Chapter 3: Whispers

"Vast." Marinette said with a tone of success.

"Yes!" Nino agreed, relieved. "That's the word. This campground is vast."

"I was just going to say it's stupid, and move on from there." Alya grumbled. The group had been wandering towards their campsite for forty-five minutes and had made seemingly no progress. Once they had entered the campground, large numbers could be seen hovering above their respective sections. To their disgruntlement, the number 12 had been on the exact opposite side of where they were standing.

They had passed up through section ten, but the 12 appeared no nearer than it had when they started. Marinette had chosen to pass the time by casually judging the tents and their decorations. At first, the tents were normal, nothing overtly special about them. But as they neared the stadium, more and more tents had decorations supporting either France or the United States, and the closer they got, the more intense the decorations were.

Many Americans had bewitched several Bald Eagles to have their feathers be in the pattern of the American Flag. Said Bald Eagles were currently flying overhead, occasionally relieving themselves over French tents. At one point some bird droppings had landed on the head of a frenchman who retaliated by stunning the bird out of the air, only to be instantly tackled by five americans amidst shouts of "How dare you!" and "That's an endangered species!"

The French on the other hand had, kept their decorations simple, their tents covered in their national flag. What Marinette failed to notice at first however, was the glint of green that came from each tent. This did not go unnoticed by Alya who at one point walked over to a French tent and squinted at it.

"Oh Nino it's a picture of him. The eyes are just enchanted to be brighter." She informed him.

"What's him? Who is him?" Marinette asked, snapping back to the present. Alya simply pointed at what she was talking about.

It was a picture of Adrien Agreste. Marinette was surprised she hadn't noticed them before. The group stared at the picture in silence. Alya's expression was inscrutable. Nino's was one of awe. Marinette had no idea what her face looked like, and she didn't really care either. Like all wizarding photos and paintings, the subject moved freely about the frame. He spotted the three staring at him and waved cheerfully.

Despite living in the wizarding worlds for four years now, this occasionally took Mari off guard, and she took things the subjects said seriously. (In one case she had refused to talk to Alya for a week because a photo of her had flipped her off.) She had thought she was over that. Clearly she was not, because at the sight of Adrien waving, her heart lurched almost painfully. She shook her head. I most never ever let Alya know about this crush under any circumstances. She thought determinedly.

Unfortunately, a glance at Alya revealed that the girl was staring at her, and Marinette almost groaned as she saw the vicious grin forming on her best friends face. Alya glanced at Nino then back to Marinette. Later. Alya mouthed, before the grin reformed. Marinette sighed and pulled on Nino's arm.

"Come on Nino. We really are pretty close." Nino nodded and the trio continued their walk. It took another twenty minutes, but the group did get to their tent. Much to the girls disappointment, it appeared to be a regular camping tent, but Nino just laughed and walked inside.

The girls followed him in and gasped when they discovered that the tent was bigger on the inside. The ceiling was around ten feet tall, and there were multiple rooms to go into. Marinette could also see what suspiciously looked like a full kitchen in one of them.

Nino directed the girls to one of the offshooting rooms, which was clearly where they would be sleeping. Marinette didn't stay long though, knowing Alya was looking for any chance to pin her for a conversation about her celebrity crush, something Marinette really did not want to have. She quickly rejoined Nino in the main room, but could feel Alya's eyes boring into her skull.

The evening passed very quickly, with the teens playing Wizard's Chess to pass the time. At 8:45 Nino's dad showed up with spare clothes for the group.

"How was work Dad?" Nino asked, flinching as Mari's knight smashed his castle into the ground repeatedly, shouting "Die infidel!"

"Stressful." Mr. Lahiffe sighed, pulling out a chair and sitting down heavily. "Fights every ten minutes, plus a couple of muggles got through the muggle repelling ward. How that happened is beyond me, but I had to go clean up the mess."

"Memory modification?" Marinette asked. Mr. Lahiffe nodded.

"I hate doing it but Statute of Secrecy says we have to obliviate them." Mr. Lahiffe said heavily.

Marinette nodded, refocusing on the chessboard. "Check." Mari added as she moved her castle in position. Nino glared at her. Alya smirked and Mr. Lahiffe chuckled.

Nino stared at the board for a few moments, before his expression brightened. "I'll take that." He said gleefully, taking her castle with a pawn.

"When is the match?" Alya asked, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"5:30." Mr. Lahiffe responded, also yawning. He stood and stretched his arms over his head. "But it isn't tomorrow it's the day after remember." He watched a few more moves from the two teenagers before speaking again. "I think I'm going to go to bed early. Night all."

"Night." The three teens chorused.

"And… Checkmate." Marinette proclaimed, moving her queen right next to his king. Nino's king tried to flee the chessboard, but Marinette's queen caught the poor king and began to pummel the piece with her fists. Nino sighed and shook his head. The group followed Mr. Lahiffe's example and went to bed shortly after.

Marinette woke up around ten the next morning and once she'd gained a completely conscious mind, found Alya staring at her. She immediately leapt out of bed and fled for the bathroom. She resolved to not let herself be alone with Alya lest her best friend start hurling questions at her.

The plan actually went far better than she could have hoped. She managed to avoid the conversation the entire morning, much to her surprise. There had been a few close calls, one requiring Marinette to hide behind a clump of bushes as Alya searched for her, pouting all the while. Unfortunately for the bluenette, who was hoping to make it to the match before Alya got her alone, Alya found an opportunity to strike around lunch time. The group of four were lounging outside of the tent on lawn chairs.

"I'm going to start making lunch." Mr. Lahiffe announced, rising to his feet, and entering the tent.

Nino must have received a signal from Alya, because he leapt to his feet. "I'll help." He offered and he quickly followed his dad into the tent. It took Marinette a few moments to realize the predicament she was in.

"So…" Alya began and Mari shut her eyes knowing what was about to come. "Adrien Agreste huh?"

Marinette groaned and put her face in her hands, flushing red. "Alya can we not?" she pleaded.

Alya grinned. "Marinette you've never had a crush ever, so this is kinda big news. Granted your choice is untouchable but it's a start!"

Marinette sighed. "So you say. But you know how I feel about the guys at school. They're all… You know." Alya nodded. She did know. "Besides, it's not like any of them are interested." she added. She immediately regretted saying this as she noticed Alya's face darken and her eyes turned murderous.

"Marinette. Dupain. Cheng." Alya seethed. "I have told you this hundreds of times. You are incredible and any boy would be lucky to have you. And that includes pretty boy quidditch star."

"No I know!" Marinette said, quickly backtracking. "I was labeling that as a good thing."

Alya stared at her, unconvinced. Marinette had had serious confidence issues her first few years at Hogwarts, stemming from her inability to make friends within her house first year. "Fine. But I have one question and I swear I'll leave you alone… For now. Is this a celebrity crush or is it real?"

Marinette pondered this question for a few minutes. Her brain said just a celebrity crush but her heart… Her heart screamed otherwise. "I don't know." She said desperately.

Alya smiled sympathetically. "Ok let me phrase this another way. If he just appeared right here what would you do?"

Mari pondered this again. "I… Well I'd want to talk to him…"

Alya waved her off. "Let's assume he isn't an asshole like most every other guy you've ever met." Marinette nodded sheepishly and began to think again. She thought about his eyes and the way they shone in such a beautiful green. His smirk that played across his face perfectly. She began blushing. Alya began to grin, which made her blush more.

"It's not what you think!" She protested.

Alya leaned forward, a knowing glint in her eyes. "But if you could have him you would want to be with him?" Marinette nodded with zero hesitation. "Good enough for me." Alya smiled. "Come on. Let's get lunch."

The rest of the day whizzed by and before Marinette could really process it, the four were on their way to the stadium, amidst the throng of thousands that were headed there as well.

"What's the capacity?" Nino asked, eyes wide as they neared the stadium.

Mr. Lahiffe looked pretty overwhelmed himself. "350,000. Though reportedly about 200 million are watching across the world."

Alya whistled in awe. "No pressure team, but most of the international wizarding community is watching." The group laughed, and before Marinette knew it, they were at the gates.

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