I decided to give another go at the World Cup. Been reading a bunch to help me with it. I think it turned out rather well... sorry for the shit called a Death Eater attack.
Astaron furrowed his brow as he followed the Weasley's up the steps of the Quidditch stadium. How high up were they sitting? Giving a soft huff, he walked higher and sighed in relief when they stopped. Even for a half-vampire, this was a lot of walking. Grumbling underneath his breath when they started walking again, a booming voice stopped them. "Arthur Weasley! How nice to see you."
A large man with a horrid fashion taste and clothes that vaguely reminded Astaron of the Riddler from Batman, came forward. He was dressed in purple robes with a green and purple hat, that Astaron had the urge to burn. He shook hands with Mr. Weasley and Astaron bit back a growl when his eyes landed him. "Harry, how wonderful to see you!" He shook with hand vigorously, keeping a tight grip on his hand and a pleased smile on his face.
Astaron ruffled through his mental libraries, wondering if he'd ever met a man with such an obvious death wish. Coming up blank, he decided to embarrass the man, because obviously he was someone of much importance. "Uh, you are?"
A flush appeared on the man's face and Mr. Weasley clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, this is the minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge. At least Britain's minister."
The Minister coughed slightly. "Yes. I do suppose we haven't met formally. An erm, unfortunate oversight on my part." Declared the Minister, who was clearly trying to salvage whatever he could of his torn dignity. "Well, this is the Bulgarian Minister of Magic." He gestured behind him where a man stood behind him regally and formally, his face completely blank.
The Minister turned and began waving his hands in exaggerated motions at him whilst going a simplistic lightning and speaking, over-enunciating his words. "Minister, this. Is. Harry. Potter." The man continued to stare at him blankly though Astaron thought he saw the slightest flicker of amusement and disdain in his eyes. "HARRY. POTTER." He sighed, before waving his hand in a hopeless manner. "Never mind. I'll just go find Crouch; he speaks Bulgarian I think. Minister, wait her- oh why do I bother? You can't understand me anyways." Fudge huffed before wandering off to look for this 'Crouch' person.
Astaron scowled at the back of his head, his sister mumbling slightly behind him about how unprofessional he was, and how he needed better robes, and how she wanted to burn his hat.
A chuckle caught his attention and he turned back to the Bulgarian Minister. "Vhat an idiot." His English was accented but otherwise perfect. "Vaving you around like a trophe, Eet is vather fun to mess vith him." He snorted. "Also, vatch out for the veela, children." Amaya perked up at the word, Veela, probably excited on getting to know about her half-veela creature. "Eet is dangerous for vittle ones; they 'ave strong effect on everyone, but that 'ave extra danger vhen you are still exploring." Despite the fact that he knew he was gay, his cheeks flushed deeply at the Minister's words.
"O-okay. Thank you for the warning sir."
"You are vary welcome." The minister gave a small before turning away and wandering into the crowd.
Astaron turned back around and the Weasley's began walking again. He noticed the looks Ginny kept sending him and made sure to keep his distance from Amaya; in case she concluded that they were courting or dating, whatever purebloods called it. Dragging his feet slightly, he began hissing under his breath in Parseltongue, wanting to be able to sit down already. Didn't they do enough walking already? Where on Gaea's green earth did Arthur Weasley get seats, he thought, this was too much walking, even for a vampire. Wizards need to make elevators, or lifts, or escalators, those will work too. Anything except for the seeming never-ending stairs.
"Where are we sitting that requires us to walk this much?"
Instead of Mr. Weasley's voice, it was a voice that caused his anger to spike. "Well think of it this way, if it begin to rain, you all shall be the first to know." It was silky, lathered with venom and disgust, as well as exceedingly arrogant. Only one person held that kind of voice. Lucius Malfoy. Mr. Weasley turned around, a grim look on his face.
Draco was standing next to his father; he was standing tall and proud, but Astaron saw a dull looking in his eyes; a tired look well hidden but not well enough; His hands were in his pockets; his arms sagged slightly, as though it hurt to move them. His grey eyes swept over them, and they met his green ones. Immediately, a possessiveness filled his chest; his creature pushed into the forefront of his mind; his magic swirled violently. He took a sharp breath and flexed his fingers, fighting to subdue the creature, that was in an uproar, inside of him.
Draco seemed be having an inner turmoil as well, though it was expertly hidden. A single word wiggled into his mind, Mate, that caused havoc to be caused by his vampire side, the possessive feeling in his chest growing dangerously strong. He forces a calm mask outside as he wrangles his powers; tearing his eyes away from Draco's, hoping it helps subdue his powers. It did not. He tuned out of the conversation between the Weasley's and Lucius but kept his sub-conscience open in case someone said his name.
His siren side was much more subdued, but he felt the power coiling in his blood, the way it was ready to take action if anything happened to its mate; His vampire side was far more active and there was an urge for blood that was bordering ravenous; His creature magic was at his fingertips, ready to move at the utter of a single command; It was becoming near impossible to control himself.
How long it was like this, he didn't know, but Astaron opened up his conscience. Just in time too, because the Weasley's were now walking away, and he slipped right behind his sister. A scent he hadn't recognized before began fading, it was soft and warm, smelling like pine and cider with a faint scent of apples. Risking it, he decided to look over his shoulder for a second.
His eyes met grey once more, and they turned a gleaming silver. Staring straight into the eyes of his mate, he allowed his vampire side to take over for a split second. His mouth moved and a single word was said silently. Mine. An invisible smile graced his mate's face and he turned away before his creature got out of control.
Finally, after much climbing, grumbling, and feet dragging, they made it to their seats which held a lovely view of the stadium (although Astaron knew he was going to hate the walk back down) Sitting down in his seat next to Ron, he watched held his omnioculars to his eyes.
Soon Ludo Bagman, the Ministry Official who had made a bet with the twins, cast sonorous on himself and his amplified voice echoed throughout the stadium. The leprechauns, the opening act for Ireland, came out and began throwing gold out. He didn't collect it because he knew it would disappear later on, and reminded Ron of that, who had collected an arm full of gold. The Veela came out as Bulgaria's opening act and Astaron watched as they danced, their silver blonde hair flowing around them, and dresses moving fluidly to fit their movements. He watched in amusement as many began making fools of themselves to catch their attention, Cornelius Fudge climbing atop his chair and waving his arms around foolishly. Ron only stood but still he kept a firm grip on his wrist. Astaron stayed his seat, his eyes glued to his mate once he'd found where he had been sitting with his parents.
Once the game had started, Astaron had his full attention on the game. Though he mostly watched the seekers, because he could use a few new moves for his games. He still loved Quidditch even if he had a different father. Wincing when the Irish seeker hit the ground from a feint dive from Krum, he put that move away from a future Quidditch game. Amaya gave him updates as she saw that he wasn't paying much attention to any of the other players. Ron was mostly just watching Viktor Krum, keeping his eyes glued on him. The game ended finally when Krum caught the snitch, despite Ireland being close to 200 points ahead. The twins cheered loudly and Astaron saw a sour look cross Bagman's face, likely at the thought of having to pay the twins for winning the bet.
Then they were back to walking. Astaron mumbled curses the entire way to the tent.
-Line Break-
Shouts and shrieks of fear woke Astaron as well as the bellows of the Weasley Patriarch and Matriarch. "Kids, Death Eaters in the Woods! Up up! We need to go NOW!" The Weasley's clambered out, him right behind Fred. The moment they were out, he gave one of the ropes a sharp tug and in a few seconds it was a tab. Tucking it into his pocket, he felt someone grab his arm and suddenly he was being pulled. It was Amaya. She pulled him through the crowd, glaring at the Death Eaters.
"I know for a fact that this should not be happening. Don't question how but I don't think our father gave them this order. We need to stop them."
"Okay. How? I know that Death Eaters have a mark or something…"
They ducked behind an abandoned tent, and he could see the wheels turning in his twin's mind. "What about the Dark Mark spell… Morsmordre? We could do it in Parseltongue and on our Knockturn wands, reasonable first spell?"
He grinned. "Definitely. Ready?" Holding out his dark wand, he pointed it at the sky. His sister held hers next to his. Taking a deep breath, the closed their eyes before hissing.
§ Morsmordre §
A green light shot from their wands, conjoining together before exploding into the sky. A shimmering green skull appeared, two snakes wrapping around them. The light around them shimmered as though it was the northern lights. At the same time as there, another dark mark was cast but it was different from theirs. It was a paler green and the snake came from the mouth of the skull. A grin spread across his face at the sense of euphoria that shot through his body, the dark magic leaving a wonderous feeling.
"Come on. We have to go now. We can't be found here." Stuffing his wand into his pocket, he ran with his sister, ducking under the posts of tents and stumbling over pieces of debris.
"Hermione! Harry!" Together they turned and found themselves being faced by a relieved Ronald Weasley. "There you are. You ran off and I got panicked that you had gotten split off by the crowd an- DUCK!" Wanking them to the ground, Amaya shrieked as multiple red lights shot at where they were.
"Stop! That's my son and his friends! Ron! Harry! Hermione!" They were suddenly crushed into a hug by Mr. Weasley. "Where on earth did you go? I thought you had been taken or-"
"Sir! We've found a wand. It was the one that made the dark mark!" The Auror's eyes flickered to the sky again. "Er, the known dark mark. I'm not sure about the other one."
The Auror held out a wand and shock reeled through Astaron as he patted his pockets, only feeling one wand but not saying it. "That's my wand! I left it in the tent! I'm sure of it!"
A dark look crossed the man's face as he stared him down. "Did you know? So how did it cast the dark mark, huh? How do we know that you are telling the truth and you didn't cast it?"
A scowl showed itself on Mr. Weasley's face. "Mr. Crouch! You aren't suggesting that Harry, the-Boy-Who-Lived, would cast the dark mark, do forbidden magics? The concept of it is absurd! And do you have real proof, other than a wand that could have been taken without thought and dropped while he was in the crowd. In the panic, one would not have noticed." Astaron stared at Mr. Weasley, his eyes flickering back and forth.
Then, as if more madness needed to be added, an Auror came, dragging a trembling little house elf. "We found this eld wandering about where the wand was found, sir. Do you know who it belongs too?"
Crouch spluttered, his face turner redder than Ron's hair, which was a rather impressive feat. "Winky?! Did you do this? This you cast the mark?!"
The elf, Winky, began sobbing and wailed, "No Master!" She shook her head frantically, jerking her ears down harshly. "I just be looking for you's, master. Winky not be doing nothin' wrong!" Crouch was not listening apparently.
"You foolish, insubordinate elf! I told you to stay where you were! To stay put! This means clothes!" he shouted, causing Astaron to glare at the man.
A screech came from beside him, and he winced at the sharp sound that was emitted in his ear. His sister came forward, her eyes blazing with fury. "You expected her to- to stay and risk getting killed?! You foolish, idiotic-" She was stopped by Ron who placed a hand on her mouth.
"Mia let's not insult an important person in the Ministry who could potentially ruin everything for you. Huh? You can rant later." He murmured something soft into her ear that none of them caught but she relaxed slightly. Nodding, she was freed from Ron's arms and bent down beside the pleading house elf. She lifted her and cradled her gently.
"Mr. Weasley, do you think that Professor Dumbledore would allow Winky to work at Hogwarts?" Mr. Weasley nodded. She smiled. "You'll still have a master, Winky. All will be fine. You don't have to wear clothes if you don't want too." Amaya consoled the house elf, before Astaron decided to wince and rub his scar slightly.
"Harry what's wrong?" He put on a mask of slight pain and fear and flickered his eyes to the two dark mark's in the sky.
He forced a slight grimace. "My scars hurting. I was trying to ignore it before but it's hurting a lot now. Do you think we can head back now? It's becoming really unbearable."
Mr. Weasley's face softened and he nodded. Astaron mentally patted himself on the back for good acting skills. "Of course Harry. Come 'round children. Mr. Crouch, I shall be back, but I must take the children back to the Burrow. Hermione, Molly can take Winky to Dumbledore once we get there. Ready everyone? Good and now!"
Then with the three of them holding Mr. Weasley's arm, the familiar crack of apparation sounded and the burnt campgrounds twisted away.
It's short I know, I know. It's just under 2,500 words and actually pretty bad. Feels very rushed to me but I was trying to get it out soon because I might not update for a long while.
So next chapter, when it comes out, is shopping in the Muggle world and Hogwarts. That should be fun... Oh! And there is going to be a surprise in the next chapter!
