The Goblet of Fire | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book Four)

5. The Quidditch World Cup

We all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. We could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around us. The atmosphere of excitement was high. We walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until at last we emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium.

"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked our tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."

We clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, at last we reached the top of the staircase and found ourselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts.

Me and Ron pulled out our Omnioculars and started testing them, staring down into the crowd on the other side of the stadium.

"Wild!" me and Ron said, both twiddling the replay knob on the side.

Hermione, meanwhile, was skimming eagerly through her velvet covered program.

"'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,'" she read aloud.

"Oh that's always worth watching." said Mr Weasley. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show."

The box filled gradually around us, Mr Weasley kept shaking hands with people and Percy jumped to his feet every so often. When Cornelius Fudge arrived, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and then remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend. Fudge shook Harry's hand and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.

"Ah, and here's Lucius!" Fudge said suddenly.

We turned quickly. Right behind Mr Weasley were none other than Lucius Malfoy, Draco and Draco's mother.

"Ah, Fudge," said Mr Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic, "how are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

"How do you do, how do you do?" said Fudge, smiling. "And allow me to introduce you to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic. And let's see who else - you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

It was a tense moment. Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy looked at each other. "Good lord, Arthur," Lucius said softly, "what did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Fudge, who wasn't listening, said. "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."

"How - how nice," said Mr Weasley, with a very strained smile.

Thankfully, they left for their seats and we were able to sit down as the match was beginning.

"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The team mascots were now brought out and I saw that the Bulgarians had brought Veela. My mind went numb at that point and I must've looked like an absolute idiot since Hermione had to grab the back of my shirt.

The Irish team brought out Leprechauns and I watched in my seat, still embarrassed from what happened when the Veela were there.

After all the mascot performances, they introduced both teams and finally, the match began.

I watched everything through my Omnioculars even though I could barely keep up. By the time I sorted out the Omnioculars, Ireland were leading.

Just then, the two seekers plummeted so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from airplanes without parachutes. I followed their descent through his Omnioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was-

"They're going to crash!" screamed Hermione next to me.

She was half right - at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud.

I hastily pressed the replay and play-by-play buttons on my Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to my eyes.

I watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion. WRONSKI DEFENSIVE FEINT - DANGEROUS SEEKER DIVERSION read the shining purple lettering across my lenses. I saw Krum's face filled with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and I understood, Krum hadn't seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him.

After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten.

Suddenly, the Irish seeker had suddenly gone into a dive, and I was quite sure that this was the real thing...

"He's seen the Snitch!" I shouted. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"

Half the crowd seemed to have realised what was happening. The Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their seeker on, but Krum was on his tail.

"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.

"They're not!" roared Ron.

"Lynch is!" yelled Harry.

And he was right, Lynch hit the ground.

"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" asked Ron.

"He's got it - Krum's got it - it's all over!" I shouted.

Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand.

The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170. Suddenly, all the Irish supporters into a tremendous cheer, louder than anything I had ever heard before.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted.

"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS - good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

I kept on cheering for Ireland, this was a surreal experience and I wanted, one day, to experience what it would be like to be Krum and catch the Snitch in such an important match but with my team actually winning.