On The Pitch: A Fremione AU

Chapter 1 : The Quidditch World Cup

August 1994

It was early morning, and the Burrow was filled with the bustling of excitement. Red headed teenagers, as well as the occasional mop of raven hair or large bushy brown hair, scurried around the home, ensuring they had not missed a single thing. It was almost time for them to make their way to the portkey. This year, Arthur Weasley had somehow managed to get them all tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, and by Merlin's beard they were not going to mess this up!

"Kids, hurry up! We need to leave in no more than thirty minutes!"

Molly Weasley had already packed each one of them a small sack of breakfast for the trek to the portkey. Laid out on the table, each sack was curated for each member personally and with love: Arthur, Bill, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. Charlie would not be attending since he had more important dragon matters to deal with in Romania. Percy, well, Percy just did not want to go, but of course Molly was still forcing him to come. Instead Percy would just stay in the tent with Molly in lieu of attending the actual game.

The rowdy bunch made their way down the stairs finally, and, as soon as they were all set, the pack was off. They walked across their large yard and began to trek through the nearby woods.

***

Hermione Granger was so excited she could hardly contain herself. She and Ginny walked together, excitedly gossiping the entire time.

(Now it is important that one should know Hermione Granger was not one to particularly enjoy sports. Even as a little girl she hadn't been too interested in them. Her parents were dentists, and she had heard plenty of sports horror stories ending in lost teeth; subsequently, she never wanted anything to do with sports. That was.. until she came to Hogwarts..

At first, she hated the thought of flying on a broomstick. Everything about it just screamed 'dangerous'. She was so terrified of it that during her first ever flying class, she couldn't even summon the bloody broom. Harry was a natural at it and decided he would help her get over her fear. It was only natural, right? She helped him with all his classes, so he should at least try to repay her.

Still, it wasn't until the summer before their second year when she actually began to love flying and quidditch though. Many summer afternoons and evenings at the Burrow were spent playing quidditch. Eventually, after becoming closer to Ginny, Hermione was convinced to play a game since they had needed an extra chaser. Everyone, including Hermione herself, was astonished at her untapped potential. Next thing she knew she was trying out for the Gryffindor quidditch team her second year.)

Hermione and Ginny were suddenly stopped in their tracks, quite literally, when they bumped into Harry and Ron.

"Oi! What gives?" Ginny nagged as she rubbed her forehead which had slammed square into Ron's shoulder blade.

They looked up to see Arthur draw someone into a friendly embrace.

"Diggory!"

"Weasley!"

A man who seemed to be around Arthur's age laughed as he pat his friend's back. The man was slightly short in stature with slightly greying hair. He wore glasses and a forest green ensemble. Beside him stood a very handsome young man that immediately caught the eye of the group of teens.

"Kids, this is Amos Diggory."

"Hello! Arthur talks all about you lot, so I feel like I already know you."

"This is my son, Cedric. I'm sure you already know him though," Mr Diggory beamed, introducing the very handsome boy.

They knew him alright. Cedric Diggory. He was in the same year as Fred and George and was the Hufflepuff seeker, quidditch captain, and prefect. He was also one of the biggest heartthrobs currently attending Hogwarts.