Chapter 1
“Just admit that you’re in love with her.” George urged, earning a look from Fred as they strode to keep up with the group.
“I don’t know what you’re on about, mate.” Fred replied.
“Oh, please. I lost count of how many letters you two have exchanged since end of term.”
“Not to mention how worried he’s been about meeting up with her at the Cup.” Ginny put in.
“Not you, too!” Fred rolled his eyes. “Nori and I are just really good friends. And it’s not just her we’re meeting up with, her brother will be there, too. You know, our previous Quidditch captain and good friend, Oliver?”
“If you say so.” Ginny grinned. Fred couldn’t believe his siblings, teasing him about his friendship with Eleanor “Nori” Wood. She was a year below him and they had been good friends since her first year, when she hung around their then Quidditch captain and her brother, Oliver Wood because she was too shy to make friends of her own. Of course, then he remembered who he was related to and rethought his disbelief. He’d be more concerned if they didn’t tease him. Regardless, the little blonde had become a really close friend and this year would be her first year without her brother at school seeing as he graduated at the end of the previous year, so Fred wanted to make sure she wasn’t alone, even if she had grown to make her own friends in her own house and year.
“Well, kids, welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!” Fred’s father took him out of his thoughts as they made it over the hill from the portkey landing. It had been a rough one, but they all made it in one piece. There were tents and witches and wizards as far as the eye could see, sounds of bagpipes and cheering drowned out anyone speaking at a normal volume and Fred couldn’t help but smile. He had been looking forward to this all summer. Spending time with his friends and family, seeing Nori and Oliver, watching professional Quidditch. He wasn’t sure what could be better.
They pushed their way through the crowd, parting ways with the Diggory’s once they reached their tent, promising to meet up at the match later that evening.
“Where are your friends, Fred? George?” their father asked.
“They’re supposed to meet us at the tent.” Fred replied.
When they made it to their accommodations, Arthur held open the tent flap for everyone to step in, everyone ducking and entering without hesitation, minus Harry. He hesitated at the entrance, concerned at the size of the tent compared to the amount of people that were supposed to be staying in it. Just before he was about to dip into the tent, he heard his name being called a few feet away, turning to find Oliver and Nori Wood approaching with big smiles on their faces. Harry smiled back.
“Oliver, Nori, it’s good to see you.” Harry greeted, hugging each of them. They each looked a little older. Nori had grown her hair out even longer so that it hung around her waist, and she was looking less like a lanky pre-teen and more like a young lady. Her brother actually looked like a man, with scruff and all.
“Where is everyone?” Oliver asked with his thick Scottish accent. Harry pulled back the tent flap and ushered them inside, following in after them.
“Nori!” Ginny was the first to see her, running up to greet her. Fred and George perked up from where they sat at a round table in the back of the tent. Fred found a hard lump in his throat at the sight of Nori chatting happily with Hermione and his sister. As excited as he had been to see her, he wasn’t as prepared as he thought he was. He didn’t even know that he needed to be prepared, but he couldn’t help but notice how different she looked, how grown up. She was dressed simply, just jeans and a tee shirt, but she had her sandy blonde hair pulled back out of her face, though a few baby hairs framed her freckled face. George nudged him and he realized he’d been staring at Nori. Thankfully he didn’t think she’d noticed, but George was eyeing him mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows. Fred merely shoved him away.
“George! Freddie!” Nori came bounding towards them, throwing her arms around George’s neck and he swung her back and forth in a big bear hug. When he sat her down, she turned to Fred with the biggest grin on her face, one he couldn’t help but match. She wrapped her arms around his waist he hugged her back, squeezing her tight until she pulled back. She smelled of heather and moss and white rose, clearly spending a lot of time outdoors either playing quidditch or caring for some magical creature she’d befriended, he was sure. Behind her, George was greeting Oliver and exchanging pleasantries, but he continued to glance over at his brother encouragingly. Fred ignored him.
Nori, on the other hand, felt her ears go hot – she and Fred had exchanged letters all Summer and now she suddenly had nothing to say. She had spent the holiday compartmentalizing her feelings for Fred so that she fully admitted to herself that yes, she did fancy him, but he didn’t fancy her, so her feelings were moot. So that she could live her life, concentrate on school and quidditch, and not let her feelings for Fred take over her life.
Of course, that was when they weren’t in the same room together.
When she had entered the tent and was tackled by Ginny, she had locked eyes with Fred for only a moment, but that moment sent all of her steely defenses spiraling. The butterflies, the hotness in her cheeks and the tips of her ears and the tightness in her chest all came crashing down like a tidal wave.
This would be a lot harder than she thought.
“Nori! Here, Ginny and I are sharing this room and there’s another bed.” Hermione called her over. Nori smiled and gave Fred a weak goodbye, jogging into the cove of beds where the girls were to sleep. They immediately began giggling and speaking in hushed tones. Fred found himself staring after Nori with a little bit of shock. He hadn’t been able to think of a single thing to say. A whole summer of letters and not a single thing came to mind when she was standing right in front of him.
What in the bloody hell was wrong with him?
“Smooth, Casanova.” George joined him, crossing his arms over his chest with a teasing grin.
“What are you on about, mate?” said Fred.
“You still keeping up the façade that you’re not in love with her?”
“I am not in lo-!”
Mr. Weasley suddenly announced that they would need to start heading towards their seats soon and the lot of them began getting ready to head to the pitch. George left his brother be in favor of searching for the face paint they bad brought to show their support of the Irish. Oliver saw him pull out a mirror to begin his design and immediately ran over to join him.
“Fred? You coming?” Oliver said. Fred was watching the girls get settled, unable to pull his eyes away from Nori. She was pulling green and silver accessories out of her duffle bag and her support of the Irish made the corners of his mouth lift. Where was this coming from? It was Nori, his best friend apart from his brother and Lee. There was no way he was in love with her. He was a massive flirt, he hit on just about every girl in their year or older and none of them made him feel this way. Nori threw her bag down and out of the corner of his eye he spotted it – a familiar marron jumper with the letter ‘F’. She’d brought it with her, the jumper he’d given to her last December. The pull on his heartstrings at the thought of her wearing it to sleep at night about pulled him off of his feet and he knew. He knew his brother was right.
The bastard.
“Freddie?” George prompted again when he hadn’t responded, and Nori turned at his name. They locked eyes and the smile that spread across her face was breathtaking. How had he never noticed before? The smile on his face grew big and the feeling of giddiness spread through his veins as he turned back to George and Oliver.
“I want a giant clover painted on my face.”
Once everyone was ready, they piled out of their tent, decked out in Irish and Bulgarian gear. The girls were last out and Nori took a double take at the twins and her brother as soon as she was standing up straight. She didn’t even attempt to stifle her laughter at the boys’ face paint, grabbing their attention.
“What exactly are you laughing at?” George jested.
“Me?” Nori giggled, “Nothing! Absolutely nothing. You lads look well braw.”
Mr. Weasley began urging them towards the pitch. The girls were talking animatedly about their summer and Oliver was happy to have someone else to talk about his summer trying out for different professional quidditch teams. He had just been signed on as the reserve Keeper for Puddlemere United and Nori couldn’t have been more proud. Once they reached the outside of the pitch the lot of them started up the stairs, following the crowd and doing their best to talk over the noise.
“Blimey, Dad.” Ron finally said, pulling himself up yet another set of steps to one of the many landings that made up the stadium, “How far up are we?”
Before Mr. Weasley could answer, a prudish voice cut in from another set of stairs a few feet away, grabbing everyone’s attention, “Well, put it this way: If it rains, you’ll be the first to know.”
Lucius Malfoy stood dressed in some of his finest robes, his long blonde hair blowing in the wind from being so high off of the ground. He was chuckling at himself just as his son, Draco appeared from behind him, also having a bit of a laugh from his father’s jest.
“Father and I are in the minister’s box,” Draco bragged, “by personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself.”
“Don’t boast, Draco.” Lucius shoved his walking cane into his son’s chest, scolding him for his actions. Everyone ignored him and started up the next set of stairs, “There’s no need with these people.”
Nori scoffed at the Malfoy’s, letting Oliver and the twins usher her further up the steps. She wouldn’t lie, she was utterly exhausted by the time they reached the top and she was sure her legs would absolutely give out at any moment. But one look at their view of the quidditch pitch and she no longer cared if she had legs at all. They were at the very top of the stands with a full few of the pitch and everyone’s face lit up in excitement at the sight.
“Come on up! Take your seats!” Cedric’s father, Amos Diggory greeted them once they reached the top. Mr. Weasley slid in beside Cedric and the rest of them followed suit. Nori settled in between her brother and Fred and her jaw dropped at the sight. So many witches and wizards filled the stadium, and the noise was deafening.
“I told you these seats would be worth waiting for.” Amos called. They had apparently made it up just in time because as soon as they were settled and taking everything in, they had to duck so as not to be taken out by the Irish team entering the pitch.
“It’s the Irish!” Fred hollered next to Nori, his arm hovering over her back in an attempt to protect her from the swooping Quidditch players. She clapped and jumped in pure joy at the sight of fireworks joining together to create a leprechaun doing an Irish jig. The stadium was full of chanting for the Irish when George called out that the Bulgarians were on their way, flying straight through the leprechaun, chants for Bulgaria taking over the stadium, drowning out the Irish fans. One player in particular showing off his trick skills on his broom. Ginny was in awe, immediately asking about him.
“That, sis, is the best Seeker in the world!” George hollered over the noise, “Victor Krum!”
The crowd was absolutely wild, and Nori reached over and hugged her brother. He had the biggest smile she’d ever seen him wear as he wrapped his arms around her. She hoped that someday she would be watching him enter the pitch for the World Cup.
“Good evening!” Cornelius Fudge grabbed the attention of the crowd, his wand pointed at the side of his neck, performing the amplifying charm so that he could be heard by the thousands of witches and wizards in the stands, “As Minister for Magic, it gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to the final of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup! Let the match begin!”
With the flick of his wand, he released the Golden Snitch, and thus the match began.
“That was seriously incredible!” Nori’s heart was beating a million miles a minute at the excitement of the match. She couldn’t shut up about it, none of them could. They would all remember this experience for the rest of their lives. She and Ginny were talking a million miles a minute about different parts of the match, and it was hard to keep up. Oliver and the twins were behind them talking with just as much enthusiasm as the girls as they reached their tent. They had already bid the Diggory’s a good night a ways back, though Nori didn’t think they would be going to sleep any time soon with all of the excitement of the match.
“I’ll catch up with you lot later.” Oliver announced, “I’ve got a friend who’s here and I want to see him before it gets too late.”
“We’re about to start something to eat, so you better be quick before Fred, George, and Ron eat it all.” Hermione warned, earning a giggle from the girls and offended looks from the red-headed boys.
“I’ll be back soon!” Oliver waved.
Once the rest of them made it back to the tent Mr. Weasley jumped right in to making them all something to eat. Nori couldn’t remember the last time she felt this much joy. Fred and George were entertaining them with their version of an Irish jig, sporting tall green and white top hats and their faces still smeared with paint. Nori’s sides ached with how much she was laughing. Ron was still arguing that Bulgaria was the better team, even though they lost. He stood and pushed his brothers out of the way, professing his love for Viktor Krum and the way he rode the wind to catch the Golden Snitch.
“I think you’re in love, Ron.” Ginny jested, causing the room to fill with more laughter.
“Viktor may have caught the Snitch, but the Irish still won.” Nori pointed out. Fred and George cheered in agreement, their voices almost as loud as the celebrations happening outside their tent. None of them seemed to notice Mr. Weasley step outside to see what all the commotion was about, but none of the teens seemed concerned. The Irish won, so they assumed the loud bangs were fireworks. But when Mr. Weasley came back in and hushed all of them into silence, Nori immediately felt her stomach drop. He urged them to leave, and quickly, speaking in hushed tones. She glanced at Hermione and followed her out of the tent with the others, fear gripping her chest. Outside was a complete warzone, nothing like it had been just a few hours ago at the end of the match. The area was quickly filling with smoke and people were screaming and running frantically, it made Nori dizzy. She finally realized that they were being attacked. But by who?
“What’s happening?” Nori whispered.
“Get back to the Portkey, everybody, and stick together!” Mr. Weasley exclaimed.
“What?” Panic began to rise in Nori’s throat. Mr. Weasley yelled over the sound of the fire and screamed at Fred and George, demanding that Ginny was their responsibility and ordering them to go before joining the fight himself. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took off towards the Portkey and Nori lost sight of them quickly. Fred and George were leading Ginny the same way, but Fred stopped when he noticed that Nori wasn’t following them. He stopped his brother and sister and turned back but Nori was nowhere to be found and his heart dropped into his stomach.
“Where’s Nori?” he exclaimed. All three began searching for her. She couldn’t have gotten far, probably confused by the people and the smoke. They called out her name, their lungs quickly filling up with smoke. But Fred refused to leave her there. He would let George take Ginny ahead and stay back and search if he had to. However, just as he was about to tell his brother to do just that, he heard her. Heard her voice calling out for her brother. He followed it quickly, Ginny and George calling out behind him, but he turned the corner of a row of tents and found her. She was covered in soot and dirt and there was a hole in the knee of her jeans. Her eyes went wide, and she didn’t hesitate to run into his arms when she spotted him. As soon as he had a hold of her, he urged her to come with him, but she held back.
“What about Ollie? I can’t find him! What if he’s hurt?” Her lungs were screaming at her, and she could barely see as the tears were falling down her cheeks, leaving streaks as the tears removed the smoke stains from her skin. They both began to cough as the fire spread closer to them, creating more and more smoke. He gripped her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.
“We’ll find him. But I need to get you to safety.” He spoke. She was coughing and wheezing and her yelling for her brother wasn’t helping.
“Fred! Nori!” George called for them, his voice barely carrying over all of the chaos. Fred glanced away from Nori only a moment, holding her frame in place and forcing her to look at him, silently begging her to come with him. Tears were streaming down her face, but she finally agreed to let him take her to safety. She could hardly breathe as Fred draped his tall body around her, leading her away from danger. Once she was safe, then he could worry about finding her brother.
“Eleanor!”
Nori stopped dead in her tracks, her hold on Fred’s shirt making him come to a halt with her as they turned at her name. They could hear Oliver calling for her, but they couldn’t see him through the haze and the stampede of witches and wizards.
“Ollie?” Nori wheezed, waiting impatiently to see if it was really him coming out of the smoke. When he called her name again, she knew it was her brother lost in the crowd, looking for her.
“Oliver!” She took off before Fred could stop her. He ran after her, doing his best to keep her in his line of sight. He spotted Oliver ahead of her, with another man about his age leaning on him for support. Nori was crying out to her brother when a large ball of fire exploded not ten feet from where Nori was. The boys were still far enough away that the blast merely knocked them off their feet, but Nori, among a handful of others in the vicinity, got the full brunt of the explosion. It threw her into one of the support beams that was once holding up a banner for a World Cup vendor and she hit the ground with a cry of pain. Fred called after her, reaching her just as she tried to sit up.
“Nori!” He kneeled next to her and helped her sit up. Most of her left pants leg was singed away, revealing deep pink burns on her leg. She took hold of one of his hands to get his attention, muttering that he was bleeding and reached up to gingerly touch the side of his face. Something must have got thrown at him in the blast. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her. She would be more concerned about a little cut on his face. Despite this, he couldn’t stop the joke that immediately came to mind from passing his lips, “Does it make me look hot?”
Nori tried to laugh, but it just sent her into a fit of coughing, bringing them both to the reality of the situation.
“Eleanor!” Oliver approached them with the other young man, fear for his little sister apparent on his face, “Nori, are you alright?”
She nodded, “I’m alright.”
Fred looked down at her leg again and he seriously doubted her answer, but Oliver was pushing for them to move on, “We need to get out of here before they see us.”
“Who?” Fred asked.
“It’s them. His followers. Death Eaters.”
Fred felt his heart drop into his stomach, and he turned his attention to Nori, “Nor, can you stand?”
She nodded her head feebly and Fred got to his feet, pulling on her arms to help her up but the first bit of pressure she put on her leg she cried out in pain and went down.
“My leg.” She mumbled. Fear and pain and panic were clear in her tone. Without hesitation, Fred leaned down and slid his arms under her knees and around her waist, doing his best to avoid her injuries as he lifted her. Nori didn’t have the energy to argue. She was coughing so hard her lungs were sore and her body hurt from the blast, not to mention her eyes burned with the smoke. She gripped onto Fred like a lifeline, concentrating on staying conscious, but she was so dizzy and lightheaded. She could hear dark chanting from behind them, giving her body an eerie sense of doom. She peered back over Fred’s shoulder and she saw them, the Death Eaters, dressed in black cloaks and skull masks. She was sure she didn’t have any color left in her face before, but now she had to be translucent. The aura around the dark wizards spreading amongst the grounds like the real fire they ignited that was engulfing the campground.
“Fred! Here!” George called them all over, standing with Ginny at the edge of the grounds. She was clinging to him with a death grip, and he had her tucked close. They were covered in ash and coughing from smoke inhalation. Witches and wizards were leaping past them, trying to get out any way they could. Fred set Nori down gently next to Ginny who kneeled down to comfort her.
“What happened? What’s going on?” George asked.
“An explosion. An attack.” Fred said, “Where’s Ron? Hermione and Harry?”
“I dunno. We lost them in the panic.”
“It’s them, it’s his Death Eaters.” Oliver said, helping the young man down next to his sister and then turning his attention to her, assessing the large burn on her leg. She hissed when he moved it, and his features showed a look of regret.
“You have to get her out of here.” He said, “Her and Ginny.”
“What about Harry and the others?” Ginny said, a hint of panic in her voice.”
“I’ll find them. But you all need to get out of here.” Oliver urged, “Help Seamus, and get back to the port key.”
“What about you?” George asked.
“I told you; I’m going to find the others.”
“Ollie, no,” Nori’s voice was weak, and Oliver leaned down to her, holding her hand and brushing her hair out of her face, careful of a large gash near her hairline that was now crusted with dried blood.
“Nor, go, I’ll be right behind you.”
“That’s what you said before and then you almost got blown up.” She sounded serious but he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I know. But Fred and George are going to take care of you.” He kissed her forehead, and she wheezed in a deep, obviously painful breath.
“Wow, it must be bad if you’re entrusting me to them.” Her sense of humor seemed to still be intact, though her voice was raspy. She started to sit up with Ginny’s help and Oliver rolled his eyes. She’d been spending too much time with the twins. He reached over to Fred, grabbing his attention by gripping his shoulder.
“Please, keep her safe.”
Something about the way Oliver looked at him made Fred think that his ex-captain knew something that he didn’t. But he just nodded, and Oliver took off back into the chaos without a glance back. George was helping Seamus, Oliver’s friend, to his feet while Ginny helped Nori onto Fred’s back, piggybacking her. She coughed and with her breath so close to his ear he could hear how terrible she really sounded. Of course, he probably didn’t sound much better.
“Hang on tight, spider monkey.” He said and she smiled, holding on as tight as her weak muscles would allow as they followed George and Seamus away from the grounds. And before she lost consciousness, she got the heavy feeling that a lot of things were about to change.