Chapter Forty-Eight: The Quidditch World Cup
When Daphne returned to the tents, she was just in time to see two people Disapparating.
"Did I miss anything?" she asked as she sat down next to the others.
"Not really," Ron said. "Percy's refusing to tell us about some secret event at Hogwarts."
"Oh, right. I'll ask Dad tonight at the game," Daphne said, smirking at Percy, who gave her a disapproving look.
"Come on, Percy, whatever it is seems to be something that's only kept from us for dramatic effect. Given what some of us have done over the past few years, though, surely you can't blame us for not being too keen on any surprises?" she said.
"This isn't something that's dangerous for you," Mr. Weasley said.
Daphne looked at him. "Mr. Weasley, you know we're friends with Harry, right? Nothing he does is ever normal. Besides, if Fred and George were keeping something secret, and they'd say 'it isn't dangerous for you', would that make you feel better or more driven to find out what it's about?" she asked.
Mr. Weasley sighed, but he grinned anyway. "I'd probably try to find out more," he conceded. "But I'm still not going to tell you."
Daphne shrugged. She'd find out that evening anyway, so she figured she might as well relax for the time being.
It soon turned out that relaxing was going to be very difficult indeed, because the sense of excitement over the campsite grew more and more as the afternoon wore on, and as the sky began to darken people were beginning to use magic more and more openly, with fewer and fewer Ministry wizards bothering to try and stop them.
Salesmen were beginning to Apparate all over the campsites, carrying all sorts of magical pins, hats, and flags, and Daphne and the others strolled through the rows of shouting salesmen to buy souvenirs. In all honesty, Daphne wasn't particularly interested in any of the gadgets, but bought a green rosette to show she was supporting Ireland, at least, although she made sure to buy a small one, rather than the big one Ron got for himself.
Harry got pretty excited over a tray of Omnioculars, which could apparently replay and slow down the action for those who needed it. Although Daphne was very sure she'd be needing it to follow anything that happened, she wasn't all that willing to shell out ten Galleons for one. Harry, though, was, and bought a pair for all of them, even though Daphne tried to dissuade him from it. Well, at least she'd be able to watch replays of particularly spectacular plays that way.
When they got back to the tents, they only had to wait for a short while before a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and red and green lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field.
"It's time!" Mr. Weasley said excitedly. "Come on, let's go!"
As they walked through the woods, Daphne could hear the sound of thousands of other people moving in the same direction, and despite her indifference about Quidditch, she had to admit that the atmosphere was great, and even she was beginning to feel excited.
They walked through the woods for twenty minutes, before eventually making it through and arriving at an enormous stadium with golden walls.
"Seats a hundred thousand," Mr. Weasley said. "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.
Again, Daphne felt a bit uneasy how even Mr. Weasley seemed to think Muggles were somehow less sophisticated than wizards. It was amazing what a single year of Muggle Studies could do to one's perspective.
Mr. Weasley led the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.
"Prime seats!" the Ministry with at the entrance said when she checked their tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."
They climbed many stairs carpeted in rich purple, until they eventually emerged in a small box at the highest point of the stadium, situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. About thirty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and Daphne filed into the front row, giving them a fantastic view over the stadium, which was bathed in a golden light. Opposite them was a gigantic blackboard, which was displaying advertisements across the field.
Daphne saw Harry glancing around and followed his gaze, coming to rest on what appeared to be a House-Elf in the second row, who seemed to be frightened of being there.
"Hello there," Harry said to the Elf.
The Elf spread her fingers and looked at Harry. "Hello, sir," she said.
"Are you alright? You look a bit…frightened," Harry said.
"Master wants Winky to save him a seat, sir, so I comes here…but I is not liking heights at all, sir," Winky said.
"Why would he send you here if he knows you don't like heights?" Harry asked with a frown.
"Winky is a good House-Elf, sir, and she does what she is told. Winky is wishing she was back in master's tent, sir, but she obeys."
"I knew a House-Elf who disobeyed his masters because he disagreed with them. His name is Dobby," Harry said.
Winky's eyes suddenly went up to Harry's scar and she said, "You is surely Harry Potter, then, sir. I is knowing Dobby too. He talks about you all the time, sir!"
"How is he?" Harry asked. "How's freedom suiting him?"
"Ah, sir," Winky said, shaking her head. "Ah, sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favor, sir, when you is setting him free."
"Why?" Harry asked, taken aback. "What's wrong with him?"
"Freedom is going to Dobby's head, sir," Winky said sadly. "Ideas above his station, sir. Can't get another position, sir."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"He is wanting paying for his work, sir," Winky said softly.
"Paying?" Harry repeated. "Well…why shouldn't he be paid?"
Winky closed her fingers a bit more. "House-Elves is not paid, sir! No, no, no! I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir, what is unbecoming to a House-Elf. You goes racketing around like this, Dobby, I says, and next thing I hear you's up in front of the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, like some common goblin."
"Well, it's about time he had a bit of fun," Harry said.
"House-Elves is not supposed to have fun, Harry Potter," Winky said firmly. She glanced at the edge of the box, shuddered, and hid her eyes completely again.
Daphne didn't know who Winky belonged to, but she didn't think she'd like them much. Mum and Dad never sent Finny on errands she wasn't comfortable doing, even if she was a servant. They felt it was better to have a House-Elf who genuinely liked them, rather than one simply forced to obey. She was sure that, if Finny were to ask for money, her parents would happily give it to her.
At that moment, Mum and Dad entered the box, still dressed in their punk clothes. Daphne groaned, and in doing so attracted the attention of her friends, who turned around as well.
The Weasleys didn't react to their choice of garments at all, but Harry and Hermione fought to stifle laughs.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass," Hermione said, trying to keep a straight face.
"That's an…interesting look, Coach," Harry said, with a sideways glance at Daphne, who was trying to look anywhere but at her parents.
"You like it?" Mum asked. "Daphne's a big fan as well, aren't you?"
"Oh, for the love of–"
"Cheer up, we're all the way up here," Dad said with a grin. "Who's going to see us?"
It turned out that several very important Ministry officials, including the Minister himself, were among the people who would see them.
As Fudge occasionally had to meet with the Muggle Prime Minister, he was quite aware that Mum and Dad weren't dressed in typical fashion, and his gaze kept going from the shockingly colored hair to all the studs and tattoos.
Fortunately, Fudge also had the task of talking to the Bulgarian delegation, who didn't seem to understand a lot of English.
Then, however, Daphne's least favorite person in the world arrived. Draco Malfoy and his parents entered the Top Box, apparently invited there as guests of Fudge himself. Lucius coldly greeted Mum and Dad and gave their punk attire a contemptuous look, which didn't faze them in the slightest.
The Malfoys took seats some distance removed from the Weasleys and Daphne and her parents, though Draco and Daphne had shot each other withering glares as they moved past.
At that moment, Ludo Bagman entered the Top Box, asked Fudge if he could start, and then amplified his voice to address the stadium.
"Ladies and gentlemen…welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
Loud cheers went up through the stadium and thousands of flags were waved.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce…the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"
Daphne looked out onto the field and saw about a hundred beautiful women coming out onto the field.
"Veela!" she heard Mr. Weasley say a few seats over.
Daphne looked closer and saw that these women couldn't be entirely human. Some kind of enchantment had to be on them, because they almost seemed to glow.
Then, the Veela began to dance…and Daphne found herself oddly mesmerized by it. She couldn't focus on anything but them, and she really didn't want to, either. The Veela sped up their dancing, and Daphne's heart seemed to go along with it.
"Getting a bit into that dance, aren't you?" Mum's voice asked right next to her.
Daphne suddenly felt filled with dread. What if the Veela saw her with her parents dressed the way they were? She had to get away from them, make it clear that she wasn't related…
"Hey, look over here for a moment," Mum said.
Angrily, Daphne turned to face her — and was tapped on her head with a wand.
"Finite!"
It was like a bucket of water had been poured on her head, and Daphne didn't dare to look down at the Veela again.
"W-what was that?" she asked shakily.
Mum grinned at her. "Veela have a very easy time mesmerizing and seducing people," she said. "Mostly men, but I guess you're not just into Harry, are you?"
"Mum!" Daphne said angrily, glancing at Harry, who seemed just about ready to get up and jump out of the Top Box.
She guessed he'd been influenced by the Veela as well, though Hermione wasn't, and at that point the music stopped and angry noises, probably from the people who'd been mesmerized, filled the stadium.
She shuddered. How could she have been influenced that strongly? Was her mind just that easily manipulated?
"And now," Bagman roared, shaking Daphne out of her thoughts, "Kindly put your wands in the air…for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling forward toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light, after which the rainbow faded and balls of light reunited and merged, forming a large shimmering shamrock, which rose into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it…
"Excellent!" Ron yelled as the shamrock soared over them, raining heavy gold coins.
"Leprechauns!" Mr. Weasley said over the applause of the crowd.
Ron stuffed a fistful of the golden coins into Harry's hand. "There you go! For the Omnioculars! Now you've got to buy me a Christmas present, ha!"
"Er, Ron, leprechaun gold disappears after a few hours," Dad said. "It's basically just transfigured air. They use it to play tricks on Muggles, mostly, giving them great pots of gold for 'finding the end of the rainbow' or something, and then laughing at them when no one believes the story because the gold disappeared."
"Oh…" Ron said disappointedly.
Harry and Daphne exchanged an awkward look, both having more than enough money not to have to worry about leprechaun gold. Well, better for Ron to find out now, rather than at a dramatic moment later.
At that moment, though, Bagman began to introduce the players, who all shot out onto the field so fast Daphne could hardly follow them. Even Harry seemed to struggle, looking mostly through his Omnioculars, though Mum seemed quite at ease. She was grinning manically. Then Bagman introduced the referee, and the game began.
Daphne soon realized that the Omnioculars weren't all that useful; the only way she could follow the play at all was by looking at it from a distance, and even then it was so fast she could barely keep up.
When Harry was bewildered at the first goal, having been watching the game slowed-down at first, Daphne knew she'd made the right choice.
She looked at Ginny, who was trying with all her might to keep up with the game, but struggling as well.
Harry now followed the play at normal speed, though he still used his Omnioculars to get close-up views of the action. Daphne was impressed he was able to keep up with the movement at all that way. She wondered what he was thinking at that moment.
Both Seekers suddenly shot into a dive at a ludicrous speed.
"Lynch, you idiot!" Mum shouted, though Daphne had no idea why.
"They're going to crash!" Hermione screamed.
She was partially right. At the very last moment, Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off, but Lynch slammed into the ground with a dull thud, and a timeout was called by the Irish.
"What a moron," Mum scoffed. "That was a Wronski Feint. It's just a committed dive feint meant to plough the other Seeker. Difficult to do right, but Lynch should've known better than to fall for it — he certainly shouldn't have tried to outfly Viktor Krum in a dive like that. Think you can do that too, Harry?" she called.
Harry turned his gaze away from Krum, who seemed to be taking his time to look for the Snitch while Lynch was being revived.
"Er, with a lot of practice, maybe? That was amazing," he said.
"You don't lose out in raw talent, Harry. Just experience. Keep on training and in a few years you'll be doing that as well," Mum said.
Harry grinned at her. "Thanks for the confidence," he said.
"I'm serious, Harry. Keep your eyes on Krum. Watch what he does carefully, and we'll work on it next time you stay over, okay?"
Harry nodded, and at that moment, a wizard near Mum turned to her and said, "He's got a good coach in you, but there's one thing you're mistaken about. You're not serious, I am."
Daphne looked at him more closely. He had gray hair and brown eyes, but something in his expression looked somehow…familiar.
"Black?!" Mum said.
The wizard grinned. "Right in one."
"Wait, Sirius?!" Harry said, looking at the wizard now. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked.
Sirius grinned. "Wasn't really supposed to. Officially, I'm here as security, see. A lot of people still don't, er, trust me much, even though my name has been cleared, so it was decided I'd go undercover. But when someone says 'I'm serious' I just have to comment on it."
"Hardly incognito then, are you?" Mum said with a smirk.
Sirius shrugged. "You didn't notice me at all before now. I seem to have done a pretty good job. Anyway, Lynch seems to have been patched up," he said with a nod at the field.
Play resumed, and Ireland seemed determined to regain their momentum, scoring ten goals within fifteen minutes, and the Bulgarians responded in the fairly Slytherin way of turning the game a lot dirtier.
The mascots as well seemed to engage in some posturing, with the leprechauns taunting the Veela, who began to dance again.
Daphne quickly averted her eyes; she had no desire to make a fool of herself again. The referee, however, wasn't so lucky, and had to be kicked in the shins by a mediwizard, after which he tried to send the Veela off the field, which led to an argument with the Bulgarian Beaters, ultimately resulting in Ireland receiving two penalties, after which the play became dirtier still. Mum was shouting and cursing at the top of her voice.
When Ireland received yet another penalty, the leprechauns formed the two-finger salute at the Veela, who seemed to be turning into harpies at the sight of it, their heads turning bird-like, and long, scaly wings bursting from their shoulders, and they began to launch fireballs at the leprechauns.
Meanwhile, the play in the air kept going and the noise in the stadium became truly deafening. Krum got a Bludger full in the face, and Daphne winced while Mum started shouting at the ref to stop play so his nose could be fixed, but one of the Veela had set his broom on fire, and the match went on uninterrupted, until…
"Look at Lynch!" Harry shouted.
Lynch had indeed gone into a steep dive, and Krum was right on his tail and somehow even gaining on him, despite having identical brooms…Lynch slammed into the ground for a second time and was immediately attacked by the Veela, while Krum pulled out of his dive, holding up the Snitch and signaling the end of the match.
Daphne quickly looked at the scoreboard, which read BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170.
"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH, BUT IRELAND WINS!"
"What did he catch the Snitch for?!" Ron bellowed, though he was applauding like all the other Ireland supporters. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"
"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry shouted back. "The Irish Chasers were too good…He wanted to end it on his terms, that's all…"
Daphne glanced down at the field, which was still being used as a battleground by some of the Veela and leprechauns, though most had stopped fighting by now.
"Vell, ve fought bravely," someone on the second row said, who turned out to be the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.
"You can speak English!" Fudge said, sounding outraged. "And you've been letting me mime everything all day!"
"Vell, it vos very funny," the Bulgarian Minister said with a shrug.
Daphne had to admit he was right. Fudge's indignant look really was quite funny.
Mum, Dad, and Sirius seemed to think so as well. Sirius even gave the Bulgarian Minister a discreet thumbs-up, which was answered with a small smile.
Daphne sat back down in her seat and sighed. All that was left now was to hand the teams their prize — which would happen in the Top Box, where her parents still sat in punk attire. They'd both been to a World Cup before, so they had to have known that would happen. A hundred thousand people would be looking in their direction now.
Daphne glared at Mum and Dad, who didn't even bother to look innocent.
"'Who's going to see us'?" Daphne said angrily.
"Oops," Dad deadpanned.
Daphne buried her face in her hands.
"You pranked your daughter?" she heard Sirius ask. "Why weren't we friends in school, again?"
"I seem to recall you hating Slytherin with a passion," Dad said.
"Ah, right. Well, I suppose I judged too harshly…"
Daphne groaned. "I hate all of you," she said from behind her hands.
But despite her embarrassment, she grinned. It had, all things considered, been a fun experience…
Bit of a compressed version of the match, because most of it just isn't that relevant. I do maintain that even this version of the match feels less rushed than the entire movie of Goblet of Fire did, though. Seriously, it was like the entire cast and crew had a train to catch.
Daphne responding to the Veela at all is, of course, because this story features a three-way pairing. I didn't write any reaction shots for Ginny because, well, maybe she's just not quite as bi as Daphne is and wasn't as affected, maybe it's because she's a year younger, or maybe I simply couldn't be arsed to.
Sirius appearing out of thin air was exactly what it looked like: me forgetting that he was supposed to be here until I wrote the line "I'm serious". I could've mentioned him simply being unable to make it, or something, but I might use him for the events of the night. Yes, I know that's next chapter. No, I don't have a complete idea of what I'll do, only mostly. If it turns out Sirius does nothing, well, then I suppose his appearance here was superfluous.