Once they'd all put their bags into the tents, Hermione, Ron and Harry went off in search of water. The rest of the Weasley men began to chat and 'make a fire', and Poppy and Ginny spent a little while exploring the girls' tent.

Poppy shouldn't have been shocked that it was bigger on the inside, but she was.

Inside there was a small sitting area and mini kitchen, and there were two bedrooms which could be sectioned off using the tarp walls which were currently rolled up near the ceiling. One room contained a double bed and the other had two singles. Before she could even offer to take one of the singles, Ginny had dumped Poppy's bag onto the larger bed.

"Thanks," Poppy muttered, smiling.

"It's only fair," Ginny replied. "You're a giant."

Poppy glared into space. "Thanks," she said again, sarcastically this time.

Ginny laughed and jumped onto the bed. She watched Poppy as she checked to make sure her ticket was still in her pack, and then they moved to the kitchen to have a nose around.

"The boys' one will be bigger," Ginny said.

"How?" Poppy asked, staring around. The flat she'd subletted for the summer was so much smaller than the inside of this tent that she couldn't quite believe that this was free.

Ginny shrugged. "Dad's got good connections I guess. Think he borrowed the tents off someone at work."

Poppy hummed and stuck her head into a cupboard to see what was still in there.

"So… what do you think of Charlie?"

"Eugh," Poppy said, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh. Well I don't think he's that bad, but I guess he's my brother so I'm a bit biased…" Ginny said defensively.

Poppy laughed and pulled her head back out of the grim space to look up at Ginny. "I meant the cupboard. Charlie's great. Always has been."

"Great as in…"

"Great…" Poppy said, shrugging. "We used to be like you and me." She pointed between them. "Probably why we've just fallen straight into being friends now. It's like no time has passed, but I'll admit it's different now we're both of age," she added, trying to remind Ginny that she was now older… she didn't completely understand why though.

"You're right. It seems different to us..." Ginny said, looking up at the ceiling. "Why is that? What does age have to do with it?"

Poppy shrugged. "Guess we're at a similar maturity level now?" she said, trying to cover up the fact that her crush on him had a lot to do with it. "I guess I don't feel like I annoy him when we talk? It feels like we're on a similar, more level playing field."

"Yeah… and you're only four years younger than him, right?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's not much, is it?"

Poppy laughed. "I think there's about a month and a half where we're only three years apart, if you want to get technical." She ducked her head into another cupboard to hide her awkward smile - she hadn't meant to admit that she knew when Charlie's birthday was. "And once again, I'm only two months younger than Percy…"

They heard Mr Weasley shout to someone outside.

"Hey, we should get back," Poppy said, stepping back and pushing the cabinet door closed.

"Let's check out the boys' tent instead?" Ginny asked. "I'm not ready to share you yet…"

Poppy smiled and nodded. But when they walked outside, they found Mr Weasley still trying and failing to light a fire, and Charlie, Fred and George staring at him in various stages of boredom.

Poppy grinned at the scene. "Have you tried not using matches?" she asked Mr Weasley.

"No, no, we're doing it all the Muggle way," Mr Weasley replied happily, breaking another match on the small box.

"I know," she said, bouncing slightly - she couldn't seem to keep her excitement under control at the moment, and she put it down to actually being happy and carefree for the first time in a while - "don't worry, this'll be a Muggle way… I just need to find some sticks, a large rock, and some newspaper…"

Mr Weasley pulled a newspaper out of his bag and sent the twins off to look for small sticks and twigs at the treeline. Charlie, bemused, chucked her a small rock from next to the log he was sitting on.

Soon enough they had all of the tools they needed, and Poppy was rubbing a stick back and forth from top to bottom, and blowing at the base of it which was nestled in paper and twigs.

"Nothing's happening," Fred complained loudly. "I'm half starved and you're trying to make fire with a newspaper."

She was just about to give up when the paper began to smoke, and she grinned as a little flame burst forth. "Et voila," she said, fanning the flames.

"Where'd you learn that then?" George asked, impressed.

"We learnt it at brownies one time," she explained, "but I haven't done it in years. I'm glad it actually worked."

"Brownies?" Fred asked, frowning.

"Oh, uh, like a Muggle club," she said, "kind of like-"

"Pop?" Ginny asked over her, nodding her head towards the boy's tent.

"Ooh yeah," Poppy said, grinning and forgetting her point as she stood up. "Right, we're invading yours," she said to Fred and George.

"I told Poppy it was bigger," Ginny explained, walking into the tent. Poppy followed suit. "No boys!" Ginny shouted, ducking her head back out of the tent.

"Well this is even more depressing," Poppy muttered, looking around. "This is a tent," she said, thinking again of the tiny flat she'd rented over the summer. "It's too big."

"A tent with a sofa!" Ginny called, and Poppy laughed, seeing that the small girl was now lying across one of the sofas spread eagle.

She plopped herself down on an armchair and they had a nice long chat about Ginny and how she was - her summer, her homework, her secret Quidditch training… Everything they couldn't talk about openly in front of her family and hadn't had enough time to discuss before.

It was nice, Poppy thought, having a proper one to one chat with the girl after a bit of a crazy and long summer.

A little while later, Ron, Harry and Hermione came back from their water trip and Mr Weasley, Charlie and Ginny began to cook a lunch of sausages and eggs while Poppy chatted to George and Fred about their newest plans for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Bill and Percy arrived as they were beginning to dish up and the latter boasted about how easy Apparition was. Poppy tried not to laugh at George and Fred when they rolled their eyes at their brother, and smiled politely when Percy sat down in Charlie's now empty seat next to her and struck up a conversation about the importance of the World Cup and his work with Mr Crouch, his boss. Charlie, who had popped to the loo and come back to find his seat taken, glared at his brother while the Weasley siblings and Poppy tried not to laugh.

Over the next few hours, Poppy waved at a few students she knew as they walked past, and had a long, excited chat with one of her best friends, Cass, who was dressed head to toe in green, and gushed, "It's a once in a lifetime event this, Poppy! Once in a lifetime! If you think I'm bad, you should see Pa, he's even worse than me. Ma said we were over the top and he told her she was just bitter that Sri Lanka lost in the second knockout stage. She almost tore up his ticket but he pointed out that yer fella's gonna be here and she calmed right down and went to the hairdressers."

"Who?"

"You know, yer fella, played for the Wimborne Wasps for a while? Ugh, what is his name? Used to be good looking before he got his hand stuck in the sweetie jar? Ah never mind," she said, waving her hand. "You're not supporting Bulgaria are you?"

Poppy laughed and shook her head, waving her friend off a minute later when her mum called her over.

"She scares me," Fred said, watching Cass as she disappeared down the lane with her parents.

Poppy raised an eyebrow and Ginny laughed. "He's not got over her knocking him out in his second game for Gryffindor. Still complains about it."

"Isn't that the point of beaters?" Poppy questioned. Seeing the look on Fred's face she pretended to zip and lock her lips.

For a while, Poppy remained quiet while Mr Weasley nodded to and greeted passing Ministry officials, calling out their names after they'd walked out of earshot so that she, Harry and Hermione could know who they were.

She was very impressed that Mr Weasley knew so many people and that they all held him in such high regard - she liked that he seemed to be just as kind and generous at work as he was at home.

But, much to Percy's apparent annoyance, Poppy didn't really care who the people were, she just greeted them if they came to say hello to Mr Weasley, or didn't acknowledge them if they didn't. He tried to tell her that making connections would put her in good stead for a job after Hogwarts, and while she agreed, she just couldn't bring herself to care in that moment.

A little while later Ginny, who was sat on Poppy's other side said, "Why don't you sit here, Charlie?" and made Charlie switch seats with her. On his way over, he poured two mugs of tea, finishing the pot, and handed Poppy one of the mugs when he sat down.

"Thanks," she said, taking it gratefully.

Percy huffed about the lack of hot water, though Poppy could tell he was more worried that they'd be out of tea when someone important popped by, and he got up a moment later to crouch closer to the fire and busied himself with filling the kettle again.

"So, settling in alright?" Charlie asked, blowing into his mug.

"Yeah!" Poppy replied. "I can't tell you how special this feels. It still blows my mind that you grew up with all this. Sometimes I think it's like I'm in a dream world."

"I forgot you're a Muggle-born," he said, narrowing his eyes in thought. "I think I know what you mean though."

"How?" she asked, raising her mug to her lips.

"Okay, uh… I went to a Muggle supermarket once and it baffled me… the way the lights worked, the way the aisles were laid out…"

Poppy almost snorted into her tea. "You do know that Apparating on top of a woman who just happened to be in a supermarket doesn't count as going to a Muggle supermarket, right?" she asked with a teasing laugh.

Charlie looked at the fire and tilted his head this way and that, chuckling, and then he looked at her again. "Yeah, fair play. Can't believe you remembered that…"

"Everyone remembers that," she laughed. Though she was sure that her vested interest in Charlie was the real reason why she did - she didn't think her friends would remember much about him. "You're the reason I don't Apparate when I'm tired!"

Charlie groaned and then asked, "Are you-"

Poppy frowned over his shoulder, missing his question completely because a rather odd looking man had just Apparated nearby, and for some reason she felt slightly nauseous looking at him. Charlie frowned at her and then looked over his shoulder, following her gaze.

The unsettling new wizard had a boyish face, but a large, round, belly that bulged against his too-small robes. He had a sickening overly charming grin which turned Poppy's stomach even more, but Percy didn't seem to think that the man was at all untrustworthy - he jumped up and almost bent over backwards to shake the man's hand. Poppy pursed her lips, feeling bad now that she was being weird.

"Ludo Bagman," Charlie whispered to her. "More than a fair beater in his time. One of the best."

"I'm guessing that was a while ago," she replied, frowning at Bagman's robes.

Charlie huffed out a breathy laugh. "Not a fan?"

"I'm not sure," she replied, shifting in her seat. "I feel the same way about him as I did about Lockhart…"

"Enamoured?" he teased.

Poppy shook her head, a serious expression on her face. "Anxious."

"That's alright," Charlie said, leaning back slightly so she couldn't look at Bagman anymore. "Just talk to me instead."

"Thanks," she replied. "I know it's weird…"

"No, it's not. You've always just been a bit more perceptive with this stuff. I still remember your first year… And hey, I'm pretty sure everyone gets a bad feeling about Bagman at one time or another."

Charlie's plan of distraction worked until the twins handed over their entire life savings to Bagman as part of a bet that Ireland would win the Cup but Bulgaria would catch the snitch. Poppy's stomach fell and she nodded along, agreeing when Percy hissed that they shouldn't have done that. The twins simply rolled their eyes and ignored Percy, and she admitted to herself that they were right to - she'd spent every penny she'd saved from the ages of 14-17 on a ticket to the World Cup. At least George and Fred had a chance of securing a good return on their bet.

When Percy's boss, Barty Crouch, turned up a moment later and was introduced to the Weasleys, Hermione and Poppy, Percy greeted him with a bow so low that Poppy thought he might fall forwards and face plant the ground. Somehow, he managed to stay upright.

In an awkward moment, the others laughed at Crouch calling Percy, "Weatherby," while Poppy sent him a sympathetic look. She thought it must have been hard, working long hours to make a name for yourself and your boss not even knowing how to pronounce it and deciding it was something completely different.

Well, she knew exactly what it felt like. The reason why she didn't like people calling her Pop that much was because Poppy was already a misheard nickname that had stuck. Though she didn't really think about it much anymore.

Her anxiety was alleviated when the evening finally arrived and salespeople pitched up stalls along the main lane of tents.

Hats, scarves, rosettes, boots, gloves, figurines, brooms, sweets… you name it, it was there, and Poppy had to restrain herself from spending even more of her hard-earned money on the vast array of objects.

"What're you getting?" Ginny asked, fixing a large green Ireland rosette to the front of her jumper.

Poppy shrugged. "Not sure… I really shouldn't buy anything but the omnioculars do look good… I just don't think I can spare ten galleons. I'm trying to be fiscally responsible this year. I never realised how much rent would be before this summer."

Ginny laughed. "Charlie bought me this," she said, pointing at her rosette and then nodding to her brothers who were walking over, fixing their own to their jacket (in Bill's case) and jumper (in Charlie's case). "So I got a playbook as well."

"Awesome," Poppy replied, smiling and taking a peek at the thick book that Ginny was carrying. "Just rosettes?" she asked Charlie and Bill when they stopped next to her.

"Kept it simple," Charlie said, smiling. "All about the experience, right?"

"Exactly," Bill said, nodding. "No point throwing our money around."

"Don't you earn loads as a Curse Breaker?" Poppy teased. "Please, feel free to throw the money around."

Bill, Charlie and Ginny laughed. "True," Bill said, "but do you know how much these boots cost?" he asked, looking down at his dragonhide boots.

Poppy laughed, and then bit her lip and frowned, turning her head to look at the excited group around her who were examining their purchases. It seemed that the only people not buying anything were Fred, George, and her.

"You alright?" Charlie asked, and Poppy simply nodded in reply as she opened her money bag. "I can get you one if you want?" he offered, and while Poppy was tempted, she thanked him but declined.

After a quick bit of maths, she decided that her heart was always going to outweigh her financial worries.

"Wait for me," she said, placing a hand on Charlie's arm for a moment. He nodded and she walked quickly over to the nearest stall.

"I thought you were being fiscally responsible this year," Ginny called after her, laughing.

Poppy grinned back at her friend and then joined the queue. When she got to the front she bought three Ireland rosettes and a packet of themed Drooble's Gum from the saleswitch.

"And I thought I was an Ireland fan," George joked when she rejoined the group, pinning one of the three rosettes to her green jumper.

Poppy smiled and chucked one to Fred, and then the other to George. The two redheads looked at her with confused expressions, but she shook her head when they tried to give them back. "The witch said 'no refunds,' and I only want one, so you'd be costing me money if you don't wear them. Just… don't be dicks about it," she scolded when they tried to give them back again.

"We'll pay you back," George mumbled, though he smiled happily a moment later once he'd fixed the green material to his top.

"Really, don't worry about it," she replied, ducking her head.

Charlie nudged her with his shoulder and smiled at her when she looked at him. "Could have saved yourself some money there, Bounce."

"If it's really bothering you, you can buy me a drink sometime," she replied. Only when the words had been said did she realise what she'd suggested.

Before Charlie could reply, a loud gong rang out from beyond the trees.

"It's starting!" Ginny squealed excitedly, grabbing onto Poppy's arm.

They began to make their way to the pitch, through the mass of trees they'd camped near.

"Please don't fall over this time," Charlie teased when Poppy barely missed tripping on a rogue tree root. "I think the match will be more exciting than the waiting room in St. Mungo's."

Poppy rolled her eyes, grinning.

Mr Weasley pulled out a sheath of paper tickets from his pocket when they reached the stadium, so Poppy pulled her single ticket out as well.

"Will you be okay?" Ginny asked when they walked up to the ticket check. "On your own I mean."

"'Course! I won't be too far away," she said, handing her ticket to the witch in front of her.

"Keep going until you find E, then climb up to the seventeenth door," the witch said, handing her ticket back.

"Where're you going?" Charlie asked when the Weasleys were sent off up the stairs in front of them.

"I'm in the normal seats remember," she shouted back as she was pulled away by the sea of people headed to the same place she was. "I'll meet you back at the tent!"

But Charlie had disappeared out of view when she'd rounded the corner, so she wasn't sure if he'd actually heard her.

When she'd said the cheap seats, she hadn't meant the actual cheapest ones – she'd splashed out on a relatively good view, the best that one hundred and fifty galleons could get her (she winced just thinking about the fact that she'd spent an entire summer working double shifts almost every day and only had two-hundred and fifty-two galleons leftover after paying for her travel and school supplies. Two-hundred and twenty of which were now in her savings pot ready for her to put down a deposit and first month's rent on a flat when she graduated).

Reaching her seat, she found that although she was surrounded by unknown people, she had enough space to feel like she was comfortable, and her green rosette wasn't at all out of place - just in front of her was a witch wearing a shamrock hat and dressed head to toe in a matching shamrock jumpsuit.

The witches next to her realised early on that Poppy was on her own, and took her under their wings so much so that by the time the match ended and Lynch (the Ireland seeker) was being revived on the pitch, Poppy was hugging them and screaming happily at Ireland's victory.

As it turned out, they were all camped in the large field owned by Mr Roberts as well, so they made their way back to their tents deep in adrenaline-fueled conversation about the match.

"And the way Moran just-" Poppy slammed her fist against her palm. "There are well-oiled machines and then there's the Ireland team! And don't get me started on the clobbing!"

"Well, Bulgaria got what was coming to them for that, didn't they?" the eldest witch in the group, Moira, said, shaking her head and fist. "Disgraceful! Absolutely disgraceful! Krum's gonna feel ashamed in the morning though, I'll tell ya that one for free," added Aisling.

Poppy nodded and let out a long sigh when they stepped out of the forest, tipping her head back. She spun in a circle, her arms out, and then continued walking, grinning at the moon and stars above them. "I don't think I'll ever get over-"

"Poppy! There you are! Thought you were never coming back!" Ginny called.

Poppy stopped twirling and looked over to see the Weasleys and Hermione sat around the campfire smiling at her, a large pot simmering in the middle of the fire.

Grinning, she waved back at her friends and turned to say goodbye to the women who had taken care of her, who each hugged her in turn. Their actual goodbye lasted for over five minutes as both Poppy and the witches kept remembering key moments of the match and stopped to gush about them, before they would then say bye again.

Finally, Poppy sat down next to Ginny with a blissful smile on her face. "Well that was worth every penny, wasn't it?" she asked the group, who laughed and nodded.

"Who were they?" Percy asked, frowning.

He didn't seem impressed when Poppy replied, "No idea. We just met," and then explained that she only knew the women's first names. Apparently it was a missed networking opportunity.

"Did you see everything okay?" Hermione asked, a crease appearing in the middle of her eyebrows. "If not, I think I've still got the end of the match on my omnioculars."

Poppy gasped and practically jumped up, running over to kneel next to Hermione, who smiled and pulled out her long telescope-like contraption.

A minute later, Poppy lowered the omnioculars, her mouth open. "Well now I feel worse for Krum. I thought he caught it because it was him or Lynch. I guess he just wanted it all to be over? Bulgaria were getting pummelled…"

"That's what I said," Hermione said, smiling at her. "I knew we had a good view but I didn't realise that no one else would have seen the catch."

"Oh, no, we genuinely had no idea at first. I barely knew it was happening," Poppy said, standing up, dusting off her bare knees (she was wearing her denim shorts) and pulling the sleeves of her jumper down over her hands before she crossed her arms and looked down at Hermione who still sat on her log. "The medics ran on to deal with Lynch so fast that we could barely see anything in the scrap. Honestly, I was hoping no one had caught the snitch so the game could keep going," she said. Walking back over to her seat, she added, "I feel like we got robbed after that Wrongski feint for it to just end like that."

"Cocoa?" Percy asked, handing her a large steaming mug of hot chocolate when she made her way past him.

"Thanks," she said, taking it gratefully as she sat down between him and Ginny, glad that it seemed he had forgotten his annoyance.

The cold air had finally hit her and she regretted her choice of shorts, but the drink helped to warm her.

"I didn't realise you were such a fan," Hermione said, blowing into her own mug. "I wouldn't have known it was a Wrongski Feint if my omnioculars hadn't told me…"

Poppy chuckled. "That's down to Charlie," she said, nodding to the redhead who looked up quizzically at the mention of his name, "and Cass. They taught me everything I know. It's surprisingly hard not to pick things up when your friends are obsessed!"

Charlie grinned and lifted his mug in salute.

The group stayed up for a while talking excitedly about the match, with the Weasleys and Hermione explaining the key things that Poppy had missed due in part because of her view and in part from her lack of omnioculars.

"Next time, I bagsy Charlie," she said without thinking when he finished explaining a particularly difficult manoeuvre that the Ireland team pulled off. "I need you to sit with me."

Poppy felt her heart stutter in her chest when she noticed a pointed look between Bill and his younger brother, and she swallowed thickly, looking away.

Later, when Ginny fell asleep on Poppy's shoulder, her warm cocoa pouring out of her mug and onto Poppy's bare lower thighs, Mr Weasley finally realised the time and called it a night.

"You're sure you're okay?" he asked Poppy when she followed Hermione and Ginny walking towards the girls' tent while she wiped down her legs with a small towel.

"Absolutely fine, it's really not too bad," Poppy replied, relieved that the drink had been luke-warm.

"Charlie can help if it's a burn," Bill said, his mouth twisted into a mischievous smile. Noticing that Fred and George were waggling their eyebrows, Poppy shook her head. The idea of Charlie touching her bare skin made her stomach flutter, but she didn't think this was the time or place, especially when everyone was cottoning on to her ongoing crush.

"It's really fine," she said, ducking into the tent. "Thanks though! Night boys!"