"What time did they say they'll be here?" Ness's mother asked for the 50th time, "They didn't say mom." Ness answered for the 50th time, "They just said, please have an open fireplace."
"Oh god." His father groaned, "They aren't going to torch the house down, are they?"
"I hope not. I like this house." King whimpered, then he looked at Ness and thumped his tail against the kitchen floor, "Your friends aren't fire nuts. Riiiiggghhht?"
"King, no one plays with fire." Ness deadpanned before he resumed eating his steak sandwich while eavesdropping on the girls. They had moved into the living room to discuss 'secret girly things' and had refused to let any of the boys in. Including King who was sulking since he used to be Tracey's secret keeper.
"Well, hopefully they get here before the pie gets cold." His mother sighed, wrinkling her apron for the 51th time.
"I think it already moved to the North pole, dear." His father joked, peering over his newspaper as he tried to hide a smile.
"Annnd with that, I'm off to crash the secret party-," Ness started to say when there was a loud scream, followed by a metal clank and someone cursing in pain.
"Jesus!" His mother exclaimed, "Lana—" she quickly stopped as they looked at the fireplace which was now on and burning a vibrate green. In front of the old fireplace was a balding man holding his head while Paula stood over him, a burning look of anger, fear and sheer determination in her eyes as Tracey armed herself with a broom.
"Mom! This man just came out of the fire place and-," Tracey started to say when someone else came out of the fireplace, a very familiar someone. Who promptly got knocked out by Paula who screamed, "You cultists will not harm anyone in this household!"
"Paula chill!" Ness yelped as third person came, "It's Ginny's family!"
"Wh..what?" Paula stammered as Ginny herself came through the fire looking worried, "Is everything alright?" Ginny coughed scrambling out of the ash tray and dusting off an oddly simple outfit of baggy cacki shorts and a tee-shirt, "I heard screaming and pain."
"Oh… That would be because of me." Paula said, her face a bright red as she slowly hid the weapon of mass destruction behind her back.
"Goodness! If you were going to come through the fireplace, then you should have told us!" his mother scolded.
"They came through the… is that even possible?" his Father questioned, looking a little pale.
"Don't worry." The second person Ron, said, "It's only temporary since your all Muggles."
"Mug what!?" Paula and Tracey yelped, brandishing their weapons with renewed anger and fear.
"Muggles, it's a wizard term for humans!" Ness yelped, grabbing the frying pan and broom before they could kill anyone. Of course, that didn't stop King from coming into the living room and attacking Mr. Weasly for a brief second then running upstairs yelling, "I saved the day! Just, don't question it!"
Earning a baffled look from Ginny and Ron, "Is that dog mad?" Ron questioned as he slowly got up.
"He's not mad. He's scared." Tracey protested.
"British slang for insane." Ness translated earning a horrified gasp from Tracey who waved her fist in the air at Ron's face, "Call King insane one more time and I'll show you the American slang for pain!" she threatened.
"I believe… We've already learned that one." Mr. Weasly groaned.
"Need an ice pack?" His father asked as the man slowly got up while a nasty bruised formed on his head.
"No, no. I'll be fine." Mr. Weasly answered, "Just. Need. The room to stop spinning."
"I'll get the ice." Paula volunteered, happy to have an excuse to disappear for a bit.
"And I'll get the hundreds of suitcases." Ness groaned, suddenly wishing that he had taken his Mother's advice in bringing everything downstairs before the Weasly's came. When he finished lugging everything downstairs into the living room, Mr. Weasly was enjoying a cup of coffee and a cookie while Ginny, Tracey and his Mom talked about Hogwarts.
Paula was fiddling with her luggage and warily eyeing Ron who was watching King who had snuck downstairs under the pretense of protecting his family from the weird smelling people.
Of course, the Weaslys' didn't know about that part. Especially since King was muttering about what smell these weird people had.
"Well it was lovely meeting you." Mr. Weasly said giving his parents a smile, "But we really must be going,"
"Yea! I'm suppose to destroy Harry in Qudditch before dinner!" Ron recalled causing Ginny to shake her head slightly in disbelief.
"Oh of course." His mother said looking a bit lost for words, "Have a… safe journey you guys!"
"And try not to murder anyone with you frying pan, Paula." His father joked earning a half glare from Paula before she awkwardly shuffled forward with her suitcase, "So… What are we supposed to do?" Ness asked, "We just walk through the fires and flames, right?"
"That had better not be a pun." Paula murmured as Ron said, "Just step inside and yell 'the burrow' that's where we live."
"Seems easy." Ness said, grabbing his trunk and doing what Ron had said, he had barely finished saying 'burrow' then the flames roared around him and he launched forward, his lungs suddenly feeling with ash and hot air as the fire danced around him before spitting him out onto a faded checkered floor.
"Ow." Ness coughed as he scooted away from the fireplace and gasped for fresh air. "Okay… Through the Fire and Flames I will not, carry on." He muttered as Paula burst through the flames and tumbled onto a musty rug.
"Do all wizards teleport through fire?" Paula groaned as she shoved her suitcase and frying pan away from the fireplace.
"Maybe? I thought they took trains." Ness admitted as Mr. Weasly, Ginny and Ron came through the fireplace as if they had just gotten off a train instead of flying through fire.
"Well then, I'll leave you guys to get to it, I have to return to work." Mr. Weasly said, tossing in some powder and yelling, "Ministry of Magic!" before walking through the flames.
"So, what's up?" Ness asked as he got to his feet and studied the cluttered yet somehow cozy living room, "Well first we can put these upstairs." Ron said, grabbing Ness's trunk with a small grunt, "Mum's put you in with Bill room since Charlie couldn't make it to the cup with us."
"Does this house just close in on you or…?" Ness questioned as he noticed just how narrow the hallway and stairs were becoming tighter, "It's not that bad," Ron said as he opened a door, revealing a somewhat messy room that had faded posters of monsters, dragons, ruins, a map and a bunch of notes taped to the far right of the room. There were two beds shoved against the wall, one that looked like had been recently been used while the other was a somewhat tidy yet forgotten mess.
"Wow. Cozy." Ness whistled as he entered the room and placed his trunk by the forgotten by, "So are Bill and Charlie the eldest brothers or…?"
"First and second eldest." Ron explained, "Percy is-," he stopped and quickly corrected himself, "WAS the third eldest but we've been in and out of touch with him."
Ness simply said, "Ah." As the girls came upstairs, Paula's suitcase safely tucked away in Ginny's room. They were talking about Qudditch and Ness could hear Paula groan "Why do I get the feeling that it's nothing like baseball." As Ginny pushed the door open.
"You guys ready to play?" she asked with a bright smile. Ness frowned while Ron happily perked up, the dark look that had appeared on his face from saying Percy's name disappearing completely, "Of course!"
"Prepare to find a hiding spot." Ness warned as they walked outside toward an open field past an overgrown garden and pond. Paula frowned slightly but didn't say anything until she spotted Harry flying through the air with a grin of pure happiness, "Oh no…" Paula groaned as Ness glowered at the brooms placed on the ground.
"Yea, I am still NOT getting on that wooden death trap." Ness deadpanned as Ginny grabbed an old broom and tossed one to Ness who merely avoided it with a shiver.
"Chicken." Ginny clucked before she climbed onto her own broom and kicked off, "Come on Ness! We need an extra player for Qudditch!" Harry yelled,
"The broom volunteers to play for me." Ness yelled back while Paula carefully picked it up and shivered, "I knew witches and wizards normally flew on brooms but now… It just seems a bit ridiculous."
"And utterly dumb," Ness added, "Harry's first game of the school year had him playing in hurricane weather."
"What!?" Paula exclaimed.
"It wasn't that bad!" Ginny retorted as she tossed a bright red ball to Ron who clumsily caught it, "Hurricane weather Ginny! And Selvis agreed with me!" Ness yelled before he walked over to a tree to take a nap.
Paula joined him and warily watched the four wizards flying around in the air, adjusting her bow every now and again as she tried to occupy her hands, "Sooo… What's with the over fidget?" Ness asked as she practically strangled her bow for the 50th time.
"You can't feel it?"
He jumped then sighed and murmured, "Right, you can mentally talk to people," before he mentally replied, "Besides that weird buzz of magic which I ignored on day one of being a wizard? Nope."
"It's their minds," Paula explained with a small shiver, "You know how we can tap into animals' brains and read their minds, right?"
"Right, I remember. You also connected our minds with everyone we knew so we could stop Giygas"
"Well, for some reason I feel like I can do the same here."
"With Ginny?" Ness questioned, "Since I sort of found a way to share what I could sense but…"
"No, with everyone here, but at the same time. I can't."
Ness frowned and looked at Paula who was looking extremely nervous, "I don't why, but this entire place has me on edge, and that cold house isn't helping."
"Cold? You're joking, right? That place was emotionally warm and physically thanks to the fires roaring in the kitchen."
"Really? I've been feeling goosebumps ever since we got here."
"Maybe you're sensing the magic? Although, I didn't feel anything when I was at Hogwarts, and that place is a fort made with magic."
Paula rolled her eyes slightly and said, "Maybe you don't feel it since your better with physical PK while I'm more mental."
Ness faked a gasp of horror and grabbed Paula's shoulder, "Paula! I never knew you were insane!"
"You know what I mean!" Paula snapped but she had a small smile on her face as she thought this, "Think about it, I was the first person in our group to purposely use telepathy, elemental attacks and forming shields against Psi attacks while you were the one blasting people with physical status effects and making sure that we had okay HP."
"Well when you put it like that, it makes sense why I had to think about using fire instead of just blasting the Dementors with a cascade of fire."
"Demn what nows?"
"Soul sucking monsters that tried to murder Harry and me a couple times." Ness casually explained as Paula covered her mouth to suppress a scream, "You didn't mention that in your letters!" Paula quietly snapped.
"Because I couldn't exactly explain what they were!" Ness protested, "I was busy playing the detective with no clues!"
"Like Scooby Doo?"
"No, since they can find clues. I was stuck playing secret agent/ Nancy Drew."
"You do realize that Nancy Drew's a headstrong girl who keeps forgetting to refuel her car, right?"
"…Okay, not Nancy Drew but still! You get the point."
"Sadly, I do." Paula sighed with a small smirk, causing Ness to roll his eyes at his friend, "Anyway, you'll only be here until the Qudditch Cup, then you can head home."
"Hopefully without murdering anyone." Paula muttered.
"Nah, you'll probably murder the house first-," Ness started to joke when they heard a shuffle of moment, "What was that?" Paula questioned as she peered around the oak tree and into an overgrown garden.
"Who knows? Maybe a flying frog." Ness joked as they got up and went to investigate the noise,.
"What a perfectly good garden gone to waste." Paula said, wrinkling her nose slightly as they approached a pond filled to the brim with frogs.
"I bet the frogs took over the garden in order to make Frog-topia."
"Are you sure? It looks more like mankind fell against the frog people and nature took over." Paula replied.
"If that happened, I blame their general, Captain Broom- whoa!" Ness jumped back as a small dirty potato man jumped out of the bushes, "What is that?" Paula questioned as they quickly took a step back.
"Some sort of magical monster I guess." Ness said as the potato man wandered toward frog pond, then glanced at them with a laugh.
"What's so funny ya walking potato?" Ness retorted as the little man laughed some more, summoning his buddies.
"All in favor of putting them on ice and hypnotizing them?" Paula asked.
"Waaay ahead of you." Ness replied as he used Hypnosis Omega and knocked out two of the small potato men. Paula put her hands out and dutifully turned the potato man into blocks of ice, one by one.
By the time the area was secured the entire garden was sparkling with melting snow. "Now what?" Ness asked as he nudged one of the sleeping potato men.
"I say we get one of the cult—wizards, we get one of the wizards to deal with them." Paula corrected, "Although, they appear to be Gnomes."
"Great, and just when I was getting over my fear of Garden gnomes." Ness lamented earning a strange look from Paula.
"Hey, that Santa Claus Gnome was out for blood." He protested as the back door opened and Ginny poked her head out, "Dinner's going to be ready in a-," she abruptly stopped when she saw the ice sculptors in the yard.
"Did you…?" Ginny questioned looking at Ness who pointed at Paula, "I just knocked two out, Paula froze the rest." Ness explained with a small shrug.
"It was either that or turning them into roast potatoes." Paula admitted with a small shrug, "She's a-," Ginny started to ask when she stopped herself, "Never mind, let's just toss them over the wall."
Paula turned three shades whiter as Ness snarked, "Why yes! Throwing a bunch of frozen creatures over a wall with force can't possibly end badly for us."
"Fine, we'll gently throw them over the wall." Ginny amended, grabbing one of the ice sculptures and tossing it over the equally overgrown wall with a small throw.
"Do these things come around often?" Ness asked as they tossed the last Gnome over the wall and cleaned up the random shards of ice.
"Almost every day." Ginny answered, "We usually just throw them out but Dad doesn't want to fix the wall, says their funny little things."
"Funny like 'I'm going to murder you in the middle of the night' funny or?" Ness started to ask when Paula smacked him saying, "You know good and well what she means."
"Hey! My question is very important-," Ness protested when Ginny talked over him, "Anyway, dinner's ready."
"Does she have steak?" Ness questioned as they followed Ginny inside a crowded dining room, Mr. Weasly was back and sitting next to his wife who was fussing over something, she abruptly stopped when she noticed Paula and Ness take their seats besides Ginny and Fred.
"So you must be Paula!" Ms. Weasly exclaimed, studying Paula with a friendly smile, "Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Weasly." Paula replied returning the smile while she desperately thought, "What, exactly has Ginny said about me?"
"No clue, I mentioned you every now and again but I didn't give her much to go on." Ness glanced at Ginny who was looking a little nervous, "Although… I think she told her mom that you're a wizard like me."
"Oh dear…"
"Don't worry! We can make this work… Hopefully." Ness said as food started to be passed around and light conversation was made, Ness happily placed some potatoes in gravy, cornbread and some chicken breast before he dipped his cornbread into the gravy and took a big bite.
For a moment, he felt a surge of carefully crafted food designed to warm the soul, like his Mother's cooking, then he felt a familiar itchy sensation on his tongue and throat as he swallowed. It reminded him of the time he had put on Harry's cloak only two times worse since the itching felt like it was inside of body.
"Ness." He glanced at Paula who seemed to be feeling as uncomfortable as he felt, "This food… it's lukewarm."
"How so? My plate is practically a volcano of heat."
"Well, yes on the outside it's piping hot but on the inside." Paula bit her lip and hid her nervousness by taking a small sip of water as she tried to find the words, "It feels like someone just made the dish for others to enjoy without putting in any effort."
"Magic." Ness guessed, "Ms. Weasly's a witch, so she probably just magicked the food onto the table."
"But I saw her cooking."
"Okay, she magicked the kitchen to speed up the cooking." Ness decided as he glanced at everyone else who seemed perfectly content and happy with their meals as they ate and chat, "But how did you notice that? I'm busy fighting the urge to bite my tongue from this weird itching sensation I'm feeling."
"Same. I don't know why though…."
"So, Paula." Hermione started, causing the two PSI beings to jump slightly in surprise, "What school do you go to?"
Paula briefly frowned in confusion before Ness hurriedly answered, "Magic school, not muggle school." Allowing Paula to fake a small smile and answer, "Nowhere special, just a small everyday magic school near Pennsylvania."
"Oh! Is it Penn's Woods Academy?" Hermione asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement, Paula nodded but didn't add on as Hermione started talking about how interesting Penn's Woods Academy was but also how small and cramped it seemed in the books.
While Paula was handling Hermione, Mr. Weasly asked Ness about his school year, which prompted Harry and Hermione to briefly shot him looks of 'be careful about what you say' before they returned to their own conversations.
And since Ness was sure that Selvis would murder him for putting out the fact that he and Ginny were friends with a Slytherin he had been forced to talk about classes, the whole Black event and make up some lies about what he did on his off days all while enduring the constant itching feeling that ran up and down his spine as he ate.
"This. Is going to be a very long week." Ness mentally declared as he, Paula, Harry, Hermione and the Weasly children headed to bed before to prepare for a very early school shopping trip.
And the week was indeed, long. From explaining the various rules of wizardry that he knew to Paula as they headed to Diagon Alley from the constant questions that Bill, -who had arrived late- asked coupled with how the twins left prank objects all over the place for them to stumble on. (Paula and Ness did dish out some payback in the form of PSI hypnosis and flash)
To Ms. Weasly fussing over Paula who had been attempting to put some normal human magic into her food (A.K.A cooking it by hand and not with a wand.) to reduce the constant allergy reaction they felt despite the woman's insistence that they were guests. They both considered the day to head to the World Cup a godsend despite the fact that they were woken up at roughly 4 AM in the morning to hike out to some hill to reach their destination.
"At least we're walking there." Paula muttered as she adjusted the backpack she had been assigned which hid her frying pan, "There's nothing more relaxing than hiking to the action filled stadium." Ness commented, being the only other person besides Mr. Weasly who was wide awake.
"Are you always this chipper at four in the morning?" George complained, sending him a glare with the help of his twin.
"Nope! Only when I'm going to see a sport in action!" Ness replied beaming them both a huge grin.
"Air Volleyball is a sport?" Paula questioned who had more or less turned Qudditch into said Air Volleyball since it was basically passing the ball back and forth for long periods of time.
"Qudditch." Ron grumpily corrected as they reached the top of the hill to see piles of garage scattered around the hill with no signs of a magical stadium or life.
"Uh, Mr. Weasly, why on earth are we at this once beautiful hill?" Ness asked.
"Ah! Right," Mr. Weasly exclaimed, "Muggle-borns, keep forgetting that." Unsure if he should feel offend or not, Ness said nothing, "We're looking for a Portkey," Mr. Weasly explained, "It's another version of transportation among wizards, you just charm an object to take you to a certain place and 'whoosh'! you're there." He pulled out his wand and made scanning gestures with his arm, "Of course, you can't make the object to noticeable, no, then Muggles would pick it up and be teleported instead, so we've turned the Qudditch World Cup portkey into a random piece of garage which won't interest Muggles."
"And now I have to be afraid of garage. Lovely." Paula groaned.
"Why would you pick up garage in the first place?" Ness questioned as Bill, pulled out his own wand to help his father find the portkey, he and the other non-certified wizards were instructed to try and find anything that stood out of place among the hill.
They didn't need to look for too long as someone yelled, "Oy! Weasly! Over here boy!" causing everyone to look up and see a ruddy face man jumping up and down on the far side of the hill with a huge grin on his face, "Amos!" Mr. Weasly exclaimed, "Good to see you old chap!" making his way over to the man who had someone standing next to him.
"Children, this is Amos Diggery, he works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." Mr. Weasly introduced, he gestured to the tall boy beside Amos who looked very familiar, "And you already know his son, C-," before Mr. Weasly could finish Ness finally realized why the boy had seem so familiar.
"Cedric Diggery, right?" Ness recalled, "You were on team Hufflepuff during the Dementor attack!"
Cedric nodded and had a small nervous smile as the others minus Paula who didn't know him and Fred and George who appeared to be holding a grudge against the boy, exchanged polite hellos.
After that was done the two men started to exchange friendly conversation while Paula fiddled with her backpack straps, "So, these are all your kids?" Amos asked, studying the small army behind him.
"Oh no, the redheads are all mine, but Harry and Hermione are Ron's friends," Mr. Weasly explained, pausing briefly to put Harry and Hermione out, "And Ness and Paula are Ginny's friends."
"It's nice to meet you." Paula said with a small smile.
"Hold on, I know I've heard of a Ness and Paula in the news but…" Amos frowned and scratched his head, "Where have I heard those names…?" when he couldn't remember he shrugged and clapped a hand on Cedric's back ignoring the premature bright red flush of embarrassment on his son's face, "Any who! Harry Potter, right? The one and only?"
"Why do I sense extreme discomfort from Harry?" Paula questioned as Harry nodded his head yes, "Probably because he's a huge celebrity in the Wizarding World, we're just cartoon characters to them."
"…I feel insulated."
"Eh, look on the bright side, at least we aren't suffering like Harry." Ness pointed out as Harry looked around for help after Amos talked about how beating the legendary Harry Potter would be a story for Cedric's grandchildren to hear, ignoring the flustered argument that Harry had fallen of his broom, which was the only reason why HufflePuff had won that round.
Mr. Weasly quickly suggested that they find the portkey and leave before they were officially late for the game. The portkey was easy to find however, since it was a random boot sticking out of a pile of trash bags and it was even easier to use since you just needed to grab a small corner and tap your wand to it.
At first, Ness thought "This isn't going to be so bad." Then he discovered that Portkey teleportation was like going through a chimney while traveling through time at the same time while something wrapped around your waist and pulled you forward like a cartoon character being dragged off with those giant canes.
It seemed like forever until they landed on a grassy pasture and stared up at the sky. "Ginnny…." Ness groaned once the sky and ground stopped merging together, "I hate wizard transportation."
"Why couldn't we have just taken a train…" Paula groaned as everyone found their bearings.
"At least the hard part is over." Ginny offered, although she looked a little sea-sick as they stood up and followed Amos and Mr. Weasly into a crowded campground.
It was an interesting set up process since Mr. Weasly had to struggle with Muggle money before they were given a lot and number to set up camp, then Hermione, Ness and Paula had to help Harry and the Weasly set up their magical tents before Ness and Paula could set up their own tent. (Thank goodness for paranoid baseball Dad for slipping one into his trunk.)
Then once that was done Mr. Weasly allowed them to go shopping for trinkets before they had to find their seats and say hello to some of his coworkers. "Huh, just like a baseball stadium." Ness noted as he guided Paula and Ginny through the crowd with expert ease, "It is?" Ginny yelled, winching as a young wizard child caused a toad to explode before his frazzled mother could grab the wand and scold him.
"Yup! Only difference is that everyone here is a wizard and that the mascots are… interesting." Ness replied as he guided Paula away from a grumpy tiny man who was waving his arms.
"Ah…" Ginny mused as Paula gripped her hand bag like it was about to be stolen from her. Ness noticed this and laughed, "Chill Paully, we'll be fine."
"After all, you can just stop him—just like that." Ginny said, snapping her fingers to prove her point.
"I hope you're right." Paula murmured as she uneasily studied the obvious wizards wearing everyday clothing, "I'd don't want to be kidnapped again."
"Oh look! Store booth!" Ness said, leading them to a bright green stand that had giant four leaf clovers, oddly shaped binoculars, snacks and green themed pendants.
"Step right up kiddos!" the store keeper yelled, "Green's the way to go if you're rooting for Ireland! Just 13 sickles a piece!"
"Sickles?" Paula murmured as Ness fished out his money pouch which was a bit heavier than normal, "Sliver coins." Ginny explained as she accepted Ness's money pouch and studied the selection, "So, who wants what?"
Paula was about to ask for one of the four leafed clovers when it burst into song, singing about Ireland's greatness.
"Heck no." Paula and Ness said in unison as Ginny laughed and picked up two pendants and a signing clover.
"You. Are evil." Ness declared as Ginny happily poked and prodded the four-leaf clover to life just to annoy Paula and Ness, who were severally creeped out by the giant singing badge since it was acting a lot like a monster.
"If that thing burns in the night, then you know who did it." Paula threatened as they returned to the camp ground, "Who? Ness?" Ginny teased as Ness retorted, "I won't burn it alive, I'll just leave it floating near a tree."
"So I have a pyromaniac and a friend of mother nature." Ginny mused, "And here I thought I just had two-,"
"Who's that?" Paula suddenly interrupted as they spotted Mr. Weasly, Harry and company talking to a man with a huge smile wearing Qudditch robes that were black and yellow with a giant hornet across his sweater.
"I think that's Ludo Bagman, he's in charge of setting up big events like this." Ginny replied, careful to keep her voice low as Bagman gave a loud laugh.
"And the grumpy guy next to him?" Ness questioned.
"Percy's new boss." Ginny muttered, "Mr. Crouch. I can't remember his first name for some reason."
"And they all work at the Ministry?"
"Yup."
"Then let's go thatta-," Ness began to say when Bagman spotted Ginny's bright red hair and Ness's cap, "Ah! And you three must be Ginny, Ness and Paula!" Bagman boomed, announcing their presence to the entire group with ease.
"Sup." Ness causally answered as Paula slid her hand into his, squeezing it tight as they walked closer to the jolly man.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Bagman." Paula carefully said as she nervously studied his robe and Mr. Crouch's grumpy expression, "You two were in the news, right?" Bagman asked ignoring the glare he was getting from Mr. Crouch and Percy as he changed the subject.
"I suppose so, we're muggleborns so we don't have close contact with the wizarding world." Ness lied.
"Ah, shame, bloody shame." Bagman mused before he brightened, "Then again, I suppose it's a good thing you didn't know about your heritage since it was our mess that you cleaned up."
"Your mess?" Paula mentally questioned, "It was a grief stricken Alien's fault everything came to life! Not a wizarding experiment."
"Right, right." Ness simply said as Ginny happily flashed her four leaf clover at Ron, "It was only ten sickles!" she exclaimed, "And they also had Omnioculars for sale!"
"You're joking." Ron retorted, although he looked awestruck, "They still had some left?"
"An army's worth." Ginny boasted as the adults slowly returned to their private conversation.
"What are we waiting for?!" Ron grabbed Harry and Hermione and pulled them down the path, "Come on! Omnioculars are practically required for official Qudditch games!"
"We'll see you at the seats Mr. Weasly!" Ness chirped as they headed back toward the sales booth.
"H-hold on!" Bagman yelled, "You wanna have a bet on-," before he could even finish his question Paula curtly retorted, "Bets are a fools gamble and ruins the sport of a game. Especially if money is involved."
"I like betting." Ness muttered, then he recoiled from the fierce glare Paula sent him, "Chill! I only bet baseball cards with Tracey and Dad, nothing to big."
"You better." Paula huffed as Ginny and Ron chatted about classmates they had seen on their walk to set up camp.
Ness happily tuned them out as Paula tried to admire the nature around them, and not strangle Ginny who was still poking at her four leaf clover.
"Traitors." Ness growled when he spotted Ron and Harry picking up their own singing four leaf clovers.
"What? You're rooting for Bulgaria?" Ron questioned, his eyes widening slightly.
"No, there just planning on murdering the singing clovers." Ginny answered with a small laugh, as Paula retorted "It's creepy, nerve wracking and it deserves to be put out of its misery."
"I think it's sort of cute." Hermione mused as she studied a giant green leprechaun hat, "Like the gnomes?" Ness questioned, "Since they were certainly not cute."
"They are funny though." Ginny reminded him.
"Little potato people with sharp teeth and nails are not funny!" Paula and Ness snapped, before they glanced at each other in surprise and looked away, silently deciding to say quiet until the Qudditch Match started.
One shopping trip later they were following the line of wizards and witches as they approached the looming stadium, "Seats a hundred thousand." Mr. Weasly was saying as Harry and Ness gazed up at the enormous stadium. "Ministry task force of at least five hundred wizards have been working on this all year, making sure that the Muggle Repelling Charms would be set to last for the entire game."
"Muggle what now?" Paula questioned, as Ness suddenly felt the urge to check on something important, he didn't know what that important thing was, but it felt urgent.
"It's a charm that makes any Muggles wandering around in a 30 foot radius of the stadium suddenly remember an important appointment." Mr. Weasly explained, "It would be a huge hassle to keep guards posted to keep wiping their memories to ensure that they don't see anything."
"Ah." Paula simply said as she glanced at Ness whose awestruck expression melted into a small 'oh.'
"Anyway we better pick up the pace." Mr. Weasly hummed, "We have Top Seats."
"Wow! How did you get those?" Fred asked.
"Did you win a bet?" George questioned.
"Barty Crouch actually gave them to me." Mr. Weasly explained, frowning slightly, "He seemed intrigued about Ness and Paula for some reason…"
Ginny, Ness and Paula exchanged worried looks while Harry, Hermione and Ron raised eyebrows all silently wondering what Crouch found intriguing about two 'Muggleborn' wizards who attended two completely different schools. It was equally unnerving to know that it was a high-class member of the Ministry who seemed intrigued by them.
Did Mr. Crouch know that Ness wasn't a wizard? Or did he find his style of 'magic' interesting and wished to talk him about it? Whatever it was it was sending shivers down his spine as a Ministry Witch pointed them toward a long set of stairs.
"I'll never understand how sky box seats are the best seats in the house." Ness grumbled as they finally reached the top to see that they practically towered over the rest of the seats and they were stationed by the announcer's box.
"Blimey!" George and Fred whistled as they quickly found their seats and admire the interior, "Magical store banners." Ness mused as he spotted a running picture billboard in the sky broadcasting brooms, tonics and other wizarding supplies.
"What's that?" Paula asked as she sat down pointing toward a small wrinkled creature wearing a tea towel. Harry followed her gaze and blinked in surprise, "Dobby? Is that you?" Harry asked, squinting his eyes as the morning sun bounced off the gold plating surrounding the stadium.
"Dobby? What's a Dobby?" Ness questioned. Apparently, 'Dobby' didn't know either since it or she looked up in surprise, "Did sir call me Dobby?" the creature squeaked, her giant bat ears tilting in surprise.
"Sorry, you reminded me of a house-elf I know." Harry apologized, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Ah! But I knows Dobby sir," the elf said, "I'm Winky sir, and you—you are-," she frowned and squinted her eyes as the sunlight dimmed, "Ah! You bes Harry Potter! Surely is you!" Winky exclaimed, her ears fluttering and her eyes widening in surprise.
"Yes, he be the boy who lives." Ness joked as he poked Harry's side. He jumped when Winky gasped and pointed at his eyes, "Oh! You must be Ness Earthbound! You were in the news you were!"
"Uh… Thanks?" Ness said, now feeling uncomfortable at how awestruck Winky was. He had just gotten used to being ignored and now he was being hailed as a hero once again.
"So how do you know Dobby?" Harry questioned, "Are you friends with him?"
"Oh no." Winky said shaking her head violently, "I had to stop being friends when being free went to his head, it did." She twisted her tea towel and fearfully said, "I don't mean no disrespect sir, but I think freeing Dobby was a mistake, it was."
"How so?"
"He's asking to be paid." Winky whispered, her eyes wide with fear and slight disgust, "Like a wizard!"
"Well what's wrong with that?" Ness asked, "I mean, magical creatures that have a basic understanding of the wizarding world has similar rights as people, right?"
"House elves aren't to be paid, sir," Winky exclaimed, "It goes against everything a house-elf means! When I last saw Dobby I tried to set him straight—told him to find a nice family to serve and be content with what he has before he's placed in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures like a common goblin, I said." she wrung her hands and shakily glanced down at the ground, "House-elves are just supposed to do what their told, no more, no less. That's why I'm up here, keeping Mr. Crouch's seat even though I'm afraid of h-heights!"
"Hey don't worry," Ness offered, "If you want my friend can give you a book to study while you wait for your Master to come."
"Oh no, sir!" Winky spluttered as she twisted her nimble fingers into small knots, "I can't distract myself with a book! No, what would Mr. Crouch think?"
"Well, you're just saving his seat, right?" Ness questioned, frowning slightly at Winky's outburst, "He wouldn't get mad if you distracted yourself for a bit, and if he does then he can just yell at me if you're afraid of getting into trouble."
Winky flushed and stammered some more before Ness finally dropped the subject, "Alright, no book, okay? It was just a suggestion."
"T-thank you for that kind sir." Winky feebly muttered before Ness looked at Harry and Ron who also seemed surprised by Winky's outburst.
"Are all House-elves that weird?" Ness questioned.
"Dobby was weirder." Harry firmly said as the girls studied the velvet red program with interest, "Ness, they said they'll be showing mascots from Ireland and Bulgaria." Paula pointed out.
"So people dressed up as giant four leaf clovers and… Whatever Bulgaria has?" Ness questioned.
"No, according to the program they'll be bring out real magical creatures from their homeland." Ginny exclaimed her eyes alight with excitement.
"Huh, this World Cup might not be so bad after all." Ness decided.
Then Ron groaned and hissed, "Look who's here." They quickly looked up to see Mr. Weasly who had been jumping up and down from his seat to greet co-workers and important wizards gave a curt strained smile at a man and woman with practically white blond hair and unpleasant expressions, beside them was Draco Malfoy who was scanning their row with an unpleasant sneer.
Which quickly vanished when Ness smiled and waved hello, then the blank look became one of slight horror as Paula did the same.
"He could have waved back." Paula muttered watching Malfoy retreat to the far end of the booth with his parents.
"Amazing." Was all Harry could say as Ginny shook her head muttering something about him being like Selvis while she stifled a laugh.
"Why did you do that?" Ron asked, "Why did you wave hello like he was your best friend?"
"Well it would have been rude just to stare at him." Ness said with a small shrug before he started scanning the packed booth, everyone was wearing either bright greens or a dull red and were talking to each other in different language.
Cornelius Fudge seemed to be playing charades with one man who had a permanent look of confusion look on his face which would quickly vanish into silent laughter as Fudge looked around for help. Which Mr. Weasly was unable to give, half an hour passed before Bagman said something to Fudge that was lost in the quiet buzz of conversation
Ness frowned then abruptly jumped in surprise as Bagman pointed his wand at his throat, yelled a spell and amplified his voice as it suddenly boomed around the stadium. The magical billboard was wiped clean with magic and replaced with two bold scorecards.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 422 Qudditch World Cup!" Bagman announced, causing a roar of cheering to float up from the seats below and a din of voices started singing national anthems and waved their bright colored flags in the air.
"Awesome right!" Ness yelled as he waved his own flag in the air.
"Loud." Was Paula's reply as Ginny happily made her pin sing along with a huge grin on her face.
"And now, without further ado, the Bulgarian Team Mascots!"
An even louder roar rose up from the left wing which was a solid block of red as music filled the stadium. For a moment, Ness was excited, then he felt the familiar alarm of danger blaring in the back of his mind as Mr. Weasly yelled, "Veela!" even though his voice sounded like he was underwater and a thousand feet away as a hundred beautiful woman glided into the center field, their ghostly pale skin and white blond hair trailing behind them as they started to dance.
Ness felt someone digging their nails into his arm as he tried to look away to focus on healing and removing the 'strange' feeling he was getting. It seemed like forever until the creatures stopped dancing and glided away earning angry yells from the crowd who were desperate to the see the monsters dance some more.
"Good lord!" Paula snapped as Ness looked up, "Why on earth would they bring such- such ugh I can't even think of the right word!"
"What? What was I doing?" Ness asked as he saw Harry standing up with an equally confused look on his face and Ron looking ready to jump off the sky box and onto the grass.
"Apparently, Veela are sirens." Ginny explained as she watched Ron shred the four leaf clover on his hat, "Who are very, very persuasive."
"…I wasn't doing anything dumb, right?" Ness asked as Mr. Weasly stopped Ron and pointed back to the field.
"Actually, you were just looking at them with a half n half expression." Paula explained, giving him a knowing look, "You looked like you were infatuated with them but also wanted to beat them up."
"Well it's a good thing I decided to heal myself rather then blast them with an Omega Rockin," Ness sheepishly muttered as he averted his eyes from the Veela who had lined up singl file on one side of the field.
"And now! Kindly put your hands together for Ireland's mascots!"
The crowd half clapped their hands with slight disappointment until green fireworks shot out of the pit, soaring into the sky and leaving trails of rainbow behind them are the dove around the seating area. That sent everyone into a loud roar of cheering as the fireworks tossed gold coins into the crowd.
"There Leprechauns!" Paula realized as Ness stretched his hat to catch some of the gold, "Hopefully their keeping a close eye on their Lucky Charms!" Ness joked as he caught a couple coins and passed them to Ginny and Paula while Ron nearly dove out the box once more to catch the gold.
"Aww… They aren't chocolate coins." Ness sulked earning a soft backhand.
"That's what you get for talking about Lucky Charms." Paula playfully chided. The tiny men formed a giant clover before they headed over to Ireland's section of the field allowing Bagman to announce the team players as they spilled out one by one, earning loud roars and cheers as the meet at the center field, did the usual team captain handshake before they mounted their brooms.
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on." Paula admitted as the teams kicked off, shooting toward the sky to grab the quaffle and to search for the snitch.
"But it's awesome, right?" Ness yelled as he tried to watch Troy steal the quaffle from L-something, Ness quickly forgot since the action was happening to fast for Ness to process. All he could do was watch as s each team seamlessly passed, blocked and smacked bluddgers at their opponents. Causing their mascots to cheer, jeer and start arguments on the ground. The game had only started mere moments ago, and already Ireland was in the lead with 20 points. Causing the Veela to sulk and glower at the Leprechauns who were cheering their little hearts out.
"Oh god!" Paula yelped as Victor dove down as if to find the snitch causing Lynch to do the same but earned himself a broken nose after a violent crash.
"So, this is football volleyball." Ness joked,
Ginny whimpered, "There's so much blood." As she leaned on Charlie who tried his best to reassure her.
"He's buying himself time." Harry realized, his eyes fixed on Krum who was indeed scanning the field for the snitch as medics came onto the field and quickly fixed Lynch up. Earning loud cheers from the green clad fans as Lynch shot back up into the sky with a surge of energy that seemed to be passed onto his teammates.
Causing them to play with vigorous energy and score 130 points as the crowd cheered, booed and stamped their feet as Bulgaria tried their best, and hardest to stop Ireland from taking the lead.
"Well this is a first." Ness noted as the referee—who had been flexing his muscles and trying to appear like a cool guy to the agitated Veela who had been dancing after Lynch slammed into to ground—tried to kick the Veela off the field after someone had brought him back to his senses.
"He's never going to live that down!" Ron howled as the Bulgaria team landed to argue with the ref who was angrily trying to get his point made. The Veela made indigent gestures while the Leprechauns spelled, "Ha-ha" for the entire argument.
After that, Bulgaria seemed to annoyed with their low lead and the argument they had with the ref. Their tempers were high and it was clear that all rules of been temporally forgotten as they gave Ireland free shots and more points. Which only agitated their mascots who started singing and dancing more frequently as the Leprechauns jeered and cheered much more aggressively.
"You know, I always saw Football as a pointless sport to slaughter each other in." Paula yelled, "I take it back, Qudditch is the new death sport."
"It's not that bad!" Ness retorted, then he noticed how deformed and hideous the Veela were turning and the frequent fouls, "Never mind!"
"OH! He's diving again!" Ginny yelled as Harry yelled, "He's going to crash again!" and pointed at Lynch, who did indeed slam into to ground as Victor soared up holding the snitch with a small triumphant smile which turned into a frown when Bagman yelled, "Ireland wins! 170-160!"
"That's it?" Ness said as a bloodied Lynch flew up into the air did a victory lap around the stadium, "I thought it would be longer."
"Ness, we've been sitting here for at least two hours." Paula deadpanned, "I've had enough excitement for one day."
"Ireland number one!" Ginny cheered as Fred and George cheered and started poking Bagman for something, while Harry and Ron started talking about the many strategies that were in play and about how Krum knew his team wasn't going to catch up in time.
"Sooo?" Ness questioned, as a flurry of activity buzzed around them, "It wasn't that bad, right?"
"Oh, all right." Paula huffed, "It was better than I expected." Giving him a small smile as they stood up and inched toward the exit, "I suppose that wizards aren't cultists after all." Paula mused a she watched Fudge look at the man he had been signing to the entire day in disbelief as he spoke with a heavy accent, a look of mirth on his face as Fudge spluttered and groaned.
"Today. Is awesome." Ness declared with a huge grin. Then, the world blew up.
