Romina wasn't ashamed to say that she liked the act of revenge...but she also hated karma. Because karma now made it so that instead of getting letters from Draco constantly begging her to change her mind about their bet, he was now sending her letters of him boasting about his triumph over her. She owed him a favor and he was making sure that she remembered. Romina hated his guts and wished she could see him again just to smack him. She didn't stay silent, no way. She responded to each of his letters with her own comebacks and promises that she would get him back for all this mess.
Arden saw some of those letters one afternoon in Romina's bedroom. Romina was going around packing a few things in a suitcase while Arden laid on the former's bed reading the letters like they were hers.
"You guys are so competitive, truly not well for your health," she remarked.
Romina scoffed. "Stop reading those, they're not yours."
"Au contraire, mon cheri," Arden said, raising her head for a moment to flash a smirk at Romina. "Like my French?" Romina rolled her eyes and returned to her closet.
Figured I should learn some since you're French now."
"Technically speaking, I've always been French, I just didn't know about it. Now would you please put those letters away? If aunt Sage or uncle Lyonel see them, they'll find out about everything."
Arden figured Romina was right and folded the letters again. "So what have you been telling them since these letters started showing up so often now?" She slid the envelopes underneath Romina's pillows.
"Nothing specific. Lots of people write to me so it's not like they suspect anything." Romina came back to the suitcase on the foot of her bed and slipped in another pair of jeans. "The only owl they recognize are my grandparents', Rolf's and the Weasley's."
"Ooh, better for us, I guess. We'd be dead if they figured out what we made Draco do. But I guess the punishment came with it, huh?" Arden let out a dramatic sigh. "We can never tell anyone about it. Harry would've loved it."
Romina nodded but, unlike Arden, she wasn't that sad they couldn't tell Harry about it. Harry would have had a field day with the idea of Draco being forced to spend an hour in the muggle world. It was just best to keep the animosity between him and Draco as low as possible.
"So, when are you leaving then?" Arden said as she peeked inside Romina's suitcase. "Are you and Harry going together to Ron's?"
"Er, no," Romina gave a shake of her head. She left her packing and walked over to her window that gave a view into the street. She couldn't of course get a good sight of Harry's house but she still tried. "Ron's dad is coming to pick him up at the Dursleys'."
"What?" Arden made a face, confused. "Why?"
"Well, the Dursleys are already on the fence about all the magic stuff so aunt Sage and aunt Lyonel want to stay out of it. Better for me to quietly make my way to the Weasleys'."
"Guess that makes sense," shrugged Arden.
"So I'll be leaving tomorrow morning instead, stay with them for a few days and then come back home. Harry'll stay at the Burrow until school starts again."
"Oh, good for him," Arden nodded. "Make sure to tell me how it goes then."
"Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"Nah! Just have fun and definitely stay away from Pansy Parkinson if you see her."
Romina laughed.
~ 0 ~
It was too early. Way too damn early.
Why'd I even say I was coming? The same thoughts ran through Romina's head while she mindlessly ate her breakfast at the crack of dawn. You don't even like Quidditch that much! Why'd you say you were coming? She barely registered aunt Sage telling her to be on her best behavior before she was shuffled into the fireplace. It was just so early.
Yawning and with her eyes half shut, she stepped into the Weasley's overwhelming living room and right into another mess of people being woken up and yelled at by Mrs. Weasley. Apparently, a lot of the others were thinking like her in that it was too early to be doing anything. It also sounded like the twins were already up to something.
When Mrs. Weasley saw Romina standing in front of the fireplace half asleep, she greeted the girl with a tight hug and guided her to the kitchen where the others were.
"When'd you get here!?" Harry said excitedly.
"Uuh, couple...minutes ago..." Romina yawned and languidly sat down in an empty chair. "Remind me again why we have to be awake so early? I hate you for making me come."
Across the table, the twins scoffed and reminded her that she'd chosen to come.
"Shut up," Romina then said and thanked Mr. Weasley, who sat at the head of the table, for inviting her over. "I just don't like mornings...or dawn..." She said after, making the adults chuckle.
Since she had already eaten breakfast, she got to lay her head on the table and take a short nap while the others finished. She was rudely awoken when Mrs. Weasley started yelling at the twins again about some things she pulled out of them with her wand.
"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted indignantly as the little things, which looked a lot like candy to Romina, went flying straight into the trash bin.
"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"
"I'm confused, what were those?" Romina said, standing up as the others were doing the same around the table.
"We'll tell you later," Hermione said as she quickly pulled Romina with her.
They grabbed their rucksacks and headed out. Romina tugged her sweater closer around her because the air was still ever so cold. They had just made it over the crest of a hill when someone called for Mr. Weasley.
"Arthur! It's about time, son!"
"Amos!" Mr. Weasley greeted as he led the group towards another man waving at them. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric, right?"
"Hi," Cedric greeted them all with a kind smile. His eyes landed on Romina specifically, to which the girl smiled right back. She still remembered his kind words about her from the last time they'd spoken. Unlike the rest of the school, he didn't look at her name, just her.
"Long walk, Arthur?" Mr. Diggory asked as Mr. Weasley.
"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"
"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still . . . not complaining . . . Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons — and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. . . ." Mr. Diggory took a look at the crowd of teenagers around Mr. Weasley. "All these yours, Arthur?"
"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley, pointing out his children. "This is Hermione and Romina, friends of Ron's — and Harry, another friend—"
"Merlin's beard," Mr. Diggory's eyes widened as they landed on the brunette in question. "Harry? Harry Potter?"
"Er — yeah," said Harry, shifting on his feet. Oh, how he adored being the center of everyone's attention...
"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year. . . . I said to him, I said — Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will. ... You beat Harry Potter!"
"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," said Cedric, who looked slightly embarrassed. "I told you...it was an accident..."
"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you? Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman . . . but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"
Cedric looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now.
"Think we should keep going or something," Romina cut into the conversation and tapped a finger against her non-existing watch on her wrist. It prompted the two grown men to keep leading them towards the portkey.
"Life saver," Cedric mumbled to her as he walked alongside her.
"You're welcome. You can pay me back later," she chuckled.
They eventually came to the spot of the portkey, which turned out to be an old boot.
"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do—" Mr. Weasley started explaining to them as they gathered around it.
Even then, with all the focus in the world, their landings were less than graceful. A full cake of grass met most of their faces. But, at last, they were a massive field that stretched God knew how long. Tents by the thousands were already standing in place.
"You alright?" Cedric, who had landed on the ground perfectly like his father and Mr. Weasley, held a hand out to Romina on the ground.
"Oh yeah, no way better to start the day than with a face full of dirt..." Romina grabbed Cedric's hand and was promptly pulled up to her feet. "Does wonders for my skin. Muggles pay for that, you know."
Cedric chuckled. "No they don't."
"Yes, they do. It's called a mud mask."
Their conversation was cut short as they were once again shuffled towards some way by the adults. As they reached some cottage, the Diggorys parted ways with them. It was then that Hermione and Ginny came to flank Romina.
"Uuh, when and how did you manage to pull that?" Ginny's voice was sharp with curiosity as they watched the Diggorys' figures disappear in the distance.
"Excuse you, he's like 4 years older than you," Romina snorted. "Down, Ginny." The redhead rolled her eyes. "And it's not like that. Cedric's very nice and he was still like that while almost everyone else was making fun of me for my name."
"Yeah, but I bet it's always a pleasure to spend time with a guy like that," Hermione smirked. "You were walking very close to each other, and the whole time too!"
Romina rolled her eyes. "You couldn't be more wrong. He's cute but that's about it."
"Oh please," they heard one of the twins scoff up ahead.
"Don't start," Ginny warned them, "You're just mad that Cedric beat Harry in that Quidditch game at school."
"It wasn't a clear win and everybody knows it!" George said with a huff.
"Well, as long as you're not bitter about it," Romina muttered.
After meeting with some poor obliviated Muggle by the name of Mr. Roberts, they were set to find their rented tent in the fields. Everyone who was already there was clearly in the party mood. Music played loudly in the air, people flew back and forth above them on brooms, and there was a strong scent of various foods being prepared.
The inside of their tent turned out to be far bigger than what it appeared on the outside. It was a splash of color everywhere, almost like the entire rainbow had thrown up inside. Mismatched furniture adorned the area but it all looked incredibly comfortable.
"Girls. Choose a bunk and unpack," Mr. Weasley instructed them. "Ron, get out of the kitchen we're all hungry!"
The twins had made themselves comfortable at the kitchen table, feet propped up and arms behind their heads. "Yeah get out of the kitchen Ron!" They chorused together.
Mr. Weasley walked past them, motioning to their feet. "Feet off the table!"
"Feet off the table!" They repeated, pulling their feet off until their father left.
"I love magic," Harry remarked with a light chuckle.
"Harry!" Ron called as he made his way to the other side of the tent. "You can sleep over here!"
Harry nodded and made his way to the bunk to unpack what he had brought. From their spot, he and Ron could hear the endless giggles of the girls not too far from them.
"Listen to them," Ron said, crinkling his nose, "Bet they're going on about Diggory."
"Sheesh, Ron, didn't know you could be that jealous..." Romina had come out of their side to smirk at the ginger.
"It's not jealousy, it's annoyance," said Ron in a mutter.
"Don't know about what since Cedric's literally never done anything to you. Is there any dinner yet? I'm starving!" And with that, Romina headed into the kitchen.
In the next half hour, the rest of them came to join for some makeshift dinner. It was there that they decided to nitpick the latest news they had discovered, which, unfortunately, meant Romina had to answer a lot more questions about her new family.
"So does this mean you're going to get snooty now that you have more class, Aline?" Fred asked and before Romina knew it,George was at her side, feigning a dramatic bow.
Romina sighed heavily. "Knock it off!" She shoved George away from her and ignored their collective laugh."Shut it, both of you," Ginny told the twins and ordered them to sit down already.
"In reality, we're very happy for you, Romina," Hermione smiled at the girl. "It must be wonderful to have more family. You even have cousins now!"
"Yeah, Rolf is really great," Romina nodded. "I'm excited for this year. We get to see each other all the time and we might even make plans to visit each other at our homes. Rolf wants to see the neighborhood."
"Just keep him away from our block," warned Harry. "Dudley's a menace."
"Yeah, well, I'm a bigger one," Romina said promptly and with a wide smirk. "Besides, maybe with a little help from two certain entrepreneurs, I might get my hands on some enlargement toffees or something...?"
The twins smirked on the spot and declared that it would be their pleasure to assist her in any future plans she had.
~ 0 ~
Many things had happened by the next day's morning. For one, they had all met Ludo Bagman, aka the man who had given Mr. Weasley the extra tickets that allowed them to come. He wasn't very impressive, at least not to the girls who thought it was a waste of time placing bets and all on the outcome of the game. Since the twins had placed almost, if not all, their winnings, they promptly told the girls to mind their business. Ron's older brothers had come to join them by lunchtime. Bill and Charlie were very much cool and fascinating to the teenagers, save for Percy of course. He was still a stickler as ever.
They had also met Barty Crouch, Percy's boss. Harry had quietly made the joke to the others that Mr. Crouch looked like his uncle Vernon in the suit he was in. Before Percy could get at any of them, Mr. Crouch had called him forward, albeit by the name of Weatherby, which then made all of them, but no one more than the twins, cackle.
Once it was finally time to go, the group got themselves ready and headed out. Every other wizard on site was heading in the same direction, making an absolute chaos. The closer they got to the stadium, the more excitement could be felt in the air. Wizards were laughing, joking, and cheering all around.
Romina was momentarily drawn to the pretty lights in the air that, if anyone asked her, resembled a lot like the twins' fireworks they had talked about earlier. She wondered if they had managed to sneak those in from home. In her distraction, she'd been bumped into by several of the other guests.
"Eughl, watch it!" she scowled at the rude group of teenage girls who, as pretty as they were, seemed like the biggest bunch of—
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"
Romina recognized the voice before she turned around. She couldn't miss the bright blonde hair hair in the midst of the crowd. "Hey," she greeted Draco with a deadpanning look.
"Lost, Oswell?"
"I know exactly where I am, thank you very much. I'm at the World Cup, aren't I?"
Draco rolled his eyes but he still had a cocky little smile on his face. "I see we're still a little, uh, pressed about that thing that happened?"
"No, I'm totally fine. I was actually heading up with my friends—"
"What a coincidence, so was I," Draco said and a few seconds later, Romina heard someone else through the crowd.
"Malfoy, what the fuck? You left me behind and for what?" Theodore Nott was quite literally pushing his way through the crowd until he spotted Draco and Romina. "Oh, Oswell, what a surprise."
"Hi," Romina gave him a weak wave. She hadn't seen him at all through break but like the rest of the boys, he'd also grown several inches over the break. "Am I to expect Blaise and Angel too?"
"Nah, Angel's gone for Brazil and Blaise couldn't come," said Theodore. "Our families were invited by Cornelius Fudge," he gestured between himself and Draco.
"Congrats?" Romina said questioningly.
"Don't be sarcastic now, I'm not your enemy," Theodore said with a smug smirk.
Romina figured Draco must have already told everyone by know about their second bet.
"But trust me, I'm your biggest fan," Theodore said, bringing a hand over his chest. "Getting Malfoy over here to actually go to your muggle neighborhood was gold. Truly never letting that go."
And just like that, Romina liked Theodore again. "Well, it was one of my finest moments..."
Draco glared at them both. "Shut it," he ordered them. "Before my parents hear—"
But just like before, Romina couldn't not spot the same bright blondes in the crowd growing closer. "If you want things to stay quiet I suggest you stop talking," she told Draco quickly before his parents caught up with them. It wasn't just them, though. Romina spotted another man walking with them — tall and with a familiar complexion. It had to be Theodore's father.
"There you are," a woman whom Romina presumed was Draco's mother said to him and Theodore. "You got too far ahead."
"Sorry mother, we just saw a friend of ours," Draco said and motioned to Romina who, for some reason, was flushing. He gave her an odd look for it but didn't point it out.
"Hello," Romina greeted the woman, and the rest of the adults for that matter. "Romina Oswell, nice to meet you, ma'am." Her eyes flickered to Theodore's father and gave him an acknowledging nod.
"Yes, we've of course heard of you," Draco's mother smiled politely at the girl. "Narcissa Malfoy, my husband Lucius and our good friend Mr. Theodore Nott."
Romina's eyebrows raised at young Theodore and just as her lips quirked upwards, she felt the subtle nudge of Draco's elbow beside her. Better not make a comment, she reminded herself. At least not until we're alone. "It's very nice to meet you."
"Nice to see you again as well," said Mr. Malfoy, with a strange smile. "I heard you're associating yourself with a new family? We didn't know you were part of the Scamander family."
"Truthfully, neither did I," Romina said nervously. She wondered exactly how far this news was reaching.
"Well, a word of advice, I would be careful where you shop," Mr. Malfoy's strange smile grew wider. "The Scamander family is renowned for its heroic acts. Unfortunately, I don't believe they would be as understanding as we are."
"Definitely not," agreed Mr. Nott. "It's about agility, Miss Oswell. Something you have yet to master."
Romina couldn't help but gulp. She looked at Draco accusingly.
Mrs. Malfoy suggested they start heading up towards the stairs with the rest of the crowd. While the adults took the lead, the teenagers lingered a few feet behind them.
Romina could only wait so long before she threw her accusations out loud. "You git—you told?"
"Don't look at me Oswell," Draco was quick to say. "I didn't know you decided to make conversation with the actual owners of Borgin and Burkes! Who does that?"
Romina pursed her lips. That may have not been her best idea, she could see that now. "But you didn't have to tell!"
"I didn't!"
"Nobody had to," Theodore said, making Romina's head flip in his direction. "Our parents do trade with the owner. He's a chatty old man."
"So he's blabbing that I went in!?"
"Well, it's not like any of your crew ever go in there, right? Nobody's ever gonna know."
"Yeah, lighten up, Oswell," said Draco. "Everyone upheld their end of the deal. Enjoy the game already. Even from where you're probably gonna watch it. You know you could've just asked, right?"
Romina didn't care much for his smirk and picked up her pace. "I've actually got a great seat. And I should catch up; I've wasted enough of my time with the likes of you." With a huff and her nose in the air, she walked faster up ahead until she was lost in the crowd.
"Does she even know where she's going?" asked Theodore curiously. "I doubt she's ever been to something like this."
Draco shrugged. "Let her get lost."
"Oh, please," scoffed Theodore, "I'm sure there'll be somebody more than willing to help her find her way again." At Draco's questioning glance, Theodore just shrugged. "She looks different, don't you think?"
"I think she looks the bloody same," Draco said flatly. "Definitely the same type of annoying."
"Well, I think Angel would agree with me," Theodore said with a knowing laugh.
Draco did not laugh, nor did he say anything else on the matter.
~ 0 ~
When Romina caught up with the rest of her friends, they were already sitting down on the first row of the top box. Mr. Weasley expressed his concern for her lack of prescence when they had first arrived, and she apologized for getting distracted.
"Please just make sure to stick with one of us, alright?" he made her promise that she would for future moments.
She scooted towards the end where Harry, Hermione and Ron were. They were as concerned as Mr. Weasley had been, curious of where she'd gotten to. Romina glossed over it and soon noticed that there was another house elf sitting at the top of the box with her hands covering her face. It sure helped move things along because Hermione started raging again about how insensitive it was to force a house elf afraid of heights to sit on the highest box in the stadium. Winky, was the elf's name, and she was adamant that she was a good elf who followed orders, unlike one Dobby who, apparently, was demanding he be paid for his service. Romina thought it was funny but didn't dare say it out loud in front of Hermione.
The box was nearly filled, amongst them with the Minister of Magic himself Cornelius Fudge, and the Bulgarian minister as well (who didn't speak English). Romina soon saw problems when the Malfoys and Notts arrived at the same box. It seemed like Fudge was oblivious to the tension between Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy as he addressed them both in casual greetings.
It was a tense stand-off between them as Fudge showed them to their seats which, of course, happened to be behind theirs. Romina looked over her shoulder as both Draco and Theodore sat down behind her.
"This is going to be a long night," she murmured.
"I'll say, your big head's in the way," she heard Theodore remark behind her, followed by the distinctive sound of Draco snickering.
She shot them both a contemptuous look then flipped her head again to face the field. She felt Hermione's hand come over hers on her lap; she was offering Romina a kind smile. It definitely helped.
The game started promptly with Ludo Bagman's arrival. The whole stadium erupted at his introduction, making it a colorful array of flags throughout the whole place. ""And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce . . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"
"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley wondered curiously and leaned forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly pulled off his glasses and gave them a good polish with his robes. "Veela!"
At his exclaim, the teenagers saw what seemed like a hundred of these "veela" glide out into the field. Most of them had never seen "veela" before but they turned out to be very pretty women with white-gold hair and shining skin. A sweet melody started playing with their entrance.
"Woah, what the fuck are you doing, Harry Potter?" Romina didn't hesitate to rip the brunette away from the wall of the box and right back into his seat. He seemed to be transfixed by the sight of the dancing veela.
"They're so pretty Rom..." He said much too eagerly.
Romina exchanged glances with Hermione and Ginny who seemed about the only ones out of their group not to be losing their minds. Ron looked ready to make a dive into the field as well. The twins had the same stupid dreamy grins on their faces. Romina looked back at Draco and Theodore and saw them leaned forward with similar dazed faces.
"Honestly!" Hermione shook her head at them all.
Romina decided to flip her hair over her shoulders in such a dramatic way that it slapped both Draco and Theodore in their faces. "Oops!"
"What was that for?" Theodore leaned back in his seat with the biggest scowl on his face.
"Oswell being dramatic, I'm sure," Draco said and matched Romina's glare with his own. "We were having a good time, you know."
"Oh, we know," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Idiots, all of you," she murmured and fixed herself in her seat. She was very glad when the veela left the field.
"And now, kindly put your wands in the air . . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
Fortunately, the Irish did not have any Veela as part of their introductions. They had lovely green and gold comets zooming around the stadium that hurtled towards the goal posts. A rainbow appared to connect them and soon disappeared, leaving a great shimmering shamrock in the sky.
"Excellent!" Ron cried as the shamrock rained gold coins down on them.
The closer the shamrock was to them, the more clearly they could see that it was actually comprised of leprechauns. Everyone around the stadium scrambled to pick up the golden coins being left behind, including Ron who gave Harry a fistful of them and cried about a christmas present or something.
"Here Oswell," Draco dropped some of the coins over Romina's shoulder. "Maybe you could buy yourself one of those little dried fruits you like so much. Or maybe you could buy one for your Weasley group. They might need it more."
Romina grabbed the coin and tossed it over her shoulder, hitting him in the face with it. She could hear Harry and Ron snickering beside her. "I think I only need one coin to make 'em laugh, so thanks. Theodore, you want one too?"
"I'm good, thanks," said Theodore with his hands in front of him.
"Smart." Romina then held up another coin for Draco to see and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if he wanted another one to his face.
His response was a deep glare.
Ludo started introducing the Bulgarian team now. Ron was very happy about his favorite player, Viktor Krum. He was over the moon really. After the Irish team was brought on, Ludo introduced the referee who then officially started the game.
Though Romina wasn't a huge fan of the sport, she knew a good game when she saw one. These players were clearly professionals as they literally zoomed by after the balls, dodging them and throwing them. They were fast.
The Irish made a goal first. The leprechauns happily rose into the air again and formed a glittering shamrock for their team.
Later, the Iris had made two more goals, leaving the Bulgarians to race to catch up. And soon, they scored their own goal too.
"Fingers in your ears!" Mr. Weasley warned the group as the veela started to dance in the air.
This time, most of the boys stayed bright as ever now that they knew the veelas' tricks. Romina laughed as Harry re-opened his eyes; she supposed it was a good way to ensure that he didn't fall under the veelas' charms.
The bulgarians stayed in control of the quaffle, but now it seemed like the teams' seekers had spotted the snitch. Krum and Lynch zoomed after it like they were diving. Hermione screamed that they were going to crash down on the field. Krum pulled out at the last second, but Lynch went straight down.
It's time-out!" yelled Bagman over the stadium, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"
It was a lot of back and forth for a while, with many more fast-paced tricks from both teams. It got to the point where the referee intervened, which then caused more problems that brought on both sides' mascots. A battle enraged between them involving not so kind words from the leprechauns and more charming dances from the veela.
Romina and Hermione, and Ginny, were not impressed by the sight.
When the game was finally started again, the teams were more furious than ever with their attempts to score. Romina was sure there was a lot more foul play now than anything else. The mascots started again, with the leprechauns forming one giant hand that was very keen on showiing its middle finger.
This time, Romina couldn't help but laugh.
The veelas lost it and went straight for the attack, throwing fire at the leprechauns. Their beautiful figures morphed into very nonhuman features with cruel-beaked bird heads and scaly wings bursting from their shoulders.
While Ministry wizards tried breaking apart the mascot fight below, the game was still going on above. Back and forth went the quaffle, scores being made on both sides. However, with more foul play, one bludge slamming right into Krum's face and breaking his nose. Even then, the game still went on. At some point, the irish seeker Lynch had spotted the snitch and took a nose dive for it. Krum went after him and somehow, Lynch managed to crash into the field yet again only this time since the Veela were still around, they stampeded around him. Krum took possession of the Snitch, but the Irish had still won the game.
"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH — BUT IRELAND WINS — good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" Bagman said what most of them were thinking.
"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron said in the midst of his excited bouncing with applause. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"
"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry had to shout to be heard amongst the applause of the stadium. "The Irish Chasers were too good...he wanted to end it on his terms, that's all!"
"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione leaned forward and watched Krum land to be surrounded by mediwizards. "He looks a terrible mess. . . ."
"This was the most chaotic game I have ever seen," Romina remarked with all the tude of someone unimpressed.
"It's the only game you've seen," came Draco's remark from behind.
Romina spun around that time and swiped some golden coins off the ground to chuck at his face. With all the buzz and excitement of cheers, nobody really noticed her antics. It wasn't until Bagman started re-introducing the teams that Romina gave up and turned back with her friends to continue clapping.
And of course, once the game was truly over, and Bagman was no longer talking to the stadium, Fred and George Weasley were scrambling to his seat with wiggling fingers and wide grins.
~ 0 ~
Later on in the evening, celebrations were still going strong in almost every part of the tents. In the Weasley Tent, the twins were dancing ridiculously in the middle while Ron went on about Krum to the others.
"There's no one like Krum. He's like a bird the way he rides the wind. He's more than an athlete, he's an artist!"
"Think you're in love Ron?" Ginny snickered when Ron hopped onto a chair to make his words better heard.
The twins started mocking him with their version of a song. "Viktor I love you! Viktor!" Even Harry joined in.
"When we're apart my heart beats only for youuu!"
Hermione and Romina shook their heads disapprovingly but nobody could take away their laughter, not when Ron looked so heated.
"Sounds like the irish have got their pride on," Fred remarked after a particularly loud burst from outside.
Mr. Weasley suddenly came running into the tent looking quite frantic. "Stop! Stop it. It's not the irish. We've gotta get out of here. Now!"
The group all looked at each other in concern and with a bit of fright. What could be happening at a time like this? The more they listened, the clearer things got. It no longer sounded like cheering and singing outside. Romina heard distinct sounds of horrific screaming.
Mr. Weasley was quick to get everyone out as he threw out a handful of instructions. "Stick together. Fred, George...Ginny is your responsibility!"
"But what's happening!?" Each of them would ask until they were shoved outside and could see for themselves.
The air was filled with smoke from ongoing fires. People were running all over the place, screaming, as one identifiable group in pointed hoods and flaming torches wrecked the place.
"What are they doing?" Romina was horrified when she saw four bodies in the air being controlled by the same group. She recognized the man as the same muggle they encountered yesterday — Mr. Roberts. With him was a woman and two small children, all with the same terrified faces.
Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Percy emerged behind them from the tent, wands at the ready. "We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley told the teenagers. "You lot — get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"
"Romina, let's go!" Hermione called frantically, trying to tug Romina's arm.
"But—it's a family!" Romina bit on her bottom lip so hard she drew blood in a matter of seconds. The family were muggles, so the hooded group had to be…
"ROMINA!" Hermione finally screamed and yanked Romina with her in a hasty run.
Romina swallowed hard and focused on the rhythm of her running. She couldn't afford to fall and get trampled on. But with so many people doing the same thing, she was bumped and crashed into so many times it was a miracle she hadn't already fallen. She grew alarmed when she no longer saw bright red hair ahead of her anymore.
"Hermione, where are the others!?" she shrieked.
Hermione seemed to be making the same realizations as her face grew more and more pale. "I don't know!"
"What about Harry and Ron? Where are they!?"
"I don't know!"
"Great! So we don't know anything!"
"I know one thing—we need to get out of here!"
Romina would give her that point. They ran into the closest opening of the forest they could find. At least there they would have a chance of hiding and thinking of where to find the others. Though with the darkness around them, it would be hard finding anybody.
"Crazy to think that right now I would really rather be feeding my grandfather's graphorn right now," Romina said to Hermione. With the darkness, she couldn't see the odd look Hermione was sending her.
"Why? So you can complain about it later on like before?" drawled a familiar voice behind the pair.
Romina could laugh at the dumb luck they had. "Oh for God's sake—Lumos!" Her wand illuminated the immediate area and when she, and Hermione, turned around they saw Draco and Theodore leaning against a tree opposite of them. "Bit calm there, aren't we?"
They were pretty much relaxed when there was literal chaos in the area. Draco shrugged, leaning off the tree. "Not sure you're making the right choice again, Oswell. Out of everybody you've ran off with, you chose her." He made a nod in Hermione's direction.
The brunette, in return, glared. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Have you taken a look out there, Granger? Those are Muggles. What do you think I meant?"
Romina peered around the tree. She swallowed hard. The field was much too crowded to identify anyone but she could definitely see the figures in the air. She felt sick to her stomach. "They're...they're death eaters, aren't they?" Her voice shook a bit.
"Yes," Theodore answered her, making her look back at them. "So the smart choice would be to ditch your little friend before you get caught up in this mess."
"Bet you're a little happy you didn't bring King along, though," Draco said, knowing that despite her heavy annoyance she knew that he had a point. He smirked.
Romina air strangled him with her free hand. "Where the hell are your parents?"
"I got a feeling I know where," she heard Hermione mumble.
"Lost them in the run," Draco said quite calmly. "What about you? Weasleys leave you to your own luck?"
"No," Hermione snapped. "We got split up but don't worry, we'll be finding them." She grabbed hold of Romina's arm, dragging the dark haired girl a few steps away when a strong explosion rocked them all on their feet.
"Might be a little hard, Hermione," Romina admitted.
"You're better off splitting up, Oswell!" Draco called to them.
"Shut it!" Romina snapped. She racked her mind for some good options which, admittedly, weren't very many. "Draco," she called suddenly, "Where were you guys going to go?"
"What?" Both he and Hermione sent her the exact same horrific looks.
Theodore looked between with bemusement. "We're not bringing you anywhere."
"Oh, be quiet, Nott," Romina waved him off, "And get real. You two were definitely going to go somewhere—where?"
Even Hermione wasn't all for Romina's plan. She would much rather take her chances in the forest. "Romina, we don't need them!"
"Right now, we need to take anything we can get," Romina said sharply and faced the boys again, more precisely Draco. "C'mon," she sighed, putting her hands together as she walked up to Draco, "For once, just stop being a jerk and help us out. We could die out here. Would you really let that happen?"
"Not you," Draco said with all the ease in the world.
Romina glared incredulously at him. "Oh, how special I feel right now! You idiot!" Without warning, she punched his arm with all her might.
Hermione blinked in surprise while Draco stumbled back, arm clutching what was sure to be bruised later on. Theodore's eyes widened as well but he downright laughed.
"Shut the fuck up, Nott!" Draco said lividly before his eyes landed on Romina. "Who the hell do you think you are—?"
Romina had enough and shoved him away from her. "I can't believe I ever thought you had a shred of decency! Don't you ever talk to me again!" She yelled furiously at him then ran back to where Hermione was, grabbing her hand, and continuing their run together.
Neither girl wanted to admit that they had no idea where they were going but they did agree (silently) that it was going to be better than the field. They held onto each other's hands as tightly as possible because the last thing they were going to do was lose each other amongst the chaos. They bumped into all sorts of people running as well, among those Beauxbaton students who didn't speak a drop of English. They even caught Ludo Bagman who, up until that moment, had no idea what was going on out in the campsite.
Eventually, fate took pity on them and they found—crashed face first—with Harry and Ron.
"What happened to you two!?" Harry hugged Romina tightly. "We were going mad trying to find you!"
"Yeah, where'd you get into!?" Ron was about to hug Hermione but for some reason he decided not to in the end.
"Got lost, that's all," Romina said quickly, making it clear to Hermione that they were going to leave out the small moment they had with Draco. That was fine with Hermione.
"Where are the twins and Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking around the immediate area. There was no one else but them.
"Got the foggiest," Ron said. "We're hoping we can find them when this dies down."
"How is this ever going to die down?" Romina made a gesture towards the noise of the field. "The entire Ministry is probably out there trying to get this—"
They stopped when a particular noise was just too close to them. Uneven steps were definitely close to their area. It turned out to be Winky who, despite wanting to escape the chaos, seemed to be struggling greatly to do so. It got Hermione riled up again about house elves again. They kept running, although Harry was a little slower on account of him trying to find his missing wand. They came to a small clearing that for the time being seemed safe. It was very shortlived as they thought they heard more steps.
"Who's there?" Harry called, bringing both Romina and Hermione behind him and Ron.
Nobody answered him directly. Instead, they all heard a loud scream ring through the clearing. "MORSMORDRE!"
A streak of green energy beamed to the sky. It seemed to glitter in the sky when it exploded to create a shape. They were like dancing emerald stars forming a serpent protruding from its mouth.
"What the hell…?" Romina gulped, taking a step back as if the serpent would come down for them at that very moment.
New screams erupted from the forest. Wherever it was that people had been hiding themselves was gone now.
"What? What is it!? What's going on now?" Harry looked around to make sure his friends were still with him. They were. And they were just as frightened as the others.
"Harry, it's the Dark Mark!" Hermione exclaimed. "You Know Who's sign!"
"RUN! RUN!" was all Ron's head could think of so it was the first thing that came out of his mouth. 'It didn't help that wizards were apparating only a short distance from them, each one with their wand out and aimed right at them.
Harry cried 'duck!' seconds before the wizards yelled 'stupifey!'.
Lights flashed above them, ricocheting from every angle—how none of them had yet to be struck by the lights was beyond Harry.
"STOP! That's my son!"
At the voice of Mr. Weasley, the firing stopped. The man emerged from group of wizards, looking worse for wear as he came up to group to make sure they were alright.
"Out of the way, Arthur," Barty Crouch strode up to them, wand still clasped in his hand. "Which one of you did it?" He demanded from them. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"You're joking!" Romina snapped out of her fear-induced trance. "We were running for our lives and you think we did that!?" She raised a finger high above her head to point at the sky. "You're out of your mind!"
"Do not lie!" Crouch said, eyes blazing with anger for the lack of the response he was searching for and for being spoken to like that by a young girl. "You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" Mr. Weasley asked much gentler, and of course without the intention of blaming them.
"Over there!" Hermione pointed to their left. "There was someone behind the trees! They're the ones who shouted an-an incantation!"
Mr. Crouch still wasn't convinced. However, he was the only one because the group of wizards behind him didn't exactly believe four fourteen year old kids were responsible for the massive mark tainting their sky.
"You know who did it,' Romina spoke again, ignoring Mr. Weasley's look that practically begged her not to keep going. "We all do."
Crouch met her eye with nothing but disdain for her. "Oh, really?"
"I would know what that mark is—my parents had it. That's the mark of the Death Eaters. They're responsible for it, not some Hogwarts students." Romina folded her arms, mustering enough courage to keep staring at the man until he either agreed and let them go...
She would waver from a lot of things but not this. There were many pictures of Elora and Caplan around and in many of them they had the same mark tattooed on their arms. Whoever was behind all this was a Death Eater wearing the same damn mark.
The stand-off was interrupted by Cedric's father, Mr. Diggory, who in a matter of minutes managed to acquire a stunned "culprit" not too far from them. Of course when he returned with the culprit, things made even less sense. It was Winky, Mr. Crouch's house elf. And to top it off, she had a wand.
After being brought back, Mr. Diggory started questioning her.
"I — I — I is not doing it, sir!" Winky said. "I is not knowing how, sir!"
"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Mr. Diggory held the wand in question at her.
"Hey," frowned Harry as he recognized the wand, "That's mine!"
Everything stopped. All eyes turned on him.
"I dropped it!" Harry said.
"You dropped it?" Mr. Diggory said in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"
"Amos, think who you're talking to!" Mr. Weasley cut in angrily. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"
Thankfully, Mr. Diggory gathered his bearings and realized how unlikely that was. "Er — of course not. Sorry . . . carried away . . ."
"I didn't drop it there, anyway," Harry said, jerking his thumb behind them. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."
So," Mr. Diggory, turned to look at Winky again, "You found this wand, eh, elf ? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"
"We're not really thinking the elf did it, are we?" Romina was not quiet at all with her scoff. "Look at her! She's scared out of her wits!"
"Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" Hermione added for support. "It was a human voice."
"And a man too," Romina crossed her arms. "A grown man."
Mr. Diggory didn't look very impressed by the two girls. "Well, we'll soon see. There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?"
"Oh, for the love of..." Romina shook her head, "Guess Cedric didn't get his smarts from his dad..." She mumbled under her breath.
Mr. Diggory performed the spell on Harry's wand and to everyone's shock, the same skull from the sky billowed out from Harry's wand like a ghost.
"I is not doing it!" Winky cried with absolute terror. "I is not, I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"
"You've been caught red-handed, elf !" Mr. Diggory roared. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"
Winky cried about her innocence until Mr. Crouch stepped in and twisted the accusation. If Winky was the accused, then so was he and that could not be. Mr. Diggory had no choice but to let go of his accusation. Winky told the group where she had found Harry's wand which wasn't too far from them. They soon believed that whoever had used the wand had merely found it like Winky had and took advantage of it.
Mr. Crouch requested he be the one to punish Winky for her "crimes", which was not following his orders. "Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible. I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. This means clothes."
Winky started sobbing.
"But she was frightened!" Hermione said angrily at the same time Romina said, in a calmer manner, 'You're so delusional'.
While Mr. Crouch wasn't that bothered by Hermione's outburst, he threw a hard look in Romina's direction. "Watch your language, young lady."
"But she was literally stuck in the middle of an attack and you want to fire her?" Romina scowled. "If she had stayed back there, she would've been killed. So a dead house elf is better than this?"
"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me," he said coldly.
"Romina's right! You'd rather a dead house elf!" Hermione exclaimed. "Your elf 's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!"
But Mr. Crouch was not swayed by either girl. In the end, Mr. Weasley stepped in to retrieve Harry's wand and get them all out of there. Though angry, Romina and Hermione followed them, leaving behind the sobbing elf and wizards. Romina gazed up at the dark sky and saw the remnants of the Dark Mark still present. She swallowed hard; she had done a great job not thinking about Elora and Caplan this summer. She should have known it would never last.
A/N:
No because I'm with Romina. When I first read this book, I really thought these grown men were so delusional thinking Winky of all people did the mark like whaaaaat? So dumb. Also, yes I'm as much of a draco girlie as I am a theo girlie and I live for theo's fanon personality as the audience xD
P.S. As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)