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!

Mr. Weasley noted the arrival and clapped his hands together. "And that makes nine plus me. We are all here!"

Harry smiled, eagerly awaiting seeing this game. Even if the game played out exactly as it had before, Harry was positive that this was the best played match of Quidditch he had ever seen and was looking forward to appraising it with a more experienced eye.

"Prime seats!" Said the usher as the tickets were checked. "All the way to the top, enjoy the game!"

And with that, the party entered the stadium and started climbing the stairs towards their seats, eagerly looking forward to the start of the match.

Harry was positive that something must have happened when he travelled through time, as he was almost positive that this time they climbed at least twice the amount of stairs to get to their seats. This being said, the infectious happiness and enthusiasm of the entire Weasley family overrode any fatigue and the entire party was laughing and shouting back and forth as they finally reached the door to the box that contained their seats. As Harry was in the back of the group, he was the last to enter the box and immediately froze…

As there, sitting in front of him was Winky, sitting next to an "empty" chair that Harry knew continained a cloaked Barty Crouch Jr. Harry's hand was on his wand before he even recognized he had made the movement. Realizing that in the excitement of the event, he had not even remembered that he would be in such proximity so soon.

Mentally kicking himself, Harry realized that once this excitement died down he needed a moment to sit down and start working on a plan for how to make changes that would hopefully save the lives of his friends and bring an end to Lord Voldemort sooner.

For now though, Harry was unmoving, starring at the empty space that contained the young Crouch, debating on whether he should immediately draw his wand and throw a stunning curse at the space that he was sure contained Barty Crouch Jr. However, after what felt like hours, Harry realized that if he was to act against him now the entirety of the year would significantly change and he would have no idea as to how Voldemort would then chose to act in an attempt to try and capture Harry. He reasoned to himself, that to the best of his knowledge, other than capturing Moody, Barty Crouch Jr did not kill or hurt anyone between this moment and the time when he became a teacher, so while it went against every instinct in his body he started to relax his wand hand. Harry reasoned that if anyone would understand and support his decision it would be Moody, who Harry figured would be ok with being sedated in a chest for the better part of a school year, or at least until Harry came up with a plan, in order to capture or at least hinder Voldemort's return.

Hoping that Barty Crouch Jr was currently Imperiused to face the arena and was been unable to see his face, which no doubt was filled with hatred; Harry finally felt his wand hand drop and his face adopt a more neutral expression. He then started forward to his seat, so caught up in his thoughts that he did not realize that from under her bushy hair Hermione was glancing at him with a worried and questioning look on his face.

As he took his seat between Ron and Hermione, Harry remembered that the first time he had experienced this event, he had initiated conversation with Winky. While he definitely had nothing personal against the elf, especially as she was bound to follow orders of the Crouchs and sit in the box (even though she was afraid of heights), Harry resolved to not initiate any conversation with her. He knew that he would be unable to maintain his composure if he was looking in the direction of Winky and knew he eyes would definitely constantly keep slipping to the space beside the elf that was "unoccupied" potentially tipping off Barty Crouch Jr.

Harry let out a smirk figuring that if he did not initiate conversation with Winky, there was a chance Hermione would not try to get the boys involved in S.P.E.W. this year. Although coming from a background such as his with the Dursleys, Harry could not help but emphasize with the plight of the elves and decided that he would need to try to help them somehow, even if it was to only try and make it impossible for wizards to treat the elves, as Dobby had been treated at the hand of the Malfoys.

Shaking his head Harry took in the magnificence of the stadium, realizing that the senior Weasley had probably been underestimating the amount of seats present. The stadium truly was a magnificent work of magic, the warm golden glow made everything seem so…magical. Harry looked over the well-manicured Quidditch field and the magic blackboard with ads, noticed that was Ron playing with his Omnioculars, while Hermione was focused on the program, talking to Mr. Weasley about the mascots.

Over the next while, Harry noticed the box start to fill up with both Mr. Weasley and Percy greeting those that entered. When the Minister of Magic arrived, Harry immediately busied himself with his own Omnioculars in an effort to cover the scowl on his face as he remembered the strife he had to deal with from the Daily Prophet due to Cornelius Fudge, absent-mindedly rubbing the back of his hand as he not to fondly remembered his experiences with Umbridge.

Of course, as with his luck, Harry was immediately singled out by the Minister who attempted to draw Harry into a conversation. Mistaking Harry's reluctant and monosyllabic responses, the Minister looked to all those around him and laughed as he commented that the children in the box must be so excited about the match and the chance to rub elbows with those present in the box. He then looked at Harry and slyly stated that if he was excited about the World Cup, for him to just wait till he got to Hogwarts this year as he was in store for an even bigger surprise.

As Harry once more tried to pivot his attention back to the field, he was interrupted once more as the Minister loudly called out.

"Lucius!"

Harry was joined by his friends as they looked over at the Malfoy family.

Harry realized this was another issue that he had to put thought into. For in front of him was an individual Harry had always figured would be his enemy. He remembered the bullying that Draco had committed on not just Harry and his friends, but every other individual when any opportunity presented itself, he remembered it was Draco that had almost killed Katie Bell, and he remembered that it was Draco that had let the Death Eater's into the castle on the night where Draco's actions resulted in the death of Dumbledore. But Harry also remembered accidentally stumbling onto a crying Draco in the girls lavatory and remembered the look on Draco's face as he realized that he was unable or unwilling to kill Dumbledore. In that moment Harry wondered how much of Draco's actions were determined by the upbringing at the hands of the two individuals who flanked him. Until he decided on what to do or how he would act, he decided that for now, he would not further antagonize his classmate.

"Hello Draco, did not realize you would be sharing the box with us, hope you enjoy the match, we certainly have great seats, although if it rains we will definitely be the first to know." Harry said to Draco causing everyone in the immediate vicinity to become extremely quiet but most enjoyably it left Draco with an open-mouthed astonished look on his face. His surprise as the cordial greeting clearly evident.

Harry turned around noticing nasty looking glares upon the faces of Draco's parents as he refocused on the game. Immediately Hermione and Ron leaned in and began whispering to him.

"Harry, mate, have you lost your marbles?"

"Harry what was with that, are you alright?"

"You do remember he hates our guts, and he…"

"Well not just our guts but anyone who isn't him."

"And you remember the way he treated Hermione right?"

Eventually Harry held up a hand to stop them knowing both of them raised good points and would be able to continue listing valid arguments against being nice to Draco until at least Christmas.

"I am certainly not defending Draco and do not see myself becoming friends with him anytime soon. However, I have spent enough time with my uncle and aunt to realize that a large part of the way my cousin acts is due to their influence. Now just imagine if the influence instead was from those two." Harry paused and subtly pointed back to Draco's parents who were now in a conversation with the Minister and Ludo Bagman, who had at some point snuck into the box. "Imagine if they were your parents. Imagine learning about purebloods/halfbloods/muggles from them, imagine if they were the first people who told you about Hogwarts and the houses, imagine being raised by them."

This caused both Ron and Hermione to visibly shudder.

Harry continued, "Now do not get me wrong, Draco is responsible for his actions and certainly has a lot to answer for, but I think maybe he might be lacking any good influences in his life. That being said I will not leave my back undefended against him. But I realized that, I will not to provoke him…" Harry paused again, feigning to be deep in thought "well maybe provoke him less."

This caused Ron to snigger, before sobering up and looking as if he was about to bring up some other point about Draco. Luckily, Harry was saved from continuing this conversation by Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice, as he welcomed the fans to the Quidditch World Cup and began to introduce the Mascots, starting with the Bulgarian Veela.

Even prepared for the Veela, Harry was almost caught up in the experience and almost lost himself in the moment, for the Veela truly were the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen. However, Harry managed to maintain control of his senses this time and as he looked around noticed just how rare this gift was, Harry noticed that other than himself and the two Ministers, every other male in their booth was seemingly affected by the allure of the Veela. Harry struggled to contain a laugh when he saw the expression on the face of Lucius, as the senior Malfoy was walking steadily to the edge of the booth, Harry's control over his laugh was lost as he saw the utter horror and embarrassment on the face of his wife as she fired what appeared to be a stinging hex at her husband. This seemed to achieve her goal as he appeared to violently shake his head, before starring down at the field with a combination of uncontained desire and barely contained disgust. He then took on a more neutral expression before fully turning around and walking back to his wife.

As the crowd was quite loud, Harry was sure he was the only one who heard Lucius address his wife as he sat back down in his seat.

"How dare you woman, I am the Lord of my household, and was in no need of your pathetic intervention. I was …not affected by these…these creature's…magic. We will…have words when we are home, and I assure you that you will regret raising your wand against me."

Shocked, Harry glanced back quickly, noticing that the previous horror and embarrassment on her face had transformed into fear. Realizing that maybe his initial statement to his friends might have more truth to it than he originally believed, Harry understood that the home life of the Malfoy's was certainly something that could have negatively affected Draco. Harry was determined to do something, even if he did not do anything for the sake of Draco, at least his mother certainly did not deserve whatever she was being exposed to.

Quickly Harry turned around in time to see Mr. Weasley regain his senses, as he and Hermione then tried to break Ron out of his daze and save what was left of his Irish hat from utter destruction.

"Congratulations my boy!" Fudge said loudly drawing everyone's attention to him. "It looks like young Harry Potter here was able to resist the allure of the Veela, it takes great mental fortitude and restraint, although significant training can sure help to even be able to partially be able to resist their Allure, especially when they are in such a large group." He pointed, indicating the large group of Veela on the field. "Other than my counterpart and myself, it looks like you are the only other one here able to resist their …"

"Well and myself of course. I was merely getting up to see what the common fans were doing down there to make sure nothing got out of hand." Lucius interrupted.

Harry glanced at him disbelievingly before glancing to Fudge who looked confused before correcting himself. "Quite right, of course you were included in my previous statement; individuals can sometimes get out of control in the presence of Veela."

Harry looked over towards Hermione, who had managed to recently get Ron under control, with a questioning look in his eye. Seeing Hermione shake her head, Harry's suspicion was confirmed that the senior Malfoy was just trying to rewrite events that occurred before their eyes and Fudge was perfectly willing to let that occur.

Before they could spend any more time on it, the Irish mascots took to the field showering the fans with "gold coins". Harry shook his head and did not join what seemed like everyone in the stadium as they scrambled for the coins.

This caused Hermione to look at him with an unasked question on her lips. Before she could voice her question, Harry decided to pre-emptively answer it for her.

"I mean it can't be actual gold coins now, can it? That much free gold would crash the banking systems. Cannot imagine the goblins or any shopkeepers would be excited if that much gold flooded the markets. Plus I think I had read something about Leprechaun gold somewhere. I believe it disappears after a couple hours."

Hermione looked at him clearly impressed by his reasoning, before asking the most obvious follow up question. "Ooo which book?"

"Hogwarts: A History, of course." Harry laughed, "No I am kidding, I had started reading a book on magical creatures for one of our reports for Lupin last year, while it did not have any information for the report I found the passages about leprechauns pretty interesting."

Ron was the only one who was close enough to them to hear this conversation and his face slowly transformed from pure happiness into that of betrayal as he eyed the gold in his hand.

"But maybe it is real stuff, right?" He asked hopefully from his knees.

"Sorry Ron but I think Harry is right, being able to give away that much free gold would be incredibly detrimental to banks and would hugely devalue money, making it worthless. I…" Hermione paused and once again gave Harry a look signifying she was impressed with him, "agree with Harry's logic, that is very likely fake gold. Although I have never heard of this leprechauns gold …"

Harry smirked at the sound of a little bit of jealousy in her voice, as if the mere thought that Harry had read something that she did not know about was unfair.

Hermione continued ignoring Harry's smirk. "As I was saying, even though I have never heard of leprechaun's gold, it makes sense that this…" Pointing at the gold in front of them, "cannot be real."

Ron looked at his hands, unwilling to fully believe what they were saying. Before mumbling quietly to himself. "Well if this turns out to be real, I will be the one laughing."

Harry smiled at his friend before looking to Hermione and slightly shaking his head letting her know that he was positive of his assessment. Eventually it appeared most of the fans settled back into their seats; Harry could only spot a couple of areas where it looked like fans were fighting over a believed fortune that was within their grasps.

As Bagman began introducing the players, Harry was incredibly focused on how they flew, impressed with how natural they made flying look. Harry knew that he was completely comfortable on a broom but these individuals made it appear as if the broom was merely an extension of their consciousness and body. Each appeared to behave exactly how they wanted to, starting when they wanted, banking how they wanted, and stopping exactly where they wanted. Harry reflected on the fact that he would give just about anything to have the opportunity to fly with such skilled figures.

As the game began, Harry's amazement of the players only increased. He remembered being in awe of them before but even with a couple of years' experience, the players on both teams were just so much more impressive than any flier Harry had ever seen before. While he reasoned some of that might have been due to the fact that all these players were on the Firebolt, this was such an impressive display of skill and tactics. However, Harry very quickly ended up coming to the same conclusion he had previously, while all of these players were leagues better than anything Harry had seen, the three Irish Chasers were clearly significantly better than their counterparts on the field.

However, as impressive as they were Harry knew that the most impressive flier on the field was indeed Victor Krum. Knowing how the match was going to turn out, Harry focused his attention on Krum and watched as he was actively scanning the field for the Snitch. Harry knew that certainly he himself was more passive in his search of the Snitch while playing, preferring to fly to a great height and peer down upon the game before using his superb flying ability and reflexes to get to the Snitch before his competition. But he was truly impressed with how active Krum was, he was flying in between the Beaters trying to distract their focus from the Bludgers, he was flying near the Irish Keeper any time his team got control of the Quaffle in an attempt to take attention off the play. Krum was truly trying his hardest to make up for the deficiencies of his team as they were already down 30-0 but even with all that going on Harry saw that his eyes never stopped scanning for the Snitch. Harry noticed that the Irish Keeper must have realized that Krum was better than he was and seemed to be tailing Krum for any indication that the Bulgarian Seeker had spotted the Snitch. Harry saw that the Irish Seeker started to aggressively follow Krum and try to knock him off his broom, realizing that Krum would be the only chance Bulgaria had to win and if he could keep him occupied until there was at least 150-point lead the Bulgarians would not stand a chance in the match. As Harry was focused on Krum, he witnessed the moment when Krum realized what his counterpart was up to and therefore Harry was able to witness in live time the exact moment Krum decided to perform the Wronski Feint and as such watched the entire sequence ending in the Irish Seeker requiring first aid.

As the mediwizards rushed onto the field during the time out, Harry was replaying the events that had just occurred. When all of a sudden Harry startled, as he remembered that during the excitement of the game a certain someone used the distraction to grab his wand. Harry panicked and tried to stealthily reach back and feel for his wand…he released a huge sigh of relief when he realized the wand was still there.

Looking onto the Quidditch pitch, Harry saw that the mediwizards had just reached the victim of the Wronski Feint and Harry realized he had some time before the match would resume.

Leaning over to Ron and Hermione, Harry said, "Excuse me I'll be right back just going to run to the loo while I have a chance."

Hermione nodded while Ron looked as if Harry was mad for even thinking about missing one second of the match, even though it was on a time out.

Harry excused himself as he made his way to the box door and then ran out of the room towards the privy (that he had noticed had been right outside the box, when they were making their way to their box seats). So relieved that he was still in procession of his wand at this point, Harry did not notice that someone was watching him exit with a glare on their face, before getting up themself, unnoticed by those around them, and following Harry out of the room.

After making it to the lavatory, Harry stood in front of the mirror and shook his head. While technically no one was hurt with his wand, Harry realized that if he prevented Barty Crouch Jr from setting off the Dark Mark possibly there was a chance he could prevent panic and fear that erupted at the sight of it. As such Harry removed the wand from his back pocket realizing that was a very dumb place for it in the first place, even if no one stole it the wand was liable to get damaged or result in him accidently losing his buttocks, smiling as he remembered the warning he would receive from Moody the following year. As Harry securely put the wand in his front pocket, Harry determined that when he went to Diagon Alley next, he would buy a wand holster.

Feeling more confident about the current situation Harry took a step out of the privy and found himself looking directly at the tip of a wand, pointing at his face.

An icy voice advertised the presence of someone else in the hallway, "Potter…"

Recognizing the voice and mentally kicking himself for letting his guard down. Harry responded, "Hello Draco, what seems to be the problem?"

Seeing Draco's relaxed grip on his wand, Harry was pretty confident that even Draco would not do something so foolish as attack him in their current setting but was mostly likely doing this for show and in an attempt to intimidate him or goad him into doing something foolsih.

"Surely you wouldn't curse me right in front of the box seats that contain the currently contains two Ministers of Magic, a plethora of other high ranking Ministry workers, and your father, in a building containing possibly the largest collection of magicians that I can think of. There is no way this will end up going well."

Draco neither lowered his wand nor tightened his grip but rather responded, "Seeing as you started this Potter, I would have imagined you were hoping to have a fight."

Harry froze and looked at Draco in confusion, "I started this? When? I have not talked to you all summer and all I said…" He paused and he realized that of course Draco would not have believed Harry was being sincere when he greeted him when his family entered the box.

"Aye Potter, you try to taunt me in front of my family, your friends, and the Minister of Magic and you are surprised now? Pathetic!"

"Draco, I promise you I was not trying to taunt you. While I do not suppose we will ever become friends I am merely tired of us being enemies and was attempting to publically bridge the divide."

Draco looked at him thoughtfully for a second before scoffing, "Oh ya and why would St. Potter want to ever be friends with someone like me, I still remember first year when I tried to extend friendship to you."

Harry cringed remembering the moment Draco was referring to, "I am sorry for that, I was a kid being thrown into an entirely new world. You had the privilege of being raised in a magical family, where I had never even known magic was a thing until I got my letter. You had insulted the first person who had ever been nice to me and I tried to come to his defense."

After seeing, the way Malfoy senior had treated his wife Harry realized he probably had a chance to connect with Draco or at least attempt to have him understand a little more about him. "I am not sure what the magical world actually knows about my life, but my life was not really what was portrayed in those stupid books. I was raised by my muggle aunt and uncle and they hated magic with a passion, and as such they hated me for who I was and for the thought that they might not be able to control me one day." Harry paused, for a second seeing Draco look at him, a look of understanding starting to appear on his face, before he managed to school his emotions and adopt his usual sneer of disdain.

"My uncle and aunt take pleasure in abusing me." This statement broke through Draco's façade and his eyebrows shot up as he angrily looked back towards the box. "It was this summer that I realized that I was going to change the way I act and change what I do. Again, while I do not see how you and I can become friends I do not want to spend effort in fighting with you Draco. I have a feeling I might not be the only one who has had a hard life. I do want to apologize for how I responded to you before sorting. And hope that maybe we can start again."

"But I am sure that the Quidditch match is about to re-start and I have a feeling that this will be one exciting ending. Personally I have a substantial bet on the outcome at simply ridiculous odds and would like to see how I do."

Seeing that Draco made no move to confront or stop him. Harry sidestepped him and continued down the hallway to the box, entering just as he heard the whistle blow to reinitiate play. Harry made it back to his seat, both his friends nodding at his reappearance. Several minutes later, out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw when Draco re-entered the room and sat down beside his parents.

Harry's focus was very quickly brought back to the match as he saw the leprechauns and Veela begin their fight in the middle of the pitch.

Harry watched as Krum once again took a Bludger right in his face and shook it off as half the stadium was crying foul. However, Harry froze as it appeared that this time, Krum was the first one who noticed the Snitch, taking off in a near vertical climb. And as if, to confirm his guess Harry caught a flash of gold through his Omnioculars about 5 broom lengths ahead of Krum. The Irish Seeker must have realized this was no feint but by the time he clued in was falling more and more behind.

Harry took a quick look at the score board: 160 Ireland – 10 Bulgaria and promptly froze, realizing this was not how it had happened the last time. If Krum caught the Snitch they would be tied and by the looks of it Krum was gaining on the Snitch.

Fortunately, for the Irish, one of their Beaters also saw what was happening and happened to be in a perfect position to launch another Bludger from behind Krum on an intercept course to the streaking Seeker.

The world seemed to slow down as several things happened all at once. Harry approximated the path of the Bludger and realized that it would definitely connect with Krum on his current course before he got to the Snitch and from the look of it Harry felt it would collide with his head from behind as he had no way of seeing the incoming projectile. The next thing that happened was the Snitch immediately and abruptly changed direction from going straight up to proceeding forward for about 5 yards and then plummeting straight down towards the pitch, unfortunately this was just outside of Krum's reach and caused Krum to go rocketing by. As the Snitch shot by him, the Irish Seeker realized that he was back in the chase and would have a huge distance advantage as Krum was forced to come around. While almost the entire arena was focused on the Irish Seeker now gaining on the Snitch Harry was focused on Krum as he started rotating on his broom so he was hanging off it upside down before pulling the nose sharply towards the ground. While his intense momentum pushed him into his broom, this prevented him from flying off his broom, or colliding with the Bludger that flew past the Bulgarian Seeker by less than a foot, and allowed him to rejoin the chance for the Snitch much quicker than any other player.

"Oh my God, Harry that was your move!" Hermione shouted to be overheard over the roar of the crowd.

The last thing that Harry realized is that Bagman became very animated announcing the play-by-play.

"Krum with a spectacular manouever, never seen anything like it before today! But look at that! At the opposite end of the pitch, the Bulgarian Chasers, no doubt inspired by their Keeper are mounting some offense. Dimitrov to Ivanova to Levski back to Ivanova over to…oh no it was a fake! Ivanova still has the Quaffle, she's all alone and the Keeper is badly out of position. She throws the Quaffle…and…OHHHH did you see that save. Ryan out of nowhere with the save! BY THE FINGER TIPS! I'm telling you boys and girls that was a desperation save if I ever saw one. He has possession of the Quaffle and looking for an outlet."

At that moment, Bagman and the rest of the stadium realized that Krum and Lynch were in a race to get the Snitch.

"Looks like the Seekers are racing for the Snitch. This is no repeat Wronski Feint, even my ole Beater eyes can see the gold flashes of the Snitch from here. Krum is pulling even with Lynch! A little bit of jostling, good for the game I say,…ooo what a narrow miss… as both Seekers narrowly manage to avoid the Irish Chasers, as they are heading towards the Bulgarian end with the Quaffle. Looks like Krum is pulling a little ahead of his Irish counterpart…"

Harry was on the edge of his seat, frantically looking back and forth between Krum and Lynch battling for the Snitch, as they approached the ground, and the three Irish Chasers expertly maneuvering around the Bulgarian team as they approached the Bulgarian goal posts. All of a sudden the entire stadium seemed to go quiet as everyone watched Krum get clear of Lynch, less than 15 feet above the ground and start to reach out to grab the snitch at the same time that Moran threw the Quaffle towards the goal posts.

After the brief moment of silence, the entire Stadium erupted into pandemonium as it appeared that Krum grabbed the snitch at the same time the Quaffle flew through the goalposts.

Unsure what he had just seen Harry looked over at Ron, whose face wore a look of equal confusion.

"What happens now?"

"Did that really happen…"

"At the same time…"

"I've never seen anything like that."

Harry and Ron traded back and forth excitedly trying to understand what happened.

Their conversation was overridden by Bagman, once again making his voice heard over the din.

"There is no better ending that could have been imagined for this match. I personally think…ah hell even I do not know what to think. I have never in my entire career seen such an ending! You were all treated to history! No matter what side you were cheering for. The referee and goal judges will be up here in a second to let us know what actually happened. Did Krum catch the Snitch before The Irish Chasers scored, if so Bulgaria managed to tie the game and we are off to sudden death…or did the Chasers score seconds before the Snitch was caught in which case the Irish will win outright! I am on the edge of my seat, I have honestly never seen anything like this, much less at a World Cup match!"

"Ah after what looks like a semi lengthy discussion and after what looked like consulting with the time keeper, they appear to have determined what happenws, bear with me folks we will know in a second."

This did anything but calm the crowd as the volume of cheering and jeering increased to a point where Harry wished he had brought along his earmuffs from Herbology, if they could stop the cries of Manadrakes surely they would be at least a little helpful here.

The main referee and two line referees flew up towards the box, stopped in front of Bagman, and proceeded to have an animated discussion that lasted for several minutes. Finally, they broke apart and Harry was only able to catch the last words of their discussion.

"Are you sure?" Bagman asked.

The referee nodded and they proceeded to fly back down to the field.

Bagman tapped his neck with his wand before starting once again.

"You ladies and gentlemen have truly been treated to a never seen event which is unlikely to ever happen again." He paused for a second, ever the showman, letting the crowds grow silent. "Have just consulted the referees and they are positive as to what had occurred. By a mere fraction of a second…30 milliseconds to be exact…the Irish Chaser managed to score." Pausing again, letting the fans realize what he had said. "Ireland wins. Ireland has won the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. Ireland has beat Bulgaria 170-160, with Krum catching the Snitch a fraction after the winning goal. No one could have predicted this!"

If Harry thought the stadium was loud before, he had been sorely mistaken, Harry watched, as the stadium appeared to shake under the combined noise being generated. All of a sudden footage from what appeared to be an official's Omniocular was projected onto the scoreboard, slowed down for clarity showing the Quaffle entering the center hoop just as Krum's hand began to close around the Snitch.

"It is not often I am at a loss for words but let's have it for the Bulgarians on a hard fought match." Bagman congratulated as the Bulgarian players were invited into the top box.

The Bulgarian players were congratulated by Bagman and the two Ministers, before being directed to the edge of the box.

Harry could have sworn he saw Krum look directly at him and nod. Harry was confused as he was almost positive that there was no reason that Krum should recognize him.

His pondering was cut short as Bagman then called up the Irish team and presented them with the World Cup. The applause and a cheering thundered throughout the stadium and Harry noticed that the gold glow that seemed to suffuse the stadium intensified, making everything look that much more majestic.

The Irish team took the cup and began another lap of the stadium much to the fans delight.

Harry watched as Fred and George leapt over their seats and headed towards Bagman, no doubt to collect their winnings.

Harry looked over to Ron who was in shock at the ending.

"There has never been an ending so close, that was unbelievable. Krum was so close to having tied the game. I can't believe we got to watch this. This is possibly the best moment of my life…well until of course we end up playing professional Quidditch, right Harry?" Ron asked with a huge smile on his face.

They watched the stadium began to empty, letting most of the others from their box exit before they started heading towards the stairs.

Walking down the stairs, chatting with Fred and George who were downright chuffed with their betting success. Harry was still a little confused as to why there had been the small difference in the ending of the match although he thoroughly enjoyed the ending, noting that it was even more exciting than last time. Harry smiled, happy with both the outcome and realizing that at least that he had managed to prevent Barty Crouch Jr from obtaining his wand.

At that moment, Ron stopped in front of him on the stairs frantically patting himself down, clearly looking for something but coming up short. "Ugh oh." He said panicked. "I can't find my wand. I could have sworn I brought it with me to the match."

Vukk – looks like the outcome did not change, although the how they got there was slightly altered. My story is going to be canon compliant until Harry does something that would result in a change in the original timeline. I wonder what happened that caused the game to proceed a little differently

Lucy – Glad you enjoyed the chapter, I have a love hate relationship with Ginny. I personally think she has great potential as a character (youngest sibling in the Weasley family, secret Quidditch star, quite skilled at hexes, …) but thought the way she was mostly written (especially the relationship with Harry, for the most part) did not do her justice

Zega606 – Oh the bet reveal will be coming up, trying to focus more on events that drive the story along, but when I write I find the need to set the stage either for the plot or the characters, working on balancing that out

Kind Regards,

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Again appreciate all feedback whether positive or positive! Haha but seriously constructive criticism or suggestions are welcome!