Chapter 5:

Dominique woke Hermione, Skylar, Nick and Leon all up around seven o'clock, enough time for them to get dressed, have breakfast, and pack a small bag for the night. Nick took the longest to get ready, for reasons Hermione was told by Skylar were because he was collecting sweets for Fred and George which they'd left here for him to bring. Then the four of them trudge out into the backyard, Dominique closing the door behind them with Midori waving them off. Nathaniel was waiting for them on the grass of the miniature quidditch pitch the Rosenwalds had with a plain, dented bucket in his hands.

"Right, everyone gather round, Hermione, you just need to touch the Portkey, a finger will do." She nodded and all of them placed such on the cold metal while Nathaniel looked down at his watch.

"Ready… three… two… one."

It happened instantaneously. The feeling of a hook just behind the navel had been suddenly jerked irresistibly forward. Their feet all left the ground and were bumping into each other's shoulders from those beside them. They were all speeding forward in a howl of wind and swirling colour, their fingers stuck to the bucket as though stuck by an extremely strong glue. And then all of their feet hit the ground. Dominique and Nathaniel were the only two to stay standing, Nathaniel with the bucket still in his hands, while the four children all staggered and crashed over into the ground amongst one another.

"Eight-forty-five, Rosenwald Portkey?"

The children all looked up to a pair of tired and grumpy-looking wizards, one of whom was holding a large gold watch, the other a thick roll of parchment and a quill. Both were dressed as Muggles, though very inexpertly: The man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes; his colleague, a kilt and a poncho.

"Basil, going alright?" Nathaniel asked.

"Nathaniel, on duty or here for the match?"

"Both, incidentally." Nathaniel admitted with a sigh.

"How long have you two been on for?" Dominique wondered, looking at them both.

"All night. Now, your campsite is… Rosenwald…" He consulted his parchment list. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. By the Weasleys, they're already here."

"What time did they arrive?" Skylar asked.

"Seven past five."

"Poor kids." Nick sighed.

"Wonder if they'll have had some breakfast?" Leon frowned.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. Come on then." Dominique smiled. "Thanks Basil."

They set off across the deserted moor and walked for about twenty minutes. Eventually, a small stone cottage next to a gate swam into view. Beyond it and shining in the morning sunshine, were hundreds and hundreds of tents, rising up the gentle slope of a large field toward a dark wood on the horizon. The three children gapped at them in amazement as they all approached the cottage door.

"Look at them all." Nick grinned.

A man was standing in the doorway, looking out at the tents. The three Rosenwalds all shared a look at the sight of the muggle. It seemed strange to have them about with all these wizards appearing, he likely would think them all very odd.

"Morning, Mr. Roberts I presume." Nathaniel greeted.

"Morning, made a booking I assume."

"Yes, Rosenwald." Nathaniel nodded.

"Aye," said Mr. Roberts, consulting a list tacked to the door. "You've got a space up by the wood there. Just the one night?"

"Yes."

"You'll be paying now, then?" said Mr. Roberts.

"Yes." Nathaniel repeated.

Skylar nudged Hermione. "You may want to just check he gets it right…" she mumbled frowning. Hermione smiled and nodded before gratefully helping out the man. As it was, Nathaniel had prepared himself rather well and only asked her to confirm he had it right, which he did.

"Very impressive Mr. Rosenwald."

"Last thing we need is to draw more suspicions." Nathaniel smiled as they received the cash, a map of the campsite, and they headed off through the gates and between the tents. As they trudged through the rows of tents, it was clear that no ordinary people were inhabiting them. Hermione looked at them all rather surprised.

"Gosh, aren't they supposed to be blending in?" She asked.

Some of the tents were rather simple, clearly trying to fit in, but had added additions such as chimneys, bellpulls, or weather vanes. Then there were tents that were so obviously magical it was definitely against the security rules. Halfway up the field stood an extravagant confection of striped silk like a miniature palace, with several live peacocks tethered at the entrance. A little farther on they passed a tent that had three floors and several turrets; and a short way beyond that was a tent that had a front garden attached, complete with birdbath, sundial, and fountain.

"Aren't they supposed to be conspicuous?" Nick asked with an amused raised eyebrow.

"Unfortunately if you hadn't noticed, wizards can be show offs, especially when surrounded by so many others." Dominique chuckled.

They continued on until they reached the very end of the wood and found the Weasleys with Harry. They were sitting outside two already structured tents with a fire in front of them. It looked like they were planning on cooking, though they were waiting for everything to cook. Bill, Charlie and Percy were all yet to arrive it seemed.

"Morning Arthur." Nathaniel greeted as the balding, red-headed wizard got up to shake Nathaniel's hand.

"You sure did have a better arrival time alright." He nodded.

"Basil said you guys were here at five a.m. You alright?" Skylar asked, grinning.

"Oh ha, ha, rub it in." Ron grumbled.

"Must've sucked for you lot." Nick sighed mockingly. The twins shared a look before grabbing a stick and pulling on one of Nick's ankles, causing him to fall backwards with a cry.

"Hey! I brought your sweets for you, remember!" Nick snapped as everyone laughed.

"Our tent's here Nate." Dominique said as she was standing beside a sign that read 'Rosenwald', an empty space behind it.

"Right." Nathaniel removed his rucksack and pulled out a folded up tent. He put it on the ground and flicked his wand.

"What happened to no magic!?" Fred demanded.

"I don't think you'll ever find dad playing with muggle things." Leon admitted.

"He'd get too frustrated." Skylar nodded. "So, you guys have been here for ages, what've you done?" She asked excitedly.

"We went and collected water and found quite a few people." Ron confessed.

"We saw Seamus amongst the Irish supporters, all their tents are covered in green shamrock decorations." Harry admitted.

Seamus Finnigan was a fellow Gryffindor in Harry, Ron, Hermione and Skylar's year at Hogwarts and shared the dormitory with Ron and Harry.

"The Bulgarians however have covered all theirs in posters of their seeker."

"Vicktor Krum?" Leon beamed and Ron nodded.

"Who?" Hermione asked. Skylar sighed heavily.

"Krum!" said Ron. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker! He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

"Anyway, we saw them when collecting some water and we saw lots of people on the way back." Harry said. "We even saw Oliver Wood." Oliver had been the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, though last year had been his final. "He's now playing for Puddlemere United's reserve team."

"Of course he would go into Quidditch." Leon chuckled.

"We saw Ernie Mcmillan, and Cho Chang." Ernie was a Hufflepuff in their year, while Cho Chang was the seeker for Ravenclaw and a year older.

"And there were students from other schools too it seems." Ron added.

"No surprise, people from all over the world are here, remember."

"And we've been watching Ministry people arrive since." Fred sighed. "Dad's been pointing people out."

"Seems the apparation point is in the wood there so they keep passing us." George pointed to it beside the tents.

"I feel like we missed out." Skylar said, frowning.

"Don't complain." Ron said before he yawned. "It wasn't that interesting."

"You know Arthur, you don't have to follow the rule of no magic all the way to food, if you do it in your tent, no muggle can see it." Dominique smiled.

"Pretty sure he just wants to play with muggle things." Skylar muttered.

"Should have seen him with the matches." Harry smiled.

"What?" Leon and Nick chorused as Hermione chuckled.

"Care to join us then Nathaniel, Dominique?" Arthur offered.

"Delighted too." Nathaniel walked into the tent, was gone for a moment, before he pulled out several chairs and sat them around the fire with the Weasleys and Harry.

"Been informing Harry of different Ministry workers and their department." Arthur said.

"Yes, come midday, we have to join the security watch, keep an eye on everything." Nathaniel sighed.

"You won't miss the game will you?"

"Oh god no." Nathaniel chuckled.

"We wondered if you'd just watch our three and Hermione while we're busy for the afternoon though beforehand?" Dominique smiled.

"Of course!" Arthur smiled.

Nathaniel was greeted by a man and then Dominique by a woman and Arthur pointed out who they were to Harry and Hermione quietly as the adults chatted.

It continued like that before the fire was hot enough for sausages and eggs to be cooked upon it. Skylar, Nick and Leon were all greeted by many of the officials that stopped to greet their parents.

It wasn't till they'd started eating that Charlie, Bill and Percy all came strolling out of the woods toward them.

"Just Apparated, Dad," said Percy loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"

They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Ludo Bagman was easily the most noticeable person so far. He was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal stripes of bright yellow and black. An enormous picture of a wasp was splashed across his chest. They were his old quidditch robes from when he had played for England with the Wimbourne Wasps as a beater. He definitely looked like he had once had the build of one, he was a powerfully built man gone slightly to seed; the robes were stretched tightly across a large belly he surely had not had in the days when he had played Quidditch for England. His nose was squashed, but his round blue eyes, short blond hair, and rosy complexion made him look like a very overgrown schoolboy.

"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. He was walking as though he had springs attached to the balls of his feet and was plainly in a state of wild excitement.

"Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "Nathaniel, Dominique, great to see you both! What a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming… and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements… Not much for me to do!"

Behind him, a group of haggard-looking Ministry wizards rushed past, pointing at the distant evidence of some sort of a magical fire that was sending violet sparks twenty feet into the air. Nick was snickering with the twins as Skylar rolled her eyes. Leon looked greatly up at the man in his old robes, wanting to probe him with all kinds of questions about his quidditch days.

Percy hurried forward with his hand outstretched. Apparently his disapproval of the way Ludo Bagman ran his department did not prevent him from wanting to make a good impression.

"Ah — yes," said Mr. Weasley, grinning, "this is my son Percy. He's just started at the Ministry — and this is Fred — no, George, sorry — that's Fred — Bill, Charlie, Ron — my daughter, Ginny — Obviously you know the Rosenwalds, Nick, Skylar and Leon, and Skylar and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."

Bagman did the smallest of double takes when he heard Harry's name, and his eyes performed the familiar flick upward to the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Everyone," Mr. Weasley continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets —" Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing.

"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he said eagerly, jingling what seemed to be a large amount of gold in the pockets of his yellow-and-black robes. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first — I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years — and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a week-long match."

"Oh… go on then," said Mr. Weasley. "Let's see… a Galleon on Ireland to win?"

"A Galleon?" Ludo Bagman looked slightly disappointed, but recovered himself. "Very well, very well… any other takers?"

"No." Leon, Nick and Skylar all chorused instantly, in much surprise to everyone else. Nathaniel shot them all a look and they glanced away from their father and back to their food.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Skylar and she gave him a 'tell you later' look.

"They're a bit young to be gambling," said Mr. Weasley. "Molly wouldn't like —"

"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," said Fred as he and George quickly pooled all their money, "that Ireland wins — but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand."

"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that —" Percy hissed, but Bagman didn't seem to think the wand was rubbish at all; on the contrary, his boyish face shone with excitement as he took it from Fred, and when the wand gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman roared with laughter.

"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"

Percy froze in an attitude of stunned disapproval.

"Um, you really don't want to do that." Skylar said.

"Fred, George, really, I wouldn't." Nick agreed.

The twins waved them off.

"They're doomed." Leon sighed.

"Leon." Dominique warned. Leon gapped at being the only one called out.

"Boys," said Mr. Weasley under his breath, "I don't want you betting… That's all your savings… Your mother —"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" boomed Ludo Bagman, rattling his pockets excitedly. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance… I'll give you excellent odds on that one… We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we…"

Mr. Weasley looked on helplessly as Ludo Bagman whipped out a notebook and quill and began jotting down the twins' names.

"Cheers," said George, taking the slip of parchment Bagman handed him and tucking it away carefully. Bagman turned most cheerfully back to Mr. Weasley.

"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."

"Mr. Crouch?" said Percy, suddenly abandoning his look of poker-stiff disapproval and positively writhing with excitement. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll…"

"Anyone can speak Troll," said Fred dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt."

Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look and stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil.

"Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Mr. Weasley asked as Bagman settled himself down on the grass beside them all.

"Don't suppose she turned up in Australia yet." Nathaniel chuckled. Dominique however looked more serious, though Nathaniel was blowing it off for the conversation.

"Not a dicky bird," said Bagman comfortably. "But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha… memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."

"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Mr. Weasley suggested tentatively as Percy handed Bagman his tea.

"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," said Bagman, his round eyes widening innocently, "but we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh — talk of the devil! Barty!"

A wizard had just Apparated at their fireside, and he could not have made more of a contrast with Ludo Bagman, sprawled on the grass in his old Wasp robes. Barty Crouch was a stiff, upright, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting in his short grey hair was almost unnaturally straight, and his narrow toothbrush moustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule. His shoes were very highly polished. It was easy to see at once why Percy idolised him. Percy was a great believer in rigidly following rules, and Mr. Crouch had complied with the rule about Muggle dressing so thoroughly that Skylar would never have picked him out of a crowd of Muggles as a Wizard.

"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him.

"No thank you, Ludo. Morning Nathaniel, Dominique." said Crouch, nodding his head to the two who nodded back. There was a bite of impatience in his voice that said he wasn't here for conversation. "I've been looking for you everywhere." He said to Bagman. "The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."

"Oh is that what they're after?" said Bagman. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."

"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of half-bow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh," said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes — thank you, Weatherby."

Nick, Fred and George choked into their own cups. Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.

"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur," said Mr. Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon Mr. Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."

Mr. Weasley heaved a deep sigh.

"I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"

"I doubt it," said Mr. Crouch, accepting a cup from Percy. "He's desperate to export here."

"The last thing we need are flying carpets flying through the air." Nathaniel added with a shake of the head.

"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" said Bagman.

"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle," said Mr. Crouch. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve — but that was before carpets were banned, of course."

He spoke as though he wanted to leave nobody in any doubt that all his ancestors had abided strictly by the law.

"So, been keeping busy, Barty?" said Bagman breezily.

"Fairly," said Mr. Crouch dryly. "Organising Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."

"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" said Mr. Weasley.

Ludo Bagman looked shocked.

"Glad! Don't know when I've had more fun… Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organise, eh?"

Mr. Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman.

"We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details —"

"Oh details!" said Bagman, waving the word away like a cloud of midges. "They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts —"

Skylar, Nick and Leon all shared a high five and the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry all raised an eyebrow at them.

"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," said Mr. Crouch sharply, cutting Bagman's remarks short. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby."

He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily.

"See you all later!" he said. "You'll be up in the Top Box with me — I'm commentating!" He waved, Barty Crouch nodded curtly, and both of them Disapparated.

"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" said Fred at once. "What were they talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough," said Mr. Weasley, smiling.

"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."

"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said Fred.

"We're having a tournament at Hogwarts." Skylar smiled and everyone looked at her.

"And what would you know about it?" Percy questioned, looking annoyed.

"I'm a legilimens Percy, you gave it away the moment you thought about it." Skylar shrugged.

Percy looked beside himself.

"What tournament?" Ron asked.

"Nope. It's a surprise."

"And mum and dad said we couldn't tell you guys." Leon added.

The Weasleys all turned to Nathaniel and Dominique who were grinning in amusement.

"Right well, we have to get to work," Dominique said, standing before any of the children could continue the conversation. She turned to her husband who sighed. He too got up. "We'll see you all later, all of you, be good for Arthur." He pointed at his children. They all drew crosses over their chests where their hearts were before their parents disapparated.

"Why don't you just tell us?" Fred asked.

"Cause it ruins the fun." The three chorused.