A/N: Standard disclaimer: All characters and setting belong to J.K. Rowling, except for my original characters Clara Bradley, Renee Sanderson, Tomasz Ruddernot, Gill Bellis, Nolan Avery, and Franklin Morrison. Nico di Angelo belongs to Rick Riordan. I am making no profit from this story.


Clara POV

Harry, Hermione, and I had helped Mr. Weasley set up the tents the Muggle way. I knew what I was doing, and Hermione did a little bit, but Harry was as lost as the wizards.

I wondered about that. I'd never really asked Harry about his childhood. I knew the Dursleys weren't exactly the type of family a kid would want to be part of, but I'd never considered just how bad they were.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron went to get water, and Fred and George went one way to gather firewood. I went another way with Nico and Ginny.

I kept looking over my shoulder to where the entrance to the campsite was. I trusted Renee, of course; she was a Slytherin, after all, and a demigod, so she was cunning and resourceful. But I still worried about her trying to charmspeak Roberts, and trying to do so without drawing attention to herself. I noticed Nico also kept looking back too, and then looking around nervously.

A few minutes later, we came to another nondescript tent with some elderly witches and wizards sitting outside and chatting. I looked up when I heard my name.

"Hey, Clara! Great to see you here!"

Neville was sitting on a lawn chair between a woman who looked as if she could have been his grandmother and an elderly man. He stood up and came over to me.

Neville hugged Ginny and me. Nico once again tried to hide in the shadows. I rolled my eyes. I knew meeting new people bothered him, but I wished he would at least try.

"Nico," I said firmly, hoping that my voice conveyed that we would talk later about this. "This is our friend Neville. He goes to school with us."

Nico looked at the ground. I wished he didn't have to be like this. "This is Nico," I continued. "He's our cousin, also from America."

Neville raised his eyebrows. "Why are there so many of you from America? They have a perfectly good wizard school over there, at least I think they do…" he looked between Nico and me for a minute. "Unless… oh."

I nodded, hoping that my expression conveyed what I wouldn't say out loud. Yeah, he's a demigod, like us.

Professor Sprout had said something about the American wizard community not getting along with us, and that after she had gone to Hogwarts, Dumbledore and Chiron agreed that it would be best to send other demigods to Hogwarts as well if they happened to be a witch or wizard.

A little while later we came across the Ruddernot tent, which was a little more flashy. Tomasz, Nolan, Franklin, Gill, and Sandra sat chatting outside the tent. Sandra smiled and called us over, but then she raised her eyebrows. "Where's Renee?"

I lowered my gaze. "I don't know. There was an issue with how many people could come in, and she offered to give up her spot for Nico." I gestured to the younger boy, who was once again hiding in the shadows.

"She what?" Gill asked, sounding shocked.

"Renee can be very persuasive," Ginny said uncomfortably. "She'll find a way, don't you worry."

Gill and Sandra relaxed a bit.

Tomasz got up. "I'm glad to hear she's okay," he said. "Listen, my parents said I could have a party here at the tent after the match. Third years only, so you two and Renee are invited."

Nico looked away and muttered something under his breath. Tomasz looked over at him. "Sorry, kid. Just that my parents told me to keep it small."

"I brought the exploding snap deck," Ginny said quickly. "I'm sure you all can get a game going there tonight at our tent, Nico."

I was surprised when the younger boy gave her a genuine smile. "I'd like that."

I wondered if Nico would have actually wanted to go to a stranger's party anyway. "I'll check with Renee when she gets here," I promised, looking over my shoulder again at the campsite entrance. I noticed Draco's incredibly flashy silk tent with peacocks over by the entrance, and I thought about how ridiculous this whole thing was. Couldn't most wizards, like us, at least make some effort to blend in?

After we had gathered up our firewood, we walked back to the group. It had been almost two hours since we'd left Renee, and I was really starting to worry. I seriously hoped she'd be at our tent when I got back.


Renee POV

Clara tackled me into a hug the moment she saw me. "Renee, thank the gods!"

I laughed. "Clara, I swear, I was fine," I said absently. I was thinking about how to talk to her about Draco's request.

Ginny seemed a lot less worried. "We ran into your Slytherin friends," she said. "Tomasz is having a third year party at his tent, so the three of us are invited.

"Was Gill with them?" I asked uneasily. I loved my boyfriend, but things had been kind of awkward the last time I saw him, at Diagon Alley.

"Yeah," Ginny said, and then noticed my expression. "Is everything okay?"

I shook off the weird feeling. I'd just have to explain to him, the same way I had with Harry, that I saw Draco was trying to change.


Clara POV

Mr. Weasley kept up a running commentary of everyone who came by. The Weasleys weren't really interested, as they already got too much ministry information on a daily basis, but I thought it was kind of cool to learn who everyone was. Hermione seemed actually interested, and Renee and Harry were paying polite attention, but I could tell they didn't really care.

"That was Cuthbert Mockridge, head of the Goblin Liaison Office. … Here comes Gilbert Wimple; he's with the Committee on Experimental Charms; had those horns for a while now. … That's Bode and Croaker… they're Unspeakables. …"

"They're what?"

"From the Department of Mysteries, top secret, no idea what they get up to…"

Nico had sought refuge inside the tent after about ten minutes of this, muttering about crowds. I think his reluctance might have had something to do with the guy with the horns, though. We took turns checking on him every so often, but he seemed fine.

Percy, Bill, and Charlie came strolling out of the woods around noon, right as we were frying eggs and sausages.

"We just apparated," said Percy loudly, and rather unnecessarily in my opinion. "Ah, excellent, lunch."

I could have sworn the younger Weasleys were trying to hide their laughter.

We were halfway through our plates when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, grinning and waving at the man who was striding over to us. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Mr. Bagman made small talk with Mr. Weasley, and the latter introduced everyone. Apparently Bagman was the reason we had such good tickets. We would all be in the Top Box. That was really exciting, although I was a little worried about Nico being up that high. It wouldn't actually be in the open air, though, and I didn't think Zeus would try anything with everyone there, and so far from his realm.

"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" Bagman said eagerly, jingling what seemed to be a large amount of gold in the pockets of his Wimbourne Wasps robes. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting Bulgaria will score first - I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years - and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares on her eel farm for a weeklong match…"

While Mr. Weasley negotiated with Bagman, Fred and George called me over to them.

"So," Fred muttered. "What do you think is the most obscure bet we could make and win?"

"How would I know? I don't know that much about Quidditch." I figured I knew where the twins were going with this, but I wasn't going to give in too easily.

"Well, we just thought," George added. "Because of, well, you know." He pointed at the sun.

"George," I argued, "that's hardly fair."

"Bagman's the best beater the Wimbourne Wasps have ever seen," Fred argued. "As a former professional Quidditch player and current Ministry employee, I'm sure he has loads of money. Otherwise he wouldn't be gambling so much."

"What would you use the money for?" I whispered.

Fred and George looked uncomfortable.

"Well, er…"

"You'd think it's silly, really…"

"You have to promise you won't tell our mother…"

I smiled, thinking about what Ron had said yesterday. "You'd use the money to open a joke shop," I guessed. "And you'll sell your Ton-Tongue Toffees and your… whatever else you have."

Fred lowered his voice even more. "We've been working on these for ages-"

"We've got candies and fake wands and so many things," George said happily.

"Just imagine it," they said together. "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

I sighed. "I can't promise anything," I cautioned. "But I think you should say…" I tried to envision the match; the players; Ron's idol, Viktor Krum… something about Krum… "Ireland wins. But Krum gets the Snitch."

The twins stared at me for a second.

"That's ridiculous!" Fred burst out laughing.

"It's completely unprecedented," George agreed.

"No Seeker in his right mind…"

"Fine," I said. "Then I'll bet that. We'll see who's laughing after the match."

"Wait, you're serious?" George asked.

"Of course I am. Go on, before he leaves."

The twins ran back to Bagman and bet a figure that seemed like it was all of their savings. I hoped I was right, and that my father would come through.

Renee jogged over to me. "Did you just do what I think you just did?"

"I trust them to make the right decisions," I said evenly. "And if it's their life's ambition, well, I think we should respect that."

Renee stared at me for a moment. Then she broke into a grin. "It needs work," she said. "It didn't sound like me at all. But I could teach you…"

It took me a moment to realize she was talking about impersonations, because I had just parroted her from this morning. We both started laughing and couldn't stop.

"You're amazing, Wren."

"Obviously."

I was glad she could still do her Snape impression, even with all the anger she held at him. I slipped my arm around her and we walked back to the tents.


The rest of the day passed by mostly uneventfully. Renee had an odd look on her face as Bagman and Mr. Weasley started to discuss Bertha Jorkins, a ministry witch from Bagman's department who had disappeared recently while on vacation.

"You okay?" I whispered.

Renee nodded. "It's nothing," she said a little too quickly. "I'm going to go check on Nico."

I hoped that whatever it was, Renee would tell me soon, but she deserved to have her secrets too.

Percy made a big deal when his boss, Mr. Crouch came by. I could see why he would like and even idolize the ministry worker. Crouch was rigid, and he was so expertly dressed that not even the stingiest of Muggles would know he wasn't one of them. He had an impressive toothbrush mustache that looked like it had been trimmed using a side rule.

Crouch started talking about the Bulgarians and a flying carpet embargo. I was getting kind of restless, so I went to join the other demigods in the tent, which looked like a regular Muggle tent, but inside was the size of a small house, and furnished accordingly.

" … really don't know about this, Renee. I've never tried to summon someone I didn't personally know or know of… and if you didn't want me there for the conversation, well, it would be tricky…"

"All I'm asking is that you try. I really think that something happened. Can you at least check if she's there?"

There was a long pause. "I don't know," Nico said finally. "I'd need to find an entrance, and it will be a lot harder now that I'm out of the country, and the Labyrinth's destroyed."

Whatever they were talking about, it was kind of disturbing. Whose ghost could Renee possibly want to talk to?

I debated talking to them, but I also felt as if I'd walked in on something private. Renee would tell me later if it was important. And honestly, after this summer, I'd rather not get involved with Nico's ghosts. I hoped Renee would realize that as well.


Renee POV

In the evening before the match, we walked around and bought souvenirs from the various stands. "Been saving my pocket money for this all summer," Ron said eagerly as we walked around with him, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Nico.

My mind was elsewhere, though, although the miniature flying Firebolts were incredible. I was trying to think about how I'd be able to get Clara to talk with her mother.

Ron purchased a large green rosette that yelled out the players' names and a dancing shamrock, he also bought a small moving figurine of the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum.

"Wow, look at these," Harry said, running over to a cart carrying what looked like brass binoculars, except they were covered in weird knobs and dials.

"Omnioculars," the salesman said eagerly. "You can replay action… slow everything down… and they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it. Bargain… only ten galleons."

Ron looked disappointed, but Hermione hurried over to Harry and me. She hadn't bought anything yet, either. Clara and Nico came over behind her.

"What's up?"

"Well," Hermione said uncomfortably. "I was thinking… I mean, I don't have as much money as you guys do, so I couldn't give as much, but would it be possible if we pooled and bought some of these for all the Weasleys? I mean, they could be incredibly useful, and I could see all of us needing them later on…"

"Well, I mean, they did get us all on their tickets," Harry agreed. "And there's almost as many of us as there are of them, with you, me, Renee, Clara, and Nico."

"We got a stipend from Sirius too," I whispered.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. Clara, Nico, is this okay with you?"

They nodded, and Nico glanced around, and then smiled as if he knew something we didn't. Once again, I decided not to ask.

"We'll take…" Harry counted out the number of people with us on his fingers. "Twelve pairs."

Together, we pooled together 40 galleons each. Nico was still wearing that mysterious smile.

I finally cracked and motioned to a quieter spot. "What's up?"

"I'm not saying much," Nico said. "But let's just say, my father is the god of wealth and riches."

I smiled. "Nico, you know direct interference is prohibited by the ancient laws."

Nico just stared into the distance, looking thoughtful.


Finally, as day turned to evening, it was time for the match. A loud, booming voice rang through the woods.

"It's time," said Mr. Weasley excitedly, and from all corners of the campsite, people started walking to the woods.

After about twenty minutes, we reached a gigantic stadium. "Seats a hundred thousand," Mr. Weasley said, noticing our amazement. "Ministry's been working on it all year. Muggle repelling charms over every inch of the place. The minute anyone gets close, they suddenly remember urgent appointments…"

I wondered briefly what that would mean for demigods who weren't also wizards.

We made our way up to the Top Box. After taking our seats, Harry looked around, scanning to see who else was in the top box.

"Dobby!" Harry gasped. I jumped a little.

The only other occupant of the Top Box was a creature with batlike ears, wearing a tea towel. I remembered Dobby, the House Elf we had freed after rescuing Clara and Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets. He had been very strange.

The elf pulled their fingers away from their face and peered at Harry between their hands. This elf wasn't Dobby, as they had a much more round nose, but they were definitely a House Elf.

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" squeaked the elf curiously between their fingers. They had a voice that was much more squeaky and high pitched; this House Elf may have even been female.

"Sorry," Harry said. "I just thought you were someone I knew."

Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Clara had turned in their seats to look. I was the only one of Harry's friends who had actually met Dobby, after he had caused us both to spend a night in the hospital wing after making a Bludger target Harry in order to "save his life." I imagined our other friends were probably pretty curious. Even Mr. Weasley was looking around with an expression of mild surprise.

"But I knows Dobby too, sir!" squeaked the elf. She was shielding her face as if blinded by light, even though the stadium was not brightly lit. "My name is Winky, sir - and you, sir -" Her dark brown eyes widened to the size of small saucers as they rested on Harry's scar. "You is surely Harry Potter!"

Harry and the elf talked a little more, and I tuned out. Hermione started reading out loud from her program, and Ron was playing with his Omnioculars. I wasn't really even paying attention to all the top-ranking wizards who were filling in the seats around us. At least not until…

"Ah, and here's Lucius!" said Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, who Mr. Weasley had been talking to.

"Shit," I muttered. I should have realized that as the Minister's guests, Draco and his family would be among those of us in the top box.

They were edging their way into three empty seats directly behind Mr. Weasley. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Clara had turned in their sears to look as well. Draco scowled when he saw us.

Fudge introduced Lucius to some people. Arthur and Lucius had a tense staredown, and Draco looked like he was trying to hide, or at least trying to avoid being seen by us. I followed his actions and did the same.

Lucius Malfoy, however, looked at Clara and me while he taunted Arthur.

"Ah, and you must be Renee Sanderson." Lucius smiled nastily. "The filthy little mudblood Slytherin who's corrupting my son."

"She's not a mudblood, Father," Draco whispered, barely audible.

Lucius's eyes flashed dangerously, but Narcissa glanced over at the Minister. Fudge was talking with some other Ministry officials and hadn't noticed the confrontation, but it was clear Narcissa was warning her husband not to make a scene in front of so many high-ranking ministry officials.

Draco caught my eye when his father wasn't looking. "I'm sorry," he mouthed.

I looked away, failing to notice Lucius Malfoy eyeing Clara suspiciously.


Clara POV

The Quidditch World Cup was a flurry of excitement, but I wasn't paying as much attention as I could have been. The confrontation with the Malfoys had put me on edge. What had Draco told his father about Renee? Two days ago, in Diagon Alley, after he saved our lives, I thought I could trust him, at least a little bit. But after what Lucius Malfoy had said to Renee, I was questioning everything for a second time. Aside from Renee, all Slytherins were completely impossible to understand.

Harry and Ron made a fool of themselves with the Bulgarian mascot display, which were beautiful creatures called veela. If they had been human, I would have expected they were daughters of Aphrodite. Even Renee was behaving a little oddly around them.

The Irish had leprechauns, which moved to create shapes and spell different words, in formations by the thousands. Both mascot displays were captivating.

The match began, and I tried to pay attention, but a million thoughts were racing through my head. I snapped back into attention as the two seekers, Aidan Lynch and Viktor Krum, plummeted in a spectacular dive.

"They're going to crash!" Hermione yelled.

She was half right. At the last second, Krum pulled out of the dive, and Lynch tumbled to the ground. Bagman called time out while the medical examiners helped Lynch.

I tuned out again. Had Draco tried to defend Renee? Had my mother stopped her husband just because the Minister was there? Because I was there? Who would she defend in a fight?

The next thing I knew, there was fighting erupting from both sides, and the mascots were going at each other, and then the veela women morphed into something like harpies, and I felt Nico freeze up beside me.

"You okay?"

Nico stared at the harpy-like creatures. "No," he whispered. "Not… not them."

Everyone else was paying attention to the escalating tension between the mascots, but I had to help my friend. I eyed the back stairs; while everyone was occupied with the match, I could use my sunbeams to make a quick getaway. I looked at Nico, and then breathed in sharply as I realized the person directly behind him must have noticed his reaction as well. Draco Malfoy was staring intensely at us.

"Come on," he whispered after a moment. "Hey, bro. Let's get you somewhere quiet. The stadium must be overwhelming." He turned to me. "Do that sunbeam thing, and let's get out of here."

What? How did Draco know about that? Unless Narcissa had finally caved…

But strangely, Nico seemed to relax around the older boy. And to be honest, I would welcome the help to get away. I summoned a sunbeam big enough for the three of us while Draco made sure everyone nearby was still distracted.

Nico was much paler than he had been a few minutes ago. "Torture…" he muttered. "Got to get away… got to warn Percy…"

Styx! He must have been reliving the Labyrinth. And the harpies… was he picturing Ariana and Morgana?

We reached the ground. Nico had tears streaming down his face. "Harpies," he whispered. "So many of them. Morgana and Ariana showed up later in the Labyrinth, but first I had to battle five of them, with just my sword. They captured me, brought me to their nest, and tried to eat me. It was like… like cannibalism. In the Labyrinth. Ariana and Morgana. Harpies."

I knew this was bad. Nico had been so overly cautious since Bianca had died, and in normal circumstances, he would never have given up information about the demigod world so willingly.

Draco looked at me worriedly as Nico sat down on a rock. I sighed. "Draco, I'm going to ask you to pretend you never heard any of this," I insisted. "Renee would kill me if-"

"She already knows I know," Draco said quickly. "Oh gods, I wanted to tell you myself, and she was going to let me… but not like this."

I stared at Draco for a moment. He was pulling something out of his backpack. He whispered a spell I didn't catch, and then he handed Nico what appeared to be a cold cloth.

Nico buried his face in his hands, and Draco sat down beside him on a rock. After a few seconds, he looked up at me.

"Shit," he said. "Quests. Harpies. The Labyrinth. Gods. Demigods. It's all real. Shit."

"You don't know the half of it," Nico retorted.

Draco sighed loudly. "No. I suppose I don't." He turned to the younger boy. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Nico looked at me, and it took me a moment to realize he was asking me for confirmation. I nodded and sat down as well. I'd need a moment to process all of this.

But before either of us could explain anything, there was a deafening yell from the area of the Quidditch pitch, and I knew we only had a few minutes before thousands of people filled the woods, exiting the match.

I turned to my brother. "Will you help cover for me? Or help us sneak back in unnoticed?"

"On one condition," Draco said. "You find a time to tell me exactly what is going on that I don't know about, and you and Renee tell me the whole, complete, truth about the demigod world."


A/N: so, this chapter didn't really go in the direction I had planned. I knew I didn't actually want to write the full World Cup, but the idea to include Nico's reaction came to me very late in the process. I will play this up in the coming chapters as well.

Anyway, I'm sorry if this one was a bit of a filler. The next chapter will deviate a lot from canon, and I'm really excited to write it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review.

~Celia