Sighing wearily, Dumbledore waited until his boy for the World Cup, before going up to his room and putting on his ICW robes. Once done he held his wand high and focused his power at the tip, before slashing down and opening his subspace locker.
Holding his hand out, he summoned his time turner and threw the chain over his neck. Before he used the device he let his eyes be drawn to the wards visible outside his window, even from a distance they appeared to be a solid wall of magic.
When the mithril wards had first been set up, he and Alastor had gone all out trying to break them. But no matter how much magic they threw at it, their spells just collapsed on contact. Satisfied that his home was sufficiently warded, he spun the time turner a couple turns and swiftly apperated to his meeting before he could be found by his past self.
Harry didn't truly appreciate the size of the world cup stadium until he stood at its entrance, where it loomed high above him and stretched out to both sides. Having realised he had fallen behind, he quickly sped up to catch up with Gilderoy and his group.
When he used his mage sight he was surprised to see the entire structure bathed in blue light, all except for the bright red ward at the roof that stopped rain getting in and the snitch getting out.
At first he thought one man had built the entire stadium, but he was able to count over a dozen different blue signatures before he forgot which shades he had already counted. It prompted him to wonder if the ministry had chosen people because of the colour of their magic, if it was random or if people with blue magic were more likely to be skilled in construction.
The result was that it made it very easy to spot the signatures of the Hitwizards and Aurors hidden around the stadium, along with the group in front of him. While the stadium wasn't as powerful or old as Hogwarts, it was still a marvel of magic.
"The majority of the stadium was carried over from the previous World Cup in Canada, however all the enchantments and wards are 100% British wand work." The tour guide said proudly. Harry largely let the woman's words wash over him, transfixed by the stadium itself and the layers and layers of magic imbued into every single steel beam.
Eventually they were led to a giant walkway that ringed the top of the stadium, where several people were setting up giant cameras. Their arrival was initially unnoticed, until a woman with blonde hair set in elaborate curls spotted them and made her way over.
"Gilderoy! How lovely to see you, we weren't sure if you would be coming."
"Rita, please, nothing would keep me from coming to watch." The two were grinning wildly, although Harry suspected both were forced, which made him wonder why they bothered.
The woman then turned to him, her eyes briefly flicking up to his scar. Sticking out her hand, she boldly said "Rita Skeeter, The Daily Prophet. But of course you knew that already."
To be polite, Harry took the hand and returned his own greeting. "Harry Potter, but of course you knew that already."
Skeeter started laughing outrageously, with Lockhart joining in. Harry grinned in response, while internally he was cringing painfully. He knew from Lockhart that it was all basically politics, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"And who's this?" Skeeter eventually asked, indicating an uncomfortable looking Tonks.
"Auror Tonks, I'm Harry's guard." She replied stiffly.
"Really? Tonks… any relation to Healer Tonks, disgraced daughter of Cygnus Black?" As she spoke, Skeeter's eyes scanned Tonks in obvious disapproval, which Harry found rude. Especially since Tonks was effectively just wearing a more femenine and darker version of his own outfit, which hadn't garnered much interest from the reporter.
"My mother." If her glare was anything to go by, she had also spotted the look.
"Fascinating! Any chance of an interview? I imagine being the Auror guard for The Harry Potter must give you some fantastic stories, I'm sure my readers would love to learn more." Seemingly from nowhere a vivid green quill and notebook appeared and hovered close to Skeeter, which started writing frantically.
"Now now Rita, Harry is under my protection, which extends to Ms. Tonks." Lockhart still sounded jovial, except there was now a hint of steel behind his voice, a strength Harry had never heard before.
In response Skeeter huffed angrily and snapped her fingers, prompting the top page to rip itself out of her notebook and set itself on fire.
"Yes well, I'd love to talk but I can't leave my crew for long. Goodness knows what they might decide to film without my supervision."
When she was far enough away, Lockhart cast a fairly powerful secrecy charm, which Harry instinctively made stronger.
"You mustn't tell anyone, but Rita is an illegal animagus. I discovered it years ago when she was investigating the validity of my books, leaving us in a sort of stalemate."
While it was interesting to see the stadium from the 'Heights', which Harry learned was the name for the walkway technicians used to film and light the stadium, the press box was far more interesting. For a start, it was almost completely enclosed and had several photos of previous world cup winners hanging on the walls.
But despite the walls, he could easily see the entire pitch. Directly across the stadium he could just make out another box which seemed to be the same size, except for their decorations being purple and gold instead of plain red.
With a sigh, he collapsed into the nearest chair, which felt heavenly after such a long walk. The cushions alone would've made it comfier than the plain wooden seats for the common seating, but the plethora of cushioning charms meant it felt like he was sitting on a cloud that constantly shifted to keep him comfy.
Before he knew it, he was forced to leave his new favourite seat and led to a new room, where several bored players were gathered round a depleted buffet table.
"Evanna!" Gilderoy exclaimed happily, causing one of the Irish chasers to look up and smile broadly.
As the two talked merrily, Harry took the time to look over the other players. It seemed they largely kept to their own sides of the table, although the Irish keeper was playing some sort of card game with a Bulgarian chaser. Off to one side, a rather surly looking Bulgarian was reluctantly answering a reporter's questions.
"That's Viktor Krum." Tonks hissed excitedly, speaking so quietly Harry doubted anyone else would hear them with all the commotion going on.
"Who is?" He vaguely recognised the name, but he had no clue what the man looked like.
In reply Tonks pointed to the surely Bulgarian, which unfortunately coincided with the man looking over. Giving an undignified 'Eep', Tonks dived behind Harry and hid her face in his back, which meant she missed Krum's grin. Cheerfully, Harry nodded towards the seeker, who nodded back before wearily turning back to the impatient reporter.
Tonks remained behind Harry for the remainder of the meet and greet, which of course gave Harry plenty of reasons to tease her. As for Gilderoy's friend, it turned out she was a fan of his books, so several years ago she had sent him a free ticket in return for a signed book.
According to Moran, the two had quickly bonded due to "shared interests", although neither seemed inclined to fill him in on what those interests were.
Harry didn't realise how much time had passed, until they left the stadium and saw the sky beginning to darken. With that thought in mind they hastened back to the tent and made dinner, which revealed Gilderoy was actually quite skilled with the camp stove.
Then as dusk rolled in, they made their way to the big top for the final circus show of the day. It was the first circus performance he had ever seen, which definitely met his expectations.
It started in darkness, where only his mage sight allowed him to see what happened. Two wizards walked into the centre of the ring covered by disillusionment charms, then two spot lights came down on them as they removed the charms.
Instantly a chorus of drums started from above the audience, the instruments enchanted to play themselves. To Harry, it felt like the stands were shaking under the intensity of the war drums. Underneath the music, a faint stream of magic settled over the audience, like a low powered cheering charm.
Then to the beat of the drums, the two wizards began their routine. One was dressed in pale blue robes, with giant waves rolling inside the fabric and white dragon-skin trousers.
His partner on the other hand had dark brown robes with embers floating inside, with dark grey trousers. As one they raised their wands at let released a stream of water and fire respectively, which quickly formed into twin Chinese dragons.
The dragons circled each other and slowly rose into the air, until their tails were level with the top most row of chairs. Then they lounged at each other, tearing great chunks out with billows of steam, which rose even higher until it hit the roof of the expanded tent.
Finally the two reared back then shot forward, the fire dragon diving into the water dragon's open mouth, only for the pair to explode into even more steam.
Unseen, a wave of transfiguration magic cooled the steam and turned it into pure white clouds.
With the steam cleared, the spotlight moved up to illuminate a witch standing at the very top of the tent, this one dressed in a bright red jacket, yellow skirt with beige trousers. Strangely, she held a short staff in place of a wand.
Then to the combined amazement of the audience, the woman jumped and fell down in a perfect dive. As she fell waves of magic left her and pulled the clouds towards her, until she was completely hidden. Feeling the magic building, Harry knew something was going to happen moments before the clouds exploded outwards.
To his amazement, the witch was no longer free falling, instead she seemed to be riding the final cloud the same way a muggle rode a surfboard. Then she started twirling her staff and to the constant beat of the drums thrust it towards the clouds that had begun to reform.
Every time she pointed, a spear of magic would shoot out and force the cloud to take the form of small horses, which galloped through the air and slowly lowered themselves onto the arena floor, all the while orbiting the witch.
With only a few feet to go, the witch let her cloud dissolve, easily landing on her feet. The act continued from there, with the three performing increasingly impressive magic. As he watched, Harry took careful note of how they cast their magic, in the hope he would eventually be able to replicate or surpass it.
But their act wasn't just magic, they also displayed acrobatic feats that would be impossible for a muggle to attempt. During these feats their magic would be wrapped around their muscles, which was either a subconscious reaction or an alarming amount of control over their magic.
Finally they ended their performance by coming together and turning into a giant dragon, that reared back and shot a wave of fire into the air. The fire then started turning into a fierce tornado, which was strong enough for Harry to feel his dragon-hide coat flutter.
Then, the tornado instantly turned to water, dropping over the dragon and briefly hiding it from view. It took less than a second, but during that time the dragon had vanished completely, along with the three performers.
Taking that as their cue, the audience rose as one and cheered wildly, with Harry and Tonks joining in eagerly. When the house lights illuminated the stands the audience started to make their way out, leaving the few stragglers behind.
Being one such straggler, Harry was able to see the water slowly make its way into drains around the edge of the ring. With the water gone he was able to see the faint levitation and disillusionment charms that had presumably been cast while under the cover of water.
"Well, that was great! What now?" Tonks asked the moment they left the big top, their path lit by tiny floating flames.
"We could go back to the tent and get an early night, although a lot of the attractions stay open long into the night. There's the trade stools, although tomorrow is normally the best time for trading, the Hecate marquee normally has a band playing till at least two in the morning and then there's the arena."
"The arena?" Harry asked curiously.
"It's basically a bunch of ranked duelling pens, where a witch or wizard can prove their skill."
He wondered how he would fare against professional duellists, especially if he could secretly use his mithril to give him an edge. Unfortunately Tonks saw his look and decided to intervene.
"Oh no! I'm here to keep you out of trouble and I can't do that if you're inside a duelling pen. Besides, you're too young."
"They don't have to know how old I am! Or I could tell them who I am, it's about time I use my fame for something good." He said jokingly, unwilling to actually use his fame in such a way.
"I would advise against it, it would look bad if you got in on your name then lost… and if you won then it would make everyone else look bad, which would earn you a lot of enemies." Gilderoy said, in a tone that was clearly meant to be wise.
"And the fact he's too young, that might be another reason to advise against it." Tonks said dryly. "Of course, if you did win they would want to know how. Probably demand to see everything you used too."
"How about we go to the Hecate marquee?" Harry asked suddenly, hoping to change the subject.
"Sure, although you might want to think about putting on a disguise while there." It was always impressive to see Tonks sound excited while still being protective.
Lockhart was about to volunteer to apply the disguise, when Harry pulled back his sleeve and pressed two fingers against the watch face. Instantly a wave of magic spread from the watch and gave his skin a soft tan, then turned his hair to sandy blond while also making it shorter.
In total the change was completely finished in just two steps, just slower than Tonks doing a full body change. Despite this, he was still unhappy with the watch.
The latest improvement was the magic going deeper into his body, subtly changing his voice box to give him a deeper voice. Grinning at Gilderoy's disbelieving look, Harry started on his way to the marquee.
Inside the marquee, she danced by herself, a subtle notice-not charm ensuring she was undisturbed. On the other side of the floor she could see her parents making fools of themselves, while laughing the entire time. She knew her aunt was off somewhere, probably flirting, while her cousin was 'exploring the grounds' with his girlfriend.
Her grandparents had retired back to their tent back when the sun had started to set, taking her sister with them. When a hush fell over the tent, she looked and was surprised to see Gilderoy Lockhart enter, following a witch with bright pink hair and a rather good looking wizard.
The three made their way to the bar, while she made her way off the dance floor to better watch. By then people had gotten over the shock of Gilderoy Lockhart appearing in their midst and the noise level had grown to the point it was impossible to hear anyone.
Despite this she found herself watching them intently, particularly the wizard in the middle, who looked like he could've been Lockhart's son. But the way the witch and wizard interacted showed they were clearly siblings and she doubted Lockhart had two children and kept it a secret.
When the three ordered drinks, she turned around and went back to dancing, only to be startled by a tap on her shoulder moments later. Turning back around she was surprised to come face to face with the blond wizard from the bar, bright green eyes meeting her own dark blue.
Smiling brightly, the man held out his hand, clearly inviting her to dance. Looking into his eyes she saw no ill-intent, or any affect from her allure. Deciding to be adventurous, she smiled back and took the hand, instantly feeling a shiver spread from her hand across her entire body.
As they danced along the floor, she let herself relax into the music and get lost in the rhythm. Due to her close proximity to the wizard, she could easily feel his power brushing against her own. It felt like an oncoming thunderstorm, making her skin tingle.
He was not the best dancer in the world, but he was already her favorite dance partner. He carried himself with a confidence previous partners had lacked, something she found extremely attractive. Strangely, he smelled like lightning and metal, a combination she hadn't encountered before.
She lost count of how many songs they had danced through, until she grew aware of how dark it was outside and how much her feet ached. Exhausted, she dragged her partner off the floor so that they could talk.
"I've got to go, will I see you again?" She asked awkwardly, unused to being the one to ask.
The wizard grinned happily, taking her hand and raising it to his lips. "I would love to, I'm not sure what we are planning to do tomorrow, but I suspect it will be going through the stalls, then obviously the match. I'm planning on being here the day after the match though."
Mentally filling the information away while also keeping back her blush, she eagerly replied. "That would be great, but if we don't see each other then would you consider occasionally writing to me? I'll be at Hogwarts for most of the year."
"It would be my pleasure, I'll make sure my crow knows who to send the letters to."
Reluctantly, she turned to go before remembering a crucial detail. "My name's Fleur by the way, Fleur Delacour."
"Harry. Till we meet again, Fleur."
This chapter is named after the Jamie Berry song 'Lost in the Rhythm'.
Things I think need explaining in this chapter:
- Firstly, in case it wasn't obvious, the wizard Fleur dances with is Harry.
- I added the bit with Dumbledore going to the ICW (International conference of wizards) meeting because there was apparently a meeting around the World Cup and I wanted to explain how Dumbledore was able to attend similar meetings while still being around Harry so much. I don't see him using the time turner as being a secret from Harry, it's just something Albus feels like doing.
- I've said it before, but much like Tony Stark, Harry is constantly upgrading his stuff. However due to his requirement of Mithraite he's mostly doing his mithril in the 'background'.