"I'm so excited!"
"We know."
"But we're actually going! AAAAAAAHHHH!!"
The seven friends, along with Sephy's parents, had been walking for about twenty minutes now, and Sephy just hadn't shut up once. After meeting at Kings Cross Station, they had taken a Portkey to the moor where the World Cup was taking place, but the Portkey had been a bit dodgy and they had landed a mile or so off target.
Samantha was walking with Remus and Peter, as Sephy and James were bouncing along and dragging Sirius and Halley along with them.
"I wish I could just change form and fly there" Samantha complained. It would be much quicker."
"Why can't the adults just Apparate us, is what I want to know" Remus grumbled. The three of them were the less athletic of the seven friends, and weren't taking kindly to the exercise.
"My feet hurt" Peter whined.
"My ears hurt" Samantha corrected with a smile. "But I'm glad Sephy is excited. It is her birthday, after all."
"Chocolate, guys?" Remus asked, pulling a bar from his pocket. "Sustainance for the trek?"
"Please!" Samantha giggled, holding out a hand, and Remus passed some to her then Peter. "How much far is it?"
"Not far!" Sephy overheard them from her place in front. "Just over this hill! Look, you can see the flags!"
They all picked up the pace considerably after that, and a whoosh of noise greeted them as they reached the top of the hill. Flags were flying, a band was playing, and Samantha could definitely make out the sound of bagpipes floating over the breeze.
"Hi there" Sephy's Dad said to the man standing on the gate. "We've booked two tents. Should be under Cardale. An eight man and a two man?"
"Right this way, sir, right this way!" the gate man nodded. "Numbers 339 and 340. Follow the signs."
Sephy linked arms with Samantha and Halley as they followed Sephy's Dad into the crowds of tents and people.
"Look at the Scottish hats!" James was saying. "Blue and white tartan! Amazing."
"I want one of the top hats!" Sirius gasped. Blue with white ribbon. Looks like a Scottish flag. Genius!"
"I take it we're supporting Scotland, then?" Halley called back to them.
"Of course!" Sephy scoffed, as the boys caught up to the girls and they all walked in one big gang. "Mum's half Scottish. Didn't you know? We HAVE to support the Scots!"
"Well then, come on, the bonny lads!" Sirius called out, in a terrible Scottish accent, and everyone punched him. "I want me one of those bonny hats!" he continued, unfazed.
"Shut up, you" Halley laughed. "I think I might buy myself a tartan skirt. Or a scarf."
"They do kilts for girls, you know" Sephy's Mum chipped in, as as they walked.
"THEY DO KILTS?" Sirius gasped again. "I want a kilt!"
"I want a kilt too!" James hollered. "Let's get kilts, Sirius!"
"You've got to wear them to the match!" Sephy giggled, as they found their tent.
"Of course!" Sirius and James both shouted-quite loudly-as they all piled inside. "We're never gonna take the kilts off!"
The seven of them dumped their bags, and, with a couple of hours before they needed to head to the stadium in hand, together they all charged out to get dressed up as ridiculously as possible in Scottish merchandise. James, Sirius and Peter all bought traditional tartan kilts in dark blue, attempting to persuade Remus to buy one too, but the young werewolf instead opted for tartan trousers, which were far brighter blue and also had white woven in, like the Scottish flag. Halley bought a blue tartan skirt which fit her very nicely, Samantha bought a blue and white scarf, and Sephy bought a huge Scottish flag which she insisted on wearing like a cape over her leather coat. On top of this, Sirius and Sephy both bought huge blue top hats, with white ribbons on, James bought an excessively loud blue and white plastic trumpet which made a huge racket when blown, Peter bought a haggis pie, Remus bought a World Cup annual, Halley and Samantha each bought a lovely blue and white headband with a big blue bow on, and Samantha also bought a set of blue and white face crayons, which set off a whole new level of patriotism.
By the time Sephy's parents came to take the group to the actual game, their daughter's face was entirely blue with the large white cross of the Scottish flag striped across it, as was James's and Sirius's. Remus had a Zorro-esque mask of a Scottish flag painted delicately across his eyes, courtesy of Halley, while Peter just had two huge, slightly sideways Scottish flags on either cheek, done by James and Sirius. Halley and Samantha had been slightly more mature with the crayons, having given themselves quite pretty eye makeup in blue and white, and while Halley had gone to town on Samantha and white painted her lips, then drawing a line of tiny, dainty Scottish flags running down one side of her friend's face from her forehead to her cheek, Samantha had been slightly less artistic on Halley, having painted her lips as a Scottish flag and just left it at that.
The seven of them climbed up to their seats, and Sephy looked like she was about to explode with excitement.
"The Scots' pre-match show is just awesome!" she gushed. "I've heard all about it. Utterly legendary-"
"Look at this place!" Halley remarked to Sirius, as she leant over the balcony to stare at the colossal crowd gathered in the stadium.
"Insane, isn't it?" Sirius smiled. Halley smiled back, a little nervously.
"You know, if the Scots win this, then it will be the first time they've gotten to a Quidditch final in over fifty years!" Sephy was still talking. She was also fishing from her pocket the pair of silver Ominoculars Halley had bought her for Christmas. Halley herself looked at them longingly.
"I've got a pair, if you want them" Sirius offered gently, pushing a standard World-Cup issue pair of Ominoculars into Halley's hands. "I got them from the stall on the fifteenth floor. I can go down and get some more if I want them."
Halley nodded her thanks.
"We'll share them" she assured Sirius.
On the opposite side of the group to that pair, Samantha and Remus were also chatting. Peter was too busy staring adoringly at James, who was fangirling over Quidditch with Sephy, whose parents had wisely chosen to sit in the row behind.
"Chocolate?" Remus asked.
"Don't mind if I do" Samantha replied, feeling her heart flutter a little and beating it back firmly down. She couldn't deny she had feelings for Remus, but the boy seemed always so pent up with work and the stresses of his monthly cycle, and Samantha didn't want to add any more to that strain by landing him with any unwanted affection. So she bottled it, and took the chocolate from Remus's hand happily, as they stared around at the pretty lights and marveled at the noise of it all.
She full on missed Remus's next question.
"Sorry?" she shouted over the noise.
"I was saying do you know how long it is till we start?" Remus asked again, cupping his hand to Samantha's ear in an attempt to get her to hear him. She shook her head frantically, still beaming, but not wanting to try and shout for fear of losing her voice.
Remus grinned wolfishly back at her, and she couldn't help but love his smile. They were interrupted by James blowing on his new blue horn, and Sephy shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"JESUS CHRIST! YOU TWO PAIRS OF HOPELESS SMITTEN LOVE BUFFOONS! THIS IS NOT A DOUBLE DATE! THIS IS MY PARTY! AND I SUGGEST YOU GET SCREAMING COS HERE COME THE SCOTTISH! YAAAAAAYY!"
Not even wanting to see how that had gone down with Remus, Samantha leaped to her feet with everyone else and began to cheer and whoop as loudly as she could muster, as seven sapphire-clad players erupted onto the pitch in front of them. There were flashes going off in every direction, and as the bagpipes picked up the stadium just got louder. The players flew in formation, then seemingly disappeared into an explosion of blue and white swirling ribbons, which moulded together as men with kilts who danced on the air in time with the bagpipes, and as the bagpipes faded away and were replaced by a sharp, tenuous drum beat which signaled the arrival of the French, the ribbon men bent over and lifted up their kilts for all to see. Everyone in the stadium laughed at this, and Sephy was practically in hysterics between James and Peter, who were holding her up.
The French, to be fair, looked impressive. They swept around the stadium, trailing red, white and blue smoke, which cascaded down into the stadium in the form of sparkling diamantes. Samantha reached out her arm to touch them, and came away with a pile of tiny, glimmering crystals in her hand. She squealed in surprise, and soon everyone was at it, scooping crystals into their pockets as best they could. The smoke and diamantes then twisted up into the middle of the pitch, forming a lady with a red, white and blue dress, who spun around and showered the stadium with more sparkles. Then, like a breath of air, she was gone.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" A loud voice boomed out over the now silent stadium. "AS MINISTER FOR MAGIC, I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME EACH, AND EVERY ONE OF YOU-TO THE FIRST SEMIFINAL OF THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP! LET THE MATCH...BEGIN!"
Samantha watched in awe as the sapphire-clad players and the royal blue, white and ruby-clad players soared around the arena.
"McHale's got the Quaffle!" Sephy was shrieking at the top of her lungs. "An attempt tackle by the French, ooh, and a bad one at that-but McHale's passed to Farquhar, oh, they'll struggle to get anything off of him..."
Samantha briefly locked eyes with Halley, who had decided against using the Ominoculars Sirius had offered her, and was just leaning out over the barricade squinting to try and make out the players. Sirius had his Ominoculars glued to his eyes, practically, and was watching the action zoomed in. Samantha leaned her elbows on the barricade, put her chin in her hands, and beamed.
"And Farquhar's still got the Quaffle!" Sephy screeched. "He's heading up to the French hoop! HE SHOOTS! HE SCORES! YEEEEEESS!"
Half of the stadium erupted as the score bell chimed, and the seven friends went mad once again, leaping and screaming and yelling their hearts out while Sephy waved her flag-cape around so vigorously she nearly broke James's glasses.
They collapsed in a heap on their chairs as play began again.
"Are we gonna do this every time?" Samantha asked breathlessly. "What if it's a 300-0 whitewash?"
In reply, James blew his trumpet extremely loudly into her face, and she slapped it away.
"I can scream louder than you can, Potter!" she declared vicariously.
James blew his trumpet once more, and, losing all reserve she ever had, Samantha shrieked back at him, so loudly she coughed a couple of times when Remus finally pulled her down into her seat.
"You'll catch cold!" he pointed out firmly. "Lose your voice!"
"Why shouldn't I?" Samantha shouted back. "What bad will a couple of days of illness do if I can do this now?"
Remus shook his head knowingly.
"There was me thinking you were sensible!" he shouted across to her.
"Me? Sensible?" Samantha laughed. "Never!"
"AND SCOTLAND SCORE AGAIN!" Sephy screeched from behind them, smacking James hard and repeatedly on the arm. "20-0 TO SCOTLAAAAND!"
Naturally, they all jumped up and celebrated again, and collapsed in a heap soon after. The rest of the game progressed in a similar fashion, and by the time the Scottish Seeker Malby caught the Snitch and won Scotland a glittering victory, (celebrated profusely by the ribbon men with an impromptu highland fling-literally) all seven friends were so tired they could barely stand.
Halley barely remembered the walk back down to the tent-she was holding onto the back of Sephy's cape with one hand and somehow she felt like she was also slightly entangled in Sirius as they stumbled along, she wasn't sure how, but she could smell his aftershave and knew he had to be close to her somehow.
All seven piled into their tent, and there was an episode of dozy victory dancing as they all scrubbed off their war paint.
"Weee...are the championss..." Sirius was slurring, splattering water all over everywhere as he tried to wash his face.
"Not yet!" Sephy corrected, giggling "Scotland is only in the final-we haven't won anything yet."
They separated, boys and girls, and pulled the divide over in the tent. Halley, Sephy and Samantha cuddled down in their sleeping bags, and it was Sephy who broke the silence.
"Girls? I have a confession" she whispered. "But you can't tell the boys."
"Spill!" Halley hissed excitedly, rolling over onto her stomach to look at Sephy. Samantha grunted tiredly and looked up from her pillow.
"Okay" Sephy muttered, steadying herself. "Don't get all excited about this. But-Nash got me a Valentine's card this year."
Samantha's head snapped up properly, and Halley squealed, muffling it quickly.
"Oh my god!" What did it say?" she gasped, scrambling over to Sephy, who shook her head.
"I don't know. I didn't have the guts to open it."
Halley fizzled out into a fit of silent screaming, and Samantha tiredly sat up in her sleeping bag.
"Sephy" she said levelly. "Do you like Nashville?"
Sephy pulled her sleeping bag tighter around her shoulders and shrugged.
"I'm not sure" she admitted.
"Here's a good way to check" Halley cut in. "Imagine kissing him."
Sephy raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"Imagine it!" Halley ordered breathlessly.
"I can't" Sephy sighed, after a minute. "My emotions get too-weird."
Halley shared a despondent look with Samantha.
"Sephy, you should read the card" the quieter girl pressed gently. "Do you have it with you?"
"No" Sephy shook her head once more. "It's in my other suitcase. The one I didn't bring here."
"Damn" Halley sighed.
"Halley" Samantha chided. "Sephy is serious about this. I don't think it's just a crush, if you know what I mean."
"You think he's in love with her?" Halley said slowly, sobering up. Sephy's insides twisted massively.
"I think he's always been in love with her" Samantha corrected, in her small, steady little way. "Ever since she joined the Quidditch team in third year. Nashville knew the younger you far too well, Sephy. You were so vivacious, and so utterly wild-dating was never really something on your agenda, because your life was all filled up with Quidditch and pranking and messing with the boys. I don't know whether it's sunk in with you yet, Seph, but Nashville is leaving this year. He had to try."
It was something about the way Samantha spoke that hit a nerve with Sephy. She suddenly burst into tears.
Halley and Samantha cuddled their tiny little friend from both sides.
"You need to read that letter, Seph" Halley said quietly, brushing Sephy's hair out of her eyes as Samantha wiped her tears with the cuff of her pyjamas. The little girl nodded.
"I will."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a cacophony of loud barking, and lots if crashing, and a strange screeching noise that Samantha could have sworn was a deer. All three girls leapt to their feet and sprinted into the boys' section of the tent, to be confronted with a big, black, hairy dog, lying-and this was the shocker-on top of a colossal stag, decked out in antlers and all. Remus was quietly dying of laughter beside them, and Peter was nowhere to be seen, but a small brown rat scuttled up Samantha's leg, and she scooped it up, as it was Peter.
"Timing, boys" Halley commented sarcastically.
Remus was cackling with laughter now.
"We were all just drifting off" he spluttered. "Then Sirius changed-and he ran and jumped on James-and..."
He pointed at the stag, which glared at him in the only way a stag could.
The girls, Sephy included, also began to laugh, and they didn't stop until James and Sirius changed back again, Sirius from the dog and James from the stag. Peter turned back too.
"We actually did it!" Sephy gasped, after a minute. "We are all Animagi now."
"Bloody hell we did!" Sirius beamed, before giving way to a huge yawn.
Not wanting to separate now, the girls went and fetched their sleeping bags from their side of the tent, and all seven of them curled up together on the floor.
"Night, gang" James murmured sleepily. A chorus of 'Night's rang around the group, and they all fell asleep in a heap together, serenaded by the stars above and a group of really loud, enthusiastic bagpipe players.