"Well that was possibly the most awkward meeting." I said smiling as my feet landed in the Weasley's fireplace.
"Imagine what's Dad's saying to them right now?" Ron laughed as he stepped out of the fireplace. After a few minutes Fred and George arrived with Harry's trunk, they were followed by Mr. Weasley. Once Mr. Weasley left the room George held out a handful of sweets.
"What are those?" Harry asked reaching for one. I placed my hands on my hips.
"No doubt some sort trick." Harry seemed to agree with me retracted his hand. "Well come on, what are they?" I asked.
"Let's go upstairs and we'll show you." George answered pocketing the sweets. Picking up Harry's trunk again Fred and George bounded upstairs to Ron's room. The three of us followed them upstairs, where Hermione and Ginny were already waiting.
"Ok so what's with the sweets?" I asked when Ron's bedroom door was tightly secured.
"Well you know we've been hearing explosions out of Fred and George's room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things. We just thought they liked making noise." Ginny said.
"That was until this summer when mum found a stack of order forms when she was cleaning their room." Ron continued. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands ad trick sweets, loads of stuff, It was brilliant!"
"Only, most of the stuff was a bit dangerous." Hermione pointed out.
"We planned on selling out stuff at Hogwarts to make some money." George said acting as if Hermione hadn't spoken at all.
"Until Mum found those order forms and went mad on us. She told us we aren't allowed to make any more of it and burned the order forms." Fred continued.
"There was this big fight, because Mum wants them to get a job at the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop."
"I'm sure that went really well." I said knowing Mrs. Weasley would have been appalled by the idea. We spent the rest of the night talking and testing some of the Twin's products.
"Well boys it's getting late and we have to be up early tomorrow to leave for the World Cup." Hermione said standing up. After saying goodnight to the boys Ginny and I followed Hermione off to bed.
I was shaken awake by Mrs. Weasley. "Time to wake up Alice, dear." I mumbled something unintelligent as I tried to pull the covers back over my face. Of course Mrs. Weasley would have none of that as she shook the blankets from my hands. Grumbling I dragged myself out of bed, and got dressed alongside Hermione and Ginny. The three of us sleepily staggered into the kitchen.
"Where are Bill, Charlie and Percy?" Ginny asked flopping onto a seat at a kitchen table.
"Well they're Apparating, aren't they?" Mrs. Weasley asked Mr. Weasley over her shoulder.
"So they're still in bed?" Fred said grumpily as the boys entered the kitchen. "Why can't we Apparate too?"
"Because you're not of age and you haven't passed your test yet." Mrs. Weasley snapped as she poured bowls of porridge for each of us.
"You have to pass a test to Apparate?" I asked. I 'd been through side along Apparation a few times, but I never really thought about how Wizards learned to Apparate.
"Oh yes," Mr. Weasley answered joining the conversation. "The Department of Magical Transportation had to fine a couple of people the other day for Apparating without a license. It's not easy, Apparition, and when it's not done properly it can lead to nasty complications. This pair I'm talking about went ans splinched themselves. They left half of themselves behind, so of course, they were stuck. Couldn't move either way, had to wait for the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad to sort them out. Meant a fair old bit of paperwork, I can tell you, what with Muggles who spotted the body parts they'd left behind…"
"Where they okay?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes," Mr. Weasley said matter-of-factly. "But they got a heavy fine, and I don't think they'll be trying it again in a hurry. You don't mess around with Apparition. There are plenty of adult wizards who don't bother with it. Prefer brooms-slower, but safer."
"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ron asked rubbing his eyes.
"We've got a bit of a walk." Mr. Weasley told us.
"Are we walking to the World Cup?" Harry asked yawning.
"No, no, that's miles away. We need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup…"
"George!" Mrs. Weasley shouted causing us all to jump.
"What?" he asked in a falsified innocent tone.
"What's in your pocket?"
"Nothing!"
"Don't you lie to me!" Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket, "Accio!" Several small, brightly colored objects zoomed out of George's pocket, he made a grab for them but missed and they sped right into Mrs. Weasley's outstretched hand. The three of us non-Weasleys exchanged of frightened wide-eyed looks. "We told you to destroy them!" Mrs. Weasley exploded. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!" There was a two foot tall pile of sweets on the Weasley's table.
"We spent six months developing those!" George shouted at his mother.
"Oh a fair way to spend six months!" She shrieked. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!" Eventually Mr. Weasley was able to calm Mrs. Weasley down enough that we finished out awkward but silent breakfast. The eight of us hoisted bags over our shoulders and headed out from the Burrow. It was a chilly night so I zipped my sweatshirt up to further to shield myself from the wind.
"Mr. Weasley," I called ahead to him. "How does everyone get there without any Muggles noticing?"
"It's been a massive organizational problem." Mr. Weasley signed. "The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up at the World Cup, and of course, we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all. There are places Muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or platform nine and three-quarters. So we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti-muggle precautions as possible. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. First, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals. People with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand. A limited number use Muggle transport, but we can't have too many clogging up their buses and trains-remember Wizards are coming from all over the world. For those who don't want to Apparate or can't, we use Portkeys. They're objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time if you need to. There have been two hundred Portkeys placed at strategic points around Britain, and the nearest one to us is up at the top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're headed."
"What sort of objects are a Portkey?" Harry asked.
"A Portkey can be anything really." Hermione chimed in. "It's usually something a Muggle would consider trash, so that they won't pick it up, something they wouldn't look twice at." The hill began to grow steep and we were panting as we neared the top.
"Whew," Mr. Weasley panted as he took off his glasses and whipped them on his sweater. "Well, we've made good time, we've got ten minutes. "Now we just need the Portkey it won't be big, come on." Hermione and I exchanged an exhausted look, but we began to search for the Portkey anyway. It was only a few moments of searching before we heard a distance voice call to us.
"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!" Hermione and I turned to see two tall figures walking towards us.
"Amos!" Mr. Weasley called to the silhouettes. The group of us gathered around Mr. weasley as he shook hands with a wizard who was holding a moldy looking old boot.
"Everyone, This is Amos Doggory! He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and I think you know his son Cedric?" Harry and I had both played Cedric in Quidditch because he is the Hufflepuff Quidditch team seeker.
"Hi." He said flashing a charming smile at us all.
"Long walk, Arthur?" Amos Diggory asked him.
"Not too bad." Mr. Weasley answered. "We live on the other side of the village there. You?"
"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced?" I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparation test. Still, not complaining, Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons, and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy." And in that moment Mr. Diggory was staring at us kids. "All these yours Arthur?"
"Oh no, only the redheads." Mr. Weasley told him proudly. I smiled at Ron, Mr. Weasley seemed to have forgotten that I also had red hair. "This is Hermione Granger a friend of Ron's," he said gesturing to her, and those two, are Harry and Alice." He said pointing to each Harry and I. "Oh I suppose Alice has red hair, but she and Harry are brother and sister, also friends of Ron's."
"Merlin's beard, Harry and Alice Potter?" Mr. Diggory asked.
"Yeah." Harry and I answered together rolling our eyes. We were used to this sort of question.
"Ced's talked about you both of course. He's told my wife and I about all your matches on the Quiddtich field. He told us of one game where Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor. I said to him, I said Ced,that'll be something to tell your grandchildren that you will, you beat Harry Potter!" Harry obviously couldn't think of a reply to this so he remained silent. Cedric on the other hand looked slightly embarrassed.
"Harry fell off his broom Dad," Cedric Muttered. "I told you it was an accident."
"Yes but you didn't fall off, did you?" Mr. Diggory roared. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman, but the best man won. I'm sure Harry'd say the same wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays one, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!" At this point no one really knew what to say, what was to me was that Cedric could possibly be the gentleman his father said he was, and that possibly Mr. Diggory needed to work on his people skills.
"Must be nearly time." Mr. Weasley interjected. "Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"
"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets, there aren't any more of us in the area, are there?"
"Not that I know of," Mr. Weasley told him. "Yes, it's a minute off, we'd better get ready." Everyone grab hold, whatever you do, don't let go."
"Doesn't sound too difficult." Hermione said nodding to me. We crowded by the old boot each of us grabbing hold. Not one of us spoke we just all stood in a tight circle gathered around the Portkey. Together Mr. Diggory and Mr. Weasley began a countdown.