Chasing Love

Chapter Forty-Seven - Camp Site

When Hermione's alarm went off it  felt as though they had only just gone to sleep, Eliza stretched before getting changed. Hermione and Ginny both started to get dressed but none of the three were awake enough to speak. Before any of them knew it, Mrs Weasley burst into the bedroom, "Come on now girls, you're leaving in a minute."

As they entered the kitchen, all four boys were already there waiting with Mr Weasley. "Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny said as she rubbed her eyes and sat down at the table.

"We've got a bit of a walk," Mr Weasley told her.

"Walk?" Harry looked around. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley, smiling. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup."

"George!" Mrs Weasley shouted causing them all to jump.

"What?" George said in an innocent tone that deceived no one.

"What is that in your pocket?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't you lie to me!" Mrs Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket and said, "Accio!" Causing several brightly coloured objects to fly out of his pockets, George tried to grab them but they landed in her hand. "We told you to destroy them!" said Mrs. Weasley furiously, holding up more Ton-Tongue Toffees. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!" It was a horrible scene, the twins had been trying to smuggle as many toffees out as possible and it was only by their mother using the summoning charm that she managed to find them all. 

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at Mrs Weasley as she threw the toffees away.

"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieked at them. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!" The atmosphere when they left was very tense, Mrs Weasley was still angry when she kissed her husband's cheek. But it was the twins that were the angriest, both hoisted their rucksacks onto their backs and walked out without a word to her. "Well, have a lovely time and behave yourselves," She called out to the twins but they didn't look back or answer her. "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday," Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as the rest of the group started to walk, following the twins. 

It was very cold, the moon was even still out. "So how does everyone get there without all the Muggles noticing?" Harry asked.

"It's been a massive organizational problem. The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up at the World Cup, and of course, we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all. There are places Muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or platform nine and three-quarters. So we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti-Muggle precautions as possible. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. First, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals. People with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand. A limited number use Muggle transport, but we can't have too many clogging up their buses and trains - remember, wizards are coming from all over the world. Some Apparate, of course, but we have to set up safe points for them to appear, well away from Muggles. I believe there's a handy wood they're using as the Apparition point. For those who don't want to Apparate, or can't, we use Portkeys. They're objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time if you need to. There have been two hundred Portkeys placed at strategic points around Britain, and the nearest one to us is up at the top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're headed."