AN~ Whoops! And another six months gone past without me updating… Sorry? Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying it. I've got a few PM's asking me to update this so here it is. Honestly, I forgot how much fun this is. But I want to stress to you all not to get too attached. Who knows how long this next chapter will take me? Anyway, let's get into it.

Chapter Four

The game had been going on for a while now and the two teams were pretty evenly matched. Every time one would make a goal, the other would make one, as well. It was clear, at least to me, that it would come down to the Seekers. And, from what I've heard, Bulgaria's Seeker is far better than Ireland's.

I mean, all Bulgarian fans have been chanting the whole game is 'Krum' and I don't hear Ireland shouting their Seeker's name.

About fifteen minutes ago, everyone in our group had gone to stand at the railing animatedly and, honestly, without Fred and George's presence keeping me occupied. It was quite boring.

Luckily, the match was about to end so I wouldn't have to bear this boredom much longer. I caught another glimpse of Mr. Bagman out of the corner of my eye and frowned. He seemed nervous, every few seconds he would reach up with his handkerchief and wipe his brow before anxiously glancing over at the twins.

He's definitely up to something.

Suddenly, the crowd burst into thunderous noise and I flinched before pushing myself up and between the twins to see what had happened. A single player was circling the stadium with a hand raised victoriously, a player wearing red and black. A Bulgarian player.

Fred and George screamed in joy before ferociously hugging one another, pounding each other on the back in excitement. I looked back over my shoulder at them and grinned as I watched them celebrate. They were ecstatic that they'd won the money they'd bet on from Mr. Bagman.

Suddenly, someone tapped my shoulder and I furrowed my brow in confusion. Isn't the direction that they tapped me from not in the stands? I turned forward, so that I was facing the tapper, the grin from watching the twins still imprinted on my face.

At first, I didn't understand, but, after a few seconds, my brain processed what I was seeing.

A Bulgarian Quidditch player, who I can only assume is the mysterious 'Krum' everyone keeps talking about, was hovering in front of me on his broom. He had a lopsided, dopey looking smile on his face as he offered what seemed to be the snitch he caught to win the game to me.

"For you," he said in a heavy Bulgarian accent, "most boo-ti-full voman here."

I blinked as I reached out to take the snitch from him. Right before I could grab it 'Krum' caught my hand with the hand that wasn't holding snitch and brought my hand to his mouth to place a gentle kiss on the back of it.

A furious blush rose to my cheeks and he grinned at me before placing the snitch in my palm and carefully closing my hand over it and flying away. Once he was gone I turned around in shock to find everyone else staring at me, also in shock.

"What just happened?" I asked with wide eyes.

Ginny was the first to break out of it and squealed as she rushed over to examine the snitch, grabbing it excitedly from my hand, "The Viktor Krum gave you the snitch that won the world championship and called you beautiful!"

Unbidden, my eyes flickered to Fred and George only to find identical murderous scowls on their faces. My heart began to beat even faster than it already was, does this mean they're jealous? And if they're jealous that means they like me, right? Like, like-like me.

Then, the only thing I could imagine that would make the twins snap out of their anger wandered over. Mr. Bagman with their winnings.

Mr. Bagman who was wearing a plastic-looking, rueful smile and sweating profusely walked over, "Hello, boys! Looks like you won!"

Instantly, their scowls turned to smiles as they spoke in unison, "Looks so!"

Mr. Bagman offered a pouch that I hadn't noticed he'd been carrying before with that same smile stuck on his face, "As much as it hurts me, you won this fair and square."

A relieved looking Mr. Weasley clapped Mr. Bagman on the shoulder, "Sorry 'bout that, Ludo! But, you're right, fair's fair."

Fred and George crowed with pride at their accomplishment and opened the bag to let Ron and Harry peer in. I narrowed my eyes at the sweating man as I moved so that I could peer into the back along with Ron and Harry.

As soon, as I laid eyes on the coins I knew what he'd done and whipped out my wand to point at Mr. Bagman threateningly, "You'll give them their real money, now."

Everyone gasped at my move and Mr. Bagman hastily raised his hands as sweat began to pour down his face, "I-I don't know what you're talking about, young lady. Now, if you just put your wand down now, I promise they'll be no hard feelings-"

I quickly casted a non-verbal expelliarmus and deftly caught his wand in the hand that was holding the snitch and threw it on the ground behind me, "Admit what you did!"

Mr. Weasley tried to step in, "Hermione, please calm down-"

With an irritated sigh, I opened my mouth to explain to everyone that what was in that bag was nothing but the leprechaun gold that was thrown at the beginning of the match when a low, throaty voice from my left interrupted me.

"This young lady is right," said what I assume to be a goblin, "this wizard is nothing more than a cheater and a liar."

To our left stepped out a goblin dressed to the nines with a three piece suit and a monocle on his left eye. He used a cane to walk with, but had no trace of a limp. I'd never really noticed before but seeing them in such human clothes opened my eyes, they're a very short and squat bunch, aren't they?

"Griphook," Mr. Bagman stuttered, "I-I can explain."

"No need," said the goblin with a feral grin as he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, Mr. Bagman's arms and legs snapped together in a very uncomfortable looking position and levitated into the air.

The goblin, Griphook, nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave, but stopped and turned back to smile a, , unintentionally creepy smile at me, "You're a sharp lass. I like you. Whatever you lost to this man, I will compensate. Come by Gringotts, ask for Griphook, and I'll get you what you're due."

Then he walked off, Mr. Bagman floating behind him stiffly.

"What the fuck just happened…" muttered Ron intelligently.

Harry continued for him as I tucked my wand back into my pants pocket, "What happened, Hermione?"

I took the bag of 'gaellons' from the twins hands and poured it onto the ground, "This is the leprechaun gold from the beginning of the match. Mr. Bagman was trying to cheat Fred and George out of their money."

There was a silence as everyone absorbed what I said and I continued, "Apparently, Mr. Bagman cheats more than just children and it finally caught up to him. The goblin, Griphook I believe his name was, was obviously also cheated by Mr. Bagman in the past and came here today to catch him and make him pay."

There was more silence and slacked jaws so I tried to bring something positive into this mess, "Really, this is a good life lesson. Don't bet a lot of money with dubious, sweaty men and always give goblins the money they are due."

I finished my little speech with a self-assuring nod and crossed my arms over my chest. To be perfectly honest, I didn't feel the least bit guilty about handing Mr. Bagman over to that goblin like that. The world runs on fairness, or at least the pretense of it. And if I can do something to uphold that fairness, I will.

Without meaning to, I met the twins eyes. Two pairs of icy blue, almost emotionless eyes met mine. Their faces held matching expressions of shock, both of them staring at me with their jaws swaying in the breeze.

When it became clear that they wouldn't react, my eyes made their way to everyone else almost automatically. Ginny looked just as shocked as everyone else, her bright blue eyes still faintly excited looking from Krum giving me the snitch. Harry looked vaguely confused, but, honestly, when did he not? Mr. Weasley looked properly scandalized and slightly amused. And Ron… Well, Ron pretty much had his default expression, a confused and angry sort of stare into nothing.

I cleared my throat lightly, "Um, shouldn't we be getting back to the tent now? It's getting kind of dark, isn't it?"

Mr. Weasley finally snapped out of it and began herding everyone toward the stairs, "That's right everybody, it's getting dark so we shoul-"

Suddenly, he froze and looked toward the darkening sky with a confused frown, "Well, that's not right. It's half past eleven. How is it this dark at half eleven?"

With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I looked to the sky. Dark ominous clouds swirled around the now deserted Quidditch pitch, making the once lively atmosphere a terrifying nightmare. I could sense a sort of innate wrongness in the air. It felt like nothing I've ever felt before, dark and slimy and cold.

Then, in a tone I've never heard him use before, Mr. Weasley boomed out a command, "Everyone, down the stairs, now!"

Before I could even think, my body was lurching down the unsteady wooden stairs. The thuds of everyone else's footsteps echoing in my ears. In front of me was Ginny and Ron, scrambling down the shoddy steps with an urgent panic that seemed fitting for such a dark atmosphere. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I confirmed Harry's, Fred's, George's, and Mr. Weasley's presence. A snapshot of each of their terrified faces forever frozen into my memory.

In the back of my mind, I logically questioned the reason everyone seemed so panicked. It was just dark clouds, at the worst it's a thunderstorm. So, why is everyone else so innately afraid?

As the thought left my mind, my eye caught something lighting up the sky. At first, I thought it was lightening and stopped to listen for thunder, but when there was no thunder to be heard, I turned and looked.

Subconsciously, my hands curled into fists around the railing, my eyes glued to the terrifying things that was now swirling across the sky. I'm terrified of it, for almost no good reason. So what if it was a skull with a snake wrapping around it? Maybe someone was getting creative with fireworks? Why does something I've never seen before in my life strike such fear in me? The illogicalness of it enraged me.

I was so distracted glaring up at the thing that I almost didn't realize when the screams started. My mind immediately reasoned it away as some party goers getting rowdy before realizing that those screams were of terror, not amusement.

At the same time, I suddenly realized I was all alone and a whole new type of fear made it self known within me. I was alone and there was…some sort of terrorist attack happening below.

I looked down to the ground, which was still about three to four stories below me as I'd only made it about halfway down the stadium, and spotted a group of gingers bunched together moving into the forest towards where we'd left the portkey.

The portkey! My mind locked onto the safest and most well-known option of escape almost reverently and without a second thought, threw myself down the stairs. I had to get to that portkey!

I made it about another two stories closer to the ground before I heard a strikingly familiar shout. I'd heard that shout so many times of the years that I could recognize it anywhere at this point. Once again, I looked over the edge to the floor below only to spot a familiar black haired, scrawny boy lying prone of the ground.

"Harry!"

Without giving myself much time to think, I threw myself off the edge. The air whooshed past me at an incredible speed and my arms flailed through the air as if to catch myself and fly away. As I approached the ground, I pointed my wand at the earth below me and cast the cushioning charm for a soft landing.

The second my feet hit the ground, I rolled forward to disperse the remaining momentum from my fall before rushing over to Harry. I did a quick check of his pulse on both his wrist and neck, his forehead temperature, and his pupil dilation. Everything seemed normal, but I'm not a doctor and I'm certain the few tests that I did, did not cover all his possible symptoms.

Muttering a quick wingardium leviosa, I lifted Harry and began making my way towards the portkey. I was distinctly aware of how vulnerable I was with my wand occupied, and moved my quick walk into a brisk jog.

I should really start exercising more.

There was a loud twig snap off to our left and, immediately, I swerved to duck behind a tree, gently releasing Harry of my spell to both better conceal him and free up my wand arm. I crouched low and cautiously peaked out from behind our tree.

My eyes swept the forest, vaguely aware of the distant screams as I did so. It wasn't long before I spotted the source of the twig snap as a darkly cloaked person in a skull mask. Clearly, this was one of the people responsible for the terror happening back at the campsite.

I looked closer and the figure seemed to be dragging a young girl behind them. The girl was crying and trying to pull away from the figure unsuccessfully. My hand instinctively clutched my wand tighter as I fought the urge to storm out there and rescue the girl.

Suddenly, I realized we weren't too far from where the portkey dropped us off and a plan began to form in my mind. With a nonverbal silencing spell on both myself and Harry, I began to creep my way into the path of the figure. Ducking behind trees and lying beneath bushes as quickly as I could.

I had only just reached the perfect spot when the figure and the crying girl rushed past me, heading to the direction of the portkey. With precision and a concentrated blast of power, I casted a silent bombarda near the figure, knowing that as I casted it nonverbally it would have less power than it should and wouldn't hurt the girl. The figure slammed into a tree, letting go of the girl as he went, giving me the opportunity to cast a quick featherlight spell on the girl and catch her.

I was now a good ten meters away from Harry and could clearly see a group of people huddled around a portkey. And they could see me too. There had to be at least thirty people huddled up against the portkey and I knew the Weasleys had to be in that bundle somewhere.

I glanced down at the girl in my arms briefly before making my decision of what to do. With a quick three bounds, I was next to the bundle and was able to hand of the girl into the arms of a frightened looking young woman. The group immediately made room for the girl before moving closer together to make room for me, as well.

With a silent wave, I denied their offer of safety and turned to run back in the forest to where I'd left Harry. Hopefully, I would have time to make it back before the portkey left. However, no soon than I thought that did I hear the distinct pop of a portkey vanishing.

After a quick wingardium leviosa, I looked back to make sure the group was truly gone. Now, I had with the task of finding both Harry and me a safe route back to the Burrow. The most welcomed task of the evening so far.

First things first, wake up Harry. I released my spell once again before reaching down to pat his cheek, "Harry? Wake up!"

When there was no response, I tried again, this time louder and with a more firm hand, "Harry? Harry, get up!"

Once more there wasn't a response. I'm sorry, Harry, you leave me no choice. With a sympathetic grimace, I reached back and snapped my hand forward in a firm slap that echoed throughout the woods.

Immediately, Harry's eyes popped open and he looked around in confusion, "Her-Hermione? Where are we?"

"The portkey location. Or, at least, where the portkey location was. We're in the middle of the woods outside the World Cup stadium. I found you unconscious just outside the stadium. What happened?"

He sat up blearily and I hastily moved to help him, "There was a lot of people and a lot of pushing and I think I hit my head on something."

I winced sympathetically, "We'll have to get that checked out when we get back to the Burrow."

Abruptly, he straightened up in awareness and fear, "If the portkey left, we're stuck here! Oh, how are we gonna get back, 'Mione!?"

I rubbed his back comfortingly and hugged him to my chest, "I don't quite have that part figured out, yet."

He groaned and weakly hugged me back before pulling away and attempting to stand up, "Oh, my god, we're stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere! What are we gonna do?"

He dramatically began pacing in front of where I was still crouched, tugging at his hair as if that would somehow help us.

I sighed at his dramatics and stood up, "Calm down, I'll think of something."

He stopped pacing to thump his hand against a tree, "I wish I had my broom with me! Then I could just fly us back to the Burrow, no problem!"

I jerked my head to look at him, a grin beginning to form on my face, "Merlin, Harry! That's it!"

"What? What's it?"

I rolled my eyes, "Think about it! We were at a Quidditch game! There's bound to be brooms here, somewhere!"

It was his turn to roll his eyes at me, "And we're just supposed to look around until we find a forgotten broom somewhere, Hermione? That's impossible!"

"Godric, Harry, are you a wizard or not? There's a spell for that!"

"Well, what is it then, you swot? I know we haven't learned it yet."

I laughed gleefully and held my wand up to the sky, "No, we haven't ,it's fifth year material, but it's a relatively easy spell so I learned it ahead of time. Accio broomstick!"

There was a few seconds pause as Harry and I stared at each other in silence, waiting for a broom to come flying out from the woods. After a few more moments passed, I saw Harry open his mouth to say something, only to get interrupted as a hoard of broomsticks came flying towards us from the direction of the stadium.

Harry ducked to the ground as more and more collected around me, "Blimey, Hermione! Did you have to call every broom in the world?"

I made a face at him as I lowered my wand, "You don't control how many come! You control what comes."

He rolled his eyes again before making his way over to me to look through the brooms I collected. I careful stepped around the pile to collect any stragglers that got caught on tree limbs or in thick bushes. I'd only grabbed two or three brooms when Harry shouted loudly.

Instantly, I dropped the things I'd picked up and ran towards his shout. For some reason, Harry incited some deep protective instincts in me and just thinking about him in danger made my stomach clench as if I was falling.

"Harry!"

He was standing with his back to me, facing the pile of brooms with shaking shoulders, he had something clutched in his hands.

"Harry?"

Slowly, he turned to face me, letting me see what he had gripped in his hands so tightly, "Do you know what this is?"

All at once, I deflated as I realized he was only holding a broom and nothing was wrong, "I don't know, Harry. A broom?"

He surged towards me and thrust the broom into my face, "It's a Firebolt! One of the best brooms available right now! Hermione, tell me I can keep this! I haven't had a broom this good since my Nimbus 2000 was destroyed!"

I frowned, "I don't know, Harry. This must belong to someone."

"Come one, Hermione! How much could it mean to them if they just left it here?"

"Harry, I really don't think when someone is running for their life that they would turn back for a broomstick."

"I would!"

I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath, "Harry, please don't tell me you're not serious."

He had the mind to at least smile sheepishly, "Well, maybe I'm exaggerating. But I wouldn't leave a Firebolt behind!"

I let out a breath, "Whatever, keep it, Harry. Can you fly us back to the Burrow with that or not?"

"Yeah, I can."

With that, he straddled the broom, leaving enough room in the back for me to get on behind him. I cautious threw a leg over the broom before wrapping my arms around his stomach tightly, pressing as close to him as I possibly could.

"Geez, Hermione," Harry whined as he shifted to get away from me, "why are you holding me so tight? And what is that hard thing digging into my back?"

"Because I'm scared, Harry," I snapped as I leaned back to find whatever hard thing he was talking about, "I hate flying! You better go slow, Harry Potter!"

He laughed, "I will."

My hand grasped a smooth, sphere shaped thing in my pocket before pulling it out, "What is this- Oh, it's the snitch Krum gave me. I must've put it in my pocket."

Harry twisted around, his eyes widening almost comically a he saw the snitch, "You still have that? Merlin, I still can't believe that happened!"

I laughed and stuck it back in my pocket, "Me either. So much happened today that I can't believe."

Harry turned back around to face the front and gently kicked off the ground, "You'll let me look at it closer when we get back, won't you?"

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."