A few hours after we were settled in our tent, we left with our bags for the pitch. Mr. Weasley had offered to buy us souvenirs of the team we were rooting for. I didn't really have a preference between Ireland or Bulgaria. Although Fred and George, and Ron for that matter, sure seemed to. Fred and George were all gung hoe for the Irish. Ron however, would not stop talking about the Bulgarian seeker, Krum. I decided to choose Ireland, because anyone Ron has a man-crush on, they probably can't win the Quidditch World Cup. We continued towards the stadium, decked out in the teams we had chosen.
Once inside the stadium, we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked some more up dozens upon dozens of flights of stairs.
"Blimey, dad. How far up are we?" Fred asked, looking up at the, oh God, I dunno, bazillion more flights of stairs we had yet to climb.
"Well put it this way," a very ungodly, horrifying, uncanny, (shall I go on?) voice said behind us. All of us, turned around, and met that son of a b- HEY! Watch the language! Ugh, fine. We met the face of that dimwitted, scruffy looking, nerfhearder (I 3 Star Wars!) Lucius Malfoy. "If it rains, you'll be the first to know."
"Father and I are in the Minister's box. On personal invitation, of Cornelius Fudge himself," his even more dimwitted, scruffier, nerfhearder of a son, Draco said. Gah, I dislike them both so much.
"Don't boast, Draco," Lucius reprimanded. Although, it sounded to me like he was saying 'Yes, that's right Draco. Boast!'
"Hey, Cradey," Draco said, directing his attention to me. I had to muster up all the self control I had to resist the urge to punch the living snot out of him. "I'm sure the Minister wouldn't mind if we happened to show up with an extra guest. And such a gorgeous guest. I'm sure you'd have a better time than hanging out with a family of blood traitors, a Mudblood, and Potty. Humor me, why on earth did you chose him to date? Honestly." After he finished talking, Draco broke out into a fit of laughter. I clenched my teeth together, my blood boiling. I grabbed Harry's hand in attempt to calm myself down.
"There's no need with these people." Lucius spat. Harry put his other hand on my shoulder, turning me away so we could leave. Before we could get too far, Lucius snapped the snake head of his cane down on Harry's jacket, stopping us in our tracks.
"Enjoy yourselves, won't you," Lucius sneered. "While you can." He paused for a second, before taking his cane off Harry's jacket, him and Draco leaving."What do you think he means by that? 'While you can?'" Ron whispered to Hermione, Harry, and I as we went back to the stairs.
"No idea," Harry replied. "It can't be good though. Knowing Lucius." We nodded in agreement, staying quiet for the rest of our trip. We continued climbing for a few more minutes, until I thought we'd be climbing forever. Just when I was about to beg Harry to carry me, we reached a final landing, with no more stairs attached.
"Are we there yet?" Sage whined. I dunno if she'd been whining the whole way up, maybe my internal complaints had drowned out her external ones.
"Yes, Sage, we are," Alexa answered. We found ourselves at the very top of the arena. The large football like field looked like a small green oval from up here. We raced to the railing and peered over. From the ground up to where we were was filled with people. They created a mixture of red and green, avid fans supporting their team. Wow, and I'd picked my team on a whim, just like I do for the Super Bowl :).
"'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,'" Hermione read aloud from her brightly coloured, and oddly designed program.
"Oh that's always worth watching," Mr. Weasley said. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show." Oh, so it's like at high school football games when the schools bring the marching bands J I had to make some reference :D
"Ladies and gentlemen…welcome! Welcome to final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" Fudge boomed from the press box down below. There was what appeared to be a giant jumbo-tron across the field from us. An advertisement for Bertie Bott's disappeared, and a scoreboard appeared, which read Bulgaria: 0 Ireland: 0 "And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce…the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" Everyone who was decked out in red, including Ron and all the other Bulgarian supporters of our group, began cheering in approval.
"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley said leaning over the rail slightly. "Ah-ha! Veela!"
"Erm…what are…Feela's?" Sage asked confused. A hundred veela were now gliding onto the field. Sage's question and a bunch of ours, mine included, were answered. Veela were women…the most beautiful women I'd ever seen, and I'm in no way shape or form into girls. Except they weren't-they couldn't bloody be-human. I was so puzzled. What could make their skin shine moon-bright like that, or their gold hair fan out behind them without wind? Man, I wish my hair and skin would look like that. Music started drifting around the arena, and I stopped worrying about …well everything.
The veela started dancing, and my mind went blissfully blank. That's some serious jizz right there, to make absolutely nothing be going on in my mind. All that mattered was that the veela's kept dancing and I kept watching. If I dared look away or they stopped dancing, terrible things would happen. Extreeemely horrible…
The music suddenly stopped, snapping me out of my trance. Angry yells were filling the stadium; the crowd didn't want the veela to go. I was just glad that I was out of that crazy trance. I looked over at Harry, who was supporting the same confused look I assumed I had.
"Were you all…dazed and confused too? Having delusions of grandeur?" Harry asked. I nodded, thinking they must've put a trance over everyone. Or at least a lot of us.
"And now," Fudge roared again. "Kindly put your wands in the air…for the Irish National Team Mascots!" A green and gold comet shot in between Jennifer and Suze and onto the field. The comet went once around the field, back into the middle, shot straight up and burst into two comets, leaving fireworks in its wake. The comets proceeded to either side of the field and were connected by a rainbow. The fireworks from before took the form of a leprechaun and started doing an Irish jig…I 'spose. I'm not very well versed with foreign dances. The rainbow and comets connected together, forming a giant shamrock. It zoomed over the crowd, dropping little coins as it did. I squinted as the shamrock flew over us, realizing there were thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests composing the shamrock. Ahhh…legit leprechauns. Nice. We all picked up several of the coins, examining them with great curiosity. No, they can't be…
"CHOCOLATE!" Sage said with an excited gasp. She sounded like a little kid that had just been told her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Claus. She's great for comedic relief, isn't she? Indeed, the little coins were chocolate coins. I unwrapped mine and plopped it in my mouth, relishing at how good it was.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome-the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you- Dimitrov!" A scarlet figure on broom zoomed onto the field, receiving and uproar of applause. "Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov!" Five more scarlet figures burst onto the scene, following one another in a lap around the field. "And finally…KRUM!"
"That's him! THAT'S HIM!" Ron shouted, almost as giddy as Sage just had when she realized the coins were chocolate, following the last figure with his finger. Krum's face was suddenly plastered on the jumbo-tron, showing a live action feed of him flying, a full 360° shot of him in his Bulgarian robes, and his stats. The already loud crowd exploded with applause. I was surprised mothers weren't throwing their children onto the field. Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He kinda looked like an over grown bird of prey. I'll give it to him, and Ron, he was sorta good looking. But I have Harry, what else could I want?
"And now, please greet-the Irish National Quidditch Team! Presenting-Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigely! And Lynch!" Seven green blurs swept onto the field as Fred and George began jumping, pointing to and naming the people Fudge had just called off. The image of Krum was swept of the screen, receiving unpleasant boo's from Ron, and was replaced with a live feed of Lynch, a 360° shot of him, and his stats. He too was tall, had a square face and jaw, and short dirty blonde hair.
"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" A small and skinny wizard completely bald with a wild mustache strode onto the field. He wore pure gold robes to match the stadium, a silver whistle hanging in his mouth. He jumped onto his broom and kicked open the crate next to him, releasing the Snitch, two Bludgers, and the Quaffle. He rose into the air, blowing harshly on his whistle.
"Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey're OFF!" Fudge roared. I leaned on the railing, laying my head on Harry's shoulder. The rest of the game was a blur. Not because they players were flying so incredibly fast. I'm not really one for sports. I just kinda stood there, leaning on Harry and watching the game go on in a blur. But hey, if you decide to sit me in front of a few marching bands, I'm there.
"Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled suddenly. I sat up suddenly, becoming more aware of my surroundings and what was going on. I looked across the field to where Harry was pointing frantically and saw the Irish seeker in a nose dive. "He's seen the Snitch! He's seen it! Look at him go!"
Half the crowd realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in a great wave of green, screaming their bloody heads off for their seeker. Krum, despite how intellectually deprived he seemed to me, realized what Lynch had seen and began diving, trying to catch up.
"They're going to crash!" I yelled instinctively, seeing how close the seekers were coming to the ground.
"No they're not!" Ron roared.
"Lynch is!" Harry yelled. Sadly…he was right. Not saying that Harry being right is a bad thing, but incase of it endangering the seeker of the team I wanted to win, then yes, it was a bad thing. Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately trampled by a horde of angry veela.
"But…where's the Snitch? OÙ EST LA SNITCH!" Sage shouted. Ya…bet you didn't know she knew French. Well, she does. Cause I said so J.
"He's got it…Krum! He got it, it's all over!" Harry shouted excitedly. See…he had been the dumb one, out of the two of us, who chosen Bulgaria. I think Ron said something about disowning Harry as his friend if he didn't support Bulgaria as well.
Krum, his red robes shinning with blood from his nose…I had no idea when he'd been beaten down and started bleeding. Like I said, I hadn't paid much attention until a few seconds ago. But anyways, Krum was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, the Snitch in his hand.
The scoreboard was flashing the results across the crowd wildly. Bulgaria: 160 Ireland: 170. Whoa whoa whoa, hold up! Was I reading that correctly? The rest of the arena seemed to realize the same thing I had, practically at the same time. The shouts from the Bulgarian supporters quieted, quickly being replaced by Ireland supporters.
"IRELAND WINS!" Fudge roared still taken aback from the sudden change. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH, BUT IRELAND WINS! Good Lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" The Irish took a victory lap around the field and headed up to top box to collect their trophy. Fudge handed their team captain ginormous golden cup, the Irish shouting and jumping frantically. The arena began to empty slowly, people still talking frantically about the game.
We settled into our tent still talking about the match. I flopped down on the couch next to Harry who wrapped his arm around my waist. Jennifer smiled at me, mouthing 'lover boy' as she sat next to me. It seemed like our tent was in the middle of crazy Irish fans. They were up forever partying. Mr. Weasley agreed to let us stay up for a little longer until the loudmouths quieted down. Ya, at that rate I'm sure we'd be up for an eternity. We were soon arguing over certain aspects of the game. It was Bulgarian supporter against Ireland, all over again. I actually partook in some of the conversation, but soon was way too tired to continue. I leaned my head on Harry's shoulder and was soon asleep.
"Stephanie, come on wake up," Harry said, shaking me slightly. I opened my eyes wearily looking around. "Mr. Weasley says its time for bed. Ginny fell asleep in her hot coco," Harry added with a laugh, pointing over his shoulder.
"There was hot chocolate?" I asked sleepily. Harry laughed and helped me to stand up on my feet. We kissed goodnight and went to our respective sides of the tent. I changed into my pjs and crawled into bed, quickly falling back asleep.
"Guys, come on, get up! I'm not playing with you! Stephanie, Susanne, Sage, come on!" I faintly heard someone shouting at me, but I couldn't really tell who. I opened my eyes while sitting up slowly. I faintly saw Hermione and Alexa trying to wake us up.
"Stephanie!" Hermione said, dragging me out of bed.
"What…what's going on?" I yawned, squinting my eyes.
"I'm not sure. Mr. Weasley just ran in here trying to wake us up frantically. He says we have to leave. Now. Get on a jacket and go outside. Quickly!" I jumped back slightly, pulling on a jacket and some shoes. I walked into the living room of the tent, finally realizing that something was wrong. When I had gone to sleep, both times, people were singing and laughing joyfully. But now, people were screaming and running about, scared. I looked across the field and saw tents on fire everywhere. People were running everywhere frantically; no one was running in an exact direction. There were, however, a group of wizards in black robes with creepy masks on marching in a group together. They were flinging people in the air and setting tents on fire, all while chanting some creepy chant. I soon realized that all of our group, or at least most of us, were now standing outside the tent near me.
"Get into the woods!" I heard Mr. Weasley shout at us from the tent. "Get back to the portkey everyone, and stay together! Fred, George! Ginny is your responsibility. Bill, Charlie, Percy, come with me!" The four of them took off in the opposite direction, leaving all of us underage kids alone. In an instant, I found Harry standing next to me gripping my hand.
"What's going on?" he asked wide-eyed.
"I-I don't know," I answered, hearing someone shriek in the distance.
"Guys come on!" Alexa said, grabbing my other hand and pulling us to catch up with the rest of our group. We quickly rejoined them, linking arms to keep us from getting separated. Just when we thought everyone was there and we were about to start moving to the woods, a stream of people came running by between Harry and I. I tried to cling on to him for my life and pull him closer to me, but was suddenly pulled in the opposite direction by our group. I felt his hand slip from mine and lost him in the crowd.
"Harry? HARRY!" I shouted, stretching my arm out more as if to find his hand again.
"Stephanie!" I heard Harry yell just beyond the wall of people. I watched him disappear in the sea of people as I continued to be pulled in the opposite direction, his desperate shouts soon becoming lost in the commotion.
"Alexa! Alexa, we have to go back! We lost Harry!" I tried to shout, instead finding nothing coming out. My heart continued beating faster and faster as we ran away. I couldn't help imagining seeing those masked men flinging Harry in the air. Or possibly, seeing him lying on the ground unconscious or…or… I couldn't even go as far to even think that. My head began swirling and my breathing became more shallow until I blacked out fully.
The next thing I remember was us walking slowly back through the woods. It was darker now than it had been, the fires having all been extinguished. I had told Ron and Hermione about losing Harry, seeing their immediate reactions of fear. We told the others we'd meet them at home and turned around to search for Harry on our own. My boyfriend and I had been separated for I don't know how bloody long and I had no idea what happened to him. Or if he was even alright. We continued to walk around, searing through the debris and demolished tents. No dead bodies, thankfully.
I stopped suddenly when a jet of green light shot into the air suddenly. I looked at in, confused, wondering if it could possibly be Harry signaling for help. The jet suddenly started shifting, taking the form of a skull with a snake through its mouth. I heard the others gasp behind me, causing me to look at them.
"Stephanie!" Hermione said suddenly, running up and grabbing my arm. "Do you realize what that is?" I looked into her scared eyes, obviously missing something.
"It's the Dark Mark," Ron clarified a bit shaky. Oh, okay. Cause that makes much more sense! I wasn't raised by wizards and I'm not incredibly smart, so I don't know the 'norm' for adolescent wizards these days.
"It's his mark!" Hermione added. Oh…that made much more sense. Voldemort. But…he wasn't back. He couldn't come back, could he? But what was some yahoo doing sending Voldemort's symbol into the air?
"Come on, we have to find Harry." We turned our attention back to finding Harry and continued on, calling his name.
"Harry? Harry, where are you?" I shouted, looking all around as I walked. I spotted a figure standing up not too far away from me. I squinted, trying to see if I knew them. Sure enough, I could see round glasses and some black messy hair.
"Hey guys. Guys! I think I found Harry! Harry!" I shouted, running toward them. They turned around, clearly recognizing their name, and noticed who was calling them. I ran up to him and flung my arms around him, feeling my body relax. I heard Hermione and Ron come up behind me, voicing their own happiness in recovering our friend.
Harry suddenly shot his hand to his scar, grunting in discomfort. I didn't have to ask him what was wrong, when a bunch of loud snaps erupted around us.
"STUPEFY!" A dozen or so of loud voices shouted. Hermione and I squealed in fear, dropping down onto the ground as Harry and Ron pulled us with them. I clutched onto Harry's side as the people around us fired spells at us.
"Stop, stop, STOP!" Mr. Weasley broke in, stopping the wizards in their tracks. "That's my son! Harry, Ron, Hermione, Stephanie! Are you alright?"
"We came back for Harry," Ron stated.
"Which of you conjured it?" A man asked wildly, pointing his wand at us as we stood up.
"Crouch, you can't possibly-" Mr. Weasley started.
"Do not lie! You've been spotted at the scene of the crime!" Mr. Crouch said, pointing his wand at each of us.
"What crime?" Harry asked confused."It's the Dark Mark, Harry," I said like I'd known all along. "It's…Voldemort's…mark." I'd turned my head and whispered his name in Harry's ear, knowing everyone else would freak out at hearing his name.
"Voldemort?" Harry repeated. He obviously didn't care if people heard him saying his name. They just had to get over it, I guess. "Those wizards tonight, in the masks. They're his too, aren't they? His followers?"
"Death Eaters," Mr. Weasley replied swallowing. Mr. Crouch motioned to the other wizards, I guess figuring that we hadn't done it.
"Wait!" Harry said, stepping forward. "There was a man. There!" The wizards looked in the direction he pointed and ran off.
"A man, Harry. Who?" Mr. Weasley asked bewildered.
"I dunno. I…I didn't see his face."