Christina was heading upstairs talking to Harry and Ron when Fred took her wrist from behind and stopped her from continuing. Ron and Harry stopped to see why she did but then saw Fred and continued on, Ron rolling his eyes. "Did you really think you were going to bed without saying goodnight?" he teased. She could hear Ron from upstairs gag and heard Harry laugh quietly. "So sorry, didn't know when would be a good time between an exploded living room and your mother screaming at you" she teased. Fred, still holding her hand, placing it on his cheek and leaned down to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It had been weeks since she had seen Fred and there was no denying there deep admiration for one another, however, neither had said "love" to either. Perhaps because of fear of rejection, but there was a time back in June when she thought he was about to tell her...but his eyes went blank and he told her a joke instead. With the two month holiday break apart she knew she still was very much in admiration with him, she wondered if he felt the same.
Just then a burst of confetti hit the back of Christina's head and she whipped around and saw George with a bazooka. "Congrats you're back together! Now quit snogging on the staircase!" and then immediately following "FRED, GEORGE IF YOU WOULD, PLEASE!" from Percy's room. Christina leaned back into Fred's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. "Happy to be home?" he whispered in her ear. She giggled and jumped up the staircase, went into her room of girls, and quickly fell asleep.
The shrill voice of Mrs. Weasley woke her up almost instantly, as though she had been asleep for minutes instead of hours. Hermione was already awake and drinking tea while Ginny still laid in bed, mouth agape, with drool on her cheek and pillow. "Ginny, please! The boys are already downstairs" Ginny rolled around in her bed and Hermione ripped back her blankets. Christina got up and dressed and followed Hermione downstairs, Ginny trailing in pajamas behind. "Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny said groggily. The three girls sat at the table, helping themselves to some porridge.
"We've got a bit of a walk" said Mr. Weasley. This came as a surprise to Christina who assumed the World Cup would not be in walking distance...
"Walk? What, are we walking to the World Cup?" said Harry. "No, no, that's kilometers away, we only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup..." Mr. Weasley trailed off when Mrs. Weasley was spotted eyeing George's pocket.
"George!" "What?" George said with fake innocence. "What is that in your pocket?" fooling no one, "Nothing!" "Don't you lie to me! Accio!" she shouted pointing her wand at George's pocket. Out came many small objects Christina deduced to be more Weasley Wizard Wheezes products. George attempted to catch them before Mrs. Weasley confiscated them. "We told you to destroy them!" she said angrily while holding up more joke products. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!" The thought crossed Christina's mind to turn the products in his pocket into dirt, just to have them go back to normal once they were out of Mrs. Weasley's sight but she figured she already noticed that his pockets were bursting with gags. After many summoning charms, Mrs. Weasley emptied the twins of all of their products and the twins couldn't have been more frustrated.
"We spent six months developing those!" Fred called out as she tossed them in the bin. "Oh a fine way to spend six months! No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!" she shrieked back. The twins let the matter go and left the house without saying another word to their mother. Fred grabbed Christina's hand and she could tell he was much more upset than he was letting on. And then he and George trudged on while Christina waited for everyone else. As everyone said goodbye, they caught up to Fred and George. Harry was talking to Mr. Weasley for most of the walk up, he was confused as to how thousands of wizards can get by without any Muggles noticing. Apparently it's a lot more work than Christina thought, the Ministry has to find a place big enough to accommodate not only the event but everyone's lodging and then the amount of Muggle precautions set up would dizzy anyone attempting to list them. Mr. Weasley got very good tickets for the World Cup so they didn't have to show up weeks in advance like the lower priced ticket holders did, instead they showed up only a day early and got to go by portkey.
"What sort of objects are Portkeys?" asked Christina. "Well, they can be anything. Unobstrusive things, obisouly, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them...stuff they'll just think is litter..." Christina nodded and continued on walking. It was still very dark outside and just a glint of the sunrise could be seen. She rested her head on Fred's shoulder as they walked hand in hand to the Portkey at the top of Stoatshead Hill.
"Whew, well we've made good time - we've got ten minutes" Mr. Weasley said as they reached the top of the hill. Hermione was in stitches after the hike, and Harry gasped for air when Mr. Weasley asked for the group to search for the Portkey. It had only been minutes when a man called out to Mr. Weasley, "Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it." In the darkness were two tall figures waving to the group from nearby.
"Amos!" Mr. Weasley grasped his hand and shook it firmly. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone, he works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?" Christina turned when she heard 'Diggory' and jumped from Fred to Cedric grabbing him in a death like grip. "Cedric! What're you doing here?" Christina breathed out. "For the Cup of course, I didn't know you were coming!" Cedric replied. "Hi everyone." Everyone said hi back except for Fred and George who were not only upset that Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor in Quidditch once, but also because Cedric was one of Christina's closest friends. Fred didn't consider himself ugly, but compared to Hufflepuff prefect, captain and seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, pretty boy Diggory he did feel a twang of jealousy every time he saw them together. Christina didn't notice.
"Long walk, Arthur?" asked Mr. Diggory. "Not too bad, we live just on the other side of the village there. You?" "Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still ... not complaining ... Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons - and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy..." he said as he surveyed the group of kids Mr. Weasley paid for. "All these yours, Arthur?"
"Oh no, only the redheads, this is Hermione, friend of Ron's - and Harry, another friend-"
"Merlin's beard, Harry? Harry Potter? But then you must be Christina Bataskill!" Mr. Diggory exclaimed as Cedric put his head in his hands, embarrassed by his father. Both Christina and Harry awkwardly waved, "Hello." "Hiya."
"Ced's talked about you, of course," he looked directly at Christina, Cedric then put a hand on his Dad's shoulder "Dad, please" but he continued "Told us all about playing against you two last year...I said to him, I said - Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will...You beat Harry Potter and Christina Bataskill!" Christina could feel the tension in the air and imagined the grimace on both Fred and George faces at the fact that they too were in the match.
"Harry fell off his broom, Dad...I told you...it was an accident" Cedric said, still clearly embarrassed. "Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you? And neither did she! Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman...but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"
"Must be nearly time, do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?" Mr. Weasley said clearing the the air of the awkwardness. Amos snapped out of his glorification and responded "No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets. There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"
"Not that I know of. Yes, it's a minute off...we'd better get ready" Mr. Weasley said as he got on the ground. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do-" then all ten of them were on the ground around an old boot, cramming next to each other. With an eye on his watch Mr. Weasley counted down..."Three...Two...One..." and then as if pulled into another dimension they were off. It was as though someone had sucked them into a black hole and then out of nowhere they all fell to the ground hard except for Mr. Diggory, Mr. Weasley, and Cedric who were on their feet ready go.
"Remind me to give him some ton-tongue toffee please" Fred said bitterly. Christina laughed and grabbed his arm and they set off to a sea of tents, and two men dressed in ridiculous attire.