The Quidditch World Cup
“Remember to stay with Lucius and Narcissa at all times, it’s going to be busy and if you wander off anywhere it will be impossible to find you.” Severus lectured him for what felt the hundredth time this week. Today he was leaving with the Malfoy’s for the Quidditch World Cup and his guardian was getting anxious about him going.
“I know all that, not only have you told me about five hundred times but also because I’m not stupid. I know not to wander off from adults at a huge event like this.”
“I’m sorry, I know your not stupid I just really don’t like not being able to keep you safe myself. Of course I trust Lucius and Narcissa but I don’t trust anyone else at that event and you are my son and I want you to be safe. So please humour me and listen to my lectures.”
“Ok, I’ll listen but only for another two minutes because then I have to leave.”
***
The world spun back into view as they landed on top of a hill with a lot more people apparating next to them. Immediately Lucius walked them over to a wizard who was standing on a path which led into the forest.
“Hello sir, if you could show me your ticket I will tell you where your tent site will be.” Lucius handed over the tickets which were stamped and then handed back. “You will be in tent site A15. Follow this path through the woods and out into the clearing where there will be plenty of signposts to show you where you are going. I hope you enjoy the match.”
“Thank you.” Lucius nodded before leading them all down the path. The woods were light the now but he knew that once it got dark this would be a terrifying walk, he was definitely happy they were staying overnight so they wouldn’t have to make this trip again until the morning.
He smiled as Draco clasped his hand and squeezed it to get his attention. “Have you ever stayed in a wizard tent before?”
“Ahh yes everyday.” He answered sarcastically before continuing with a serious answer. “When do you think I would have been able to do that? Hogwarts doesn’t exactly facilitate camping trips.”
“You and Severus could have went camping when you were at that safe house.”
“You think Severus would voluntarily stay in a tent when he has a massive house to sleep in.” He said making both of them start laughing hysterically at the image of Severus lying in a mattress on the floor grumbling about preferring to be in a warm room.
“Point taken, well you are in for a real surprise if you have never been in one before. It’s truly magical.” He snorted at Dracos awful joke.
“Surely a tent is just a tent in either world, what on earth can it do that’s different? Fly?”
“Not gonna tell you, you will just have to wait and see.”
“Boys stick closer now, it’s going to be a lot busier now we are out the woods.” Narcissa called holding out her hand for Draco to hold so they were all connected in a way.
They made their way around the sites following the signs for section A, it was difficult to weave around the crowds and the tents but eventually they made it to where they had to be be. Section A consisted of two lines of 8 squares of space with a path between the two lines. They found 15 and Lucius brought out a shrunken tent from a coat pocket. With a quick spell the tent was back to its normal size, but he frowned at how small it was. The tent looked like it would struggle to fit one person never mind the 4 of them. He looked at Draco to see the blond was currently laughing at the confusing on his face.
“It will make sense once your in, come on.” Draco dragged him up and opened the tent flap bending down to step in. With another questioning glance at the outside he bent down and followed the blond inside. He gasped as he straightened back up and looked around what once have looked to be a one man tent but now was about as big as the ground floor of a house. He was currently standing in a living room which was connected to a small kitchen of sorts, there was stairs behind the couch which led up into a mini loft bedroom with curtains to close for privacy. Another set of stairs led up into a corridor of sorts which had a bathroom on one side and another bedroom on the other side. “Told you wizard tents were magical.” Draco said smugly.
“How is it this big, is it an extendable charm if something?”
“Pretty much yes, whoever makes them integrates a bunch of different extension charms into the fabric used to make the tent. It’s quite a complicated process I think but it makes events like this so much easier. The amount of space these things save on the outside means they can fit more tents into a smaller campground so they don’t need to ward as large a space against the muggles.”
“What do the muggles see right now if all this space is warded against them?”
“They will see an empty field but there is also repulsion wards around the area which subconsciously makes none of them want to even come near here. It’s fascinating the amount of planning and set up that goes into an event like this, it takes months just to prepare for this one night of the match. “
“What about the huge pitch, surely that is visible to quite a few towns around here?”
“It’s also covered in wards as well as the towns having barriers around them that kind of mirror what the field should look like so that there is no chance of them seeing anything. It’s far too much damage control for the ministry if muggles do happen to see anything from the event so they put a lot of money into hiring the best to plan out all the different security measures. Anyway what is with this interest in this? Normally you never question how the muggles don’t see anything.”
“Well it is an interesting topic but I also just love to see how your eyes light up when you get to explain stuff to me about the wizarding world. You look so proud to be explaining what you grew up in.” He blushed as he realised how sappy he sounded but when Draco grinned at him happily he didn’t really care about that anymore.
“Should we go and see if Hermione is here yet, save her from the Weasley’s. Poor girl must be about to kill Ron.” Draco said still grinning from his previous comment.
“Yeah sure, where abouts would they be though? This is a huge area to search with no idea where people are.”
“I can ask dad, he might know. If not it’s an adventure I guess.”
As it turned out Lucius did know where they where as the man had overheard Arthur making plans about a tent with someone from work. They were in G9 which was quite a walk away but he didn’t mind, enjoying the fresh air and the sun which was just warm enough that they could walk around comfortably in T-shirts. Once they reached G they didn’t even need to check the signs to get to 9 considering it would have been impossible to miss 8 Weasleys and Hermione all arguing about how to set up a tent. He heard Draco giggle beside him when Ron accidentally hit himself with one of the poles.
“Stop laughing, we should go and help them before they take so long that they miss the game.” He tried to sound serious but couldn’t stop himself from grinning at the scene in front of him.
“Sorry to interrupt but you do know there is a spell for that.” Draco called to Arthur as they walked closer.
“I told you there had to be a spell dad but no you told me it had to be built.” Bill shouted indignantly obviously having not appreciated wasting a bunch of time trying to build the thing.
“My friend didn’t tell me this one had a spell and the last tent I owned had to be built so I just figured it was only the fancy ones that were spell built.”
“All the new models can be built by magic, there are couple older models around that can’t but that one definitely isn’t.” Draco informed the man kindly. “The spell is aedificare tentorium.”
Arthur still looked a bit sceptical but cast the spell anyway and within a minute the tent was complete.
“Thank you Draco, merlin only knows how long we would have spent at this without you.”
“No problem, happy to help.”
“Well kids, we will need to be in our seats within the next hour so go unpack. Boys you are welcome to come in and sit for a while, or you can go with the twins to put on bets.”
“We will stay here, help out.” He smiled at Arthur before grabbing Ginny’s bag, Draco following his lead and grabbing Hermione’s and headed inside to where the girls would be sleeping.
“I’m so excited, I have wanted to come to one of these games forever.” Ginny squealed once she was done unpacking.
“I can’t wait to see Krum fly, he is one of the top seekers right now and he is only a couple years older than us.” Draco added and immediately ended up in a long conversation about Quidditch with Ginny.
“How’s Sirius doing?” Hermione asked him when it was obvious neither of them would be able to keep up with the Quidditch talk.
“He is doing good, starting to put on some weight and get some colour about him. He has received all his compensation money now and is trying to find a house of his own because he feels he is intruding on us. Honestly I quite like having him around, he and Remus have great stories about my parents and he and Severus seemed to have gotten past their differences. I don’t know it will be nice to see him getting a house and back on his feet but I feel like the house will also be quite quiet once he goes.”
“I’m sure he will come to visit often and you will still have both Remus and Severus there.”
“Yeah I guess.”
“Draco your parents are here, you guys need to go.” Their conversation was cut short by Arthur’s call making them scramble to their feet and give a quick goodbye before leaving the tent.
The path up to the pitch went through the woods again and then out into a huge clearing. The pitch was huge and their were hundreds of people filing in to the stand to take their seats. He clung onto Draco as they squeezed their way through the crowds and up the stairs until finally they reached a quieter corridor.
“Ok guys, we are in the ministers box so beware their may be a few important people up here.” Lucius whispered to them before turning and opening the door leading them into the box and to their seats, which were at the front of the box giving them a perfect view of the stage. Sat next to him was a small house elf who looked rather uncomfortable with an empty chair next to her behind them was the Minister for Magic, Barty Crouch, Ludo Bagman (who the twins had bet with), the Bulgarian prime minister and a few Bulgarian officials. There was also a row of seats at the back which belonged to the Weasleys who arrived about 20 minutes after them looking ruffled from trying to navigate that many people around the crowds.
Not too long after the Weasleys arrived, Ludo Bagman got up to give a small speech welcoming everyone to the game then the players fly out, first the Irish team and then the Bulgarian team. He watched amazed as they all do tricks around the pitch showing off their skills on the broom. He noted a few of them in his mind to try as soon as he gets to Hogwarts. Soon the players come to a halt and the mascots walk out onto the pitch, dancing leprechauns for the Irish and what seem to be Veelas for the Bulgarians. He looks around confused as every male stared mesmerised at the veelas just standing there instead of at the leprechauns who were dancing and flipping around.
“Draco, why is pretty much every male captivated by the veelas but we aren’t?” He had heard about the Veela appeal but just thought it was some sort of exaggerated fact.
“Not sure, apparently they are supposed to be irresistible.”
Eventually the mascots left and the males came back to their senses in time for the balls to be released and the whistle to sound signifying the start of the game.
Ireland was playing effortlessly, scoring a goal easily against the Bulgarians much to the annoyance of the minister behind him and Krum who looked to be getting more and more annoyed with his teams performance. The game had been going for a few hours now with no sight if the snitch and Ireland leading by 170 points so everyone could understand the Bulgarian seekers annoyance. He watched as Ireland scored another goal but at that same time Krum went into a deep dive straight towards the ground, he searched the area but could see no sign of the snitch before realising Krum was pulling a wronski feint and it was working as the Ireland seeker immediately followed. He searched the pitch knowing Krum had obviously seen the snitch somehwere to have done such a move and finally saw it hovering around the Ireland side of the pitch about half way up the stands. Krum had pulled out the five at just the right angle to shoot directly up towards the golden snitch, grasping it with no issues causing cheering to explode across the whole stadium. He half heard Ludo’s flabbergasted commentating and the twins cheering about winning the bet over the sound of everyone clapping. After a while the crowd calmed and he turned to see the twins grinning broadly at Bagman.
“How on earth did you guess the ending correctly. Bulgaria catching the snitch but Ireland winning, how could you have possibly got that?” Ludo kept saying.
“Lucky guess, which means we win the money.” The twins said in unison.
“I will get it to yous in the morning, I don’t have it on me right now.”
“Well be waiting for it.”
“Come on guys, we best head back to the tent and get some sleep, it’s getting really quite late now.” Narcissa called to them.
***
He lay in bed cuddled into Draco, the two of them recounting the best parts of the match when screaming sounded form outside causing them both to sit up rapidly.
“What was that?” He whispered.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s people just getting excited.” Draco said but the boy obviously didn’t believe that knowing the screams were definitely ones of fear. Lucius ran into the room at that moment, wand in hand and face set harshly.
“Death Eaters are here and they are causing a lot of damage as well as having taken some muggles from the nearest town. I need you two to go into the woods and hide. I need you to stay together and if you can, find the Weasleys but most importantly don’t try anything heroic ok?I also need you to take your wands and be ready to defend yourself at all times. Go now before they get any closer.”
He searched around his trousers and jumper from the previous night for his wand but he couldn’t find it anywhere, he kept searching till eventually Lucius said they had no time and he just had to leave anyway.
They were pretty much pushed out the tent in their pyjamas, Lucius and Narcissa running towards the cloaked figures and the two of them turning to run in the opposite direction towards the woods. Inside the woods was crowded with hundreds of people, some apparating away and some to terrified to move but they kept going squeezing around people until getting deep enough into the trees that they were away from the majority of the crowd. He clutched onto Draco tightly as they stuck behind a tree.
He was just starting to calm himself down when they heard a branch snap and a male voice from next to them, he whipped round hands raised only to relax then when he saw the small elf which had been sat next to him earlier. He was about to go towards her to see if she was alright when even more people came running towards them causing them to whip round again to see the minister for magic running with Barty Crouch, Lucius, Narcissa, Arthur, Bill and Charlie.
“Which of you done it?” Fudge shouted at them, wand pointing between them.
“You honestly can’t believe they cast it, they are just children.” Arthur defended.
“Cast what?” He asked, voice shaking as he clung to Draco tighter.
“The dark mark is in the sky above this spot. Did you guys see anything?” Lucius answered him looking stressed.
“We heard a voice just over there then saw that house elf.”
“Winky?” Crouch asked confused. “Why have you got a wand winky?”
“Check the wands last spell.” Fudge ordered Crouch.
Crouch went over to winky and took the wand, casting the spell to see the history and everyone gasped when morsmordre was the last thing to be cast. He gasped louder when he realised the wand in the Crouch’s hand was actually his.
“Sir, that’s my wand. I lost it earlier, she must have taken it when I sat next to her in the box.” He said slowly, not wanting the blame back on him.
“Winky, you will be severely punished for this. Not only did you steal a wand but you also cast a forbidden spell.” Crouch looked both angry and embarassed and he wished he hadn’t ratted in the elf when he saw the fear in her eyes. “Here’s your wand back, now I must get going.” He grasped his wand, it feeling slightly wrong after having cast such a horrific spell and watched as the poor elf walked sadly behind the raging man.
“But we heard a man’s voice say the spell, not winky.” Draco voiced to the minister.
“We shall search that direction but it may just be you misheard considering the elf was the one with the wand.” The Minister sighed.
“If you don’t mind sir, I would like to get these two home and safe.” Narcissa asked the man and he was thankful for that because he didn’t want to spend another minute in these woods knowing what was above him.
“Yeah that’s fine but I would like Lucius to stay if that’s alright.”
“Of course I will stay and help. Narcissa get them home and inform Severus of tonight’s events.”
“Come on guys let’s go.” Narcissa said gently grasping their hands and then the world began to spin.