Thank you to all of my supporters, with a special thank you to my awesome tear supporters: Jo Daviz, Antar Das, LegendaryWasabi, Oli Wieszun, Ibuki Mioda, SvenGTX, Optimum Prime and Jack Schriner. I love you all.
as always chapters 11 and 12 are already up over on Pat re on under my screen name Lowten.

Chapter 10

Harry and Hermione's early summer was pretty uneventful. The two of them did their homework first, then visited each other and went on daytime trips to places like beaches, theme parks, and the cinema, enjoying their time off. They spent some of their time trying to work out where the last horcrux was hidden, but they didn't have any leads and neither of them had a spark of inspiration. After a few weeks, Dumbledore sent them word that he had been able to retrieve and destroy the ring. That only left the unknown horcrux and the snake. They were so close that Harry and Hermione were starting to hope that they could actually pull this off. Four of the six tethers to Tom's life, the diary, the diadem, the locket, and the ring, all stabbed with a fang taken from a thousand year old basilisk. It was kind of amazing to realise what they had achieved this time around now that they weren't fumbling around in the dark.

On Harry's birthday, Sirius and the Grangers took him out like they did the year before. This time they took him to a summer festival that was being held that week, having a lot of fun on the rides and stuffing themselves with junk food. Harry tried his hand at some of the stall games and found that he was surprisingly good at them. At one stall involving shooting small targets with a pellet gun, Harry hit the targets perfectly, and Sirius kept putting more and more money down, wanting to see how long Harry's streak without a single miss could last. It turned out the answer was 92, on Harry's twelfth set of ammunition he twitched and missed his fifth of eight shots.

The prizes for all the points Harry had won were all stuffed animals, though, and Harry wasn't particularly interested in owning one, but feeling it would be a waste to not use the points he asked Hermione what one she would like. Hermione chose a stuffed dolphin and thanked Harry with a quick peck on his cheek. Harry was sure the only reason he avoided one of Hermione's semi-regular attempts to crush his ribs was because that honor was currently being given to her new cuddly dolphin.

After the festival, they all went to a pizza restaurant. It was interesting for Harry to see what everyone put on their pizzas. Hermione and her mum opted to share a large pizza between them, apparently they both liked the same toppings: a mix of ham, mushroom, pineapple and prawns. Both Hermione's dad and Sirius opted for a personal pizza each, Dan going for chicken and peppers while Sirius went for chicken, sausage, pepperoni and bacon. Harry looked at the menu and opted for chicken, mushrooms and garlic. While they were waiting for their pizzas to cook, Sirius handed Harry an envelope while wishing him a happy birthday. Harry, just expecting a card, was surprised that the envelope contained three tickets to the Quidditch World Cup.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, and Harry slid one of the tickets across for her to read. They were both stunned for a moment. As they didn't have the friendship with Ron that they did previously, they hadn't thought that they would have a chance to go to the World Cup this time. It was Hermione who recovered her wits the fastest. "This is great Harry, you love Quidditch, imagine getting to see the World Cup! Do you know who's playing yet?"

Hermione's words were enough to remind him that he would be overjoyed with this gift normally and that he had to act appropriately. "The semi finals are this weekend," Harry said, acting as if he was still trying to get his head around the gift, then continued with building excitement. "Ireland vs Spain and Bulgaria vs Germany. The winners will play in the final the weekend after." He turned to Sirius. "Where is the game I mean, I know England is hosting but where is it? When do we need to leave? Who is the third ticket for?"

Sirius smiled. "They built a stadium on the edge of the New Forest National Park, we need to leave on Thursday and camp till the game on Saturday, and the third ticket is for whoever you want to invite," he said while giving Hermione a significant look.

Harry didn't need that much of a hint, but took it anyway. "Hermione, would you like to go with us to the World Cup?" Harry asked her.

Hermione instantly asked her parents if she could go, and they agreed quickly enough that it was obvious that Sirius must have already explained about the tickets to them and warned them that Harry would probably want Hermione to go with him. "Oh this is exciting, mum and dad used to take me camping in the Forest of Dean and that was a lot of fun, but I haven't been camping in years." Hermione said, blatantly lying considering what they had done last Easter. "Is camping with magic any different from mundane camping?"

Sirius laughed at what he saw as Hermione's insatiable need for knowledge. "Well there is some similarity, the biggest difference is our tents. Magical tents have an expansion charm on them, they build a whole flat inside them," he explained. "So maybe camping isn't a fair description. I think I heard some people call it glamping for glamorous camping. Honestly I wouldn't even really call it camping at all. I got a tent that was in my family vault. It has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a formal dining room, a library, and a sitting room. The Blacks didn't like slumming it. To them, if there was even a possibility that someone outside the family would see it, then it's important to prove to them just how superior the Black family is. So I would think of it more like a hotel in a tent." Any more discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the food.

-ϟϟϟ-

The time between Harry's birthday and leaving for the Quidditch World Cup passed slowly for the two teens, not because of excitement at seeing the game but because they knew what was coming after the match. The Death Eater riot in the first time didn't result in any casualties; however, they were already aware of how much things could change. What were the chances they would be so lucky again?

Living in London had one advantage. Their portkey to the grounds left from Diagon Alley at midday rather than a random field on a hill at stupid o'clock in the morning. Harry made sure his backpack was secure before he took a hold of the muggle hula hoop that was the Diagon Alley portkey along with Hermione, Sirius, and a bunch of people he had never seen before. Harry had to keep himself from laughing as he thought about his pack, as the preparations he and Sirius had done for their weekend trip had been almost exactly what he and Hermione had done at Christmas for their Easter trip. The only real difference was that because Sirius could use preservation charms they had also bought their fresh food.

Harry felt the familiar slightly-sickening feeling of a hook grabbing him just behind his belly button as soon as a nearby clock struck midday. He was reminded why he hated portkey travel as he was sucked though some sort of windy tunnel for a few seconds before he slammed into a grassy field halfway across the country. Embarrassingly, he was the only one who wasn't able to keep his feet. Even Hermione, despite being less graceful than everyone there but Harry, had only stumbled a little at the landing but was able to keep herself upright.

The other group split off to talk to the two wizards with clipboards who were standing there waiting, as Hermione and Sirius pulled Harry back up to his feet. Harry could hear the group talking and realised why they weren't familiar to him and why they had just nodded at their group rather than say anything. They weren't British; Harry guessed Bulgarian, but given that Harry couldn't do more than say their language was Eastern European it was more a guess than probable. Soon the other group moved off, a map in hand, and it was their turn.

"12 o'clock from Diagon Alley under the name of Black." Sirius said to a wizard who had obviously never actually spent any time in the mundane world, judging by the cowboy boots, leopard print leggings and camo print t-shirt that he paired with a set of purple sunglasses that looked like they had been swiped from Elton John's collection. Really, how hard was it for them to get an Empire catalogue and just look at how people dressed in it?

The wizard checked his clipboard. "Yep, here you are. Your campground is about a quarter of a mile's walk over there, the second field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Payne." And he gave Sirius a map.

They headed off to their camp site and found Mr. Payne. They paid for a few days and were given another map, this one showing where the amenities such as water and bathrooms were. Their plot was not the best-placed, but it wasn't bad. When it came to setting up the tent, it was clear that Sirius had no more experience putting up a tent without magic than Arthur Weasley did, but the difference was that Sirius was willing to take instructions and not too overly excited to listen to them. It took them 45 minutes of Harry and Hermione working together, with Sirius just holding things where he was told, but they eventually got the tent up and they all stepped back to admire their handiwork. Harry had to give it to the Black family. The tent actually looked muggle from the outside; yes it looked like a circus tent from a Tim Burton film, but there was nothing that looked off that couldn't be explained away as a stylistic choice. Some of the other tents they had seen had brick chimneys or wooden front doors. They had passed one section that had moving posters of Viktor Krum hung over their tents; compared to that the Black family's tent looked almost normal.

Once they were done, they were all hungry, so Harry was volunteered to cook by Hermione while she and Sirius got cleaned up. Harry didn't mind, he had learnt over Easter that Hermione was not the best in the kitchen. Harry decided to keep it simple and made some chicken, bacon and cheese toasted sandwiches. Lunch was soon devoured, and a sulking Sirius learned that because he was the only one of them who could use their wand, that left him to clean up. He tried to dump the chore on Harry, but Harry had to go clean himself up as he had been in the kitchen making the food while everyone else washed off the sweat that had built up as they put up the tent in the August sun. Sirius hadn't even tried to dump the chores on Hermione.

Wandering around the camp grounds was no different than last time. The three of them bumped into people they knew, some of them they met last time like Oliver Wood, but others like Professor McGonagall that they hadn't seen last time. But considering how much of a Quidditch nut the professor was, none of them were surprised when they ran into her. Sirius even ran into a few people he knew, most of whom Harry and Hermione didn't know and one that they had to pretend not to know: Mundungus Fletcher, who Sirius knew from their time in the Order of the Phoenix.

Once evening fell, wizards and witches with carts started to Apparate in all around the camp, selling trinkets and food from around the world. At Hermione's suggestion, they got some type of fried chicken and noodle dish that was salty, sweet, and a little spicy, from what Harry thought was a Japanese vendor, as his outfit looked similar to something he saw in one of the Karate Kid films his cousin was watching while he was cleaning at Privet Drive. They eventually went back to their tent and turned in for the night. Friday was mostly uneventful, though Harry and Hermione did run into Lavender and the Patil twins and got introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Patil. While there was nothing much going on at the campground during the day, and the vendors only appeared in the late afternoon, the whole campground was excited for the upcoming match.

-ϟϟϟ-

Harry grumbled good-naturedly as he left the stadium. He had lost 5 galleons when he bet Sirius that Ireland would win but Krum would get the snitch. The match had been going like it had last time, but this time when Krum did his second Wronski Feint the Irish beater was able to nail him with a bludger. After getting hit, Krum just wasn't flying as well. The match lasted longer this time, but eventually Lynch was able to catch the snitch just edging out over Krum.

They headed back to the tent, with Harry and Sirius animatedly going over their favourite highlights of the match while Hermione ribbed Harry for his bet. It was past one A.M when they got back to the tent. They grabbed something to eat, and after that Sirius went to bed leaving Harry and Hermione alone, thinking that the two of them would be going to bed soon themselves. The two teens didn't even consider going to bed. As soon as Sirius left, Harry put the kettle on and pulled out a French press. Coffee would help them wait for the inevitable riot.

The two of them had almost given up by the time they heard the sounds of the riot starting. Harry rushed to get Sirius up, he was groggy and it took him a few minutes to understand but eventually Harry's repeated utterances of "There is trouble outside!" got through to the man and he quickly started pulling on his boots. Harry went back out and joined Hermione in the tent's entryway as she was peeking out at the developing chaos.

"Everything going like we expected?" Harry asked quietly, conscious of the fact that Sirius was going to join them at any moment.

"Yes. They have some of the muggles who own the campgrounds and have them levitated over their heads." Hermione said but Sirius joined them before she could say more.

"OK, what's happening?" Sirius asked, but instead of waiting for an answer he stuck his head out to see what was happening for himself. "Fuck! Son of a bitch! Death Eater attack. OK I want the two of you to wait insi…" he trailed off as he saw the group of masked terrorists set fire to a tent. "OK new plan. I want the two of you to run for the forest and make your way to the portkey point. I don't care where you go, but get away from here and stay together. If you get separated, contact Dan and Emma once you are safe. Do you understand?" Gone was Harry's fun loving godfather, the man before him was a product of the first blood war.

"Where will you be?" Hermione asked, sounding nervous.

"I need to go help stop them before this becomes some type of signal to them to come out of retirement." And with that he charged off, wand in hand.

The two teens had no intention of running for safety, though. Harry and Hermione had seen the atrocity that these people would commit given the chance, and neither of them were willing to let that happen again if they could help it. "Hermione, can you catch the muggles? Maybe with the same spell I know you practiced in case I fell off my broom?" Harry asked as he pulled his invisibility cloak out of his pocket.

Hermione bit her lip in nervousness, looking worried but nodded. "Yes, I think so."

Harry nodded. If Hermione thought she could do it that was good enough for him, as Hermione constantly underestimated herself. He pulled the cloak around them both and they started moving towards the group of terrorists. "OK, I'm going to count to three and cast. The muggles are going to drop right after, so you'll need to be a split second behind me to catch them." Harry told Hermione. He guided them to where they had a clear line of sight at the marked idiots, and after he confirmed with Hermione that it was a good spot for her, he started counting.

"One." Harry remembered all the stories of murder he heard about these people, counting Sirius (before he went on the run), Mad-Eye, Director Bones, and Minister Scrimgeour.

"Two." He thought about how quickly they would return to Voldemort given the chance.

"Three." He decided that he wasn't going to play nicely this time and changed the spell he had planned to use.

The two of them whipped their wands out, shaped their magic and sent it towards their targets.

"Bombarda maxima!"

"Arresto momentum!"

In a moment, the entire scene changed. Harry had targeted the ground beneath the feet of the Death Eaters, and it exploded into a cloud of dirt and the lower limbs of a few of the Death Eaters. The one in the middle was dead almost instantly, and the rest were flung away from the Explosion. With the focus of the masked instigators now elsewhere, the muggle family in the air started to fall. Hermione tried to catch them, but there were just too many. She caught two men, a woman, and two children, but one man and a little girl fell. The man, who must have been acting on pure instinct, caught the girl midair and rolled so that she would land on him cushioning her fall. The two of them landed with a sickening thud and crunching sound.

Red spells started flying towards the now disorganised rabble of Death Eaters as the Aurors and good Samaritans like Sirius started raining stunning spells down on them. A bunch of the Death Eaters were able to activate portkeys and escape, taking some of the fallen with them, but there were still plenty of them left lying there. It was over in only a few seconds.

"Harry, we should get out of here." Hermione said in his ear.

"Why, the threat is gone."

"You just cast a lethal curse at what is probably a group of rich, well-connected purebloods, it's best that no one knows we were involved or you'll probably be tried for murder. Even if you aren't, the ones who got away will want revenge if they find out you fired at them. It's best we get in the woods and head for a portkey." Hermione said as she started to pull him along.

Harry followed Hermione without protest as she directed them to the woods, then to the portkey point. They weren't the only ones there, a lot of the campers had come looking for a way out and were just grabbing whatever portkeys they could get their hands on. Harry and Hermione eventually were pulled in by a group of five teenage girls neither of them recognised, and with a hook in the navel they were off somewhere.

Once they landed in what looked to be a forest, one of the girls turned to them a hopeful pleading expression on her face and said. "Désolé de vous avoir attrapé, s'il vous plaît dites-moi que vous parlez français." [Sorry about grabbing you, please tell me you speak French].

Harry only recognised enough to know that the girl spoke French. Hermione however replied "Oui, un peu." [Yes, a little bit].

The French girls all sighed in relief. Hermione was able to talk to them enough that they could explain that they grabbed the two of them because they had no way to know where they were going or how to find any of the magical places in Britain so that they could send a message to their families and arrange to get home.

They walked for a bit and found that they weren't in a forest at all. It was a small section of a park in what looked to be a town or a city. Once they were out of the trees, they could see that the 'forest' was only about 600 feet across. They were on a road, so Hermione tried to summon the Knight Bus, but it never came. It was probably too busy with everyone else who had taken random portkeys and wanted to get back to somewhere they felt safe. Next to the stand of trees there was a lake with a path going around it, so the seven of them set off along the path, looking for any clue as to where they were or a phone they could use to call Hermione's parents.

As they walked around the lake, the whole group started to have an adrenaline crash. For the French girls, they were tired, hungry, and were suffering from nerves. Hermione, who was more used to the odd adrenaline crash, powered though it like it was nothing, especially after she saw what Harry was going through. For Harry, the adrenaline crash brought with it the realisation that he had killed someone. He had fought before, he had failed to save people before, but he had never killed. Now he had killed, used the magic he so loved to snuff out a life. Maybe even more than one. Even if none of the others died, they would be marked for life by what he had done. As the images of the bloody stumps he had seen crossed his mind, it reminded Harry of the beef he had used to make burgers the day before. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he threw up.

Hermione was suddenly by his side, whispering to him that it was OK and that he had done something that would save more people in the long term. Every Death Eater killed multiple people, so everyone dead was just less innocent victims in the future. Hermione's assurances that he had actually saved lives was little to no help, but the fact that even after he had killed someone Hermione was still by his side, still standing with him, was a massive comfort. Harry didn't think he could keep going if Hermione abandoned him like Ron had done. After he was able to pull himself together, they continued looking for a phone and for a way to find out where they were. The French girls asked Hermione if Harry was OK, and for once Harry's fame was a bonus. Once the girls learned his name, they attributed his reaction to the fact that his parents' murderer was the leader of the terrorists that had attacked the campgrounds.

They soon found a visitors center with one of those 'You are here' maps, and they were apparently in Roath Park, Cardiff. The park was pretty close to the city center, only a mile and a half according to the map, so they set off in that direction. It was approaching 4am when they got to the city center. They were able to find an open cafe that was selling tea and coffee to a mix of the half-drunk remnants of the night before and the early risers who were going into work. They had a public phone, and Harry still had the money from Easter (as he hadn't bothered to convert it back into Galleons and he had made sure to bring both the pounds and the Galleons with him to the World Cup), so Harry got all of them a coffee and gave Hermione the change so she could call her parents.

Sirius was apparently already at the Grangers and they were all sitting by the phone waiting for a call. They gave Hermione a hard time for not calling sooner, but calmed when Hermione explained that it had taken time to find a phone. They were happy to hear that they were OK, and after they told her that Sirius didn't know the destination enough to Apparate to them to get them, Hermione told her parents that they would be home later in the day when the Knight Bus was available for them. She also told Sirius the names of the French girls and asked him if he could find their two families and tell them that the girls were fine and that they would be back in London later that day.

A/N

Harry scoring 92 shots in a row is not actually that unrealistic. The game I am copying is one I have tried myself. I am blind in one eye, so I have almost no depth perception, yet I scored a perfect score with my first set of ammo and only missed one on the second set. The game is easier than it looks but you need to win a lot to get to the big prizes.

Also I love Harry obliviously acting like he is dating Hermione by giving her a stuffed animal.

I don't care what any of you say. Ham, mushroom, pineapple, and prawns is a god-tier pizza and my personal favourite.

Empire catalogue was a clothing catalogue in the UK that was big in the 90s but has since ceased trading under that name but I believe the company still exists.

I chose Japanese food because I didn't want European or American food, and it's in the extra canon that Quidditch is pretty big over there. So I can see them having had a team in the running for the World Cup and some vendors still at the final trying to make some gold.

I was looking at the calender and it looks like the yule ball chapter will actually go up one and AO3 just a few days before Christmas so that's a big yay.

As always I love reading your comments!