Bumblebee (A Fred Weasley Fanfiction)

- CHAPTER FOURTEEN -

The Quidditch World Cup

Everyone 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; Emmie couldn't stop grinning. They walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly until, at last, they emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium.
The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple, they clambered upwards with the rest of the crowd which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. They kept climbing and at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box set at the highest point of the stadium, about twenty purple and gilt chairs stood in two rows here. Everyone sat down, "this is so cool," said Emmie giddy with excitement, the twins didn't reply but Fred looked at her, smiling. Emmie noticed, "what?"
"Nothing," he laughed.
There was a pause before Emmie spoke, "Frederick Gideon Weasley, you... Are so lucky,"
"Why?" Fred asked, "come on... Look at me," she replied laughing.
"Nah, you're the lucky one," he replied, "no I think you are,"
"You think? I know you're lucky,"
"No come on, you're a lucky guy,"
"Yeah but... You're pretty lucky."

"Both of you. Shut up." George said making Emmie laugh.
"Okay, you're right. I am lucky," she said, "but do you know who's luckier?"
"Who?" Asked Fred, "George!"
"George?"
"Yeah. He's gets the honour of being around us every single day,"
Fred started shaking his brother, "George! You're sooooo lucky!"
"Luckier than a vile of Felix Felicia,"
George shook his head, "when we get back to Hogwarts, I'm going to push you both off of the Astronomy Tower -"
"Lucky us," Emmie interrupted giggling, "people will see you and they'll be like, look a flying Freddie and an... An... Elevated Emmie." George continued.
"Elevated Emmie, that's rubbish!" Fred laughed,
"I'd like to see you try and come up with something."
"Guys shush! It's starting."

"Ladies and gentlemen... Welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
Everyone screamed and clapped.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... The Bulgarian Team Mascots!"
The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared it's approval.
"I wonder what they've brought?" Said Mr Weasley, leaning forward in his seat. "Merlin's beard!" He suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "Veela!"

A hundred beautiful women were now gliding onto the pitch, their skin shining moon-bright and their white-gold hair fanning out behind them. Emmie gasped as the Veela started to dance, she looked over at Fred who had his mouth wide open, he was just staring at them and leaning forward towards them. "Hey! Fred!" She waved her hand over his face and, after a few seconds, he blinked and looked around.
Angry yells were filling the stadium, they didn't want the Veela to go.
"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air... For the Irish National Team Mascots!"
Next moment, what seemed to be a great green and gold comet had come zooming into the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling towards the goalpost. A rainbow arced suddenly across the pitch connecting the two balls of light.
Tiny little bearded men with red waistcoats, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green drifted down onto the pitch on the opposite side from the Veela and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!"
A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the pitch from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.
"Ivanova!"
A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.
"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!"
Viktor Krum was thin, dark and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen.
Emmie shifted in her seat as she watched him fly across the pitch, Fred looked at her. "Hey, I couldn't help it with the Veela."
"I thought you support Ireland," said George.

"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" Yelled Bagman, "presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaaand - Lynch!"
Seven green blurs swept into the pitch.
"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"
With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls.
"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" Screamed Bagman, "and it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"
Troy drew away the Bulgarian Chaser Ivanova and dropped the Quaffle to Moran.
One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, swung hard at a passing Bludger with his small club, knocking it into Moran's path; Moran ducked to avoid the Bludger and dropped the Quaffle and Levski, soaring beneath, caught it.
"TROY SCORES!" Roared Bagman and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. "Ten-zero to Ireland!"

The match became faster and more brutal and, half an hour later, the scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY, IRELAND: ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet was revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.
"IRELAND WIN!" shouted Bagman, who, like the Irish, seemed to have been taken aback by the sudden end of the match, "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WIN - good Lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

They were caught up in the crowds flooding out of the stadium and back to their campsites. When they finally reached the tents nobody felt like sleeping at all and, given the level of noise around them, Mr Weasley agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before turning in. They were soon arguing enjoyably about the match and it was only when Ginny fell asleep right at the tiny table and spilled hot chocolate all over the floor that Mr Weasley called a halt to the verbal replays and insisted that everyone went to bed.
Emmie, Hermione and Ginny went into the next tent and got into their pajamas. Unlike the boys, who had bunk beds, the girls got their own beds separate from each other.

Emmie had barely gotten into bed when Mr Weasley came running in. "Get up! Ginny - Hermione - Emmy - come on now, get up, this is urgent!"
"What's going on dad?" Ginny asked as they all sat up.
The noises in the campsite had changed, the singing had stopped and was replaced with screaming and the sound of people running.
"Grab a jacket and get outside - quickly!"
The girls did as they were told and hurried out of the tent.
By the light of the few fires that were still burning, they could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field towards them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire.

Emmie jumped slightly as Fred pulled her into his chest to keep her safe. "You lot - get into the woods and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!" Mr Weasley shouted over all the noise.
"C'mon," said Fred, grabbing Emmie's hand and starting to pull her towards the wood. George grabbed Ginny and Harry, Ron and Hermione followed.
The coloured lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished, dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying and anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air.

Once they had got deeper into the forest they stopped but Harry, Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be seen. There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard, several people nearby screamed.
When they had all gotten their breath back they followed a dark path deeper into the wood, keeping an eye out for Harry, Ron and Hermione.

They took another break, Emmie looked up at Fred, her eyes welling up with tears. Suddenly they were all blinded by a vast, green light. They looked up to see a colossal skull in the sky with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As they watched, it rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke.
"The dark mark," George whispered.
Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams.

It all went quiet and in the dark they could hear twigs snapping. Someone was walking towards them, "guys?" A voice spoke, "Fred, George, Ginny?"
Suddenly the dark figure came into the light, Ginny let out a sigh, "Charlie!" She said running into his arms, "come on, I'm going to get you back to the campsite," he said as he stroked his sisters hair.

- Princexiero xx