Chapter 47

August 10th 1994

Greengrass Manor

As Harry semi-groggily trudged through the grassy plain with his wife, one part of him was focused on her hands and two parts of him were still asleep.

It was their anniversary of being married for a year now.

And as part of that they were going to the Nineteen Ninety Four Quittich World Cup.

It was going to be a big event.

And then after that they would be going to Hogwarts for their Seventh and last Year.

It's hard to believe there was only a year left.

Harry was proud of what he had managed to achieve in Hogwarts when it came to how other students viewed Slytherins as well as his work with the Archmagi and the amount of magic and bending he had maged to learn.

Master Dao thought that Harry could definitely have bending down for the most part by the end of the year, which thrilled him that he would be able to master something he had spent eight years working on.

This summer was proving to be quite enjoyable.

Now that they are married Adeline and Cyrus had allowed them to share the same room for the summer just as long as they waited until graduation before trying for kids.

And it was just wonderful to wake up with Daphne.

That morning they had all woken up at a ridiculously early time even for Harry due to the need to get to their Portkey on time.

Their Portkey was about a mile and a half away so they had quite a distance to travel.

Along with Harry and Daphne was Adeline,Cyrus,Astoria,and Master Dao going to the World Cup.

They would be meeting up with Edmund and his fiance Adalynn at the Grounds.

As their group climbed and reached the peak of the hill the Portkey was on, Harry felt what little sleepiness that had remained slip away, making room for a huge amount of excited anticipation. Harry completed the circle the rest of the group had made around something that was blocked from view via everyone else.

It was a table that would be used as their portkey for today.

Grabbing onto the sides they soon felt themselves getting sucked away.

This portkey seemed different from the others though.

Almost everyone ended up on the ground, even those who were well experienced in magical travel.

And due to the fact that he was right next to Daphne, they ended up tangled together once they landed.

Although neither of them really minded the closeness.

As the world came back to him, thankfully quite hastily, Harry realized that, while they were by far the worst case, neither had anyone else managed a graceful landing either.

Even Adeline and Cyrus had fallen on the ground.

And he found Master Dao's situation amusing.

By the time Harry finished analyzing the situation, they'd managed to reconvene with the rest of the group and start trekking towards a sea of different colored tents. That the huge majority of the tents were already pitched brought a smile to Harry's face.

'No matter how idiotic magical folk can be at times,' Harry thought happily, 'at least we've got the right idea about quidditch!'

By the time the group had made it to the tent they'd be sharing through the day and overnight, Harry was practically vibrating with excitement. More magicals had shown up to watch the Irish and Bulgarian teams battle it out than he'd even known existed, with the sheer volume of those gathered inspiring awe, to say nothing of the fantastic variety. He literally couldn't walk more than two feet without seeing some new and interesting kind of magical being. All of them shared at least a mostly humanoid base, with fangs or claws or tails or wings or scales or strange skin colors, or any combination of those traits and three dozen others, being all that told them apart from normal and magical humans. It was quite the spectacle in and of itself, not to mention the World Quidditch Game that'd be played in a few hours!

He saw everyone else also looked excited.

The Quittich World Cup could even make those not interested in the sport excited.

And it made Harry realize that no matter how long you had been in the Wizarding World you could still find stuff that amazed you.

Upon finally arriving at their tent, Harry held the tent flap open for everyone else.

The interior of the deceptively plain looking tent was quite grand actually, in more than one sense of the word. Not only was the space impressive in its size; it magically contained, according to Adeline, three house quality bedrooms, a bathroom, and even a small kitchen

"Okay everybody, listen up!" Adeline started, gathering all attention. "It's only," he took a quick peek at her watch, "eight o' clock, and the game doesn't start till ten. Why don't the rest of you go and entertain yourselves for a little while? You're free to explore a little, but don't go outside of shouting distance from here. I'll holler when breakfast is ready."

Excited smiles broke out on the faces of everyone assembled.

Upon exiting the tent Harry and Daphne saw that there were grand groups of people mingling absolutely everywhere, and the festive atmosphere of the gathering seemed to encourage the crowd to be more boisterous than normal, for there were shouted jests and loud greetings booming out all around.

'This is amazing,' Daphne said and Harry saw a happy flush color her cheeks as she just took in her surroundings while walking with her husband. Harry agreed and found the smell of fried ham and crisped bacon mixing with the fruity aroma of fresh wines almost as intoxicating as the heady feeling of belonging that being a part of such a gathering brought him.

Laughing, they walked around a bit.

SCENE CHANGE
The world cup game was absolutely amazing, so far, at least. There were animated fireworks and the loudest cheering Harry had ever heard and a whole city's worth of magical people crammed shoulder to shoulder in the seats of the unbelievably massive stands. The food was hot, greasy, and delicious, being sold by the many roving vendors maneuvering through the stands, and the quidditch players were blisteringly fast, nimbly cornering on a dime and nothing more than a blur when flying straight.

A lot of work must have been really put into this

It was sure a lot bigger than 1990 was.

The Bulgarian seeker Victor Krum, was all but invisible in his constant speed, having been locked in a perpetual race against the Irish team's seeker since the start of the match for the little, golden-winged ball, which was proving too wily for either of the human bullets to pin down so far.

And somehow through all of this Daphne had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

How on earth did that happen?

Oh Well

Daphne was never much into Quittich anyway.

He wasnt really either but he understood the game and appreciated good entertainment

He stroked his wife's hair and he watched the match.

This was Quidditch on a truly intense scale. Harry was pressing his Omnioculars so hard to his glasses that they were cutting into the bridge of his nose.

The speed of the players was incredible - the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to one another so fast that Ludo Bagman only had time to say their names. Harry spun the slow dial on the right of his Omnioculars again, pressed the play-by-play button on the top, and he was immediately watching in slow motion while glittering purple lettering flashed across the lenses and the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums.

The crowd shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. "Ten zero to Ireland!"

"What?" Harry yelled, looking wildly around through his Omnioculars. "But Levski's got the Quaffle!"

"Harry, if you're not going to watch at normal speed, you're going to miss things!"Master Dao reminded him from behind his seat.

Harry looked quickly over the top of his Omnioculars and saw that the leprechauns watching from the sidelines had all risen into the air again and formed the great, glittering shamrock. Across the field, the veela were watching them sulkily.

Harry spun his speed dial back to normal as play resumed.

He knew enough about Quidditch to see that the Irish Chasers were superb. They worked as a seamless team, their movements so well coordinated that they appeared to be reading one another's minds as they positioned themselves, and within ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more, bringing their lead to thirty-zero and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters.

The match became still faster, but more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chasers, and we're starting to prevent them from using some of their best moves; twice they were forced to scatter, and then, finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks; dodge the Keeper, Ryan; and score Bulgaria's first goal.

One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers. Harry followed their descent through his Omnioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was - "They're going to crash!" Adeline screamed.

She was half right - at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats.

"Fool!" moaned Cyrus. "Krum was feinting!"

"It's time-out!" yelled Bagman's voice, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

Harry hastily pressed the replay and play-by-play buttons on his Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to his eyes.

Lynch got to his feet at last, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters, mounted his Firebolt, and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to give Ireland new heart. When Mostafa blew his whistle again, the Chasers moved into action with a skill unrivaled by anything Harry had seen so far.

After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals.

They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and the game was starting to get dirtier.

As Mullet shot toward the goal posts yet again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. Whatever happened was over so quickly Harry didn't catch it, but a scream of rage from the Irish crowd, and Mostafa's long, shrill whistle blast, told him it had been a foul.

"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing - excessive use of elbows!"

Bagman informed the roaring spectators. "And - yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!"

The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled, now darted together to form the words "HA, HA, HA!" The veela on the other side of the field leaped to their feet, tossed their hair angrily, and started to dance again.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match.

"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS - good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Cyrus shouted back over all the noise, also applauding loudly. "The Irish Chasers were too good. . . . He wanted to end it on his terms"

By that point, Daphne had woken up and was clapping along with the crowd.

"Krum was very brave, wasn't he?" Master Dao said, leaning forward to watch Krum land as a swarm of mediwizards blasted a path through the battling leprechauns and veela to get to him. "He looks a terrible mess. . .'' Harry muttered.

Krum, who was last in line, looked a real mess. Two black eyes were blooming spectacularly on his bloody face. He was still holding the Snitch. Harry noticed that he seemed much less coordinated on the ground. He was slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered. But when Krum's name was announced, the whole stadium gave him a resounding, earsplitting roar.

And then came the Irish team. Aidan Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly; the second crash seemed to have dazed him and his eyes looked strangely unfocused. But he grinned happily as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd below thundered its approval.

Harrys hands were numb with clapping.

SCENE CHANGE
Later on that night Cyrus ran into their room shouting.

"Get up! Daphne- Harry - come on now, get up, this is urgent!"

Harry and Daphne sat up quickly and the top of Harrys head hit the ceiling.

"S' matter?" he murmured.

Dimly, Harry could tell that something was wrong. The noises in the campsite had changed.

The singing had stopped. He could hear screams, and the sound of people running. He slipped down from the bunk and reached for his clothes, but Cyrus, who had pulled on his jeans over his own pajamas, said, "No time, Harry -Daphne grab a jacket and get outside - quickly!"

"What's going on?" Daphne asked, sleep still audible in her voice. "Is it something involving the Irish?"

"No, Daphne,Harry" Cyrus said, no hint of humor in his voice."Something's wrong- there are tents being set on fire- we've got to go, now. follow me!"

Harry did as he was told and hurried out of the tent, Daphne at his heels.

Master Dao and Adeline had already gone home right after the match.

By the light of the few fires that were still burning, Harry could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.

" Let's get going. We will come and grab the tent in the morning. For now, let's just focus on getting back to the portkey field, our return portkey is there." Cyrus said.

Adeline had taken Astoria home a few hours ago with her so it was just Cyrus,Harry, and Daphne left.

They started to run.

A sudden, thunderous, CRACK-CRACK-BOOM then erupted somewhere nearby which sounded like dynamite blowing a pine tree in half, which drew startled jumps and shouts out of them all.

Daphne and Harry held onto each other tightly.

The three of them quickly found themselves swept up in a whirlwind of frenzied movement, but unlike earlier in the day, there was no merriment to be found, no festive spirit blanketing the gathered crowd. The night was clouded over, but light put off by half a dozen blazing tents provided plenty of light to see, although it's hypnotic, dancing flames combined potently with the scurrying sea of bodies to inject even more disorientation into the fleeing crowd.

Harry held onto one of Daphnes hands and Cyrus the other so they formed a sort of chain to make sure theye did not get separated.

Ahead of them a crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. Harry squinted at them.

"Death Eaters" Cyrus growled "We have to get out of here".

High above the figures, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes with two of the figures being very small.

More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. Once or twice Harry saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.

"Those sick bastards," Daphne muttered as they saw a small Muggle child begin to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side.

Cyrus then reminded them that they needed to be moving.

The colored lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished. Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air.

Once they got to a certain area Cyrus asked them "You remember how to Apparate".

"Yes,"Harry and Daphne both said, remembering their lessons.

Cyrus nodded "We are past the wards that prevent Apparition so use that to get home now".

Harry and Daphne both nodded and then disappeared with pops.