Quidditch World Cup - Australia vs England

Chapter 1 - Tickets and Arrival

Tap, tap, tap.
I was woken at about 8am by a sharp tapping on my window.

I woke up, pulling on my glasses as I stretched and yawned. I looked at the window and saw a tawny owl pecking at the glass. It had an envelope in its beak.

Bit early for mail, I thought as I walked to the window and opened it to let the owl in. The tawny swooped into the room, dropped the envelope onto my pillow and swooped out as quickly as it had come in.

I went over to my bed, feeling a tiny bit excited as I began to think it might be what I thought it was. The excitement built up as I tore open the envelope and pulled out three rectangular pieces of parchment.

I picked up one of them, reading the words that confirmed what I was thinking.

Quidditch World Cup - Australia vs England. Admit one - Top Box.

I couldn't contain my excitement any further and let out a loud "WHOO-HOO!"

My family and I were going to the Quidditch World Cup! And to top it off, we had gotten the best seats in the house, thanks to a friend of mine at the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

Later that day, I contacted my brother and sister by Floo powder, letting them know I'd gotten the tickets. After this, I began to make our arrangements.

I arranged our Apparition checkpoint for 10am on the day of the match. We'd be Apparating from a side street near Flinders Street Station in the city. After that, I dug out my tent from the shed; while it wasn't as luxurious as some, it had what we needed.

Because the pitch would be set up in the middle of the desert, there was only a small amount of anti-Muggle security needed. So all the guests would be free to use magic within reason.

As the days leading up the match came and went, I began to get more and more excited. I had never been to the World Cup before, but knew I just had to go this year when the Aussies made it, smashing Transylvania by 400 points.

The Australian team's last Cup win was in 1966, so it was no wonder people rushed to get tickets. England was our biggest rival besides New Zealand, so this was destined to be a huge match.

Finally, the day arrived. I, Mikaela and Reegan, who had arrived the night before, were up and ready to go by 8 o'clock. We'd decided we'd dress in Muggle clothes and take the train to Flinders Street, meeting up with our contact at the Apparition spot.

We arrived at Flinders Street with five minutes to spare, grabbing a quick coffee before heading to the spot. As Reegan was underage, he'd be doing Side-Along Apparition with me first, with Mikaela following.

We met up with Reg, our contact, in the side street and next thing we knew, Reegan was holding my arm and we had all instantly appeared in the campground a short walk from the pitch.

We had arrived.