THIS IS PART 1 OF 2 TO A DOUBLE UPDATE, MEANING THERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER RIGHT AFTER THIS ONE! ENJOY!
Song for this chapter ~ Man on the Moon by Zella Day
Calista's POV
"Calista, do you mind coming down for a moment?" Sirius now shouted from downstairs, as I now put down the treats I had just been feeding Athena. I let out a sigh as I stood up, making my way out of my bedroom and down the hall of the second floor of Grimmauld Place.
As I neared the top of the staircase, I began to hear the low mutterings of a couple of voices I recognized. Instantly thinking I must be hearing things, I quickly rushed down the stairs and into the dining room where they were coming from.
My eyes went wide in shock as I entered, now taking notice of the two men with vibrant red hair who stood before me—George and his father.
The excitement overtook me as I immediately ran up to George, embracing him tightly with my arms around his neck as he lifted me up off the ground. I couldn't possibly describe how I felt at this moment. Not only was I surprised to see him two weeks earlier than I had expected, but the fact that he now stood inside Grimmauld place was all very confusing to me.
"School only starts for another two weeks. What're you doing here?" I asked perplexedly as he put me back on the ground.
"I know...I wanted it to be a surprise," he said, grinning at me widely as both his father and Sirius stood there listening in. "Dad's got us all tickets to the Quidditch World Cup."
If I already wasn't excited enough that George had shown up, I now most certainly was at the mention of the World Championship. Still completely confused as to how he had planned this all out without me knowing, I turned to Sirius who began to explain.
"Arthur wrote to me a couple weeks back asking if it was alright to come by floo and surprise you just this once."
I continued to stand in shock with a huge smile on my face, just the same as George. "So when is it?" I asked eagerly.
"Tomorrow, actually," George replied, grinning.
"I told him that it was last minute, but he insisted on surprising you like this," Mr.Weasley spoke up, beaming.
"You should start getting your belongings, seeing as I suspect you'll want to accept the Weasley's invitation to stay at theirs for the rest of summer," Sirius spoke to me. I looked at him guiltily, before he continued. "Don't worry, I've been meaning to get some things done around here that I haven't had the time to do since the start of summer."
I smiled, still feeling bad that I would be leaving him to be alone again. Although Lupin did visit every once in a while, I couldn't imagine being all alone in such a place after he had been isolated for the past twelve years of his life. However, something in the expression he now gave made me think that he'd be happier if I did try to enjoy the last bit of summer with George and the others.
"I guess I'll start to gather my things then," I said, smiling at him before nodding my head at George to follow me upstairs—however before he managed to take more than a few steps with me, Sirius interrupted.
"I'm sure George won't mind waiting down here while you pack," he raised a brow at George whose face now began to turn red.
"Yes, sir," he mumbled before going to stand next to his father. I giggled to myself at his embarrassment before rushing back upstairs to begin packing.
As I reached the top of the stairs, not looking where I was going as I was too excited to pay any notice, I bumped into a short and unpleasant being, one whose presence I wouldn't miss once I left Grimmauld Place.
"Half bloods running about the house...if only they were alive to see the kinds of visitors master has walking through these doors..." I rolled my eyes at the dreadful house elf who I had become unpleasantly familiar with—Kreacher.
I quickly walked past him, no longer caring about the way he always spoke to me, seeing as I now had so much to look forward to for the rest of the summer. As I made my way into the bedroom and began packing my things, I still couldn't believe that I would be getting to attend the Quidditch World Cup, with George on top of that, all thanks to Mr.Weasley.
I spent the next fifteen minutes stuffing everything back into my trunk and making sure Athena was safely put back into her cage, now making my way down the hall with both in hand.
Yet again, Kreacher stood at the top of the staircase, glaring at me. "The half blood finally leaves...about time..." he mumbled, my annoyance now reaching its peak.
"Shut up for once, Kreacher—" I said, angrily pushing past him before I now saw George standing at the bottom of the staircase waiting for me.
"Finally picking a fight with someone your own size?" he teased, rolling my eyes at him before he grinned as I now shuffled my way down, struggling to carry both my trunk and my owls cage.
As I reached the third step to the bottom, George quickly grabbed both out from my hands and placed them down next to him on the ground as I now stood at his eye level. I reached my arms out to him, wrapping them around his neck before going in to kiss him, finally, after six weeks.
"You grew your hair long," I spoke between breaths, smiling at him as I combed my fingers through the top of it.
"Yeah, Fred and I have a bet to see who can grow it out the longest. Reckon he'll win...I'm thinking I'll let my mum cut it before we go back to Hogwarts," he muttered, giving me a small smile.
"No, don't...I like it," I said, biting down on my lip, as I pushed some of it out from his face.
"Yeah?" he smirked, nodding my head at him and leaning in once more to hug him.
"I've missed you so much," I spoke.
"Me too," he said, nuzzling his head into my neck before quickly pulling away as Sirius and his father now walked up to the two of us.
"Just about ready?" Mr.Weasley questioned, smiling widely at me. I nodded at him as he now went to grab Athena in her cage and head back into the dining room where we all now followed him, George carrying my trunk in one arm.
"Well, it was nice finally meeting you, Sirius. I hope we can meet again under better circumstances," Mr. Weasley spoke. Sirius gave him a kind nod before turning to face George now.
"Nice meeting you, George," he said, holding out his hand for him to shake.
"Likewise, sir," he replied, still nervously however.
As Mr.Weasley stepped into the fireplace with my owls cage in hand, he grabbed a handful of the floo powder that stood next to him and muttered the destination, becoming engulfed in green flames before he disappeared.
I turned to look at Sirius, who I still couldn't help feeling bad for, leaving him so suddenly.
"Do you mind if I meet you there in a moment?" I whispered to George, before he quickly gave me a knowing smile and walked into the fireplace with my trunk in hand, saying his final goodbyes to Sirius before disappearing in the flames.
"I know you feel bad, Calista...don't be. I want you to enjoy the rest of your summer," he spoke as I nodded my head at him. "I won't be able to write to you...it's too risky, but i'll find other means to, alright?" I nodded at him again, still not knowing what to say.
"Thanks for allowing me to stay with you this summer. I know it may have not seemed like it, but I did enjoy being here," I muttered, giving him a small smile.
"It's the least I could do," he spoke guiltily. "Anyways, they must be waiting impatiently for you, you should head on along."
I slowly made my way into the fireplace, now grabbing a handful of the powder before turning around to face him, wishing him a goodbye as I let go of the floo powder, and muttered 'the Burrow', no longer seeing his face.
Now slightly more familiar to the Floo Network, I made sure to keep my eyes and mouth closed this time. As the dust of the powder soon made its way out of my face, I opened my eyes to see several people standing in front of me. Before I could process who they all were, Mrs.Weasley reached in to hug me immediately.
"Calista, dear, I'm so glad to see you. How was your summer?" she said, letting me go and guiding me out of the fireplace.
"It was good, thank you," I spoke before peering around the room to see of course George, as well as Fred and Rowan.
A big smile formed on Rowan's face as she came up to embrace me, taken aback by her affection. "We have a lot to catch up on," she spoke, letting go as I smiled at her.
As I looked back up, Fred now stood there with his hands in his pockets, attempting his best to seem casual. "I heard you missed me," I teased, a scowl instantly forming on his face, turning to George as he did so.
"Whatever," he spoke, rolling his eyes and nudging me by my shoulder as I walked past him to greet the others.
"I'm sorry to cut your welcoming short, dear, but the boys have some chores they promised to finish doing before you all leave for the game tomorrow," Mrs. Weasley spoke up after I finished greeting Ron, Harry and Hermione. Both George and Fred sighed loudly at this, but quickly obliged as their mother gave them each a stern look. "George, you can start by bringing Calista's luggage up to your sisters room."
"Sorry," he muttered at me before taking my trunk up the stairs with him.
Although I wished I could have spent more of the day with George, it was nice having the time to catch up with Rowan, telling me all about her visits here this summer. As nice as it was to hear how much she had enjoyed her time spent with Fred, I looked up from where we now sat on the sofa in the living space, to see George in the kitchen helping his mum.
With Rowan not even noticing me spacing out completely from our conversation, I continued to gaze at him from afar, before he suddenly looked up to see me staring at him. He quickly stared back at me, grinning, holding eye contact before his mum suddenly swatted his arm, making him go back to whatever it was that he was doing.
As a good portion of the day went by, George still continuing to do chores around the house while we both snuck in quick conversations with one another, Mrs. Weasley now mentioned that he and Fred had just finished de-gnoming the garden and that he should be somewhere around the house.
Making my way up two sets of stairs, I walked down the hall to where I remembered their bedroom to be, checking to see if George was here. However as I walked in, the room stood empty of anyone but me. I walked over to his bedside table where I now saw the photograph of me sitting in a frame. I smiled to myself before taking a seat at the edge of his bed and deciding on waiting for him here.
After several minutes of waiting around, the door behind me creaked open, turning back to see George now walking in, smiling as my presence seemed unexpected to him.
"Hey," he spoke, now taking a seat next to me on his bed and planting a soft kiss on my cheek. "I'm sorry we didn't get any time together today. Mum's been at our backs ever since she found Fred and I's stash of joke products we've been working on...you know the ones I've told you about? Anyways, she's been even more furious after we told her about the joke shop...wants us to follow in dad's footsteps like Percy and work for the Ministry."
"I want your mum to still like me, so never tell her I've told you this but...I think the joke shop is a really good idea," I smiled, peering up at him. "All the stuff you guys have come up with...I mean it's all incredible."
He beamed back at me, reaching out to hold my hand. "By the way, I'm sorry for cutting short your time with your father...I just got really caught up in all the excitement of the tickets and getting to see you again after so long..."
"It's fine, really, George. I was starting to lose my mind being cooped up in that house anyways, as much as I did enjoy my time with Sirius. Besides...I really missed you," I reassured him, resting my head on his shoulder as I began to graze my fingers over the veins of his hand.
"So are you excited about the game tomorrow?" he questioned. "I've never been to one, but Charlie has and he says it's great—oh speaking of Charlie, him and Bill will be there tomorrow as well. You'll finally get to meet them," he gushed, smiling down at me.
Although I had never met George's eldest brother, Bill, I did briefly remember the Captain of Gryffindor's Quidditch team being a Weasley during my second year at Hogwarts—Charlie now that I remembered.
"Charlie's actually mentioned he has some classified business this year at Hogwarts...won't tell us what it's about," he stated, curiously. "Oh...and um, Almira's going to be at the game as well tomorrow. She won't be staying with us, but there's a good chance we might run into her," he blurted, looking at me anxiously.
"That's fine," I spoke, obviously not thrilled with the idea of her being there, but glad he felt comfortable telling me.
"I just didn't want you to be caught off guard...I still feel really bad about the letter..."
"George, I said it's fine," I reassured him by grasping his hand firmly, to which he gave an apologetic smile back.
Seeing as George's chores had taken up most of the day, the two of us had spent the rest of it catching up on things we hadn't had the chance to talk about over the summer. However, it was yet again cut short when Mrs. Weasley told us we all had to get to bed extra early seeing as we'd be leaving for the Championship tomorrow before sunrise.
And it was a good thing she did, because as I awoke the next morning on the mattress that had been placed on the floor for Ginny and I, I fell straight back to sleep before Rowan had to shake me awake.
The whole morning getting ready was chaos, with everyone excitedly running around the house with breakfast in hand. After being greeted off by Mrs.Weasley—who seemed anxious, to say the least, we now began the walk to the portkey Mr.Weasley had briefly explained to us.
Now walking side by side with George, who I attempted my best at keeping up with, he let out a loud yawn, rubbing his eyes as he did. "Good thing you didn't come to my room last night. Mum stormed in our room an hour early this morning...reckon she's still mad about giving Percy one of the Fainting Fancies," he chuckled.
Before I could scold him, a voice suddenly appeared from just a few feet away from us—a cheery, stout looking man who now stood by a large oak tree. "Arthur!" the man shouted, Mr.Weasley now waving at him. "It's about time—found the portkey a while ago."
"Sorry, Amos...some of us have had a bit of a sleepy start," he spoke, looking back at all of the tired expressions on our faces. "This is Amos Diggory everyone...works with me, at the Ministry."
Before I could try to remember where I had heard the name before, a figure suddenly dropped from the tree we now stood by, startling me. I instantly recognized him to be both the Seeker and Captain of Hufflepuff's quidditch team, although I still couldn't quite remember his name.
"This strapping young lad must be Cedric, am I right?" Mr.Weasley said, shaking the young man's hand.
"Yes sir," he spoke, glancing my way and holding my gaze for a moment before looking back at Mr.Weasley.
As both Mr.Diggory and Mr.Weasley chattered away, Cedric turned to greet us all. "Hello," he muttered, all of us saying hi back, except for George and Fred who merely nodded at him, now giving the two of them a bewildered look.
"So, all these yours, Arthur?" Mr.Diggory asked, now looking around at all of us.
"No, just the redheads," Mr.Weasley said, pointing out his children, Mr.Diggory however, quickly getting distracted by Harry's presence as he greeted him with pleasure.
As we now began to march again for the next few minutes, making our way up a steep hill, we finally reached the top of it where an old boot sat right in the center. "This is it," Mr.Weasley exclaimed, as everyone now made their way around it.
Now taking notice of the confused expression on my face, George nodded me over to lean down now to it where his father began to briefly explain what it was that we were meant to do. Now all in a tight circle, I took a hold of the boot as Mr.Weasley began to count down, the feeling of my feet leaving the ground as he finished. I felt a jerking feeling, pushing me forward as the wind hit my face. Instructed to now let go, I did as I was told, and with a hard thump, my back slammed into the ground.
I groaned at the sudden affliction, now propping myself up by my elbows to see everyone but Cedric, his father and Mr.Weasley now landing gracefully on their feet. Before I could allow myself the time to let the aching feeling in my spine go away, Cedric suddenly walked up to me, about to hold out a hand to help me up, only before George swiftly held his own out, pulling me up with ease.
"Alright?" George asked, as I nodded at him before seeing Cedric turn away to now help Harry up.
Seeing as the fall had distracted me, I only now took notice of where we stood. I looked ahead of me to see a large stretch of land, where hundreds, if not thousands of brightly coloured tents filled its place.
George and I both beamed excitedly at each other as his father had now just been shown where we were to head. "This way everyone," he shouted, as we now began to follow him and make our way down to the tents.
We soon parted ways with the Diggorys as they now headed to their own tent site, Cedric glancing at me yet again before walking away with his father.
"What was that about before, you two?" I now looked at both George and Fred as we continued to make our way through the crowded area. "That look you gave Diggory earlier."
"Just a bit of friendly rivalry, that's all," George said flatly with an annoyed look.
"Mostly because of that one time he dodged George's bludger that one time he caught the Snitch," Fred spoke.
"You're upset because of the one time?" I asked, perplexed.
"Barely anyone ever dodges my bludgers."
"I have," I teased, as we now turned a corner of more tents.
"That's because I let you," he smirked, looking down at me cheekily.
Before I could tell him off, we had now stopped in front of a rather small looking tent, surely not big enough to fit all us, however, Mr.Weasley now held open the tent flaps, guiding us in. "Here we are."