Chapter 2 - Setting Up Camp
Hermione felt as though she had barely gotten even two hours of sleep as Mrs. Weasley came in Ginny's room to wake them.
"Girls! Get up and get ready," she called from the doorway. Ginny grunted and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head as Hermione moaned and buried her head in her pillow. Mrs. Weasley continued up the stairs to wake the boys, Hermione hearing her go back down the stairs to the kitchen.
"G-G-Ginny," Hermione yawned. "Come on." Hermione wasn't much of a help in waking Ginny up seeing as she herself showed no real signs of getting out of the bed. Hermione rolled over and yawned again as she heard Harry and the other boys come trudging down the stairs. Hermione tried to keep her eyes open, but to no avail as she drifted back to sleep.
"Girls – if you don't get out of that bed this instant!" Mrs. Weasley was back at the door ten minutes later, yelling at Hermione and Ginny again to get out of bed and get ready. Ginny mumbled something into her pillow that sounded faintly like 'Five more minutes, Mum', but Mrs. Weasley would have no such thing. "Come on... Get up!" Mrs. Weasley grabbed Ginny and sat her up in the bed, Ginny groaning the whole time until her feet hit the cold floor and she shivered.
"Aw, Mum! I'm tired," Ginny protested as she tried to lie back down, but Mrs. Weasley took her pillow and Ginny grunted groggily as she got out of the bed.
"Come on, Hermione, dear." Mrs. Weasley began shaking Hermione, waking her only just enough for her to hear properly.
"I'm-... I'm up."
"No, you're not. You're not up until you're out of that bed, Hermione Granger," Mrs. Weasley scolded as she shook Hermione again. Hermione heaved a great sigh as she rolled over and sat up in the bed. "Now, let's go." Mrs. Weasley began making the bed as Hermione and Ginny walked sleepily out to the kitchen. When they entered, Ginny began complaining as they rubbed their eyes and squinted through the bright kitchen lights.
"Why do we have to be up so early?" Hermione totally agreed with Ginny's protest, the sun wasn't even rising yet.
"We've got a bit of a walk," Mr. Weasley replied. Harry's mildly astonished and slightly fearful tone as he spoke was exactly what Hermione was feeling when she heard the word 'walk' come out of Mr. Weasley's mouth.
"Walk? What, are we walking to the World Cup?"
"No, no, that's miles away," Mr. Weasley said with a half laugh. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult got a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup-"
"George!" Mrs. Weasley's voice came abruptly in a shrill way, making everyone in the kitchen jump.
"What?" George tried to sound innocent, but he fooled no one.
"What is that in your pocket?"
"Nothing!"
"Don't you lie to me!" Mrs. Weasley's voice was dangerously threatening as she pulled out her wand and aimed it at George's pocket. "Accio!" Hermione and the others watched as many tiny, bright colored objects came flying out of George's pocket. He tried to grab them up, but he didn't succeed as they went soaring across the room to Mrs. Weasley's waiting hand.
"Uh-oh," Ginny breathed silently as she sat next to Hermione. Everyone knew what was coming as Mrs. Weasley went slightly red in the face while her eyes turned fiery.
"We told you to destroy them!" She was holding one of the twin's Ton-Tongue Toffees and she was starting to shake with rage. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"
"This ought to be good," Ron whispered as he sat at the table on Hermione's other side. The twins pulled out bunches upon bunches of the toffees, but that wasn't the end of them.
"Accio! Accio! Accio!" Toffees were flying all over the place as Mrs. Weasley summoned them from all sorts of strange places off of her sons' clothing.
"We spent six months developing those!" Hermione didn't need any kind of Divination to tell her that there was a horrible fight in the brewing as Fred protested.
"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" Mrs. Weasley was screaming at the twins who looked just as equally angry about their mother's ridding them of their inventions. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!" Hermione looked at Ginny who quickly got up to go and get dressed, Hermione following suit.
"I don't know why they insist on angering her so," Ginny sighed as they left her room a few minutes later, both of them carrying their luggage. They were waiting in the dark yard as Mrs. Weasley kissed Mr. Weasley goodbye and then they were off.
"Well, have a lovely time," Mrs. Weasley called after them, "and behave yourselves! I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday." Hermione shivered and crossed her arms across her chest as goose bumps broke out on her arms from the cold. It was still very, very early seeing as the sun hadn't even shown not one sign of rising. The air was thick with silence as the twins walked ahead of everyone, anger glowing on their faces. Harry was the first to break the silence as he spoke to Mr. Weasley.
"So how does everyone get there without all the Muggles noticing?" Hermione had been wondering the same thing, this was a pretty big event judging by the talk about it and it wasn't like everyone could Apparate.
"It's been a massive organizational problem," Mr. Weasley answered as they continued to walk along. "The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up at the World Cup, and of course, we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all." Hermione had known that this event would be big, but the news Mr. Weasley just gave them shocked her. 'Wow, a hundred thousand witches and wizards' she thought in amazement as Mr. Weasley continued to speak. "There are places Muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or platform nine and three quarters. So we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti-Muggle precautions as possible. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. First, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals. People with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand."
"Ouch, Ron," Ginny groaned up ahead. Ron had just tripped in the darkness and stumbled into Ginny.
"S-s-sorry," Ron yawned. Hermione yawned herself as she continued to listen to Mr. Weasley.
"A limited number use Muggle transport, but we can't have too many clogging up their buses and trains – remember, wizards are coming from all over the world. Some Apparate, of course, but we have to set up safe points for them to appear, well away from Muggles. I believe there's a handy wood they're using as the Apparition point." At this, Hermione began wishing desperately, just as the twins had, that she could have got to sleep in and Apparate like Charlie, Bill, and Percy. "For those who don't Apparate, or can't, we use Portkeys," Mr. Weasley continued to explain. 'I should have guessed' Hermione thought to herself. 'I remember reading about those.' The rest of what Mr. Weasley said was lost to her as she tried to recall where she had read about Portkeys and what it had said. Finally, she decided to give up and listen to Mr. Weasley instead as Harry asked something close to the question that was sitting annoyingly in her mind.
"What sort of objects are Portkeys?"
"Well, they can be anything," Mr. Weasley said. "Unobtrusive things, obviously so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them... stuff they'll just think is litter..." Hermione thought about a disgusting piece of moldy meatloaf and shuddered as she grimaced. Shaking the thought from her head, Hermione and the others walked a bit further before coming to Stoatshead Hill. As they climbed the hill, Hermione, Ron, and Mr. Weasley all stumbled in rabbit holes that were hidden in the wet, dark grass.
"Are you okay," Harry asked as he helped Hermione up and they continued up the hill as Hermione nodded, too tired and out of breath to talk.
"Whew," Mr. Weasley panted as he took his glasses off and cleaned them on his old golf sweater. "Well, we've made good time – we've got ten minutes..." Hermione was thankful to hear this as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes while coming up over the hill clutching a stitch in here side. She dropped her pack and rested as Mr. Weasley and the others began searching for the Portkey. Everyone stopped looking when a voice called out to them and two tall, dark figures became distantly visible against the star-strewn, morning sky. Hermione squinted through the darkness as Mr. Weasley greeted the man who called to them. "Amos!" Everyone followed and they came face-to-face with a bearded wizard who was holding a moldy-looking old boot in his hand.
"I guess I was right about the moldy part," Hermione sighed to herself as Mr. Weasley introduced everyone.
"This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son Cedric?" The boys recognized him as the Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team at Hogwarts, and Ginny and Hermione recognized him as one of the most handsome boys in Hogwarts. Hermione sighed dreamily as she looked at him. He had said something, but she didn't quite hear it as she gazed at him. He looked around at everyone, coming finally to Hermione and smiling as she became aware he caught her staring stupidly.
"Hi," Hermione mumbled as she bit her bottom lip and bowed her head to hide her embarrassment. Hermione didn't much pay attention after that to what was going on or being said, she was too busy stealing glances at Cedric's handsome face and trying to hide every time he caught her. Finally, Mr. Weasley saved her from her continual cat and mouse gazing game as he spoke to her and Harry.
"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do-" Hermione and Harry nodded and did as Mr. Weasley said, all nine of the people crowd around while Amos held the boot for them to touch. 'Wow would this look weird to Muggles' Hermione laughed to herself in the back of her mind as she thought of a Muggle coming up onto the hill and spotting Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory and seven children touching a moldy boot in the early hours of the morning, just standing there. But she was broke from her thoughts as Mr. Weasley began quietly counting down to something.
"Three... two... one..." Hermione gasped as her feet let the ground with a jerk from behind her navel, her shoulder pounding painfully into Harry's every few seconds. Hermione closed her eyes as she became sick to her stomach due to the whirling of colors as they sped forward. Hermione looked up from the ground and saw Cedric, Mr. Diggory, and Mr. Weasley looking down on the group with slight concern as they lay there on the ground. Cedric smiled at her as she blushed and stood up, brushing herself off and pushing her hair back from her face.
"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," came a voice from behind her. Hermione turned around to see Mr. Weasley now talking to a man he had called Basil who was wearing a kilt. Hermione was too busy staring around the misty field at the already many tents. It was a bit hard to see them, but in the row that was closest to where they were standing, Hermione could already tell that there certainly was going to be an enormous bit of people here.
"Thanks, Basil," Mr. Weasley said as the group of red-heads and Harry began moving. Hermione sighed and picked up her pack as she followed along with him. The rest of the morning was a bit of a blur to Hermione as Mr. Weasley said hello to an uncountable number wizards and witches. Hermione had turned into a conversation at one point though as a Muggle began talking to them.
"You foreign?"
"Foreign," Mr. Weasley repeated in a questioning way. 'Uh-oh' Hermione thought as she realized the Muggle was staring at Mr. Weasley's attire with a puzzled expression.
"You're not the first one who's had trouble with money," said the Muggle. "I had two try and pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago."
"Did you really?" Hermione felt as nervous as Mr. Weasley sounded as the Muggle's tone got more and more suspicious.
"Never been this crowded," continued the Muggle. "Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up..."
"Is that right?"
"Aye. People from all over. Loads of foreigners. And not just foreigners. Weirdos, you know? There's a bloke walking 'round in a kilt and a poncho." Hermione realized that the Muggle, who's name was Mr. Roberts, was talking about Basil.
"Shouldn't he?" Mr. Weasley loved Muggles, but Hermione saw that it wasn't a good thing that he came in contact with them as she thought 'Oh on, Mr. Weasley. Shh!'
"It's like some sort of... I dunno... like some sort of rally," Roberts stuttered about. "They all seem to know each other. Like a big party." Hermione was really starting to worry, but suddenly her worry turned to surprise as a wizard appeared from nowhere and cast a spell on Roberts.
"Obliviate!" Hermione gasped as Roberts went slightly cross-eyed and then an expression of carelessness took over his face.
"A map of the campsite for you. And your change," Roberts said calmly to Mr. Weasley as he stood there looking disappointed at how they were treating the Muggles working at the moor.
"Thanks very much," Mr. Weasley sighed as he ushered the group along, the wizard who had just used a Memory Charm on Roberts accompanying them along the way. He and Mr. Weasley talked, but Hermione didn't pay attention as she thought of the poor Muggle back where they had just paid for their campsite.
"See you later, Arthur," said the wizard. Hermione snapped from her concerned daze when the wizard Disapparated. She began to stare at her surroundings after this, noticing big tents with gardens, weather vanes, peacocks, and even one with three floors. They finally reached their campsite with a sudden halt as Mr. Weasley exclaimed so happily, waking them all thoroughly from their stupor.
"Couldn't have a better spot! The field is just on the other side of the wood there, we're as close as we could be."
"Thank Merlin," Hermione sighed to herself as she followed Mr. Weasley's lead and took off her pack.
"Right," he said with excitement that told Hermione trouble was ahead, "no magic allowed, strictly speaking, now we're out in these numbers on Muggle land." Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes. 'I definitely need to get in shape if this is wearing me out. After I take a week's vacation and rest from this bit of work.' Hermione turned to Mr. Weasley who rubbed his palms together excitedly and continued to speak with his same childishly happy tone. "We'll be putting these tents up by hand! Shouldn't be too difficult..."
"That's what you think," Hermione sighed to herself as she recalled a time her father took her camping in one of his father-daughter bonding trips.
"Muggles do it all the time... Here, Harry, where do you reckon we should start?" Mr. Weasley turned to Harry and Hermione felt a bit of relief settle into her stomach.
"Better him than me," she thought aloud to herself, but this feeling didn't last long as Harry gave a pleading look to Hermione. Slouching slightly in disappointment, Hermione began to help Harry as she tried to keep from laughing at Mr. Weasley who was extremely overjoyed when Harry let him pound the stakes into the ground with a mallet. Finally they had finished and they stood back and took a well deserved break as they admired what they had done. Hermione couldn't figure something out though. Where were Bill, Charlie, and Percy going to stay when they got there because there were only two tents and as it is, there didn't look like there was enough room for those of them who were there.
"Come on, Hermione...! Let's check ours out," Ginny exclaimed as she ran forward, dropped to her knees, and crawling into the tent. Hermione looked quizzically at Ron who shrugged and followed Mr. Weasley and Harry into the boys' tent. Hermione sighed and followed Ginny into the tent, receiving quite a shock when she entered. There was a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. While Hermione was examining the tent, Harry and Ron entered. Hermione looked at Harry with a surprised expression on her face as he shrugged and raised his brow. Once they were finished looking, Hermione and the two boys grabbed a kettle and a couple pots and began their journey across the campsite to get water. All along the way, Hermione saw lots of strange things. She had seen wizards and witches at Hogswarts and in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, and what she hadn't seen, she read about, but to see the things she had read about or saw in books was amazing. Suddenly there was a change in the campsite surroundings that Ron so obviously pointed out with a stupid question like always.
"Er- is it my eyes, or has everything gone green?" Hermione was about to answer that as they looked at the many tents covered with Ireland flags, shamrocks, and other Irish pride-showing objects when someone called their names from behind them.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" Seamus Finnigan was sitting at one of the strangely green tents with Dean Thomas and what must have been Seamus's mother, Mrs. Finnigan. "Like the decorations?" Hermione thought seriously about answering that question too, but she didn't feel it wise to say something like 'It's nice, but a bit too much' amidst all the green tents. "The Ministry's not too happy."
"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" Hermione thought Mrs. Finnigan's statement was a bit under minded. 'Showing them! You've blinded us with them!' Hermione looked around once more and shook her head as Mrs. Finnigan continued. "You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" Hermione nodded fervently as Mrs. Finnigan eyed them before finally letting them go on their way.
"Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot." Ron had spoke Hermione's mind as another question popped into her head.
"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents?"
"Let's go and have a look," Harry said as he pointed to a bunch of red, white, and green tents with the Bulgarian flag flying above that lay ahead of them. When they got there, there was posters of the same moving face plastered everywhere. Hermione was a bit intrigued by this dark looking face with its heavy black eyebrows and large nose.
"Krum," Ron spoke softly.
"What?" Hermione had no idea what he was talking about.
"Krum! Victor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"
"He looks really grumpy," Hermione said as she tilted her head to one side and continued to observe the strange moving face.
"'Really grumpy'? Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see." Hermione thought about what Ron had just said. 'A genius? How can anyone in Quidditch be a genius? Honestly... what a load of horse pooh!' Hermione was awoke from her thoughts though as she quickly looked up and saw that Ron had stopped in front of her. There was a long line for the water pump and it looked as though they would be waiting a while.
"Oh bother," Hermione sighed as she looked around. "So much for catching up on beauty sleep." Hermione's eyes stopped though as she saw something that struck her as quite funny.
"Just put them on, Archie, there's a good chap. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious-," said one wizard to an older looking one.
"I bought this in a Muggle shop," said the older wizard named Archie. "Muggles wear them."
"Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these," said the younger wizard in exasperation as he held out a pair of pajamas pants to Archie. Hermione was already in a fit of silent giggles at just seeing the old wizard in a woman's night gown, but what he said next broke the control she had over her fit of laughter.
"I'm not putting them on. I like the healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks." Hermione shoved the kettle into Harry's hands as she ran off, hands covering her mouth as she turned red from holding back the laughter. She was laughing and giggling as she stood by herself a ways away from Harry and Ron who were still in line. Hermione was finally starting to calm down when someone from behind her began speaking to her.
"What's so funny," Cedric Diggory asked.
"Oh! Um...," Hermione gasped in a flustered sort of way. "Nothing," she said finally as he smiled at her and she bowed her head.
"You're Potter's friend, aren't you," Diggory said in an attempt to start a conversation.
"Yes," Hermione answered with her head still bowed and in a timid tone.
"The really smart one?"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Oh, it's no secret that you're the best in your year. You'll make a great prefect," Cedric said politely.
"Thanks," Hermione muttered.
"Well... I'll see you around then," Cedric said as he spotted Cho Chang and went off to join her.
"'Bye," Hermione sighed as she watched him walk over and give Cho a kiss on the cheek. Hermione sighed and figured that she best be getting back to help Harry and Ron. 'She's so lucky' Hermione thought as she looked over her shoulder at Cedric and Cho who were now holding hands.