had made it to the final, and it was being hosted in Japan. Yuuri didn't know those odds of that either, but he didn't think they could've been much better than the ones against him and Yuuko both attending Mahoutokoro.
"Ladies and gentlemen," came a commanding female voice from far, far below. The stadium gradually quieted down. Yuuri could hear the whispers of a hundred other languages echoing from her words—the result of a powerful translation spell.
"The Japanese Ministry of Magic is proud to present to you the 428th Quidditch World Cup. My name is Ayame Yamamoto, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and I give you...the New Zealand team mascots!"
Yuuri brought his Omnioculars up to his glasses and focused on the ground. An enormous geyser erupted out from the sand in the center of the pitch, swirling around to form what looked like a slow-motion hurricane. Yuuri lowered his Omnioculars—the hurricane was easily visible to everyone in the stadium.
The display within the hurricane would've been frightening if it didn't look so well-controlled. A dozen creatures were doing a kind of synchronized swimming routine within the water—Yuuri would've called them sharks except that they were so dragon-like. He'd never seen sharks with scales like these, or such long tails. Yuuri glanced at Phichit, who shrugged. Phichit was top of the class in Care of Magical Creatures, and apparently even he didn't know what these were. Yuuri watched, transfixed for at least ten minutes as the hurricane grew larger and larger, eventually nearly filling the stadium.
"I give you...Burdak!" said Yamamoto from far below.
A completely dry woman in sparkling blue robes shot out from the waters in which the dragon-sharks continued to swim. Yuuri barely had time to wonder what spell had kept her from getting soaked when her teammates began to emerge one by one.
"McKenzie! Singh! Moon! Ngata! Patel! And... Ponika!"
As soon as Ponika, the Seeker for New Zealand, appeared, the dragon-sharks turned toward the sand and dove down into the eye of the hurricane. Once the tail of the last one had whipped out of sight, the hurricane stilled and then seemed to collapse. Everyone, including Yuuri, got splashed. Apparently the waterproofing spell was only for the players. Despite being wet, the cheers from the crowd were thunderous.
"And now, I give you...Russia!"
A flock of amazingly beautiful red and gold birds flew from the sky into the stadium. At first, Yuuri thought they were phoenixes, but then he felt the heat as they soared past him. Where phoenixes had tail plumes, these birds had fire.
"What are these?" Yuuri shouted at Phichit over the noise. He didn't really expect an answer, but Phichit surprised him.
"Firebirds," Phichit hollered back. "Don't catch the feathers, they're cursed!"
Good to know, thought Yuuri, as a cascade of shimmering feathers rained down upon the stadium. He grabbed onto Guang Hong's arm as he reached out for a purple feather floating tantalizingly in front of his face.
The birds made a circle in the center of the pitch, facing outward and forming a ring of fire in between them.
"Travkin!" said Yamamoto. Travkin flew up from the ground and through the ring of fire, emerging in his scarlet robes and doing a lap high in the air above the stadium
"Rozovsky!" did the same. And after him, "Mitkin! Shcherbina! Isayev! Chernetsky! And... Nikiforov!"
And there he was. Victor Nikiforov, in person. The youngest world-class Seeker since Viktor Krum.. The number one reason Yuuri spent his summer working at his parents' onsen—slaving over the hot springs in the broiling, humid heat—saving up to come to the World Cup. The subject of all the posters above his futon in his bedroom. The subject of all six posters he bought today. Living legend Victor Nikiforov.
Victor emerged from the flames like a vision straight out of Yuuri's dreams. He tossed his silver hair back from his forehead and began his lap around the stands. As he neared the Russian goalpost, Yuuri removed his Omnioculars—getting a look at Victor with his own eyes was an opportunity he couldn't pass up, despite the temptation to keep the Omnioculars glued to his face and be able to see the stitching on Victor's robes.
Victor sped along the stands, waving like a queen to the crowds. And then, to Yuuri's utter disbelief, he slowed down near the goalpost, scanning their section, which to him could only have looked like a sea of faces hidden by Omnioculars. He looked past Yuuri's row and then actually did a double-take. Yuuri covered his mouth with both hands to stifle his gasp. Victor's eyes locked onto Yuuri's—there could be no mistaking it. A smile spread across his lips and he winked. And then, as though he'd never been there at all, he was off again down the other side of the pitch.
Had it not been for Phichit and Guang Hong gripping him on either side and screaming in his ears, Yuuri was positive he would've fainted. He wished he'd captured the wink on the Omnioculars—then he could've replayed it to himself on a loop for the rest of his existence. As it was, he was already feeling as though he had possibly imagined it.
"He winked at you!" Yuuko shrieked. "Oh my God! Victor Nikiforov winked at you!"
He hadn't imagined it then, if Yuuko had seen it too. Filled with a giddiness he'd never experienced, Yuuri joined in the screaming and the cheering of the crowd as the referee reached the center of the pitch and released the Snitch.
The Omnioculars were a permanent fixture on Yuuri's face for the rest of the game. It was impossibly fast-paced. The Chasers were like a purple blur—the blues and reds of their uniforms blending together as they hurtled up and down the pitch with unreal speed. Yuuri had to force himself to pay attention to the score and not just search the skies for Victor.
"Burdak! Isayev! Travkin! Shcherbina! McKenzie! Moon!" The voice of Yamamoto as the Chasers passed the Quaffle back and forth blended into the background. Victor was hovering near the sand by the New Zealand goalposts. Ponika not far above him. Evidently, neither of them had seen the Snitch.
"Forty to eighty, New Zealand!" said Yamamoto. "And now it's Isayev again with the Quaffle! Travkin! Burdak! Moon!"
"Block him Rozovsky!" Yuuri heard Mitsumi shriek from the other side of Guang Hong. Evidently she had switched allegiances mid-game. "Yes!"
Yuuri zoomed in on the handle of Victor's broomstick. Underneath Victor's long fingers he could make out the words Kinya 2020. The most adaptable, lightweight broom in existence. Yuuri had never even touched one.
Suddenly he was staring at the air—Victor had flown away. As Yuuri refocused his Omnioculars, his stomach dropped—Ponika had seen the Snitch and was barreling forward at top speed.
"Ponika has spotted the Snitch!" Yamamoto shouted, "Nikiforov's seen it too but he's going to have to find a way around Ponika if he has any hope of catching it— "
Indeed, Victor was directly behind Ponika, tailing him closely as he wove back and forth to block him. At the very last second, Victor swung his entire body underneath the broom and leveled with Ponika, speeding up and stretching out those long fingers, closing them around the Snitch from below just as Ponika reached forward and grasped at the air where the Snitch had just been.
The noise was thunderous. Over the cheering, Yuuri could faintly hear Yamamoto still commentating "That's two hundred and forty to ninety, folks! Victor Nikiforov has caught the Snitch and Russia wins the World Cup!"
Yuuri cheered along with the rest of his team. Phichit was trying to talk to him, not that he could've heard anything over the applause, but Yuuri only had eyes for Victor. The Russian team swooped down to celebrate with him, they had tackled him to the sand as the Cup was brought out and presented to the team.
After New Zealand had skulked off the field and Russia made their way to the showers, the people in the stands began to exit. Yuuri felt that the word "jostled" didn't do this situation justice; he was moving, whether he liked it or not, as part of a crowd so tightly packed that he probably could've lifted his feet off the floor and just let the momentum from the other bodies pressed against his carry him down the stairs. It was an enormous relief to reach the open air again.
"How about going back to the shoutengai for dinner?" Phichit suggested.
"No," said Seung-gil. "No way. I'm getting my nap."
"It's going to be super crowded," Takeshi agreed.
"I'm hungry," Yuuko added.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Takeshi said.
"I'm still out," said Seung-gil. He headed back to the tent as the rest of the team went down for dinner.
The shoutengai was more crowded than Yuuri had imagined, which was saying a lot. He struggled to keep sight of Yuuko's ponytail through the masses, until one of the stalls caught his eye.
He had never seen a shop that was quite so simultaneously ugly and alluring. The exterior was painted lurid orange and purple, and the wizards working inside wore magenta robes. A sign on the front read Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Yuuri had no idea how he could have possibly missed it last time.
"Hey guys," he called to the rest of the team, "I'm just gonna..."
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was full of products that would get someone expelled from Mahoutokoro. Candies that could make you sick, prank items, fireworks. Yuuri entertained himself briefly imagining the looks on his teachers' faces if someone were to let off one of the Decoy Detonators during an exam, but then his interest was drawn to a cage full of what appeared to be pink and purple balls of fluff.
To his surprise and utter delight, one of the puffballs suddenly rolled across the cage and stuck out it's little face at him curiously. Yuuri offered it his finger. It licked him.
Phichit would absolutely die for one of these. Yuuri was positive that the only reason he didn't already have one was that he hadn't seen the shop. He rushed back out into the shoutengai with the intent of dragging Phichit in to show him, but Phichit wasn't there. None of his teammates were there. Yuuri realized with dread that they must not have heard him when he said he was going to step into the shop, and accidentally moved on without him.
He tried to ignore the panic bubbling up his throat. He was going to find them. The shoutengai was impossibly crowded, full of thousands of people, but...Yuuri decided to double back down the street to see if maybe they'd gone back to look for him.
As he passed a red tent close to the end of the shoutengai, he felt an arm around his shoulders. Phichit. Thank God. He turned with relief and right into the face of a guy with blond hair and the longest eyelashes he'd ever seen.
"Hi!" he said with a thick European accent of some sort, "I'm Chris! Did you get lost?"
"Yes, actually," Yuuri told him, with no small amount of relief. Despite his discomfort with being touched by strangers, Yuuri could tell immediately that Chris was harmless.
"Oh! The winners tent is this way," he steered Yuuri toward the red tent.
"I—"
"Password?" asked a very stern man standing outside.
"Oh come on, you just let me out," Chris pouted.
The man made no move to let Chris enter.
"Christophe Giacometti? No?" Chris wheedled. "Fine. Makkachin."
The man nodded curtly and stepped aside. Chris steered Yuuri into the tent. Russian flags hung from glittering gold walls. Victory music could just barely be heard over the sounds of laughter and conversation coming from all sides. Fountains of shimmering champagne sat on tables draped in gold tablecloths. Yuuri immediately recognized at least four players from the Russian team from one quick glance around the room.
"Oh!" Yuuri said, getting ready to alert him to the misunderstanding, "But I'm not— "
"You look nervous," Chris decided, tapping the side of his cheek. "Have a Firewhiskey. I'm going to go find Victor again. Victor!"
And with that, Chris left Yuuri standing in the bustle of the winner's tent, holding a glass of Firewhiskey and as confused as he'd ever been in his life. He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip.
A/N: A tremendous thank you to the following people for the following things:
-slytherproud (AO3) for ghostwriting literally all the Quidditch because I hate/suck at writing action. Also for the help with the Japanese, and with filling in all the details about Mahoutokoro.
-Jillian_Bowes (AO3) for goading me into writing this when I texted you in the middle of the night with "dude what if Victor went to Durmstrang and then just showed up at Yuuri's school," and editing it and for creating the Quidditch game schedule.
-Dawn_Seeker (AO3) for beta-reading and editing and all the encouragement.