Harry let out a yawn as he got dressed. It felt as though he hadn't gotten a lick of sleep when Mrs. Weasley shook him awake. He took a lazy glance around the room seeing Ron, Fred, and George groggily getting dressed. They didn't exchange any words when they descended the stairs.
He stretched out his arms as they made it to the kitchen. There they saw Mrs. Weasley stirring the porridge in a large pot. She no doubt made enough for everyone. At the table sat Mr. Weasley and three other people he didn't recognize. One of them was a thin older woman, around the same age as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, a young woman no doubt in her twenties with blazing red hair and lastly a boy around his age with raven hair with red streaks in his hair.
Mr. Weasley suddenly spread his arms, "What do you think, Harry?" He asked, showing off his clothing. Mr. Weasley was wearing an old golfing sweater and jeans that seemed to be too big for him and a thick belt that kept it up, "We're supposed to go incognito. Do I look like a muggle?"
Harry smiled, "It looks good."
"I'm telling you Arthur a golf cap would pull the entire look together." The girl said, getting a bright smile from the boy.
"Who are you?" Ron asked bluntly.
Mrs. Weasley quickly smacked his arm and gave him a scolding look.
"Right, introductions." Mr. Weasley clapped, "Boys this is Andromeda Tonks," He gestured to the older woman, "her daughter Nymphadora" He gestured to the young woman who quickly said 'Just Tonks is fine' "and her nephew Rastaban."
"Hello." Rastaban gave them a short wave.
The boys all greeted them before they all sat down. Harry ended up across from Rastaban who looked down at his lap. One by one Mrs. Weasley served the boys and each one of them immediately began to scoop the porridge into their mouths. George asked about his brother Bill, Charlie, and Percy.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley explained that they get to sleep in as they could Apparate to the world cup. When Fred asked why they couldn't Apparate as well, Mr. Weasley began to explain the laws, testing, and dangers of Apparating as Mrs. Weasley went upstairs to wake Hermione and Ginny.
"Is the testing hard?" Rastaban asked suddenly, looking up from his head.
"Extremely, Charlie had to take the test twice." Mr. Weasley replied.
Fred grinned as he said, "He Apparated five miles south of where he meant to be, landed right on top of an old woman doing her shopping."
Rastaban let out a laugh, "That must've put a damper on her day."
"It was quite a good laugh." Nymphadora smirked.
"He passed it the second time." Mrs. Weasley pointed out as she returned to the kitchen, "How many tries did it take you, Tonks?"
"Just one." She replied smugly before Rastaban reached up and suddenly pulled on a lock of her hair getting a yelp from her.
He pointed a finger at her, "Stay humble." She flicked his ear causing him to laugh as he slapped her hand away.
"Little git."
The two began to playfully slap each other's hands. Harry smiled as they began to grab at each other's wrist before Andromeda snapped her fingers, "Don't start." She scolded and the two quickly complied.
"Yes, Mum."
"Yes, Aunt Andromeda."
Just then Hermione and Ginny arrived in the kitchen, both looked groggy.
"Why do we have to wake up so early?" Ginny asked as she sat down with a yawn.
"We've got a bit of a walk." Answered Mr. Weasley.
"Walk?" Harry asked, "Are we walking to the World Cup?"
Mr. Weasley smiled as he replied, "No, no, that's miles away. We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggles' attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup. . . "
"George!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, causing everyone to jump.
"What?" George asked, feigning innocence.
"What's in your pocket?!"
"Nothing!"
"Don't lie to me!' Mrs. Weasley raised her wand and pointed it at her son's pocket, "Accio!"
Suddenly, several brightly colored objects flew out of his pockets. He tried to catch them but he failed to do so. The objects landed in her outstretched hand. They looked to be toffees.
"We told you to destroy them!" She berated holding them up, "Turn out your pockets the both of you!"
It was a pitiful scene seeing the two empty out their pockets. They were trying to smuggle as many out as possible. Tonks snickered as she watched them and Rastaban raised his hands from his lap revealing a camera, a muggle camera Harry noticed. He aimed the camera at the twins and took a picture.
"This one is going into the album." He muttered as a small square-shaped paper came out of the camera.
Mrs. Weasley continued to use the summoning charm until there was nothing left in their pockets. Once she had gotten everything she threw them all away much to the twins' dismay.
"We spent six months inventing those!" Fred shouted.
"Well, what a fine way to spend six months!" She exclaimed furiously, "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"
It went like that before their departure with Mrs. Weasley berating the twins and Rastaban taking comedically timed pictures. She still had a frown on her face when she kissed Mr. Weasley on the cheek. The twins sported identical scowls as they flung their sacks over their shoulders and left without a word.
"Have a nice time!" Mrs. Weasley called after them as they walked away, "And behave!" She pointed at the twins who didn't even send a glance, "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy around midday!" She told her husband.
Rastaban kept his head down as he inspected the pictures he took. It was still mostly dark out so he needed to raise the photos to his face. Not looking where he's going he bumped into someone causing him to drop his pictures. Looking up he saw Harry who didn't have his glasses on.
He blinked in alarm before he quickly dropped to the floor and scrambled to find his glasses, "I'm so sorry." The embarrassment was evident in his voice. "I wasn't looking where I was going." He admitted before he found the glasses nestles in the grass.
"It's fine," Harry assured as Rastaban stood up and held out his glasses. Harry took it and returned it to his face, "That's better." He sighed contently.
Rastaban gave him a small smile before he went back down on the floor, "Sorry again." He said as he began to pick up his photos. Harry looked over and watched everyone else walking away, Rastaban might be left behind. He knelt and began to help Rastaban pick up his photos. The raven-haired boy quickly began to object, "You don't have to help. I wasn't paying attention."
"It's ok," Harry assured, "it'll be faster if I help."
Together they picked the photos off the ground. Grabbing the last one Rastaban stood up and Harry followed suit, "Here." He held out the photos just as Rastaban held out the pair of glasses.
"Thank you." Rastaban smiled gratefully and took the pictures from Harry's hand, their fingers brushing against each other, "We should get going." He said as he stuffed the photos into his bag.
"Right."
Side by side they followed after the others in content silence. They kept a brisk pace so they could catch up to the others. Rastaban would occasionally glance at Harry, noticing that the boy was taller than him by a few inches. Whenever he didn't glance at harsh he would look up at the descending orange moon.
Eventually, they made it to the dank lane leading down the village where they saw the others in the distance. The air remained chilly as the sky turned a shade of dark blue. Once in the village, they finally caught up with the others. Harry joined Ron and Hermoine and Rastaban ran ahead to walk next to Nymphadora.
"Harry, where were you?" Hermione asked, "We almost stopped to wait for you."
"Sorry, I dropped my glasses." Harry replied glancing ahead to Rastaban.
"What was Lestrange doing with you then?" Ron had a tone of caution.
"He bumped into me with and he dropped his pictures." He answered, "He helped me find my glasses and I helped him pick up his pictures. Why do you ask?"
They began to climb Stoatshed Hill when Ron replied, "Well I heard from Dean who was told by Seamus that Susan Bones told him that Tracy Davis told her that she overheard Parkinson say that Lestrange was born cursed."
Harry and Hermione took a moment to decipher what he said. Hermione figured it out first before she scoffed, "No one is born cursed Ronald," She said confidently before she relented, "unless they've contracted a blood curse."
"Yeah, that." Ron said suddenly, "Apparently Parkinson heard that he was born mad."
"He seemed nice enough when we spoke." Harry pointed out.
"Blood curses do take time to activate." Hermione as she had a look of recollection, "Although I've never heard of a blood curse that causes madness."
Ron looked ahead before he pulled his friends close and whispered, "Davis said that she heard Parkinson say that Malfoy told her that he was born in Azkaban."
Hermione rolled her eyes, she's humored this tall tale long enough, "That's ridiculous Ron. The Ministry wouldn't knowingly send a pregnant woman to Azkaban Prison."
"That's the thing, they didn't know." Ron replies, "She hid it and gave birth right there on the floor of her cell."
"That's impossible. Malfoy is just being a foul ferret again." Harry replied.
"I thought that too before I found out his parents were Death Eaters."
Harry felt a cold shrill feeling consuming him. Rastaban's parents served Voldemort?
"His mother was the worst of the worst from what I heard." Ron pointed out.
"Well, what did they do?" Hermione asked.
Ron suddenly looked pale and swallowed back a ball of bile, "Well they-"
Mr. Weasley let out a loud 'whew' before he announced, "We made good time too . . .we've got ten minutes."
"Now everyone let's look for that portkey." Andromeda announced, "Take a look around, it'll look uninteresting like a bucket or a box."
Everyone fanned out and it wasn't even five minutes before they heard a shout.
"Over here, Arthur!"
Just then, two tall silhouettes appeared on top of the hilltop.
"Amos!" Mr. Weasley strode over to the man with a smile.
Everyone followed as the two men greeted each other.
Mr. Weasley turned to face the others, "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?" He asked, pointing at the younger man.
Cedric Diggory was an extremely handsome young man. He was tall, well built with dark hair and grey eyes. Despite his build, he was the seeker for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.
Everyone, aside from Fred and George, said hi in reply.
"Long walk Arthur?" Mr. Diggory asked as they began to walk.
"Not long, we live just on the other side of the village." Mr. Weasley responded, "You?"
Harry tuned out the rest of the conversation as he eyed the back of Rastaban's head. The boy seemed to be entranced as he inspected his pictures. He looked up and waved at Mr. Diggory before he looked back down at his photos.
"Merlin's beard." Mr. Diggory almost exclaimed, "Harry? Harry Potter?"
Harry snapped back into reality, "Uh - Yes."
Harry was used to people staring at him strangely meet him. He was accustomed to people's gazes shifting up to the lightning scar on his forehead. It always made him uncomfortable.
"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!'" Amos said dramatically.
Harry remained silent, not sure how to reply. Fred and George scowled once more. Cedric looked slightly embarrassed. Rastaban looked genuinely confused at the man.
"Was that supposed to be a compliment? It's sounded more like gloating to me." He wondered aloud getting a smack on his arm from his aunt, "Ow!"
"Harry fell off his broom, dad." Cedric muttered his face creeping red, "I told you. . . it was an accident. . ."
"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" Amos said, slapping his son on his back. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman. . . but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh?" He said looking at Harry who still didn't know how to reply, "One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"
"See now I think he's doing that on purpose." Rastaban said aloud once more receiving a chuckle from Nymphadora.
"Must be nearly time." Mr. Weasley said quickly, raising his watch, "Are we waiting for anyone else, Amos?"
"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week now and the Fawcetts couldn't get any tickets." Mr. Diggory replied, "There aren't any more of us in the area are there?"
Eventually, the twelve of them huddled around the mangy boot Mr. Diggory held out. They all huddled into a tight circle as a gust of cold wind swept over them. A flash of light surprised everyone and Rastaban quickly said 'sorry'. Just then after a moment, it happened.
Everyone was pulled forward as their feet left the ground. They spun uncontrollably, banging into each other. Colors swirled around them like a vortex and the only thing keeping them together was the boot. Harry could hear Rastaban and Nymphadora's uncontrollable laughter amongst the howling wind.
Then their feet hit the ground and Harry fell when Ron stumbled on him. He looked up to see Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, Mrs. Tonks, Cedric, and Nymphadora standing while everyone else was on the floor. Rastaban was rolling on the floor still laughing as it was the funniest thing in the world.
Nymphadora shoved him with her foot, "Come on Rassy you know how to land on your feet."
"I know but falling's the best part!" He replied in between laughs.
"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill." A voice said.