FicWad

Chapter Thirteen: Quidditch Cup and Chaos

The Weasleys, Hailey, Hermione, and Harry made their way up into the stands of the Quidditch Cup, all the way to the top box. Harry looked around excitedly, the place below them looked packed, but they have the best seat in the house. Or so Harry believed until he saw who else was in the top box. Standing right there chatting with the Minister of Magic was Lucius Malfoy and beside him was Draco and a blond haired woman that Harry believed had to be Draco's mother, who had her nose stuck into the air slightly as if she was too good to be out in public.

"Oh no," said Harry in a low voice.

"What's wrong Harry?" asked Ginny.

"Malfoys," said Harry simply.

"You know I was wondering why the air around here started to get a bit foul," whispered Hermione. "It did smell a bit like pureblood supremacists."

"I just seen them for the first time, and I think I may not like these people already," said Hailey frowning.

"Excellent," said Harry approvingly. "Nice to see you have your head screwed on right."

"Harry Potter!" called Cornelius Fudge calling Harry to wince. "Come over here."

"I better see what the Minister of Magic wants," said Harry before walking over to the Minister of Magic.

"Ah, yes, very good, Harry, this is the Bulgarian Minister of Magic," said Fudge as if he never got Harry thrown in Azkaban the previous year for a short time. "Minister, this is Harry Potter."

The Bulgarian Minister stared at Fudge blankly, as if he was not getting what Fudge was saying.

"Harry Potter, defeater of You-Know-Who, you know, the scar," said Fudge. "Show him Harry."

"I don't think so, Minister," said Harry. "I have better things to do than to be paraded around to make yourself look better. Good day to you."

Fudge sputtered angrily but Lucius Malfoy stepped in front of Harry's path. Malfoy had a very stylish looking cane in his hand, with diamonds fused onto the handle.

"May I help you, Lucius?" asked Harry in an irritable voice.

"Mr. Potter, I must say I am surprised to see you still alive and well," said Lucius Malfoy in a low tone of voice so only Harry could hear him. "Bellatrix Lestrange is on the loose, I have no doubt she may be after your head, as she was one of the top servants of the Dark Lord..."

"I'm sure you would know that all too well, Malfoy," interjected Harry in a warning tone of voice. "Rest assure, you better hope Lestrange doesn't come after you, because I doubt she'd be too pleased that you bought your way out of Azkaban and she may feel you turned your back on Voldemort in doing so."

"Potter, I really have no clue what you are speaking of and I must caution you against using the Dark Lord's name," said Lucius. "It may raise the ire of some."

"Perhaps," answered Harry. "But I have nothing further to say to you, except I would suggest you warn your son to stay out of my way at Hogwarts. I will not play so nice this year, if he keeps harassing my friends, he'll be extremely sorry."

"Is that a threat, Potter?" asked Lucius coldly.

"No, a promise," said Harry calmly. "One that I'd suggest you pass on, if you don't want me to tip the Ministry off on what you did during my second year, with a certain diary. Remember this, you may be able to bribe the Minister into favoring you but if someone else found the right price, they could outbid your bribery."

Lucius put his hand on his wand, itching to curse Potter but he knew he couldn't do that with this many witnesses. Perhaps another time, but not tonight. He just bowed his head lightly and walked off.

Harry knew he unnerved Lucius Malfoy slightly with that little line about some people being able to outbid him on bribing the Minister. After all, Master Splinter once said battles are just as much psychological as they are physical.

"What was that all about, Harry?" asked Ginny as he walked over to sit down in one of the seats.

"Lucius Malfoy trying to intimidate me, as if he could," said Harry calmly. "Don't worry about it Ginny, it wasn't anything life threatening."

Ginny sat down on the other side of Harry, looking a worried that her friend may be brushing off what Malfoy was saying but she decided to cast her suspicions out of her mind for the time being, attempting to just sit down and enjoy the game.

"This looks interesting," said Hermione thumbing through her program as everyone else settled down around them. "Each team will be bringing mascots native to their home country to put on a show before the match."

"Yep, interesting," said Hailey absentmindedly but excited all the same, as this was her first time she saw anything to do with Quidditch.

Ludo Bagman's voice began to boom out over the crowd, magically magnified a hundred times its normal volume.

"Welcome, to the 1994 Quidditch World Cup," said Bagman booming over the crowd. "Today's match will feature Bulgaria facing off against Ireland. First, let me present to you the referee for today's bout, the Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, coming to us from Egypt, give it up for Hassan Mostafa."

A short, skinny bald wizard, with a mustache waved his hand to the crowd, while carrying a box with Quidditch balls and a whistle on a string hanging from his neck.

"Now, without further ado, let's first introduce the Irish team mascots," said Ludo Bagman.

What appeared to be a giant shamrock made its way out to the field but as Harry found out many times in his life, appearances are not always as they seemed. They shamrock appeared to be a bunch of little three feet tall men in green suits and green hats, all with matching red goatees.

"Leprechauns," said Mr. Weasley.

Harry could see that as they used some form of magic to make a makeshift rainbow, before sliding down the rainbow, throwing gold coins into the crowd.

"Excellent," said Ron Weasley happily as he caught some of the gold, stuffing some of the Leprechaun gold in his pocket.

"Should we tell him that Leprechaun gold vanishes after a few hours?" whispered Harry to Ginny.

"No," said Ginny calmly. "Let him find out the hard way, if he wants to remain ignorant of things that are common knowledge."

The Leprechauns finished their little show, moving back over into their shamrock shaped object and staying right on the Irish side of the field.

"An impressive show by the Irish team mascots," commentated Bagman. "It should be rather interesting to see if the Bulgarians can top that but...looking out on the field, it appears they may just top that, for the male population at least."

"Well, that can only mean one thing, Veela," said Mr. Weasley, covering his ears.

"Veela?" asked Ron but his eyes went wide as the show on the field began, before his tongue hung out of his mouth like a dog, watching the Veela dance on the field.

Harry didn't get it. Sure, these women like creatures, these Veela, weren't bad looking, but they had nothing on Ginny. At that last thought, he gave his head a shake, wondering where that last thought came from. Must have been the high altitude, making him delirious and prone to these interesting thoughts. After all, he was just friends with Ginny, nothing more.

Hailey looked highly amused at the most of the men in the box, looking like they had lost their ability to formulate rational thought.

"Okay, I don't get it, I'm not feeling anything," said Harry. "Maybe it's due to I have a higher mental restraint due to my ninjitsu abilities..."

"No, Harry, actually I recall reading that people that are bonded magically to another person are immune to the charms Veela give off or even beginning to form a bond in fact," muttered Hermione, shaking her head at how delusional her friend was.

Before Harry could give this any more thought, he looked at Ron standing towards the ledge of the box, about ready to leap off by the looks of things.

"Don't look down, but Ron’s about ready to kill himself to impress the Veela," remarked Harry to Ginny who was closest to Ron.

Ginny gritted her teeth before pulling her brother away from the ledge.

"Making a complete idiot out of yourself, if anyone asks, I'm not related to you," hissed Ginny irritably. "Pulling a stunt like that, shameful really, you don't see Harry doing anything like that."

"I can make it Ginny," said Ron absentmindedly.

The Veela started dancing on the field but Harry found himself rather disinterested with the whole thing, deciding to turn to watch Ginny, who was keeping an eye on Ron to make sure he didn't do anything stupid like attempting to jump out of the top box again.

Behind the Weasleys, Hailey, Hermione, and Harry, a man under an invisibility cloak began to mentally awaken. As he saw the Veela, he became focused on them and the Imperius curse his father put on him shattered. For the first time in nearly twelve years, he felt mentally free. The man underneath the invisibility cloak chanced a glance at his caretaker, the house elf known as Winky. She was afraid of heights, having her head buried in her hands. Everyone seemed focused on the cup, so he saw his chance, seeing the wand sticking out of the back pocket of a messy haired black haired boy sitting in front of him. He had always been moderately talented at wandless magic but he needed a wand so he could create a diversion. Waving his hand, he wandlessly summoned the wand, pulling it out of the boy's pocket. He stashed the wand in his robes, mentally putting together a plan so he could escape his father's hold over him.

The Veela stopped their little show and Ron came back to life, sitting down and looking a bit horrified at the fool he made of himself. Harry turned his attention to the field; the game was about to begin.

"Now without further ado, the Quidditch World Cup is to begin," said Bagman in a booming voice. "First, it is with great pleasure I introduce the Irish Quidditch Team. Troy, Moran, Mullet, Ryan, Quigely, Connolly, and Lynch!"

The Irish Team went onto the field, all equipped with Firebolt racing brooms, drawing massive amounts of cheers from their supporters.

"And their opponents," said Bagman over the roars of the crowd. "Allow me to present the Bulgarian Quidditch Team, represented by Dimitrov, Levski, Ivanova, Zograf, Volkov, Vulchanov, and Krum!!"

Krum got the most enthusiastic response for them all, as from what Harry could tell from Ron Weasley's ramblings, he was a Quidditch prodigy, only eighteen years old, and already on the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team. Of course, despite enjoying the game, Harry knew there was a lot more to life than Quidditch, but he prepared himself to enjoy the game, for one night, he did not feel the obligation to be Harry Potter and could just sit back, without worrying about being killed.

"Mostafa is letting the balls into the air," said Bagman. "And everyone is in the air, let the game begin."

Fast and furious action it was too, Harry could tell that what was played at Hogwarts was nothing compared to this. Most of the Quidditch players at the school could not last a few minutes with the professionals, who were extremely skilled and agile.

"We are off and running right here!" yelled Bagman excitedly. "Troy, Mullet, Moran, all passing the quaffle to each other, causing the Bulgarians a right headache. Mullet ends up with the Quaffle, launching it towards the hoop. Zograf attempts to block it but to no avail, Ireland scores!"

Harry could see the scoreboard lighting up with ten Ireland to zero Bulgaria. The action kept going at a heightened pace, as the Irish seekers looked as if they were a well oiled machine, able to communicate with each other without speaking. The Bulgarians were becoming rather frustrated, and attempted to take out the Irish with the Bludgers, but Chaser Moran managed to pass the Quaffle off to Mullet before getting knocked back with the bludger. Mullet put the Quaffle through the hoop, bumping up the score twenty to zero.

Ireland kept up the heat, putting two more goals through the quaffle as the Bulgarians switched focus to keep the Irish away from their hoops.

"Forty to Zero, and Chaser Ivanova from Bulgaria manages to get the Quaffle," said Bagman. "Ivanova attempts to get, no she is taken out by the Irish Beaters. Tough break for Bulgaria, now Ireland has control of the Quaffle again, Mullet to Moran back to Mullet and now right to Troy. Fast and furious action here and Mullet gets the Quaffle once again, launching it past Zograf to bump the score up, Fifty-Zero, in favor of Ireland."

The Leprechauns made the words "HA HA" with their bodies, as the Veelas attempted to turn their charms on the Irish chasers in an attempt to get their diversion from the game.

"I'm not quite sure how legal it is, but the Bulgarian team mascots appear to be attempting to distract the Chasers from Ireland but the Irish Chasers seem to be in the presence of mind not to look over in that direction," said Bagman. "Mullet has the Quaffle once again, avoiding a Bludger pelted at him by Bulgarian beater, Volkov, right through the hoop and Bulgaria scores once again."

"This is looking to be pretty one sided," said Hailey observantly.

"Don't look now but I think Krum's seen the snitch," said Hermione, pointing this out.

Harry looked at Krum, he did not see the Snitch but what he was doing was brilliant. He was making Lynch think he did, hurtling towards the ground before pulling up and causing Lynch to spiral out of control, sliding off the broom, and landing on the ground with a sickening thud, appearing to injure his wrist in the process.

"Lynch should have seen that one coming, it was obvious that Krum was feinting," said Charlie Weasley.

"That was sheer brilliance by Krum," said Ron admirably.

"Yes, we know, you are obsessed with Krum," said Hermione. "We got the message the first two hundred or so times, why don’t you announce your engagement already?"

"It looks like Lynch is going to be okay!" called Bagman on commentary. "Just a sprained wrist, but nothing worth being taken out of the Quidditch World Cup for."

"Yes, nothing like having a rogue Bludger after you, getting your broom jinxed, or having Dementors attempting to attack you," said Harry dryly.

Lynch got onto his broom and the match continued, with Ireland bumping the score up to ninety to zero in short order. The Bulgarians were getting rather frustrated at their lack of success of gaining control of the Quaffle, but Krum seemed unblinking, circling over the game and looking for the snitch, with Lynch flying around, hoping Krum would lead him to the Snitch.

"If he is relying on Krum after what he did earlier, Lynch deserves to go into go into the ground headfirst," commented Hailey. "I don't know much about this game, but even I know not to follow someone who led me into a freefall."

Harry nodded; he would have to agree on that point as Bulgaria actually managed to get control of the Quaffle, moving towards the goalposts.

"Levski has the Quaffle, will he put it through?" asked Bagman. "He shoots, oh tough luck, Ryan blocks it expertly."

The Leprechauns continued to mock the Bulgarians, which began to enrage the Veela on the other end of the field, their eyes starting to glow a demonic red, and their fingers slowly growing claws with their silvery blonde hair becoming stiff and lifeless.

"Troy to Mullet to Moran and through the hoop once again, bumping the score up a hundred to zero," said Bagman. "And..."

The Veela appeared to decide turn their attention to the referee, giving him a full blast of the charm. The referee flew over to the Veela, twirling his mustache while the Veela put their hands on him, rubbing his chest. This allowed the Bulgarians to knock Chaser Mullet out of the air, in a move that was sure to be a foul.

"That referee...oh this is too much," said Hailey giggling.

"As highly amusing as this is, I think someone should slap that referee for failing to do this job," said Bagman although he was trying very hard to fight a smile.

A mediwizard flew out in the field; fingers stuffed in his ears, and kicked Mostafa in the back of his leg, causing him to come back to his senses. Mostafa looked to be ordering the Veela to go off the field.

"Well, I don't believe this has ever happened, before," said Bagman. "The Bulgarian mascots are getting ejected from the game, surely a first in Quidditch history tonight."

The Leprechauns formed a giant hand that appeared to be sticking a middle finger in the air, aimed straight at the Veela. The Veela became enraged, turning into demonic looking birds with claws, glowing red eyes, and limp lifeless blond hair, while throwing fire at the Leprechauns. Hermione shuddered at the horrid sight, she remembered reading that when Veela became enraged, they turned into what they truly were on the inside and this particular group appeared to be savage beasts.

"Ministry wizards are coming out on the field right now, this is chaos!" yelled Bagman over the crowd as one of the Ministry Wizards got knocked back by a fireball from one of the Veela before subduing him. "The two Quidditch teams are down on the field, attempting to help restore order, which is slowly becoming unraveled."

"And that, gentlemen is why going for looks alone is never a good thing," said Mr. Weasley as the Veela were being escorted away.

"Now, we will resume this game as the mascots of both teams have been escorted out of the stadium, but we understand due to the assault by the Bulgarian mascots, Mostafa has awarded the Irish team not one but two penalties," said Bagman.

"Like they need them," muttered Ginny.

"Moran appears to be the one to take the first shot, aiming for the hoop," said Bagman. "Right in position and he scores, bumping the game up a hundred and ten to zero in favor of Ireland! Second penalty shout coming straight through, it is aimed for the hoops and put straight through. Ireland leads the game a hundred and twenty to zero."

Harry wondered if Bulgaria had mentally given up, due to the fact that the Irish Chasers were making mince meat out of them, and perhaps hanging all of their hopes on the Snitch seeking abilities of Viktor Krum. They made a vain attempt to get the Quaffle away from Chaser Mullet but he passed it to Moran who somersaulted towards the Quaffle in bit of a show off move before launching it through, bumping the score up a hundred and thirty to nothing.

"Bulgaria better get it together, wait Mullet to Troy to Moran, back to Troy and through the hoop, no blocked rather," announced Bagman. "The Bulgarian keeper blocked the Quaffle and now the Bulgarian chasers have possession of the Quaffle. Dimitrov passes to Ivanova who passes it to Levski and whipping it back around to Ivanova who puts it through the Irish side goal posts. Bulgaria is on the board but Ireland is still leading one hundred and thirty to ten."

The Bulgarian supports came back to life a bit; clapping politely as they had been in a bit of a haze due to the pounding they received courtesy of the Irish chasers. The Bulgarians attempted to get back into the game but the Irish Chasers went into a full force attack, putting the score up with two more goals, making the score a one hundred and fifty to ten.

"Krum is searching for the Snitch valiantly but it appears to be eluding him," commented Bagman. "If he can catch the Snitch before Ireland gets another goal, he wins the game for his team. But the Irish Chasers have the quaffle once again, avoiding the Bludgers pounded towards them by the Bulgarian beaters. To Troy passed to Moran, right to Mullet, back to Moran and blocked by the Bulgarian Keeper. Wait, the Irish Chasers have the Quaffle again, and they seem to be flying in a triangular pattern, confusing the Bulgarian Keeper greatly, Moran has the Quaffle, passing it to Mullet, who shoots it back to Moran, now to Troy, and through the hoops. A hundred and sixty to ten!"

"Well it's...Lynch has seen the Snitch!" yelled Harry, as he saw the Irish Seeker hurtling towards the Snitch, but Viktor Krum following right towards him.

"It is a race towards the Snitch but the game has not halted above, the Irish Chasers have the Quaffle, but Krum is also overtaking Lynch," yelled Bagman excitedly. "Krum is reaching out and Lynch is losing his patience, spiraling out of control. Up in the...oh my Krum caught the Snitch but up above Troy also put the Quaffle through the hoop as well but I can't really tell what happened first."

"Wait, wait, what happened?" asked Hailey. "Who won?"

"I think that's what everyone wants to know," said Bill.

"Wait, we need to get the official word from the referee but it appears by his judgment, the Quaffle was put through a split second before Krum caught the Snitch, so Ireland wins!" yelled Bagman as the Irish Supporters cheered loudly for their team. "The final score is a hundred and seventy to a hundred and sixty, with Viktor Krum catching the Snitch but Ireland wins the 1994 Quidditch World Cup."

Fudge got up, walking over to the Irish Quidditch Team, to present them with the trophy. Bagman tapped his wand to his throat, making his voice its normal volume again.

"Well, we'll be talking about that match for a long time, I'll assure you...ah yes," said Bagman as Fred and George stepped in front of him. "How much do I you again, boys?"

Bagman gave Fred and George their money and without another word, everyone went out of the top box, back to the campsite. As they were heading for the tents, Mr. Weasley turned to the twins.

"Now don't tell your mother you've been gambling," said Mr. Weasley.

"We have big plans for this money, so of course we won't tell her," said Fred.

"Yeah, Dad, what kind of idiots do you take us for?" asked George.

"You mean there's more than one kind," said Hailey in mock surprise.

"Extremely funny," said George dryly.

Mr. Weasley resisted the temptation to ask his sons exactly what kind of plans they had because truthfully it would be better off if he didn't know.

Later in the night, after Harry had finally just fallen asleep a few minutes ago, the excitement of the match being at an all time high, he sprung up out of bed to the sounds of screaming outside of the tent

"Harry, Fred, George, Ron, wake up," said Mr. Weasley walking in the room.

"What is it?" asked Harry groggily as he rose to his feet.

"No time to explain," said Mr. Weasley as Bill returned with the girls.

"What is it?" asked Ginny. "What's going on?"

"There's been an attack outside," said Mr. Weasley simply. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, and I are going to help the Ministry, all of you need to get into the woods and stick together."

Hailey, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Harry walked towards the woods, but Harry just had to turn to see what was going on. A group of wizards in black hooded robes, along with white skull like masks obscuring their face were torturing Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager, and what looked to be his family by levitating him in the air.

"Death Eaters," hissed Harry venomously, remembering seeing a description of what they wore in a book about the war with Voldemort he purchased for background reading when he first joined the Magical world.

"Harry, we need to go," said Hailey urgently.

"Harry!" said Ginny urgently. "We need to get into the woods where it is safe."

Harry very reluctantly followed, as much as he didn't want to encounter trouble, there was something about the way the Death Eaters were torturing innocent Muggles that rubbed him the wrong way and he wanted to blast them into pieces for doing so. He also had a shrewd suspicion this was the scum that bought their way out of Azkaban and they appeared to have a bit too much to drink by the way they were attacking.

Hailey, Ginny, and Harry went into the woods; they had become separated from Hermione, Ron, Fred, and George. The woods were rather ominous, with a kind of deathly quiet that made Harry slightly on edge and paranoid that something bad was going to happen.

"They couldn't have gone far," said Hailey. "I think they went this way."

"I sure hope you're right Hailey," said Harry, reaching his pocket for his wand but not finding anything. "Oh I don't believe this, my wand's missing."

"No!" whispered Ginny in horror. "Please tell me you just dropped it around here."

Ginny and Hailey looked around but Harry's wand was nowhere in sight. A moment later, Harry heard the voice of one of the people he didn't want to meet in when he was lost in the woods without a wand.

"Wandering the woods all by yourself, without any adults, ickle baby Potter," said a mock baby voice. "Didn't anyone tell you not to wander in the big bad woods all by yourself, well maybe I should give you a lesson on why that isn't a smart thing to do."

Bellatrix Lestrange stepped out from behind a bush, raising her wand in the air.

"Diffindo!" yelled Bellatrix, shooting a cutting curse straight towards Harry's throat but he managed to avoid it.

Harry rolled towards Bellatrix but Bellatrix blasted him away, causing Harry to fly into a tree with a thud. Ginny looked in horror, it was up to her to take on Bellatrix Lestrange, by herself as Harry's wandless magic was not focused and Hailey didn't know enough to hold her own.

"So much for Ickle baby Potter, now how about the two little girls," said Bellatrix, raising her wand. "Crucio!"

"Protego!" muttered Ginny, but the curse blasted right through her shield, causing her to scream in pain for a few seconds.

Harry launched himself at Bellatrix breaking her concentration on torturing Ginny but Bellatrix shot a black jet of light from her wand, striking Harry in side. Harry slumped straight away to the ground, blood oozing through his shirt, and in a matter of seconds, his clothing became completely soaked in blood. If fact, if Bellatrix would have put much more power into that curse, Harry would have been cleanly ripped in half.

"Harry, no!" yelled Ginny in horror, as Harry appeared to be on the verge of bleeding to death as a result of whatever Lestrange struck him with.

"Ginny," muttered Harry, holding onto her arm, before passing out from the massive amounts of blood he lost. Ginny felt relief to see that Harry was still breathing, even through it was quite swallow. She needed to get him out of here and get him help immediately.

"Mormorde!" yelled a deep voice, causing Ginny to look up, seeing a black skull with a snake protruding from the skulls mouth.

"What in the..." said Ginny in confusion, not letting Harry go as she stared at the black skull.

"My Lord?" asked Bellatrix Lestrange uncertainly before a jet of red lights flew through the trees of the forest towards the direction of where the voice called out the spell that summoned the Dark Mark.