It was a long way up the stadium stairs to get to their seats for the game, as Mr Weasley had procured them seats in the Top Box. The stairs were covered in purple carpets, and lit with only a few dim lanterns along them, which made climbing them very difficult in the dark
At the top of the stairs they found themselves in a small box, set at thehighest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goalposts. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Briar looked down upon a scene below them.
A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats,which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with amysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. The fieldlooked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stoodthree goal hoops, fifty feet high.
The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr. Weasley keptshaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. Percyjumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on ahedgehog. When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, arrived, Percybowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealouslooks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend. They hadmet before, and Fudge shook Harry's hand in a fatherly fashion, asked how hewas, and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.
"Lupin!" At that familiar, cold, emotionless tone, the whole group turned around towards the entrance of the box where a tall, platinum haired boy was entering with his taller father who had the same colour hair falling past his shoulders. The Malfoys
"Malfoy," Briar drawled. He sent her a smirk and she merely rolled her eyes before turning back to the stadium in front of them
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A booming voice called over the stadium "Welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred andtwenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding theirdiscordant national anthems to the racket. "And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce...the Bulgarian NationalTeam Mascots!"
The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared itsapproval."I wonder what they've brought," said Mr. Weasley, "Aaah!" He suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on hisrobes. "Veela!"
"What are veel -?"
But a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field. Veela were women... the most beautiful women any man hadever seen... except that they weren't - they couldn't be - human. Their skin shone moon-bright, and their white-gold hair fanned out behind them without wind. But then the music started and the veela started to dance
Hermione, Ginny, and Briar found themselves incredibly amused as every man in not only their box, but the entire stadium was suddenly as close to the edge as they could get, their eyes fixed on the women below.
It was only when Harry threw a leg over the box edge, as if prepared to jump (which would surely kill him) that they finally decided to put an end to it "Harry, what are you doing?" said Hermione.
The music stopped and it seemed that every man suddenly became aware of his actions and snapped back to reality, quickly hurrying back to their seats with scarlet pink cheeks. Angry yells were filling the stadium. The crowd didn't want the veela to go.
"And now," roared Cornelius Fudge's voice "kindly put your wands in the air. . . forthe Irish National Team Mascots!"
Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zoominginto the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smallercomets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across thefield, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd cheered, asthough at a fireworks display.
Now the rainbow faded and the balls of lightreunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which roseup into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rainseemed to be falling from it -
"Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared overthem, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats.Squinting up at the shamrock, Briar realised that it was actually comprised ofthousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp ofgold or green.
"Leprechauns!" said Mr. Weasley over the tumultuous applause of the crowd, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs toretrieve the gold.
The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on theopposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch thematch.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian NationalQuidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!"
The seven scarlet-clad players shot out onto the field, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters
"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Duge."Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand -Lynch!"
Seven green blurs flew onto the field, and the crowd, with the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and Briar, roared in applause of them
One of the Ministry officials strode out onto the field and released the three quidditch balls, allowing the game to begin there
The speed of the players was incredible - the Chasers were throwing theQuaffle to one another so fast that Fudge only had time to say their names. Briar's head whipped back and forth so fast she feared her neck might snap.
Ireland had a clear advantage over Bulgaria in terms of their chasers, and within half an hour they were thirty-nil up.
The match became still faster, but more brutal. The Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the IrishChasers, and were starting to prevent them from using some of their best moves;twice they were forced to scatter, and then, finally, one chaser managed to breakthrough their ranks; dodge the Keeper and score Bulgaria's first goal.
One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch,plummeted through the centre of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though theyhad just jumped from airplanes without parachutes. At the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive andspiralled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heardthroughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats
There was a time-out to check on Lynch, and eventually Lynch got to his feet, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters,mounted his Firebolt, and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to giveIreland new heart
After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten moregoals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and thegame was starting to get dirtier.
Ireland were gifted two penalties later in the game, and as Bulgaria's beaters became more and more vicious a third one arrived too.
The Irish Beater Quigley swung heavily at a passing Bludger, and hit it as hard aspossible toward Krum, who did not duck quickly enough. It hit him full in theface.There was a deafening groan from the crowd; Krum's nose looked broken, therewas blood everywhere
"Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled.For the Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive, and Harry was quite sure thatthis was no Wronski Feint; this was the real thing..."He's seen the Snitch! He's seen it! Look at him go!"Half the crowd seemed to have realised what was happening; the Irish supportersrose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on...but Krum wason his tail.
How he could see where he was going, no one knew, there wereflecks of blood flying through the air behind him, but he was drawing level withLynch now as the pair of them hurtled toward the ground again -
"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.
"They're not!" roared Ron.
"Lynch is!" yelled Harry.And he was right - for the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendousforce and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry veela.
"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" bellowed Charlie, along the row.
"He's got it - Krum's got it - it's all over!" shouted Harry.Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently into theair, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand.
"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS -- good lord, I don't thinkany of us were expecting that!"
The group joined their fellow Ireland supporters in celebrating from the stands, and as they made their way back into the field of tents. The scarlet-clad supporters quickly retreated away into their own, while the Irish fans danced and celebrated long into the night
But eventually each of the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and Briar dropped off to sleep as the exhaustion of the day's excitement caught up to them
Briar didn't know how long she had been asleep for, but it didn't feel like long until Bill was shaking her awake
"Come on!" He cried
Around her, everyone else in the tent was scrambling from their beds and collecting what they could. As the sleep quickly wore off her, she became aware of the sounds of panic and screaming coming from outside so she jumped out of her bed and snatched her wand, before the group hurried out of the tent
Mr Weasley quickly packed it up and in the light of flames, they could see people hurrying away into the woods. And Briar soon realised those flames weren't from campfires, but were actually from tents that had been set on fire
A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointingstraight upward, was marching slowly across the field. They didn't seem to have faces...their heads were hoodedand their faces masked. High above them, floating along in midair, four strugglingfigures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the maskedwizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them weremarionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air.
"Me, Bill, Charlie, and Percy are going to help the Ministry!" Mr Weasley shouted over the racket "You lot - get into the woods, and stick together. I'llcome and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"
So the group split in two and the younger half of them began to run towards the woods at the edge of the field. The coloured lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished.Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxiousshouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air.
Ron suddenly cried with pain so Hermione lit up her wand and hurried towards her friend "Tripped over a tree root," he said angrily, getting to his feet again.
"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said a drawling voice from behind them.
Harry, Ron, Briar, and Hermione turned sharply. Draco Malfoy was standing alonenearby, leaning against a tree, looking utterly relaxed. His arms folded, he seemedto have been watching the scene at the campsite through a gap in the trees.
"You" Briar sighed "I told you to stop being so obsessed with me, Malfoy"
"I'm not, Lupin" he chuckled "You might wish I was though"
"I have higher standards than that" She shot back and a flicker of something passed through his eyes. Whether it was anger, embarrassment, or jealousy she could not tell
There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anythingthey had heard. Several people nearby screamed. Malfoy chuckled softly."Scare easily, don't they?" he said lazily. "I suppose your daddy told you all tohide? What's he up to - trying to rescue the Muggles?"
"Where're your parents?" said Harry, his temper rising. "Out there wearing masks,are they?"
Malfoy turned his face to Harry, still smiling."Well...if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?"
"Oh come on," said Hermione, with a disgusted look at Malfoy, "let's go and findthe others."
"Keep that big bushy head down, Granger. They're looking for Mudbloods" sneered Malfoy.
"Do you remember when Hermione punched you in the face last year, Malfoy?" Briar snapped and his cheeks flushed pink "I would be more than happy to plant another one in a place far more painful if you don't shut up"
"You should be careful too, Lupin" He drawled "They're looking for half-breeds too"
"Come on," Hermione sighed, and she pulled Harry, Briar, and Ron up the path again before Briar did land that punch
Fred, George, and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, though the path was packedwith plenty of other people, all looking nervously over their shoulders toward thecommotion back at the campsite.
They followed the dark path deeper into the wood, still keeping an eye out forFred, George, and Ginny. They passed a group of goblins who were cackling overa sack of gold that they had undoubtedly won betting on the match, and whoseemed quite unperturbed by the trouble at the campsite. Farther still along thepath, they walked into a patch of silvery light, and when they looked through thetrees, they saw three tall and beautiful veela standing in a clearing, surrounded bya gaggle of young wizards, all of whom were talking very loudly.
The four of them stopped running after a while and sat in a patch of dry grass at the foot of a tree, hoping to see their friends soon. They waited in a nervous silence, until there was a sound from behind Hermione, as though someone was staggering towards them. But the footsteps came to a sudden halt.
"Hello?" called Harry.There was silence. "Who's there?" he said.
And then, without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any they hadheard in the wood; and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like aspell.
"MORSMORDRE!"
And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness, up over the treetops and intothe sky. It was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars,with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. They watched, it rise higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the blacksky like a new constellation.Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams.
"Harry, come on, move!" Hermione seized the collar of his jacket and wastugging him backward.
"What's the matter?" Harry said, startled to see her face so white and terrified.
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, pulling him as hard as she could."You-Know-Who's sign!"
The four ofthem started across the clearing - but before they had taken a few hurried steps, aseries of popping noises announced the arrival of twenty wizards, appearing fromthin air, surrounding them.84Harry whirled around, and in an instant, he registered one fact: Each of thesewizards had his wand out, and every wand was pointing right at them.
Without pausing to think, Harry yelled, "DUCK!"
"STUPEFY!" roared twenty voices - there was a blinding series of flashes above their heads
"Stop!" yelled a voice "STOP! That's my son!"
The four looked up and saw Mr Weasley hurrying towards them "Ron - Harry - Briar -" - his voice sounded shaky - "Hermione - are you all right?"
"Out of the way, Arthur," said a cold, curt voice.It was Mr. Crouch. He and the other Ministry wizards were closing in on them. "Which of you did it?" he snapped, his sharp eyes darting between them. "Whichof you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"We didn't do that!" said Harry, gesturing up at the skull.
"We didn't do anything!" said Ron "What did you want to attack us for?"
"Do not lie, sir!" shouted Mr. Crouch. His wand was still pointing directly at Ron,and his eyes were popping - he looked slightly mad. "You have been discovered atthe scene of the crime!"
"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown, "they're kids, Barty,they'd never have been able to
"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" said Mr. Weasley quickly.
"Over there," said Hermione shakily, pointing at the place where they had heardthe voice. "There was someone behind the trees...they shouted words - anincantation -"
They had all raised their wands again and werepointing in the direction she had indicated, squinting through the dark trees and hurrying towards it. So Mr Weasley hurried the group away and deeper into the woods, further and further from the world cup until they found the rest of the group waiting
Mr Weasley re-pitched the tent and allowed them all inside, although he did not sleep a wink for the rest of the night. He woke all of the children up incredibly early too, before packing up and leaving.
They managed to procure another portkey home, returning them to where the first one had departed from. And from there they repeated their journey from the previous day, until they finally reached the Burrow
"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!"Mrs. Weasley, who had evidently been waiting for them in the front yard, camerunning toward them, still wearing her bedroom slippers, her face pale andstrained, a rolled-up copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her hand."Arthur - I've been so worried - so worried-"She flung her arms around Mr. Weasley's neck, and the Daily Prophet fell out ofher limp hand onto the ground. "You're all right," Mrs. Weasley muttered distractedly, releasing Mr. Weasley andstaring around at them all with red eyes, "you're alive. . . . Oh boys. .And to everybody's surprise, she seized Fred and George and pulled them bothinto such a tight hug that their heads banged together.
"Ouch! Mum - you're strangling us -"
"I shouted at you before you left!" Mrs. Weasley said, starting to sob. "It's all I'vebeen thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing Iever said to you was that you didn't get enough OW.L.s? Oh Fred. . . George. ."
"Come on, now, Molly, we're all perfectly okay," said Mr. Weasley soothingly,prising her off the twins and leading her back toward the house
And once she had done a full check of each of the children and Arthur, she immediately dismissed them all to bed to rest after such a horrible night. But Briar knew that she was not the only one in the house who couldn't sleep after what they had seen, and the creeping fear in her heart.