My charm alarm woke us up the next morning, so early that it wasn't even light out yet. Ginny groaned, the arm wearing the charm being right next to her head before we started to stir. "Come on ladies, time to face the world." I yawned, struggling to get up from the comforts of Ginny's bed. I shook Hermione awake gently, rousing her until Crookshanks jumped up and started to claw at her hair, finishing the job. "Thanks Crooks, good cat." I said to him as Hermione started opening her eyes. Stroking his fur, I jumping into the shower first in order to refresh myself, washing my hair before then stepping back out.

Looking at my face I frowned at it, seeing slight shadows under my eyes so I decided to go ahead and apply some makeup. My mother had stocked me up for the last two birthdays and Christmases in the hope that I would take to it, and only recently I started fiddling around with it. It was good stuff, to be fair. The magic all-correction cream smoothed out the shadows and made them disappear and another cream perfectly moisturised my face, balancing the oils and such so that I looked bright and awake. I added a little mascara, a touch of gloss to my lips then pulled up my still damp hair.

Feeling more human and less like a reanimated corpse I surrendered the bathroom to Hermione as Ginny changed. "Are you wearing makeup?"

"It's a special occasion."

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you wear it before."

"…it's a special occasion." I repeated, having no other answer for her. Still she smiled and I let her have a play with it all, fiddling with the creams, foundations, liquids and powders. Even Hermione had a look, finding it fascinating to see magic makeup as opposed to the muggle sort she was used to seeing and was particularly fascinated with a powder for the eye that literally sparkled like encrusted diamonds. Mrs Weasley knocked then so I answered the door, assuring her that we were up and getting ready.

"Oh, well done dear." She smiled to me approvingly. "You needn't have worried, I would have woken you…"

"I set my charm alarm, it got us up a bit earlier for showers and things. We'll be down in a minute, do you need any help with breakfast?"

"Not at all dear, everything's in hand." Patting my cheek smilingly, she then went off to go wake the boys. I was one of the first ones down, greeted by Arthur at the table reading the newspaper and dressed in muggle clothing.

"Morning Mr Weasley." I said sleepily, leaning down to kiss his cheek.

"And a good morning to you Mia. How are we today?"

"Wishing I was of age and could just apparate like Bill, Charlie and Percy." I said honestly as I yawned. Seeing that Mrs Weasley was still halfway through breakfast, I started helping out. I turned over the bread as it was toasting under the grill, stirred the porridge, flipped the bacon and the pancakes and started unloading cooked eggs onto a plate, arranging things on the table with plates for everyone. Just as I was pouring out the juice and putting on the tea, Mrs Weasley came back down the stairs.

"Mia dear, you shouldn't have! Oh you are a sweetheart." Ushering me into a seat she insisted that she handled the rest, pouring me a fresh cup of tea and setting a bowl of porridge in front of me, already adding blueberries and a little syrup, exactly the way I liked it. Thanking her I tucked in, enjoying the warming sensation it made as it journeyed to my stomach as the boys all made their way down as well, yawning as they went. Breakfast was a rather quiet affair, everyone still sleepy and as Mrs Weasley bustled around, ensuring we all had our fill, I started poking Fred and George.

I made various hand gestures, pointing to their pockets and making them hand over the sweets they were trying to smuggle out to me so that they wouldn't be found. Stuffing my pockets full, Fred leaned in to grin and whisper a thank you, kissing my cheek lightly as I smiled then took to resting my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes and almost fell back asleep. George woke me up by clapping hand down on my leg, making me squeak and sit bolt upright. "George! Don't be so rough with Mia!" His mother scolded him but seemed blind to the fact that I clobbered him around the head.

"Don't worry mum, Mia can give as good as she gets." He promised her but Molly just scowled at him. She caught both the boys with a few of the sweets they hadn't handed over to me, which resulted in a shouting match between them as she binned the ones she got hold of so I quietly slipped away, feeling like a thief with the sweets weighing down my own pockets. They caught up to me, grumbling about their mother.

"Good thing you smuggled most of them out, Mia. She's on the warpath, she is."

"She just worries about you, that's all. Once she sees how happy you are selling jokes and novelties, she'll come around." I assured them both, linking my arms through theirs in order to walk between them as we started the hike up to Stoatshead Hill where our portkey was waiting. It was a long walk and several times I felt like I could just drop where I was and sleep but the twins pulled me on and when they started to falter, I returned the favour. Eventually we got there, with ten minutes spare apparently, and after we started looking a boisterous voice split the frigid silence we had otherwise been enjoying.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here son, we've got it!" Coming over to investigate as I was the closest, I spotted two figures standing beside an old boot. One I recognised, as he was Captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, Cedric Diggory.

"Amos!" Cheerful as always, Arthur patted my back as he passed and offered me his hand to help me down the steep slope, probably worried I would slip since it was damp from dew. Once everybody had gathered, Arthur introduced the rosy-cheeked wizard to us all as we struggled to hide our yawns. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. Works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and I think you know his son, Cedric?" No one else answered so I piped up.

"Mostly from quidditch." Cedric smiled to me and said a general 'hi' to everyone who answered, the twins only nodding.

"Long walk Arthur?" Mr Diggory questioned, to which Arthur responded with that he only lived on the other side of the village before returning the question. "Had to get up at two, didn't we Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his apparition test. Still, not complaining, Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sack full of galleons – and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. All these yours, Arthur?" Already I had become fully aware just how much Mr Diggory liked to talk, and since it was still far too early for such social behaviour, it was tiring to listen.

"On no, only the redheads. This is Euphemia, the twins' close friend, and this is Hermione, Ron's friend, and Harry, another friend…"

"Merlin's beard, Harry? Harry Potter?" Now accustomed to the shock and surprise met with his name, Harry just rolled with it. "Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year, I said to him, I said – Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will…you beat Harry Potter!" Glancing over to Cedric, I saw him looking exceedingly uncomfortable with it all.

"Harry fell off his broom, dad. I told you, it was an accident."

"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" Now even livelier than before, Mr Diggory clapped his son heartily on the back and saying that he was modest, a real gentleman. I'll have to admit, I could see what other girls in school saw in Cedric Diggory. He was classically handsome and had a decent personality to boot. Personally, he was a little too handsome to me. He drew the eye in, making himself a distraction and the amount of times girls would giggle as he passed, it was rather annoying really. Still, it wasn't his fault. He was a decent guy like I said. Still, his father was a bit much. Seemed to have it in his head that by beating Harry, Cedric was the better flyer. He was decent, but Harry was definitely better.

"Must be nearly time." Arthur smartly changed the topic of conversations as the twins were both getting agitated with Mr Diggory and I had naturally gripped onto the backs of their shirts to make sure they didn't try anything daft. "Do you know whether we're waiting for anymore, Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get any tickets." He explained then wondered if there were anyone else in the area but Arthur couldn't think of anyway. So with a minute to go, Arthur explained to Hermione and Harry that they just needed to touch the portkey, so we all crowded around it in order to make sure everyone was touching it. I had my hand on a shoelace and was quickly whispering to Harry and Hermione what the sensation would feel like so they didn't accidentally let go too early and get lost somewhere. It didn't happen often, but it did, so I just wanted to be sure.

As Arthur counted down, we all felt the same hooking feeling of our bodies getting ripped off the ground before everything distorted around us. I just closed my eyes and went with it, taking it all in stride until all at once we landed. I braced myself, landing with perfect balance as everyone else other than Arthur, Mr Diggory and Cedric fell on the floor. "Ha! Looking good down there boys." I said to Fred and George before offering them my hands to help them up. They looked at each other, grinned then grabbed on in order to tug me forwards with a yelp so I went sprawling into them. "You rotten devils!"

"What was that you said Mia? I'm pretty sure she said something mean George, what do you say?"

"I say we should tie her up and leave her somewhere. Maybe donate her to a pet store. She'd make an excellent pet cat, see? She even hisses." George said as I hissed at them both, trying to claw my way to freedom as they both locked me down, Fred having pinned one of my arms. With a couple of shakes I had both of them wrestled into the ground, launching myself at them to have their necks under my grasp and holding them both until Arthur cleared his throat.

"Mia dear, if you would kindly leave some of my sons intact, we'd better get going." I dropped them both immediately to leave them coughing and spluttering, smiling like an angel as I walked on over to the others.

"Sure thing Mr Weasley, where are we going?"