~A/N>A quick explanation on this chapter; I stuck pretty much to book 4 for this part. The Quidditch Cup part of
the book is too important to cut a lot out of it because it opens the door for Voldemorts return. This chapter will be
split into two separate chapters because I didn't want just one chapter of the story to be nine thousand words. I
did tweak part of this chapter to make it my own, and I hope that it doesn't make it such a boring read. Please
stick with me, because the next chapter will not follow the book so much; there are too many possibilities presented
with Ron's temper tantrum and Hermione helping Harry throughout the tournament. Thank you for all of the wonderful
reviews, you guys have really blown me away with your response to this story. I am trying to respond to every review,
it just might take me a little while. Also, I want to say thank you to Spaz141 for her help on this chapter and for all
of her wonderful insight.
Once we got to the top of Stoatshead Hill, Mr. Weasley pointed to an old boot that was lying on the ground and said,
"That's our Portkey."
We all gathered around it and watched as two people walked up to the top of the hill. I recognized one person as Cedric Diggory; he was the Captain and Seeker of Hufflepuff. He was also the Seeker that beat me in last years game when the Dementors swarmed me and I blacked out. His Dad, Amos Diggory, seemed more than happy to remind us how his son caught the Snitch because he could stay on his broom. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy to be reminded about the only Quidditch loss I ever had.
Mr. Weasley looked at his watch and announced that it was almost time to leave. He picked up the boot and held it out so that everyone could take hold of it. He counted down and suddenly I felt a tugging sensation behind my naval. I kept banging into Hermione and Ron as we were whisked away through what seemed to be a tunnel of blurred lights. When we landed, only the Diggory's and Mr. Weasley were standing; the rest of us were lying on the ground in a heap. I got up and held my hand out to Hermione to help her up. Once she was standing again, I started to scan our surroundings. It was amazing; the field below us was completely covered with tents; but not ordinary tents, some had gardens in front of them and some had chimneys on the top.
We made our way down to the gate that led into the campsite. Mr. Weasley checked us in, and when he had trouble counting out the muggle money, the manager of the site became suspicious. When he started asking questions about the strange people at his campsite, a wizard appeared next to him and wiped his memory. "I've had to do that ten times today already" said the wizard to Mr. Weasley, right before he disapparated. I was surprised that the man's memory wasn't mush by now. The manager handed Mr. Weasley a map of the campsite and pointed to where our site was, all with a dazed look on his face. Mr. Weasley thanked him and we made our way to our spot.
When we got there, Mr. Weasley sat two tents down on the ground and asked me to put them up. Seeing as I had never been camping before in my life, I wondered how the heck I was supposed to erect them. Hermione came over and helped me as much as she could and finally, after about two hours, we got them put up. I was astonished when we walked into one and the inside looked like a three room flat.
Mr. Weasley asked Ron, Hermione and I to go get some water, so we set out with pans and a kettle to do as he asked. I couldn't believe all of the different kinds of tents there were and all of the wizarding families that were gathered there. I guess I never realized how many witches and wizards there were in the world.
We got the water and made our way back to our tent, running into Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Oliver Wood along the way. Just before we got to our tent, I looked over to my right to see Cho Chang standing by a tent, along with what could only be her Mum and Dad. She was beautiful; her skin was flawless and her dark hair was long, straight and shiny. She smiled and waved at me, and when I waved back, I ended up spilling most of my water on my shirt. Thoroughly embarrassed, I quickly caught up with Ron and Hermione, who were already sitting around a campfire that Mr. Weasley was trying to light.
We met a lot of Ministry people that day, including Ludo Bagman. He ended up making a bet with Fred and George, who used their life savings to bet that Victor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, would catch the Snitch but that Ireland would still win. Mr. Bagman laughed and took their money, saying that that could never happen.
Finally, after eating some breakfast and entertaining ourselves for most of the afternoon, it was time to make our way into the stadium. It was the most spectacular thing I had ever seen. Mr. Weasley said that it could easily hold one hundred thousand witches and wizards, and by its size, I believed it. We were in the very top box; it took forever to climb up all of the stairs to get there. We sat down and I looked out at all of the people in the stands; it was utterly breathtaking! There was a huge scoreboard that was flashing advertisements for all sorts of magical products and businesses.
I turned to see if there was anyone else sitting in the booth with us, and I noticed a small house elf cowering in a seat behind me, covering her eyes with her hands and shaking. I thought it was Dobby, but she heard me say his name and said that she was Winky and she was holding a seat for her master. After talking to her for a little bit, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic walked in. After talking with us for a moment, he introduced his guests, who just happened to be Lucius and Draco Malfoy, along with Draco's Mum Narcissa. They looked just as thrilled to see us, as we were to see them. After very tense, fake pleasantries, they took their seats and left us alone. Finally, the person who was going to announce the game, Ludo Bagman entered our box. Finally, I was going to see a professional Quidditch match!
I saw the ecstatic look on Harry's face when the match began, and I was happy that he was having so much fun. If anyone deserved it, he did. I watched as they introduced the mascots of each team; Ireland had brought Leprechauns and Bulgaria had brought Veela. The Veela each had long, white blond hair and skin that looked like it was made of moonlight. They started to dance and sing and I watched as Harry and Ron's eyes glazed over a bit as they watched them. Suddenly both boys rose out of their seats and looked as if they were going to try to jump over the rails of our box, which would have plunged them into the crowds below. I called out to Harry and he seemed to snap out of it; he looked at me as if asking me why he was trying to climb over the rail. When he just continued to stand there, I reached out and grabbed his shirt, tugging him back into his seat.
Finally the match got underway, and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I wasn't a very big fan of Quidditch fan; I mainly went to the games at Hogwarts to watch Harry play. This match was so fast paced that it kind of pulled you in; I couldn't take my eyes off of the players. Harry seemed to really enjoy watching the Seekers, especially Krum. We watched as Krum faked out the other Seeker and did a maneuver on his broom that caused his opponent to slam straight into the ground.
As the match continued on, it seemed to get much rougher and nastier. There were fouls all over the place, and at one point the referee tried to throw the Veela out because they were starting to cause trouble. In the end, after having his nose broken by a bludger, Krum caught the Snitch. Unfortunately, Ireland had enough points so that they still won the match. It was strange that Fred and George had predicted the exact outcome of the match; I watched as the twins made their way to Mr. Bagman to collect their winnings, huge smiles plastered on their faces.
The Bulgarian team came into our box first, to be consoled on their loss by Mr. Bagman. Next came two wizards that were carrying the Quidditch World Cup trophy, followed by the Ireland National Team, who came to claim said trophy. Afterwards, they all jumped back on their brooms and did a victory lap around the stadium. We waited a little while for the stadium to empty out and then made our way back to our tents.
Ginny and I said goodnight to the guys and went into our tent; it was kind of nice having a tent just for us. After talking about the match and everything that had happened, our excitement finally turned to exhaustion and Ginny and I fell asleep.
What seemed like a very short time later, Mr. Weasley was shaking me awake and telling me that I needed to get up and outside now. I grabbed my robe off of the bed and my wand from under my pillow and followed him outside. What I saw made my eyes grow wide in horror.
There was screaming coming from all over the camp, and there seemed to be a large crowd making their way through the camp. As they got closer to where we were, I noticed that they were blasting tents out of their way as they walked, setting the tents on fire. As the crowd got closer, I noticed four objects floating in the air above them. When I examined them more closely, I felt sick to my stomach when I realized that it was the manager of the campsite and what looked to be his family floating up there. What made me really sick was that two of the figures seemed to be small children.
"That's just not right" said Ron, standing right next to me. I looked at him and noticed Harry right behind him, a haunted look in his eyes as he watched the family being tossed around like rag dolls.
"I'm going to have to go help the Ministry; Charlie, Bill and Percy are coming with me. I want you three to go with Fred, George and Ginny to hide in the forest until we can get this situation under control. Be safe you lot" he said, and then rushed after his sons. George, Fred and Ginny were already making their way into the forest, so Harry, Ron and I rushed to catch up with them so that we weren't separated.
There was a huge group of witches and wizards that were trying to escape into the forest, so the six of us had to form a line to make our way in. I was the last in line, and it seemed I was also the last in the group. I thought I had heard someone say my name, so I stopped and turned around. I saw Draco Malfoy standing right behind me, and before I could ask him what he wanted, he pulled back his fist and hit me; all I remember after that was a comforting darkness.
I was following Ron into the forest when I heard a strange sound; I turned around to ask Hermione if she had heard it
too, and she wasn't there.
"Hermione?" I called, but didn't get an answer. "Ron, Hermione's not here" I said, hearing the worry in my own voice.
"What do you mean?" he asked, turning around and looking around the trees. "Where could she have gone?"
"I don't know; I heard a really strange noise and when I turned around to see if she had heard it too, she was gone" I replied. "We've got to find her Ron."
We both went in different directions, walking through the trees and calling out her name. I was starting to get worried; it seemed the group at the camp was going after muggles, so it stood to reason that they might go after her too since she was muggleborn.
We had been looking for about fifteen minutes when I spotted a hand sticking out from under a low-lying tree. I bent down and grabbed the hand, pulling on it gently. I almost got sick when I saw Hermione's face emerge, battered and bruised. "Oh no...Ron!" I yelled, picking her up and carrying her the best I could. I heard Ron answer my call and made my way in the direction of his voice. I heard her start to moan, so I stopped and laid her gently on the ground.
"Hermione?" I said quietly. Her eyes sprung open, but I could tell they weren't focused and she yelled "no, please don't hit me any more!"
My heart broke; she looked so scared that I just wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go again. "Hermione, it's me, Harry" I said, hoping she would comprehend what I said. She blinked her eyes a couple of times and looked at my face.
"H-Ha-Harry?" she asked, tears falling down her face. She stared at me for a moment more, as if making sure she was really looking at me, and then launched herself onto me. She wrapped her arms around my neck so hard that she was cutting off my airway, but I didn't care, I just held her tightly and tried to let her know she was safe now.
Ron finally spotted us and came running in our direction. When he noticed Hermione practically wrapped around me, he asked, "What's going on?"
"She's in bad shape" I said "her face is bruised pretty badly; it looks like someone punched her." I watched Ron's face turn beet red in anger. "We need to find the bloody bastard and kill him" he said, his voice deadly calm, which was much worse than when he yelled.
I felt Hermione's body start to shake and I could hear her quiet sobs. "Hermione, luv, do you know who did this to you?" It never even registered that I had called her 'luv', I just wanted to know who I would be using for a human punching bag before I let Ron have a go at them.
I felt her nod her head yes, she knew who had done it. "Who was it?" I whispered, hoping to give her the confidence to tell me. She lifted her head just enough so that she could look at me; the bruises on her cheek and around her eye were turning a dark purple colour now.
"Promise me you won't hurt him...too badly" she said. I just stared at her, considering what 'too badly' meant. "Harry..."
"I promise" I said, grudgingly.
"You too Ron" she said, never taking her eyes off of me.
"Hermione..." he started, but she cut him off.
"No Ron, promise me or I'm not going to say who it was." Ron stared at the back of her head for a moment before he said, "I promise."
"It was Draco," she whispered, but Ron and I both heard her, and I swear everything around me looked red. I don't think I had ever felt hatred for anyone before, not even Voldemort, but I hated Draco Malfoy in that moment. Before I could say anything, Ron took off running as fast as he could.
"Ron!" I yelled, but it was no use, he was pretty far away already. I stood up and helped Hermione up as well. "Can you walk?" I asked. She nodded and went to take a step, only to stumble and almost lose her balance. I caught her and pulled her to my side while wrapping my arm around her waist. We walked slowly deeper into the forest, looking for any signs of the Weasley's. We stumbled into a clearing in the center of the forest and suddenly we heard a voice say "Morsmordre!"
A brilliant green jet of light shot up into the sky and formed an image of a skull with a snake protruding out of its mouth, like a tongue. I heard Hermione gasp next to me, and when I looked at her I saw that she was looking up at the image also. "The Dark Mark..."
I looked at her, confused and asked, "What's the Dark Mark?"
"It's the symbol for You-Know-Who" she whispered. I was still confused, but I didn't have time to ask any more questions because suddenly about twenty 'pop's around us as twenty wizards apparated in a circle, surrounding us. I noticed that they all had their wands drawn and pointed towards us, so reflexively I pushed Hermione down on the ground as they all yelled "Stupify!" at almost the same time.
"Wait, stop" yelled a familiar voice; it was Mr. Weasley. "It's Harry Potter, put your wands down." He made his way over to us and the minute he spotted Hermione's face, he gasped. "What happened?" he asked.
"She was attacked as we were running into the forest" I said "she was behind me and someone took her. I found her lying under a small bush; she's pretty shaken up."
He looked at Hermione and said "do you know who did this to you?"
"This piece of trash did it," said Ron, all but throwing the unconscious body of Draco Malfoy at everyone's feet.
"Ron!" said Hermione, looking at Draco "I asked you not too hurt him."
"I found him lounging up against a tree and watching the chaos in the camp. He came at me first, I just finished it and made sure he couldn't put up a fight when I turned him in" explained Ron. "He was spouting some garbage about his Dad telling him to 'have fun with the mudbloods'. So naturally he went after Hermione."
I looked at Draco and then at Ron; I couldn't help the smile that was on my face. That wanker got exactly what he deserved; I was pretty damn proud of Ron at that moment.
Mr. Weasley looked at Ron and said "you should have told someone from the Ministry and let us take care of it."
"You were busy Dad, and I didn't want to give him the chance to get away."
"There is another reason we are here," said one of the other wizards in the group.
"Right, right" said Mr. Weasley "Harry, Hermione, did you see who conjured the Dark Mark?"
"No; we heard someone say an incantation though right before a jet of green light shot into the sky" I said. Another old wizard said I must have done it and that caused a bunch of arguments between the twenty wizards. One of them asked where the jet of light came from, and when I pointed to the spot he went to investigate. He came back with the same small house elf I talked to at the Quidditch match laying unconscious in his arms. The elf belonged to one of the high-ranking Ministry officials in the group; that caused one hell of an argument. When the issue of the elf not having a wand to perform magic with arose, the man holding the elf held out a wand he found in her hand.
It looked familiar to me, somehow. I checked my pocket where I had put my wand when we left the tent, only to find it gone. "That's my wand," I said.
All eyes were on me then, and the elf's owner actually accused me of putting the mark in the sky; the other wizards argued what an absurd accusation it was. They argued about it some more, the master told the elf she would be getting clothes (which means she was let go) and I finally got my wand back. When all was said and done, I picked Hermione up and started to carry her back to camp while Amos Diggory tied Malfoy up and said he would take care of him.
When we got back to our tents, I carried Hermione inside the tent I was staying in with all the other guys and laid her down on one of the cots. Everyone else was already there, and when they saw Hermione there was a slew of questions. I just ignored them and turned to Mr. Weasley and asked, "do you think you could find a medi-wizard that would check her out?"
"Of course I can, I was just thinking the same thing. Sit tight and I'll be right back." I watched him walk out, and as I was standing next to where Hermione lay, I felt her grab a hold of my hand. I looked down at her and smiled the best I could, trying to reassure her. Ron was telling his brothers and sister about what happened and how he had captured Malfoy. I learned that I would not want to be on the bad side of any Weasley that night; they were coming up with some pretty creative ways to pay Malfoy back for what he did to Hermione.
Mr. Weasley found a medi-wizard to examine Hermione, and when he was done, she looked so much better. There was still some discoloration to her face, but nothing as bad as it was before. Mr. Weasley ordered us all to bed, so Ginny and Hermione went to their tent. Bill had offered to sleep on the floor of their tent to make sure they were ok and went with them. I couldn't help wishing to be the one sleeping on the floor instead of him.
By the time I finally got to sleep that night, it seemed like only three hours later that Mr. Weasley was waking me up. I got dressed, along with everyone else and we packed our tents away. Hermione looked much better that morning and seemed to be in better spirits. She was just about as tired as I was, and as we made our way to the Portkey, she was leaning against my shoulder as we walked.
Mr. Weasley was able to get us an earlier Portkey and we left about twenty minutes later. When we walked into the Weasley's front yard, Mrs. Weasley came running at Mr. Weasley and flung her arms around him. She said she had read about what happened the night before in the Daily Prophet and she had been really worried about us. Mr. Weasley calmed her down and we went inside the Burrow.
I had asked Mrs. Weasley if Hedwig had delivered any letters for me, but she said she hadn't seen my owl. I was hoping that Sirius would have written back to me by now; it didn't seem like just a coincidence that my scar hurt a few weeks ago and then the Dark Mark shows up in the sky last night.
The next couple of weeks seemed to fly by; Mr. Weasley and Percy seemed to live at the Ministry, trying to clean up the mess that Rita Skeeter made. She was a reporter for the Daily Prophet, and she had written a story about the events after the Quidditch World Cup match, which painted the Ministry in a bad light.
It was finally the night before we were to go back to Hogwarts, and Ron and I were up in his room packing our trunks. I was unwrapping everything Mrs. Weasley had picked up for me for the new school year when I heard Ron say, "What is this?" I looked over at him and saw that he was holding up what looked to be a dress. "I think Mum gave me one of Ginny's dresses by mistake."
Mrs. Weasley had walked in at that moment, bringing in the rest of our laundry. She explained to Ron that they were the new dress robes that were on our school list and we would need them for a special event at Hogwarts, but she wouldn't tell us what it was. Ron had flat out refused to wear it, saying that it looked like something a girl would wear. He became really angry when he saw the brand new green dress robes his Mum had bought for me. His Mum ended up slamming out of the room, angry with Ron for being so stubborn; Ron whined and complained about it for the rest of the night.
As I lay in bed that night trying to figure out what the big event at Hogwarts might be sleep finally overtook me and I started to doze off. The last thought on my mind was that I hoped this year would be a good one for a change.