Beta: None [everyone seems busy]
Original Release Date: 10/16/16
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the canon Harry Potter universe or any other universe. Now AU.
Chapter Fifty Three – Wizarding Incognito
Easing himself into a cushioned chair, Sirius sighs as the pain begins to subside in his legs.
"Rough day?" inquiries a female voice sounding about as tired as Sirius felt.
"That it was, but soon enough this whole Quidditch World Cup business will be done and behind us" remarks Sirius looking at his wife.
"Correct, but my work will continue during the world cup, even while you and the others get praised for your revolutionary work, allowing people to watch the game without actually having to get out of their houses to do so. If I get praised, it isn't very often" remarks Amelia swirling her amber colored drink around the crystal glass in her hand before raising it to her lips for a sip.
Nodding his acknowledgement, Sirius answers, "Quite true, and I believe that is something that should be changed to be more vocal of about the DMLE's accomplishments."
"Aren't you supposed to take Harry over to the Weasley's for the world cup pregame festivities at their home?" inquiries Amelia glancing down at her watch.
Exhaling loudly, Sirius answers, "I suppose you're right, I'll go see if he is ready", before getting to his feet and trudging up the stairs to the second floor. "Harry, are you ready yet?"
"I am" answers Harry exiting his bedroom with a small backpack on his back.
"Let's go then" states Sirius leading the way down the stairs.
Several minutes later the two arrive just outside of The Burrow's wards and precede to pass through and stroll to the oddly shaped yet still comforting figure of the Weasley's home a few fields away. Nearing the home, Sirius digs through a robe pocket and fishes out a badge with Harry's face on it, attached to a lanyard and hands it to Harry, "I don't want to make you choose between your friends and myself, but here is your badge as a member of Marauders Emporium, who scored box seats for their work selling live stream tickets. You can sit with us or you can sit with your friends, whatever makes you the happiest."
"Thanks, you're awesome dad, I mean Sirius" answers Harry smiling before quickly correcting himself.
Shortly thereafter, Sirius knocks on a wooden door before calling out, "Molly, I've brought Harry."
"Don't just stand there, come in, come in" replies Mrs. Weasley opening the door and ushering them in.
Entering the abode, Sirius closes the door behind him before speaking, "I want to thank you and Arthur for inviting Harry to go to the world cup with your family."
"It's a pleasure. Harry, Ron and everyone else is outside if you want to join them" remarks Mrs. Weasley smiling kindly, motioning towards the door.
"Thanks" murmurs Harry loud enough to be heard, before exiting through the door and walking away from the general direction that he and Sirius had arrived from. Hearing some faint voices, Harry increases his walking speed before cresting a gentle hill to the sight of several familiar faces and two unfamiliar faces.
High in the air two tables were jousted by the two unknown persons, who stopped slamming the tables into each other as Harry approaches.
"You must be Harry Potter. I'm Charlie" remarks the shorter and slightly more stocky of the two unknown redheads, shaking Harry's outstretched hand firmly.
Turning to the taller and lankier of the two, Harry smiles and remarks, "Then you must be Bill."
"I'm honored that my reputation proceeds me" answers Bill with a grin and a firm handshake.
"Process of elimination. But don't stop your table jousting just for me, it looks quite entertaining" remarks Harry reminding everyone of the two floating tables above their heads.
An hour or so later as the sun begins to slip below the horizon, tables freshly repaired from their multiple rounds of jousting, are covered with a red and gold striped tablecloth before laden down with voluptuous amounts of food, resulting in the tables groaning under the immense weight. Daylight rapidly slipping away, a dozen and a half to two dozen candles are conjured, lit, and then levitated around the table, creating a cozy environment.
At one end of the two joined tables, Percy converses with his father, "While I told Mr. Crouch that I'd have my report to him on Wednesday, I believe that I'll have it completely finished first thing in the morning on Monday."
"Then you could spend more time with family instead of staying cooped up in your room all day" remarks Mrs. Weasley from halfway down the table with partially narrowed eyes.
"Yes yes. However, I'm quite concerned with Ludo Bagman's response, or lack thereof, regarding the disappearance Bertha Jorkins" remarks Percy briskly to his father.
"So how was your summer, Harry?" inquiries Hermione from across the table.
"Fairly uneventful; Sirius has been working long days on the Quidditch World Cup and Remus has been teaching on the warding program" answers Harry before taking a bite of Shepards pie.
"Honestly, learning to ward sounds fascinating. But there are so many other fields of work to go into, I simply can't decide" muses Hermione out loud.
"Don't worry dear, you'll have a chance to cover all possible opportunities with Professor McGonagall in your fifth year" adds Mrs. Weasley comfortingly.
"Where is Neville, Hermione?" asks Ginny curiously.
"He's off getting some exotic types of plants for his greenhouse, but said he might be able to make it to the World Cup if everything worked out with the seller" answers Hermione
Half an hour later as everyone finishes eating the rich and creamy homemade strawberry ice cream, Mrs. Weasley glances down at her watch, before doing a double take and announcing, "Time for bed, all of you."
Trudging up the winding staircase to Ron's bedroom, where he, Harry, Fred, and George would be rooming for the night, Ron remarks after yawning, "Ought to be a great match tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah. Just brush your teeth quickly so we can go to bed sooner" grumbles George from behind.
Several minutes later as the four lay their heads down on their pillows, the ghoul in the attic rattles and moans for a few minutes before quieting down. Falling asleep as the relative silence descends upon the room, the quartet feel as if mere minutes have passed before a blinding light shines into the room, groggily arousing everyone.
"Time to get up, you must get moving if you want to see the Quidditch World Cup" declares the disembodied voice of Mrs. Weasley.
Sitting up, Harry glances down at his watch before wordlessly grabbing his glasses from nearby before checking his watch again.
"A quarter to five in the morning, Mrs. Weasley?" inquiries Harry groggily.
"That is correct. Arthur is down stairs waiting and will fill you in" replies Mrs. Weasley cheerfully before exiting the room.
Groaning, the quartet quietly change their attire and see to their bags before grabbing them and going down the several floors of stairs to the kitchen. Spooning porridge into their respective bowls, Harry speaks up looking at Mr. Weasley wearing a golf sweater, shorts, and a pair of well worn sneakers, "Mr. Weasley, are those orange slips our tickets?"
Giving Harry a smile, Mr. Weasley answers, "They certainly are. Do I think look passable as a muggle?"
"I think you look very passable, Mr. Weasley" answers Harry with a grin.
"Wonderful! Eat up, for we have a walk ahead of us. Oh Molly, do you mind checking on the girls for me, we can't be late" remarks Mr. Weasley.
A little while later, Mr. Weasley does a quick head count, before leading the way out into the still dark and early morning.
"Mr. Weasley, how far do we have to walk to get to the world cup?" inquiries Harry brightly, far more awake than the others behind he and Mr. Weasley.
"Oh, it's much too far to walk to the world cup, and since none of us, minus myself, are able to apparate, we must walk to the closest portkey to get to the world cup" answers Mr. Weasley, beginning to huff a little as their path begins to go up a more steep side of a hill.
Minutes later as the terrain begins to level out, Mr. Weasley calls out, "We're looking for a portkey, so anything that would be normally overlooked by muggles as insignificant or worthless. But we are also going to be taking the portkey with—"
"Arthur, over here!" calls out a male voice atop a nearby hill.
Hurrying over, Mr. Weasley smiles and shakes the hand of the graying man before speaking, "And this is Amos Diggory and his son, Cedric. We'll be taking the portkey with them to the world cup."
"Blimey, is that Harry Potter?" wonders Amos outloud as his eyes do a double take over Harry before scanning his forehead intently.
Checking his watch, Mr. Weasley says urgently, "Amos, the portkey. Where is the portkey?"
"Oh, it's this musty boot here. But you know Harry Potter personally, Arthur? Why didn't you tell me?" answers Amos absentmindedly, holding out the boot.
"Grab ahold of the boot, and quickly now!" declares Mr. Weasley grabbing a few fingers worth of boot, as everyone else rushes to do the same. Less than two seconds after Hermione gets a finger hold, a jerking sensation behind each one's navel is felt, followed by a sensation of rapidly spinning before finally landing somewhat painfully on a patch of grass, still slick with the morning dew.
"Arrival from Stoatshead Hill" calls out a weary sounding male voice.
Everyone, minus Mr. Weasley, Cedric, and Mr. Diggory, gets up from the grass before following their respective guardian to a table where two wizards wear haphazardly thrown together muggle clothes. "Weasley, Weasley, first field you come to, ask for a Mr. Roberts. Diggory, second field, ask for Mr. Payne."
Handing the wizard closest to a large box of clearly used portkeys, Mr. Weasley leads the way through the still foggy morning. Several minutes later the group arrives at a small cottage, quickly and quietly parting ways with the Diggory's. Walking up to the clearly only true muggle man standing in the doorway of the cottage, Mr. Weasley clears his throat before asking, "Are you Mr. Roberts?"
"I am, and you are?" answers Mr. Roberts turning around and facing the group of witches and wizards.
"I'm Arthur Weasley, I booked a few days ago for two tents" answers Mr. Weasley with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Ah, Weasley" remarks Mr. Robert turning to the multiple sheets of paper nailed to a board on the exterior wall of the cottage. Turning around finally, Mr. Roberts points to an area near to a wooded area and answers, "Your spot is right by the woods. Just for one night, then. Will you be paying now or on your way tomorrow?"
Pulling out a wad of bills, Mr. Weasley whispers, "Harry, can you come with me real quick?"
Gently and wordlessly pulling the wad of bills out of Mr. Weasley's hand, Harry steps forward and asks, "How much is the cost, sir?"
Turning to Harry, Mr. Roberts inquires with a hint of suspicion, "And who might you be?"
"I'm Harry Weasley. I'm merely adopted, just like Hermione over there" answers Harry thinking quickly on his feet and indicating to Hermione, the lone brunette out of the sea of redheads.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Mr. Roberts answers, "I see. That makes some sense. But why doesn't your father pay instead of you?"
"He gets his numbers mixed up some times, so I tend to handle the money, to make things easier for everyone" answers Harry calmly.
"Alright. It is seventy five pounds" answers Mr. Roberts finally.
Quickly withdrawing two twenty pound notes, three ten pound notes, and five one pound notes, and hands them to Mr. Roberts who accepts the bills and marks their name off of the paper. "Have a good time" calls out Mr. Roberts as the party heads for their assigned spot, map in hand.
"Thanks Harry" remarks Mr. Weasley with apparently relief and a smile.
"No problem. Mr. Weasley. I wanted to draw the least amount of attention to ourselves, especially with I'm almost certain other witches and wizards drawing a lot more attention to themselves" answers Harry nonchalantly.
"And I appreciate it" remarks a mysterious voice from behind them.
Turning around to face the source of the mysterious voice, the group sees a clearly Ministry of Magic employee with deep and dark shadows under his eyes, "He has been needing several memory charms a day just to not catch on to all of the magic happening. And it definitely doesn't help that Ludo Bagman has been walking about declaring his thoughts on Quidditch as well. At least the DMLE has their portion of the operation handled quite well, which is most appreciated", before disapparating.
"The DMLE have a presence at the world cup?" inquiries Hermione curiously.
"Of course. They help perform memory charms, keep disputes from getting too ugly, and the likes. Mostly the security aspect" answers Harry before anyone else.
"Right, Director Black is your…I'm not certain what the term is, but she is one of your guardians, so you'd have more intricate knowledge of their operations" answers Mr. Weasley.
"Sirius is both my godfather and one of my adoptive fathers, alongside Remus. However, Remus is merely an adoptive father. And then Amelia married Sirius, but they don't mind the convoluted web of how we are all related" answers Harry with a smile.
Arriving at their designated spot, Mr. Weasley withdraws all of the tent parts and begins to erect a tent, or at least attempting to. An hour or so later, Mr. Weasley leads the way into the guys tent, surprising Hermione as they walk around what looks like a two bedroom flat/apartment with the third room a decently sized kitchen with table fit to seat all of them.
"Wow, magic is amazing" remarks Hermione incredulously, turning around in a circle.
"It's one that Perkins from the office loaned me. I suppose we'll need to get basic supplies, like water, firewood, etc" remarks Mr. Weasley taking one of two dusty kettles off of the stove and quickly cleaning it.
"But can't we just use magic for water and for the fire?" complains Ron.
"Muggle security Ron. We can't attract too much attention to ourselves. Take the kettles from here and the one from the girls tent to get water from the source on the map. At least I think that there is a source marked on the map" answers Mr. Weasley.
"Fine" answers Ron, grabbing a kettle and exiting the tent. Grabbing the other kettle from the men's tent, Harry followed by Hermione follow after Ron before quickly grabbing the third and final kettle and the map.
Starting their walk, the trio find themselves surrounded by both opulent and much more normal looking tents on their way to the community source of water. A few hundred meters away from their origin, the trio hear a voice call out, "Hello there, Harry, Ron, and Hermione…"
Author note: Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, etc! Don't forget to vote in the poll located at the top of my profile regarding your preferred pairing (Harry and Ginny, Harry and Luna, or Harry and your specified female mate [which you can specify here or via private message]). :D
Please pardon the increase in time to write these chapters, real life is the culprit, and I have my doubts that it will get any better (especially with me pursuing a female companion of my own). But never fear, I am committed to finishing this fanfiction, because I have so many plans for things. :) With that in mind, I am going to try to make the chapters longer than 2k words (without factoring in author notes, etc) to help push this along as well.
Edit: Thanks to Nanchih for catching my counting mistake. I meant five one pound notes/bills and not three and three ten pound notes. :)