To Save The Future
Wingedhybrid
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.
Chapter 2
Harry was awoken at about 4am by Mrs. Weasley that morning.
"Harry, dear, get dressed and come down for breakfast. Make sure you bring some money and your wand with you." She whispered before going to shake Ron awake.
As before, the two moving lumps under blankets at the foot of his bed showed the twins were awake. Harry, used to an early morning, stretched and grabbed his clothes and toiletries, having a quick shower before dressing in dark blue jeans, black combat boots and a dark blue long sleeved shirt with a small snitch on the front.
Slipping his wand in his holster and brushing his damp hair, he picked up his rucksack and followed a groggy Ron and yawning twins down the stairs, grinning at the smell of bacon. They squeezed into chairs and piled food on their plates, too excited and tired to talk. Mrs. Weasley came down followed by the girls and Mr. Weasley. He was dressed in the same golf jumper and jeans as last time.
"Well, Harry, do I look like a muggle?" He asked happily, snagging a bacon sandwich off Fred's plate.
"Yeah, great." He said.
"Where are Bill, Charlie and Percy?" Ron asked sleepily.
"Well, they're apparating so they can have a bit of a lie in." Mr. Weasley explained.
"Lucky buggers." George mumbled through a mouthful of toast.
"So they can all apparate then?" Harry asked, full well knowing the answer but wanting to keep conversation.
"Charlie had to take the test twice. The first time he apparated right on top of some old dear doing her shopping." Said Fred, grinning.
"And Percy passed two weeks ago, he's been apparating down the stairs each morning just to show he could." Ginny said, giggling slightly. "Dad, why do we have to be up so early?"
"We've got a bit of a walk to the portkey." He replied, picking up a jacket from the back of a door. They all stood up to get ready when Mrs. Weasley yelled "George!" sharply.
"Yes?" He asked in an innocent tone.
"Empty your pockets." She ordered. Harry then noticed the twins' slightly bulging jeans pockets and grinned.
"We haven't got anything in our pockets, mum." Fred said.
"Don't you lie to me! Accio!" She called, jabbing her wand at them.
Several small, brightly wrapped sweets that Harry recognised as ton-tongue toffees zoomed through the air into the Weasley matron's outstretched hand.
"I told you to destroy them!" She said angrily, summoning them as the twins made grabs for them.
Again, they seemed to have been trying to smuggle as many as possible out of the house. They flew from just about everywhere, the same as the last time, and by the end, the two boys were glaring indignantly as their products were put in the bin.
"We spent 6 months developing those!" George yelled.
"Oh, such a fine way to spend 6 months in your OWL year! No wonder you didn't get that many!" She shrieked.
When they left to leave, Mrs. Weasley was still glowering angrily and the twins were still giving her the silent treatment, hoisting their rucksacks onto their shoulders and walking off without a word. They started off into a dark forest and Harry and the others left Mr. Weasley to catch up with the twins.
"She had no right to do that to us! That was our entire stock!" Fred grumbled. Harry smirked.
"Oh, was it now?" He said, rolling up his sleeves to see a load of fake wands and pointing to the insides of his boots to show more toffees. "You've still got these and everything in my trunk." He pointed out.
They grinned.
"You, sir, are a genius." George said, clapping Harry on the back.
Harry mock bowed. "I try my best." He joked.
Mr. Weasley called them back and they jogged back to his side, hiding the joke products. They kept walking for a while and searched for the portkey before they came to the top of a hill and heard a panting voice calling out. "Over here, Arthur! We've got it!" as Amos and Cedric Diggory jogged towards them, holding a rotting boot.
Amos and Mr. Weasley shook hands.
"Everyone, this is Amos Diggory, works for the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures. I believe you all know his son Cedric." He said.
Cedric said a nervous 'hi' to everyone, they all answered except Fred and George who hadn't quite forgiven him for beating Gryffindor in the match last year.
Cedric spotted Harry and grinned. "Hey, Harry. Sorry I didn't get a chance to write back. I'd be happy to take you up on that offer, it'll be good to get some training in." He said slightly breathlessly, having walked all the way up the hill.
Harry smiled. "Great, I look forward to it. Cho said she would as well."
The others looked at him oddly. "I heard in Diagon Alley that Quidditch would be cancelled at Hogwarts this year so I owled Cedric and Cho to see if they wanted to do some free for all matches at school so we don't get rusty." Harry explained.
The boys scowled slightly but nodded. Harry wiped his slightly damp fringe off his hot face and Amos' eyes widened.
"Merlin's beard, it's Harry Potter! Ced's talked about you of course, all about playing you last year. I told him - that'll be something you can tell your grandkids someday - you beat Harry Potter!" He said.
The twins scowled and Cedric looked slightly embarrassed.
"Harry fell off his broom because of the dementors dad, it was an accident." He mumbled.
"Yes but you didn't fall off because of dementors, did you Ced?" Amos roared happily.
Harry scowled slightly. "No offence sir, to either of you, but if Cedric heard his parents being killed by Voldemort to save him, I'm pretty sure he'd fall off his broom too." He said coolly, immediately shutting Amos up and causing silence.
Mr. Weasley broke it awkwardly. "Err, I think it's nearly time, are we waiting for anyone else?" He asked, checking his watch.
"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets." Amos replied, not looking at Harry.
"Come on, better get ready. Just touch it, one finger will do." Said Mr. Weasley, making sure everyone was touching it.
He mentally counted down and felt the familiar yet hated hook on his navel.
Ron bashed against him but he managed to land on his feet, knees buckling slightly. He helped up Ron and turned to the ministry men.
"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill." One droned. Harry saw the man in galoshes tick something on a clipboard as the man in a kilt took the portkey and threw it in a box.
"Morning Basil." Arthur chirped.
"Mornin' Arthur, not on duty? Lucky for you, we've been here all night." He grumbled, "Hmm, Weasley… First field over that way, camp manager's Mr. Roberts. Diggory, Second field over there, ask for Mr. Payne."
They nodded and said goodbye, splitting up and setting off in their designated directions. After about 20 minutes walking, the sight of hundreds of tents lined up on the hill was exactly as Harry remembered it. They walked up to Mr. Roberts' cottage and knocked on the door. The man opened, looking slightly dazed from memory charms and smiled.
"Morning, you booked tents?" He asked.
"Yes, Weasley, two tents, I booked them a few days ago." Replied Mr. Weasley anxiously.
Roberts consulted a list tacked up in the doorway and poked a blank spot. "You've got a space right up by the woods there, just the one night?" At the nod he continued. "Right, you be payin' now then?"
Mr. Weasley nodded and backed up a little bit. "Help me, Harry." He whispered, pulling a roll of muggle money from his pocket. Harry pointed out each note in an undertone, trying not to let Roberts hear.
"You lot foreign?" He asked as Mr. Weasley handed the money over.
"Foreign?" Replied Mr. Weasley, puzzled.
"Aye, you're not the first ones, it's like some sort of rally, never been this crowded before. They all know each other, it's not just foreigners, it's weirdoes too." He said, just as a wizard appeared and obliviated him.
His eyes went glassy and he shook his head.
"Map of the campsite for you." He muttered, handing them a laminated map.
"Thank you." Mr. Weasley replied, taking it and striding back to the teens at the path, accompanied by the wizard in plus-fours.
"Been having lots of trouble with him, needs a memory charm ten times a day to keep him happy. And Ludo Bagman's not helping, trotting around talking about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice." He muttered wearily. "I'll be glad when this is over, see you Arthur."
He dissapparated.
"I thought Mr. Bagman was head of Magical Games and Sports?" Ginny asked, surprised, "He should know better, shouldn't he?"
"He should. But Ludo's always been a bit… lax about security." Mr. Weasley replied.
They trekked up the foggy slope between long rows of tents. Again, Harry noticed some that were so obviously magical, including the one with albino peacocks that he was almost positive belonged to the Malfoys. He checked it with his magical sight and confirmed Lucius' magical signature.
When they passed, as Mr. Weasley muttered about showing off, he threw a firework with a delay charm inside before shuffling and letting a ton-tongue toffee drop out of his sleeve near one of the peacocks. They eventually reached an empty spot with a signpost labelled 'Weezly'.
"Here we are! Couldn't have picked a better spot, the pitch is just on the other side of the forest." He shrugged off his backpack and picked up the tent.
"Okay, no magic, strictly speaking, we need to put up the tent by hand. Shouldn't be too hard. Harry, Hermione, have you ever been camping?" He asked.
Harry shook his head but Hermione nodded. They managed to work it out with a little discreet wandless magic from Harry, keeping Mr. Weasley from interfering too much with the mallet. By the end, they had erected a pair of shabby two-man tents. They stood back to admire it before being beckoned inside. Harry forced his jaw to drop at the small flat inside.
"Get out of the kitchen, Ron!" Mr Weasley yelled.
"Yeah, Ron, get out of the kitchen." The twins shouted from the main room.
"Fred, George, feet off the table!"
"Feet off the table!" They cried, removing their feet.
They were given a short tour before he, Hermione and Ron were sent to fetch water. They picked up a dusty bucket each and ducked under the flap, trekking towards the tap whilst the others went to find firewood. Now that the fog was lifting and the sun had risen, they could see hundreds of people milling about. Harry had a short morbid thought that it was similar to the refuge sites for survivors but pushed it away, determined not to think of that.
They passed the boy playing with the slug and his dad's wand, past the two girls playing on toy brooms and past the Salem Witches Institute before coming to the Irish tents.
"Well, it's very, green." Hermione said nervously, eyeing the shamrock laden tents.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" They heard, spinning round to see a happily grinning Seamus Finnegan with Dean Thomas beside him, waving. The trio walked towards them and smiled.
"Like the decorations?" said Seamus, "The Ministry's not too happy."
"And why shouldn't we show our colours?" Mrs. Finnegan said jovially, coming out of the tent "The Bulgarians are worse, you'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" She added, eyeing them. They nodded and said goodbye before walking off.
"Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot." Ron muttered
"I wonder what the Bulgarian tents are like." Hermione speculated.
"Let's go look." Said Harry, pointing to a large group decked out in Bulgarian colors. They all had the same poster of, to Harry, a very familiar face.
"Krum." Ron said quietly.
"What?" Said Hermione.
"Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker! He's really young, only eighteen or something. He's amazing, you'll see tonight." Ron said enthusiastically.
They reached the tap at the corner and joined the small queue. Again, they were behind the man in the nightdress. Eventually, they filled their buckets and walked at a steadier pace, being hailed by various Hogwarts students and Alumni who they knew. Harry made Ron tell the story about Bill's Brazilian pen friend by pointing out the foreign teens. George groaned in impatience when they reached the tent.
"You've been ages!" he said, helping them set the water down.
"Met a few people" said Ron distractedly.
"Dad not got the fire started yet?" He asked. George shook his head.
"Dad's having fun with the matches." Fred said, popping up next to his brother and nodding towards the elder wizard sitting by a pile of splintered matches.
Harry used a little wandless magic to make him drop the burning match on the fire, making it slowly roar to life.
"There we go." Said Mr. Weasley, settling down to wait for it to heat up enough to cook on. He started up a commentary of Ministry wizards going past, mainly for Hermione's benefit because his own children knew and Harry was only pretending to listen, zoning out and thinking.
After about an hour, the fire was ready and they just started to cook when 3 sets of footsteps and a loud "Just Apparated dad" informed them that Bill, Charlie and Percy had arrived.
"Excellent, lunch." Percy said, helping himself to a plate as the eggs and sausages. They were halfway through when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, grinning madly and waving.
"Aha!" he said cheerily. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"
Ludo was another face that hadn't changed a bit. He was still in his yellow and black Wasps robes and smiling like a lunatic.
"Ahoy there!" He called, jogging up towards them excitedly. "Arthur, old man, what a day, eh? What a day! Cloudless skies…hardly a hiccup in the arrangements…not much for me to do!" He said, just as a group of ministry wizards rushed past, stopping a violent fire shooting purple sparks in the air.
Harry lay on his stomach, head propped up on his hands and legs crossed behind him, watching amusedly as Percy sprang up with his hand outstretched.
"Ah, yes." Mr. Weasley said, grinning, "This is my son Percy, he's just started at the Ministry - and that's Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Ron - my daughter Ginny - and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."
Each of them waved as they were introduced and Harry gave a lazy salute at the double take and eyes flicking towards his scar.
"Everyone, this is Ludo Bagman." Mr Weasley introduced, "You know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets."
Bagman beamed and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" He asked eagerly, gold jangling in his pockets.
"Oh…go on then. A galleon on Ireland to win." Mr Weasley said.
"A Galleon?" Bagman looked slightly disappointed but carried on. "Very well, very well, anyone else?"
"They're a little bit young to be gambling," Mr Weasley started "Molly wouldn't like -"
"We'll bet thirty-seven galleons, fifteen Sickles and three Knuts," Fred and George said, pooling their money together, "That Ireland win but Krum gets the snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand. Harry?"
Harry rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist, causing one of the fake wands to shoot out.
"You don't want to go showing Mr Bagman rubbish like that!" Percy hissed, but Bagman interrupted him with a roar of laughter as he waved the wand and it turned into a tin mouse with a squeak. His boyish face glowed with childish happiness as he took it from Fred.
"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years!" He said, still laughing. "I'd pay 5 galleons for that!"
Percy stood, stunned.
"Now boys, that's all your savings…your mother," Mr Weasley started.
"Now Arthur, don't be a spoilsport!" Ludo boomed. "They're old enough to know what they want! So, you reckon Ireland will win but Krum will catch the snitch? Not a chance boys, not a chance."
He whipped out a notebook and quill and jotting down the bets.
"Cheers." George said, taking the slip of parchment and tucking it in his pocket. Bagman grinned and turned back to Mr Weasley.
"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposites making difficulties and I can't understand a word he's saying…"
Harry zoned out the rest of the conversation, playing with a small rubber snitch toy and rolling onto his back, throwing it up and catching it quickly. He was startled slightly when Crouch apparated next to them and Percy jumped up to give him a cup of tea. He kept one ear on the conversation, snickering slightly at the 'Weatherby' comments.
Eventually, Crouch and Bagman dissapparated and the twins tried to know what was happening at Hogwarts. The afternoon dragged on with them staying around the campsite, occasionally seeing someone they knew. By dusk, everyone had given up trying to stop everyone using magic. Salesmen apparated every few feet with trays of all sorts of merchandise. Eventually, Mr Weasley gave them the go ahead to go buy souvenirs and Harry, Ron and Hermione split from the twins and Ginny, strolling between the stalls and salesmen. Ron had a large green rosette, a dancing shamrock hat and a small figure of Viktor Krum, Hermione had a green rosette and a shamrock pin that glowed green whilst Harry bought a large Irish flag that was currently draped around his shoulders. They were just walking back to the tent when Harry spotted the Omnioculars salesman out of the corner of his eye.
"Whoa, look at these!" He called to his friends.
"Omnioculars," Said the eager salesman.
"You can replay action, slow it down, play-by-play break down, do just about anything. Ten Galleons each."
"Wish I hadn't bought this now." Ron said, gesturing to the dancing hat on his head.
"Three pairs." Harry said, handing over the money to the salesman.
"No - Don't bother." Ron mumbled, the tips of his ears going red.
"Ron, pay me back when you're a famous auror slash Quidditch player. For now, it's a thank you for inviting me." Harry said firmly, thrusting the omnioculars into his and Hermione's hands.
"Thanks Harry. I'll grab us some programmes." Hermione said, taking three free programmes off a pile.
They reached the tent to see all the Weasleys minus the twins with green rosettes and Mr Weasley with a smaller version of Harry's Irish flag. A deep, booming gong rang out somewhere on the other side of the woods as red and green lanterns sparked to life, lighting a path.
"It's time!" Mr Weasley said, face lit up in glee. "Come on, let's go!"
They hurried into the woods, Mr Weasley into the lead and following the lit trail. They were surrounded by thousands of people, shouting, laughing and a few singing off key. The atmosphere was exactly as Harry remembered it. They walked through the woods for about 20 minutes, talking and joking, even singing when the twins and Harry started up a loud round of 'We are the Champions'.
That could have been the infectious excitement or the shot of firewhiskey they'd had each, courtesy of Bill and Charlie. Harry had to immediately turn off the low level magic object sight he had on as they approached the stadium, the blinding gold lights mixing with the shining silver wards.
"Seats a hundred thousand." Mr Weasley said, spotting the amazed looks on their faces. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. There's all kinds of wards and muggle repelling charms on it."
He lead the way to the nearest entrance, handing their tickets to a Ministry witch.
"Prime seats!" She said, checking the tickets. "Top box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."
The purple-carpeted stairs sloped upwards, droves of people peeling off the higher they got. They kept climbing until they found themselves in a small room, dead centre between the goalposts, with about 20 chairs in two rows. Harry filed into the front seats with Ron and Hermione on his left and the twins on his right. Harry looked down and split a grin, where he came from, the whole crowd would either be dead, dying or running around in Death Eater robes by now.
Thousands of witches and wizards of all ages were settling into their seats, starting raucous chants and cheering. Harry noticed that the stadium was so soaked in magic it was actually letting off a golden glow. Harry was sorely tempted to summon someone's broom and fly out onto the pitch, but held himself content with watching adverts flit across the blackboard opposite him. After a moment he wrenched his eyes off the crowd and turned to look if anyone else was there, deciding to forgo the conversation with Winky.
He suddenly remembered Crouch Jr. in the seat behind him and checked his wand was firmly strapped in his holster. He then saw that Ron's wand was missing from his back pocket and gave a grim sort of smile. Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started to test them on random people in the crowd.
"Wicked!" He cried, fiddling with the replay button. "I can make that guy pick his nose again…and again…and again…"
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to her programme. "A display from the team mascots will precede the match." She read aloud.
"Oh, that's always worth watching. National teams bring creatures from their native land, put on a bit of a show, you know." Mr Weasley said.
Gradually, the box filled. Mr Weasley shook hands with most of them and Percy again acted like he was sitting on a hedgehog, throwing dirty looks at Harry who was greeted by the minister like an old friend and introduced to wizards on either side. When Fudge tried to introduce him to the Bulgarian minister, Harry grinned and started to speak Bulgarian. "You'll have to excuse our minister, he's…well, he's ..."
"A moron?" The other man supplied.
"I was going to say complete idiot, but your words work too." He shrugged.
Their minister snorted. "Very true. I speak English fine, it's just fun to make him try sign language. Svanik Obalonsk, pleasure to meet you." He replied, holding out a hand.
"Harry Potter. Pleasure's mine, Sir. Good luck with the match, I hear you have an excellent seeker in Viktor Krum." Harry said, still in Bulgarian, shaking the man's hand firmly.
"Thank you. I've heard you're an incredible seeker too, Mr. Potter. Will we see you in the next world cup?" The minister teased. Harry blushed slightly.
"I don't know, I still need a lot of practise. I still need a good opposition, though, Hogwarts Quidditch does get a bit easy on the seeking front." He admitted.
Obalonsk let out a short booming laugh. "Well, we'll see. I might be able to get you a one on one match with Viktor. Now, I do believe your friends want you."
Harry turned and saw half the box staring at him, wide eyed.
"Oh yeah, thanks. By the way, keep teasing Fudge till the end of the match, it's funny." Harry joked.
The minister nodded and Harry turned back to the Weasleys and Hermione, ignoring the sputtering Fudge.
"Mate, you never said you spoke Bulgarian." Ron said quietly.
"You never asked." Harry replied, glaring at the doorway as the Malfoys came in.
"Ah, Lucius, there you are!" Fudge cried happily.
Lucius Malfoy sneered at Harry before masking it.
"Ah, Cornelius, how are you?" He drawled, shaking the minister's hand. "I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"
"How do you do, how do you do?" Said Fudge, offering a short bow to Mrs Malfoy. "Allow me to introduce you to Mr Oblansk - Obalosk -Mr, well, he's the Bulgarian Minister for Magic and has no idea what I'm saying. Harry, could you…Er…" He trailed off, making a hand gesture.
Harry nodded. "As you heard, that's Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. Lucius has Fudge in his pocket, bribery in the form of donations and the like. He's an evil git, quite frankly." Harry said in rapid Bulgarian.
Obalonsk nodded, hiding a scowl. "Ah, that makes sense. I'm really starting to detest your minister, can't you do something about him?" He asked.
Harry shook his head. "No, the worst I can do is prank him and make him look like an idiot. Half our ministry is corrupt, you learn to just skip them and do it yourself if you want things done. Luckily they won't interfere at Hogwarts because of Dumbledore."
Obalonsk shook Lucius' hand and nodded at Narcissa and Draco. "He says pleased to meet you." Harry lied on the spot, causing Lucius to smirk.
"I wasn't aware you spoke Bulgarian, Mr. Potter." He said.
Harry gave him a smirk to rival his own. "I'm just full of surprises."
Fudge ignored them and went on. "And I daresay you know Arthur Weasley?"
"Good Lord, Arthur," Malfoy said softly "What did you have to sell to get seats in the top box? Surely your house wouldn't fetch this much?"
Fudge, again not listening, said, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital, Arthur. He's here as my guest."
Harry gave a glance to the Bulgarian minister that clearly translated to 'see my point?' and Obalonsk nodded, frowning.
"How - how nice." Mr Weasley said with a forced smile.
Mr. Malfoy gave a sharp stare to Hermione, who glared determinedly back, before he settled on a sneer and sat down. Draco glared at Harry, who then shocked the blonde with a 'Snape death glare' as he liked to call them. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned back to face the pitch again.
The next moment, Ludo Bagman charged in. "Everyone ready?" He asked, his face shining in anticipation. "Minister - ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Ludo." Fudge said, settling back into his chair. Ludo whipped out his wand and performed a sonorous charm, yelling over the sound of the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
The crowd screamed and roared, national anthems bellowing from merchandise and spectators alike as the blackboard wiped clean before showing BULGARIA: ZERO, IRELAND: ZERO.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce…the Bulgarian team mascots!"
The side of the stands that was a solid block of scarlet, cheered maniacally as a hundred Veela glided out onto the pitch. Harry automatically slammed his occlumency shields up full blast, protecting him from the Veela charm. He watched amusedly as Ron stood up but grabbed his arm before he could do anything stupid. Mr Weasley tugged the half-shredded shamrock hat from Ron's grasp.
"You'll be wanting that, once Ireland's had their say." He said, gently pushing Ron back into his seat.
"And now," Ludo started, "kindly pt your wands in the air…for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
Harry watched as the Leprechauns zoomed around the stadium, showering them with gold coins. He grinned at Ron when he shoved a load of Leprechaun gold into hi hands, failing to remind him that it disappears after a few hours. Eventually, they drifter down opposite the Veela and settled down to watch the match.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaand - Krum!" Bagman yelled as the Bulgarians went wild and seven red blurs shot onto the pitch.
"That's him! That's him!" Ron yelled, focusing his Omnioculars on Krum.
Harry smiled, Viktor looked young compared to how Harry knew him, even though he was nearly eighteen already. Bagman called out the Irish, they zoomed out on their firebolts, green robes flapping wildly in the wind. Harry watched in awe as the game started, keeping the play-by-play at the bottom and keeping a mental note of which ones he hadn't tested yet.
Even though he already knew what the score would be, he was still amazed at the skill shown. He looked through his Omnioculars when Krum and Lynch dived the first time, estimating the space Krum left. He would say he left it to about a foot. Harry grinned inwardly, in his time, he'd managed to perfect it to about 6 inches off the ground before he pulled up. He'd spent a lot of his free time doing outrageous stunts on his broom that he had yet to see he could do still. His trunk ceiling wasn't high enough. The match progressed in a similar fashion to the last one, yet still kept him on the edge of his seat as Krum dived for the snitch, nose streaming with blood. Lynch ploughed into the ground and mediwizards rushed on, tending to both seekers.
Bagman called the final score over the cheering, clapping and stamping of the crowd. "What did he catch the snitch for?" Ron yelled. "He ended it when Ireland were 160 points ahead!"
"He knew they weren't going to win, wanted to end it on his own terms." Harry bellowed back, his voice slightly hoarse from cheering.
The lights flared brightly, illuminating the whole top box and Harry turned to face the two wizards carrying the cup to Fudge.
"Vell, ve fought bravely." Said a gloomy accented voice. Harry grinned and turned to see Fudge stuttering at Obalonsk.
"You can speak English!" He said, outraged. "And you've been letting me mime everything all day!"
"Vell, it vos very funny." The Bulgarian said, shrugging.
Fudge turned to Harry, who held up his hands in surrender.
"Hey, you told me he didn't speak English, I took your word for it." He said.
Fudge scowled but went to greet the slightly dejected Bulgarian team, including the bloody-nosed Krum.
"Let's have a hand for the gallant losers - Bulgaria!" Bagman yelled. The stadium erupted into cheers and Harry clapped enthusiastically as the Bulgarian team filed down the row of seats and shook hands with both Ministers. Harry was almost deafened when Krum's name was called.
Then the Irish team came up, Lynch supported by Moran and Connolly. He seemed disoriented but grinned anyway when Troy and Quigley lifted the cup to thundering applause.
The Irish left to do another lap of honour and Obalonsk tugged on Krum's elbow, leading him to Harry.
"Viktor, this is Harry Potter, I believe you know who he is. Harry, this is Viktor Krum." He said in Bulgarian.
Krum seemed to notice the language and looked at him sceptically, so was surprised when Harry replied back fluently. "Pleasure to meet you. That was a really good match, the Wronski feint you did was amazing! I should really try that out some time, it looks like fun." He said, grinning.
Viktor smiled and Shook Harry's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you, too. I've heard about you, everything to do with You-know-who."
"Harry's the Gryffindor seeker, and a damn good one from what I've heard. He could probably give you a run for your money, Viktor." Obalonsk said.
Harry blushed lightly at the praise and Viktor's grin widened.
"Really? Well, we'll have to see about that. Here, take this. We'll meet again and when we do, you owe me a game of Quidditch." He said, handing Harry the struggling snitch in his hand. Harry looked at it in awe and snapped his head up.
"Thanks. You're on, but I think your team wants you. It was nice meeting you." Said Harry, nodding towards the crowd of scarlet clad players calling Viktor over.
Viktor gave him one last crooked grin before wiping some blood on his sleeve and turning with his Minister to go back to the team. Harry walked back to where Ron and the others were waiting.
"Whoa, mate, is that the snitch?" Ron asked hoarsely. Harry grinned broadly and nodded.
"I owe Viktor Krum a game of Quidditch." He said weakly, collapsing onto a chair and inwardly applauding himself at being such a good actor.
Ron let out a low whistle and Harry noticed Draco Malfoy glaring at him from his seat. Ludo put his wand to his throat and muttered "Quietus" to cancel the spell.
"They'll be talking about that one for years. Ah yes, I owe you…how much?" He asked, for the twins had scrambled over the backs of their chairs with their hands outstretched, grinning mischievously.