My feet slammed to the ground before I toppled over and landed on my back. George tripped over me and landed on top of Harry. The collective heap of bodies jumbled as we all tried to get to our feet. Once I was standing I saw a pair of grumpy-looking wizards one of them was holding a large gold watch, and the other a thick roll of parchment and a quill.
"Morning, Basil." Mr. Weasley greeted the man with the roll of parchment as he handed him the boot. The wizard took the boot and put it in a bin of used Porkeys beside him.
"Hello there Arthur." Basil answered wearily. "Not on duty, eh? It's all right for some…We've been here all night…You'd better get out of the way, we've got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at five-fifteen. Hang on, I'll find your campsite…Weasley…Weasley…" He consulted his parchment list. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manger's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory…second field…ask for ."
"Thanks Basil." Mr. Weasley smiled and then gestured for the rest of us to follow. After about twenty minutes we walked to a small stone cottage beyond that I could see hundreds and hundreds of tents scattered in grass. We said good-bye the the Diggorys as Mr. Weasley knocked on the cottage door. There Mr. Weasley paid a muggle man for a camping space he had reserved earlier in the week. After Hermione helped Mr. Weasley pay the man with muggle money he lead us to a site marked "Weezly."
"Couldn't have picked a better spot! The field is just over the other side of the wood there, we're as close as we could be. Right," Mr. Weasley began excitedly. "No magic allowed, strictly speaking, not when we're out in these numbers on muggle land. We'll put these tents up the by hand!" he exclaimed as if it was going to be the most thrilling moment of his life. "Shouldn't be too hard, muggles do it all the time." I had never been camping before, I never really thought about it either but I imagined it being fun. Together Harry, Hermione, Ron and I were able to get one tent set up, while Ginny, Fred, George and Mr. Weasley set up the second. Once the two tents were erected the eight of us admired our handiwork.
"Mr. Weasley?" Hermione began, "Once Bill, Charlie and Percy get here will we all fit comfortably in the tents?"
"We will be a bit cramped." He called to her as he stepped inside, "But I think we'll all squeeze in. Come and have a look." Shrugging our shoulders Hermione, Harry, and I joined the Weasleys in the tent. The true power of magic never stopped amazing me. The inside of the larger of the two tents, there was a fully furnish little home complete with a bathroom and a kitchen. "Well it's not for long." Mr. Weasley said surveying the four bunks of the bedroom we were all standing in. "I borrowed this from Perkins at the office. Doesn't camp anymore, poor fellow, he's got lumbago.
"There's a tap marked on this map that muggle gave us." Ron said thoroughly unimpressed with the extrodinary inner proportions of the tent. "It's on the other side of the field."
"Well why don't you Harry, Alice, and Hermione go get us some water then. The rest of us will get some wood for a fire."
"But we've got an oven. Why can't we just…"
"Ron, anti-muggle security! When muggles go camping, they cook on fires outdoors." Hermione explained. While Hermione and Ron engaged themselves in a debate about "anti-muggle security" we went the fetch some water. But not before stopping in for a tour of the smaller tent that Ginny, Hermione and I would be sharing.
As we walked through the field we saw witches and wizards here and there emerging from their tents to start cooking breakfast. Mr. Weasley was right when he has said that witches and Wizards from all of the world had come to see the match. We passed three African wizards who were engaged in a serious conversation as they roasted a rabbit on a bright purple fire. We also passed a group of middle-aged American witches who sat gossiping amongst themselves. Soon we came upon a patch of tents that had been covered with a thick layer of shamrocks, giving the tents the appearance of having grown out of the earth.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Alice! " The four of us turned to see Hogwarts' fourth year Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan. He was sitting in front of a small shamrock-covered tent, with a sandy haired woman who must have been his mother.
"Like the decorations?" He asked us grinning. "The Ministry's not too happy."
"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" Mrs. Finnigan. The boys and I turned to Hermione, who didn't seem like she was going to be lecture Mrs. Finnigan about "anti-muggle security." Mrs. Finnigan continued on about decorations. "You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland of course?" The four of us nodded in agreement assuring Mrs. Finnigan that we were supporting Ireland.
"Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot!" Ron whispered to me as we left the Irish campsite.
"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents." Hermione said.
"Let's go and have a look." Harry said pointing towards a large group of tents where the Bulgarian flag was fluttering in the breeze. Each and every one of the Bulgarian tents had the same poster attached to it, a poster of a man with a sour expression on his face.
"Krum." Ron whispered.
"What?" Hermione asked looking at him.
"Krum!" Ron exclaimed "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"
"He looks really grumpy." Hermione told him.
"Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelieveable. He's really young too. Only eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight you'll see." We eventually made our way to the tap and brought back water to the tents.
"You've been ages!" George called as we entered.
"Sorry we met a few people on the way." Harry said putting the water down.
"You not got the fire started yet?" Ron asked looking around.
"Dad's having fun with the matches." Ginny answered disapprovingly. We followed Ginny outside to see Mr. Weasley surrounded by splintered bits of matches all over the ground. Lucky for us Hermione was able to help him light the fire. It would be another hour before we were able to cook anything so while we waited we unpacked our things and settled in.