I got to the Quidditch World Cup the same way I had gotten to my brother's wedding, by flying. I was actually a more than decent flier although not many people knew that. I didn't bother showing them; it wasn't much of their business. Lev was with me as I held him with one hand and steered with the other. He liked the breeze and stuck his tongue out, carefree. A few weeks prior we had gotten curious as to why his height remained so small despite his age and found out from our animal caretaker that he was actually a mixed breed. Papa hadn't been too happy, not having been told that earlier, but I was delighted; now I didn't have to worry about him getting too big to hold. I had brought him to the wedding too but made him stay outside and forbade him to use magic. I didn't want any Muggles overreacting and thinking he was a demon dog like Draco used to always say
I arrived at what looked like the information center of the event and was given a few strange looks to my broom. Most had gotten there through Muggle ways or Portkeys but I couldn't be bothered to do that. That was no fun. I had told Fred and George I'd meet them there instead although the wedding had been part of that decision. In their letter they seemed a little disappointed but I told them I would explain later. I should tell them about my brother too. They were good to me, always nonjudgmental about everything. Still thinking about the two, I walked up to the man who seemed to be in charge. He was tall and looked extremely bored, barely glancing at me when I reached him
"May I help you, Miss?" he asked uncaringly, probably having dealt with more than enough people for one day. But I was tired from the long trip; since I was with Lev I had to lean back and not go too fast. I didn't want to waste any more time. So I did something I hardly ever do
"Volkov. I'm Katerina Volkov." I informed him. His eyes darted to my face at the sound of my name, so did those of the man standing next to him
"Miss Volkov, I –I wasn't aware you and your family would be joining us" he said looking around in what he thought was a subtle manner
"We're not, it's just me. I am meeting some people here and would like some directions"
"Yes, of course. Who will you be meeting?" he asked in a curious tone he failed to hide
"The Weasleys"
"Weasley?" he repeated skeptical
"Did I not make myself clear?" I asked in the snippy tone people always expected of me. He looked down apologetically, scanning through a list of names on a piece of parchment. Normally I would be a little kinder but I didn't want him asking questions he had no business asking
"The Weasleys are to be less than a quarter of a mile in that direction" he stated pointing behind me. "It will be the first field you come to, the site manager is named Mr. Roberts." I stared at where he was pointing not happy. This all looked disorganized and if I got lost my father would not take it too kindly on the Weasleys… "Is something the matter Miss Volkov?"
"Yes, actually" I said with a whiny voice, for emphasis, turning back to him. Figuring it was the best option, considering the alternative, I sighed. "I would like someone to show me to the tents"
"Well, um, Miss –We –"
"Let me rephrase that. Get someone to show me the way" I interrupted him in the same whiny voice
"I'm afraid I can't. You see, we are much too occupied and –" he stopped when he saw me frown. I didn't want to have to do things this way but frankly I cared more about what my father would do to the twins if something happened to me than what would happen to this man if he left to escort me for a few minutes. Papa was very protective of me and had given me a hard time about allowing me to go for the very possibility that something could happen.
"Well if I'm too much of a bother for you I suppose I could always tell my father to escort me himself." I watched as his eyes grew at my words, as well as those of the two men behind him who had obviously been listening. "He won't be pleased that he has to show me himself when there are plenty of others to lead the way but if you can't…"
"No, no, of course we can!" the tall man said nervously. "Of course, yes. I just meant we'd need a couple of minutes to find someone to show you. Then you'd be on your way"
"You have one" I said as uncaringly as I could manage. From my experience I had learned that this was the quickest way to get a response from someone. Saying something in an uncaring tone meant that person bored you and you could care less what happened to them. This usually inspired people to work harder as they cared very much for themselves
"Yes, of course" the man said nervously, believing I was as horrible as I was leading on. There had been talk about how I wasn't as rotten as I used to be but people didn't want to push their luck. "Please excuse me, Miss Volkov"
I took a hold of Lev and kept my face serious, not wanting to give away my lie. If they knew I wouldn't tell my father any of this they wouldn't be as quick to help. It wasn't easy considering how cute Lev was acting, playing with my Muggle-looking clothes, but I managed. Years of acting paid off. Not even a minute later someone came to show me to the Weasleys' tent. He looked just as anxious as the first man but considerably shorter. He did his best to keep a professional attitude but I caught him looking over nervously from time to time.
He walked me the quarter mile to the site manager, Mr. Rogers, all the while holding my bag. I had my dress robes from the wedding there as well as a change of clothes, my pyjamas, and some other items that may come in handy. With me I kept my wand and my broom, not trusting those to anyone. Lev walked behind happily; he liked being given special treatment. We stepped passed the Muggle, who eyed my broom curiously but shrugged it off, and towards the very edge of the woods at the top of the field. There were two somewhat small and very simple looking tents set up there
The man, whose name I never bothered to ask, handed me back my things looking at the tents curiously. I caught him giving me a look, most likely pondering why someone like me would be with people like them. I decided to ignore it, not wanting to start anything. He thanked me for coming and asked if I would forgive the slight inconvenience. I waved my hand dismissively as this was one of the quickest and quietest ways to get rid of someone. He disappeared thanking me again as Lev barked at him to leave already. Inside the tents there was some noise, possibly having heard us outside. Lev barked again as two familiar faces looked up at us
"Kitty!"
"Hey" I said as Fred and George ran over to hug me. They pulled back right away when they heard how unhappy my puppy was by this. "Sorry if I'm late, I had to fly over here"
"You flew?" Fred asked with a mixture of shock and amazement
"I can fly" I said defensively, holding out my broom
"But weren't you afraid you'd get caught?" George asked looking at my Nimbus 2001. Mr. Malfoy had bought me one when he gave them to the Slytherin team, as a sign of friendship among our families. I took his actions as suspicious, as I always did, but accepted it anyway
"Not really" I answered. "I had my father have someone install an Invisibility Booster on it. That way I could fly without getting caught"
"You can do that with brooms?!" Fred asked practically ripping the broom from my hands. George gave him a look but I just laughed
"You can for the Galleons my father spent"
"Mind if I borrow it one day?" Fred asked with a certain evil gleam in his eyes
"I'll think about it" I smiled and took my broom back.
"So who are you rooting for?" George asked making a better attempt than Fred to hide his curiosity with my broom
"I think Ireland's going to win, honestly. Although it might be close, I hear Vik is –I mean Viktor Krum is very good…" I said correcting myself. I knew Vik from Durmstrang, from when my brother went there. He was a nice guy and had been one of the few people to never call Nikolai a traitor. But I hadn't spoken to him in a while… Fred and George didn't seem to notice my hiccup
"Hear that Georgie, Ireland's going to win" Fred said as George nodded in agreement.
"It's only a guess" I smiled at them
"Yeah but your guess is more than enough for me" George told me with a grin on his face. From the tent an older man appeared looking happily at something in his hand. He had the same hair as the twins and I could only assume this was their father, Arthur Weasley
"Fred, George, have you gotten the wood set up –" Mr. Weasley stopped when he saw me. He smiled kindly and walked over to where we were standing and held out his hand to me. "You must be Katerina"
"Yes, hello" I answered shaking it. He was wearing somewhat faded clothes and looked very much like a Muggle. Unlike me he seemed very comfortable as such.
"It's nice to finally meet you. I'm the boys' father. Fred and George have told us so much about you. And I've met your father a couple of times…" He let the sentence hang making me smile
"Yes, I'm sorry about him." As much as I loved my father he wasn't the nicest person in the world when it came to others. He was often very cold and when he spoke it was only to toy with the other person. I had a feeling I inherited that from him
"Don't be silly. Well we were just about to start the fire, would you like to help."
"Why not" I shrugged and put my things on the ground. Mr. Weasley noticed and moved to look into the cabin next to the one he had come out of.
"Ginny would you come out here." Out of the tent stepped the smallest of the Weasleys. The twins' little sister Ginevra stood in front of me looking cautious. "Ginny you know Katerina, right?"
"Sort of" she said with a small smile
"Would you mind showing her inside? She'll be staying with you and Hermione" Ginny nodded and motioned for me to follow. I picked my things up again and told Lev to wait with the boys, giving Fred and George a warning look to remind them what happened last time they tried to pet him on the Quidditch field at Hogwarts. They each gave me a smile as I walked into the tent.
"Sorry if it's small" she said motioning me to put my things down anywhere. I put them by one of the bedrooms and turned back to her smiling
"It's not" I reassured her. She smiled a little but it didn't reach her eyes. "Sorry that I'm here"
"What do you mean?" she asked her smile fading
"I know that you don't like me very much. I would've said no to Fred and George's invitation so I didn't cause any of you any discomfort but I wanted to come" I said only half lying. The truth was I had needed to come but it was close enough to the truth I didn't feel bad
"What makes you think I don't like you?" she asked a small trace of nerves in her voice
"I'm good at reading people. It's a nifty trick you pick up when others constantly act fake or lie to you. I'm not saying that you hate me like Ron does but you don't exactly like me either." She relaxed a little having that being said out loud and gave me an impish smile
"You are good" she admitted. "Sorry but so far Slytherins aren't my favorite kind of people"
"Understandable" I replied. "They're not my favorite kind of people either. But there's good and bad in everyone."
"Well from what I've seen your buddy Malfoy isn't very nice"
"Yes, well, that's because you haven't seen what I've seen" I shrugged a little but still didn't move. She was the kind of girl who was nice to others but stood up for herself when around those she didn't like. I liked that in a person, even if I was in the disliked group.
"My brothers said I had to be nice to you" she said crossing her arms. I laughed but she took it the wrong way. "What?"
"Nothing. But you don't have to be nice, I don't mind. I'd rather you be rude than lie"
"Hermione says you're not like other Slytherin" she mentioned quietly. Clearly she valued Hermione's opinion
"Oh, I am, but what you don't get about Slytherins is that we choose who we're nice to. Others just don't include Gryffindors on that list"
"And you do?"
"I can" I smiled. We heard noise outside and I turned around. I could hear people talking and I turned back to Ginny to finish our conversation. "I know you don't like me very much, or probably not at all, but at least wait until you know me to judge me. I do care about your brothers and I don't necessarily want to be fighting with their sister for any reason. So do you think you could at least wait before you hate me?"
She nodded silently agreeing and we walked back outside the tent. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were here now, having come back from wherever they were. George motioned for us to sit as Ginny went to take the other seat by Fred without waiting for me. The action caught the attention of Harry and Ron only now noticing me. Harry looked surprised to see me while Ron frowned, having known I was coming all along.
"Oh, you're here" Ron said probably hoping I had changed my mind
"Nice to see you too" I smiled before heading over to hug Hermione where she stood next to Mr. Weasley
"How'd it go?" she whispered, asking about the wedding
"As well as it could have I suppose" I shrugged and she gave me a warm smile. Hermione turned back to Mr. Weasley who was apparently attempting to start a fire the Muggle way and I went to the seat next to George who had kindly saved it for me