The Little Lightning Girl

56- Victor Krum Attempts a Smile

A man sat at a desk near the tree-line wearing muggle clothes much like I was. As the group of us approached, the man's eyes widened. Clearly he was not a wizard. Hermione stepped forward to speak, volunteering herself.

"Are you all one family?" The man asked, gaping.

Hermione smiled and began fishing through her purse, "Family and family friends. We've got a lot reserved for Weasley."

The man's watery blue eyes widened further, "One lot, for all of you? Are you sure."

Hermione's laugh turned nervous as she handed him their tickets, "Quite sure."

The man frowned at the tickets but eventually heaved a sigh, "Alright then. I have to say though, you're not the strangest lot to have come through today. All sorts are coming through dressed in these dresses, even the men! I've had some foreigners even try to pay with these huge metal coins, they spoke English, though, and I can't believe-"

With a heavy sigh, Hermione pointed her wand at the man's face, "Obliviate!"

A dazed expression took over the muggle man's face and I gasped as the last hour of that man's life was cleanly erased. Hermione peeked at the desk, "Alright, lot twenty-six B."

I followed her as she walked past the desk and towards the tent-covered field.

"How is she allowed to do that?" I asked Rose quietly.

"She works for the ministry," Kaley answered instead, "she's probably got clearance."

Rose confirmed this with a nod and I shrugged, "Fair enough."

..............

As we finished setting up our tent, I couldn't help but start to think the muggle man at the gate had a point. How the hell were twelve people supposed to fit in a single tent? I waited for everyone else to go inside before I dared to. But when six, then nine, then eleven people fit inside the small tent and I didn't hear one moan of complaint, I poked my head in through the flap.

It was a house. There was a front room with chairs and a dining table, and off to the side there were at least six or seven other rooms. Again, I gaped at the sight, but no one else seemed surprised by it.

"Alana, come on!" Rose said, tugging my arm, "our room is this last one."

I let her pull me towards the last room and the open door revealed a small but cosy bedroom with three twin beds already made. Rose threw her bag on the middle bed, and Kaley entered behind me only to immediately choose the bed to Rose's left. I set my backpack on the bed and sat down, the bed springs squeaking. Only when I began unloading my backpack did I understand.

"It's an undetectable extension charm! Like my backpack but... a whole house!" I exclaimed.

Kaley smiled, likely having figured it out earlier due to her proclivity for charms, "yeah, it is. Brilliant work, this tent. It's easy enough to charm a bag like you did but... a house? Incredible."

"Thank you," Hermione had poked her head into the room.

Of course Hermione had been the one to charm the tent, who else?

"Rose tells me that you two plan to try out for the Junior League team," Hermione said, her eyes on me.

I shrugged, "We've got nothing to lose, right?"

Hermione's brown eyes twinkled, "I don't know if you've heard, but it's been known that those who make the Junior League are those that Quidditch recruiters keep their eye on in years to come. They don't allow under-seventeens on professional teams anymore, so the Junior League is for the best. And if you make it, well, it's a bit of a fast track to fame."