The four girls spent the next hour wandering around the campsite, looking
for people they knew and buying souvenirs. A loud "clang" from a gong
caused everyone to stop talking and look up. It was time.
The red and green lanterns delinated a path for the spectators to follow through the woods. Anna and Susan had gotten seperated from the twins, but had met up with Seamus Finnigan and Terry Boot. The two boys were walking behind them, roughhousing and making extremely loud jokes. Anna nudged Susan and the girls sped up to get away from them, but Terry seemed to be magnetically attached to Anna. She rolled her eyes, nonverbally communicating to Susan her feelings. It wasn't like they could have talked without yelling anyway.
All of a sudden, the path ended and the glorious stadium was thrust upon them. It was shining gold, every inch of it. Anna could almost feel the magic of it reverberating. She gaped in awe, and almost stumbled over the stairs when they reached them. They found their section, A12, seats 40-47, where they saw the Patils already seated and watching the crowd and the billboard opposite them on the field. They saw family friend, Hogwarts friends, and they met tons of people they didn't already know. The Quidditch Cup was about unity within the wizarding world, and it was working.
The next three quarters of an hour nearly flew by, with all the laughing and talking and introductions. Suddenly, a loud, masculine voice roared over them.
"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome!"
Anna whispered sarcastically to Susan, "Ooh, he thinks I'm a lady." Susan didn't hear her over the echo.
"...twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
Anna stood and cheered with the crowd. She waved the Irish team flag she'd bought earlier, but she couldn't hear the anthem it played over anything. She was fairly certain she'd be deaf at the end of the night.
The announcer said something else, but Anna didn't hear him. All of a sudden, gorgeous women took to the field and began dancing. Susan's father sat, transfixed, along with every man in the stadium. All Anna noticed was that they looked a lot like Luna...
The dance stopped, and Susan's father, one of the calmer men in the stadium, began screaming for their return before his wife pulled him down by the sleeve of his coat. After all the angry wives had calmed their husbands, the announcer spoke once more.
"And now, kindly put your wands in the air...for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
The beautiful leprachauns did tricks and formations over the field, completely outshining the veela. When they began throwing Galleons at the crowd, everyone went crazy. Anna herself bent over to pick up a couple. No sense in wasting money.
The players were announced and took the field. Hassan Mostafa stood in the middle of the pitch, kicked the crate the released the balls, and blew his whistle. The game had begun.
It was amazing, Ireland was doing all the scoring, but Bulgaria had famed Seeker Viktor Krum. The players were doing things Anna had never before seen at Hogwarts, but it topped everything when Krum plummeted towards the ground and straightened out last minute. The Irish Seeker was totalled.
Ireland won, but Krum caught the Snitch. Anna had never seen anything like it before, but her Quidditch experience was pretty much limited to Hogwarts, and even then, Ravenclaw practices and matches hardly showed off any exceptional skills. Ravenclaws were the brains, not the brawn. That title belonged to the Gryffindor guys, and some of the bigger Slytherins.
It took almost an hour for the stands to clear out. The girls stayed with Susan's parents. It wasn't all that late, but after the exhilaration, they were incredibly tired. They stalked back to their campsite, barely awake, and fell into their tent without saying anything. It was a complete surprise when they were awoken at midnight by a high-pitched scream. They piled out of their tent, moments before the left tent peg was kicked over and the entire thing collapsed.
Mrs. Bones came out of her tent. Her husband was missing. There was something wrong, and Mrs. Bones had enough experience to know it. She shepherded the girls into the forest. Anna turned back and saw the bodies, floating in the air, suspended by hooded and black-robed wizards. She shuddered and turned around, running to catch up with Susan. She stumbled over a tree root, but soon caught up with the girls. As they got farther in the woods, Anna became less nervous and calmed down.
"Ugh, Anna, don't look, it's Snape," said Parvati. Susan and Padma were walking behind them.
Anna, of course, immediately turned her head. Snape was in the same clothes as earlier, only they were somewhat crumpled now, and he had a tiny smudge of dirt on his knee. She suppressed her urge to giggle and moved on.
They saw several more people they knew, including Terry Boot, who attached himself to Anna once more. He tried to engage her in conversation about the sight they had seen, but Anna was preoccupied trying not to stumble over any more roots. Besides, Terry Boot's recent infatuation with her was getting somewhat annoying. She decided to play off his crush.
"Um, Terry, dear, would you mind finding Matthew Corner for me? Thank you so much," she said.
Terry looked at her. He looked crushed, but ran off anyway. Anna took a sudden left turn. Terry wouldn't be finding her any time soon.
"Anna, what was that about?" said Susan. "You know Terry likes you, why would you hurt him like that? It's not like you."
"Susan. It's dark. We're in the woods because some psychos are killing Muggles. The last thing on my mind is Terry Boot."
She stopped.
They were outside a clearing.
Faintly, so faintly they almost didn't hear it.
"MORSMORDRE!"
The green light erupted into the sky, lighting the area where they were standing. They had never seen it, but they knew what it meant. Voldemort.
The girls ran, Anna attached to Susan's arm, who was practically dragging Padma behind her. They ran away from the Mark high in the sky, with everyone else. They stumbled through the woods, following the other people. They ran into bodies, stepped over a few, it didn't matter. The important thing was to be as far away as possible. They were stopped by a frantic Ministry official.
"Girls, go to the stadium. We're keeping people there, your parents are there most likely. We'll send you home. Spread the word." With that, he ran off, looking for other people.
They were at the fringe of the woods, so they exited and walked towards the stadium. Most of the others were doing that now, too. The air was tense with emotion and fright, but people were calmly walking, no longer running or screaming. The Mark hovered above them in the sky, tinting the once- golden stadium green.
Anna and her friends reached the stadium. The adrenaline rush they had received had worn off by now, and they were merely tired again. They joined the throng of people looking to reunite with family members and friends.
After about half an hour of searching for Susan's parents, they found her. As they crossed the stadium to join her, Anna remembered something...
"I'll owl you...if anything goes wrong..."
She was jolted into action. When Susan and her mother were done with the tearful reunion, and Mrs. Bones had made sure the girls were OK, Anna asked to borrow their Owl. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she saw her father, looking around for her over by the goalpost. She ran to him, startling her friends and Susan's mother, and she hugged him.
"Are you OK? Anna?" She couldn't answer the simple question. All of a sudden, she was so tired. She simply nodded and fell asleep.
She awoke at home on August 31, almost 24 hours after the Cup. She was fairly certain she had been sick, and was entirely certain that she hadn't eaten in over a day. She woke up, changed into clean clothes, and went downstairs. On the kitchen counter was the usual note from her father: "Anna, I'll owl you when you get to Hogwarts. Take the Floo to the Lovegood's house, I've made arrangements. Your trunk is already there."
Disappointed, but not at all shocked, she made a sandwich. The only thing bothering her now was that she had to deal with the annoying Mr. Lovegood and his equally strange daughter. With a sigh, she stepped into the fireplace.
The red and green lanterns delinated a path for the spectators to follow through the woods. Anna and Susan had gotten seperated from the twins, but had met up with Seamus Finnigan and Terry Boot. The two boys were walking behind them, roughhousing and making extremely loud jokes. Anna nudged Susan and the girls sped up to get away from them, but Terry seemed to be magnetically attached to Anna. She rolled her eyes, nonverbally communicating to Susan her feelings. It wasn't like they could have talked without yelling anyway.
All of a sudden, the path ended and the glorious stadium was thrust upon them. It was shining gold, every inch of it. Anna could almost feel the magic of it reverberating. She gaped in awe, and almost stumbled over the stairs when they reached them. They found their section, A12, seats 40-47, where they saw the Patils already seated and watching the crowd and the billboard opposite them on the field. They saw family friend, Hogwarts friends, and they met tons of people they didn't already know. The Quidditch Cup was about unity within the wizarding world, and it was working.
The next three quarters of an hour nearly flew by, with all the laughing and talking and introductions. Suddenly, a loud, masculine voice roared over them.
"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome!"
Anna whispered sarcastically to Susan, "Ooh, he thinks I'm a lady." Susan didn't hear her over the echo.
"...twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
Anna stood and cheered with the crowd. She waved the Irish team flag she'd bought earlier, but she couldn't hear the anthem it played over anything. She was fairly certain she'd be deaf at the end of the night.
The announcer said something else, but Anna didn't hear him. All of a sudden, gorgeous women took to the field and began dancing. Susan's father sat, transfixed, along with every man in the stadium. All Anna noticed was that they looked a lot like Luna...
The dance stopped, and Susan's father, one of the calmer men in the stadium, began screaming for their return before his wife pulled him down by the sleeve of his coat. After all the angry wives had calmed their husbands, the announcer spoke once more.
"And now, kindly put your wands in the air...for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
The beautiful leprachauns did tricks and formations over the field, completely outshining the veela. When they began throwing Galleons at the crowd, everyone went crazy. Anna herself bent over to pick up a couple. No sense in wasting money.
The players were announced and took the field. Hassan Mostafa stood in the middle of the pitch, kicked the crate the released the balls, and blew his whistle. The game had begun.
It was amazing, Ireland was doing all the scoring, but Bulgaria had famed Seeker Viktor Krum. The players were doing things Anna had never before seen at Hogwarts, but it topped everything when Krum plummeted towards the ground and straightened out last minute. The Irish Seeker was totalled.
Ireland won, but Krum caught the Snitch. Anna had never seen anything like it before, but her Quidditch experience was pretty much limited to Hogwarts, and even then, Ravenclaw practices and matches hardly showed off any exceptional skills. Ravenclaws were the brains, not the brawn. That title belonged to the Gryffindor guys, and some of the bigger Slytherins.
It took almost an hour for the stands to clear out. The girls stayed with Susan's parents. It wasn't all that late, but after the exhilaration, they were incredibly tired. They stalked back to their campsite, barely awake, and fell into their tent without saying anything. It was a complete surprise when they were awoken at midnight by a high-pitched scream. They piled out of their tent, moments before the left tent peg was kicked over and the entire thing collapsed.
Mrs. Bones came out of her tent. Her husband was missing. There was something wrong, and Mrs. Bones had enough experience to know it. She shepherded the girls into the forest. Anna turned back and saw the bodies, floating in the air, suspended by hooded and black-robed wizards. She shuddered and turned around, running to catch up with Susan. She stumbled over a tree root, but soon caught up with the girls. As they got farther in the woods, Anna became less nervous and calmed down.
"Ugh, Anna, don't look, it's Snape," said Parvati. Susan and Padma were walking behind them.
Anna, of course, immediately turned her head. Snape was in the same clothes as earlier, only they were somewhat crumpled now, and he had a tiny smudge of dirt on his knee. She suppressed her urge to giggle and moved on.
They saw several more people they knew, including Terry Boot, who attached himself to Anna once more. He tried to engage her in conversation about the sight they had seen, but Anna was preoccupied trying not to stumble over any more roots. Besides, Terry Boot's recent infatuation with her was getting somewhat annoying. She decided to play off his crush.
"Um, Terry, dear, would you mind finding Matthew Corner for me? Thank you so much," she said.
Terry looked at her. He looked crushed, but ran off anyway. Anna took a sudden left turn. Terry wouldn't be finding her any time soon.
"Anna, what was that about?" said Susan. "You know Terry likes you, why would you hurt him like that? It's not like you."
"Susan. It's dark. We're in the woods because some psychos are killing Muggles. The last thing on my mind is Terry Boot."
She stopped.
They were outside a clearing.
Faintly, so faintly they almost didn't hear it.
"MORSMORDRE!"
The green light erupted into the sky, lighting the area where they were standing. They had never seen it, but they knew what it meant. Voldemort.
The girls ran, Anna attached to Susan's arm, who was practically dragging Padma behind her. They ran away from the Mark high in the sky, with everyone else. They stumbled through the woods, following the other people. They ran into bodies, stepped over a few, it didn't matter. The important thing was to be as far away as possible. They were stopped by a frantic Ministry official.
"Girls, go to the stadium. We're keeping people there, your parents are there most likely. We'll send you home. Spread the word." With that, he ran off, looking for other people.
They were at the fringe of the woods, so they exited and walked towards the stadium. Most of the others were doing that now, too. The air was tense with emotion and fright, but people were calmly walking, no longer running or screaming. The Mark hovered above them in the sky, tinting the once- golden stadium green.
Anna and her friends reached the stadium. The adrenaline rush they had received had worn off by now, and they were merely tired again. They joined the throng of people looking to reunite with family members and friends.
After about half an hour of searching for Susan's parents, they found her. As they crossed the stadium to join her, Anna remembered something...
"I'll owl you...if anything goes wrong..."
She was jolted into action. When Susan and her mother were done with the tearful reunion, and Mrs. Bones had made sure the girls were OK, Anna asked to borrow their Owl. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she saw her father, looking around for her over by the goalpost. She ran to him, startling her friends and Susan's mother, and she hugged him.
"Are you OK? Anna?" She couldn't answer the simple question. All of a sudden, she was so tired. She simply nodded and fell asleep.
She awoke at home on August 31, almost 24 hours after the Cup. She was fairly certain she had been sick, and was entirely certain that she hadn't eaten in over a day. She woke up, changed into clean clothes, and went downstairs. On the kitchen counter was the usual note from her father: "Anna, I'll owl you when you get to Hogwarts. Take the Floo to the Lovegood's house, I've made arrangements. Your trunk is already there."
Disappointed, but not at all shocked, she made a sandwich. The only thing bothering her now was that she had to deal with the annoying Mr. Lovegood and his equally strange daughter. With a sigh, she stepped into the fireplace.