Chapter 3 - QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP

Harry POV

Sirius and I entered smoothly into Greengrass Manor via floo travel. I had mastered it after a month of going back and forth between Grimmauld place and Greengrass Manor all summer long so far. Cyrus stood there alone in front of us to greet us first.

"Welcome Harry, Sirius, the girls will be down in just a moment. We will soon go outside the house's ward perimeters and travel via portkey to the location of the Quidditch World Cup".

I nodded and smiled at Cyrus.

It still felt a bit weird to see Cyrus in muggle clothing... haha, Ms. Black would sure get a kicker out of this! Renowned pureblood in muggle clothing. She would probablly be screaming her head off for the two months at least...

I then looked around the familiar living room. I had come back and forth here a lot during the summer. Soon, Roxanne, Daphne and Astoria emerged from the hallway to the room. They each had a muggle styled outfit like Cyrus. Daphne wore a simple white t-shirt with a warm looking grey wool jacket and a black skirt with leggings. Sirius chuckled slightly and I reddened a bit.

I had been staring slightly too long at Daphne's legs... Luckily nobody else saw... Thank god Cyrus did not notice.

We then left the Manor and began walking to the edge of the wards. I recognized what kind of wards they were in an instant, as I have studied many of them from Godric's books and was familiar with their magical signature. The Manor was very well protected, it had a protego maxima fianto duri, muggle repelling wards and a notice me not charm placed around the borders. There was also another set of ancient and complex magic layered on top of the protective wards. It gave off a very strong magical signature and was easily noticeable. From what I had learned so far, I had a feeling they were blood wards.

Damn! If Cyrus had not granted Sirius and I permission, when we traveled through floo to Greengrass Manor we could have been splinched and immediately launched out of its border area. Blood wards are very strong and don't require a form of magical focci, such as a runestone, to maintain.

The six of us then approached a small hill. I could make out the silhouette of a scarecrow placed at the top of the hill. The six of us shortly got into position and we each held a part of the scarecrow. Cyrus cleared his throat and began to count down.

"Alright, everyone hang on tight to the scarecrow, and only let go when I give the word… We will be going in 3… 2… 1… Portus!"

The world started to spin and light enveloped around us as the world around us split open.

Well… this is a familiar nauseating feeling, expect longer this time… Last time with Unspeakable Croaker at the Department of Mysteries was short and unexpected, making that experience ten times worse. At least this time I was prepared and had a chance to see the spinning disaster around me.

"Alright! Time to let go!"

On cue, all of us let go of our hands. I had a better grasp of portkey traveling this time. I could actually see the ground and space of where we were going to land and immediately casted aresto momentum, wandlessly, on myself to slow my descent. I looked over and saw that Sirius, Cyrus and Roxanne had done the same. Although my ears were still ringing and head spinning from the portkey sensation, I had managed to land smoothly along with Sirius, Cyrus and Roxanne. Daphne and Astoria were less fortunate. They hit the ground hard and had the air knocked out of their lungs. I quickly walked over to Daphne after recovering from the dizzy sensation of portkey travel. I offered her a hand and help her up while pulling her close to me.

Well.. this position we were in was very reminiscent of our first kiss…

However, before we could even speak to one another, or initiate any form of kiss or contact, we were interrupted by Astoria.

"Harry! Can you give me a hand please!"

Daphne frowned slightly as I let go of her and walked over to help Astoria to her feet. Afterwards, I held Daphne's hand as we walked together to the top of a hill in the distance. Once we got to the top of the hill, I gazed across the horizon and what a sight it was! There were various styles of tents set up across the field. People on brooms flew across in the sky and weaved in between the spots between the tents.

"Welcome to Quidditch World Cup! Our tent is number eighteen! Let's get going!" exclaimed Cyrus.

At his words, we quickly descended down the hill and made our way towards tent number eighteen.

"Wow! Look at that!" said Astori excitedly.

I turned around to look, whilst still walking, at a man with Irish colors painted on his face juggling what seemed to be a bunch of magical squids? I had no idea what it was.

Must be some sort of Zonkos product...

Once, we got our seemingly small tent, we quickly entered and walked into an enlarged room and space inside the tent.

Man... I love magic.

Sirius and Cyrus then dropped their backpacks on the dining table in the center of the room. Roxanne then went over and helped them unload all the food they packed into their backpacks. Astoria was still busy telling Daphne that Krum, the greatest seeker in the world, would catch the snitch and win! Daphne looked so bored.

I bet she was tunning Astoria out right now haha!

I went over to the couches to save her from her sister's word vomit on Krum.

"Really? I think Ireland will win it! But Krum will still catch the snitch, he is fantastic, but he is the only threat on the Bulgarian team. Ireland seems more well rounded, their chasers and beaters are a menace!"

"Nu uh!"

Astoria then had a long and jokingly, at least I thought it was, conversation about the Quidditch World Cup. Daphne sat at the side, smiling as she watched my interaction with her sister. Roxanne then walked over and handed us a couple sandwhiches and trecle tarts.

"Eat up, we will be going soon!"

She then walked off back towards the dining table area to resume their adult conversation with Cyrus and Sirius. Daphne, Astoria and I proceeded to devour our food. Once we were done, we got up and met the three adults, well two, Sirius still acts like a child, and left for the Quidditch Stadium. We made it to the entrance into the stadium. It was absolutely packed! So many people were shuffling along and entering the stadium. We made our way to the minister's box.

"Ahhhhhh, Harry my boy!"

I turned and saw Cornelius Fudge. I locked in my Occlumency shields and calmed down. I then put on a fake charming smile at the Minister.

Gods... I forgot I had to put up with this idiot...

I still did not forget about the dementors that he placed at Hogwarts. How thick can someone be?

"Hello Minister Fudge, it is a pleasure to meet you".

I had to try really hard to not let any sarcasm roll off my tongue. It didn't help that Lucius Malfoy and his ferret of a son, Draco walked up behind the Minister at this moment.

Yeah, Daphne had told me about the nickname that Tracey and her gave Draco. I must admit, it was very accurate of Draco's personality, ferreting his way away from situations all the time. No doubt if he became an Animagus, a ferret would be his Animagus form...

Lucius' eyes twitched slightly.

Probably from irritation.

He gave us a surprisingly poliet nod. Lucius and Draco then escorted the Minister to his seat. Whilst we sat down in our seats, I noticed that Sirius' eyes slightly glazed over. I thought somebody had imperiused him and turned around to scan the area for the culprit. However, when I found out the cause for his glaze, I sighed. It was just some blond woman and her two blond daughters. I highly doubt Sirius even noticed the ring on the older woman's finger and the stern buff man, who most likely her husband, standing next to her.

His dog-like tendencies are showing once again... Although there was a strange aura coming from the women. Not the younger one, that aura seemed faint and distant. The older woman, their mother most likely, and their eldest daughter radiated a unique magical aura.

After letting Sirius oggle them for a bit, I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

"Oi! Hey! Get it together you dog!"

At this moment, both Daphne and her mother looked at me surprisingly with shock. Daphne then stuttered out barely audible words.

"Y-Y-You ca-can res-resist them?"

I followed Daphne's gaze and looked back at the women who sat down near the Minister, I then noticed the glazed looks in all the other males nearby.

"Um yeah? I don't see what is so special about them... they have a bit of a magical aura, but aside from that, I don't-"

"Blimey Harry! You can resist Veela?!" exclaimed Roxanne.

Oh... so that was what they were...

"Yeah... I guess I can?"

Both Daphne and Roxanne beamed at me. I could literally feel Daphne's happiness exude off her. Sensing why she was happy, I quickly sent a friendly jibe at her.

"Don't worry Daph, not even Veela allure can take me away from you".

Daphne reddened once I said this. I seemed to have hit the nail in the coffin. Daphne's mom smiled even wider and just managed to hold in her laugh. Cyrus rolled his eyes but still smiled at me afterwards. Of course, Sirius chose this moment to make an inappropriate comment.

"Wow Harry, when did you learn how to sweet talk ladies? If I didn't know better I'd say you had been practicing on some other ladies first-"

He was cut off by Roxanne who quickly took out her wand and conjured a gag that silenced him. Daphne and I, along with Astoria burst into laughter at the site of Sirius struggling to take the gag off. Soon, the match began. Minister Fudge stood up on a podium in the Minister Box and announced the start of the match. And before we knew it, the game was over. It was an incredibly thrilling match! Ireland indeed did win, despite Krum catching the snitch! We started walking back towards the tent. I held Daphne's hand all the time on the way back.

Doran's Ring -

Hi Everyone! I am back! Although I still got a couple Midterms left, I got enough to time to continue writing the next part of the story now :). I think some of you could have seen the slight hint of a certain Beauxbatons Tri-wizard champion in this chapter haha. This story will strictly stay as a Harry x Daphne fanfic though. Thank you everyone for all the feedback on the previous story arc! I will be doing my best to get updates out. They might take a while for the first week, as I still have Midterms. I won't be able to churn them out everyday like before haha. At least not yet... Hope you enjoy these three starting chapters! Thank you so much everyone for reading and tunning in to this story!