"Wake up!" Two voices chorused, pulling Clary from her slumber in the midst of the commotion, and she opened her eyes to see Newt and Vasantha jumping up and down on her bed, the latter leaping down into a laying position next to the redheaded girl, and her brother quickly followed suit.
"What the hell?" Clary murmured groggily, sitting up and drowsily rubbing her eyes.
"Come on, sleepyhead, we're going to miss the Portkey." Vasantha urged, grabbing Clary's arm and pulling her out of bed.
The redheaded girl reluctantly obliged, letting Vas pull her up and stumbling over to the chair sitting in the corner of the room, where she already had a pair of jeans and a black and red sweater lain out in order to support Bulgaria in the upcoming Quidditch World Cup.
"We'll be downstairs." Newt announced, striding to the doorway, "Your mum has breakfast ready and your dad says we'll be leaving in fifteen minutes."
"Spectacular," Clary muttered as the door shut behind them, leaving her alone in her bedroom once more.
Clary quickly changed out of her pajamas and pulled on the new change of clothes before kneeling down to lace up her sneakers. She swiftly wove her hair back into its usual braid before picking up her backpack and leaving the room to hurry down the stairs.
"There she is!" her mother cheered as she reached the kitchen, noticing the rest of the family to already be awake and gathered around the breakfast table, including Newt, Vasantha, Harry and Hermione.
"Good morning." Clary responded, giving her mother a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll just take a couple pieces to go." she said, reaching for the plate of toast next to Bill.
"We should be off." her father announced, causing the others to rise from their seats.
"Have fun!" Molly called after them.
"Bye Mum!" the Weasley kids chanted before piling outside into the dark sky, the sun only just beginning to rise.
Clary shivered a bit as the chill of the early morning air hit her skin, and she crossed her arms over her chest as the group trekked through the woods outside the Burrow, Arthur Weasley eagerly encouraging the group to keep up with his brisk strides. Unlike most of the children, who were sluggishly moving after their father as they had only woken up minutes before the group's departure, Hermione and Arthur had both been up for hours, and were at the front of the group. Ginny drowsily hurried after Hermione, determined to keep up with the girl's pace.
"Keep up!" Arthur called after the children. "Don't want to be late to meet the others!"
"The others?" Clary asked, looking back and forth between Bill and Charlie, but the two simply shrugged in response.
"Arthur!" a cheery voice cut through the clearing as a man came into view leaning against the base of the tree, and as the group neared, Clary recognized the man as Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "About time!"
"Sorry Amos!" Clary's father called back to the man as she looked around nervously, but his son didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. "Some of us had a bit of a sleepy start. Those of you who don't know," he said, turning back to the group. "This is Amos Diggory, works with me at the Ministry." A sudden movement caught Clary's eye from above, and Cedric dropped down from a branch in the nearest tree, landing swiftly between Arthur and his father. "And of course you know Cedric."
"Hello," Cedric said with a grin, his eyes wandering around the rest of the group before they landed on Clary, and his grin widened a bit.
"Right over here," Amos said to Arthur, gesturing for the rest of the group to follow him, and Cedric made his way over to where Clary was still standing with Bill and Charlie.
"Told you I'd be seeing you soon." he said in greeting, and Clary couldn't help but smirk at his words.
"Lucky you," she said as Newt clapped the boy on his shoulder, pulling Cedric along with him and Vasantha after Arthur and Amos.
"Who's that?" Bill asked with a smirk.
"Didn't you hear?" Charlie asked, elbowing their eldest brother in the side and gesturing in the direction the other three had walked off in. "That's Cedric Diggory."
"Alright, well who's Cedric Diggory?" Bill asked then.
"He is." Clary said with a chuckle, gesturing in Cedric's direction once more.
"Over here!" Amos said as the men began to stand around an old boot laying in the middle of the grass, seeming as if it were only one wear away from falling to pieces. "Everyone, gather 'round!"
"Why is everyone standing around that old boot?" Clary could hear Harry asking Fred and George as she leaned down in front of the boot, her shoulder brushing lightly against Cedric's as the group gathered in tightly.
"That's not just any old boot, mate." Fred said.
"It's a Portkey." George added.
"What's a Portkey?" Harry asked, but was cut off by Amos's voice ringing through the forested area.
"Alright everybody, on the count of three!" Amos exclaimed. "One... two..."
Clary reached out for the boot, her right hand gripping the top of the worn, flimsy material shortly before Amos shouted the word three, and the group began to spin wildly as the boot lifted them off the ground and the teenagers began to scream in surprise, the loudest of which being Harry, who had never even heard of a Portkey before that morning. Clary was afraid to tear her eyes off the boot in front of her before she looked up to see the world spinning violently around her and then looked to her right to see Cedric watching her intently, a concerned look crossing his features.
"Are you okay?" he asked, and she nodded.
"I'm great." she lied through her teeth, focusing on the boot once again.
"Let go, kids!" Arthur exclaimed, and her jaw dropped as she brought her eyes back up to her father.
"What?" Hermione shrieked in surprise.
"Let go!" he called again, and Clary reluctantly let her hand slip away from the old Portkey, and she let out a scream as the fell through the air, unable to see the ground below.
All of a sudden, Clary landed on her back in the middle of a field, coughing as the wind was knocked out of her on impact. She looked around to see the rest of her siblings, Newt, Vasantha, Harry and Hermione all laying on the ground in the surrounding clearing, trying to catch their breath from falling from the sky above. As Clary rose up into a sitting position, she saw Arthur, Amos and Cedric gracefully landing on their feet from years of practice, and the latter instantly walked over to Clary, taking her hand and helping her to her feet.
"Thanks," she said, looking around as the sound of music began to reach her ears from over the hill ahead of them, and an excited grin spread across her face as she rushed forward, feet moving quickly to carry her up the hill and Cedric running behind her.
"Wait for us!" Vasantha called after Clary and Cedric, and Clary could hear their footsteps growing closer as the two caught up to them, the four friends reaching the top of the hill and slowing to a stop, taking in the scenery ahead of them with awestruck smiles.
As far as the eye could see, tents covered the area, housing witches and wizards from all over the world, leading up to a large arena being set up on the other end of the celebrations. Amidst the tents, fireworks were going off every minute, and Irish music reached their ears from the bottom of the hill. Everywhere she looked, witches and wizards were decked out in robes of green, black and red, eager to show their support for the teams that were to play that evening, Bulgaria and Ireland.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Arthur beamed as the rest of the group reached the top of the hill.
"Welcome, everybody." Amos said proudly. "To the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup."