Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but my OC's are mine.


Chapter Eleven

The stadium roared with excitement. Everyone was on the edge of their seats even before the event had a chance to begin. Ira was out of breath, however, as she climbed the stairs to the Top Box where only the best sat for the game. She was surprised Arthur managed to get the seats, considering it only seated twenty out of one hundred thousand attendees.

They found their seats quickly and for a while the only person really talking was Arthur, who shook hands every so often with important people. One of them was Cornelius Fudge—the Minister of Magic—who greeted Harry upon arrival, shaking hands with him as if they were old friends. Cornelius tried introducing Harry to the Bulgarian minister, who didn't have slightest clue what was coming out of Cornelius' mouth until he saw the scar of Harry's forehead.

"Knew we'd get there in the end," Cornelius said to Harry. "I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house-elf's saving him a seat...Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places...ah, and here's Lucius and Sigrid!"

Ira's heart dropped. She knew who was standing there with Lucius before she even turned her head.

"Ah, Fudge," Lucius said politely. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

Ira then turned around, seeing Draco hadn't acknowledged her yet. Sigrid and Rhys didn't either; they were too busy with Cornelius.

"How do you do, how do you do?" Fudge greeted, bowing. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk—Obalonsk—Mr.—well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else—you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

Then five pairs of eyes filtered over in their direction. Ira glared as Draco spotted her amongst the Weasley pack.

"Good lord, Arthur," Lucius said. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Ira gritted her teeth, taking a stand and causing Lucius to now look at her, surprised to see her seated with a lower pureblood family.

"Ah, Ira. How are you doing?" he asked, reaching out for a handshake. She hesitated to shake it.

Cornelius smiled. "Sigrid, this is your daughter?"

Sigrid nodded. "Indeed."

Narcissa, who looked as though there was something rotten in her presence, all but pounced to give Ira a warm hug. "Hello, darling. You're as beautiful as ever." At least she liked Narcissa.

Cornelius was all smiles. "Anyway, Arthur, as I was saying, Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He's here as my guest."

"How—how nice," Mr. Weasley said tightly.

Then, Lucius and Sigrid spotted Hermione seated beside Ira and glared. Ira wanted to say something, but didn't want to cause a scene with the Minister right there. Surprisingly, Draco remained silent, only shooting daggers at them while taking his seat between his parents.

"Slimy gits," Ron commented when they turned to the field.

Then, Ludo Bagman charged into the Top Box, wand at the ready. "Everyone ready? Minister—ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, Ludo," Cornelius said.

Ludo aimed his wand for his throat before yelling, "Sonorus!" His voice projected over the whole arena. "Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

Everyone cheered, rumbling the whole stadium.

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

Mr. Weasley leaned forward to get a good look. "I wonder what they've brought…Aaah! Veela!"

Ira watched as Harry began to ask what exactly a veela was when he dropped off, watching beautiful women gliding onto the stadium. She chuckled as his mouth dropped open, completely mesmerized by the performance. All of the men seated there were the same.

When Harry made a move towards the edge of the box, Ira's hand sprang out to stop him. "Harry, what are you doing?"

He snapped out of it quickly, glancing around after leaving his hypnotized state.

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

Their mascot was much more interesting than Bulgaria's; at least that's what Ira thought as she saw fireworks light up the stadium in a rainbow of colors. Soon, the fireworks merged together to create a huge shamrock in the sky. If you looked closely enough, you'd see tiny people actually made up the shamrock. Gold coins rained down on them.

"Leprechauns!" Arthur said, amazed.

People all around were grasping for the gold. Ron was one of them, who gave Harry a fistful.

"There you go! For the Omnioculars! Now you've got to buy me a Christmas present, ha!"

Bagman went on to introduce both the teams. Of course, everyone roared with excitement when Victor Krum made his appearance. Ira rolled her eyes as Ron freaked out. The game began shortly after.

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

Ira tried to keep her eye on the game, but as usual, it was so fast hardly anyone could keep an eye on the score and what was going on. She played along and cheered with the rest of them, jumping up and down with Hermione as their team of choice scored.

"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova—oh I say!"

Then, a group of them started to dive.

"They're going to crash!" Hermione shouted.

The only one that crashed was Lynch, who hit the ground so hard it reverberated off the stadium. Everyone 'ooohed' as it happened.

"Fool!" Arthur yelled. "Krum was feinting!"

"It's time-out!" Bagman said, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

Aidan was right as rain as soon as the mediwizard was done with him. He hopped back on his broom and took off, the game restarting.

Somewhere during the game, Krum had broken his nose. Ira watched through her omnioculars as blood sprayed everywhere. She cringed and put them down.

"He's seen the Snitch!" Harry shouted, pointing at Aidan as he plummeted through the air. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"

"They're going to crash!" Hermione said.

"They're not!" Ron was on the edge of his seat. Literally.

"Lynch is!" Harry agreed.

Lynch fell to the ground face-first for a second time.

"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" Charlie asked hurriedly.

"He's got it—Krum's got it—it's all over!" Harry said.

Sure enough, the Bulgarian seeker fisted a glint of gold in the air, waving it proudly for all to see. Unfortunately for him, Ireland still won 160-170.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH—BUT IRELAND WINS—good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

Ira cheered with the others, hugging Hermione excitedly.

When they finally retired to the tent that night, they all gathered around to talk about the game while drinking mugs of hot cocoa. Ira considered joining Sally, Lily, and Theo that night, but there was something so peaceful about that moment in time, just sitting with her friends and enjoying themselves without horrible toxins doing all the talking. She genuinely smiled, sharing it quickly with Harry.

Ginny was the first to fall asleep. That alone caused Mr. Weasley to bid them all goodnight to their respectable beds. Ira followed a groggy Ginny and Hermione to their tent. Inside, Lady mewled at Ira's appearance. However, she didn't stop. One meow after the other, Ira knew that something was wrong.

"Lady, what's wrong, girl?" Ira ran a hand over her kneazle. They were known to sense danger, after all.

Another meow followed by a hiss. Ira frowned. She didn't understand what was going on with her animal.

"Are you malfunctioning or something?" Ira kidded.

Lady wasn't joking. Her hissing was enough to make that clear. It wasn't directed at Ira, but the entrance to the tent.

"Hey, it's okay. We're going to go to sleep and I'm sure whatever's wrong will go away." Ira picked Lady up and hugged her tightly before falling back on the bunk bed with her in her arms. "I'm here. I'll protect you."

Just as fast as they fell asleep they were being reawakened. Mr. Weasley stood over Ira as she wiped the tiredness from her eyes.

"You've got to get dressed—now."

Hermione and Ginny were already standing, looking confused.

That's when Ira saw it. Through the thin fabric of the tent, there was an orange light illuminating them. Screams could be heard all around, causing panic to set in.

Her vision.

Ira had not thought about it before until now. The vision she had in first year—running after Lady as a great fire roared from behind and someone grabbing her—she remembered it plain as day as she hurried to get ready.

"Actually, we don't have time." Arthur then exited the tent, the three girls following.

It was worse than Ira imagined—or more so what she saw. Not only was there screaming and people running for dear life, the fire changed to a great green hue on the horizon. The sound of something bursting came from somewhere in the thick of it.

There was a crowd of wizards marching together in perfect uniformity. Their wands were raised high in the sky, chanting over and over again. Now Ira knew what Lady had been making noises over.

Ira couldn't focus. Her vision was becoming a reality. Something awful was happening around them.

"Ira! We've got to go!" Hermione broke through the fog that took over Ira's mind.

Ira stood helplessly, staring at the fire that was getting bigger by the second. Her heart dropped when Lady leaped from her arms and scurried somewhere in the chaos.

Ira cried out. "Lady!"

"Ira, we can't! We have to go!" Hermione was tugging on Ira's arm now, but the Slytherin girl wouldn't budge. She snatched her arm back and followed where her kneazle had gone.

Ira ran to the forest. Isn't that what Arthur instructed for them to do through the haze? She couldn't remember. All she could do was run until her lungs hurt; finding it near impossible to stop knowing Lady was out there somewhere.

Ira didn't watch where she was going and tripped over a root in the ground, falling face-first. She cried when blood pooled around her knee under the cotton PJ's.

Ira, Ira, Ira, Ira, Ira. Someone was chanting a whisper into her ear as she clutched her leg. This didn't happen in her vision. And where was the masked figure that had grabbed her? Wasn't he around here somewhere?

Regaining her composure, Ira got to her feet once more. Then, that's when she felt someone grab her.

Ira shrieked.

"Calm down, Soares."

She glared then. "Malfoy?"

He stared down his pointed nose at her. "What are you doing out here?"

"I…I," she stopped talking as tears pooled in her eyes, wincing because she was appearing weak around Draco Malfoy. "I can't lose her too, I can't."

"What are you babbling abo—" A crunching sound from somewhere caused Draco to pivot them around a tree, his hand firmly over Ira's mouth to cover her sobs. He pressed her tightly against him while they listened to people moving over the leafy ground. Draco's mouth was above her ear, shushing her quietly.

"Did you find anything?" a voice asked. Ira didn't recognize it.

"Just a damned cat," another voice said.

Ira flinched, more tears flooding her eyes.

"Did you kill it?"

"No. It's just a cat. Not like it's a threat or anything."

Well, that soothed Ira. A bit.

As soon as they were gone, Draco let go of Ira and allowed her to sob again.

"Now, what is it you were going on about?" he leaned against the tree casually, as if they weren't just seconds away from being spotted by gods know who.

"Lady…" Ira choked. "She's gone, Malfoy. I don't know where she went."

Draco chuckled dryly. "You're crying over some cat?"

"Kneazle."

"Same difference."

"And she isn't just some animal, Malfoy," she said, wiping the tears streaking her face. "I know you wouldn't understand"—you cruel prat.

He crossed his arms over his lean chest, watching Ira carefully before he spoke his next words. "Why are you crying then? What is crying going to help?"

Ira scowled and marched forward. "I'm emotional, okay? After the stuff I've been through—what you've seen me go through—I'm surprised you even have the nerve to ask. Losing someone else, someone that's been with me through so much, hurts. Of course, you would never understand what it's like to have a loyal companion if it wasn't some meat-head that can't even chalk up a level one spell." She drew in big gulps of air, trying to extinguish her tears. "I'm sorry I can't be like you and be completely emotionless, Malfoy—I think it's a big judge of character." Throwing her hands up, she continued. "Why do I even bother with you? Here I was expecting you to help me find her, but no, you're making this into a big joke—like it doesn't even matter."

"Because it doesn't matter," he said flatly.

Ira gave up with a huff. "Fine. I'm leaving."

His eyes traveled down to her leg, where a large bloodstain formed through her pants. "You're bleeding."

"What?" she followed his gaze. "Oh, yeah. It's nothing."

"No, it's not." Draco grabbed his wand from his cloak and walked closer.

Ira stepped back.

Draco laughed—actually laughed. It wasn't sarcastic or evil. It was kind of…genuine. What, did he get a thrill out of seeing her scared of him? Probably.

"Soares, I'm trying to help you."

"Help me?" Ira was baffled.

"Yes, Soares, unlike what you said…" he dropped off. "Never mind. Just remember, you owe me." He waved his hand for her to sit near the bottom of a tree.

"I'm fully capable of doing this myself," she said, watching as Draco rolled her pant leg up.

"Just take my generosity and revel in it, Soares, because this is the only time I'm going to be…nice," he said, looking sour.

Ira winced as he aimed his wand at her wound. "Draco Malfoy—playing nice? Impossible."

He smirked. "Would you rather me play dirty?"

Ira flushed.

Before he could say anything, or make a note about how red Ira had gotten, he whispered the incantation. "Episkey."

As Ira's skin knitted back together and Draco cast a Tergeo charm to wipe the blood away, she watched his handiwork with appraisal.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Ira asked.

"I do a lot of reading, Soares." He pocketed his wand and rolled her pant leg back down.

Ira snorted. "Okay, Granger."

Draco glared, but there was something else there in his eyes as he watched her lean against the tree trunk. She couldn't put her finger on it as he stood up.

Following suit, she thanked him quickly. "I should go find the others. They're probably worried…"

He nodded stiffly. Awkward.

"Thank you again, Malfoy." Before she had time to turn back, she looked at him once more. "Hey, Malfoy?"

He looked up from his wand.

"Speaking of owing people, you still owe me for first year, by the way."

Confusion washed over him, and Ira bit back a chuckle while he tried to remember what she was talking about. She didn't stick around to see revelation hit him. She was already trotting through the forest on a mission to find her friends.

And her most loyal companion.


A while later, Ira continued through the forest with hopes of finding any signs of civilization. So far, her efforts were fruitless. There weren't any passing wizards like she'd hoped or any signs of animals either. Nobody was in sight for miles.

Loud bombs sounded off from the campsite far away behind her, which made her jump when she was least expecting it. She groaned, knowing this wasn't going to end well.

As she grew closer to another clearing, she heard a gaggle of voices. Peering around a tree, she spotted a group of cloaked figures huddled in a circle, all talking quietly. From what she could see, some of them wore silver masks. She gulped, knowing full well what these people were—Death Eaters.

She wondered if Draco's father was one of the masked bunch. Then, like a slap in the face, Ira realized that maybe her own father was one of the cloaked figures. That thought alone made her breathing stop. Her heart rate picked up.

One of them glanced around, and Ira shrunk into the darkness. Her foot moved, and a twig crunched beneath her shoe.

"Did you hear that?" one of them asked.

There was a murmur of voices and a shuffling of feet. Ira's heart pounded against her chest as the footsteps got closer. She considered making a run for it, but there was six of them and one of her. She wouldn't make it. These people were cold-blooded killers, and they wouldn't hesitate to capture her.

Ira inched backwards slowly with each step the people took. She needed to get out of there somehow.

Her back hit something solid. It was another person.

She gulped and looked over her shoulder, finding a cloaked figure standing right behind her.

"Stupefy!"

The Death Eater's spell rang out and the world burst into red light. Ira felt her body slack and fall backward, her eyes fluttering shut.

Sometime during her unconscious state, Ira could hear things being talked about around her. She tried fighting the spell that had taken over her body, but there was no use. Her body was tired, her eyelids weighted down.

"The Soares Girl…"

"Sigrid won't be happy."

"Let's just kill her!"

"No, I have something better."

The next time Ira woke up was when she heard someone speaking above her, letting out an "Ennervate!"

She stirred, feeling life come back to her body.

"Ira?"

Harry.

Her eyes opened, and she saw she wasn't alone. Not only was Harry there, but so was Hermione, Ron, Arthur, Amos Diggory, and some important Ministry wizards that looked at her with disbelief.

"What—?" she started but was cut off.

"This makes sense. Of course, it would've been the Soares girl. Following in your father's footsteps, aye?" Barty Crouch glared down at her like she was the scum of the Earth.

Harry jumped forward. "Ira wouldn't do something like that!"

"It's true! Ira's not like her father," Hermione spat, coming to Ira's aid and helping her off the ground. "She's clearly disoriented and has no idea what's going on!"

Barty snickered. "What do you kids know? Sigrid Soares was one of You-Know-Who's most prized followers, even if he said he was under the Imperius Curse at the time." He shook his head. "Blasted fools…your father was one of the slyest men I ever met."

Ira felt sick.

"So, was it you then? Did you conjure the Dark Mark?" Barty pointed upwards towards the sky.

Ira couldn't believe what she was seeing. An emerald green skull shimmered against the sky, showering everyone in a sickly glow that made her shudder. But why were they accusing her of such a thing?

"What are you talking about?" Ira asked shakily.

"Someone, over in the trees where we pulled you out from, casted the Dark Mark into the sky," Arthur said quietly. "You were the only one there."

"You think I did that?" Ira looked at Barty Crouch. "I don't even know how to cast that. Why would I even do that?"

"You're a Soares," he said simply. "You're—"

Harry once again jumped in to defend her. "You don't know her! You just know what her family laid out for her. Just because she has a few bad wizards in her family doesn't make her one!"

The only other person unconvinced was Amos Diggory. He came forward with his wand out.

"We'll see about that. Raise your wand."

Ira hurried to get her wand out of her pocket, at the same time, another wand fell out and clattered to the ground.

"That's my wand," Harry said quietly.

"Why do I have your wand?" Ira asked, glancing around everyone staring at her.

"Ira, why do you have that?"

Ira shrieked. "I don't know! I didn't take it I swear!"

Amos looked smug, pointing his wand tip at hers. "Prior Incantato!"

Nothing came from the tip. Next, he tried Harry's. This one, a smaller version of what was in the sky came from the tip, evaporating before their eyes shortly after the spell was over.

"Aha, so it was you!" Amos said cheerfully.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Instead of accusing her, shouldn't you be asking her how she got unconscious in the middle of the woods?"

"Yes, how did you get here, girl?" Crouch asked.

Ira tried to remember. "I was walking through the forest, looking for my friends…and I saw a bunch of Death Eaters in a clearing. They must've heard me because they came to me. One of them…they used the Stupefy charm and then I'm guessing they put me here and framed me."

"Framed you?"

"I don't even know how I got Harry's wand or casted something like that." Ira slouched in defeat. "But if you want to accuse me…I guess I understand."

"What?" her three friends shouted.

"Ira, stop talking nonsense, you haven't done anything," Arthur offered. It was a good thing he believed her.

A witch standing nearby stepped up. "Barty, Amos, think about this. What fourth year girl knows the spell for something like that? It takes years to master, and as cold as Sigrid may be, I highly doubt he'd train his children how to do something like that."

The wizards considered this for a moment before ultimately letting her off with a warning. Ira let out a sigh, wanting nothing more than to go back to their tent and sleep the night off.

Mr. Weasley turned to the kids. "Come on, you four."

Sharing a dark look with Crouch, Ira turned on her heel and followed the rest of them out of the forest into the campsite. The aftermath was horrible. Most of the air was filled with ashy debris and the tents were burnt away. Frightened witches and wizards approached them quickly, all questions aimed at Arthur who tried soothing everyone worries. Many of them asked if this was all You-Know-Who's bidding, or if he had returned. He quickly brushed off their concern explaining that he wasn't back, and everything was fine.

When they walked back to their tent, that was surprisingly intact, Charlie poked his head outside at the sound of their footsteps.

"Dad, what's going on?" he called out. "Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others—"

"I've got them here," Mr. Weasley said, ducking inside with the others in tow.

"Did you get them, Dad?" said Bill sharply. "The person who conjured the Mark?"

"No…" his eyes landed on Ira, considering how to go about this. It wouldn't be smart to tell them that she was the one accused.

"Who did it then?"

"We're unsure right now," he said.

They all started talking at once, hurriedly about what was going to happen now.

Ron silenced them. "Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was? It wasn't hurting anyone…why's it such a big deal?"

"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron," Hermione said. "I read about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts."

"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," Mr. Weasley said quietly. "Of course, people panicked...it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."

"I don't get it," Ron frowned. "I mean...it's still only a shape in the sky..."

"Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed," Mr. Weasley explained. "The terror it inspired...you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside…everyone's worst fear...the very worst..."

Bill tended to a wound that he'd gotten. "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Roberts' before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."

"Death Eaters?" Harry looked around, confused. "What are Death Eaters?"

"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves," Bill said. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight—the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."

"We can't prove it was them, Bill," Mr. Weasley said. "Though it probably was."

"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron said matter-of-factly. "Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of those nutters in masks! And we all know the Malfoys were right in with You-Know-Who!"

"And so was mine," Ira said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"What if my Dad was one of them out there tonight?" she voiced worriedly. "What does that make of me?"

"Ira—"

"But…when you look at Malfoy…he's a spitting image of his father…following in his footsteps…what if I'm just like my own father?"

They were silent.

"They damn near accused me of conjuring the Dark Mark!" Ira said.

Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ginny, and the twins all looked at her agape.

"No matter what…what my family has been through…it's always going to come right back to me, to all of my siblings." Ira rubbed her arms uncomfortably. "It's like I'm going to be held accountable for my father's actions."

"Ira, you can't think like that," Hermione said. "We know you would never do anything like that. You may be a Slytherin, and you may be a Soares, but that doesn't mean you're just as bad as the rest."

Ira wanted to believe her. But she could feel something gnawing at the back of her mind, telling her that what they were saying was only one-sided. They were saying this in a biased fashion, because they loved her, and she was their friend. Just because they loved her didn't mean they didn't have their doubts.

Throughout the night, Ira tossed and turned without getting a wink of sleep. All her thoughts centered around Voldemort, her family, and Lady. The past few hours, Ira hadn't even considered where her feline had gone to. She was too caught up in everything that's happened to think about her. How selfish.

Finding sleep completely useless, Ira pulled on her hoodie and tiptoed out of the tent. She wouldn't be able to sleep knowing Lady was still out there.

Ira conjured a small toy in the palm of her hand and rattled it around. "Lady?" she whispered. "Lady, where are you girl?"

The debris crunched beneath her feet as she walked around the ruined campsite. The likelihood of her finding Lady was slim to none now. It'd been hours already.

Ira found herself at the edge of the forest again. Lady always did like the pines. However, she couldn't find the courage to go inside.

Then, there was a jingling sound. Lady did wear a color—a frilly blue one with a bell. Perhaps that was her making the racket.

Ira bit her lip and entered the forest without another second thought. She called out to her a few times, making sure her voice didn't get to high or loud. The last thing she needed were people to hear her, especially if there were Death Eaters still milling about, slinking in the darkness.

"Lady?" Ira called out again in a whisper. She pulled her wand out. "Lumos."

Now, she could see where she was going. Up ahead, she saw a small mass sitting on the forest floor near a stream.

"Lady?" she said.

It didn't move, and continued staring upwards at something fluttering in the air. As Ira got closer, she saw it was a glittering blue animal that dangled in the sky angelically.

A hummingbird.

When Ira got close enough to make a proper inspection, the hummingbird stopped in the air and stared right back before cooing and disappearing in the air.

Well, that was weird, Ira thought. A meow pulled her back, and she looked at the ground for the culprit.

"Lady!" Ira cheered when she saw that the small object was indeed her kneazle. She picked her up and snuggled her into her chest. "You had me so worried!"

Lady meowed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you loved making me go on a wild goose chase," Ira joked, kissing the crown of Lady's head. "Now, let's go back to the tent. We've had a long night."