A.N.- A very big thank you to all those who have waited patiently for me, here is Chapter 19 as promised. Who said Senior Year second semester is easy, you are so wrong…four AP Classes. But enough of my rambling, here is Chapter 19. Sorry for taking this long, I have been focusing most of my energy on Unspeakable Potter, which is a considerably darker story so it took a bit of time to readapt to the more lighter atmosphere in this one.
Chapter 19: History Makers
The melody of Bach's concerto no. 5 for harpsichord and strings in f minor was playing soothingly as Harry lay his head on Fleur's lap, both of them relaxing on the cream beige color sofa while the beautiful quarter veela stroked his hair.
Since to his ascent to stardom, the press was constantly exploiting his and Fleur's personal lives and privacies. At first, Fleur was a bit uncomfortable to all the attention and the pictures on the front covers of every single celebrity, gossip magazine but being with Harry was worth all the trouble.
Fleur was even offered a high paying job as a model which she declined as she thought that she had enough attention already as Harry Potter's girlfriend in addition to the fact that she didn't want anyone save Harry to ogle at her. Her family was very supportive of her decision, her mother was proud and happy that her eldest daughter had found love despite her age; even her father approved of her relationship with Harry, which said a lot since Alain pretty much loathed any boy that came near his daughters.
Currently, she was focused on reading her newly bought Charms textbook and didn't notice Harry opening his eyes and staring at her while a small smile tugged at the edge of his lips. He felt so lucky to be able to have met someone so wonderful, kind like Fleur, the fact that she was only wearing his English Jersey and a rather short and tight pair of shorts didn't hurt either.
"Where are you going?" Fleur asked with a pout as Harry rose to a sitting position. The English Chaser smiled before sitting behind Fleur and wordlessly, began to massage and untwisting the tension from her shoulders. Harry's heart rate increased significantly as he heard Fleur moaning rather loudly and sensually.
"Oh, that feels so good! Don't stop! Mmm, right there…" He felt his spine tingling and the hair on the back of his neck straighten as he felt Fleur leaning back towards him and nibbling his earlobe. He gulped when he saw the mischievous glint in Fleur's cerulean blue eyes and before he could react, he was thrown on his back and he felt Fleur's lips moving against his. Harry's brain immediately shut off as Fleur's tongue tangoed with his, wrapping his arms tightly around her curvaceous waist and pulling her as close as he could to him.
Unknowingly, neither teen saw a rather giddy Sirius Black observing them from around a corner of a wall. Not wanting to disturb the pair, the grim animagus slowly walked away with a rather large dog like grin plastered on his face.
The cool summer night was filled with booming cheers and chants from both the English and Bulgarians as the match time drew ever closer.
In the English changing room, Harry was tightening his arm pads quietly. Roger was listening to the American rock band Linkin Park with headphones clamped over his ears, while Elan was inspecting his Firebolt. The Bale brothers were pitching a baseball back and forth at each other. Cedric and Dan were chatting idly. The two young women on their team, Nicole and Cassandra were merely sitting next to each other on the benches with their eyes closed and whispering lightly. Harry thought everything was surreal, he was actually a professional Quidditch Player who was about to perform on the biggest platform in the Quidditch World Cup Final. His thoughts were halted temporarily as Ray Andersen walked into the changing room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and focused solely on their coach.
"Ladies…and Gentlemen, can you believe it? I still can't but we're here…on the precipice of making history, I'm immensely proud of you so are the staff, and the entire nation. It is my great honor to have worked with such magnificent individuals as yourselves. I want you all to go out and enjoy this game, forget the cameras, the press. Just play one match of Quidditch and have fun. Dan, great stuff at keeping the back solid. Keep it up." The coach eyed his keeper, who nodded.
"Jeremy…" The coach started as his eyes moved towards his identical looking beaters.
"I'm Jason."
"Yeah coach, I'm Jeremy, how can you mix the two of us up after all this time?"
"My bad, Jason…"
"Got you coach, I am Jeremy." Jeremy Bale grinned widely and winking at his brother.
Ray's eyes narrowed, "That so? You can both drop down and give me four sets of a hundred after the match." The Bale brothers immediately shut up and straightened up.
"I thought so…" Ray said with a grin, as he saw the gobsmacked expressions on his two beater's faces of being joked by their normally stern coach.
"Now, before these two clowns have interrupted, where was I? Yes, Cedric, I just have one piece of advice for you…" Cedric stiffened as the coach's eyes met his.
"Viktor Krum…good seeker but he's only human. Like yourself and you have a record as good as his. I want you challenging him for that top seeker spot. Believe in yourself and give it a go, he's nothing to be afraid of." Cedric nodded seriously, Ray smiled and moved to the final four people next in line.
"Roger, Elan, Nicole….Harry, you four have continued to impress and aspire to be better every time. This is it, leave no regrets, give their keeper a busy night." Harry, Elan, Nicole and Roger nodded at this, inwardly proud of their manager's words.
With that, all the players left the locker room and walked into the tunnel from which they would eventually launch into the roaring stadium.
Harry gripped his Firebolt tightly when he heard a voice say, "Sonorus!" and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium, booming into every corner of the stands:
"Ladies and gentlemen…welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup between Bulgaria," At this, all the Bulgarian fans cheered and yelled loudly with pride.
"And our very own England!" The roars from the English superseded those from the Bulgarians from large crowds of the home fans in white. Screaming and clapping, thousands of flags waved, and the singing of national anthems, the huge blackboard in the stadium finished its last commercial (Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans – a Risk with Every Mouthful!) and now showed ENGLAND: 0, BULGARIA: 0.
More cheers, roars and applause were elicited from the spectators as the names of the two teams appeared on the black board.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce the Bulgarian Team Mascots!...Veela!" Harry, Elan and Roger shared looks, luckily their coach had warned them before hand of the mascots of their Bulgarian counterpart so they were all prepared mentally against the natural allure of the Veelas. Nicole and Cassandra had looks of disgust on their faces as loud cat calling, wolf howling and other applause came from the men in the audience.
"You're overgeneralizing, my dear." Roger said to the Captain of the Harpies, who glanced at him.
"Not all men are so weak minded." Nicole smirked at his statement. "How do you know? You haven't seen Veela yet."
"Because, I'm not into blondes, that's more of a Ickle Harrikens' thing." Roger replied cheekily, eliciting a glare from Harry and a look of amusement from Nicole.
The entire team waited patiently as music started to play. Up in the top box, Fleur was sitting with her family with a glass of cream soda in her hand. She felt whispers and stares directed at her but she took no notice because they were talking about something that made her immensely happy, she ignored the envious glares from the other women in the same box and their rather distasteful comments about her. She had heard it all from her time at Beauxbatons so she didn't really care.
"Who do you think will win?" Alain asked his daughter.
"Harry, of course!" Fleur replied, Gabrielle nodding rapidly beside her.
"You really like that boy…" Fleur blushed at her father's statement.
"Don't mind your father, he's just sad that he can no longer play the protective father role." Apolline winked at her daughter followed by a kiss on her husband's cheek. Alain merely smiled with resignation at his wife and daughter.
"Look, Mama, Papa, Fleur, Pixies!" The youngest Delacour screamed with excitement, pointing at a large flag of England, which dispatched into small mystical creatures that filled the air, they sprinkled red and white pixie dust down towards the crowd, causing many cheers and squeals from children.
Gabrielle watched with wide eyes as a pixie flew near her, sprinkled some of its magical dust into her hands and then promptly, pinched her on the cheek. Gabrielle whined cutely and huffed as the pixie flew away. Fleur watched this exchange and let out a laugh. It was widely known that pixie dust was edible and sweet like candy. After their display, the Pixies drifted down onto the pitch, on the opposite side of the Veela.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome – the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you – Dimitrov!" Ludo Bagman boomed. Fleur watched as a scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the pitch from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.
"Ivanova!" "A second scarlet-robbed player zoomed out. "Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaannnd – Krum!" The Bulgarians applauded especially louder than usual as the rest of their team and seeker flew a lap of honor before descending down towards the pitch.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our very own English National Team." Yelled Bagman.
"Presenting –Jones! Bale! Bale! Diggory! Davies! Malfoy! Aaaaaaaannnnnnd POTTER! Seven white blurs swept onto the pitch as the hosts received tumultuous rounds of applause. Fleur's heart leapt with joy and pride as she saw her boyfriend descend down towards the pitch along with his teammates. The two coaches shook hands before returning to their respective dugouts. A tear came out of Harry's eye as he sang the English national anthem with his team, it use to be a dream but now it was reality.
As both teams finished singing their respective national anthems, the two sides shook the oppositions' hands and readied themselves on their half of the pitch. The referee, Hassan Mostafa, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the pitch.
He set down a large wooden crate from under his arm. Fleur watch with anticipation as Harry and the Bulgarian Captain, Dimitrov walked towards the center of the pitch. Mostafa seemed to be telling them something and both captains nodded as the referee shook both their hands before the two captains shook each others. Mostafa mounted his broom and after checking all the players from the two teams were present and ready, kicked the crate open – four balls burst into the air.
"AAAAANNNNNNND They're off! Potter has the Quaffle, Malfoy calls and gets it at the left. He sends it in, Potter crashes in and scores! Ten zero to England!"
The English fans all applauded and yelled loudly with unhidden ecstasy as they drew first blood. The pixies flew up from their bench and formed a giant glowing flag of England as the Veela were watching them sulkily.
Fleur watched as England score twice in ten minutes, she knew her boyfriend was good but what she saw amazed her; it was as if he weren't even riding a broomstick, as if there was nothing but air surrounding him.
A thunderous tide of roars and applause from the white clad supporters was still ringing loudly in the stadium as the match started to become more faster, brutal and serious. The two Bulgarian beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov were whacking the bludgers as fiercely as possible at the English Chasers, preventing them from playing their normal, fluid style and halting some of their best moves.
Even so, Harry, Elan and Roger persevered, demonstrating their worthiness of being the next best three chasers in the world as England went up 80-0. Finally, a lapse of concentration led to Bulgaria's first goal, which was scored by Mira Ivanova.
Harry gritted his teeth as the Veela danced, receiving the Quaffle from Dan, the black haired teen sped full speed towards the Bulgarian hoops. Like a man possessed, he flew effortlessly pass Levski, Dimitrov. Mira tried her best to force Harry out wide but was fooled by her English club teammate's feint and could only watched as Harry chucked a shot through the right hoop.
Another two minutes and England was ahead by 110-10. One hundred thousand wizards and witches gasped as the two seekers, Krum and Cedric, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, as if they had jumped from airplanes without parachutes.
Harry watched with horror as Krum pulled out of a dive and spiraled off at the very last second. Cedric, was not so lucky as he forced his Firebolt up but the force swept him off his broom as he fell off his broom and rolled across the pitch.
A large wave of hateful boos could be heard from the English fans as they voiced their disapproval towards the Bulgarian seeker for using such a cheap method to knock out the opposition seeker. Harry, Elan and Roger all returned to the ground and ran towards their friend, who stood up shakily.
"Ced, you alright?" Roger asked, brown eyes filled with concern, it was a pretty violent impact.
"I'm good. Cheap tactic, that was." The normal friendly Hufflepuff growled and brusquely shoved the Medi-Wizards away.
While Cedric was telling the referee that he was fine, Harry called Bale brothers and Dan back to the ground. "We're ahead by a hundred but we'll be finished if Krum gets the snitch, so you two," Jeremy and Jason listened intently as Harry explained to them to cover Cedric instead of the three Bulgarian chasers.
"But won't that leave you open-," Jason started but shut up under Harry's glare.
"Listen, if the snitch is caught by Krum before we reach 170 points, it will all be lost so I want you to delay him as long as possible. Don't worry about us." Harry finished his new strategy as they all mounted their Firebolts and kicked off back into the air.
The hoards of English Fans clapped enthusiastically as their team were once in the air. Fleur could hear someone near her family yell, "That's my boy, you show them Ced."
Fleur was getting more nervous behind her Omnioculars as the match resumed and became even more dirtier, another fast and furious twenty minutes had passed and England had pulled another ten goals to make the score 120-10. She watched as her love passed the Quaffle to Elan who was met by Zograf and what happened was over so quickly that she didn't catch it, but screams of rage and booes from the English crowds and Mostafa's long, shrill whistle blast, told her it had been a foul.
"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing – excessive use of elbows!" Bagman informed the roaring spectators.
"And – yes, it's a penalty to England." The pixies who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Elan had been fouled, now darted together to form the words "FILTHY CHEAT." The Veela on the other side of the pitch leapt to their feet, tossed their silver blonde hair angrily and started to dance again.
Fleur smiled when Gabrielle tugged at her arm and pointed at the referee, "Look Fleur, that man is acting weird." The small quarter Veela was right. Hassan Mostafa had landed right in front off the dancing Veela, and was acting very oddly indeed. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his moustache.
"Now we can't have that!" said Ludo Bagman, though he sounded highly amused. "Somebody slap the referee."
Fleur giggled behind her hands as Harry dived down and landed on his feet next to the referee and promptly kicked him hard in the shin. With a small smile tugging at the edge of her lips, Fleur saw that once Mostafa seemed to come to himself, he looked exceptionally embarrassed and apologized to the annoyed English Chaser. Then he began to shout at the Veela, who had stopped dancing and were looking mutinous.
The pixies on the other side were now gleefully forming the words, "HEE HEE HEE". England were then awarded two additional penalties when the two Bulgarian Beaters did not heed Mostafa's warning of getting back onto their brooms. Harry watched as Elan took three penalties and scored all three with accurate precision, beyond Zograf's grasp. England was now 140 up, the scoreboard read ENGLAND: 150 BULGARIA: 10.
Play now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything the audience had yet to see. The Beaters on both sides were acting without mercy: the Bulgarians in particular did not seem to care whether their clubs made contact with bludger or human as they swung them violently through the air.
Another foul soon happened as Dimitrov skinned Roger, the hoards of English fans roaring "Foul!"
"Foul!" echoed Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Davies – deliberately flying to collide there – and it's got to be another penalty to England – yes, there's the whistle!" The Bulgarian fans were shouting their complaints to referee Mostafa that the English were play-acting.
Roger calmly took the Quaffle from Mostafa and locking eyes with Zograf, scored. Roger's penalty caused the English fans to reach a state of euphoria as they led by 150 points.
Below them, the Pixies and Veela were now engaged in a fight as the English mascots flashed a rather giant rude hand gesture to their Bulgarian counterpart. Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the Veela and Pixies, but with little success. The Veela were throwing fireballs at the Pixies who just merely dodged them with their agility and superior dexterity.
Up above, another battle was just going on with as much if not more ferocity. "Levski- Dimitrov – Davies – Malfoy – Potter- Ivanova – Potter – POTTER SCORES!" The cheers of the English supporters were barely heard over the Veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry member's wands, and the furious outcries from the Bulgarians.
Meanwhile, Cedric saw the glittering gold and sped towards it, "Harry, Elan and Roger have sacrificed their protection to make sure Krum doesn't get the snitch, I must repay them back." The English seeker thought furiously as the snitch drew close, ignoring a bludger that was a whisker away from taking his head off.
Then he saw a red blur closing in next to him and braced himself for the impact as the two seekers collided with each other. Cedric gritted as he tried to push Krum off of him, the snitch not far from their respective grasps.
"Jason, Jeremy….I need you now." Cedric thought, he wasn't going to last as Krum was a tad bit ahead of him despite him staying onto him as both of them dashed forward towards the small glittering ball.
Then out of the corner of his eye, Cedric saw both Bale Brothers closing in on him and Krum from both flanks, both had their bludger beaters ready. Cedric immediately halted his broom to a halt, and watched as two we timed and struck bludgers homed into Krum. The first hit the Bulgarian Seeker hard in the face. Before he could even react, the second slammed into his Firebolt, causing him to lose control of his broom as he plummet towards the ground.
Taking the slight advantage given to him, Cedric raced towards the glittering flying snitch and with one hand, grasped the irritating small golden ball ending the game. And with a tired smile, the English seeker held it up high towards the crowds of audience in the stadium which had suddenly gone quiet.
"HE'S GOT IT! DIGGORY HAS GOTTEN THE SNITCH!" Bagman cried, breaking the deathly silence with immense exhilaration as the scoreboard was flashing ENGLAND: 310, BULGARIA: 10.
Bit by bit, like a great jumbo jet was revving up, the rumbling from the English supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight. "ENGLAND WINS! AFTER FORTY YEARS! MY MY, WHAT A SPECTACLE THIS IS!"
Cedric barely reached the ground before all of his teammates lunged at him and they all ended up in a heap on each other, laughing and crying with joy. Ray Anderson wasn't far away, applauding with his hands as a single tear escaped his eye.
Meanwhile, up where Fleur was, Gabrielle was bouncing, jumping up and down squealing with excitement. Putting her Omnioculars to her eyes again. It was difficult to see what was happening due to the English pixies sprinkling large amounts of red and white dust on the laughing crowds who were singing the English anthem and waving their red and white flags. But she could still see the Bulgarian team sulking with their heads down at a corner, Krum still refusing to have his nose treated as he brooded moodily. The Veela were back to their usual ethereally beautiful selves, though looking forlorn and dispirited.
Fleur then cheered loudly as Harry and his teammates performed a lap of honor, she swore that Harry winked at her as he sped pass by her section of the top box.
"Thank you. Yes, he did quite well, he is my godson after all." Fleur turned around and saw Harry's agent and godfather, Sirius Black talking with her father.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell Harry to be more alert, your daughter must be having a tough time no?"
"At first, yes she did but I think she is use to all the attention now, I don't like it but Harry is a fine young man, he'll take care of her."
"So when do you plan to have the matrimony?"
"PAPA!" Both Sirius and Alain were disrupted as they saw an embarrassed and irritated Fleur glaring at them both but to her surprise they both laughed. Apolline merely rolled her eyes with amusement at the scene.
Petting Gabrielle's head she said, "Alright calm down you three…it is time for the teams to receive their medals."
True to her word, all of them saw the Bulgarians being applauded as they walked up the stairs to the main Top Box high up and after shaking hands with the Bulgarian Minister, Fudge, the English Minister and countless of other people of high importance in politics and sports. Fudge had the honor of putting the silver medals around the players' necks. Each Bulgarian player was applauded as their names were called. However they were soon forgotten as the English team rallied behind their coach in a straight line.
All eyes in the stadium were fixed on the team as they calmly walked up the stairs, Harry was still in the land of disbelief as flashes from cameras were directed at him. The fans from both sides of the stairs were blocked off from Ministry wizards, but that didn't stop them from yelling, screaming and wanting to shake the hands of the players. To show their appreciation for the fans, the entire team obliged to shake and high five whatever hand was stuck towards them. Finally they reached the path towards the box, Harry could distinctively hear Bagman say something and louder cheers could be heard from their supporters as he saw his coach starting to walk. He followed as he heard his name, the faces he saw were a blur as Harry shook the hands of people he didn't know.
"Good job, Harry…I knew you three could do it." Jonas Davies said as the Head of International Magical Games Association shook Harry's hand.
"Thank you sir." Harry replied as he continued on the handshakes.
"Great, tremendous display son, you've made your country proud!" Fudge exclaimed as he shook the Vulture chaser and placed a shiny gold medal around his neck.
"Thank you, Minister." Harry said as he promptly waited for the rest of his teammates with his coach by his side. As soon as every player had finished their handshakes and were given a gold medal, two panting wizards carried a vast gold cup, which they handed to Fudge who accepted it with a boyish smile.
"Sonorus! It is with great pleasure to hand the Four Hundred and Twenty Second Quidditch World Cup after watching days and days of great athletic display and sportsmanship…I am proud to present…ENGLAND, Champions of this event!"
The roars of the English supporters were beyond loud now as Fudge handed the trophy to Harry and applauded with the rest of the English fans. Harry couldn't feel his legs and arms as he received the glorious gold World Cup from Fudge, there wasn't a single word he knew that could describe how he was feeling now.
"Ced, come here." Cedric looked startled for a moment but came forward to step next to his captain. Harry motioned for him to take an ear of the cup which he did quickly.
"Ready?..." Cedric nodded. "1…2…3!" Both of them hoisted the gleaming cup into the night air as red and white confetti, colored strips and fireworks fired from all corners of the stadium, showering everyone.
Slowly the team walked down the stairs, amidst the continued firing of confetti, strips and fireworks. Back on the pitch, Harry handed the cup to Elan after him and Cedric finished their turn of hoisting the cup into the air. No one was left out, even Nicole and Cassandra who were near tears. Despite not playing in the Final and Semi-Finals, their efforts in the previous games were still highly valued and acknowledged by the rest of their teammates.
Harry snapped from his reverie from a tap to the shoulder from Elan, the Malfoy heir raised an eyebrow in question.
"Nothing, just hard to believe, that's all." Harry replied.
An arrogant smirk formed on the edges of Elan's mouth as he said, "C'mon, one last lap for them." Harry smiled and took his Firebolt from Elan and the two rejoined their team. Roger handed the World Cup back to Harry who offered one ear to Elan, which he accepted without a word. Together, the nine players kicked off at the same moment in the air.
Somewhere up in the crowd.
"A wand!" A man with an Invisibility cloak wrapped around him exclaimed as he saw a wand showing behind some boy's buttocks pocket. With a slightly glazed insane smile, he snatched it.
