Chapter 11

Oh Mah Gir! I haven't updated in a couple weeks, and I'm soooo sorry! I had a hard time getting this chappie started, and then with the craziness of end of semester tests, I was distracted. Mom says schoolwork needs to be my No. 1 priority, and she's right. But (!), with the help of my new Beta Reader, the awesomely awesome corianderspice, I have this chapter out! Yay! And, since it's almost Xmas, I owe y'all a long chapter, so here it is! Also, I definitely thinking of doing a one shot Draco Malfoy version of A Christmas Carol. That should be up in a couple days.

Also, thanks to:

Satupilvi

mysterious-writer.x.x.
silenaandbeckendorf4ever

Equify

Kuku-oni
narniagirl18
darkninjakitty10

iEmbarrass-DerbyHarrington

Kuroi Hihane

Autobot Greywind

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for reviewing and/or adding my story to your story alert or faves list. Only a few of you reviewed, though. Please please please review!

Also, one of you told me I spelled Sirius' name wrong, and I want to thank you. I'll get that fixed as soon as I have time.

Anywho, Enjoy!

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful

Sixx: AM

I felt similar to dirt. No, less than dirt as Draco's parents looked me up and down with disdain.

I had only just been introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, and I already wanted to leave and never come back.

"Draco," his father hissed, "come here for a moment."

They walked off, leaving me with Mrs. Malfoy who sniffed and turned her face from me, nose in the air. I didn't bother making conversation. Draco's parents obviously thought their son too good to be friends with me, an orphan witch with almost no money and unknown parentage.

I tried not to feel too hurt; Draco warned me his parents were very judgmental. I snorted inwardly. Like I couldn't have figured that out by the way Draco behaved.

"You said I could take a friend, and I chose her!" he argued with his father, his voice louder than just a second ago.

Mr. Malfoy scowled at his son, but relented. I bet his parents were starting to regret spoiling their son his entire life.

I left the Malfoy Manor in high spirits that day. I was going with Draco and his parents to the Quidditch World Cup! I was so excited.

My enthusiasm lasted throughout the summer. I hummed and sang happily during chores, cooked elaborate meals every night (to Burke's delight), and even my strange dreams and Borgin's creepy stares didn't get me down.

"I wonder what I should pack..." I mused aloud to Draco two days before the world cup. I had already packed all my school things because I was going to spend the rest of the summer with Draco at his house.

"Well, clothes would be nice," he teased. I rolled my eyes and ignored him. I had already packed robes and muggle clothes.

Draco was hanging upside down from my bed reading the Daily Prophet. "I know! You could pack me!" he joked unhelpfully.

"Draco, I don't think you could fit in my trunk."

"Good point," he replied.

I ended up packing nearly everything I owned because I didn't want to have to send for things I may have forgotten. I was slightly paranoid...

Finally, the day arrived. I had stayed the night at the manor in one of the many guestrooms. We didn't need to get up very early because we were using side-along apparation, but after eight I was awake, unable to sleep.

So I got up, took a bath and got dressed in a new pair of jeans and a T-shirt with a light yellow hoodie. Mrs. Malfoy had bought them for me when we went shopping for muggle clothes earlier that week. She wasn't sure where or how muggles shopped, so she needed my assistance. We bonded a little while we shopped and she had taken a liking to me.

I knock came from the doorway. I turned to see Draco leaning against the wall with a smirk on his lips.

"You're up early," he said.

"Good morning to you, too," I replied sarcastically. I pulled my long hair into a ponytail so it was out of my face.

Draco was wearing expensive darkwash jeans, green sneakers, and a dark green hoodie that complimented his eyes. I liked the colour green on him...

"Excited?" Draco asked, bringing me from my thoughts.

"Of course!" I exclaimed, jumping from the bed and walking over to him. Draco chuckled.

"Let's go get breakfast," he offered.

I nodded enthusiastically, suddenly aware of how hungry I was.

An hour and a half later, we were finally ready to go. Mr. Malfoy was taking Draco, and Sissy, as she told me to call her, was taking me.

With a shaky hand, I grasped onto Sissy's arm as we apparated. It wasn't very comfortable, and I instantly regretted my breakfast. Fortunately, the feeling lasted but a moment, and with a loud crack, we landed in the middle of a clearing. Sissy quickly ushered me away, and Draco and Mr. Malfoy apparated with another crack.

"Ah, Lucius," a ministry wizard with graying hair greeted us. "Right on time, I see." He checked something on his clipboard. "Now you just need to pay the Muggle that runs the campsite, and you're good to go. Enjoy the match!"

The ministry wizard left us and greeted some new arrivals. Mr. Malfoy looked at me sharply and beckoned me over. Surprised, I complied. I looked back at Draco, but he just shrugged.

"You, girl," he addressed me. he held out a fistful of paper Muggle money and shoved it into my hands. "You know how to use this, right?"

I nodded.

"Then go pay the Muggle," he ordered.

The Muggle's name was Mr. Roberts, and he was slightly disoriented as if he was confounded (Which he probably was, actually). I paid him and returned to the Malfoys with $50 left over and a map of the campsite.

"Here's the rest," I said holding out the money.

"Oh, just keep it," Sissy said nonchalantly. "We wouldn't know what to do with it anyway."

Delighted to be $50 richer, I followed them to our campsite in high spirits. Along the way, we saw students and their families, foreign witches and wizards wearing strange clothing, and many tents blatantly supported Ireland with shamrocks all over them.

Our tent was the largest I could see. It was huge and white with "Property of the Malfoys" etched in gold thread above the tent flap.

"Well, here's our home away from home," Sissy said brightly.

The inside was even bigger than the outside suggested (obviously enchanted). It had three separate bedrooms with king sized beds, a kitchen, dining room, living room complete with a fireplace, and pristine shag carpet.

"This one's only our second largest," Draco remarked at my stunned expression.

"Wow," I managed in a strangled voice. Draco looked quite pleased with himself, reminding me of how much he likes to show off.

"You'll be sleeping here," he said, dragging me over to a part of the tent that sectioned off with soft yellow hangings. It was twice as large as my room at Borgin and Burkes.

The comforter on the bed was Hufflepuff yellow and the fabric on the chair and the soft rug was a pale yellow. It was like staying in a luxury hotel.

Draco's room was the same, although a little larger and in Slytherin green.

After the tour, Draco proclaimed loudly that he was bored.

"Well," I replied, "we have an hour before the match. What do you want to do?"

"Let's go see what the vendors are selling," he offered. Having no better idea, I agreed.

I had brought all my earnings with me, but could only spend a fraction of it or I would not be able to afford school supplies.

The vendors had all kinds of things: miniature quidditch players that moved about, tiny flying brooms, flags that sang the anthem of the playing teams, magical hats, Omnioculars, and many, many other things.

"How much?" I asked for a pretty sash that had shamrocks all over it that changed colour and tallied the score of the match at the hem. Right now it said: Ireland: 0, Bulgaria: 0 in gold thread.

"Two galleons," the saleswizard answered.

It was a little above my budget, so I had to leave it there.

I was a little put out, but told myself that I didn't need it anyway. Draco, however, bought almost one of everything they were selling. He was giddy as a little kid at Christmas.

We got back to the campsite with fifteen minutes to spare.

"Here," Draco said suddenly and pushed the sash I had wanted into my hands.

"Draco, you didn't have to," I gasped.

He shrugged. "I know. Just think of it as an early birthday present."

"Thank you!" I said and tied it around my waist.

Just then, Mr. Malfoy and a shifty looking wizard emerged from the tent. They were speaking in hushed whispers and stopped when they saw us. The unknown wizard looked at me warily, muttered something into Mr. Malfoy's ear, who nodded, and the wizard apparated away.

"The match is about to start. Let's go," he said in a neutral, unexcited tone. I wondered if he only had three emotions: Disapproval, neutral, and anger. I definitely hadn't seen him any other way.

Sissy emerged from the tent, and we set off for the stadium. Our seats were in the top box. The Malfoys contributed a large amount of money to St. Mungos, the wizarding hospital, so we were there as the minister's guests.

We were almost to to top when a large man pushed his way pas us, causing me to lose my balance and fall down several steps to the landing. I landed on my ankle wrong, and instantly pain stemmed from it.

"Willow!" Draco shouted with concern. "Are you all right?"

Clenching my jaw and refusing to cry, I attempted to stand. Draco helped me to my feet. My ankle was beginning to swell and I couldn't put any weight on it.

"It's not too bad," I said, wincing as I moved my ankle gingerly. "It's just a sprain."

"Hey! What's the hold up!?" A wizard shouted from a landing below. I had forgotten about the people behind us. We were blocking the way.

"Shut your mouth!" A nearby wizard shouted to the other. "Someone's hurt."

Just then, a short witch pushed her way through the crowd with a white med kit in hand.

"What happened?" she demanded, all business.

"Some bloke was in such a damned hurry and pushed her down the stairs," Draco answered angrily.

The witch clicked her tongue against her teeth in irritation and conjured a floating stretcher for me to get into.

"You go and watch the match," I told the Malfoys. "I'll find you later."

Draco nodded reluctantly and left with his parents. Sissy's face contorted into a sneer when she saw the wizard who pushed me sitting in his seat.

The witch treated me when we were on solid ground by feeding me a strange potion that tasted like paper while she rambled on about how careless people were. Apparently, I wasn't the first person to get hurt by over-excited viewers.

By the time my ankle was healed and I got back to the match, Ireland was up 30 to 0.
I noticed the Weasleys, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger down a ways and two rows up, but they were too focused on the match to notice me.

I sat between Draco and Sissy and he filled me in on the match, shouting loudly over the cheering crowd.

As time went on, the players were getting more and more violent, but I could hardly steer my eyes away from the zooming figures on the field. I was just as excited as everyone else. Then, the Bulgaria seeker tricked Ireland's seeker, sending him crashing into the ground, resulting in a hushed din of anxiety that settled over the crowd as the seeker was attended to.

That's when a pair of dark blue eyes caught my attention. I turned sharply to see George Weasley staring at me with confusion written on his face. His eyes caught mine and he grinned and winked at me when my face turned scarlet. Frowning, I turned back around with a swish of my ponytail.

The Irish seeker finally got to his feet, and the crowd cheered with new enthusiasm. Draco looked at me strangely.

"Why are you blushing?" he asked in my ear.

I avoided his gaze. "I'm not blushing, I'm hot," I lied.

He looked like he didn't quite believe me, but Ireland scored again and his attention was turned back to the match. Then Ireland was awarded a penalty and the leprechauns darted together to form the words "HA, HA, HA!" Soon, the veela on the other side of the field started to dance. Draco stuck his fingers in his ears, but watched with avid attention. Then, the referee fell under their spell, so someone went out and kicked him, snapping him out of it. He then ordered the veela off the field. The veela and the Bulgarian chasers were upset (as well as some of the crowd) and started arguing with the referee.

Eventually, after awarding a penalty to the Irish, the Bulgarian players got back into the game. The leprechauns darted together to form a rude signal (i.e. the finger) at the veela, who then started throwing what look like fire balls and started fighting with the leprechauns. The veela now looked anything but beautiful as their faces contorted to resemble birds.

Above, the match continued on despite the distraction.

I glanced up just in time to see the Bulgarian seeker, Vicktor Krum, finally catch the snitch and ending the game. There was a moment's pause before the crowd realized exactly what happened before exploding into cheers. The final score was Ireland: 170, Bulgaria: 160.

It was hard to get to sleep that night. Everyone was celebrating loudly with fireworks, alcohol, and loud music. Even Mr. Malfoy celebrated a little, sharing wine with his wife and a couple friends.

Eventually, the celebrations ceased, allowing me to fall asleep.