Chapter 5

Leila followed after Mr. Weasley tightly clutching her Omniocular down a trail into the woods that was lined with lanterns for light. There were thousands of people headed the same direction they were: straight for the stadium. Leila couldn't help but grin as the excitement of the atmosphere consumed her: the sounds of crackling twigs, the shouts and laughter by those attending, not to mention the singing which Leila was somewhat convinced was caused by something a little stronger than Butterbeer. She turned to her right and noticed Ron grinning at her before he quickly looked away which didn't go unnoticed by Fred and George who began to mercilessly tease poor Ron; but the reason for the teasing went completely unnoticed by Leila who simply shrugged.

"So who are you sitting by, Leila?" Fred chuckled.

"Why does it matter to you?" Leila questioned back.

"It doesn't; but I think there's someone in the group who would like to know?" George responded.

"Who?" Leila retorted.

"Harry," Ron spluttered.

"What about me?" Harry asked.

"Apparently, you want to know who I'm sitting by," Leila said rolling her eyes.

"I do?" Harry questioned.

While Leila's head was turned back toward her brother, Ron was furiously nodding his head 'yes' from behind her. Harry seemed to catch on as he fumbled to find the words to say.

"Oh, yeah…I do," Harry lied.

Leila looked quizzically to her brother. Harry shrugged toward Ron, who slapped his palm against his face.

"Boys," Leila muttered.

As Leila turned back around, she finally caught a glimpse of the stadium before them. This gigantic stadium with gold walls easily put the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch to shame. The place looked like it could probably fit Hogwarts itself inside, maybe even multiple times. Leila stopped where she was walking and looked to her brother who stopped beside her. Both Potter twins stood there staring at the place awestruck. Mr. Weasley chuckled at their response.

"Now that's a Quidditch pitch," Harry grinned.

"Seats a hundred thousand," Mr. Weasley beamed proudly. "Ministry task force of over five hundred workers has been working on it all year."

"Because of the Muggles?" Leila asked.

"Exactly right, Leila! But the genius part is, if a Muggle gets too close they suddenly remember an urgent appointment and dash away…bless them," Mr. Weasley said. "All right kids, this way."

Mr. Weasley motioned for them to follow him through the swarm of people who were trying to make their way into the stadium. Leila stayed close to Mr. Weasley not wanting to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the crowd. As they approached the Ministry witch at the entrance, Mr. Weasley stood at the woman's side and handed her the tickets as each individual passed by.

"Charlie, Leila, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, George…" Mr. Weasley began calling them off.

"I'm Fred," George said.

"Sorry, Fred," Mr. Weasley said.

"But I'm Fred," Fred added.

"Fred, George, or whatever names you're going by these days; we don't have time for this," Mr. Weasley said sternly.

"It's nothing to get your wand in a knot over," Fred said.

"…clearly doesn't understand the ramifications…" Percy muttered.

"I'll show you ramifications…" Fred hissed.

"Fred, just c'mon," Charlie said.

Fred narrowed his eyes at Percy before he shook his head and followed behind George. They stood just inside the stadium, waiting for the others to get in. Besides, it's not like the line was moving very fast anyways with the thousands of people trying to find their seats in the giant stadium. Some of the people dressed very vibrantly, completely head to toe in either the emerald green or the maroon. Leila had been focused on the vast array of people until Fred started to complain.

"Who does he think he is," Fred muttered.

"Minister of Magic," George whispered.

"Remind me that if he ever makes Minister of Magic, I'm leaving the country," Fred sneered.

"I'm with you on that one," George added.

"Count me in too," Leila added.

"Give Percy a break," Charlie said. "It sounds like he's overloaded with his new job."

"So, you won't be joining us then?" Fred asked.

"I already live in another country," Charlie grinned.

"Good, we're moving in with you then," Ron said.

"I don't think so," Charlie chuckled.

"Now, I don't know about you lot; but I'd like to see the match while I'm still living," Bill quipped interrupting their conversation.

They all looked as Bill pointed forward to the increasing gap in front of them. The group closed the gap before Mr. Weasley pushed his way back to the front of the group. He instructed them all that they were in the Ministry's top box. They were to go up the stairs until they couldn't climb any farther. As they finally began to ascend the purple carpeted stairs, they began to move faster as people began to divert to the left or the right to find their seats. Leila spotted one of her Slytherin classmates, Theodore Nott, who sat with his father. He waved to her and she waved back much to Harry's dismay who tried to pull her arm down. Leila turned toward her brother and narrowed her eyes at him before she waved at Theo once more just for good measure. Harry muttered some not very nice words in her ear; but she ignored him as the group continued to climb what looked like the final section of what seemed like never-ending stairs.

Mr. Weasley led the group into the small box which was the highest point in the stadium and exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. The box itself looked somewhat ornate. There was two rows of comfortable-looking golden chairs with purple fabric. Leila stopped just at the entrance to the box to take in the view of the stadium. It was quite breath-taking. She had only watched Quidditch matches her first year; but the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch didn't even begin to compare to this place that seated a hundred thousand witches and wizards. Mr. Weasley walked past her and took the seat farthest away from the entrance. He was followed by Percy, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ginny, Hermione…and suddenly, there was only two seats left in the front row. Leila looked to Harry and Ron who were also staring down into the stadium below, not even noticing their predicament. While Leila refused to sit beside Granger, she wanted to see who else was going to be taking their seats in the box before she made her decision to sit back a row. The only seat taken in the back row was the second to last one. It was taken by a creature who was draped in a tea towel like a toga with long batlike ears looking down…a house-elf.

"Dobby?" Harry asked as he noticed what Leila was looking at.

"I seriously doubt it Harry," Leila scoffed.

But the creature seemed to take notice of the Potter twins. The house-elf looked up at them and then Harry was proved wrong. The creature wasn't Dobby; but they did share similarities. Then again, that was probably true for most house-elves. Leila felt somewhat uncomfortable as the house-elf started at them blankly for a few moments.

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the house-elf squeaked.

"Now you've done it," Leila muttered.

"Sorry," Harry apologized while giving Leila a look. "It just thought that you were someone I knew."

"But I knows Dobby, sir," the house-elf said. "I'm Winky—you must be Harry Potter, sir. Dobby talks about you all the time."

"You've talked to Dobby recently?" Harry asked. "How is he?"

"Harry, we have bigger concerns at the moment," Leila groaned.

"Shut it, Leila," Harry said. "How is Dobby enjoying his freedom?"

"I'm sure he's loving it," Leila mocked.

Leila then turned away from Harry's conversation with the house-elf and looked to Ron whom she found staring at her. She gave him an odd look which caused an intense blush to creep onto his face. He moved his shoulders awkwardly as Leila continued to look at him.

"So—erm—that's a house-elf?" Ron asked. "Weird things, aren't they?"

"Dobby was weirder," Leila responded.

"We—could—erm—sit down—if you—erm—if you'd like to," Ron fumbled to suggest.

"I—erm…" Leila began when a hand clasped her shoulder.

Leila turned around to see Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, clasping her shoulder. With a smile on his face, he removed his hand from her shoulder and extended it to her. Percy pushed his way over to them and bowed so low to the Minster that his glasses fell off his face and shattered. Leila attempted to stifle a chuckle as Percy quickly pulled his wand to repair his glasses. Without Fudge even acknowledging his presence, Percy sheepishly slunk back to his seat beside his father. Ron stood there with a smug look on his face, seeing Percy put into his place especially after how much of a pompous git he had been recently. Fudge then interrupted Harry's conversation with Winky to greet him. His greeting to Harry was far warmer and more genuine than Leila's had been; but either way, Percy still sat far enough away shooting them looks of jealousy. Fudge then gently moved Leila to the left and into Ron so that he could first introduce Harry to the Bulgarian minister. Leila rolled her eyes at the Minister's obvious favoritism toward Harry. Honestly, after living with him for the past fourteen years, she couldn't figure out what was so bloody special about him except that he was the "Boy-Who-Lived" but Leila was just as famous as he was, yet she always seemed to come in second to her brother. For once in her life, she just wanted to come out on top of Harry.