As Draco prepared to watch the quidditch, he couldn't help but wish it was Harry and Hermione sitting on either side of him. He didn't mind that Blaise and Theo were with him, in fact the trio had been having a great time, but part of him wanted to be enjoying such a momentous occasion with his best friends. Instead they were sitting a few seats away, surrounded by Weasleys.
Looking over to where his best friends were sitting, Draco couldn't help but chuckle quietly when he spotted the Weasley girl had settled herself next to Harry. Even watching them for a few minutes, he saw enough to know she was going to spend the rest of the match pawing over Harry excessively. Feeling sorry for his best friend, Draco turned his attention to Hermione and frowned when he spotted she was sitting next to Weasley. Weasley wasn't been as obvious as his sister over his fawning, but Draco still didn't like how close he was to Hermione. Every time the redhead spoke to Hermione he moved subtly closer to her, and Draco was left with an overwhelming feeling of jealousy. Maybe Harry was onto something after all, maybe he was beginning to think of Hermione as more than his best friend.
Tearing his eyes way from his friends before anyone noticed, Draco turned his attention back to Blaise and Theo. The pair were currently arguing over which team to support in the upcoming match. They'd both agreed Ireland were the better all-round team, but Bulgaria had the superstar player in their team in the form of Viktor Krum. Therefore, they were torn over whether to support the best team, or the team with the best player.
"What do you think Draco?" Theo asked. "Do we go Ireland or Bulgaria?"
"I reckon Ireland will win, and it's always good to support the winners," Draco mused. "But Krum is spectacular. He'll likely catch the snitch, and let's be honest that's more impressive than winning the match."
"So which is it?" Blaise asked, frowning as he they hadn't got a straight answer from Draco. "Do we pick one team, or support both."
"No way," Theo retorted with a shake of his head. "I'm not wearing two teams' colours like a loser," He added loudly for the sake of the nearby Weasleys. Nearly all of them were wearing both Irish and Bulgarian colours.
Draco and Blaise both chuckled when a few of the Weasleys turned round and gave them dirty looks.
"Don't worry Theo, we aren't going to be sad enough to support both teams," Draco answered loudly. "I say catching the snitch is more important that scoring goals, so we're going to support Bulgaria. I doubt they'll win the match, but they'll play the more exciting quidditch."
With a team settled on the three boys pulled on their Bulgarian scarves. No sooner had they made their final decision on who to support, than Lucius leant over and informed them things were about to get under way. With a buzz of excitement starting to fill the box, Draco and his friends sat back and watched as Fudge got to his feet and began to address the crowds.
Before the match could begin, there was the pre-match celebrations to take place. Each of the teams put on a brief show in an attempt to woo the crowds onto their side as the teams made their first appearance. The Irish went first, with a dazzling display of fireworks and dancing leprechauns. However, when the Bulgarians took their turn, they used Veelas to grab the wizards' attentions and to top it all off, they made a massive production of Krum entering the playing field. By the time the two teams lined up to begin the match, the crowd were firmly with the Bulgarians.
As the match got underway, Draco forgot all about the fact his best friends were sitting nearby as he lost himself in the match. He always loved watching live quidditch, but he'd never seen such an adrenalin filled match before. The Irish players were tearing all over the pitch, seemingly scoring goals at will, while Viktor Krum swept around the stadium pulling off some of the most audacious moves a seeker could do.
"This is the best match, I've ever seen," Theo yelled loudly as the stadium erupted when Ireland scored yet again. "Look at Krum go, he's amazing."
"Steady on Theo," Blaise laughed. "You don't need to go on about your crush quite so much."
"Shut up," Theo retorted, glaring over at Blaise.
"Both of you shut up and watch," Draco said, gasping as Krum suddenly went soaring towards the ground.
The crowd watched with baited breath as Krum led the Irish seeker down towards the ground and pulled up just before he hit the turf. Unfortunately, the Irish seeker wasn't as quick and crashed into the ground. As the Irish seeker got back up and remounted his broom, Krum was off searching for the snitch again, leaving the crowd to discuss his brilliant tactics.
"You need to try some of this stuff when we get back to school," Blaise said to Draco as they watched Krum show off his entire repertoire of tricks.
Draco nodded, but didn't bother replying as he knew there would be no quidditch in the coming year. However, his friends didn't know that, and Lucius had told him not to let anyone know what he knew. There'd still been no official announcement about the Triwizard Tournament and it wouldn't look good if Draco knew all about it when no-one else did.
A couple of hours later, Ireland had taken a decisive lead in the match. If Bulgaria wanted to win the world cup, they would have to score a few more gaols before Krum caught the snitch. However, either the message hadn't been passed to Krum, or the team didn't think they could cut the deficit, as shortly after Ireland had established a healthy lead it became obvious Krum had the snitch in his sights. In what would always be remembered as a spectacular end to the world cup, Krum caught the snitch in one hand while almost hanging upside down on his broom.
The catching of the snitch ended the match, and both sets of supporters burst into cheers as they celebrated the end of what was a very entertaining final match of the tournament. Obviously the Irish supporters were cheering their victory, but the Bulgarian supporters were cheering on Krum. Ireland may have won the world cup, but the undisputed star of the show was Viktor Krum.
The celebrations were also going on in the Minister's box, but they were quickly doused when Fudge announced the presentation would soon be taking place. As the world cup trophy was brought up into the box, everyone in the box had to relocate to the sides of the box. Draco and his friends ended up on the opposite side of the box to Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys, but Draco still managed to exchange quick smiles with his two best friends.
As they waited for the presentation to begin, Draco subtly watched his friends and noticed Hermione was glaring at something in the front corner of the box. Turning round to see what she was looking at, he found a small elf sitting huddled up on one of the seats. It was clear to see the elf was terrified of something, and it also looked to be completely alone. Making a mental note to ask Hermione what her problem was with the elf, he turned his attention back to Fudge as the Minister began his presentation of the trophy.
As the losing team the Bulgarians entered the box first, and accepted runner-up medals from Fudge. Draco was rather in awe when Viktor Krum walked past him, but he at least kept a dignified look on his face, unlike Weasley who was staring open mouthed at the Bulgarian Seeker. Shaking his head at how pathetic Wesley was, Draco watched the rest of the presentation. After the Bulgarians came the Irish, and once they had the trophy in their hands, the stadium erupted into more cheers.
Draco and his friends were clapping and cheering along with everyone else when suddenly all the lights in the stadium went out. Darkness falling brought an immediate end to the cheering, and instead panic could be heard spreading around the stadium. Even in the minister's box, Draco could hear the panic. Fudge was clearly clueless as to what was happening, and he heard a girlish whimper from across the box that he thought came from the Weasley girl.
"There's no need to panic," A booming voice suddenly called as a few lights began to reignite around the stadium.
Draco was lucky enough to be standing near enough to the front of the box, so he had a perfect view of Voldemort striding out onto the pitch below them. At his side were two robed and masked Death Eaters, who Draco knew to be Severus and Beth. Apart from his family no-one else knew Voldemort was back, so he didn't have an army of followers with him. However, Draco suspected that if he snapped his fingers the stadium would be surrounded by Death Eaters in an instant.
"Who's that?" Draco heard Ginny ask as the Weasleys peered down onto the pitch from the other side of the box.
"It can't be," Arthur whispered, almost to himself.
"I just want to congratulate Ireland on a fine victory," Voldemort announced loudly as the whispers around the stadium began to grow as people realised just who was speaking. "And I admit, I'm gate-crashing their moment, but I thought it was time for everyone to know that The Dark Lord has returned."
Pulling out his wand with a flourish, Voldemort cast a spell and a green mist flew from his wand. Seconds later, The Dark Mark hung in the air above the stadium. The sight of the mark caused immediate panic, and Draco could hear the screams as people tried to flee from the stadium. Looking back down on the pitch, Draco saw Voldemort looking around in satisfaction before he turned and left with Beth and Severus at his side.
"Everyone remain calm," Fudge called as he tried to regain control of the situation.
Unfortunately, for Fudge it was too late. Now everyone knew Voldemort was back, they couldn't get away from the place quick enough. Even the Weasleys were anxious to be gone. Draco watched as Arthur Weasley bundled his daughter over to his two eldest sons, and told them to get her back home immediately. He then sent the twins and the pompous ex-Head Boy off together, while he took care of Harry, Hermione and his youngest son.
"Look at them scurrying like rats," Theo laughed as the Weasleys departed the box at top speed.
"Pathetic," Blaise agreed.
"Well boys, I think it's time we went home," Narcissa said calmly. While everyone around them was panicked, Narcissa looked as though nothing untoward had just happened.
"But we'll miss all the fun," Blaise protested.
"The only thing you'll miss is people running around like headless chickens," Lucius replied.
"But what if the Dark Lord has something else planned?" Theo questioned. "We don't want to miss it."
"Nothing else is going to happen," Lucius said confidently. "I promise you, anything that happens will be the result of foolish idiots overreacting."
Even though Blaise and Theo didn't particularly want to leave, they had no choice but to go with the Malfoys. Besides, if Lucius said nothing else was going to happen with the Dark Lord, he would be right. It was obvious to both boys that Draco's father hadn't been surprised by the evening's turn of events. He'd known what was going to happen, and as such he would be right if he said nothing else would happen.
Of course, Lucius was right and there was no further appearance by Voldemort or his followers. That wasn't to say that nothing else happened though. In their desperate attempt to get away from the quidditch stadium, the crowds turned on one another. In the ensuing riot, several people were injured as the stadium and the nearby camp sites were destroyed.
The next morning the papers were full of what had happened at the Quidditch World Cup. Pictures of the Dark Mark graced the front cover of every publication, and they all reported on Voldemort's dramatic return. Of course, no-one knew the details of his return, or where he'd been all these years. But there was one thing they did all know, The Dark Lord was back and nothing would ever be the same again.