stardust ⋮ george weasley

twenty-one :

T W E N T Y - O N E

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Adeline had been to many magical places before. She had been to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade more times than she could count, and Platform 9 and 3/4s had been one of chaotic experiences of her life up until that point. Merlin, she went to a boarding school where the staircases moved at whim and there were magical corridors and rooms that not even the professors knew about.

But none of those even compared to the campgrounds of the Quidditch World Cup.

Up until that point, summer had been mostly uneventful for Adeline. Without the usual summer assignments, Adeline didn't have her magical workload to distract her whenever she was home. She had learnt to knit and discovered she had a knack for it, even without using magic. Adeline had started out simple with socks and gloves, but had worked her way up to knitting full-on sweaters for herself. She was thankful that the girls had planned a trip Diagon Alley after the Cup so she could see what magical yarns she could find.

But right now, thoughts of trips of Diagon Alley were completely forgotten in the midst of the World Cup campgrounds. Estelle's dad had sent them on a mission to get the water, but the girls had been taking detours that they would likely not be back until right before they had to leave for the stadium. The campsite they were staying in was in the middle of the sea of Irish supporters, and Adeline's vision felt overloaded with the color green.

Then again, it wasn't like the girls were any better. Estelle was from Ireland, so it was made pretty clear from the beginning who their allegiance would be to. Since none of the other girls were particular to either team, they had decided to go along with Estelle and deck out in green and white. Adeline had even managed to knit a green sweater that she now had tucked into a short pleated white skirt in the days in between Estelle sending the letter and her picking Adeline up.

Despite this, Adeline was glad when they moved out of the "Irish" territory and into campsites with all the different wizarding groups from around the world. Sure, Adeline had read about how the wizarding laws varied across the world and the different magical schools like Hogwarts. But it was another thing to see all them together. It hadn't truly hit Adeline how far magic stretched until now.

"Holy Merlin, is that Cedric Diggory?" Melanie exclaimed, ducking behind Adeline's tall frame. "Did he get even cuter over the summer? How is that even possible?"

Adeline looked in the direction Melanie kept staring at to see that she was in fact right. The three girls burst into giggles at Melanie's embarrassment, as it was a rarity for the normally confident and bubbly Hufflepuff girl.

"Why are you hiding from him?" Estelle pointed out, pushing a mortified Melanie out from behind Melanie. "Aren't you two friends? He's literally your Quidditch captain!"

Shrugging her shoulders, Ophelia added, "Well he has gotten crazy cute. Even if he's a little bit too pretty boy for my taste."

"Cedric's always been pretty..." Melanie sighed in an almost lovestruck sort of way. "He's quite sweet too. Quiet but strong."

"Let's get out of here," Adeline grinned before tugging Melanie, and the rest of the girls, off in a different direction. "Let's get the water before Melanie faints."

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When the group finally reached the stadium, they ended up having to do much more climbing up stairs than any of the girls anticipated. But the farther up she went, Adeline couldn't help but become more excited because wherever the seats were located, they were going to have the most amazing view of the game.