AN: Time for the game! Are you ready for this?

Thanks SO much to Katherine my beta.

I own nothing.


Chapter 43

"Harry, my boy!" Sirius called in front of her. She turned to look. The box was nearly full. In the front row sat Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George, and who Mia figured was the rest of Ron's family.

"Sirius!" Harry called as he jumped from his seat and climbed over the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, and another man. He hugged Sirius.

"How have you been?" Sirius asked. "Did you get my letter?"

"Sirius, wonderful to see you out and about," the Minister of Magic said to Sirius, standing from his seat and offering his hand.

Sirius looked at the man's hand, then looked him in the face, then turned back to Harry without a word.

Mia covered her mouth before a laugh escaped, Gabe doing something similar at her side. Mr. Adewumi and Alec had already made their way to their seats a few rows back, but stayed standing watching them as if to make sure everything went well.

Mia's eyes met with Fred and George's own shining eyes, and they gave her a nod. She smiled and nodded back. Then she looked at the row behind them. An empty seat and a house elf sat at the end with- her stomach dropped. Lucius Malfoy sat next to the elf with his son by his side, and Narcissa next to them. Lucius didn't seem to notice her, but Draco grinned.

"Nice team spirit, Black," he called. "Always knew you would look good in green."

She made a face at him but was prevented by saying anything rude when Narcissa saw her.

"Amelia!" Her aunt made her way to the isle and wrapped Mia in a big hug. "How are you, are you well? Are you safe?" she asked whispering into Mia's ear. She pulled away and held Mia at arm's length and examined her as if she could tell by looking at her.

Mia tried to smile reassuringly. "I'm great. Never better," she said truthfully.

Narcissa nodded then straightened, her posture going rigid. "Sirius," she said stiffly.

"Narcissa," Sirius said, as he put a hand on Mia's shoulder.

Narcissa frowned and returned to her seat as if nothing had happened.

A man wearing a badly fit yellow and black striped quidditch jersey entered the box looking excited. "Everyone ready?" he asked. He looked at the minister. "Minister - ready to go?"

Gabe quickly led them to their seats. He slid in next to Alec and Mia sat next to him with Sirius sitting along the isle.

Mia saw the man in yellow and black raise his wand to his throat and say something. Then he started to speak, his voice now booming through the entire stadium, shining out over the roaring crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen. . . welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

Everyone screamed and cheered. Mia covered her ears out of reflex as Sirius and Gabe yelled at her sides. A large blackboard that previously showed an advertisement for candy cleared and was replaced by the score. Bulgaria: 0 Ireland: 0

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce. . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

"Cover your ears son," Mr. Adewumi shouted to Gabe over the roar. Gabe, as if knowing what was coming, covered his ears. Alec likewise covered his and Mia frowned, not sure if she should do the same.

She looked at Sirius who leaned forward to watch, a happy grin on his face. "Veela," he sighed happily.

Mia had heard of them before, but… she looked out onto the field. A hundred beautiful women glided onto the field. They were beautiful with white gold hair and shining skin. Music started and they began to sing. It was beautiful, but she didn't feel entranced. She looked at Gabe and saw him staring dopey eyed at the field as the veela danced. He started to lean forward before Alec put a hand on his shoulder snapping him out of it. Gabe shook his head and frowned, and put his hands tighter over his ears. His cheeks glowed red when he saw Mia looking at him. She decided to stop watching him and looked at Sirius. He seemed… at peace. That was odd. He had a small smile on his face, but other than that looked totally relaxed.

The music stopped and Gabe let out a deep sigh next to her. Yells filled the stadium, people screamed and yelled for the veela to come back.

"And now, kindly put your wands in the air. . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!" the speaker yelled.

A green and gold comet came flying out of the stadium and circled once before splitting into two smaller comets heading towards each end of the goalposts, and a rainbow spread across the stadium connecting them. Mia gasped. It was beautiful, even better than the fireworks the night before.

The balls of light reformed into one and created a shimmering shamrock. Gold rain fell from it as it circled the stadium, and as it passed overhead Mia realized gold coins rained down on them. She laughed as they bounced off her hat, and she looked up at the mass. "Leprechauns!" she yelled. She could just make out the individual figures of each tiny man carrying a lamp of green or gold.

The leprechauns split from the shamrock and sank to the field, lining one side opposite of the Veela.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!"

A scarlet blur shot out of an entrance on the field and raced around for the screaming audience. More figures shot out over the field and the announcer screamed their names.

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

Gabe let out a loud cheer at the last name.

"I thought you weren't cheering for them?" Mia asked yelling into his ear so he would hear.

"Not for Bulgaria, but their seeker, Krum, he's amazing!" Gabe yelled.

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

Mia cheered along with her row as the seven green blurs joined the red ones.

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

A man in pure gold robes walked out on the field, he carried a crate in one arm and a broom under the other. He dropped the crate and mounted his broom before kicking the crate. The lid popped open and four balls flew into the air. Mia lost sight of the snitch almost immediately. The referee blew a loud whistle and flew into the air.

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

She tried for a second to follow the players then stopped and laughed. They were so fast, she couldn't believe it. No way could she keep track of the blurs well enough to know who had the ball. She couldn't see the individual movements, but she could see the overall effect. A few green blurs darted across the field, a small dark ball flying between them as they all rushed towards the huge gold rings.

"TROY SCORES! Ten zero to Ireland!"

The crowd roared and Mia just blinked letting her eyes relax. The leprechauns watching on the sidelines launched into the air making another giant shamrock. Within another ten minutes Ireland had scored twice more, and the only thing standing in their way were the Bulgarian beaters. They forced the Irish chasers apart and allowed one of the Bulgarian chasers to score.

Gabe covered his ears with a frantic motion, startling Mia, until she realized the veela started to dance and sing in celebration.

"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova - oh I say!" the announcer gasped.

Mia saw two blurs, one red and one green plummet towards the ground. The seekers after the snitch? Mia wondered.

"They're going to crash!" she heard someone scream.

The voice was right. At the last second, the red blur pulled up and flew even with the ground before rising back to the sky, but the green blur kept going and collided with the earth with a dull thud Mia heard all the way in the top box.

Goans sounded around them. "Bloody hell, that was beautiful," Gabe said. Mia looked at him like he was crazy. He looked back at her like it was obvious. "That was the Wronski Feint. Krum was feinting. He just took out his rival seeker."

"It's time-out!" the announcer yelled, "as trained medi-wizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

"Why are you smiling? Isn't that bad?" Mia asked.

"Yeah, but it was wicked cool to see," Gabe said grinning. "He'll be ok."

"He should be dead!" Mia said.

"Na, the medi-wizards will patch him up."

Mia looked down on the field. The medi-wizards were pouring potions down the fallen seekers throat.

Hermione appeared next to them a moment later. She smiled at Mia then tapped Sirius on the shoulder. Sirius had been watching the air above them grinning at something and looked at the girl with confusion.

"Wanna switch seats for a little while?" she asked Sirius.

Sirius grinned and nodded, but then stopped and turned to Mia. Mia pushes down the jealousy she felt. Harry deserved time with him too. She nodded at Sirius. "Go," she said.

Sirius grinned and made his way to Hermione's seat next to Harry. Harry grinned and threw his arm around Sirius. Their faces lit with excitement as they watched the air.

Hermione and Gabe shared greetings. "Are you enjoying the game, Mia?" she asked.

Mia shrugged and grinned. "It's definitely better than house quidditch."

Hermione smiled. "That's not the best part either. Look." She handed her binoculars to Mia. She realized immediately that they weren't normal binoculars as they held a number of buttons and switches.

"It's all queued up. Press here to play at half speed, and here to stop and this is rewind."

Mia took the heavy binoculars and held them up, and was greeted with the face of a dark, and sallow-skinned man. He had a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked menacing and powerful. He was pointed down, flat against his broom. Mia pressed the play button and the man shot towards the earth, a man in green following close behind. This must be Krum. Mia knew how it would end, but her heart raced seeing the replay. Krum was a powerful bird of prey racing towards the earth, and then he wasn't. He leaned back, his robes stretching over the muscles of his shirt, and his arms bulging with the effort as he righted his broom at the last moment and soared towards the binoculars. The recording followed him as he flew, a peaceful look on his face as if he was born for it. Then he grinned and shot towards the sky. His dark eyes darted all over the ground a hundred feet below as if looking for something. He was looking for the snitch while the opposing team's seeker got patched up. He didn't even seem to be on a broom, but looked weightless as he flew through the sky. The recording stopped and Mia dropped the binoculars. She looked at Hermione to see the girl smiling, a blush crept over her cheeks. Mia gave her a knowing look raising her eyebrows and Hermione giggled.

The game was more fun from that point on. Hermione frequently passed the binoculars to Mia for another closeup of the Bulgarian seeker.

After Ireland got a penalty Hermione tapped her sleeve and gestured towards the referee. The man was on the ground before the veela. He started flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache excitedly as the veela danced.

"Now, we can't have that!" the announcer said sounding highly amused. "Somebody slap the referee!" Hermione and Mia giggled uncontrollably as a medi-wizard ran across the field and kicked the referee. He came to and looked embarrassed then started shouting at the veela.

"And unless I'm much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots!" said the announcer. "Now there's something we haven't seen before. . . Oh this could turn nasty…"

A few Bulgarian team members landed next to the referee and started arguing with him. The referee blew his whistle twice.

"Two penalties for Ireland!" shouted the announcer. The Bulgarian crowd howled with anger. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms… yes… there they go... and Troy takes the Quaffle…"

Things got worse. Beaters swung and didn't care if they hit balls or people. The Bulgarians drove an Irish player out of the air flying into her. They got another penalty and the leprechauns flew into the air and made a rude gesture to the veela. The veela turned. Their faces became sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings burst from their shoulders. They launched themselves across the field and started throwing balls of fire at the leprechauns.

Ministry workers flooded onto the field trying to separate the veela and leprechauns, but didn't succeed. Above them the game continued with fierce energy. A beater hit Krum in the face with their bat and blood flew. The crowd gasped. Mia looked for the referee but saw his broom was on fire as he flew away from a group of veela.

"There they go!" Hermione yelled.

Mia looked and saw the green blur taking off to the side, with the bloody red blur following closely.

"They are going to crash!" Hermione yelled again. The green blur did crash, again, but the red one pulled away again and soared into the sky. "He has it!" she yelled. Krum, now moving slow enough to be seen rose slowly in the air. His fist high above him. Blood ran down his face.

The scoreboard started flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170. The crowd roared. Gabe was on his feet, his fist in the air yelling at the top of his lungs.

"IRELAND WINS!" the announcer yelled. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS - good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione said dreamily as she leaned forward to watch Krum. A swarm of medi-wizards blasted a path through the battling leprechauns and veela to get to the Ireland seeker. "He looks a terrible mess."

"And as the Irish team performs a lap of honor, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" the announcer said.

Mia blinked as the box got very bright very suddenly. She looked towards the entrance to see two out of breath wizards carrying a huge golden cup. They handed it to the Minister who looked disgruntled for some reason.

"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers - Bulgaria!"

The seven defeated Bulgarian players crowded into the top box and the announcer called out each name as they shook hands with the Minister. Krum was the last in line, and he looked horrible. Mia nudged Hermione who giggled and nudged her back.

Then came the Irish team, forcing the Bulgarian team partway up the steps. Krum stopped just near them and looked down as if to make sure he didn't bump into anyone. Hermione stiffened beside her and held her breath, but Mia wasn't sure the player could see them through his two black eyes.

The Irish seeker looked worse than Krum after his second fall. He looked dazed and was being supported by two of his team mates.

The Irish left the box amid the screams and cheers to do another victory lap, this time carrying the giant golden cup. It took ages for the box to empty and Mia said goodbye to Hermione as they parted ways. Mia again linked arms with Sirius as they walked through the darkness, following the lamps back to their camp. Sirius for his part kept his tone mild as he spouted off play by play moments with Gabe, Alec, and Mr. Adewumi.

People cheered and sang and lit bonfires all over the woods. They shot sparks into the air and let off fireworks. Without the excitement of the crowd and the bright lights, Mia started to come down from the adrenaline high, and was ready for bed when they reached the tent. She said goodnight to Sirius who quietly disapparated to spend the evening with werewolf Remus in his animagus form. She tucked herself into bed.


AN: So what do you think will happen next? Will they sleep safe and sound through the night?

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