The quidditch world cup

Justin Finch-Fletchley was the only one of the group to go home one day before the world cup final. All others were heading to the world cup. Some of their families were already waiting there, while others would stay the night at the Potter tent and find their families the next day. The students were accompanied by James, Lily, Frank, Alice, Sirius, Amelia, Remus, Tonks and Jack and Edna. Hermione's parents were very excited about attending a big magical event like this, while most other adults and students were simply excited about a quidditch world cup final.

During earlier championships they had sometimes watched world cup matches in their pensieve, memories of the matches were usually for sale after a day or two. Or they had listened to the wireless. But this year they had been too busy with summer camp. This was most likely a good thing, since the British teams hadn't performed too well. Especially England's 390 to 10 loss against Transylvania had been depressing enough to read about, let alone watch it.

It was a bit of a shame that there was no British team in the final now that the world cup was actually on the island. But at least their Irish neighbours had made it. They would play against Bulgaria. According to the Daily Prophet the Bulgarian team was all about their seeker, Victor Krum. The Daily Herald came with a much longer article about the two finalists and actually described all fourteen starting players of the two teams. And while they mentioned that the other Bulgarian players were quite good they also agreed that Krum was the one to watch for. Especially since the Irish chasers and beaters were considered the best of the world. His father had advised Harry to play special attention to Krum though, after all there were not that many opportunities to see such a great seeker in action, and he might learn a thing or two.

However, it was only minutes after dawn when the large group gathered around their portkey, a large pink hula hoop. It was an official portkey, provided by the ministry and had been quite expensive since they needed a big one for nine adults and fifteen students. Remus was counting down, but Harry still was surprised when the portkey activated. Somehow, it seemed like they went through three corkscrews while travelling and he needed a lot of effort to remain standing when he arrived. Around him more than half of the group tumbled down. Mostly students, but Hermione's parents had also failed to keep their balance. Harry guessed they were not really used to portkey travel. Tonks had also tripped, but that wasn't anything special.

He turned to Daphne, who had also tripped and was lying on her back. For a moment he wondered if he should ask her if she had fallen, but he decided to just offer her a hand. Apparently, she had noticed his thoughts and while she grabbed his hand she said: 'Yeah, yeah, I attacked the ground.'

Harry smiled while he pulled her up: 'I didn't say anything.'

'I know. Thanks.' She replied while putting her hands into her lower back and stretched. 'Stupid portkey, the one to Germany was a lot smoother.'

Alice turned up next to her: 'Yes, I'm not sure what kind of fool made this one. But never mind that, are you alright or do you need some healing?'

'No, I'm fine. Thanks.' Daphne replied. Alice just smiled and moved on while James started to wave everybody away from their arrival spot. A grumpy looking wizard, who for some unknown reason was wearing a tweed suit combined with galoshes, was telling him that the next party was due in three minutes. Another wizard, who looked even more foolish in a kilt and a poncho, threw their hula hoop in a large rubbish bin filled with all kind of random items.

As soon as everybody was away from the arrival pad James gathered them in a loose circle around him and started to explain: 'Okay everybody, listen up. We're going to stay together while we walk to our camping spot. Once there, some of the adults will go explore the camp site. You are free to join them or stay at the tent and wait for your own parents. I know that all of you are old and responsible enough to explore on your own, but I'm asking you to stay. What you have to remember is that your parents show us a lot of faith by letting you come to summer camp, and if we can't tell them where you are when they come to collect you that will make a bad impression. We wouldn't want to ruin our chances for next year, right?'

Several people nodded and James continued: 'One other thing. Officially seen, we are supposed to hide our identity from the muggle camp keepers.'

A few spots to Harry's left Edna snorted and loudly asked: 'Didn't anyone tell that to those two over there? I mean, a poncho and a kilt?'

James grinned and waved to the camp site where a four stories high tent with three separate balconies stood between several tents with full front gardens and said: 'Yeah, wizards are hopeless. But just make sure not to something too drastic, the owner of that big tent is possible some famous foreign dignitary. The ministry will be a lot less patient with British teenagers who blow up half the camp. Yes, Fred and George, that means you.'

Both twins looked completely innocent and carefree at that. Harry had to admit that they were quite good at it, he almost believed them. James concluded: 'It's about a fifteen minute walk. Be sure to stay together.'

Harry was walking between Susan and Neville and they were happily talking and looking around. They had a few laughs when they encountered a large group of Peruvian tents. Their nation had lost the semi-final against Ireland, and it seemed that their fans were still a bit drunk. Peruvian songs didn't sound that good while the singers were drunk.

Every now and then Harry looked around the group. He noticed that Daphne and Tracey were helping Hermione to provide a running commentary for her parents. Both of them seemed to be very intrigued by anything magical, whether it was another extraordinary tent or two small girls flying around on toy broomsticks. They were followed by a running ministry wizard who was complaining about their parents having a lie-in. Harry wondered why he even tried, no sane muggle would fail to notice the magical tents and the wizards and witches.

They passed a group of African women who were loudly debating something in a language that did not make any sense to Harry. Frank and Alice barely avoided them, which looked odd to Harry. He looked around again and suddenly noted that the adults had spread around in a rough circle around the group. James and Lily were at the front of the group, Frank and Alice to the right, Sirius and Amelia to the left and Remus and Tonks at the back. They had done it rather smoothly and pretend that it happened coincidentally, but they were forming a protective shield. Harry was sure all of them would have their wands ready in a second if something happened. For a moment he wondered if there was any reason for such preparations, but he guessed it was just a normal precaution for his parents in an environment like this.

Meanwhile Susan and Neville were talking about a huge red circular tent with two functioning chimneys. Harry zoned back in to the conservation when Neville said: 'I mean, I am okay with adding chimneys to a tent. I mean, why not. But why on earth would you use them right now? It's warm enough as it is, right?'

Susan shrugged: 'I guess a fire could be useful at night. But right now it seems a bit over the top. Maybe the owner of the tent is from a much warmer country?'

'Or maybe they want to use their floo?' Harry suggested.

Neville frowned: 'Is that even possible in a tent? I mean, you need a connection I think?'

Just before Harry had to admit that he had no idea Jack leaned towards them and asked: 'What's a floo?'

Hermione immediately started a long winded explanation about the floo system and Jack kept back again. The three of them just looked at each other and grinned. Harry wondered how he would have reacted to some of the things he saw here if he had not grown up in the wizarding world. Of course, Hermione's parents had been to Lionfire Hall and to Susan's and Neville's homes, but it was not really the same.

Eventually they reached their camp site. And Lily quickly paid the owner and received a map of the area. When she returned to the group she shook her head and said: 'The poor man had been obliviated several times at least. I could see it in his eyes.'

'Obli-what?' Jack asked.

'His memory has been tampered with.' Lily shortly replied.

'Oh.' Jack frowned, 'Isn't that dangerous?'

Lily hesitated and looked to Amelia, who immediately said: 'Not really when it is used for recent memories. Although, after a week like this he might have a slight headache for a few days. And most likely he will wonder how his bank account has suddenly grown so much.'

'There are worse things to wonder about.' Jack grinned.

'Yes.' Lily agreed before she pointed, 'Anyway, our spot is over there. Near that small group of trees.'

They quickly walked the last part and found a simple wooden sign before a large empty area that said 'Potter and company'.

James looked around while he put his backpack on the ground and commented: 'Seems we have some German neighbours. Well, never mind that.' He opened his backpack and rummaged through it for a few seconds before pulling out four pieces of cloth. For a few seconds he studied them, then handed one of them to Sirius, Remus and Alice. He kept the largest one for himself and stood up again. The four of them all found a nice spot, threw the piece of cloth on the ground and waited for Lily to call: 'No muggles are watching us.'

With four quick wand movements the four pieces of cloth transformed into four colourful tents. Harry frowned, each of them looked only big enough to house maybe three or four people. He had somehow expected some kind of large castle-like tent to house them all. However, James just looked around and said: 'Sirius' tent has the food, let's go there for breakfast.'

Sirius and Amelia had already entered their tent and James quickly followed. There were some confused looks among the others, but everybody started to move towards the tent. When Harry entered he arrived in a huge rectangular room which was easily five times bigger than the tent had appeared to be. There was a large round table in the middle which was already being filled with various kinds of breakfast food by Sirius and Amelia. Apparently the house elves had prepared quite a feast. At the end of the room were four other doors, but Harry didn't investigate. Instead of that he took a chair between Daphne and Neville.

Everybody was quite hungry, and breakfast was a rather silent affair. There was some noise when Hannah's dad arrived, but he was simply invited to join and he took a seat next to his daughter. The same happened when first Tracey's mother and a few minutes later both of Katie's parents showed up. While most others remained at the table and kept on chatting with their friends those three families left when they were done. Although Tracey made a quick stop at Daphne's chair: 'Mum is asking if you want to join us or if you stay here.'

Daphne immediately replied: 'I promised my father to wait for him here, so I think I better stay here.'

Tracey shrugged: 'I already told her you would say that, but she wanted me to ask anyway.'

Daphne smiled: 'Tell her thanks.'

'I will. Good luck Daph. Oh, and have fun at the match everybody!' Tracey replied before walking back to her mother.

A few minutes later Lily stood up and called: 'Good, now that everyone is finished with their breakfasts I have a few questions. Can everybody whose family should already be at the camp site somewhere raise their hand?'

Three people raised their hands; Alicia Spinnet, Luna Lovegood and Terry Boot. Lily nodded and asked: 'Did you agree on a time with your parents? Terry?'

Terry nodded, 'My father will be here in…' He looked at his watch, 'about an hour.'

'My parents will show up around that time as well.' Alicia added.

Lily turned to Luna, who just smiled and cheerfully said: 'I'm not sure when daddy will show up. We didn't agree on a time, and there are quite a lot distractions on a camping site like this.'

For a few seconds Lily looked surprised at the idea that someone would not immediately go to their kid after not seeing her for more than a week. But then she just smiled and said: 'Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you want of course. That leaves only Daphne and the whole Weasley family I guess. Daphne?'

'My family will arrive late in the afternoon. I think they will come for me after they find their own camp site.' Daphne simply replied.

Fred was the one to answer for the Weasleys: 'Dad and our brothers will only arrive tomorrow.'

'Do you know what time?' Lily asked.

Fred hesitated, but George came to his aid: 'I think I overheard dad saying that he could sleep late now that he didn't have to make the portkey.'

'But then, to dad everything after seven counts as 'sleep late'.' Ginny cheerfully added.

Lily shook her head: 'Anyway, we'll see when he shows up then. For today, Jack and Edna want to see more of the area. And Sirius and Amelia are going to accompany them. You are of course welcome to join them if you want. If you want, or need, to stay here, we brought a lot of board games in our tent.'

Hermione, Susan, Fred, George and Ginny all decided to join the exploring group. All of the other DA members followed James and Lily to the Potter tent, which looked pretty much the same but was filled with several large rectangular tables instead of a big round one. To the left wall there was a huge cabinet filled with board games. However, before they walked into that direction Daphne asked Harry: 'Think you can show me that warhammer game Harry? Might be our last chance for a while.'

'Sure.' Harry enthusiastically replied, 'But that is quite a long two player game, maybe we should try and play something with all of us together at first?'

Alicia shrugged and said: 'I think Terry and I just play a bit of exploding snap or maybe gobstones until our parents show up. That is, if you are alright with that Terry?'

Terry shrugged uncomfortably. The boy was terribly shy and obviously not sure how to reply to the dark-skinned beauty. Eventually he managed a soft: 'Exploding snaps sounds fine.'

'Oh, I like that game! Can I join?' Luna hopefully asked.

'Of course you can.' Alicia smiled and Luna actually made a small pirouette. 'Anyone else wants to join us?'

Ron shook his head and Neville replied: 'I'm not really in the mood for snaps. I think I'll just watch the warhammer game. It's fun.'

'Oh, and you can help me!' Daphne immediately suggested.

Neville shrugged: 'Maybe. You should ask Ron though, he's much better than me.'

Before Harry could object Ron replied: 'No, I'm sorry, but I agreed to play chess against Remus. We didn't have our annual game yet.'

Nevile hesitated for a few seconds, then he said: 'Well, sorry Daphne, but then you are on your own. I want to see this.'

Daphne tried to look sad, but it didn't really work. And while the exploding snap players were joined by Alice all the others formed a small circle about Remus and Ron and their checkboard.

'Seems it's just the two of us then.' Harry smiled while walking to one of the empty tables.

'Just as well I guess.' Daphne replied and when Harry looked at her she clarified: 'This way nobody sees me making a fool of myself during my first game. Well, beside you of course.'

Harry chuckled: 'It's not like I'm very good at it yet. And anyway, as long as we have fun.'

They both pulled the small magical sacks that housed their prizes from the hide and seek game and started to empty them. It took a while to get all the miniatures out of their protected containers. Beside that they also found two books in each of their bags, one general rulebook and one book that focused on the specific army they won. That last book also included sample army lists, and they quickly agreed to play those instead of wasting time on making their own list. Although Daphne was somewhat disappointed that her pegasus riders were not on the list. A few minutes later Harry had added them to her list while adding a few more dinosaur riding lizards to his own. It would give Daphne a small lead in points, but he did not really care.

A few hours later Harry started to wonder why he had thought so. They played very slowly, because Daphne wanted to be sure she knew all her options at every move. But she was slowly grinding his lizard army into dust. The charges from her pegasus riders and normal cavalry were simply too much to handle for his poor lizards. During their second game Harry used the cover of some transfigured hills and forests while occasionally raining down arrows on Daphne's cavalry. Which made Daphne cry out: 'Astoria! Thanks for coming to save me!' When her sister suddenly turned up next to them. She looked a lot like Daphne, although her hair had a bit more curl into it while Daphne's hair was straight.

Cheerfully Astoria crushed her elder sister's hopes: 'Dad and mum are talking to Harry's parents, it might take a while.' Daphne groaned and Harry chuckled: 'You shouldn't complain, you won the first game.'

'But Daphne doesn't like losing.' Astoria clarified in the same cheerful tone.

'Ah, shush.' Daphne muttered while studying her army. Harry just grinned again, he wasn't sure if he had already won the game. But at least he lost a lot fewer units then Daphne so far. They played on for some thirty minutes while occasionally answering Astoria's questions before they were interrupted again, this time by Daphne's parents. Both of them also seemed interested in the game, but they took the time to introduce themselves as Alphard and Isla Greengrass. Both of them focused on the game, which was almost finished, but while Isla just seemed to enjoy watching her daughter play Alphard asked a few questions about the DA and its purposes, which Harry tried to answer without too much specific details. Somehow, Alphard seemed to like it.

When Daphne's last horses were trampled by Harry's largest dinosaur unit she threw her hands in the air and sighed: 'I give up. I want a rematch at Hogwarts sometime though.'

'I would like that.' Harry smiled. He wanted to add something, but realised that her parents were still there so he changed it to: 'I had a good time. And I hope you will enjoy the world cup.'

'Thanks, you too.' Daphne replied politely, than she chuckled: 'Like there is any doubt that a quidditch fanatic like you would enjoy the game.'

'Oh, you play quidditch Harry?' Isla wanted to know, and now that Harry wasn't distracted by the game anymore he noticed that Daphne looked a lot like her mother.

Harry nodded: 'I'm seeker for Gryffindor.'

'Nice.' Isla replied, and Alphard added: 'Play special attention to Krum then. Ever seen him fly?'

'No, not yet.' Harry admitted.

'He's phenomenal.' Alphard replied while shaking his head. 'Anyway, I'm afraid we should be going now. We agreed to have dinner with Barty Crouch.'

Harry nodded again before politely saying goodbye. Daphne shot him a last, almost regretful, smile before leaving the tent with her family.

— The next day —

After Daphne had left Harry had joined his other friends in a large game of exploding snap. They had kept playing until Luna's father finally showed up to get her. Harry couldn't say that he was surprised to learn that her father was even more eccentric than Luna on her worst. He seemed friendly enough though.

They had spent the evening around a campfire roasting marshmallows and sausages together with the Weasley's who were the only ones staying the night. Of course, Ron had almost single-handedly gone through the marshmallows, but most of the others preferred the sausages anyway. And it was not like Sirius had brought too few marshmallows. The only reason why Ron ate so much more marshmallows than Sirius was because Amelia actually stopped her husband after a while.

After a good but short sleep they had explored the camp sites a bit, meeting a lot of other Hogwarts students, including Oliver Wood, who had actually signed a contract with Puddlemere United's reserve team. After Harry mentioned to Wood that Puddlemere was his favourite team all his friends needed to pull him away from the suddenly excited quidditch fanatic. It looked like he wanted to immediately contact his manager to sign Harry immediately. A little further they found Seamus Finnegan and his mother who were surrounded by huge numbers of green-clad, cheering Irish fans. It was, as Susan said, almost as if they had already won the game.

Of course, they had to explore the Bulgarian camp site after that. But first they had to return to the Potter tent because Lily had learned the day before that Arthur Weasley would show up around noon. The three elder Weasley brothers had come as well. And Harry was quite glad when his parents led him and his friends away to the Bulgarian camp. Percy had been droning on and on about his new job as a trainee at Stephenson and Jones lawyers. He was happy for Percy that he found a job that he liked, but that didn't mean he wanted to know all about it.

The four of them forgot all about Percy when they were suddenly surrounded by a sea of posters of a very surly face with heavy black eyebrows. There were actually more of those posters than Bulgarian flags in the area. All together the area looked a lot less cheerful than the Irish camp site. Even the large group that was rhythmically shouting: 'KRUM! KRUM! KRUM!' sounded more threatening than cheerful.

All of them quickly decided to support the Irish and they all bought some small green items at the peddlers'. Like rosettes, dancing shamrock-hats and even a few Irish flags. Harry barely realized how much time had passed when a deep gong sounded and red and green lanterns lighted up to show the path to the stadium.

They first returned to their tents to pick up the others before the twelve of them made their way to the stadium. After that, it was a twenty minute walk filled with laughter and talking before they finally reached the stadium. Harry could only see a small part of the huge golden wall that surrounded the pitch, but was immediately awed by the size. He overheard Remus explaining to Hermione's parents: 'Over five hundred ministry workers have been busy with it all year. It seats over a hundred thousand. And if you were not carrying those ward stones the anti-muggle wards would have you running away by now.'

They climbed the purple stairs inside the stadium almost to the top. There were only two chairs to go when James finally led the group through a door. They entered a small box with fourteen chairs, just enough for all of them. They were almost exactly between the two sets of goals and close to the top of the stadium. Jack asked: 'Wouldn't we have a better view on the lower seats?'

'No.' James replied, 'You have to remember that this sport is played on brooms.' He turned around and pointed to another box: 'That's the top box, where the ministers and other notables will be seated… I wonder how the Weasley's managed to end up there?'

'They probably did something nice and got the tickets as a gift.' Sirius answered. 'They weren't available for sale, I tried.'

'Why would you want to sit next to the minister anyway?' James wanted to know, and Harry decided it was time to focus on the stadium again instead of on the discussion. It was huge! The Hogwarts' quidditch stands could fit more than twenty times into this. He could only imagine how awesome it would be to actually play in a stadium like this.

At the other side of the stadium was a huge blackboard which was depicting advertisements for now. He guessed the scores would show up on it later. And sure enough, it changed into 'BULGARIA: ZERO, IRELAND: ZERO' as soon as a voice shouted: 'Ladies and gentlemen... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!'

Loud cheers greeted those words, and the commentator waited a few seconds until they died down a bit before he continued: 'And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian Team Mascots!'

'Wonder what they brought.' Remus commented while the right side of the stadium, a vast block of scarlet, roared its approval. A few seconds later he added: 'Uhoh, Veelas.' A few seats to his left James suddenly turned to Harry and Neville and called: 'Boys! Occlumency shields up!'

Harry was somewhat surprised, but obeyed his father anyway. Nowadays he had his defences up all the time, but on a basic level. Now he put all his defences into gear. He wondered what on earth was going to happen. All he could see was that about a hundred beautiful women streamed onto the pitch. They looked very nice, and Harry admired their fast-paced dance. But he wondered what it had to do with his occlumency shields. But then Hermione tapped him on his shoulder and pointed to another box were two young men had removed their shirts and were banging their fists against their chests. Looking around he saw other man doing equally stupid things, one of them even seemed to be thinking of diving out of his box, if the panicked look on the woman's face that was holding him back was anything to go by.

He shook his head in wonder while looking at the craziness. Meanwhile his father leaned over to him and said: 'Occlumency does not really work against a Veela's magic, especially not this when there are this many. But it forces you to concentrate on something else, with such a distance involved that should be enough. If you ever encounter one or more up close… Well, ask Remus for a defence sometime, I have no idea.'

Harry just nodded in return while the Veelas were led to the side of the pitch, accompanied by angry roars of people who didn't want the Veelas to go. Harry wondered how many people had just decided to support Bulgaria.

"And now," roared the commentator's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air ... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet had come zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling towards goalposts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the pitch, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd "oooohed" and "aaaaahed", as though at a firework display.

Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it and to Harry's surprise suddenly golden coins rained down in their box. Harry was too busy looking at the shamrock, which seemed to consist out of a huge number of tiny bearded men with red waistcoats to even try and collect some gold coins. Beside that, he heard Remus explaining to the Grangers that the leprechaun gold would fade away in a few hours.

Again, he wondered how many people had just changed their support again. Judging by the reactions around them not many people knew about leprechaun gold. Harry actually noticed some small fights starting until cooler-headed people stopped them. Eventually the great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the pitch on the opposite side from the Veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.

'And now ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you Dimitrov!' A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the pitch from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

'Ivanova!'

A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.

'Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!'

'Ah yes, their star player,' said James, intrigued. 'I wonder what he's like?'

Harry quickly focused on him as well. Viktor Krum was thin, dark and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen.

'And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!' yelled the commentator. 'Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand - Lynch!'

Seven green blurs swept onto the pitch. Harry guessed that Lynch was the Irish seeker. He was still planning to pay special attention to the seeker duel. Looking at the Irish team he noticed that they were all flying Firebolts.

'And here all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!'

A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a large moustache, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the pitch. A silver whistle was protruding from under the moustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. The referee opened the box and for the briefest of moments Harry saw the golden snitch before it disappeared.

With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air and the game started.

'Theeeeeeeey're OFF!' screamed the commentator. 'And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!'

It was unbelievable. Harry had never seen quidditch being played like this. He guessed the pensieve matches of earlier world cup finals should have come close. But it was so much more impressive when actually sitting in a stadium. He totally forgot his idea to study the seekers because he was enthralled by the amazing team play of the Irish chasers. Everything went so fast that he almost missed Ireland's first goal, he did see the leprechauns reforming the large shamrock though.

The Irish players were clearly outclassing their Bulgarian opponents. And within ten minutes they had a thirty-zero lead. The game quickly became more brutal, and after a few well aimed bludgers from the Bulgarian beaters Ivanova scored the first goal for their team. The commentator kept shouting names until suddenly the two seekers went into a very steep dive. Harry was trying to find the snitch, but he barely dared to take his eyes of the two seeker. It was almost like they were dropping without a broom.

'They're going to crash!' Hermione shouted next to him.

She was half-right - at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiralled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. 'Ouch.' Neville muttered from his other side while Harry winced and a huge groan sounded from the Irish stands.

'It's time out! As trained medi-wizards hurry onto the pitch to examine Aidan Lynch!' The commentator explained.

James shook his head: 'A wronski feint in a world cup final. That Krum has nerves of steel.'

Harry nodded without commenting. Krum was now lazily circling the pitch looking around for the snitch while Lynch was being helped. He would of course not be allowed to capture it during time-out, but it was a huge advantage anyway. Maybe he should try it at Hogwarts sometime? Although it seemed a bit of an extreme stunt to pull during a school match. He somewhat wondered if he would receive more punishment from McGonagall or from his own mother if he ever tried it… Still, it looked cool.

As soon as the game started up again it seemed that Krum's move had one unwanted result though. The Irish chasers moved into an even faster pace. And after fifteen frantic minutes they increased their lead by ten goals. They were leading by a hundred and thirty points to ten when the referee awarded Ireland a penalty after a foul of the Bulgarian keeper. The leprechauns once again rose into the air and formed the words "HA HA HA" to loud cheers from the Irish fans.

However, the Veelas jumped to their feet as well and started to dance again. Again Harry raised his occlumency shield, he almost dropped them when he noticed the referee landing in front of the Veelas while flexing his arms. The commentators sounded highly amused when he said: 'Now we can't have that! Someone slap the referee!'

A medi-wizard came running down the pitch, his fingers into his own ears to block the Veela song, and kicked Mostafa hard on the shins. For a second the referee looked at him in wonder, but then he furiously turned back to the Veela and started to berate them. The commentator spoke up again: 'And unless I'm much mistaken. Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian Team Mascots. Now there's something we haven't seen before... oh, this could turn nasty...'

'Is that even possible?' Susan wanted to know, and all of them turned to James and Sirius who were the two who knew most useless facts about quidditch. Still, both of them just shrugged. It was Amelia who said: 'I hope he comes to his senses soon. This could cause an international incident.'

Harry didn't know about that, but he did notice that the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, had landed either side of Mostafa, and began arguing furiously with him, gesticulating towards the leprechauns, who had now gleefully formed the words "HEE HEE HEE."

Mostafa was not impressed by the Bulgarians' arguments, however; he was jabbing his finger in the air, clearly telling team to get flying again, and when they refused, he gave two short blasts on his whistle.

'Two penalties?' James commented, 'That seems a bit unfair.'

'Obviously he is upset about his own actions.' Remus agreed.

The Irish scored both penalties without any problems. And play resumed again, even fiercer than before. Only a few minutes later one of the Bulgarian beaters caused another penalty for Ireland. The leprechauns seemed to think it was a good idea to form a huge hand that made a very rude gesture towards the Veelas.

Of course, the Veelas did not really agree. They charged down the pitch and started to hurl small balls of fire towards the leprechauns. Ministry wizards streamed onto the pitch to try and keep the two groups apart. Meanwhile the battle above the pitch was still going strong, and Harry found it difficult to decide what to look at. The quaffle was still changing hands with the speed of a bullet. And the Irish were still scoring more goals than the Bulgarians.

Suddenly one of the Irish beaters whacked a bludger towards Krum. Obviously the Bulgarian saw it too late, and he got it full in the face. Blood was streaming out of his nose, but the referee didn't call for a time-out. Most likely because one of the Veela had set his broom on fire. Harry searched for the Irish seeker and shouted: 'Lynch saw the snitch! Look at him go!' when the man suddenly went into a steep dive.

To his amazement Krum suddenly showed up just behind Lynch and was clearly trying to pass him while drops of blood trailed behind him. Harry did not even know how Krum could even see what he was doing. But the pair hurtled down to the ground again. And once again Hermione shouted: 'They are going to crash!'

And once again, she was half-right. Again Lynch crashed, this time he was immediately trampled by a host of angry Veela. But Krum pulled up just in time, avoided three Veela and somehow grabbed the snitch out of thin air. Harry shook his head in wonder at the amazing catch. It seemed most people had not even realized that Krum had captured the snitch, although the scoreboard already showed the final result. Harry felt somewhat disappointed when he noted that the Irish had still won the game with a ten point lead. Somehow, he felt that such a catch should have earned Krum's team the world cup.

They clapped and cheered for both teams during the award ceremonies and their throats actually hurt when they finally left the stadium and made their way back to their tents. Hermione asked why they could not just apparate or portkey back home, but Lily explained that there had been all kind of security measures around the stadium during the match. It would be easier to give the ministry a few hours to take those away instead of trying to force a way through them. Beside that, everybody was tired enough to get a good night of sleep in a tent. Of course, that little fact didn't stop them from discussing the match for almost two hours before Lily and Alice finally ordered everybody to their beds. Harry pretty much fell asleep the moment that his head touched the pillow, totally ignoring the still ongoing party outside.

— Three hours later —

He felt like he had barely felt asleep when his father shouted: 'Harry! Wake up now!'

'S'matter?' he said while waking up. Dimly, he could tell that something was wrong. The noises in the campsite had changed. The singing had stopped. He could hear screams, and the sound of people running. He slipped down from the bunk, and reached for his clothes, but his father, who had pulled on his jeans over his own pyjamas, said, 'No time, Harry - just grab a jacket and get outside - quickly!'

He quickly did so and followed his father outside. Where the Grangers and Remus and Tonks were just leaving their own tent. Sirius, Amelia, Susan and the Longbottoms had already formed a small line in front of their tents. They quickly joined and Lily asked: 'Any idea what's happening?'

'No clue.' Frank replied calmly before he pointed towards the screams. 'But something is heading more or less our way.'

Sure enough a large group of people was panicking and running towards them. Harry saw colourful flashes of spell fire behind them, and he heard some angry voices shouting. Suddenly a flash of strong green light illuminated the scene and they could all clearly see a host of dark cloaked, white masked, wizards marching towards them.

Remus cursed: 'Death eaters. Why would they show up now?'

Nobody replied, and Harry kept studying the group. Most of them had their wands pointing into the sky, but on each side several of them shot random curses into the mob. High above them, floating along in mid-air, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by the invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. Two of the figures were very small.

'Bah, the cowards got some hostages. Now everybody will hesitate to attack them to prevent the hostages from falling.' James said while suddenly a large part of the death eaters turned and jumped towards a large ornate castle-like tent with four levels and several turrets. James cursed and said: 'Frank, Lily, take care of those hostages. The others with me, and use stunners, there are too many eyes.'

'Including mine.' Amelia dryly added, and James only grinned to her.

'What about us dad?' Harry wanted to know, gesturing towards his friends as well. James frowned and exchanged a look with Lily. Eventually he said: 'Stay here with Frank, Lily and the Grangers. Keep your wands ready, but try not to attract attention to yourselves.'

Harry simply nodded in agreement. He somewhat wanted to join his father instead, but this was hardly the time to discuss that. Instead, he just watched how James ran away, followed by Sirius, Amelia, Alice, Remus and Tonks. Meanwhile part of the castle like tent burst into flames, and judging by the flashes of light a full battle was raging on its ground floor.

As soon as James and the others were in position they opened a huge bombardment of stunners towards the group below the hostages. Several shields flared up, but about ten of the death eaters crumpled within a minute. Only seconds later suddenly all of the death eaters in that group disappeared, including all but one of the unconscious shapes.

The group around James immediately charged to the castle like tent while Frank and Lily slowly lowered the four hostages back to the ground. They clearly wanted to join the fight at the large tent, but it was just as clear that they did not want to leave Harry and the others behind. Beside that, when the four hostages were finally save most of the fight seemed to be over. They waited for the last flashes to disappear before Lily said: 'Let's go to them and see if we can help.'

They were not even halfway to the tent when they heard a desperate voice from inside bellowing: 'A HEALER! I NEED A HEALER!'

It took Harry a second to realise that he had heard that voice earlier today. And less than a second later he realized that it was Alphard Greengrass' voice. Before his mother could even react he suddenly sprinted past her, desperate to see what had happened in that tent.

A/N: And again, a nice spot to end before this chapter becomes unbearably long:D Sorry about the slow update, but RL was crazy this week. And beside that I needed a few tries to make this update work.

Something that did bother me while writing this chapter: I pretty much copied the description about the leprechauns from the book. But how on earth can Harry see that the tiny leprechauns settled themselves cross-legged down on the pitch while sitting in the top row of a 100,000 stadium himself? I mean, I want glasses (or lenses, like Harry has in this story;)) like that… I'm happy to see the ball during a football match in a large stadium ;)