Bagmans and Crouch
Harry Potter found himself wishing for fifty more pairs of eyes as he and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger walked through the tents of witches and wizards from all over the world who had come to enjoy the Quidditch World Cup. As they moved through the camp towards the water tap, more people seemed to finally be waking up. Some were attempting to light fires the muggle way while others simply prodded the logs with their wands when they were sure no Ministry officials were looking.
"Can you imagine the work it must be taking to keep all of us secret from the muggles?" Hermione asked in wonder as she watched two Ministry officials heading off towards an obviously magical fire that was shooting purple sparks into the air. "I mean, the man we spoke to had already had his memory modified how many times?"
"Well, Dad says the Ministry's been going mental for months over all the security measures," Ron explained. "Apparently they haven't quite covered everything," he added as they passed a tent that resembled a mansion complete with garden and live peacocks.
"Didn't one of the Ministry members mention something about someone running around in Quidditch robes?" Hermione asked.
Ron laughed. "Yeah that's Ludo Bagman. He's the one that got us the tickets, but according to Percy, he's not exactly up to Ministry par."
"He played professional quidditch, then?" Harry asked as they continued to walk through the tents.
"Oh yeah!" Ron replied fervently. "He was the best beater the Winborne Wasps ever had."
"He should still know better than to be talking about quidditch like that around muggles," Hermione said reprovingly. "He's just making it harder on the rest of the Ministry."
Ron shrugged as they joined the line for the water tap.
Half an hour later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally arrived back at the Weasley's tent. "What took you lot so long?" Fred grumbled when he saw them.
"Ran into half of Hogwarts on the way to and from the tap," Ron replied, setting down the bucket. "You lot not got that fire started yet?"
"Dad's having fun with the matches," George replied sourly.
Harry looked over to see Mr. Weasley surrounded by a pile of used matches as he continued to try and light one. Hermione finally took pity on him and went over to show him how to do it properly.
As the fire was nowhere near hot enough for cooking yet, the group simply sat around and watched the near constant action surrounding them. Their tent just happened to be near to the path that led to and from the stadium as well as all over the camp, so almost everyone seemed to be passing by. Mr. Weasley kept up a running commentary of names for Harry and Hermione as his own children had grown up hearing all about the Ministry and its members. Finally, Mr. Weasley grinned broadly as he spotted someone coming along the path.
"Ah ha! The man of the hour: Ludo!" he beamed.
The rest of the group looked over to where Mr. Weasley had pointed and saw a man practically bouncing along the path towards them. Harry could now tell what the Ministry member at the entrance had meant. Ludo Bagman was wearing a set of robes in bright yellow with black stripes and a large wasp emblazoned on the chest. The robes were stretched over his large stomach that he clearly had not had during his quidditch days. However, his smile could not have been larger if he had just won the game himself.
"Arthur!" he cried in a jovial voice. "Nice to you see you!"
"Everyone," Mr. Weasley said, "this is Ludo Bagman. He's the reason we got such good tickets."
Bagman waved his hand as though to say it had been nothing. "All of these yours, Arthur?" he asked looking around the large group.
"Oh no only the red heads," Mr. Weasley corrected. "This is Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron, my daughter Ginny, and those are Ron's friends: Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."
"Merlin's beard!" Bagman cried upon seeing Harry. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter."
"Pleasure to meet you too, sir," Harry replied politely.
"Mind if I join you for a few minutes, Arthur?" Bagman asked. "It's been mental trying to finish all the preparations for the match."
"Not at all," Mr. Weasley replied and gestured for him to sit down.
Bagman flopped down on the ground and beamed around at all of them. "So, anyone fancy a wager on the match?" he asked eagerly jingling the coins in his pocket.
Fred and George grinned at each other before whirling around to face Bagman. "We bet 37 galleons, 15 sickles, and 3 Knuts that Ireland wins but Krum gets the snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand that we invented ourselves."
Bagman took the wand and burst out laughing when it turned into a rubber chicken. "Excellent! I'll add 5 galleons for the wand, then." He wrote down the twins' names and their bet before handing the slip of paper back to George.
"You all enjoying yourselves, then?" he asked as he put the notebook away again.
They all nodded and murmured their agreement, and Bagman smiled. "I'm pleased to hear that," he admitted. "That makes the work all the more-"
"FATHER!" a voice suddenly rang over the hill, and the entire Weasley party plus Bagman froze and looked towards the sound.
"Oh blimey," Bagman muttered as his face went slightly pink. "I forgot about her again."
"Forgot about who, Ludo?" Mr. Weasley asked interestedly.
"My daughter, Holly," Bagman replied sheepishly. "She wanted to see the game so her mum let her come to stay with me for a bit…must've lost her after the talk with the Bulgarian Minister. "I hope she's not too upset with me."
Holly had been furious, but not altogether surprised, when she had turned around to find her father gone. He had been talking to the Bulgarian Minister, and Holly had taken the opportunity to observe some of the activity going on around her. The next thing she knew, she was standing alone in the middle of a clearing with no sign of her father in any direction. With a groan she had begun to walk back towards the camp; it was a good thing she had been born with an excellent sense of direction.
She had been staying with her father for over a week mainly because he would have been too busy to have her arrive any closer to the match. As a result, she was already used to being left in various places and had really begun to miss Ireland. Still, she refused to admit that to either her mother or her father for fear of that being used as yet another weapon against each other. Instead, she had simply gone along in silence and kept a countdown until the match on her calendar.
Despite her best attempts to ignore being ignored, Holly was beginning to get more than annoyed with her father as this made the fifth time that day that he had simply walked away from her. She clambered over a hill and glanced around the camp. Unable to see her father anywhere, she decided to throw caution to the winds and make him do some of the work for a change. "FATHER!" she called at the top of her lungs.
It only took a few moments before she heard him. "Over here, darling!"
Holly sighed and hurried down the hill towards the group of people her father's voice had come from. Once she got closer, she could see him sprawled on the grass beside the numerous children and fought to keep her eyes from rolling in exasperation.
"Sorry about that, love," her father said sheepishly as she finally reached the camp. "I just got caught up with the Minister, and I-"
"Please don't try and explain, Dad; you'll only make it worse," Holly sighed. "I'm sorry to interrupt."
"Not at all," Bagman replied, clearly trying to regain the mood of a few moments ago. "This is Arthur Weasley; he works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry." Mr. Weasley stood and shook hands with Holly.
"These are my children," Mr. Weasley continued with the introductions. "That's Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred & George, Ron, and my daughter Ginny."
Holly smiled and nodded at each as they were introduced.
"And these are close friends of Ron," Mr. Weasley added gesturing towards the two people nearest Bagman. "That's Hermione Granger, and that is Harry Potter."
Holly nodded and smiled at Hermione before turning to Harry. As soon as their eyes met, however, Holly froze and found herself unable to nod and smile.
Harry was having a similar problem. When the girl had entered their camp, he had merely paid her a moment's notice before returning his attention to the fire and the food, but he had raised his head for introductions and now found himself locking gazes with her. He couldn't tear his eyes away!
There seemed to be some electricity coursing through the air as the two continued to stare at each other, and neither seemed able to look away. Finally, Holly snapped out of her trance and smiled at him.
"It's nice to meet you…all of you. I'm Holly Bagman."
Harry continued to stare as she turned again to her father, and it took a painful dig in the ribs from Fred to snap him back to reality. "Easy there, Harry," Fred snickered. "You act like you've never seen a woman before."
"Why don't you join us, Holly?" Bagman asked with his broad grin back in place. "You don't mind, do you Arthur?"
"Not at all," Mr. Weasley assured her. "Please join us."
Harry hurriedly slid over to make space between himself and Hermione so that Holly would sit next to him which, to his great delight, she did.
For a few moments, everyone simply sat in an awkward silence before Mr. Weasley finally cleared his throat. "So, Holly, why haven't we seen you around before now?"
"I've lived with my mother since I was seven, and we've lived in Ireland since I was ten, so I haven't really been back to England since," Holly replied politely.
"Ah so that's why I don't remember seeing you at Hogwarts," Fred mused. "That's a relief; I thought I'd actually missed one of the pretty ones," he winked at her.
Holly laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes that's why I've never been to Hogwarts. I think it's the only thing I prefer about England."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked her curiously.
Holly turned to him and smiled sadly. "Oh, I just wish I could've gone to Hogwarts. I mean, I love my school in Ireland, but Hogwarts is Hogwarts, isn't it?"
"That reminds me," Bagman cut in suddenly. "What year are all of you in?"
"We're in sixth year," Fred replied.
"I'm in third!" Ginny piped up.
"And Hermione, Harry, and I are in fourth," Ron replied. "Why?"
"Well that's perfect then!" Bagman cried excitedly. "As long as Arthur doesn't mind, Holly, you can stay here and get to know some of your new classmates while I go and-"
"Wait, 'new classmates'?" Holly cried leaping to her feet and glaring at her father. "What are you talking about, Father?"
"Oh blimey did I not mention it?" Bagman gulped. "Well, your mother's job wants her to move back to England but not until the winter. We talked and figured it was easier to start you at school here at the beginning of term rather than the middle, so you'll be staying with me this year and going to Hogwarts."
Holly gaped silently at him before sinking down again onto the grass with a shocked expression on her face.
"Well, I think we'd all be glad to have Holly stay with us for a while, Ludo," Mr. Weasley said awkwardly. "So, if there's something you need to go take care of…" he trailed off with a glance at Holly.
"Ah there you are Ludo!" another man's voice called.
"Mr. Crouch!" Percy gasped before making every effort to make himself look more professional and proper.
"Oh hello, Weatherby," Mr. Crouch added as he caught sight of Percy. Fred and George both snorted into their freshly poured tea. "Ludo, the Bulgarian Minister would like more seats added to the top box."
"Oh is that what the man was after," Bagman chuckled. "Couldn't understand him for the life of me: thought he was asking for a pair of tweezers; he's got a bit of a strong accent."
"Yes, well, I suggest we go tend to the matter at once," Crouch said tersely.
"Right I'm coming," Bagman agreed, heaving himself off the grass. "You behave yourself, Holly. I'll see you all at the match! You're all in the top box with me; I'm commentating."
With that, Bagman and Crouch both departed the camp, and silence fell again between the members of the Weasley family. Finally, it was Holly that broke the silence.
"I'm sorry Father dumped me on you; I didn't mean to ruin your trip."
"You haven't ruined it," Fred assured her.
"Yeah, one can never have too many beautiful women around," George added with a wink.
"Well aren't you two quite the charmers," Holly laughed. "But why do I get the feeling you say that to every girl you meet?"
"Uh oh, George…they're on to us!" Fred muttered.
"Guess we have to go to plan B then," George replied.
"We don't want to know!" Ginny cried to stop her brothers from going any further.
Everyone laughed including Holly.
"Well, I think the fire's finally hot enough now," Mr. Weasley declared. "So, let's have some breakfast before they start selling things for the match, shall we?"
Everyone readily agreed and began to talk amongst themselves as they prepared breakfast.
So, what do you all think? I really appreciate all the favorites and follows so far; it really blew my mind how many people have already liked this story! I hope I didn't make you wait too long for this chapter. Reviews are always welcome; I really love feedback! Thanks everyone, and I hope to see you all soon with a new chapter!
