Disclaimer – It has come to my attention recently that I unfortunately do not own Harry Potter. Who knew.
Author Note – I enjoy writing short stories for my own enjoyment but at a suggestion from a friend, I have decided to start posting some of my stories that I am working on or have completed. All feedback is welcome (hopefully constructive!) Looking forward to what you think!
When Harry started recalling events of the World Cup, he started feeling a tingling and pulling sensation. Almost as if there was a hook, somewhere behind his navel pulling him forward…
And it was at that moment Harry recognized the boot.
All of a sudden, Harry felt the presence of others on either side of him bumping into his shoulders. He was confident he was right in remembering where death was sending him. The howling wind, swirling colors, and tugging sensations that accompanied the shoulder jostling reminding him why he disliked travelling by portkey.
This time, however, Harry was determined to stick the landing, remembering to absorb the jolt from the ground as it very suddenly appeared below him. Chuckling, only a little bit, Harry watched as Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins collapsed on the ground. His breath got caught in his throat as he saw Cedric Diggory standing right in front of him, not the cold unblinking broken boy in the graveyard, but a living and breathing Cedric Diggory.
Breaking the seriousness of the moment, looking up at Harry while trying to disentangle themselves from the pile, the twins exclaimed, "Blimey Harry, have you done…"
"…this before? We have done this…"
"…dozens of times. And still can't get the hang of the landing…
…just yet."
Harry's pensive face blossomed into a full on smile. Reminiscing on how he missed the twin speak over the last year while on the hunt for Horcruxes. Pausing, determined not to tear up at the memory of Fred lying dead in the arms of his brother, Harry looked away from Cedric and looked down upon the mess of limbs and bodies that contained the twins. This is how the twins should be.
Answering the twins Harry said, "I guess I am just more skilled than either of you."
"Oy, thinks he's a funny one now, …"
"…careful Harry. We might just accidently…"
"…on purpose."
"But totally accidentally, miss protecting you from a bludger…"
"…during a match this year."
"Definitely accidentally." They finished together, winking at Harry.
Laughing and leaving the group to disentangle themselves, Harry jogged to catch up to Cedric as they walked over to where Mr Weasley and Mr Diggory were being directed by two very peculiarly dressed wizards to the location of their campsite.
Unsure of what to say, once he caught up, Harry took a couple steps alongside Cedric, deciding that he would do everything within his ability this year to prevent Cedric from dying in the graveyard.
"I still can't get over when they do that and trust me I have been trying to figure it out since their first year. Part of me does love their theatrics although a larger part of me fears for what I am going to have to deal with as a prefect this year from them."
Relieved that Cedric broke the silence with such a mundane comment, Harry chuckled aloud remembering this was the year the twins invented and were testing the Skiving Snackboxes. "Well I am sure they are nothing you aren't able to handle." Under his breath continuing, "Although I am sure you will have bigger things to worry about during the year."
Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory turned towards them, appearing to have concluded their business with the gentlemen who were dressed in a very unmugglelike fashion. After all, Harry could not remember the last time he witnessed a muggle wearing a kilt and a poncho. Well certainly, no one near Number 4 Privet Drive would dream of wearing something like that. Aunt Petunia surely would have mentioned something like that wardrobe choice.
"Ok Weasley's over here, we have a little bit of a hike over to our tents." Mr. Weasley stated, clearly enjoying this experience.
Harry was joined by Ron and Hermione, as they finally managed to untangle themselves from the pile of limbs. Ginny jogged ahead to join her father, Mr. Diggory, and Cedric while the twins lagged behind, heads close together clearly plotting something. Together they made their way in the direction that Mr. Weasley had vaguely pointed out when referencing their tents.
"So what do you suppose Fred and George are up to?" questioned Ron.
"Surely nothing good," Hermione began. "You don't suppose they have any of those trick candy with them do you, surely even they wouldn't be foolish enough to give them out here… They might start an international incident." As she starred back at them, sounding aghast.
Harry could not stop smiling, while he was sure they had existed, he could not remember such easygoing conversations between his friends. They looked so relaxed, so at ease. Well… Hermione kept glancing back at the twins clearly believing they might be up to serious trouble. Nevertheless, she certainly looked much more at ease than she had for some time.
After saying goodbye to the Cedric and Mr. Diggory; Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys continued on to their site, stopping only to have Harry help a very confused Mr. Weasley pay a muggle the campsite fee. Harry shook his head, even with access to memory charms Harry could not believe that wizards had managed to stay out of sight of muggles.
After arriving at the site, Mr. Weasley very excitedly began trying to erect the tents before stepping aside for Hermione to take over. Although his overexcited attitude definitely still got in the way, as he got severely animated when Hermione was using the mallet to put in the pegs. Rather than stick around to help or explore the tent upon its completion. Harry suggest to Ron and himself that they go explore the site and see what they could find, wanting just a little time with his oldest friend. Noticing that the twins had already disappeared, Ron eagerly accepted knowing if they hung around, they would be put to work doing chores. Mr. Weasley gave them permission although he did extract a promise from them that they would be back in time for breakfast, as Bill, Charlie, and Percy were to arrive shortly. Knowing Ron's stomach, Harry had no doubt they would indeed be back in time for food.
Harry and Ron started wandering around, catching up, and taking in the sights of slightly conspicuous tents, with Ron driving the conversation as Harry was having trouble remembering exactly what he had done that summer. Although when Ron brought up the topic of his cousin eating the candy that Fred had "accidently" dropped. Harry definitely laughed, still able to remember that. Although his laughter was probably less than it was the last time, as he remembered that eventually Dudley came around and no matter what Dudley did, he was a reflection of his upbringing. Thinking about Dudley reminded Harry that next summer Dudley and himself were going to be attacked by the dementor and while they both got away the first time, that was an experience Harry would try to keep them both from.
Noticing that Ron was looking at him as he had zoned out, Harry looked over and apologizing asked him to repeat himself.
"I was just asking if you were excited for the upcoming Quidditch year at school. What do you reckon your chances are without Wood? Who do you think will replace him? Plan to learn strategies and plays from the World Cup? … How wicked would it be to play in the World Cup one year?" Ron asked rapidly, hardly taking a breath between questions. Appearing that he was now the one zoning out, no doubt thinking of just that.
Harry paused readying himself to ask Ron a question, unsure of why he had not thought of it up to this point the first time through. He interjected ruining what he was sure was Ron's lovely daydreams. "How often do you fly?"
"Sorry, just thinking of being a starter in the World Cup one day. What was that?" Ron said, confirming Harry's previous assumption.
"Just wondering how often you get to use the brooms at school? I know that under Wood I never had the desire for more time on the pitch but if you want to be on the team, how often do you get to practice? Are you even allowed to be on the broom past first year? I know our classes with Madam Hooch were not really great but practice has got to help increase your likelihood of actually playing."
Ron guiltily looked at Harry, "Well…I don't really get to use the brooms at school. I had asked McGonagall in second year after seeing Draco get onto his team and she said in order to get onto the pitch outside of being on the team I would need to have an experienced flier, usually a Quidditch captain from one of the teams or member of the faculty and a note signed by herself. And she told me that she was uncomfortable signing the note unless I put more work into my studies. I do not know what was more scary approaching Wood…you know how intense he was…or trying to spend more time on school work."
Harry was shocked that this conversation had never happened before. For all the times Ron daydreamed about Quidditch, Harry was a little shocked that he was not more motivated to overcome those obstacles, although he understood that the combination of Wood and homework was quite the hurdle, especially to Ron.
"What if I was to help you improve your flying, I am pretty sure you picked a bunch of stuff playing with your older brothers but we can work on it together. I am guessing approaching flying from the perspective of a mentor rather than just a player will give me more insight into the sport as well…after all why do you think Hermione likes going over our homework so much with us."
At this last joke, they both chuckled.
"And for what it is worth I was going to start spending more time doing homework anyways. After all magic is just so amazing, seeing the things Dumbledore and others can do, I want to make sure I am capable of doing whatever I need to without always needing to rely on others. So together, we can go to McGonagall and tell her our plan. Who knows, maybe next year we could be teammates?"
Harry had watched Ron's face continue to drop over the duration of his conversation before perking up with that last statement.
"After all, without Quidditch practice this year I am sure we will have loads of spare time to fit our flying together and homework in."
Ron looked at Harry confused, "What do you mean, 'without Quidditch practice'?"
Harry froze, feeling incredibly stupid at his slip up. While he definitely had plans to change the future, he could not be making slip ups like that.
"I mean with Wood gone, whoever they get as captain can't be nearly as bad, can they? Probably going to have loads more free time."
Ron chuckled at that, "I bet you are right, he was intense!".
Harry let out a silent sigh of relief, mentally kicking himself again.
I need to be more careful with how I react and what I say.
Noticing Cedric at a pathway intersection a couple tents down. Harry pointed him out and led Ron that way wanting to move on from the previous conversation.
"Hey Cedric, how's it going? All set up at your site? What are you up to?"
Cedric turned around quickly with a huge smile on his face before it fell slightly upon noticing it was Harry and Ron. "Oh hello Harry and Ron, I am waiting for …a friend. Was going to grab a bite with her before any of the festivities start."
Harry noticed how his face colored slightly when he mentioned his friend. Realizing that even before the year started, Cedric had a thing for Cho.
"Oh that's great, what else is happening? I thought it was just the World Cup."
"Well there are a bunch of pavilions set up all over the site where you can go and buy fan apparel or country specific merchandise. But Cho and…I mean my friend and I are heading over to the fan flying competitions." Cedric blushed even more over his word fumble.
In an attempt to divert attention and prevent Ron from saying anything tactless, Harry continued, "Oh cool, what kind of flying is there? Where is this at?"
Nodding with appreciation, apparently having recognized Harry's manoeuver, Cedric replied excitedly, "There is a giant field about a couple of miles in that directions, that has been completely muggle proofed and they are running all sorts of Quidditch related events in. I think there is a bludger cage where you try to avoid getting hit as long as possible."
"Well I really hope they are softer than some of the ones I have been hit with." Harry interjected remembering the feeling of the bludger that broke his arm in second year. Seeing a slight grimace in Cedric's eyes, he imagined Cedric had been caught at least once by a bludger.
Cedric continued on, "I think they also have a target practice to throw Quaffles through goal posts. However, the one everyone had been talking about is the racing obstacle course. Apparently, there is serious prize money available and different prizes available for different divisions. One of my friends had mentioned that Krum had even run the course yesterday demolishing everyone's previous times and for fun you can race against the apparition. And see what your time is compared to one of the best fliers in the world."
Cedric paused, seeing Cho pop out of a tent, "Well I'll be seeing you boys later… or I imagine it will be extremely busy around here in a couple hours, probably won't see you until school. Enjoy the game."
Harry turned to head back to the tent, disappointed that he had not heard about these competitions the first time he was here but thinking it would be really cool to see them this time and see what a wizarding tailgate party looked like. Harry made it a few steps before noticing that Ron was not with him.
Turning around Harry noticed Ron had not moved from his spot, even though Cedric and Cho had disappeared down one of the isles.
"Erm…Ron…" Harry stated waving to Ron.
"Krum…" Ron whispered.
Harry chuckled, remembering Ron's hero worship at the start of the year.
"Sorry who?"
"VICTOR…BLOODY…KRUM! He is here! He is only one of the top Quidditch players in the world and he is only a couple years older than us. Of course he is playing for Bulgaria! Ireland doesn't stand a chance!"
As if only now realizing what else he had heard from Cedric. Ron looked up at Harry exclaiming.
"We need to go to that field! I want to see how I do against Krum!"
Harry struggled to contain his laughter, managing to reduce it to only a smile.
"I would be interested but how about we go back to the tent first and grab a bite to eat. I am guessing, if not already, your brothers are due to arrive soon, and I imagine they won't actually start the events until sometime later in the morning."
As if his stomach could have heard the mention of breakfast, Ron's stomach grumbled loudly causing him to look forlornly in the direction of the field and then down to his stomach, as if it had betrayed him.
"Aye ok, let's eat first but then we are going to check out this field, I want to see all the events."
Ron finished his thought and took off in the direction of the tent. Shouting with glee, "VICTOR…BLOODY…KRUM!"
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