Astra

XLII - The Quidditch World Cup

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.

"Alright girls, let's get going," came Xenophilius's voice. Luna and Astra hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing. The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; both girls were beaming. They walked through the wood for twenty minutes, joking quietly while looking around, until at last they emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. 

Xenophilius looked back for one second before leading the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.

"News box," said the Ministry which at the entrance, a bit skeptically, when she checked their tickets. She looked a bit strangely at Xenophilius and Luna, who both didn't look quite normal, but she instructed them to their seats nonetheless. They weren't in the top box, but pretty close to it, needing a good view for the reports. 

The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. They clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. They continued climbing until the third row from the top, where the box was filled with cameras, self-writing quills, and notebooks. They slipped into their seats at the front and the few was definitely magnificent. 

Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself, though she couldn't actually see anything through the (realistic looking, but clearly dead seeing as they were floating) dead people that were all there to watch the game.

Her attention was taken away from the sign as a lady bustled through her bag right next to Astra. She rolled her eyes; Xenophilius was on the right next a man with a camera, Luna in the middle, and Astra on the left. She tried to distract herself by looking out for Regulus or anyone she knew, but the stadium was so filled with people floating at every area, there was no way she would see them without her saying their name, and if she did, even with all of the noise around her (mainly created by dead people) the nosy reporter next to her would definitely pick up on it.

She had platinum blonde hair that was swooped in obnoxious curls. Her robes were a bright neon green that looked horrible with her spectacles covered in rhinestones which covered her makeup-plastered face. 

Astra tried to calm down with the amount of noise that was going around, and tried to block out the noise, which surprisingly, worked. She wondered whether it was always possible to block out the dead, but it was definitely helpful. Or maybe, like she had learned in second year, that the ability was added on to over time; she had definitely not been able to seen the dead of Hogwarts in first year. 

Now that the view of the stadium was clear, she was truly able to take it in. The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it, Astra saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field.

The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family - safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burgler Buzzer...Mrs. Shower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain!...Gladrags Wizardwear - London, Paris, Hogsmeade...

Then, over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; Ludo Bagman voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"