Alastriona was getting lost in the crowd.
Witches and wizards from all around the world just didn't seem to notice her until they'd already barged into her, although they were always extremely apologetic. Each time she was knocked back she had to push her way through more people to get back to her friends.
Blaise called Theo and Darcy back when he realised Alastriona had yet again fallen behind. He pulled her close as the crowd shuffled around the group. "Get on my back." He demanded.
"What?" Alastriona pulled a face, thinking she misheard him.
"Get on my back, otherwise you'll keep getting pulled back and Finn would kill us if we lost you."
Alastriona was about to protest but Theo smiled and clapped his hands, "Brilliant idea! Come on, Little Red, hurry up!" He encouraged from the side.
Alastriona then realised if she didn't do this that they wouldn't be able to see all the sights before the game started and she didn't want her friends to miss out on anything.
She nodded and Blaise turned around and kneeled on the ground. Alastriona wrapped her arms around his shoulders and as Blaise stood up he held onto her legs. "Wow! So, this is what the world looks like from up here!"
The group laughed at her and started moving forward again. They saw many familiar faces in the crowd while they walked around, including Ernie Macmillan who greeted the group politely and offered them all a friendly smile and wave. Darcy looked up to Alastriona but the girl just shrugged, she was happy that Ernie seemed to have moved past being angry at her for not wanting to date him.
They walked for a bit longer when someone called out to them, "Alastriona!" They turned and found Cedric Diggory with his father sitting outside their tent having a cup of tea.
"Cedric!" Blaise bent down so Alastriona could slide off his back, she and Darcy ran over to Cedric. He put his cup of tea down and left this fathers side as Alastriona hugged him tightly around the waist, he laughed and patted her hair before letting go. Darcy hugged him too.
"I was bloody confused just then," Cedric laughed and scratched the back of his neck, "I thought you'd grown Alastriona!"
Darcy, Theo and Blaise laughed at this, Alastriona smiled softly and just shrugged, "No such luck, I'm afraid. Are you just here with your dad, Ced?"
Cedric shook his head, "We came with the Weasley's, we've got seats together and they're really good ones too!"
Cedric's dad stood up and came over to them and introduced himself, "Amos Diggory." He shook hands with them all, "Always nice meeting Cedric's friends."
Cedric smiled and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink, "Dad this is Alastriona Breen, Darcy Mint, Theo Nott and Blaise Zabini."
Amos smiled kindly at all of them but his eyes came back to Alastriona, "You're on the quidditch team with Cedric!" Alastriona nodded. "Cedric's told me all about you, you had a wonderful first quidditch season by the sounds of it!"
Alastriona blushed under her freckled cheeks but managed a small nod, "Cedric's a great captain to play under."
They chatted for a while longer before they parted ways, Alastriona hugged Cedric one last time before climbing onto Blaise's back again, "Are you sure you aren't tired?"
"You're about as heavy as a puffskien, Alastriona." Blaise turned his head and smiled up at her as she laughed.
There were salesmen everywhere the group turned, Theo and Blaise both bought themselves Omnioculars, which were very similar to muggle binoculars except that you could watch the quidditch players in slow motion or have the Omnioculars show exactly what play the team was performing.
Alastriona decided to get a green pointed hat with a shamrock that danced across it, she put it on straight away and couldn't stop smiling at the idea of a shamrock dancing on her head.
Darcy couldn't decide what to get, mostly due to the fact that she wasn't massively into quidditch unless it was at school, Theo got impatient and bought her a green luminous rosette and forced her to pin it on her jacket.
They continued to move on, they walked past more familiar faces, Alastriona made them stop so she could say hello to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting outside a tent covered completely in shamrocks! Seamus was nothing but smiles, "Hello, Alastriona!" He waved at Darcy and caught Theo and Blaise off guard when he waved at them as well.
"Hi, Seamus! Hey, Dean!" Alastriona grinned, still being carried by Blaise, "I love your tent!"
Seamus grinned proudly, "Thank you! We just saw Harry, Ron and Hermione a little while ago, looks like everyone's sporting green today!" Seamus's eyes flicked to Theo's cheeks which still had the Irish flags on them. The group said a quick farewell to the boys and moved on.
Alastriona, from her high position, kept an eye out for the Weasleys but couldn't spot them anywhere.
Eventually she fixated her gaze on a dark tent and even from so far away she could recognise who was standing outside. "It's Draco!" Alastriona pointed in the direction, Theo and Blaise shared a look.
Blaise lowered himself and Alastriona dropped off his back, "You and Darcy wait here, we'll go get him."
The two girls watched as they left, they stood off to the side of the pathway as they didn't wish to get run over, Darcy glanced at Alastriona with concerned eyes. "It's okay, Darcy."
"I didn't say anything..." Darcy smiled as Alastriona scoffed, "How are you all right with this? Being hidden from Draco's parents like we have some kind of disease?" She questioned, a harshness to her voice that wasn't usually there.
"If I were to meet his parents, especially his father, I wouldn't be able to hold my tongue-"
"You shouldn't have to hold your tongue, Alastriona, neither of us should." Darcy interrupted.
"Darcy, it'd be a waste of energy trying to convince either of them of anything. It wouldn't be a fight I could win and I'd rather save my energy trying to help people that can be helped and want to be helped. Draco's parents don't fit into either category."
Darcy's mouth popped open as she realised what Alastriona was thinking, "But Draco does."
Alastriona nodded. "Draco does."
Alastriona was slightly taken aback when she saw Draco walking with Theo and Blaise, pushing through the crowd to get to the two girls. There was a nervous fluttering in her stomach that was making her sweat uncomfortably. But then he was close enough that she could see his smile. Alastriona grinned and ran up to hug him, it seemed he'd grown as well as she now had to reach up to wrap her arms around his neck.
Draco was grinning into her hair, he sighed in relief, he felt safer with these people than he did with anyone else.
Theo was screaming. One of his hands gripping the railing the other was pressing his pair of Omnioculars exceedingly hard into his face. "Yes! Go Moran, go!" He cried as Ireland went to score another goal, he jumped up and down and shook Darcy's shoulders as Moran scored and flew past them.
After he settled down and let go of Darcy she turned and glared at Alastriona, "I can't wait till this bloody game is over." She hissed under her breath.
She must've spoken the magic words because just minutes later Victor Krum, of the Bulgarian team, caught the Snitch!
For a second Theo appeared absolutely devastated but when his eyes drifted over to the score he, and the rest of the Ireland supporters, screamed with joy!
Krum may have caught the Snitch but Ireland was ahead by so much that it didn't matter!
Theo laughed and spun around, he picked up Alastriona and spun her around before clapping Blaise on the shoulder. "Best game of quidditch I've ever bloody seen!"
Adelaide Zabini waited until Theo had settled down a little before she began leading the children away. Theo was skipping the entire way back to their tent, he had slung an arm over Darcy's shoulder and was, much to her chagrin, recounting all his favourite details of the game.
They were nearly at their tent when Adelaide heard her name being called, she stopped but sent the kids ahead.
Inside the tent was nice and warm and there were bottles of butterbeer on the table waiting to be opened, Theo didn't hesitate.
Alastriona and Darcy kicked off their shoes as they accepted a large glass of butterbeer off Theo. When Adelaide arrived in the tent she found all the children talking loudly around the table, one bottle of butterbeer already finished.
Blaise looked over, and was about to send her an apologetic look for all the noise but was stunned to see Draco Malfoy by her side.
Draco smiled and left Adelaide's side to join his shocked friends, "My father told me to spend the night with you lot." He declared before any of them could ask him.
Alastriona patted the spot next to her. "We were just talking about who our next Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would be and if they'll last for the whole year or not."
Blaise had a small smile on his face as he said, "I think they'll be around for the whole year but absolutely won't last any longer than that."
"I think they'll try to kill us at least three times before they're fired." Darcy smirked as she refilled her glass.
Draco laughed at this, "Would it help if I shed some light on who they are?" He grinned at Theo's dramatic gasp.
"You know?" Theo asked, once he recovered from his shock he crossed his arms over his chest, "Show off." He grumbled unhappily.
"I overheard my father talking about it." Draco told them, "Would you like to know?"
A chorus of "Yes!" Answered him.
"Alastair Moody."
"Mad-Eye Moody! Bloody hell!"
"Merlin's beard!"
Blaise sat there shocked as he listened to Darcy and Theo exclaim and chat excitedly about having a well known, if not slightly eccentric, Auror as a professor.
Alastriona sat there completely flustered, she had no idea how to handle this news, and she had absolutely no clue how she would handle actually seeing this man, over a decade after their first meeting.
Blaise noticed her bewildered expression, "You all right, Red?" He questioned quietly but his voice was enough to stop the others chatter.
"Um, I think so." She scratched her head, her hand bumping into her wand that was in its normal place as it held her messy bun in place. Alastriona looked across the table at Blaise, at his kind brown eyes, "It's just that, well, Moody saved my life." She flinched as all her friends yelled 'what!' at the same time.
"Please elaborate." Theo said desperately, leaning on the table, his entire focus on Alastriona, as was everyone else's.
Alastriona scratched the back of her neck but decided this was something she could talk about. "It was a few days after the end of the Wizarding War. The Auror's were busy tracking down known Death Eater's but also trying to find wizards and witches who they thought could've been at risk of an attack." Her friends nodded, everybody knew this already, the boys parents had all been involved, mostly in a negative way.
"Well, a team of Auror's came to my childhood home and found me. I had been left alone for days, I was incredibly malnourished and my body was on the brink of giving up." Alastriona shrugged and smiled softly at her friends, "Moody was part of the team that was there. One of the ones that saved me, took me to St Mungos."
Her friends remained silent. This was the most Alastriona had ever opened up about her past. She'd never talked about it this much and they were completely stunned at what had happened to her.
Alastriona cleared her throat awkwardly, "Anyway, I'm just wondering if he'll remember me or not... I'd like to thank him but it would be a bit awkward if he didn't remember me..."
Draco was the first one to pull it together, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Moody may be an interesting character but he seems like the type of person to never forget a face."
All her friends chimed in, agreeing with Draco.
Alastriona breathed easier and it wasn't just because she had been reassured... it was because she'd finally let her friends see a glimpse of her past.