Hi everyone, I'm so sorry about my long absence from this story, my computer broke and it's taken a while to get it fixed but I am back and with a new chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it and thank you guys for all your support for this story :D
Hazel and Ginny followed Mr Weasley into the woods with everyone else behind them. Around them they could hear thousands of other people heading in the same direction. Hazel caught snatches of shouts and laughter and singing. The atmosphere was elated with excitement and was highly infectious. Their group walked through the woods for about twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until they emerged out of the woods and into the shadow a massive stadium.
"Seats a hundred thousand." Mr Weasley told them. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again ... bless them," he added fondly, leading the way toward the nearest entrance. A swarm of witches and wizards were already congregated there.
"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."
The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. Hazel and Ginny giggled as they clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, both incredibly excited, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right.
The Weasleys, Black, Potters and Granger party kept climbing, until at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts.
The group filled out the front row of seats and Hazel stared out at the pitch. It was an amazing sight. A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. The field below looked pristine with three fifty feet high goal hoops at opposite ends of the field. Directly opposite them was a large blackboard with gold writing flashing across it like someone was writing and then erasing each message.
"Dobby?" Harry's exclamation tore Hazel's eyes off the blackboard. She glanced behind her to see a house-elf wearing a tea towel like a toga sat in a chair behind them. The elf was now peering at Harry between i's fingers with big brown eyes.
"Did sir just call me Dobby?" The little elf squeaked from between its fingers.
"Sorry." Harry apologised. "I thought you were someone I knew."
Hazel remembered Harry telling her about Dobby, the house-elf who had 'tried to save his life by almost killing him' in his second year. She shrugged and turned back around in her seat flicking through her programme.
Slowly the top box filled up with more witches and wizards who were clearly very important. Hazel laughed at the amount of times Percy jumped up making it look like he was trying to sit on a cactus. When the Minister for Magic, Fudge arrived, Percy bowed so low his glasses fell of his face and shattered. He turned bright red and repaired his glasses with his wand and remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, Hazel and Sirius whom the Minister greeted and introduced to the wizards on either side of him.
"Harry Potter." Fudge said loudly to the Bulgarian minister.
The Bulgarian minister was wearing black velvet robes trimmed with gold and seemed to not understand a word of english.
Fudge sighed. "Oh come on now, you know who he is, the boy who survived You-Know-Who… You do know who he is."
Hazel stepped up and in what she hoped was good Bulgarian said. "Hello sir, the minister is trying to tell you that this is Harry Potter the boy who survived you know who."
The Bulgarian Minister smiled at Hazel. "Hello young lady, yes I speak English it's just very funny watching this man trying to communicate." He replied in Bulgarian.
Hazel grinned.
Everyone stared at Hazel in shock.
"What?" Hazel asked.
"You speak Bulgarian?" Harry exclaimed.
"I also speak French, German, Russian, Italian and a little Mermish. Professor Nigellus kept me busy." She rolled her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck.
Fudge cleared his throat. "Ah, here's Lucius."
"Ah Fudge." Mr Malfoy held out his hand as he reached the Minister. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"
Hazel had heard a lot about the Malfoys from Harry, particularly their son Draco, who was Harry's mortal enemy. She looked over the family with white-blonde hair and pointed faces.
"How do you do, how do you do?" Fudge nodded his head at Mrs Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce Mr Oblansk or Obalonsk… Mr… Well he's the Bulgarian Minister for Magic and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind."
Hazel snorted and tried to pass it off as a cough.
"And let's see who else. You know Arthur Weasley, I daresay."
Hazel noticed the tension as soon as Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy locked eyes.
"Good lord, Arthur." Lucius Malfoy said softly, his eyes flicking up and down the row. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"
Fudge, who wasn't listening, piped in with. "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."
"How… How nice." Mr Weasley said with a strained smile.
"And Lucius I believe you know Sirius Black." Fudge continued on.
Sirius glared at Lucius Malfoy. "We ran in different circles."
Hazel glanced between the two men wondering what Sirius meant.
However it seemed that whatever Lucius Malfoy really wanted to say he couldn't in front of Fudge so instead he just nodded his head. "Pleasure to see you Sirius." He said and then continued down the row to his seats.
"Slimy gits." Ron muttered next to Hazel.
They didn't have long to dwell on the encounter because Ludo Bagman came bounding into the box. "Everyone ready? Minister, ready to go?" He asked Fudge.
Fudge nodded from his seat. "Ready when you are, Ludo."
Ludo beamed at the Minister before whipping his wand out and directed it at his throat. "Sonorus." He took a deep breath and spoke out over the crowd his voice echoing over the packed stadium. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup!"
The stadium broke out into screams and cheers. Thousands of red and green flags waved, adding the two different national anthems to the racket. The blackboard cleared the last advertisement for Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and the words BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND 0 appeared on the board.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" Bagman said.
The solid red side of the stadium roared it's approval.
"I wonder what they've brought." Mr Weasley said leaning forward in his seat. "Ah, Veela!"
"Stick your fingers in your ears boys!" Sirius shouted over the crowd.
Hazel glanced at him in confusion before turning her attention to the field, using her omnioculars. She saw that Veela were very beautiful women. Then music started to play and the Veela started to dance. Hazel frowned wondering what all the fuss was about when she saw movement to her left and just in time managed to grab the back of Harry's jeans as he had stood up and looked like he was about to jump off the Top Box.
The music stopped and angry yells filled the stadium.
Hazel rolled her eyes and pulled Harry back into his seat. "Boys."
"And now, kindly put your wands in the air for the Irish National Team Mascots."
Suddenly a gold and green comet came zooming out into the stadium. It did one lap around the oval stadium before splitting into two, each one hurtling towards the opposite goal posts, a rainbow connecting them. As the rainbow faded, the two comets zoomed back together and formed a great shimmering shamrock that soared above the stadium. Suddenly heavy gold coins rained from the shamrock and Hazel instinctively covered her head with her arms to protect it. She glared up at the shamrock and saw that with was made up of loads of tiny little bearded men in red vests.
"Leprechauns!" Hazel heard Mr Weasley called over the thunderous applause.
Finally the great shamrock faded and Hazel was able to remove her hands from her head shaking her head in annoyance.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome the Bulgrian National Quidditch Team! I give you, Dimitrov!" Bagman called out as the crowd quietened after the scramble to grab the gold coins.
A scarlet blur shot out onto the field to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.
"Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand Krum!"
The screams when Krum zoomed onto the pitch were so loud Hazel had to cover her ears. The noise was deafening. She focused her omnioculars on Krum interested to see what all the fuss was about. He was thin, dark and sallow-skinned with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. Hazel did not see the appeal.
"And now, please greet the Irish National Quidditch Team!" Bagman had to yell over the screams. "Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaand Lynch!"
Seven green blurs shot onto the field one after the other.
"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chair-Wizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" Bagman announced.
Hazel watched as a small and skinny man, completely bald but with a thick mustache, in robes of pure gold strode out onto the field. Under one arm he was carrying a large wooden crate and his broomstick under the other. Mostafa kicked open the crate and four balls burst into the air. Mostafa blew sharply on his whistle and kicked off on his broom after the balls.
"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" Bagman screamed. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"
Hazel couldn't believe the amazing skill these players were using to play the game. The chasers were throwing the Quaffle so fast that the only thing Bagman could do was shout their names as they caught the ball before it was passed on to the next person. It was breathtaking to watch and Hazel wondered if she would ever become that good at Quidditch. She hoped so.
"Troy scores!" Bagman roared and the stadium vibrated with cheers as the Irish supporters celebrated.
Hazel joined them, cheering and jumping up and down as Troy did a victory lap of the pitch. Ten more minutes passed and Ireland scored twice more. Somehow the match became even quicker and more violent. The Bulgairan beaters whacked the bludgers at the Irish Chasers as hard as they possibly could, preventing the Irish Chasers from using their best moves. Finally Ivanova broke through the Irish ranks, dodge their keeper and scored Bulgaria's first goal.
Over the roar of cheers from the Bulgarian side Hazel heard Sirius call out to the boys again. "Fingers in your ears." And she realised why when the veela began to dance again.
The veela stopped dancing and Bulgaria took possession of the Quaffle again.
"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova! Oh I say!"
Bagman's exclamation was just. Krum and Lynch were plummeting through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked like they weren't on broomsticks at all. Hazel watched on the edge of her seat. They were going to crash. With wide eyes Hazel watched as Krum pulled out of the dive and spiralled off while Lynch hit the ground with a horrid thud. A huge groan rose from the Irish supporters.
"It's time-out!" Bagman called out. "As trained medi-wizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"
"He'll be ok." Charlie Weasley comforted a pale Ginny who was hanging over the side of the box. "Which is what Krum was after, of course…"
Finally Lynch got to his feet and the Irish supporters cheered as he got back on his Firebolt and kicked back into the air. This seemed to spur on the Irish Chasers who moved into action as soon as Mostafa blew his whistle.
Fifteen more minutes of fast and furious play passed by and Ireland pulled ahead with ten more goals making the score one hundred and thirty points to ten. As the game went on it the players started to play even dirtier.
Hazel watched as Mullet shot towards the Bulgarian goalposts again, Quaffle tucked tightly under her arm, when the Bulgarian Keeper Zograf sped forward to meet her. It happened so quickly Hazel didn't even catch what happened. But whatever Zograf did caused a great scream of rage from the Irish supporters. Over the screams Mostafa's whistle rang long and shrill, signalling it had been a foul.
"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing, excessive use of elbows." Bagman commentated to the spectators. "And yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!" He called out.
The leprechauns rose angrily into the air like a swarm of sparkling wasps, darted together to form the words HA HA HA. While the veela on the opposite side of the pitch leapt to their feet, tossing their hair angrily and started to dance again.
Hazel giggled as she watched Mostafa land in front of the veela beginning to flex his muscles and smooth his mustache.
"Now we can't have that." Bagman chuckled. "Somebody slap the referee." He sounded highly amused.
A mediwizard came tearing across the field and kicked Mostafa in shins, causing the referee to come to his sense and looking exceptionally embarrassed he started shouting at the veela who stopped dancing but looked incredibly mutinous.
"And unless I'm much mistaken, our referee is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots! Now there's something we haven't seen before… Oh this could turn nasty…" Bagman informed the crowd.
And it did. Hazel watched as the Bulgarian Beaters landed on either side of Mostafa and began to argue furiously with the referee, ferociously motioning to the leprechauns who had now gleefully formed the words HEE HEE HEE. However Mostafa was clearly not swayed by the Bulgarian's arguments, he was pointing up into the air, clearly telling the players to get back on their brooms and when they refused, blew two short blasts on his whistle.
"Two penalties for Ireland." Bagman shouted and the Bulgarian crowd screamed their disapproval. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms… yes… there they go… and Troy takes the Quaffle…"
Hazel had never seen something so ferocious. The Beaters on both side were playing without mercy. Both Volkov and Vulchanov didn't seem to care if their clubs hit Bludger or human as they swung them violently through the air. Her eyes widened as she watched Dimitrov shot straight for Moran, who was in possession of the Quaffle and nearly knocked her off her broom.
"Foul!" The Irish supporters roared rising to their feet in a great wave of green.
"Foul." Bagman echoed. "Dimitrov skins Moran - deliberately flying to collide there - and it's got to be another penalty - yes, there's the whistle!" He called out.
"Oh dear." Hazel mumbled watching the leprechauns rise into the air again and form a giant hand which made a very rude sign at the veela across the field. And she was right, the veela, instead of dancing again, launched themselves across the field and started throwing what looked like fireballs at the leprechauns. She watched as the veela's beautiful faces elongated into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads and long, scaly wings were protruding from their shoulders.
Over the roar of the crowd Hazel heard Mr Weasley cry. "And that boys is why you should never go for looks alone!"
Hazel watched as Ministry wizards hurried onto the pitch to try and separate the veela and the leprechauns with little success. However the battle on the pitch was nothing to what was going on above. The Quaffle switched between players so fast it was hard to keep track and poor Bagman barely had the time to call out the players names.
"Levski, Dimitrov, Moran, Troy, Mullet, Ivanova, Moran again, Moran, Moran SCORES!"
Hazel cheered with the rest of the Irish supporters but they were hardly heard over the shrieks of the veela and the blasts from the Ministry wizards' wands and the furious roars of the Bulgarians.
The game immediately started again. Levski had the Quaffle, then Dimitrov.
Hazel gasped as Quigley one of the Irish Beaters, smacked a Bludger right at Krum and Krum scanning for the snitch didn't move out of the way quickly enough and the Bludger slammed into his face with full force. It definitely broke Krum's nose, there was so much blood but the referee didn't blow his whistle. Hazel realised why when she saw the one of the veela's fireballs had hit the tail of his broom and set it alight.
"Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled over the crowd.
Hazel swung around focusing on Lynch and saw he'd gone into a dive. And this time Lynch wasn't faking it.
"He's seen the Snitch! He's seen it! Look at him go!" Harry was shouting over the screams of the crowd.
Krum was on Lynch's tail though. How he could see with all the blood Hazel had no idea but Krum was almost level with Lynch now and they were getting closer and closer to the ground. Hazel stood there frozen watching, they were going to crash.
Hazel was half right. Lynch smacked into the ground with tremendous force and was almost immediately trampled by a swarm of angry veela.
Meanwhile Krum was clutching the golden snitch, fist held high. The scoreboard read BULGARIA 160, IRELAND 170. The crowd seemed completely confused about what had just happened. Slowly realisation dawned and the Irish supporters rumbled as their screams and cheers grew louder and louder.
"Ireland wins!" Bagman shouted, who seemed just as shocked at the sudden end of the match. "Krum gets the snitch but Ireland wins, good lord I don't think any of us were expecting that."
Hazel noticed both Fred and George were grinning at her and she gave her an embarrassed smile. She really hadn't made a prediction just an informed guess. She turned her attention back to the pitch cheering with everyone else.
The leprechauns zoomed across the pitch. The Irish team dancing under their mascots who were showering them with gold coins. Meanwhile Krum was refusing to be tended to by medi-wizards while his team surrounded him, looking forlorn and shaking their heads. Flags were waving all over the stadium and the Irish national anthem blaring from all sides. The veela had thankfully shrunk back to their usual beautiful selves and looking very dejected.
"Vell, ve fought bravely."
Hazel glanced around and saw it was the Bulgarian Minister for magic. She giggled at the shocked look on Fudge's face.
"You can speak English!" Fudge exclaimed looking outraged. "And you've been letting me mim everything all day!"
"Veil, it vos very funny." The Bulgarian Minister shrugged winking at Hazel who had to cover her mouth with her hand to conceal some of her laughter.
"And as the Irish team performs a lap of honour, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" Bagman roared.
Hazel had to shield her eyes from the dazzling bright white light that suddenly shone onto the Top Box so everyone could see inside. Glancing over to the entrance Hazel saw two wizards lugging in a large golden cup into the box. They handed over the cup to Fudge who was still looking sour over the fact he'd been using sign language all day for no reason.
"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers, Bulgaria."
Hazel clapped with everyone else, watching as the Bulgarian plays filed between the rows of seats to shake hands with their own minister and then Fudge. She sank a little in her seat very aware of the amount of eyes on her right now. Next came the Irish team. Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly looking very dazed from the second crash, his eyes looking oddly unfocused. But he grinned as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd screamed its approval.
Finally, the Irish left to take another lap of honour around the pitch on their brooms and Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said. "Quietus."
Bagman sighed rubbing his eyes tiredly. "They'll be talking this one for years." HIs voice was hoarse from the commentating. "A really unexpected twist, that, shame it couldn't have lasted longer… Ah yes, I owe you… how much?" He asked as Fred and George scrambled over the backs of their seats to now stand with broad grins on their faces in front of Bagman with their hands outstretched.
And that is chapter ten. More to come soon :D