Chapter Four: The Quidditch World Cup
Ha, I wish it were mine. It's not.
Enjoy!
Kailey's Point of View:
Venders began popping up everywhere as we began making our way to the pathway. They sold everything from pamphlets on the game to sparklers that lasted a full hour at minimum to candy and snacks and even Quidditch robes with numbers and names on the back. The Bulgarians were easily spotted with their team colors painted onto their faces, many sporting Viktor Krum merchandise. A fight broke out somewhere ahead of us between two men who seemed to speak different languages and were wearing opposite teams.
Harry had been noticed only once and Sirius had bought him a cap saying 'Ireland already has the gold' in gold lettering, a picture of a leprechaun zooming around the hat, effectively covering up his scar, though it also earned him some nasty looks from Bulgaria fans.
"Can't vait to votch your team lose!" a middle-aged man with a large bushy mustache jeered at Harry as we passed him by, throwing a crumpled up napkin at his head.
"Mind your own bloody business!" James shouted back, already heated from the drunken couple who had harassed his son, asking for autographs.
"And vat vill you do if I don't?" the man challenged coming closer and folding his beefy arms over his chest. His scent radiated off of him, filling my nostrils with firewhiskey, burning my throat. I swallowed a cough and moved closer to Harry.
Our large group paused, the men all standing up straighter, rallying behind James in silent support. A good number of people surrounding us paused as well, curious to see what had stopped the flow of traffic in the crowd. The other larger man's friends had paused as well, coming to stand closer to him in case anyone drew a wand.
"You won't even know what hit you," Sirius growled, looking menacing.
The man pondered on the fact for a moment, sizing up the group it seemed, his eyes starting the line with Mr. Dale and his flaming hair and moving down to Remus and his almost feral glare (full moon wasn't too far off) before his eyes rested on the blonde haired James once more. To be honest, I thought he was considering backing down.
"You are just scrawny English man," the beefy man quipped in broken English, slowly pulling out his wand, but James was faster and had disarmed the man before his wand was all the way out of his pocket. The man flew backwards into two of his friends as James caught the wand.
"Vat rights do you have to this?" another man asked, though he did not draw his wand. He looked frightened and was probably much more sober than his friend.
"He has every right to self-defense," Mr. Dale said, stepping forward and revealing his Auror badge. The other group looked surprised and backed away immediately. Though the large man was standing up, looking even more frustrated.
"I suggest you keep away from our family," Remus said, stepping between James and the others. "Enjoy the cup," he added.
"C'mon, you lot, let's move along," Mrs. Weasley said, ushering the younger kids through the crowd first. Lily came to stand next to Harry as we continued our way through to keep him walking as he continued looking over his shoulder at his father and godfather.
"Why hasn't he given the wand back?" Harry asked to no one in particular.
"He just wants to make certain that none of you are around for that man to target; I suspect he has already had a drink or too of firewhiskey," Lily answered stiffly.
"Your husband is very fast with his wand," Mrs. Bell noted, sounding curious.
"He's an ex-Auror," Lily answered shortly.
The men caught up with our group quickly and James came to stand next to Lily and reached over to put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You alright?"
"I'm fine, it was no big deal, really," Harry answered with a nod.
"No big deal?" James asked, frowning.
"Yeah, it wasn't half as bad as anything from second year,"
James' frown deepened, though he said nothing but exchanged a look with first Lily then Sirius who shrugged in reply.
"Well, if you're sure," James said with a nod before going over to walk with Remus and Sirius. Lily gave him a small smile before going over to talk with the other women.
"Did I say something?" Harry asked me and I shrugged in reply.
"They're probably bothered by how comfortable you are with harassment," Hermione answered, knowingly.
"Well it isn't as if that man meant something personal," Ron shrugged and Harry nodded in agreement.
"It's the principle of the thing, though," Hermione insisted. "No one wants to hear that sort of tone aimed at…at someone," she finished, noticing how Lizzie was hanging on to her every word, her big blue eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Yeah, Harry, it's not every day someone gets ambushed by different annoying and drunk people," I said happily, causing Lizzie to giggle before she ran up ahead to be with Alexis and Ginny.
Keena's Point of View:
We finally reached the stadium, though we had to say goodbye to the others as they were sitting on the opposite side of the field. A wizard in deep purple looked at our tickets (enviously) before telling us to just go all the way to the top. Three flights of stairs later and Percy was wheezing with effort along with Mrs. Weasley and Remus.
"Why is there no way to get to the top?" Remus wondered aloud.
"Well, in the muggle world, we would probably take an elevator or escalator," Hermione informed him, earning a half glare from the cranky werewolf.
"Figures, muggles figured out this sort of thing ages ago," he muttered, shaking his head and resuming the climb.
"C'mon, Moony, be a man," Sirius challenged, hiding his own ragged breathing.
"Sirius Black, if you make another remark like that I will personally make certain that Severus Snape is informed of your deepest fear," Remus threatened.
Sirius stopped short, causing Kailey to walk into him and fall backwards into Harry who was caught by both twins and Charlie. "You wouldn't?"
Remus gave him a look and Sirius promptly shut his mouth.
We finally reached the top and were pleasantly surprised to find we were the first group to get there. The kids (as well as James and Sirius) made a dash for the front row seats before realizing there was enough room for all seventeen of us to be in the same row. Although it was worth it just to see the pile-up that was made up of Bill, Fred, Sirius, Harry and Ginny.
The box filled slowly and many people shook hands with Arthur as they spotted him on the end seat next to Molly.
"Arthur Weasley!" boomed a voice that I recognized from long ago. I turned to see Ludo Bagman shaking hands happily with Arthur, talking at a fast-paced rate. He was much heavier than he had been in school, or at least I assumed seeing as I had been blind while he was there, though I'd seen his face in the papers once or twice after the war had ended. He looked up and spotted me staring gave a little wave and then noticed Sirius sitting next to me and he made a beeline right over to us.
"Sirius Black, how are you?" he asked, taking Sirius' hand and shaking it far more than was necessary.
"I'm fine," Sirius answered, throwing his unused hand around my shoulders.
"Oh, but you mustn't remember me, eh? Ludo Bagman at your service,"
"Ludo! How could I forget?" Sirius answered, clearly not remembering Bagman at all. "Well, let me introduce, or reintroduce, my fiancée, Keena,"
"Hello, Ludo," I said, taking his hand with a smile.
"Well congratulations! Yes, you two are nearly as famous as your godson by now, I daresay. Speaking of young Harry, is he to be found?" he asked looking around to see Harry look up at the sound of his name. Bagman practically fell over himself to get to Harry and shake his hand as well, though they were far enough away that we couldn't hear what was being said, though it must have been the usual banter if the roll of Kailey and Hermione's eyes were anything to go by.
"Does that happen to Harry frequently?" Lily asked, leaning over James and Sirius.
"Yes, he is the Boy-Who-Lived after all," I answered, rolling my own eyes.
"Wonder what people will say when they learn it wasn't just the boy," Remus muttered from next to me.
"Judging by Amanda's reaction to hearing about your 'cousins', I'd say we'll find out soon," Sirius answered and Lily bit her lip.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," James stated to reassure his wife.
Lily nodded and turned to talk to Molly again for the moment while Sirius and I exchanged a look.
"Well, well, look at what we have here," I looked up and my face turned into a scowl as Lucius Malfoy and his family trailed into the top box. He looked up and down the row and stopped at Sirius. "Did you use up the family fortune to get these seats, Black? Or did you sell your house, Arthur? Of course that probably covered little more than two or three seats,"
Our entire row leaned forward to glare at Malfoy and his family.
"The Black Family Fortune was hardly touched, Malfoy, not that it matters to you seeing as you can't touch a Knut of it. How much did you give to the Ministry for the free seats in any case? Or did you just use the Imperious on the ticket collectors?" Sirius asked, standing to face Malfoy.
"How dare you speak to my husband like that, you filthy blood traitor!" Narcissa gasped, her sickly high voice matching the disgruntled look on her face.
"Hello, cousin, nice to see you too," Sirius said, bowing at her. "Bella says 'hello' by the way," he added with a wicked smirk.
Narcissa's face soured further and the three Malfoys headed for seats as far from our group as possible without further comment.
"Low blow, Sirius," I said, shaking my head. He just shrugged, giving me a kiss on the cheek as he sat back down.
Kailey's Point of View:
The twins had just finished making their bet with Bagman when the Malfoys came into the box. As soon as Sirius uttered the word 'cousin' we stopped listening to the conversation in confusion.
"Did he mean to say cousin?" Harry asked, turning to me. "I thought he was cousins with your mum," he added, turning the other way to face Ron and Ginny.
"It wouldn't surprise me," Ron answered with a shrug. "Half the pure-blooded wizards in Britain are related somehow, the Dales are our first cousins, actually,"
"Strange,"
"Sure does explain the look on her face though," I added. "That or she just got stuck that way somehow,"
Suddenly there was a sneeze from behind us. Hermione turned right around and said "Bless you," only to be greeted with a nervous "Thank you, miss,"
Winky was small and had large eyes and batty ears, reminding me of one of the Potter elves to be honest. But I only glanced at her for a moment. What truly caught my attention and held it was the empty seat beside her.
He's literally sitting right there…so, so close to us…But what can I do…? Dumbledore made it very clear that Voldemort has to come back…I don't like this…he's much too close…much too close…I can't do this…I can't let him do this…but Dumbledore is never wrong…ever…oh, this is bad…what can I do? What do I do…? He's sitting right there…
"Kailey? Are you alright?" Hermione's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned to stare at her. "Kailey, what's wrong?"
I blinked, blanking on a response, when a sudden thought occurred to me.
Did he notice I was watching him…? Does he think that I could know…?
"Kailey, is something bad going to happen?" Harry's question was so quiet I would've missed it if he hadn't been sitting right next to me. I took a deep breath and relaxed my face into a smile.
"Nothing to worry about, I just forgot I left my cat with my dad for the summer," I answered fluidly, praying they let it drop despite my lame excuse.
Ron raised an eyebrow and shrugged while Hermione gave a huff and Harry shook his head after giving me a long look that clearly said I-am-not-dropping-this.
Lucky for me, however, Bagman chose that moment to begin the match, causing the crowd to all but explode with excitement. I suppose my best analogy would be the Olympic crowds on steroids. Magically enhanced steroids, that is.
"Now to introduce the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" Bagman roared over the excited crowd.
"Better plug your ears!" I laughed looking at Ron and Harry who both stared back at me, confused.
The veela glided out onto the field. Their pale skin reflected off of the lights from the stadium and their long, flowing hair was somewhere between wavy and straight. Once they had all gathered onto the field a strange foreign music filled the air and they began to dance. Their motions were fluid and precise as they spun round and round in their flowing, gowns of what seemed like liquid gold.
I noticed Harry starting to stand up and grabbed a hold of his jacket, forcing him to sit back down without a second thought. He turned to glare at me before his face became void of any emotion as the music stopped.
"Why are you holding my jacket?" he asked, trying to hide a smirk.
"Why were you going to jump out of the box?" I replied easily, raising an eyebrow.
He ducked his head in embarrassment while Hermione and Ginny forcibly removed the Ireland hat from Ron's hands as he attempted to destroy it.
"And now, for your pleasure welcome the Ireland National Team Mascots!" Bagman crowed over the crowd's frustrations as the veela left the center of the field.
Bright green and gold lights zoomed out of every corner of the stadium, gathering to form a giant shamrock in the middle of the field. Once complete, it began rising steadily, an Irish folksong suddenly blaring from the center of it. The shamrock rose past us and began whirring around the stadium until it finally became a green and gold blur. Before long, it began raining leprechaun gold and the cheers of the crowd went wild as people who didn't know any better began stuffing the gold into their pockets.
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron cried, not realizing the gold would disappear within hours.
Hermione just shook her head, smiling and I laughed, picking up a piece of the gold myself. It had strange little symbols on it as well as a saying in Celtic, most likely a warning of some sort or maybe a rhyme that doubled as a trick.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team!" Bagman shouted to the screams of the stadium, listing off all of the players by name. A chant of 'Krum!' was screamed throughout the stadium as the burgundy blurs sped around the pitch, showing off their new Firebolts. "Now I give you the Irish National Quidditch Team!" Bagman cried out once the cheers for Krum had died down a bit. The three chasers of the Irish team were greeted with green sparks, shot off from fans all around the stadium. "And last, but certainly not least, I give you our Referee, all the way from Egypt, Hassan Mostafa!" The ref was small, most likely a seeker in his own Quidditch days, though he was dark, bald and sported an over-sized mustache.
The stadium suddenly went even crazier as the sixteen players circled around the field in midair before Mustafa went to join them, holding the Quaffle and a box which held the Snitch. He gave a short tweet on his whistle and each bludger was released from opposite ends of the stadium. Next, he held up the box containing the golden ball, high enough for the seekers and catchers to see it before it burst open and the Snitch fled into the sky. Finally, after giving each team a long look, Mustafa threw the final ball into the air, giving a long, loud blast from his whistle.
Green and burgundy blurred together as the Quaffle was fought over for a moment before a green blur emerged from the fray, shooting towards the other end of the field. The players moved at a speed I didn't think was humanly possible as they crossed the pitch in mere seconds, tossing the Quaffle between them as though it were feather light. Ireland scored moments after taking the Quaffle and again once they got it back before a bludger was slammed into the face of one of the chasers, though he was not holding the scarlet ball.
Mustafa trilled his whistle, and Bagman announced the penalty, which upped the score further for Ireland's favor. Moments later, in retaliation no doubt, an Irish beater pegged the Bulgarian beater who had struck his teammate. The penalty was called and Bulgaria managed to get the goal, bringing them closer to the game.
"Look at Krum!" Ron yelled suddenly, pointing to the diving player. "Look at him go!"
The rest of the stadium was echoing Ron's thoughts as the Irish seeker made a beeline for the ground as well. The two catchers circled above like hawks, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
"There's nothing there!" Harry shouted as the seekers dropped closer to the ground. "Look, the snitch isn't there!"
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, craning her neck to watch.
"Oh, he's going to crash!" Ginny cried, pointing at the Irishman as Krum suddenly pulled out of the dive.
The entire stadium winced as the crack of Lynch's nose meeting solid ground echoed over the noise. The whistle was blown and healer's suddenly crowded around Lynch, who looked as though he were trying to get back onto his broom.
"Lynch is arguing with the healers, he wants to fly!" Bagman informed the crowd. "And…yes, they're letting him go back up! Lynch will take a practice lap before we begin again," Bagman cried to the delight of the crowd.
"Why did Krum do that? Lynch could really have gotten hurt!" Hermione asked in shock, watching Lynch like a hawk as he circled around the stadium.
"It gives him the chance to look for the snitch without interruption,"
Harry and Ron both turned to stare at me.
"What? Can't I know something about Quidditch other than the outcome of the match?" I asked, folding my arms in protest. They looked at one another before shrugging it off and turning back to the game.
Keena's Point of View:
The game was up and running again after a few moments and it was hard not to laugh at James and Sirius who were both yelling hoarsely at Krum.
"Bloody kid, what the hell was he thinking?" Sirius fumed.
"Probably about winning," Lily laughed. Sirius glowered at her but she only laughed harder.
"Who asked you anyway?" James answered, glaring at Krum. "Little git doesn't even look like he knows the tail from the handle! Just look at his positioning, it's all wrong!"
"Yeah! Keena would do better than him!" Sirius agreed before looking at me. "No offense, but it is true,"
"None taken, you've just told me I'm better than the best seeker in the League," I laughed.
"He's got no class," Sirius said, shaking his head. "None, no dignity,"
"You're just sore that he tricked your player," Lily said with a grin.
"Just as you should be!" James exclaimed. "Who are you supporting?"
"Dear, I don't follow Quidditch," Lily said gently.
"Blasphemy!" James and Sirius shouted in unison.
I shook my head and turned my attention to the field once more as Bagman announced Ireland scoring another goal. The Irish seemed to be agreeing with James and Sirius, however, as they began playing harder and dirtier. Bludger after bludger was aimed and player after player was nearly knocked off of their brooms. One of the Bulgarian chasers went down with a broken arm and the veela threw a massive fit, halting the game for a full five minutes. All of the men in our row opted to plug their ears as they watched fire balls zoom through the air at leprechauns and players of the Irish team. Finally, they were calmed down by what looked like a more civilized, older version of them. She stood in front of them, hands on her hips and a beautiful glare on her face as she screeched at them to halt. Whatever she said it worked but she did throw a fireball at the leprechauns when they began snickering, effectively shutting them up as well.
Finally the game began again and Ireland now had the advantage of still holding all eight players while the Bulgarian team's catcher had replaced their injured chaser. Ireland continued their scoring streak, making it impossible for Bulgaria to catch up, even if Krum had caught the snitch. One bludger launched past a player and nearly decapitated Lily, though James pulled her out of the way without a second to spare, giving another penalty to Bulgaria since it had been one of their beaters. The leprechauns looked smug about this as they all blew a large raspberry at the veela, who bristled and looked as though they were about to throw fire again.
Suddenly another bludger was launched, this one smashing Krum in the face. The leprechaun couldn't seem to help themselves as they formed a giant message of 'HaHaHa!" in the sky and the veela war was on once more, distracting everyone for a few moments until it was noticed that the Irish catcher, Donovan, was diving for the ground, Lynch making his way to meet him. Krum ignored the heavy flow coming from his face and raced toward the other two and the stadium stood up as they screamed at the seekers and catcher.
Donovan reached the snitch first and wheeled about to hand it off to Lynch when Krum knocked Lynch out of the way as a bludger hit Donovan's hand, causing him to release the snitch. Lynch and Krum dove after the snitch in a two second race toward the earth when Lynch failed to pull up and Krum spun off of his broom, coming out of the dive too fast. The entire stadium held its breath as both Krum and Lynch lay still before Krum stood up, raising his fist to show that he had the snitch.
"Ireland wins! Bulgaria gets the snitch and Ireland wins!" Bagman roared over the cheers of the crowd as the leprechauns circled the stadium, showering their gold everywhere once more. "I don't believe it! Bulgaria pulls off a messy rendition of Twice Caught Snitch and Ireland still managed the win!"
"They won! They won!" Sirius and James sang happily along with the twins, who were a bit louder down the row in their excitement as Ireland performed their victory lap while Bulgaria simply landed in the top box without a second thought. The chaser held his arm in a sling, having refused to have it healed before the end of the match and Krum ignoring his bleeding nose and bruised face, though he looked slightly satisfied at having caught the snitch from the Irish catcher.
The Irish landed in the box next, Lynch being supported by the beaters and Donovan holding his broken hand and wrist close to him as the team accepted the cup. The stadium roared and the Irish national anthem blared making it impossible to hear anything.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the winners of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup, Ireland!" Bagman cried as the Irish stood waving, raising the cup into the air.
Once the crowds had quieted, both teams exited the box, talking to one another in their native tongues as they descended down the stairs. Bagman silenced his voice and gave a grin to Sirius, nodded to Arthur and Molly and retreated down the stairs, though Fred and George chased after him without a second thought, ignoring Molly's call telling them not to run.
"That was amazing, I never thought it would play out like that!" Sirius said excitedly.
"It was a very good match," Remus agreed, Bill nodding next to him.
"Did you have a good time, Harry?" Lily asked as the other kids made their way over to our group.
"It was definitely the best birthday present ever," Harry decided with a grin.
Remus laughed and we all looked at him curiously. "Good luck topping this next year,"
There's the end of this one! I hope you all enjoyed it! Oh and there was a question earlier about relationship status' and my answer is that they will all be appropriately dealt with. Can't really say more than that without giving my plan away, sorry! Please Review! Next is Chapter 5!
:-D