Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 19 - The Quidditch World Cup
Harry lay in bed, having just fallen asleep three hours earlier, when his bloody alarm clock he should never have let Hermione talk him into buying went off. He briefly wondered if Hermione had made it impervious to damage as he considered throwing it out his window. Then he remembered why the alarm had gone off so bloody early. Today was the day of the Quidditch World Cup!
He struggled out of bed, remembering the last time he woke up this tired, just a few nights before. He'd been enjoying a dream involving Hermione when it was interrupted by an old man standing in front of him (right where Hermione had been) for a second before being cursed with some sort of green light and falling down dead. He'd woken up immediately, and his scar was prickling him lightly. He didn't mention it to anyone.
He took a quick shower and went downstairs to find Hermione (who'd spent the night in one of the extra bedrooms) and Sirius already downstairs eating.
"It's about time you got down here," said Hermione jokingly.
"We were about to tell Dobby to pop onto your bed," added Sirius as Harry joined them at the table for the scrambled eggs that had already been set for him. "You've got ten minutes to eat before we floo over to the Weasleys."
He ate as fast as he could, and before he knew it, he was falling forward from the Weasleys' fireplace, barely being caught in time by Sirius, who'd gone first, followed by Hermione, and finally Harry. Harry could swear he'd heard Mrs. Weasley's voice coming from the kitchen screaming, "Accio, Accio," over the twins' protest of whatever she was summoning from them.
"Hello everyone," said an enthusiastic Mr. Weasley, reaching out his hand toward Sirius, who immediately shook it.
"Thanks for getting the tickets," said Sirius.
"No problem whatsoever, Ludo Bagman, the head of the Magical Games and Sports department owed me a favor. We should be ready to leave within a few minutes."
After what seemed like a short hike after all the training Harry and Hermione had been doing, the group, which had been joined by Amos and Cedric Diggory, arrived at the world cup via portkey. They were directed to their campsite, and before long Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were walking toward the tap with a kettle and saucepans while Mr. Weasley and Sirius were attempting to light a fire.
The trio saw many people, including a toddler who'd `borrowed' his father's wand, three African wizards, and a group of American witches. Then everything seemed to go green as they entered the Irish section, where Seamus Finnegan called them.
"Aren't you Ron Weasley's little sister?" asked Seamus when the trio had joined him.
"Yes," she said, "my name's Ginny." She then shook his hand.
"Won't you be starting third year this September?"
"Actually," said Ginny as she slightly blushed, "I'll be starting fourth year. I was double-promoted."
"Really?" asked Seamus. "I'll bet Ron's not happy about being in the same classes as his little sister."
"Well," said Ginny, looking down, "We won't be in the same classes. He, er, well, didn't do so well on his finals, and McGonagall decided to hold him back a year."
Seamus did his best not to look amused. "I'm, er, sorry to hear that. I guess he couldn't handle the classes without Hermione letting him copy assignments off of."
"Exactly," said Hermione. "Now he's got to learn to do things on his own."
"Just how well did you do, Ginny?" asked Seamus. "Even Hermione here hasn't been double-promoted."
"Well," blushed Hermione, "After my first year, Professor McGonagall offered to let me skip a year, but I decided I'd rather attend for the full seven years. Probably so I'd stay in class with Harry. After that, she hasn't offered again."
Harry stared at her, "And you never told anyone?"
"I didn't see any need," said Hermione smugly. "Since I wasn't accepting the promotion, telling people about the offer would have only been bragging."
After Seamus' mother showed up and nearly made the trio take an unbreakable vow that they were supporting Ireland, they continued on their way, stopping when Ginny recognized a friend of hers. "Hello Luna," she said. "I'd like to introduce you to a few friends of mine. Luna Lovegood, this is…"
"…Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," the blonde, dreamy-eyed girl said. "You both look more fit than you did when school got out, especially you, Harry. Have you been working out?"
"Er," said Harry, blushing, "a bit."
"You should be careful to avoid any Minkdots while you're exercising."
"What?" asked Hermione.
"We've got to be going Luna. It was good seeing you," said Ginny, leading Harry and Hermione away.
"What's a Minkdot?" Hermione asked Ginny when they were out of earshot.
"Probably some nonexistent magical creature her father writes about in the Quibbler. She believes everything it says," answered Ginny.
"Her father writes for the Quibbler?" asked Hermione.
"Actually, he owns the Quibbler," said Ginny.
"What's the Quibbler?" asked Harry.
Before he got his answer, they arrived at the tap, and noticed an old man in a long, flowery nightgown, talking about liking a healthy breeze around his privates, which caused both girls to turn red and start giggling.
On the way back, while carrying a lot of water, they ran across even more people they knew, such as Oliver Wood and Ernie MacMillan. They also ran across Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, who for some reason winked at Harry, causing Hermione to place herself in between the two of them.
When they finally got the water back to the campsite, they found that Sirius had managed to start the fire, and they relaxed for a little while, meeting several people from the ministry, including Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch. Upon seeing Percy's reaction to Mr. Crouch, Harry whispered to Hermione and the four youngest Weasleys, "Do you reckon Percy has left Penelope for Mr. Crouch yet?" causing his audience to burst out laughing. Before they knew it, they'd bought their souvenirs from the salesmen who had started popping up everywhere, including four pairs of omnioculars that Sirius had bought for himself, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. It was now time to head for the stadium. When they arrived at their box, Harry noticed a house elf in one of the seats, and introduced himself. Her name was Winky, and she said she was saving a seat for her master, Mr. Crouch. She also said she knew Dobby, and was glad that he'd finally gotten a master who he was happy with, and that Dobby can't say enough wonderful things about Harry and his friends.
As they continued to wait, Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic showed up, and to Harry's disgust and Percy's envy, shook his hand and introduced him to his Bulgarian counterpart. At that moment Lucius Malfoy showed up and immediately began harassing Mr. Weasley for his lack of wealth. When his eyes fell on Hermione and his lip curled, he fell backwards, causing all of Harry's party to smile slightly. Harry whispered to his girlfriend, "Did you do that?" Hermione's cheeks went pink as she grinned and nodded.
Not long after that, the pre-game mascot shows began with a delightful leprechaun display, followed by what Hermione considered a vulgar veela dance, which she was happy to note, didn't affect Harry at all. When she noticed this, she immediately kissed him on the cheek, causing him to turn toward her. He smiled. "What was that for?"
"For being immune to the Veelas," she answered cheekily. "Look at Ron." He looked and saw that Ron was trying to jump off the bleachers toward them, being held back only by his father's hands. Harry also noticed that many of the men and boys were acting in a similar way.
"Why are they all acting like that?" asked Harry.
"Because most males can't resist their magic charms," answered Hermione.
"You're the only one who affects me like that," said Harry, causing Hermione to blush.
"Once this match is over, I am going to snog you so senseless, you'll forget who you are," Hermione promised.
"Maybe we should forget about the match, Mine" said Harry, grinning at her.
"No Hero," said an extremely red-faced Hermione, "first we watch the match, and then we snog."
"If you insist," said Harry, smiling.
The match was very exciting, and Hermione was amazed at how well Ireland's chasers worked together. "I don't know how they do it! Just how much does that team practice?" Harry was pleased with Hermione's newly acquired appreciation of quidditch. After the match ended with Ireland winning but Viktor Krum, Bulgaria's seeker, getting the snitch, they returned to the campsite, and Hermione kept her promise to Harry.
They were still snogging when Mr. Weasley interrupted them saying, "It's time to go to bed," and with a wink he added, "in separate tents," causing the couple to turn red. They went to their tents without saying a word. After what seemed to Harry five minutes of sleep, Mr. Weasley was waking them up and telling them to get out of the tent and head for the forest. There were a bunch of wizards with black cloaks and masks terrorizing the muggles by floating them upside down in the air.
After they left Mr. Weasley and Sirius, Harry turned to Hermione and said, "I think we can help."
"You're right," said Hermione, and they turned around and made their way back.
The leader of the group spotted Hermione and shouted "Mudblood," in his muffled voice as he pointed his wand at her. Harry looked at the evil wizard, causing him to fall to the ground petrified.
He then turned his attention to Hermione, who was surprisingly still standing next to Harry. He said, "How…"
Hermione smiled, "I'm not sure if it was the necklace you gave me or the shield I put up that protected me."
"I'm glad you're wearing the necklace," said Harry.
"Wotcher," said Tonks, who was approaching. "I suppose I should tell you to leave, but you did a good job catching this Death Eater. Let's see who it is."
As she was walking toward the fallen masked Death Eater, Fudge showed up and said, "Well done! I can see you're an Auror, but I'm afraid I don't recall your name."
"I'm Auror Tonks, sir. I just finished my training a few weeks ago."
"Very well," he said, "Let's see who this Death Eater is," and he pointed his wand at the mask, causing it to disappear. Fudge's face went completely pale. "What! No, it can't be! All those donations! He was my guest!" Lying before them petrified was none other than Lucius Malfoy.
"Er, sir, it, well, looks like he might have been trying to use you, maybe," said Tonks timidly to her boss.
"Trying to use me," said the minister, taking on his normal pompous demeanor, "But of course I wasn't fooled. I was waiting for him to do something like this, but was gathering whatever information I could obtain until then."
"Of course, sir. I thought that must be what happened."
"Bind him, revive him, and then arrest him," said Fudge as he walked away proudly.
After Tonks had conjured ropes around Mr. Malfoy and taken his wand, Tonks whispered to Harry, "Er, could you revive him? Your spell seems too powerful for me to break."
At that moment, a terrifying shape filled the sky. A skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, which Harry had learned to be the Dark Mark, had appeared in the sky for the first time in nearly thirteen years, and the remaining Death Eaters fled. Many of the other wizards apparated.
"There you are!" said Sirius with a grin. "I had a feeling you'd want to join the fun."
"They caught Mr. Malfoy," said Tonks, causing Sirius' smile to broaden even more. "Of course Fudge thinks I did."
"That's probably good," said Sirius. "I caught Mr. Nott myself." He indicated a bound man being handled by another auror. "Can you handle this piece of trash?"
"After Harry revives him," said Tonks.
"To keep appearances," said Hermione, "you should be pointing your wand at Mr. Malfoy when Harry revives him."
"Good idea," said Tonks, now doing just that.
Harry revived Lucius just before Sirius apparated himself and Harry to the scene under the Dark Mark, where Mr. Weasley was shouting, "That's my son!" and running to protect Ron from the other wizards.
Sirius whispered to Harry, "I'll be right back. I'm just getting Hermione."
Harry silently watched the scene unfold as Ron described hearing someone nearby conjure the mark. He'd just felt Hermione take his hand as he recognized the wand they'd found with Winky the house elf was, and checked his pocket to be sure. "That's my wand!" he shouted at the gathered witches and wizards.
"Your wand?" said Ludo Bagman.
"Yes," said Harry. "I think it must have fallen out of my pocket in all the commotion when I was trying to escape."
Harry watched as they proved that the brother to Voldemort's wand had been used to conjure his mark. Mr. Weasley then made sure Harry got his wand back. Harry and Hermione were appalled when Mr. Crouch sacked Winky. Harry spoke up while Winky was crying. "Sir, since you're sacking Winky, then may I assume you wouldn't mind if I hired her?"
"What, no, I suppose not, if you really want this worthless elf."
"Thank you," said Harry calmly. "I could use another elf at my manor."
"Harry Potter sir, you, you is wanting to hire Winky?" asked the heartbroken elf.
Harry squatted down beside her and gently said, "Yes Winky. As soon as Mr. Crouch releases you, come to Potter Manor. Do you know where that is?"
"Y-Yes, Winky is knowing where Potter Manor is," she said, sounding a bit less sad, "Winky is going there as soon as Master is releasing Winky."
"Then I look forward to seeing you soon," said Harry. Then Mr. Weasley, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, and Harry all went back to their tents.
"That was a good thing you just did, Harry," said Mr. Weasley as they walked.
"Yes it was," said Hermione, who had one arm around his waist as they were walking. "And you've just earned a snogging session you'll never forget."
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