"Ron!" Ginny hollered, "Are you done yet?"
"I am, Gin!" Ron shouted back before he put his shirt on. "Just wait for a moment, will you?" He finished dressing and let out a yawn. It was barely Dawn but he and the rest of the family were already awake. Today was the day they would be going to the Quidditch World Cup, the most awaited event in the summer of 1994. He had been counting the days since his father announced that they had free tickets to watch the game.
Ron glanced down and saw Damon trying to jump on his bed. Chuckling, he picked his pet dog. "Sorry you have to stay with Mum." he said to him before placing him on the bed. "Try not to eat everything, alright?"
Damon let out a bark, wagging his tail enthusiastically.
It had been a month since Sirius Black gave Ron the part-Krup and Labrador. He already adored the dog and he spent half of his time playing and teaching him tricks. Mr. Weasley bought a book about Krups and how to properly care for dogs which helped Ron to understand them better, especially one that was part-Krup. After a month, he brought his familiar to the magical pet store and had his other tail removed as a standard procedure when caring for part-Krup. Once or twice he would bring Damon to the Muggle world so that he could be trained to be less fierce to Muggles. He had to admit, it was a lot of work but he wouldn't give up on Damon. He already sent a letter to Dumbledore and Snape requesting for permission to bring him to Hogwarts and up until now, he had yet to receive a response.
Ron hastily flattened his messy hair; He'd grown it longer than usual (his mother insisted on cutting it but he managed to dodge her attempts) and he went downstairs where the others were waiting. "Why aren't Bill, Charlie and Percy up yet?" he asked curiously as he looked around.
"They're still sleeping," said George, frowning slightly.
Fred nodded. "Yeah, because they know how to apparate they'll meet us later."
Ron couldn't help but share the twins' feelings. "That's bloody unfair," he grumbled.
Finishing breakfast, they took turns going back up to the bathroom to brush their teeth in turn (it was more 'first come, first serve') until they were ready to leave. Fred and George were given another evil eye by Mrs. Weasley after she found out they were trying to smuggle some of their remaining prank products out from her reach. "Come on, I'm sure you'll be able to make more!" said Ron helpfully to the two as they walked away from the Burrow.
"It took almost all of our savings to make those!" grumbled Fred.
"She doesn't understand that's what." said George angrily. "Do you really think us two would work well in the Ministry?"
"No." said Ron and Ginny in perfect unison.
"You two are too fun to work in the Ministry," said Ginny, voicing out her opinion.
"Exactly!"
Mr. Weasley chuckled. "Your mother just wants the best for you two -"
"We know that, but she can't possibly think we'd be happy working in a boring place in the Ministry...erm, no offense Dad." Fred added, seeing the amused look from Mr. Weasley.
"Just wait for it." he said gently. "She'll understand soon."
The sun still hadn't risen by the time the five Weasleys made it to the top of the hill; they began searching for the Portkey that would bring them to the campsite of the Quidditch World Cup game. Then a man not far shouted. "Arthur! I got it!" The Weasleys stopped searching and watched as two figures made their way to them. Ron recognized one of the two as Cedric Diggory, the Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.
Both Fred and George stiffened at the sight of him and only gave a curt nod while their fathers introduced each other's family.
"So, where are the Lovegoods?" asked Mr. Diggory to the Weasley patriarch. Ron and Ginny looked up and waited for their father to respond.
"They've already been at the campsite since last week." answered Mr. Weasley. "Shall we go?"
Mr. Diggory nodded. "Ah yes, gather everyone!" he said as he held out the worn-off boot. "You just need to touch the Portkey – even a finger will do -" when everyone managed to press their finger against the boot despite the lack of space between each other, he said finally, "On three – two – one!"
Ron suddenly felt a force pulling him toward the boot – his shoulders were colliding against Ginny and George's – the next thing he knew, he was lying flat on the ground, groaning. "You alright?" asked Cedric sincerely to Ron, holding out his hand to him.
The redhead stared at him before accepting the Hufflepuff's hand. "Not really." he said gruffly as he let Cedric pulled him up.
Cedric smiled compassionately. "Mine was worse." he said. When Mr. Diggory called him, he said, "I better go, I'll see you whenever." he said casually before turning his back on him and walking with his father.
Nice chap, Ron thought as he watched him walk off.
"Typical Hufflepuff bloke," Fred snorted, giving Cedric a foul look.
"Hey, nothing wrong about that." shrugged Ron. "I don't suppose you've gotten over Gryffindor losing to Hufflepuff, last year?" he questioned suddenly to the twins.
George looked sheepish. "I guess so…but it's all healthy House rivalry, you know."
Ron didn't quite believe that's what his brother felt. "Sure."
He saw him talking to a man wearing what seemed to be Muggle clothes. Ron stepped closer and realized that the man was in fact a Muggle. "That'll be twenty pounds."
"Twenty pounds, you say?" repeated Mr. Weasley in glee as he put his right hand inside his pocket and pulled out a wad of printed paper and some weird coins Ron recognized as Muggle money.
As Mr. Weasley tried to figure out what to give, Ron couldn't help but feel a tiny bit embarrassed. "Let me help you Dad." He took hold of the money and checked out which bill was which. "Well, here's twenty pounds," he said as he handed the Muggle money to the man whom he learned was named Mr. Roberts. "Sorry if it took a while, Dad has poor vision." he added before pulling his father away from the man.
"So here's our place, eh?" said George as he and Fred arrived with Ginny trailing behind.
"Yeah," nodded the youngest Weasley boy. "So where's the tent?"
"I think it's that one," pointed out Ginny, gesturing toward the mass of material lying on the site.
"Why isn't it up yet?" questioned Fred in amusement. "Why aren't you using ma -?"
"We're in public Muggle area," said Mr. Weasley in excitement, earning amused looks from his children. "We should not be practicing magic while there's Muggles in the area." he noted Mr. Roberts who was watching everyone in suspicion, "Come on now, it's a good learning experience to build a tent the Muggle way!"
The Weasley children shared a look with one another, knowing all too well that wasn't the real reason why their father was in a good mood.
"I guess we better build the tent." Ron sighed as he and the others picked up the pieces. It took a while but after nearly an hour of figuring out how it was done, they were finally finished. Of course, it was with some bit of help from Mr. Roberts (Ron made up a good excuse that it was their first time camping). It was a medium-sized old tent that seemed too small for a family of five, but they built another smaller tent for Ginny's use.
When Ron and the others entered the tent, it was spacious just like their Ford Anglia: it had three rooms, complete with a kitchen and bathroom. There was already furniture inside, albeit mismatched and the only bad thing was that it all smelled strongly of cats.
"I'm sure all of us will fit in here," said Mr. Weasley, looking around.
"How's your tent, Gin?" asked Fred as he saw Ginny entering inside.
"Oh its fine." she said before glancing around the tent. "It doesn't have a kitchen but I have bathroom of my own to use. And at least it doesn't smell."
Mr. Weasley peered inside a dusty kettle, "We'll need water."
"There's a pump tap on the map the Muggle gave earlier. It's on the other side of the field." Said Fred, his gaze on a map in his hand.
"That's great, why don't you and Ginny get some – you can boil it while you're there, and the rest of us start a fire…"
"Why not use the oven?" questioned Ron.
"Ron, Anti-Muggle security!" reminded their father, his eyes lightening up. "When real Muggles camp, they cook on fires outdoors. I've seen them at it!"
They didn't say anymore so Ron and Ginny went out with the kettle and saucepan in their hands. They walked around the area glancing at each of the tents they passed by. Ron steered away from the huge tent surrounded with peacocks, knowing fully well it belonged to the Malfoys (he found out that his family had half a dozen of albino peacocks at their home). When he and Ginny finally reached their destination, they cleaned the kettle and saucepan first before collecting some water.
The two met some familiar faces on their way back but Ron didn't take any notice of them since he didn't know them that well. When he thought he made it without the Malfoys or anyone similar seeing them, the opposite scenario happened. "Ronald!" a soft-spoken voice called out his name.
Ron winced, thinking the voice he heard just now sounded like a screaming Banshee. "Let's move faster, Gin," he said hastily, increasing his pace than before.
"Why? Isn't someone calling you just now?" said Ginny abruptly, glancing back and forth.
"Just keep on moving," he said through gritted teeth but a petite-looking figure appeared in front of him, causing him to halt and slopped water onto himself.
"Ronald, you're certainly in a hurry." said Daphne in greeting, smiling charmingly at him.
"Greengrass." he grunted, frowning at his wet jeans. He took out his wand, much to Ginny's curiosity, and pointed at the wet part of his jeans. "Exaresco," he mumbled and the wet jeans turned dry.
"Ron, you can't use magic!" gasped Ginny, shocked at what she saw.
"Don't worry," he said to her. "There's too much magic here anyway and the Ministry wouldn't notice us." he turned to Daphne and noted her strange clothes he recognized as a Muggle female dress. Her arms and neck were bare and she was wearing a huge coral white hat with a green ribbon. Even if he wanted to deny it, she looked good in Muggle clothes.
Daphne seemed to have noticed his attention and did a graceful spin. "You like what I'm wearing? It's Muggle clothing of course but it does look good on me, doesn't it?" she said in a lightly teasing way.
Ron knew all too well that she was playing with him. "If you say so."
"Didn't you promise to call me by my first name?" she reminded.
He sure didn't remember that, but he stopped and it occurred to him that she didn't say it out loud but was expecting it since he promised to treat her a bit better from now on.
"Yes…" he said tersely, "…Daphne."
Daphne smiled widely after hearing his response. She leaned closer, much to Ron's dismay, and whispered, "I wanted to have another chat about you getting any visions from me but I don't mind waiting. Also, just to let you know, Theodore's here." She retreated and faced Ginny instead. "Your name is Ginerva, isn't it? I hadn't introduced myself properly to you last time. My name is Daphne Greengrass," she said as she gave a small curtsy to the only Weasley daughter.
Ginny knew the procedure when greeting other purebloods and returned the gesture after setting down the saucepan. "A pleasure to meet you though I'd rather be called Ginny – Ginerva's too formal," she said to her cordially.
"I'll remember that, Ginny," said the Greengrass heiress, saying her name rather slowly. "Well then, I just wanted to greet you. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other later, Ronald," waving her hand, she turned away and went out of sight.
Both Ron and Ginny watched her go; the younger sibling said, "I don't know about her. I like her because she's making you nervous -" Ron grunted at this statement, "- but I don't like her when she says my real name. Or even my preferred name." she said, frowning. "Let's get going."
By the time they arrived, they had yet to see a fire. "What happened?" asked Ron to the twins as he and Ginny set down the water on the grass.
"Dad's playing with the matches." said Fred, gesturing toward their father who seemed to be having the time of his life.
And Fred was right. Splintered matchsticks were scattered around him and just by looking at the contents of the matchbox, there were only a few left. Ron sighed. "Come on Dad, I'll help you," he said, setting the saucepan down and getting the matches from him. He tried three times but just like his father, he failed. "This is getting nowhere…" he grumbled.
"Need any help?" a familiar voice spoke not far from where Ron stood.
He and the others looked and saw Sirius Black standing front of them, along with Harry, Neville, Hermione and Lupin. The twins approached Harry and greeted him and began talking about Quidditch.
"Sure, Dad wants to start the fire the Muggle way."
Hermione marched forward and said, "I'll help him if you don't mind."
Ron shrugged. "Sure, you know this stuff, you're the Muggle expert here." he said, handing her the matchbox. "Hello Mr. Lupin," he greeted to his former DADA professor.
Lupin smiled. "Remus is fine, you don't need to add 'Mister'." he said to him.
"So, how's the dog? What did you name him?" asked Black interestedly to Ron.
"His name is Damon, and he's doing fine." he answered brightly. "He sometimes eats anything on the floor but I'm teaching him not to, he's improving."
"That's great to hear," said Black. "So I just saw you earlier talking a pretty young lady – is she…?"
Ron blanched, knowing right away who Black was referring to. "I-it's not what you think!" he blurted out, earning curious looks from the others. "She's the one who approached -"
"Oh so she went to you? That's a lot better!"
Ginny couldn't help but grin slyly at Ron's discomfort. "That girl's Daphne Greengrass. She and Ron are 'friends', according to him."
"T-that's not – that isn't -" spluttered Ron in shock before giving his younger sibling a filthy look.
"Ah, so Ickle Ronniekinns has met up with his lady friend, eh?" mused Fred, teasing Ron now. "What do you know, Gred, he's sneaking off to meet up with her -"
"You know, Ron, you don't need to." added George, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You can go to her whenever and wherever you want to – we're not going to stop you." he was going to continue but Ron had had enough.
"Oh, stuff it you two!"
Hermione pondered their words after helping Mr. Weasley start the fire. "You know, I think I've heard of a rumor that you dragged Greengrass in an empty classroom and you were trying to talk to her about something."
"That's one of the milder rumors, though." commented Harry and Ron was surprised that the Boy-Who-Lived joined in. "What Neville and I heard was that-"
"Look, whatever you heard it's all from the rumour mill," said Ron exasperatedly. "None of it is true!"
No one responded after that, but surprisingly enough, Neville piped up. "I did see you pulling her somewhere while she was talking to Parkinson, to be honest."
This comment earned wolf whistles from the twins and Ron's groan. After a couple minutes' more of teasing, he got up. "That's it, I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?" asked Ginny loudly.
"Around!"
He was in a foul mood now; He stomped his way around the campsite, glaring ahead at nothing in particular until something caught his eye. He stopped for a moment and stared at it, before making his way over. "Viktor Krum…" he whispered as he stared at one of the huge and numerous posters of the young man. He wondered if he would be able to meet with the famous Quidditch player in person (he knew from his visions that Krum would be at Hogwarts but he didn't know why), maybe even get to talk to him!
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone call his name.
"Thank goodness I caught up with you!" Hermione panted as she stopped to catch her breath.
Ron raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What brings you out here?"
Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment before responding to his question. "Well, I thought you needed a bit of company after what happened earlier."
"…Oh, that. That was nothing – they normally do that." He realized he sounded a rude and said hastily, "Sorry, I don't mean to bite your head off, you're just trying to -"
"It's fine." she shrugged, taking his apologetic tone into consideration. "So, I'm guessing you're a fan of that Quidditch player?"
"Yeah, just got into him a few weeks ago." he nodded. Without realizing it, he began rambling about Viktor Krum what he'd read about his accomplishments. Hermione had a faintly amused look on her face as she listened to him (Ron didn't notice if she really did).
"…And he's the only one of the players this season who can do the Wronski Feint without scratching himself!"
"You really researched a lot about him." she commented.
Ron stopped and his face turned red. "He's a great Quidditch player." he said defensively. "Wait, I get it, you don't like Quidditch, do you?"
"It's not like I don't like Quidditch," she rolled her eyes, "I just don't share the same passion."
"You're missing a lot, then." he said flatly.
"Shall we go back?" she asked him, ignoring his comment to her.
"Yeah, I guess so." he nodded once. "Thanks." he said suddenly, earning a curious look from Hermione.
"For what?"
"For asking and coming out here…you know…." he said slowly. The bushy-haired brunette seemed to understand his short response and simply nodded in return as they walked back.
But halfway back to the Weasley tent Hermione said suddenly, "About what happened earlier…"
"What are you talking about?" asked Ron but he had a faint feeling what she was referring to.
Hermione glanced around and said lowly, "When Sirius pulled you to the Whomping Willow…I just wanted to say -" before she could even continue, two figures were making their way toward them who turned out to be Harry and Neville.
"We thought we'd find you and Weasley." said Harry casually, nodding toward Ron. "So what are you two talking about?"
"Been trying to convince her of the finer points of Quidditch and how much she's missing out." said Ron simply, earning a look from Hermione he guessed Harry would be quite familiar with.
Both Harry and Neville snickered. Hermione looked scandalized. "Tough luck with that," he said while shaking his head. "We've tried convincing her – failed though." As the three of them chuckled over this common revelation, Harry blurted out something. "Weasley….Ron…about what happened at the Whomping Willow…I'm sorry, all of us I mean."
Neville nodded. "I'm sorry if I tackled you while your leg was hurt -"
Ron suddenly remembered exactly what the three were on about. "Oh right. Er, thanks. I was only trying to help out back then. By the way, although it was pretty brave of you three to try and help but charging at a man transforming to a werewolf during full moon is rather – well, stupid."
"We didn't really intend for any of that!" said Hermione defensively, her cheeks flushed.
"Really? I always figured you to be smartest witch in our year." he pointed out without a hint of malice and his words caused her to be more pink-cheeked than ever. "You could've petrified these two here -" he gestured toward Harry and Neville, "and let Black handle the situation."
"And then what? Let Pettigrew get away?" interrupted Harry, frowning suddenly at him.
"Which is more important? You and your mates' safety or that damn rat?" he questioned him, facing him straight in the eye. "If you ask me, I'd pick the people who are important to me because I'd do anything to keep them safe. I'm sure Black or Pro…Lupin would say the same thing." He stopped himself, not wanting to sour things "Let's just drop it, all right? We're here to watch the World Cup and have a good time."
When they returned, breakfast (although it was quarter past nine in the morning) was already served. "Took you long enough to return." called out Fred. "Where did you two lovebirds run off to? Should dear Daphne know about this?" he asked to both Ron and Hermione.
Both Ron and Hermione turned red. "Firstly, she and I aren't lovebirds. If you haven't noticed, Potter and Longbottom are with us. We were all just having a chat." Black, Harry, Neville, Hermione and Lupin were invited to eat with them and they accepted the offer and went off to bring their own food to share with the Weasleys. When they returned, everyone sat down with Ron seated between his father and Ginny (he noticed she went quiet the moment Harry sat down opposite of her) and everyone began to eat.
Ron decided to enjoy the food rather than chat but would occasionally say a word or two when asked. He figured that he'd attracted more than enough attention and considering the talk with Harry earlier it was best keep his head down for a moment.
After breakfast, everyone cleaned their plates the Muggle way (Mr. Weasley was pleased) until everyone parted ways. Ron watched them walk but stopped Hermione. "Just earlier, you were saying something." he said. "What did you want to tell me?"
Hermione looked surprised that he remembered it. "I-it's not important…I forgot anyways." Giving him an apologetic smile, she walked away and followed Harry and the others.
He accepted it, it wasn't like he'd never forgotten stuff before. He looked up at the bright sky and thought that it would be better if the game would start right away but from the corner of his right eye, he saw three familiar figures making their way to the Weasley tent. It was his older brothers Bill, Charlie and Percy. "Nice spot we have here," noted Charlie as he glanced around the area. "We have a good distance from the stadium."
"It's better than I thought," nodded Bill. "So how are you? Been doing well?" he asked the twins, Ron and Ginny.
"It would've been great if you three arrived here earlier and helped us out," said George grumpily. "Dad make us build the tents the Muggle way!"
Bill chuckled. "A bit of physical work won't hurt you four."
"Bill's right." agreed Percy pompously. "It's important to maintain a good balance for the -"
"Oh stuff it, Perce." Fred interrupted, earning an indignant look from him, "You don't even exercise in the first place." All Weasley siblings chatted amongst each other with the conversation mostly revolving about Ireland versus Bulgaria. Bill and Ron insisted that Bulgaria would win because of the star Seeker Victor Krum and also the number of wins they gained throughout the whole season. Ginny, Charlie and the twins would be supporting Ireland and pointed out a number of points regarding their performance as a team and their individual skill.
"Sure, Krum is brilliant." nodded Charlie. "But he's only one player and Quidditch is a team-oriented game so that doesn't count much."
"And Ireland has six amazing players, excluding their Seeker, if you ask me." added George. "It doesn't matter if the Seeker's the best if the points gathered by the Chasers are greater. If Bulgaria wants to win, they would have to -" he stopped for a moment when their father called them for lunch and the others were surprised how long they'd been talking.
All of them sat around the table to eat and they were halfway done when a man was walking his way over to their site. Both the twins and Charlie looked up and stared at him. "Is that him?" said Fred slowly.
"He is," nodded Charlie.
Ron recognised one of the two wizards as well. It was Ludo Bagman, former Beater of the Wimbourne Wasps and was considered one of the best Beaters of his time. He appeared jolly and easy-going; however the other wizard with him was a complete opposite: his robes were crisp black and he wore a strict no-nonsense look on his face that would make anyone feel alarmed. He glanced over to Percy who began spluttering and acting nervous for some sort of reason. Then it clicked.
"The other one's Crouch, right?" he asked for confirmation.
"Considering how Perce's acting, then he must be Crouch." mused George, watching Percy in amusement.
"Have some tea, Mr. Crouch!" breathed Percy, thrusting a cup of tea to the strict-looking wizard.
"Thank you, Weatherby," answered Crouch in slight distraction, accepting the tea but not drinking it before continuing the conversation with Mr. Weasley and Bagman.
Both the twins snorted. "Don't tease him, you two." said Charlie although he was grinning slightly.
"Oh we won't." lied Fred.
"So Arthur, how much are you going to bet on the match?" Bagman's robes fluttered and clinking of coins emitted from it.
"Ah…let's see," said Mr. Weasley slowly as he put his hand inside his robes. "six Sickles that Ireland will win."
Bagman looked disappointed at the amount of money he got from the Weasley patriarch but put on a jolly expression. "Alright, I'll take note of that." he said, accepting the Sickles with the rest of the money he gathered. He took out a parchment and quill, "Any other takers?" he said loudly to the rest.
Fred and George stepped up to Bagman and pulled out a pouch which turned out to be filled with money. Ron realized what they were going to do and instinctively yelled out.
"Wait you two, I want to tell you something!"
"What? Can't it wait later?" frowned Fred.
"It won't take much of your time, really!" said Ron quickly. When the twins approached him, he whispered lowly "Are you two going to bet all of that to the game later?"
"Yeah, is that your problem?" said George. "It's not your money."
"Yeah but I don't think you should bet all of that in one go. It's a huge risk -"
"The greater the risk, the better!" said Fred reasonably.
"But that's just it." Ron hissed, "Look, I'm sure you're both really confident of what you're doing but honestly, what you're doing is…is…stupid!" He finally got out. He saw angry expressions coming from the two but he knew they had to hear it. He had a strange feeling that if he let them bet all of their savings, it would turn out horrible.
"Ron's right." interrupted Bill, surprising his three younger brothers. He was standing behind the twins and it was obvious that he had heard everything. "I'm not going to force you two to stop betting on this, but I would suggest you bet at least a quarter of what you have. I've betted a couple of times and what I learn is that to never bet everything."
Both Fred and George watched him closely with narrowed eyes. "Fine, we'll only bet a portion," said George before his twin could say anything else. The two turned their backs and went to Bagman, taking out eight Galleons, twelve Sickles, six Knuts and a fake wand to boot. "We bet that Ireland will win."
"But that Krum will catch the Snitch." finished George with a smirk.
"Ohohoho, that's quite a bet there you two!" said Bagman, giving the twins appraising looks. "Ireland wins but Krum catches the Snitch? That'll be a spectacle." After a couple of more talks between the adults, both Bagman and Crouch left.
The Weasleys finished their lunch and cleaned up the dishes (with the twins, Ron and Ginny being able to convince Bill and Charlie to use a bit of cleaning spell to speed up the work) and went off on their own. Ron made up another excuse to roam around the campsite and ignored the teasing from the twins who were convinced he would meet up with Daphne Greengrass again. He glanced around, searching until he found what he was looking for. Or rather, who he was looking for.
"I've been wondering when we'd meet here." drawled Theodore, greeting Ron with a small nod. He was sitting comfortably in an expensive-looking chair outside a black, towering tent, drinking tea.
"Greengrass told me you'd be here. Anyway, let's go somewhere with less people." When they went to the edge of the woods, he said, "So, no strange news?"
"You mean Pettigrew? None at the moment, I'm sure Greengrass's Memory Charm worked. But there is something that's been going on around the Ministry: it's about Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry worker who went missing last month."
"Bertha Jorkins? I think Dad mentioned her name before…right, she went missing for a month and no one's looking for her?"
"I heard there's a search team looking for her." said Theodore.
"Where's the last place she was seen?" asked Ron. "I mean, surely someone's keeping on track with her."
"I'm not sure," he said simply. "No one's seem to be too worried about her. But anyway, have you got any more visions since end of year?"
"Just two." responded Ron, thinking. "No deaths or anything suspicious but one of them is interesting. I think it's some kind of huge event. I saw a huge crowd siting at the stands near the Black Lake…Bagman's there and he's saying something about 'champions'."
"Don't tell me you don't know," said Theodore in mild amusement, much to Ron's annoyance.
"Look, if you know anything about what I just said, then say it!" he said irritably.
"It's the Triwizard Tournament," the weedy teen told him. "It's a tournament between three wizarding schools in Europe – Beauxbatons, Dumstrang, and Hogwarts."
"What? A tournament?" said Ron blankly. "So you're saying that tournament's going to happen at Hogwarts? Our school's bloody going to host THAT tournament? Bloody hell."
"What a wide range of vocabulary you have." said Theodore dryly, shaking his head. "And yes, it's going to be held at Hogwarts."
"That's – wait, that's what Percy, Dad and the others were talking about!" said Ron in realization. "'Restricted information until the Ministry sees fit to release the information' – I'm going to wrangle Percy! I can't believe they wouldn't tell us about something great like this!" he half-chuckled.
"Well, you know now, so what is the other vision you had?"
Ron stopped rambling, "Just my brothers, the twins – they were lighting up some fireworks in some part of the castle talking about a… pink toad I think. It's hardly anything."
"Oh, well…which team do you think will win?"
"Bulgaria. You?"
Theodore snorted, much to Ron's shock. "You're pitiful sometimes, you know."
"What? What do you mean by that?" demanded Ron.
Theo said nothing and returned to his tent. Ron stared at him but shook it off. He went back to the Weasley tent and took a nap with thoughts of the Triwizard Tournament swimming in his mind. Numerous scenarios cropped up and it excited him for some reason. He knew there would be a three weeks left before he and his siblings would return to Hogwarts and the first thing he would find out about was the tournament itself.
It seemed like hours had past but a hand was shaking his lightly, trying to wake him up from his slumber. "Son, it's almost time. Get ready."
Ron's eyes blinked a couple of times until his father's words entered his mind. He became fully awake and shot up, his eyes now fully wide. "What? It's almost time? Wait, I'll get ready!" he rambled as he scrambled to his feet and fixed himself up as fast as he could.
"Come on, Ron! We're going to be late!" hollered Fred, poking his head inside the tent.
"I'm done!" said Ron, hastily fixing his hair. When he got out of the tent, he saw the other families and wizards from different parts of the campsite moving toward the gigantic stadium warded against Muggles. He heard singing and cheers for the two teams that would be playing against each other tonight and his heart began to thump in excitement. "Bloody hell, we're really going to be able to watch it!"
"Don't wet yourself just yet, Ickle Ronniekinns," reminded George.
"Aw, shove it, git!" Ron responded, he was in too good a mood to let anything get to him.
"Now, now boys, no teasing." said Mr. Weasley to his children. "Let's get going."
They walked together toward the stadium, and Ron couldn't contain his anticipation. He looked around and he knew that everyone else felt the same. It was going to be one of the best and most memorable moments he would experience this year.
That last sentence was sort of ironic, don't you think?
I am very pleased that this chapter is done and it's longer than the first one. I think I have to explain what made Hermione follow Ron here. Let's see here…she felt the teasing was somewhat too much and she thought that Ron needed some cheering up. She's sort of like a mother or older sister but not overly so. More R/Hr to come in this year. It's a slow process but I don't want to rush it.
I'm not exactly sure how the courting works in Europe, especially in England, and how long it'll take for two people to start dating and stuff (I'm from Asia after all and it's different here but the same I think) but I hope it'll turn out good. But then again, I've heard that two people can start dating after knowing each other for a week which I think is too fast.
Hm, I'll have to figure this one out by using Google.
28/3/2013 Update: This has been re-edited to compliment chapter 22's information about Damon which I changed the breed to part-Krup and Labrador instead of Jack Russell.