AN: Here we go! time to prep for the cup! Comment if you liked it, and I will post again next week!

Thank you times 10000 to Katherine my beta.

I own nothing.

Chapter 42

Mia awoke to a crack and jumped awake.

"Morning," Sirius said with a grin as he flopped onto his empty bed.

Mia sighed deeply and dropped back onto her pillow. "It's not morning yet," she said as she closed her eyes. The fireworks had burned long into the night and Mia could still see the sparks when she closed her eyes.

"What do you say we get started making breakfast for our hosts?"

Mia opened one eye and looked across the room to Sirius. He was laying on his side, his head resting on his hand watching her with a small smile. He wore a bright green shirt with a shimmering shamrock on the front. The shamrock kept letting off tiny explosions of green and gold.

"Not all of us have had pepperup potions for breakfast."

"I can change that," he said with a grin.

Mia let out a groan and rubbed her hands over her face. "Let me get dressed."

In the kitchen, Mia looked into the cupboards and then into the fridge to check their supplies. "I think Mr. Adewumi mentioned he was planning on pancakes this morning."

Mia emerged from the fridge with a carton of milk. Sirius was leaning against the kitchen island smiling at her. She wasn't quite sure why but decided to just go with it.

"How can I help?" Sirius asked.

Mia shrugged. If he really wanted to do this with her, she could put him to work. "Put eighteen ounces of flour into a big bowl," she said.

They actually had fun. Sirius followed her directions with a cheerful obedience that was bordering comical. He was terrible at cracking eggs and they laughed while they had to fish the shells out of the bowl by hand. Mia, of course, prevented him from using his wand as it would ruin the food. Sirius was shocked to learn magic would affect the flavor of food. It was clearly something more wizards needed to know.

As the smell of cooking sausage and bacon filled the tent, the first sleepy headed wizard emerged from a room. Mia tried not to stare at Gabe with his tee shirt tight against his chest and bunched along the waistband of his pajama pants as he made his way into the kitchen yawning.

"What are you two doing up so early?"

Sirius slapped Gabes back making him wince before he handed him a cup of tea. "Check again, my boy. Not exactly early."

Alec appeared a short time later in a similar state to Gabe and was offered his own tea. Mr. Adewumi appeared a few minutes later, clean shaven and neatly dressed.

"What is all this?" Mr. Adewumi asked.

"Just a thank you for a wonderful trip, my friend," Sirius said, offering Mr. Adewumi tea.

"It has been a joy having you both," he said, adding sugar to his tea.

Gabe and Alec woke up as they ate and were cheerful for the day ahead by the time their plates were cleared. Mia went to take a shower while they cleaned up. She dressed for the day in a green dress, her support for Ireland for the game.

Once Gabe was dressed in a cheery green jumper, they decided to take another stroll around the campsite. Alec joined them.

The excitement of the campers seemed to have tripled in the night. Where yesterday the campsites were filled with a low hum of anticipation, today each person they passed seemed to glow with the excitement of the coming event.

After dinner, they all parted ways to ready for the evening. Mia retied her braids with green and gold ribbons. She thought it was a nice and festive touch with her green dress to show the team spirit she didn't really feel. She left the room and stopped when she entered the living room. Alec and Sirius were sitting next to each other on the couch, and Alec was drawing shamrocks with green paint on Sirius' cheeks. He wore a big green hat with a shamrock on it that expelled sparks in rhythm with the shamrock on his shirt. Alec's hair was now green on one side, and orange on the other, and he had gold and green shamrocks on his face.

Alec turned to Mia when she entered. "You want me to do yours next, Mia?" he asked holding up the facepaint.

"Um, no thanks," she said. She was festive enough.

Mr. Adewumi came out of his room wearing a glittering green and gold jumper. He had orange matching facepaint spread under his eyes. "Are we ready?" he asked excitedly.

Gabe emerged from his room wearing an Ireland jersey and carrying his new merchandise. He had green and orange stripes painted on his cheeks, and he looked at Mia with a serious expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He looked really sad.

"Mia, will you do me a big favor? Like, the biggest favor of our friendship?" he asked. His eyebrows were close together and he looked at her with apprehension at her response.

The room was silent, she could tell Sirius, Alec, and Mr. Adewumi were all watching them.

"Of course Gabe, what do you need?" she asked.

"Do you mean it?" he asked sadly. He frowned. "Do you promise?"

"Yes Gabe, I promise. If you need something, I will do it," she said honestly.

"Great!" Gabe said. He held up the big shamrock button. "I need you to wear this stuff."

"No! Gabe!" She pulled away from him before he could pin it on her dress and he chased her.

"You promised, Stripe!"

"You did promise kid," Sirius said with a wicked grin.

Mia sighed. "But I will look ridiculous!" she complained.

"No you won't, you'll look like one of us," Gabe retorted.

"Fine," Mia said relenting. She crossed her arms and frowned at her best friend. She did promise, but she didn't have to be happy about it.

Gabe grinned and pinned the shamrock to her dress. Then he draped the ridiculous mess of shamrock chains over her head till they rested on her shoulders. He set the shamrock hat on her head, settling it with care.

"Perfect," Gabe said with a warm smile as he looked her over and met her eyes.

"Happy?" Mia asked. She couldn't help the smile that crossed her face as she stared into Gabe's warm copper eyes.

"Just needs the facepaint," he said with a grin.

That broke the spell that had been wrapping around her a moment before. "No! Absolutely not!" She darted away from the boy as fast as she could, but his long arms and legs and his superior reflexes from quidditch had her beat. He grabbed a paint stick from his brother and chased her around the room.

"It's payback for turning me scarlet and gold that one time!" he cried as he chased her.

When he caught her, he held her from behind with his arms wrapped around her chest in a big bearhug while Sirius drew on her face. "Hold still or they're gonna be crooked," he told her.

Understanding her defeat Mia slumped in Gabe's arms, resigned to her fate. When Sirius was done, he told her she was beautiful with a smile. Mia glared at him and then at Gabe. His cheeks glowing red, he crossed the room to his brother.

"Will you do my hair?" he asked Alec. His brother grabbed his wand and started charming Gabe's hair green and gold while Gabe told Sirius about the prank Mia played on him in their second year, turning him gold and scarlet for the Gryffindor quidditch match.

Sirius gave her an appreciative look and asked questions about their other pranks.

They left for the stadium as the sun was setting. Sirius downed another potion just before they went, and as they walked into the cooling evening air, his ears smoked. He looked around into the gloom as they walked, jumping when anyone new appeared in the trees and joined them on the lantern lined trail. Mia made up her mind and matched his pace before she linked her arm through his. He looked down at her startled, and she tried to smile reassuringly. He returned her smile and patted her arm. He seemed to calm a little as they crossed the forest.

People laughed and sang around them, the crowd was teeming with excited energy. When they reached the glaring lights of the stadium, it was nearly as bright as day, and Sirius relaxed. The noise was deafening, and the stadium was bigger than Mia could have imagined.

"Ooh, great seats!" The wizard at the entrance told them when Mr. Adewumi handed over their tickets. "Top box, all the way up."

Sirius' eyes bulged a little. "Top box?" he muttered. He leaned down to whisper in Mia's ear. "Who did he have to kill to get these?"

Mia laughed and shook her head. "Someone gave them to him trying to work out a trade deal or something."

"Hm, maybe I need to become a diplomat," Sirius said as they started climbing the purple carpeted stairs.

They moved in a mass of bodies, people breaking off on each floor for their seats. Mia kept trying to get a glimpse of the stadium through the entries. A hundred thousand witches and wizards were here right now, trying to find their seats, all brimming with excitement for the event. It was enough to make even her feel giddy.

They reached the top box at last, and Mia looked out over the stadium and gasped. The grass was a green velvet carpet and the seats were a sparkling mass of green and red. They were nearly eye level with the giant gold hoops at either end of the field. She felt excitement and peace flood over her at being so high.

AN: Are you excited for the game? Think things will be a little different from the perspective of someone not super into quidditch? Tell me what you think.

I just got the first draft cover sketches back for my YA/fantasy novel I'm publishing this year. It's so cool to see someone else's interpretation for my story! My greatest accomplishment as a writer will be if I ever get fan art :] or have fan fiction written for it. If you have any interest in learning more about the Young Adult Fantasy book I am in the process of publishing, check it out at hmwrites {{dot}} com /misplacedchild you can sign up to be one of the first to get a look at my cover design.