"Alright, here are the tickets," Ginny said the following day as she held out what looked like a book of tickets for the entire group of them. "There's one for everyone, so don't rush."

"They're so beautiful," Dominique said rather breathlessly, taking hers and promptly kissing it. Victoire watched her with a furrowed brow, but thought it was better to just let her have her moment. As weird as it was.

"So anyone shorter than this—" Ron walked over to James and put his hand just above his head, "make sure you keep up and stay with the group as we walk up there. The rest of you I assume I can trust to mind yourselves?"

James pulled a face at his uncle, just as Hermione stepped up next to Ron and clapped her hands to address the younger kids. "No running off and no horseplay. None of that. There are far too many people here and I don't want to lose anyone."

"She's right," Ginny said as everyone finished getting ready and grabbed everything they needed to take to the arena. George and Charlie had spent the morning painting their—and anyone who was interested—faces and the kids had all acquired a variety of souvenirs that they were now proudly showing off.

There were chanting hats that "Cheer your team's name so that you don't have to!" and they seemed to be the most popular choice among the group. Albus' hat was involved in a loud shouting match with Freddie's.

"I bet money on the match!" Louis said as he ran up to Victoire, his face streaked in the blue and white colors of Argentina.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Who exactly did you—?" she began to say before his hat suddenly screamed "Argentina!" in her face. She motioned to cover her ears. "Can you control the volume on that thing?"

"I don't think so." He pulled it off of his head and started to examine it, watching as it screamed "Argentina!" over and over again in his face. At the same moment, Jack appeared with his own red and green face paint and an equally obnoxious hat that was screaming, "Italy!"

"If only Whit could see you," Victoire said, looking him up and down and trying not to laugh.

"Vic, you could have dressed up a bit more," Louis said, throwing her a quick glance. Even she had to admit, in comparison to everyone else, she looked quite dull. She had only chosen a simple green and red rosette that was now pinned to her lapel.

"Maybe if it was England or France in the match," she said as they followed the large crowd that was snaking its way towards the arena, "but I really don't care either way."

"You've just got to get into the spirit!" he shouted, clearly having bought into the mania of it all. Jack seemed to have fallen into it all as well, seeing as he was nodding rather excitedly beside him.

"Just because everyone else has gone mental, doesn't mean I have to," she said.

"We're not mental," Jack said as he took his finger and rubbed some green paint off of his face onto Victoire's cheek.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks, shocked that he had just done that. Louis howled with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Dominique asked once she joined them and caught a glimpse of her sister's now green stained cheek. She tried to hide her laughter, but cracked quickly. "Nice look."

"You're all prats," Victoire mumbled as she dabbed her face with her hand to see how much paint was there.

"Here I'll fix it," Dominique said as she subtly grabbed at Jack and pulled him over. When Victoire turned to face her, Dominique had taken the opportunity to steal more paint from his face and rub the red on Victoire's other cheek.

"There! All better!"

"I'm going to hex each of you!" Victoire yelled, even though she also was laughing a little. "You just wait!"

They all continued to have a laugh about it as they neared the arena, only stopping once they were faced with the outside of the massive stadium. Victoire couldn't even tell how many stories tall it was as she craned her neck up the length of the huge structure. All she knew was that it was at least five times larger than the stadium she was used to seeing at Hogwarts. Perhaps ten times.

"We're all the way up top," Ginny yelled over the noise once they finally managed to get inside. "I've got to go and talk to some people, so I'll be up there shortly. Just settle in."

"Come on, come on," Angelina called out as she started corralling the kids toward the stairs. James, Rosie, and Albus rushed ahead of the others and began taking the stairs two at a time; much to the dismay of their parents.

"How many stairs are there?" Victoire asked several minutes later as they reached the halfway point where she stopped to catch her breath.

"We're in a top box," Dominique said, checking her ticket, "so, loads."

"You girls doing alright?" Harry asked, having come up the rear of the group.

"Fine. We'll catch up," Victoire stammered as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"She's out of shape," Dominique said.

"All right, well, see you upstairs, then," he said as he continued to follow the rest of the group up the stairs. Someone within ear shot yelled, "Oh, look, Harry Potter!" and several heads turned in their direction while camera flashes started going off.

"Show's over, folks," Dominique yelled once Harry had disappeared, though people were still craning their necks to catch a glimpse. "Ugg, Vic, can you imagine getting that all the time?"

"I can't, but I'm sure he's used to it," she said as she stood up straight and leaned against a nearby wall to get out of people's way. Crowds and crowds of people were passing by and trying to maneuver towards their seats; others were flooding the corridors in an attempt to buy food and souvenirs. It was a complete madhouse and Victoire suddenly realized how easily things could turn very ugly if they wanted to. She finally understood why the last Quidditch World Cup held in England had ended in such chaos once the Death Eaters had decided to start terrorizing. This many people running in a fear filled stupor could not have been more frightening.

"Oi! Is Harry Potter over here?" asked a man. "I 'eard he was."

"You 'eard wrong," Dominique mocked.

The man gave her a dirty look, which she returned with a patronizing smile. He was fairly large and smelled like he'd been drinking; he certainly looked like the wrong type of person to be mocking, but leave it to Dominique to seek out trouble.

Victoire averted her eyes away from him and quickly caught a glimpse of what she thought was Simon Reed walking through the crowd. She craned her neck, stood on her tiptoes, and started jumping to get a better look.

"What are you doing?" her sister asked once the man had left. "Do you have a cramp or something?"

"I thought I saw Simon, but I can't tell if it was him or not."

"Where?"

"Somewhere over there." She pointed. "By the bloke selling the—"

She immediately stopped speaking. It was Simon she had seen—she saw that clearly now. But what had caught her off guard was that he was accompanied by a small group of people...one of whom being Ted.

"Selling what? I don't see," Dominique said as she turned to look at where Victoire would have been standing had she not started slowly sliding down the length of the wall in an attempt to hide.

"What are you doing?" Dominique asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"The omnioculars," she mumbled, trying her best to stay behind the crowd.

"What about them?"

"Look at them!"

"But we've already got a pair…"

"It's Ted, you dolt. Ted is standing there!"

As she said it, Dominique's head whirled around to see for herself. Victoire sank a little lower.

"Oh yeah…" she said softly. "With the blue hair. Simon's there, too. You were right."

"I can see that," she hissed.

"We should go and say hi."

Victoire stared at her as if she'd just suggested they blow up the arena. "Are you mad?!"

She turned and eyed her as if she was starting to find this all a little pathetic. Probably because it was…

"Are you just going to avoid him forever?"

"No, but I don't want to see him now." She ran a nervous hand through her hair. It felt as if people were suddenly sitting on her chest and taking turns jumping up and down.

"You need to talk to him."

"I'm not going to right now!"

"I think you're overreacting," she said. "Let's just go over and say hi, that way you can at least see how you get on. I'm not putting up with you like this any more than I have to."

"No," Victoire said. "No, no, no. Look at me, I've got random blobs of paint all over my face and I have no idea what I want to say. Plus, he's got Simon there." She stood up a little straighter to chanced a look. They were both there still, along with Simon's girlfriend, Susan, and two other people she didn't know.

"Well, I'm going over there. It's rude not to say hello."

"Dominique Renée Weasley!" Victoire spat in frustrated whisper before she started sliding down the wall again. "I will never, ever, speak to you again if you so much as—!"

"Ted! Simon!" she yelled, just as Victoire slipped off the wall and fell onto her rear into a sitting position. A passing man reached out a hand to help her up, which she took before nervously watching her sister disappear through the crowd toward Simon and Ted. She was afraid to look; her heartbeat was beginning to race. Whether it was out of anger or apprehension, she wasn't sure.

Dominique had just reached them by the time Victoire's curiosity got the better of her and she looked again. It almost seemed as if they didn't recognize her at first with her painted face and short hair, but once they did they seemed excited to see her. She watched as Ted started ruffling her hair playfully and laughed about something she said. He looked as if he was in a good mood. Then again, why wouldn't he be? He wasn't the one awkwardly standing here hoping to melt into the ground.

The crowd was starting to thin itself out now that it was getting closer to match time. It was becoming a lot more difficult to hide, particularly once Dominique chanced a glance over her shoulder towards her. It was then, as Simon followed her gaze, that he noticed her standing there.

"Hey, Vicki!" he yelled.

Fuck. Victoire was sure her heart was about to explode out of her chest. She couldn't even pretend not to look at Ted, no matter how much she was telling herself to look at someone else—at anyone else! At Dominique, at Simon, at Susan, at the man selling the omnioculars, just look somewhere else!

But she couldn't. Instead, she stared straight at him. Her face blank, her palms sweaty, and her heart thumping in her ears.

But...he smiled at her. It was a small and awkward smile and he certainly looked surprised to see her, but if he was feeling anything like she was, he was hiding it far better than her.

"How are you?" Susan asked her as she approached the group. "You look great! I wish I could go out and get some sun."

Victoire smiled a little. "Thanks."

"Your sister here says you all had a blast in France," Simon said as he playfully put his arm around Victoire. "Next time I think you should take me. I don't take up much room and I don't eat much."

"Bullshit," said the guy who was standing next to Ted.

"Piss off!" Simon laughed.

"Maybe next time," Victoire said, mustering up a small smile for Simon's benefit. She decided then to channel all the bravery that a Gryffindor was supposed to exude and chanced another look at Ted. He was staring just off to the side and looked as if he was deep in thought, until he noticed her eyes on him. He smiled a bit the second their eyes met, but it felt forced to her.

"Oh, hey," Simon said as he pointed to the guy who had spoken before. "This charming git is Phil. We work together. And this—" Simon gestured to a pretty girl with dark hair, "is Rachael. She's Susan's best friend from school over in the states." He turned towards Rachael. "This is Victoire. She's Dominique's sister and she and Ted have been friends since they were in nappies."

Victoire smiled awkwardly at the introduction, but Rachael laughed. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," she said as she began to feel hot. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm just going to go and use the loo quickly."

"Oh, I'll come!" Susan said.

"Then can we go and sit?" Simon asked as he checked his watch. "The match starts in eight minutes."

"I'll be quick," Susan said, though Victoire had already begun making her way toward the toilets.

She pushed open the door and went straight for the sink, where she finally caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Fantastic. It looked as if a child had a finger painted all over her face. And not a particularly talented child either.

She groaned a little as she reached down and turned on the faucet to begin splashing water on it. She watched the water in the sink basin began to turn into a muddy brownish color as the paint ran down the drain. She looked up into the mirror once again as drops of water began falling one by one off of her nose and chin.

Ted hadn't said a word to her. Then again, she hadn't said a word to him, either…

"I was wondering if we were going to run into you," Susan said as she came over to wash her hands. "We'd asked Ted, but he said he wasn't sure. I'm glad that we did. You're camping with Harry and your family, aren't you?"

She nodded as she started drying her face.

"We're camping not too far from there," Susan said. "You should come by later. It's site…I think 498? Something close to that number. We've decided that no matter who wins we're celebrating. We've got a huge group of Italians on the left of us and a group of Argentines camping on the right, so we're going to join in with whomever pulls it out."

She smiled. "Maybe."

"It'll be fun," she continued. "So, definitely think about it. The more the merrier."

"I'm sure," Victoire said as she threw a handful of paper towels into the bin.

"Plus, you can help. You know Ted so well I'm sure he'll actually listen to you."

She looked at her curiously. "Help with what?"

"Simon thinks—" she hesitated, "well, we both think that Ted…You know my friend Rachael that you just met?"

She nodded.

"She's here for a few weeks. She's been here for a week already and she and Ted seem to get on. They have similar personalities—"

Victoire's face slowly began to fall.

"Anyway, Simon's the one really driving this because he thinks they'd be really good together and that Ted needs a bit of fun. Lately, he's just been so work obsessed that we really think he just needs a break, you know? So we're trying to see what we can do to help."

"I…" Victoire mumbled. "Have you told Ted about this?"

"Simon's suggested it to him a few times, but he says he's too busy at work to date anyone."

Victoire felt her stomach lurch as she looked down at the floor. "Do you think he might be interested?"

"He doesn't say much. I don't know. Perhaps you can talk some sense into him and tell him that he's going to work himself to death. Tell him he needs to remember to live his life a little bit."

Victoire looked away and nodded absently. The thought of Ted with someone else made her feel wretched and anxious. As if this hadn't been hard enough, now there were other girls? She's just spent the last six months trying to win a boy over another girl—and she'd lost. That wasn't exactly the reassurance she'd needed.

She had barely digested what she had just heard when Susan motioned toward the door and held it open for her to pass. Victoire slowly walked back to where the group was standing and looking ready to go. Her gaze immediately shot toward Rachael, who was laughing at something Ted had just said. Her chest clenched.

"There you are," Dominique said impatiently. "Come on, we still have to go all the way up. We're going to miss the Quaffle release." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "You said your drama wouldn't interfere with the match. We had a deal."

She'd wanted to remind her that there wouldn't be any current drama if Dominique had just ignored them all like Victoire had wanted to do, but she didn't say that. She instead muttered, "Sorry."

Dominique stared at her and made another impatient head gesture towards Ted, as if she was silently asking whether or not she was going to say something to him before they left. Victoire shook her head.

"Fine," she said, her tone aggravated. "We're officially running behind then, so let's go!" She turned to everyone else. "We'll see you all later."

"Enjoy the match!" Simon said as he started walking off in the opposite direction with Phil. Susan and Rachael stood behind talking to each other while Ted just dawdled.

"Think about coming by," Susan said to Victoire as she and Rachael turned to leave. "I mean it!"

"Coming by where?" Dominique asked as she grew more and more antsy by the second.

"Their tent after the match," Victoire said as she realized that it would soon only be her, her sister, and Ted standing there in a moment. If Dominique picked up on that fact fast enough, she would make an excuse to leave them alone together; Victoire really didn't want to confront this right now. She didn't have the courage after what Susan had just said.

"Can we actually see the match first?" Dominique asked, now tugging on Victoire's sleeve. "Let's gooooo."

"Yeah, we should go," she said hastily as she glanced at Ted and spoke to him for the first time. "See you."

"You should come by later," he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Really."

She racked her brain for something to respond with. There were so many things she wanted to blurt out, but so many things she was equally terrified to say. She opened her mouth to speak, but was suddenly pulled even harder on the sleeve by her sister. Enough that she bobbled a bit on her feet.

"Let's hurry this up!" Dominique said, pulling Victoire along toward the stairs as she shouted over her shoulder. "We'll come. Even if I have to Imperius her to make her go!"