DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, Doctor Who or the Chronicles of Narnia. I own this plot only, and any OCs. My depictions of real life characters are based on stereotypes or suppositions and no insult is intended. I have no desire to own the series this story is based on, although if anyone could give me either a wand, TARDIS or wardrobe portal into Narnia I certainly wouldn't say no.

IMPORTANT: This is a rewrite of my story, You Are Not Alone and, as such, any resemblence to that story is intentional. No offence is meant by my portrayal of the Royal Family. I have the utmost of respect for Her Majesty the Queen and her wider family.

Chapter Eighteen: Summer Part 2 - Quidditch World Cup

'Rough game, Quidditch.'...'Brutal, but no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally, but they'll turn up in a month or two!' George and Fred Weasley, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Warner Bros.)

Location: The Royal Box, Stadium UK, near Godric's Hollow, Wales, Earth
Time: July 1993 CE

Harry, his Grandmum and friends were seating in the Royal Box at the Quidditch World Cup Final, clutching their Omnioculars, eagerly awaiting what, for most of them, was their first look at professional Quidditch. Then, in the adjacent box, which had clear walls, just as the Royal Box did, two men entered and walked to the front two seats, and sitting down in front of the two magical equivalents of microphones that were situated there, the younger of the two began to speak, his voice being magically amplified so it could be heard all across the stadium and transmitted via the Wizarding Wireless Network into every home in Great Britain. 'Ladies and Gentleman. Welcome to Stadium UK. We are here, near Godric's Hollow, where Bowman Wright invented the Golden Snitch, just 20 miles from Queerditch Marsh, the ceremonial home of Quidditch to witness the final of the four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup. Joining me, is the doyen of Quidditch, former Australian, Wollongong Warriors and Puddlemere United Chaser, Dick Bennett. Good evening Dick.'

The older of the two men now started his commentary in an unusual, decidedly nasal accent and started his run through of the World Cup so far. 'Thank you Ludo, and it's marvellous to be here tonight, going out live on the Wizarding Wireless Network, and right around the world, for what will surely be a fascinating contest between these two teams. Now let us remind you of the results so far...'

As Dick and Ludo ran through the group stage results, Harry managed to get a good look at the two commentators. Ludo Bagman was dressed in black with an extremely garish orange shirt visible underneath. Dick Bennett, on the other hand, looked dignified, with the bone coloured dress robes and light pink shirt contrasting completely with the look of Bagman.

Harry focussed back in on what the commentators were saying as they began talking about the quarter finals. 'And so onto the quarters, where the first match was the third quarter final at Wimbourne Arena.' Bagman started.

'This was an absolutely cracking match,' Bennett continued, 'taking 21 hours and 52 minutes, by far the longest match of the tournament, and it saw Group B winners Ireland going down to Group C runners-up New Zealand. Ireland were leading 370-230 when New Zealand seeker Garry Marshall pulled off a spectacular catch of the snitch, just beating out Aidan Lynch, allowing New Zealand to progress 380-370.'

'The second quarter final, held at the historic Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts saw shock Group D winners, and first time competitors Persia upset perennial contenders and Group B runners-up United States 250 to 110 in just under 5 hours. The match was a decidedly brutal affair with no less than four hundred and fifty infractions looked at by the review committee after the match, including the Persian captain for the attempted use of a pit viper against the opposition Keeper.' Bagman took over describing the second match before Bennett took over to describe the first and fourth.

'The fourth quarter final was held at Piddle Quidditch Arena, home of my old club Puddlemere United. This match saw 1991 European Cup and Group C winners Bulgaria decimate a hapless Wales 270 to 20, Viktor Krum, Bulgarian seeking prodigy, snatching the snitch one hour and forty minutes into the game. The first quarter final at Holyhead, the last to be played saw Group A winners Australia, in the quarters for the first time since 1970, taking on Group D runners-up and South American powerhouse Brazil in what, despite the scoreline, was a closely fought contest, lasting 9 hours and twelve minutes, Australian seeker Lucy Karoonda finally capturing the snitch to seal Australia's first ever semi final berth 300 to 90.'

Bagman then briefly described the semi finals. 'The semis certainly were a mixed bag, with the second semi final, played at Edinburgh between Bulgaria and New Zealand being decided by just the second penalty shootout in World Cup history when 4 hours into the game, with the scores 210 to 60 in favour of New Zealand, Viktor Krum beat Garry Marshall in a race to the snitch and the Bulgarians got lucky when keeper Lev Zograf managed a fingertip save on the last shot of the shootout, giving the Bulgarians the win 5-4. The first semi final at Ilkley Moor between Australia and Persia, on the other hand, was a complete anticlimax, as Australian seeker Lucy Karoonda caught the snitch in just four point five seconds, officially the fastest catch in World Cups and the second fastest of all time behind legendary Tutshill and English seeker Roderick Plumpton, the Australians progressing to the final, 150 to zero.'

Bagman here wrapped up the recap, before he crossed to special commentator, Holyhead Harpies captain Gwenog Jones on the pitch for the condition report. 'It's quite a wet night here in Wales, and this will make things difficult for both teams. The Quaffle will get heavier as it gets wetter, and that will make for an interesting contest. Also there's quite a swirling breeze at all levels of the stadium, and it will be interesting to see which team copes better.'

'And now, will you please all be up standing for the British Magical Anthem, 'Merlin Save the Queen' and the ceremonial coin toss by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.' Bagman announced. The whole stadium launched into the anthem, a rousing rendition that showed the large number of Brits who had turned out for the match, despite the absence of the four British teams from the final. The Queen apparated down to the pitch, and magically projected around the whole stadium, she stood between Kenneth Hastings and Vasily Dimitrov, the respective captains both clad in team dress robes, and tossed the specially minted galleon, watching as it somersaulted several times before landing on the grass, heads side up.

'The news here is that Australia have won the toss and they will fly to the northern end of the pitch for the first two hours. We will be back for the mascots and the team introductions after a short break.' Bennett informed the crowd as the scoreboards flashed with messages from the major sponsors Butterbeer and Nimbus.

Shortly afterwards, the mascots were announced as Veela, a race of ethereally beautiful women who, when angered could throw fireballs, and who could charm most men into a stupour, which Harry and Neville both found themselves unaffected by, and Hoppy, a tamed marsupial lion (Draco marsupialis) wearing boxing gloves.

Shortly after this the teams flew out as Bagman announced them. 'First up, we have the Australian National Quidditch Team. First the Chasers, Number 1, Matthew Echunga of the Mallee Marsupials. Number 2, the captain, Kenneth Hastings of the Wollongong Warriors. Number 3, Maria Monteith of the Thunderlara Thunderers. Now the Beaters, Number 4, Kelly Whakkaarangapawarau (this was pronounced Whack-a-ranga-powa-row) of the Thunderers, Number 5, Kylie Meadows, of the Warriors. The Keeper, Number 6, is Jonny Nuhaka of the Uluru Devil Dingoes, and the seeker, wearing Number 7, from the Wollongong Warriors, LUUUUCY KAROOOOONDA.' Bagman yelled the last two words as the Australians, wearing green robes with a golden kangaroo on the chest did laps of the stadium before proceeding to the northern end of the pitch and began running through its warm up drills.

Bagman then moved on to announcing the Bulgarians. 'AND NOW, we have the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team. First the Chasers, Number 1, Alexei Levski of the Vratsa Vultures. Number 2, Clara Ivanova of the Sofia Serpents. Number 3, the captain, Vasily Dimitrov of the Vultures. Now the Beaters, Number 4, Ivan Volkov of the Serpents, Number 5, Pyotr Vulchanov, of the Vultures. The Keeper, Number 6, is Lev Zograf of the Balkan Barbarians, and the seeker, wearing Number 7, from the Vratsa Vultures,VIIIIKTOOOOR KRUUUUUUMMMM.' Bagman once again yelled the last two words as the Bulgarians moved to the southern end of the pitch, their black and maroon robes a dark contrast to the bright colours of the crowd.

After the teams had been announced, two people in white robes with black and white shirts, a man and a woman, entered the arena, each carrying a broomstick, carrying an official Quidditch ball crate between them. 'And now ladies and gentleman, please welcome our referees, Hassan Mostafa of Egypt, and Kayla Jones of England.'

The man, Mostafa, kicked open the crate and the Bludgers and Golden Snitch soared off into the arena as the scoreboards now flashed "AUSTRALIA: 0, BULGARIA: 0". 'And so the final countdown is on now. There go the Bludgers and the Snitch.' The woman, Jones, mounted her broom and soared up between the teams, ready to observe the opening toss, and she sternly informed both teams to keep it fair, before Mostafa lifted the quaffle with both hands and threw it straight up into the air with a short sharp blast on his whistle. 'And so now the quaffle is released, the crowd erupts and the Final is underway...' Dick Bennett's commentary could be barely heard over the noise of the already raucous crowd, especially once Echunga of Australia snatched the quaffle and had a long pot shot at the hoops before Zograf could get back to defend them after the toss. 'And what a shot from Echunga to start the game! A goal from the opening toss just past halfway, Matthew Echunga puts Australia in front 10 to nothing.' Bennett commented as the scoreboard changed to reflect the new score.

From there the match turned fast-paced and aside from a few special comments, the commentary was restricted to saying the names of the players as they received the Quaffle. Harry and Lucy were using their omnioculars to watch action replays, play-by-play descriptions and goodness knows what other features. The two of them each pointed out different plays as they happened to the group and marvelled at the speed of the game. As both teams shot all over the field, scoring slowed down, and after the first two hours the score had reached 80-70 in favour of Bulgaria.

The teams switched ends at this point and after a short timeout both teams took to the skies again and the rapid pace began again, Australia immediately tried to blow Bulgaria out of the water and quickly raced to a 120-80 lead, but Bulgaria slowly pegged it back. All this time the snitch was yet to make and appearance, and the scores had levelled out to 150 a piece before both Karoonda and Krum saw the snitch at the same time, starting a high speed pursuit that went all over the stadium, including a 200 foot dive straight down before a 300 foot climb, flattening out level with the royal box. Karoonda and Krum were neck and neck when the snitch dropped straight down and Karoonda somehow flipped herself upside down and caught the snitch before Krum could react, and the crowd and the commentators went wild. 'And...oh gracious me, Karoonda has just inverted and...SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH! I don't believe it, Lucy Karoonda pulling off a miracle catch, and Australia have won their first Quidditch World Cup against the tournament favourites Bulgaria. But really, WHAT A CATCH BY LUCY KAROONDA and what a moment in her career, just her fourth season as a professional, and her second year in the national team, and she has just won the World Cup. Dick Bennett.' Ludo raved before handing over to his partner.

All around the stadium, the Australian supporters were going absolutely bonkers, green flags showing the boxing kangaroo, and Australia National Flags waving proudly as the Australian's belted out Waltzing Matilda, and Dick Bennett added his comments to the din. 'And so there it is Australia win their first ever World Cup, defeating Bulgaria 300 to 150 and all around this marvellous stadium now you can see the Australians standing and singing loud and proud and just listen to that crowd!'

At that both commentators were quiet and over the speakers could be heard 'Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?' As the whole Australian contingent got the party started.

'Ladies and Gentleman, it is now time for the presentation of the medals, the MVP award and the World Cup Trophy. Would you now please welcome both teams to the top boxes where Her Majesty the Queen will do the presentation.' Bagman stated and all eyes turned to the now magically combined Royal and Commentary boxes as each player's name was announced as the Bulgarians collected their silver medals, and the Australians their gold.

'And now, the Roderick Plumpton Award for Most Valuable Player, with a remarkable 8 catches from 8 games, from Australia, seeker, LUUUUCY KAROOOONDA!' Bagman announced the winner of the MVP award and once again the stadium went wild.

'Now the Queen will present the World Cup to Australian Captain Kenneth Hastings.' Dick Bennett stated as Hastings recieved the trophy, holding it aloft as his teammates joined him and reporters took photos of the group for all angles both with and without the Cup.

Finally, both teams filed past each other and the referees, and the Quidditch World Cup flag was lowered and handed by Amos Diggory, the Minister for Magic, to Jeremy Hart, the US's Secretary of Magic, as the United States were to be the next hosts of the Cup in 1997.

Location: Harry's TARDIS
Time: Unspecified

Harry and Lucy returned to Harry's TARDIS and were joined by the Doctor for a summer holiday, and after Harry agreed, the Doctor put the TARDIS on random (more fun that way) and the TARDIS took flight towards its destination...