Being blessed with the ability of Apparating, Bill, Charlie, Percy and I were able to sleep in a bit longer since we didn't need to use the Portkey. We decided to Apparate around lunch, so while Percy was up working, Bill, Charlie and I played Chess. Soon, all packed and dressed, we apparated to the woods. It wasn't a far walk and we found our tent quickly. Mr. Weasley was already making lunch.
"Just Apparated, Dad," said Percy loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"
We were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"
"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. "Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming . . . and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements. . . . Not much for me to do!"
Percy hurried forward with his hand outstretched. Apparently his disapproval of the way Ludo Bagman ran his department did not prevent him from wanting to make a good impression.
"Ah — yes," said Mr. Weasley, grinning, "this is my son Percy. He's just started at the Ministry — and this is Fred — no, George, sorry — that's Fred — Bill, Charlie, Ron — my daughter, Ginny —and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. And That's Percy's friend Sara Finnigan, she's starting her Auror training tomorrow!"
But Bagman was not interested that Percy was working at the Ministry and I was going to become and Auror. His eyes automatically jumped to Harry, who awkwardly tilted his head away.
"Everyone," Mr. Weasley continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets —"
Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing. "Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he said eagerly, jingling what seemed to be a large amount of gold in the pockets of his yellow-and-black robes. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first — I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years — and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a weeklong match."
"Oh . . . go on then," said Mr. Weasley. "Let's see . . . a Galleon on Ireland to win?"
"A Galleon?" Ludo Bagman looked slightly disappointed, but recovered himself. "Very well, very well . . . any other takers?" he looked at me.
"I'm alright, I don't really like to gamble thank you." I said politely.
"They're a bit young to be gambling anyway," said Mr. Weasley. "Molly wouldn't like —"
"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts,"said Fred as he and George quickly pooled all their money, "that Ireland wins — but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand."
"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that —"Percy hissed, but Bagman didn't seem to think the wand was rubbish at all; on the contrary, his boyish face shone with excitement as he took it from Fred, and when the wand gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman roared with laughter. "Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"
Percy's face twisted into disapproval.
"Boys," said Mr. Weasley under his breath, "I don't want you betting. . . . That's all your savings. . . . Your mother —"
"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" boomed Ludo Bagman, rattling his pockets excitedly. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Nota chance, boys, not a chance. . . . I'll give you excellent odds on that one. . . . We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we. . . ."
Bagman took outa notebook and wrote down the twins names. He then turned to Bill, Charlie and I and we all shook our heads.
Bagman turned back to Mr. Weasley, and they started chatting again. I tuned out their conversation as I munched on my eggs, until an older man apparated right by our fire site. I recognized him as Barty Crouch.
"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him
"No thank you, Ludo," said Crouch, and there was a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."
"Oh is that what they're after?" said Bagman. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."
"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of half bow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Oh," said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes — thank you, Weatherby"
Percy's ears turned pink and I pressed my lips together, my cheeks turning red from holding in my laugh. Charlie noticed and guffawed into his tea while Bill shook his head slightly, smiling.
Once again, I tuned out their conversation, until I heard Bagman say "Plenty left to organize for the event, eh?"
I looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of what the event was.
Mr. Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman. "We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details —"
"Oh details!" said Bagman, waving the word away like a cloud of midges. "They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts —"
"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," said Mr. Crouch sharply, cutting Bagman's remarks short. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby."
He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily. "See you all later!" he said. "You'll be up in the Top Box with me — I'm commentating!" He waved, Barty Crouch nodded curtly, and both of them Disapparated.
"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" said Fred at once. "What were they talking about?"
"You'll find out soon enough," said Mr. Weasley, smiling.
"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."
"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said Fred.
"I'm going to look around for my brother, and then look for Ollie." I announced, standing up and brushing the front of my pants. "Coming Percy?"
He peered at me through his glasses. "I have a lot-"
"You can do your work after the match!" I snapped, losing my patience with him slightly. "A few hours won't hurt you. Crouch can't even remember your name anyway, Wetherby."
Percy's ears turned pink again while the twins burst out laughing. All the boys were looking amused, even Mr. Weasley had to hide his smile while Hermione's eyes widened and Ginny's eyes flickered nervously between Percy and I, where we were now having a glaring match.
"You go on without me Sara." he said, turning his nose up in the air. "I'd rather not surround myself with unsupportive friends."
He stalked back into the tent.
"I'm not unsupportive!" I cried. "I'm his most supportive friend! I'm more supportive of him than he is of me these past few weeks!"
"I'll talk to him later Sara," Mr. Weasley said kindly. "It's just a case of him wanting to make a good impression at his new job. You go on ahead, he'll be alright alter."
I thanked him and walked away, still muttering under my breath. I couldn't believe Percy didn't even care about seeing Ollie, after such a long time of not seeing him. As I walked, I found Seamus, with my mum and Dean. I rushed over to their tent.
"Hey!" I cried.
Mum grinned. "Oh Sara, having a good time at the Weasley's?"
I nodded. "Oh yes."
"I'm so jealous you got box office seats!" Seamus said.
"It's alright Shay," I ruffled his hair. "Now that I'll start working at the Ministry, I might be able to get us box office tickets to the next match, yeah?"
Shay grinned at that. I kissed his forehead, kissed mum's cheek and ruffled Dean's hair. "I'm off looking for Ollie."
"I seen him that way." Shay pointed.
"Thanks."
I strolled again, squeezing through the crowd of people. I was still in the section supporting Ireland, so it was a lot of green and orange shoved into my face. Some random lady handed me the flag of Ireland and I grinned.
"GO IRELAND!" I screamed to her and she smiled back.
I finally spotted Ollie, sitting outside a tent with his parents.
"OLIVER!" I yelled, starting to run towards him.
He jumped up, opening his arms as I jumped and wrapped my arms around him, squealing when he spun me around.
"Oh, how I've missed you!" I cried.
He swayed me for a few moments before letting go. "Me too! I have so much to tell you Sara. Oh first, come see my parents. They also miss you."
Mrs. Wood stood up and pulled me into a hug. "How are you dearie?"
"I'm fine Mrs. Wood, and yourself?" I asked politely.
"I'm very well thank you." she patted my cheek. "My how you've grown into a beautiful young lady." Ollie told me Mrs. Wood once said to him she wished I was her daughter. Ollie did not find that amusing.
I clasped hands with Mr. Wood in greeting, and Ollie sat me down next to him, and he proceeded to drone on and on about his new contract in Puddlemore. He finally drew a breath. "You're starting work tomorrow aren't you?"
I nodded. "Oh yeah, I'm super nervous, but I'm also a bit excited."
"You'll be fantastic." he looked around. "Hey, where's Percy?"
I rolled my eyes. "He's being an arse." I proceeded to tell him how he'd been acting the entire summer, and how he reacted when I had asked him to see Ollie with me.
"He didn't even want to come say hi to me?" Ollie looked genuinely hurt.
"He doesn't really care about anything other than work at the moment." I said irritably. "I don't even know why he invited me over to his place."
"I'm glad I was too busy to go."
I checked my watch and jumped. "I have to go back to the tent. I'll hopefully see you after the match alright?"
I gave him another quick hug before I started pushing through the crowd. "Excuse me. Coming through. Trying to just get back to my tent, thank you."
I reached my tent, just as everyone was getting ready. Fred and George were painting their faces with full Ireland flags and I laughed. "You both look stupid!"
"Let us paint your face!" George cried.
I backed away. "No way. You'll ruin it for me."
"Please?"
"Only the cheek." I said.
George was surprisingly pretty good. He drew the flag on my cheek and I grinned. "Not bad Georgie!"
He grinned. "I have many hidden talents."
Charlie handed me an extra green and white scarf, and I put it on.
And then a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field. "It's time!" said Mr. Weasley, looking as excited as any of them. "Come on, let's go!"
And we were off.