Chapter 2: Quidditch World Cup

The morning the family was to leave for the Quidditch World Cup, Hallie was awoken by a knock at her door. She groaned putting her head under her pillow, the sun was not even in the sky. "Hallie time to get up," Cassie said opening the door.

"I do not wish to go. Sports are not a good form of entertainment."

Her godmother laughed, "The Weasleys will be there remember."

The reminder flooded her brain instantly making her sit up, "I will be ready in just a few minutes." She shook her head closing the door allowing her to get dress for the day with privacy.

Hallie quickly got out of bed and moved to her wardrobe, she flipped through her clothes, "I have nothing to wear!" she was tossing clothes from the wardrobe. She had more clothes than she could wear in a lifetime mostly everything was some shade of pink or purple and they were either in the form of a dress or mini skirt.

Holly heard the commotion from the hall, she knocked then entered, "Hallie?"

"I have nothing to wear!" she was in a panic.

Her sister looked at the clothes on the floor, "You have a lot of clothes…most are here on the floor now."

She groaned, "You do not understand! I have no clothes…what if he does not like what I have to wear?"

Holly knelt down and picked up a pair of blue-jean shorts and one of her simple pink tops, "This…it is understated but still you and cute. It will not let him think you are trying to attract to attention even though I am sure you will. The guys always adore you."

She took the clothes from her, "The guys have always liked you, too."
Her sister shrugged looking down at the book in her hand, "Not like they have always loved you. You were always Miss. Popular. Professors adored you even though you barely passed each year. Every girl wanted to be popular like you and every guy wanted to date you."

Hallie wrapped her sister in a hug, "But I would give it all up for you," she let go looking into her eyes, "You are smart and beautiful. I would love to fade into the background, but I cannot. I am me and people adore me for me. They love you for you…"

Holly shook her head, "I am better alone than searching for someone. No guy has ever given me a second look. Guys only spoke to me to get closer to you or Peri."

"You will find a man one day…maybe not today but you will find a man who will love all of you."

She smiled softly taking in a deep breath then releasing it, "Says the girl who has been in love with the same guy since we were barely a year old."

"I did not love him then. For someone who remembers everything you need to rethink that memory of yours. I did not fall in love with him at a year old. I do find him very attractive but I did not even know what that was back then."

She left it at that, "If you say so…I will be downstairs. Wear your sneakers we have a bit of a walk."

Once Holly left her room she proceeded to get dressed then joined the others in the kitchen, "Are we ready?" Richard asked counting his daughters' heads to be sure everyone was accounted for.

Cassie was observing the girls, "Appears so…let us get a move on. We need to get to where we are meeting the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione."

They proceeded to leave and make their way to the gathering in the woods they would meet them. Hallie had chosen a small clutch as her bag to contain all her belongings. She ooked around the woods of Ottery St. Catchpole, taking in the woods as she walked furthest behind her family.

Richard looked behind him and noticed Hallie was the furthest behind, "Come on Hallie. Put those chaser quickness to work."

She might not enjoy sports, but for fun she tried out for house's Quidditch team at Ilvermorny and made the chaser position, she did not like to disclose this information though to others because she hated playing despite her having amazing talent for the game. Her house was the Horned Serpent at Ilvermorny, which was a shock to everyone during her three years there since her grades were never good. The Professors thought there had been an a mixup with her and Holly since Holly ended up in Wampus. Although even that did not make sense for either girl since neither are really 'warrior' types.

The family reached the clearing in the woods they were meeting the group. "Good morning, Arthur," Cassie greeted.

"Good morning, Cassie!" Arthur Weasley greeted cheerfully,

While the adults chatted for a moment, Hallie stepped over to Fred cautiously, "Good morning, Fred…" she spoke softly looking up at him.

He looked down at her, he was tall she was a full twelve inches shorter than him, "Good morning, Hal," he had a small wildflower in his hand. She noticed the flower in his hand, "I got something for you."

She looked away from the flower and back up at his face, "You did? My birthday was in June though."

He held up the soft pink Rose Carina, "I saw it and thought of you. Hermione tells me it is a Rose Carina."

She took the flower from him, "I love it," she took a gentle sniff then stuck it in her hair to keep it close to her.

"Ready to continue onto the portkey?" they heard Arthur ask Cassie

She nodded and smiled, looking towards the girls,"Definitely. Our girls are very excited about the world cup."

"Let's go then," he said jovially.

Hallie looked at Fred, "Carry me?" she asked not wanting to walk anymore.

He smiled happily at her and kneeled down, "Climb on," he instructed letting her climb on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck closing her eyes for a brief moment to take in his scent he smelled like sunshine and outdoors.

The group followed untill they reached the agreed location to search for the Portkey. "Whew," Mr. Weasley panted as he removed his glasses and wiped the foggy lens, "we made excellent time - we have about ten minutes. We just need to find the portkey," he replaced his glasses then looked back at the group, Cassie and Richard were already searching.

Cassie paused her search turning to everyone, "Spread out and start searching. It won't be very big," she informed them. She spotted her daughter on Fred Weasley's back. "Hallie get off, Fred." Hallie dismounted and groaned to show her disappointment in actually having to participate.

Right as Cassie found the portkey, Periwinkle looked towards the hilltop and spotted two figures approaching them. "We have company!" She informed the group just as a man shouted to them, unsure if they were another wizarding family or a muggle family out for a morning hike.

"Amos!" Mr. Weasley smiled as he went over to the man with the rest of the group following. "Everyone, this is Amos Diggory. He works for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I believe most of you know his son, Cedric?" The rest of their group greeted Cedric and Amos kindly except Fred and George, who only gave slight nods to them. Hallie did not understand why they were being suddenly cold to them. Perhaps they had issues with Cedric from school. "Amos this is Cassie and Richard Banks, you may remember Cassie as Cassie Rice, she attended Hogwarts with Lily and James."

Amos gave a nod, "Yes…I do not believe we ever officially met. I remember reading about your…wedding and children's birth announcements in the Daily Prophet."

"Yes. I married not even a year into living in New York City, we quickly became expecting with Mallory," she indicated to the eleven year old blonde, "But we were welcomed shortly after her birth with our final child Alicia," she looked at her auburn haired child. "I do have three older children. My eldest Peri…"

Amos looked at Peri who was chatting with Cedric, "She looks like…"

Cassie changed the topic to the twins, "And my adopted twins. Hallie and Holly. You may remember their parents Ann and Patrick Porter."

He gave a saddened nod, "I met them at couple of times when Molly and Arthur would have dinners, but I read more about them in the papers like most everyone else."

She nodded as Holly spoke looking at her watch, "Shouldn't we get going?"

"Yes, it must be nearly time," Mr. Weasley agreed looking at his watch as well, "Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

Amos shook his head, "No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcretts couldn't get tickets," he informed them, "there are not any more wizarding families in this area, are there?"

"Except for the Banks family, who are here obviously. There are no other wizarding families in the area. We better get ready…" He looked at those who had never used a portkey before and gave instructions. The girls had used a Portkey only a handful of times but it was not often that they did use it. "Three…two…one…"

It happened immediately. Hallie, although she had done this before, forgot how rough it was to travel through portkey. She felt herself being jerked forward and her feet no longer on the ground. She grabbed onto Fred's hand with her freehand the best she could; they had equally agreed to stand next to one another. All of a sudden, her feet slammed into the ground and she fell onto Fred's chest feeling his chizzled chest underneath as shirt. They remained in that position till George interrupted them, "Need a room?" he joked which made her quickly roll off of him moving into a sitting position in embarrassment.

Fred sat up moving into a kneeling positon, "Are you alright? Anything hurt or injured?"

She looked at him, "Other than my clothes being dirty no. I am alright," he nodded standing up and offered his hand to her. She took his large hand compared to her dainty one. His hands were rough while her hands were soft like baby skin, "thank you," she said to him once she was standing.

"I will always protect you."

Hallie blushed slightly, "I should check on my sisters," she excused herself.

"Damn it, Freddie. Just ask her out already," George told him, "Although I highly doubt she would accept another guy even if he asked."

Mr. Weasley picked up the boot and handed it to man by the name of Basil. The man took the boot and tossed it into a large box, he began searching his parchment list for where their campsites would be. Hallie and her family told the Weasleys, Diggorys plus Harry and Hermione bye, then went to their campsite location. they approached a small cottage where a man stood in the doorway, looking toward the tents. He looked in their direction when he heard them approaching.

"Morning," Richard greeted the man once they had reached them.

The man gave a small nod of his head to and replied to him with a simple "Morning."

Richard took a piece of paper out of his inner jacket pocket that contained details of their reservation, "We have one of your tents booked, I believe the reservation was made a few days ago."

The man nodded and looked at a list, "Name?"

"Banks. Richard Banks."

"Here you are. You have one of our luxury tents close to the walking trail, it appears that your reservation was prepaid." Richard gave a small nod confirming that was right. The man reached into the cottage grabbing a few copies of the campsite map, "Here is a map of a campsite. Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you," he accepted the maps and they walked towards where their tent would be.

"Why did it have to be camping," Hallie whined the entire walk to the tent.

"Hallie, stop whining," Peri hissed, "you can be so annoying."

"Peri, be nice." Cassie warned her.

Once they reached their tent, which was quite large in size from the outside unlike the other tents they had passed on the walk over. It was though just as large if not larger than the tents in their area. It was clear this area is where wizarding families who were wealthy sleeped. There were others there, like their own family who were wealthy and could have easily afforded tickets, but their placement within the Ministry of Magic paid for them to be there. "This will do nicely," Richard said looking at his wife as Mallory and Alicia went in ahead of them.

"It is very nice. We can watch an excellent game of Quidditch and enjoy time as a family," Richard kissed her head and the rest of them entered the tent. The inside of the tent was quite large in size, it sort of reminded Hallie of their penthouse apartment back in New York City or even the house they grew up in while they were young in the Hamptons to keep the children safer from the city. Once the girls started attending school they moved to their penthouse for better access to the train station, even though they never used the train as a form of transportation to Ilvermorny they always borrowed Richard's parents pegasuses to fly them to school and back.

The kitchen looked big enough to be a kitchen for a restaurant and they each had their own bedroom.

"Wait, I do not have to share?!" Hallie said hopeful. They typically shared bedrooms when they were on family vacations unless they were at their Hampton house for the summer holidays.

"We are not sharing?" Peri asked looking at her parents then towards two of the rooms.

"I told them our girls would be fine sharing rooms," Richard sighed, "It is just for overnight, girls," he informed them noticing they were all becoming excited to not share a room with one another.

The following day during the Quidditch World Cup, they made their way to the Top Box with guys their age looking Hallie up and down, some whistling at her as they walked. She simply ignored them because this was something she was used to. They ran into the Weasleys entering the stands, "Where are your seats?" Fred asked her.

"Top Box. Gift from the Minister of Magic."

He looked at George this was the first time they had been fully made aware of where her family was financially. They knew the Banks family was wealthy but did not know they were this wealthy, they did not know the top families in America, "Supporting the Irish? Good team."

She looked down at her green shirt and white skirt, "I knew you supported them."

Fred started to speak as they slowly made their way up and were sort of separated from their families, still able to see them though. A guy standing directly in front of them turned to simply look at the arena but spotted Hallie and gave a slight whistle, "Hey pretty girl. Never seen you before."

"I am not interested," she looked down at her feet.

"Come on now…"

Fred was getting pissed at the treatment she was getting, "Leave her alone," he stepped in front of her. George followed his lead and stood behind her.

"Who are you?"

He glanced over his shoulder then back at him, "My girlfriend." She looked at from her feet to really only see his back due to her height, "I suggest you keep walking and leave her alone."

The guy scowled at them then continued walking, "Thank you, Fred."

He took her hand, "I told you I will always protect you."

"I trust you."

They continued the walk up then went their separate ways when she reached the entrance to the Top Box, "Name?" a guard asked since her family was already inside.

"Hallie Porter."

The guard nodded and let her through, "There you are," Cassie said, "There's food over there at the buffet table. I believe there is some vegetarian options but the minister said if we do not see something we like to just ask."

"Thank you, but I am just going to sit down."

While they waited for the game to begin she sat near the back of the box not having the interest in the game especially since there was no chance of her seeing Fred. She did choose to support the Irish team like she he was. She was unable to read her magazine due to the noise, she laid it carefully in her lap. She glanced around at the other witches and wizards. Plenty of them greeted her parents and welcomed her mother back to England. Holly had stepped over to the buffet that was provided for those in the Top Box. She noticed Holly speaking to a young wizard with bleach blonde hair and misty eyes. She gave a small pleased smile to see her twin interacting with a boy just as Holly returned to where their family was she heard Peri questioning her about the boy right away, "Who was that," she asked glancing towards the boy and his father.

Holly looked at her as she held a small plate of food then looked in the direction of the boy, "His name is Draco. He attends Hogwarts." Hallie took note of this name and would ask Fred about it later.

"Ooo," she teased her with a light chuckle, "he is not bad looking either. If you do not take him I will."

She whipped her head back to her, "Peri! You are bad!"

She laughed with a smile on her face, "what can I say? I enjoy fun."

"Hush! The game is starting!" Alicia cheered barely able to contain her excitement.

When the game ended, they returned to their tents, they were inside their tent discussing the game. "I wanted Bulgaria to win!" Alicia complained tossing her hat on the ground. Hallie was sitting by the fireplace reading her copy of Witch Weekly, since mostly everything was quiet.

"At least Krum caught the snitch," Richard told her picking up the hat and giving it back to her, "try to find the good in this. They lost this time but this won't be their last game, they will win more in the future."

"You are right, dad," she hugged him as there was a loud boom outside and screaming, "Dad?" she asked instant fear appeared in her.

"Stay here," he said and went to look at what was going on. He stepped outside the tent to quickly came back inside. He gave Cassie a single look before turning to the girls, she knew by that one look there was danger, "Girls we need to run! Now! Death Eaters are attacking the campsites."

Cassie ushered the kids outside. They stood outside and everyone was running around screaming, "Peri and Alicia stay together. Hallie and Holly stay together. Mallory come with us. Run!"

They all ran in different directions away from the attacks, "Holly! Where do we go?" Hallie asked holding her twin's hand as they ran trying to get to safety.

"I am smart not a map!"

"Did you not read the map?"

"Of course I read the map, but everything is a little crazy now. I cannot place where things are."

They continued running the best they could, somehow running into Fred and George. She let go of her sister's hand and gave Fred a quick hug, "Are you alright?" they asked each other at the same time.

She nodded, "You two lets go!" Holly grabbed her sister's arm dragging her away from the danger behind them.

They were able to find where everyone was gathered soon finding their parents, "thank goodness you both are alright. We now have everyone accounted for," Cassandra said hugging her girls.

"Let's get out of here. Thank you, Fred and George," Richard said shaking their hands, "Your dad is over there."

"Anytime sir," they said and left the Banks family going over to their family

"Yes, thank you," Cassandra said after them still hugging Alicia who had reunited with them only a few moments prior.

They got the quickest portkey home.

They entered their home all of them silent and in shock. Richard looked at the clock ticking on the kitchen wall, breaking the silence and trying to have a sense of normalcy for them, "Alright girls. Let's get to bed. I am sure we will have a busy day tomorrow at work," he directed the piece about work more towards Cassie, who was just as quiet, giving a small nod as she began making a cup of tea to calm her nerves. The girls still in shock remained silent, nodding before heading upstairs to get ready. Hallie locked herself away in her room not wanting to discuss what had occurred