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!


Harry was smiling as he let his friends control most of the conversation. Much preferring how they used to converse, compared to once they all ended up on the run hunting horcruxes.

Unknown to anyone on the fields though, was that while Harry was watching his friends with a smile plastered on his face. An individual sat in the top corner of the stands with a hood completely shadowing their face, firmly watching Harry...however on their face...was definitely no smile.


Stopping only to pick up the cash prizes for their runs, their group of three wandered throughout the field checking out the course from different angles. Eventually they made their way back to the stands and took a seat to watch the obstacle course being flown.

They saw some really good runs, including one individual, who Ron stated played for the English international team, who completed the course in 37 seconds flat. But Ron and Hermione agreed that no one came close to matching the skills that Harry had displayed. Although there were a couple individuals who had attempted to copy Harry's maneuver, not a single one managed to successfully pull it off. Usually the individual would slightly lose control of the broom during the roll and end up brushing into the ring of flames or the individual would just time the maneuver completely incorrectly and miss the ring entirely. The sixth individual who attempted to copy the move ended up spinning wildly out of control before totally losing their handle on the broom and had been flung through the air, only to be stopped with a cushioning charm before hitting the ground. It was at that point individuals must have realized how much skill was necessary to actually execute the maneuver and as a whole collectively decided it might not be worth attempting. That being said they did see two more attempts but those individuals were overly cautious and missed the ring entirely so had to fly around and fly through normally.

During one of the lulls in the conversation when Ron was narrating the proceedings, Harry looked up at the scoreboard. And while he smiled at seeing, Potter, atop the board for the day, he noticed that in 49th place, just three spots ahead of Ron's time of 59:58 was another Weasley at 59:55.

"Hey Ron, check out the leaderboard at 49th!" Harry pointed out.

Ron swung his attention from the course to the leaderboard before pausing, no doubt looking for the line.

"Oh wow didn't even think to look up at the list for one of my brothers. He must have run the course while we were grabbing our winnings. You reckon that was Charlie?" Ron asked, before continuing, "I mean I know Fred and George are good Quidditch players but they aren't known for their speed and they fly exactly the same. I imagine if not identical times, they would probably be seaparated by less than a fraction of a fraction of a second. Wow, I cannot believe I almost beat Charlie; he was the Quidditch captain for Gryffindor you know, also a seeker. He is good on a broom, really good; I can not believe I was almost as good as him! Wow!"

Harry and Hermione congratulated their friend whose expression indicated he was lost in thoughts of flying for Gryffindor one day.

Eventually though they decided to move on and check out a couple of the other events before heading back to the tent to start getting ready for the match tonight. The first stop was the bludger tent, where after watching the first competitor immediately get crushed by two bludgers coming from opposite directions before even managing to lift his bat, they decided to move on immediately without even trying. Quite confident in their decisions.

After grabbing a little snack at one of the booths, they joined the crowds around the quaffle accuracy toss. Ron and Harry debated for a little while about entering but both agreed that this was not a skill they really practiced. While they watched, they did get to see all three of Gryffindor chasers attempt it though. The best of which was Angelina who managed to score all 10 of her shots in 18.49 seconds.

Ron nudged Harry and pointed to the leaderboard where he saw Johnson appear in the 7th position on the leaderboard. "Hey Harry check that out, looks like Angelina just beat out Charlie." And sure enough as Harry looked right below Johnson, he saw Weasley with 10 shots in 18.50 seconds.

Together Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved over to join Katie and Alicia as they waited for Angelina.

Harry greeted them "Hey girls, you all did really well. But wow Angelina really came out to play, she looked better than I've ever seen."

Katie spun around and smiled in recognition when she saw Harry, "Oh, hey Harry! How has your summer been? Have you tried any of the events yet, we were going to head to the obstacle course next if you wanted to join us."

Ron began to reply, "We just came from there and you will not believe..."

Katie interrupted him, "Sorry Ron, actually maybe you three should head out while you have the chance. Angelina had found out she was named Quidditch captain and has been talking our ears off, with new strategies and practice schedules. I didn't think I'd ever miss the days of Oliver, ...but...maybe he wasn't that bad."

Harry paled at the thought of someone being more a more intense captain than Oliver Wood.

Deciding to take his teammates warning to heart. Harry nodded his head, "Well now that's a scary thought, thanks for the warning. Hope you three enjoy the match, see you at school!"

With that, Harry led Ron and Hermione out of the crowd and started to head back to their tent. Ron was initially disappointed before Hermione pointed out that this would mean they would have more time at the vendor booths before the match.

Ron nodded his head agreeing with Hermiones logic, since it was quieter away from the crowd he began to question Harry about his run, asking why he did this at a certain point or why he tried tried that. He was particularly pleased when Harry told him that the inverted roll move was inspired from watching Ron's run. Although Harry saw a little flash of jealousy when Ron commented that he wished Harry had run it first, so he would have had a chance to see that move and copy it.

As they got closer to their campsite the conversation started to drift from his performance on the obstacle course to the upcoming game. And Harry was perfectly content with that, as he wanted a little bit of peace to reflect on the run. He still could not believe he had flown as well as he had and was still trying to understand what led to the run.

Harry chuckled dryly to himself. No doubt if Angelina was worse than Oliver, he might need every advantage he could get for next year. And he imagined that any improvement in his flying might make a certain upcoming task easier to accomplish, as he figured the chance of avoiding what was in store for him this year to be minimal.

As they rounded the bend and came in sight of the tent. Ron took off running forwards, no doubt seeing the twins in front of the fire chatting with Bill and Charlie.

Harry and Hermione joined an animated conversation right as Ron was describing Harry's inverted maneuver.

"I mean I did good, actually really good. Actually I finished only 3 seconds behind you Charlie. But Harry flew upside down through the hoop in order to keep tight to the broom and improve control heading to the finish line".

Everyone stared at Harry, and Charlie broke the silence, "Wow, Harry that is really impressive I saw that time on the leaderboard when we had lined up and wondered if it was a mistake or someone else. My brothers have often mentioned how exceptional you are at Quidditch but that is truly incredible. Your time was better than several international Quidditch players and national racing individuals. Congrats! Although just a heads up, a story like that is bound to end up in the newspaper, probably sooner rather than later."

Everyone nodded along. Bill even going as far as reaching across and patting him along the back.

Charlie continued with a smirk, "Although little brother I think there is a mistake, I had a good run but was really proud of my time of 1:02:32."

Ron blinked and looked at the twins, "Oh wow, congrats to one of you then, I definitely would have thought you would have gotten the same time. Who was it? Fred? George?"

Laughing together, "Nope, it was not us little Ronnie. We were ..."

"...coming off the course right as you ..."

"...line up. We waved but you rudely ignored us..."

"...and for that, there may be pay back."

Ron paled hearing that.

"But was not us..."

"...we actually finished with identical times of 1:22:22..."

"...You should have seen the judge, he thought he was seeing double."

Ron looked confused as he looked over to Bill, "Oh wow, I thought you were bollocks at flying,...". Ron shut his mouth as he realized what he said out-loud, causing everyone to laugh.

Bill chuckled, "Well I am not that bad but certainly flying is not my forte. No little brother that was not me."

Ron looked around very confused, glancing from brother to brother before his eyes settled on the tent flap which had just opened as his dad and a smiling Ginny walked out of the tent.

His jaw dropped to the ground and he uttered, "No way. You aren't even good enough to play with us back home."

The campsite was immediately quiet as everyone looked between Ron and Ginny.

Ginny's smile had disappeared as she retorted, "Well apparently I am, and maybe if Charlie wasn't the only brother who actually took an interest in me as a person, you'd have known that as well." She then turned around and stormed into the tent.

"Oh shit, Ginny I am so sorry that's not what I meant. That came out wrong." Ron uttered, jumping up and heading towards the tent.

He opened up the flap before dropping to the ground as he dodged a spell that flew out over his head and harmlessly collided with a tent across the pathway. Ron quickly ran into the tent before he could be hit by a follow up spell.

Harry looked around the circle as everyone awkwardly looked back and forth before the twins broke the tension addressing Charlie.

"While certainly tactless ..."

"...Ron has a point. That run time was..."

"...world class. Seriously we watched professional Quidditch players put up worse times..."

"...when did she get so good?"

Charlie looked back and forth between them before answering, "Ginny was right you know, you all have been ignoring her and it hurt her. She wanted nothing more than to feel like part of the family and fit in. Rather than just be "The Weasley Girl", so she's been coming to me for years to teach her to fly. Honestly, she's a natural. Much better than I was at that age. She has a future in front of her if she applies herself. Maybe give her a chance and you'd be surprised."

Looking properly chagrined all of the Weasleys present looked around at each other refusing to make prolonged eye contact, each appearing to be embarrassed at their behavior.

After what felt like the world's longest awkward silence, Ron came stumbling out of the tent and fell on his behind being chased by a bat.

"Ok, ok already. I am terribly sorry that was downright rotten thing to say and I am a git. Please would you stop this hex? I surrender." Ron pleaded!

This caused everyone to break into laughter and the tension was further reduced when Ginny came out smiling.

"That is right you are a git, I expect to be a captain next time we play at home and maybe if you are lucky I will let you play on my team". Ginny said as she reversed the hex.

At that point, with the tensions diffused, and Ron looking properly abashed, the rest of the Weasley siblings made their apologies and were only too open to making sure she felt welcome to join their Quidditch matches at home…especially once Charlie let slip that it was also Ginny that had set one of the high scores at the quaffle accuracy toss.

After the excitement of Ginny's flying ability reveal wore off, the Weasleys, along with Harry and Hermione, eagerly tucked into their meals all trying to do their best impression of Ron, in an attempt to finish quickly so they could start getting ready for the game.

Without surprise, Ron was the first one finished, miraculously managing to finish his large plate of food while apparently managing to avoid breathing. He quickly disappeared right into the tent followed one at a time by his siblings as they ended up finishing. Eventually it was just Harry and Hermione around the fire finishing their plates.

Hermione looked at Harry, "I wanted to say something earlier but I wasn't sure how Ron would take it. Sometimes it's a little hard sharing stuff with him, and now in between his love of Krum and the fact that sometimes he can get a little jealous over what you achieve, I wasn't sure how to phrase it, but I think you could have beaten Krum's time." She stated plainly.

Harry almost choked on his food, "Wait…what…how? I was flying as well as I could. I cannot imagine I could have shaved even more time off. If anything I am surprised I was that good, part of me still wonders if there was a time keeper's mistake."

"Oh I don't believe there was anything wrong with your run or at least I sure don't know where you could have improved while flying. But I had watched the dozens of runs that occurred before you went, including Ron's, and I can tell you for a fact that every single one of them had a better start than you did. It almost looked like you were surprised to start. And whereas every other run that went against Krum's apparition fell further and further behind as the race progressed, you were the only one to actually make up the distance as the run went on." Hermione stated confidently. "Even I could tell that was more than a run 'almost as good as Krum's'".

And with that Hermione got up and headed to her tent to get changed, leaving Harry sitting there with his mouth partially open, reflecting on the run. He knew he had startled slightly when the broom vibrated and he did not think to start flying until he saw Krum's apparition gaining space in front of him.

Harry stayed that way, deep in thought until Ron burst out of the tent in a thoroughly green outfit.

"Oy mate, if you don't get a move on you'll miss the match. And I am not waiting around forever for you to get ready."

With that Harry smiled and shook his head, thinking that sometimes Ron had his priorities straight and that it was important to live in the moment. With that thought, Harry took off towards the tent in an effort to make sure he did not miss the match.

Eventually, everyone was ready to head out, of course this was helped by the fact that, three separate times Ron had stuck his head back into the tent to urge everyone to hurry, the last time he was joined by the twins who shared Ron's priorities at the moment. As a group, they took off towards where Mr. Weasley indicated the stadium was. Joining a large crowd of eager fans, they slowly made their way forward. Each step their anticipation rising, each step the cheering getting louder.

When they neared the base of a structure that could no doubt be the Quidditch World Cup Stadium, Mr. Weasley leaned in close and shouted to make himself heard over the din. "Our entrance is right there, why don't we plan to enter in 30 minutes? Until then you can all go check out the booths. I am unsure if you will be able to access the box without me, even if you have your tickets, so don't dawdle, off you go!"

With that the group dispersed; Harry, Ron, and Hermione heading off towards the nearest booth. To check out the ware and buy mementos.

As their imposed time limit neared, they started heading back towards the entrance. Harry had once again managed to convince his friends to let him buy them omnioculars, this time letting Ron know he owed him part of his winnings over the inspiration of the last move. After weighing the merit of that argument, Ron decided that it was reasonable and very happily accepted the gift.

They were about 10 yards from Mr. Weasley before Harry heard a vendor yelling out, "Officially sanctioned World Cup Betting - Make your bet, best odds available!"

Harry smiled, pausing for a second, before tapping his friends on their shoulders. "I'll be back in a second, forgot that I had wanted to get your dad something for bringing us to the match."

Ron turned around, "Oh no do you think I have to get him something, as well."

Harry laughed as he turned around, "I am sure you are fine Ron. It's more because he saved me from the rest of the summer with my family."

Harry took off to where he figured he had heard the betting vendor call out from. The last thing he heard over his shoulder was Ron grumbling to Hermione, "So help him if he makes us miss the game."

Harry quickly tracked down the betting booth and made a bet on Ireland to win but Krum to catch the snitch. He then decided to out-do the twins and included betting that the final score was going to be 170-160.

This caused the wizard to raise his eyebrows, "Boy you do realize that if any condition of the bet isn't met you lose your wager".

"Aye I do."

"And you aren't a seer are you? That is a pretty specific bet."

Harry laughed at that, "The only person I know who claims to be a seer is probably a quack. But for what it's worth, if you knew of my inability to avoid danger and misfortune you would definitely believe that I am not a seer."

The vendor laughed, "Seers are quacks! Ain't that the truth, I once saw a lady predict my mothers upcoming death, even offered to not charge us unless it did indeed come true. Fifteen years later the lady came around after my mother passed away of old age. The loon wanted us to pay, and with interest as she said her warning gave us time to prepare for the passing and make sure her affairs were in order… But even if you had The Gift" he chuckled before continuing, "there is technically no rule against it, except it being theoretically poor form."

"Ok I will just need you to sign this release form for Gringotts stating that if you win the bet, we are able to deposit the winnings directly into your account but if you lose, the wager will automatically be withdrawn. And for your sake kid I sure hope you have the money in your account, the Goblins definitely do not take kindly to people defaulting in monetary transactions and from my experience that goes double when it concerns gambling. Well best of luck and I hope you enjoy the match. Here is your receipt should there be any trouble."

Harry grabbed his receipt and quickly made his way back to the entrance arriving just as Bill and Charlie did.

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.


Kind Regards,

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