TOGETHER (A HARRY POTTER LOVE STORY) 4

12

MILLIES POV

"...prime seats!" the Ministry witch at the entrance was saying when I finally reached the others, with Harry close behind me. "Top box! Straight upstairs, Jake, and as high as you can go..."

The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. I clambered upwards with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to my left and right. Our party kept climbing, until at last we reached the top of the staircase, and I found myself in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goalposts. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and, filing into the front seats with our group, I looked down upon a scene the like of which I could never have imagined.

A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats which rose in levels around the long oval pitch. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light that seemed to come from the stadium itself. The pitch looked as smooth as velvet from my lofty position. At either end of the pitch stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite us, almost at my eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible hand was scrawling upon it and then wiping it off again; watching it, I saw that it was flashing advertisements across the pitch:

THE BLUEBOTTLE: A BROOM FOR ALL THE FAMILY - SAFE, RELIABLE AND WITH AN IN-BUILT ANTI-BURGLAR BUZZER...

MRS SKOWER'S ALL PURPOSE MAGICAL MESS-REMOVER: NO PAIN, NO STAIN!...

GLADRAGS WIZARDWEAR - LONDON, PARIS, HOGSMEADE-

"Gladrags Wizardwear...Hogsmeade..." Mione read aloud off the blackboard, before side-eyeing me from her place in between Ron and Ginny. "We should visit there this year..."

"Yeah..." I managed to mutter, my voice coming out slightly croaky from being purely overwhelmed by the incredible sights and atmosphere. Along with all that, I was sat beside Harry and Ron, so I knew this was about to be one of the coolest, funniest, best experiences of my life.

"Pretty cool, right?" Ron nudged my side, as though he'd seen this view mulitple times before.

"Pretty cool?" I repeated, my face changing from complete and utter starstruck to one of the widest, happiest grins I'd ever worn. "It's incredible!"

Ron nodded very deeply in agreement before turning round to George and snatching his Omnioculars from the boys hands. However, I knew just one person who would understand how I was truly feeling right now; harry and I had been on the gryffindor Quidditch team for almost four years now, and the sport was one of the things in our first year at hogwarts that had really brought us close together. Being in an actual Quidditch stadium, for the actual Quidditch world cup, was an indescribable thing for not only myself, but for harry, too.

Wondering why I hadn't heard his loud voice for the last few seconds, I forced myself to look away from the pitch and to the other side of me, instead; Harry, sure enough, was standing beside me, but instead of having his eyes on the centre of the stadium like the majority of our group, he was peering over his shoulder and staring at a tiny creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind us. My facial features instantly twisted into a confused one matching Harry's, wondering what the bloody bell it was.

"Dobby?" Harry said suddenly, his mouth remaining open in surprise.

My mouth, however, twisted into an excited grin, while my eyes widened in interest; I had heard a lot about Dobby the house-elf from Harry in the past, but had never actually met him. Harry had set Dobby free from his old owners, the Malfoy family, in our second year, whilst I had been washing all the blood and dirt off of myself after being in the Chamber of Secrets. An amusing memory flashed into my mind where I had shouted at Harry for not introducing me in time, and then hugged him upon finding out he had freed the house-elf - it was just after I'd realised I'd had a crush on the boy, so second-year Millie had been freaking out.