AMOR VINCIT OMNIA; GRANGER

III.

( a crazy quidditch world cup )

LOOKING AROUND THE PACKED camping site Milo couldn't bring himself to look nearly as happy as any of the people who were bustling around, shouting so that their companions could hear them. The shouting of the salespeople who were trying to get their 'prize worthy' goods away at the last minute and the people who were blocking the way by falling for their simple traps, it all was taking a toll on Milo.

A headache was forming quickly because of all the loud noise and Milo knew that it wouldn't get any better once the game started. He just hoped the teams would hurry up and a winner would be found sooner rather than later; not wanting the game to drag out for Merlin knows how long.

Though, he had to admit that not being at home was quite relieving. The black haired boy hadn't had any contact with anyone from outside his family for two entire months ( yes, his 'friend' Mirjam Brant had written him a few letters, but he never responded because he found the girl to be quite annoying) and it was slowly driving him crazy, even if he once again got to enjoy the quietness of the manor.

"Wieso konnten wir nicht direkt zu unseren Plätzen apparieren?," (Why couldn't we apparate directly to our seats?) Milo asked his father, who looked as annoyed by all the people here as Milo, the same thing goes for his mother.

"I told you, here you should speak in English, especially when we're in the Minister's box with the Minister and other high ranking people", Benjamin reminded him sternly, "and we can't do that because of safety precautions. Now come on, I don't want to be late."

Milo looked at his mother, wanting her to give a comment on how annoying all of this was, but she kept quiet just staring blankly around — though in her eyes was the usual coldness that led to some people throwing strange glances in their direction — being a perfect trophy wife to Benjamin.

Walking up the many steps that led to their seats Milo easily could keep up with the fast pace the people in front of him were walking at, finally the huge staircases of Hogwarts were useful to the boy.

Noticing his parents were gone, Milo looked around wondering where he should go, when he spotted a — unfortunately — familiar mop of blond hair, which could only belong to the Malfoys. Guessing that they most likely would be sitting with them, as his father already said that he would be having an important conversation with Lucius after the match, Milo made his way over to them.

Finally reaching them, Milo was wondering why they came to a halt in the middle of the way, though when he noticed who was standing above them, he knew exactly what was going on, especially after hearing Lucius' saying some quite rude words to the Weasleys and company. It was no wonder though, the Weasleys were nothing to them other than filthy blood traitors and a disgrace to society.

"Good day, Lucius, Draco", Milo greeted them, wanting nothing more than for his parents to catch up so he could go to his seat and sit down, his feet began to hurt.

"Milo! It is wonderful to see you", Lucius exclaimed, with a smirk he continued, "We were just talking about how the Weasleys up there would be kind enough to warn us when it should start raining, seeing as their seats are so high up."

Lucius' words didn't bring the hoped reaction out of them, so his smirk wavered a bit. Though, with one glance he let Milo know, that he expected the boy to also say something offensive.

"Truly? I'm glad, I haven't even thought of bringing an umbrella or coat with me," then he looked up and said in their direction, "Thank you."

Then Draco's annoying voice was heard and Milo's day just got a bit worse. "We'll be sitting in the minister's box," he boasted, "by personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself."

Milo looked up into the sky hoping that it either would start raining soon and the game would be canceled (which it most certainly wouldn't just because of rain) or that something would drop out of the sky and bury Draco underneath it. Milo won't be able to stand the Malfoy boy for much longer and surely not for the entire duration of the game.

When looking up, he found no such thing, though he spotted something that was almost as good as a thing that squished Draco to death. Up there, standing right next to Harry Potter, was Hermione (the last name was still a big question mark, though it was better knowing a part of her name than having to constantly refer to her as 'the girl' when he thought of her).

Today, she looked as beautiful as she looked the day when she hit Draco in the face, with the same fury in her eyes, almost as if she wanted to hit Draco again – though she was also infuriated to find out that the handsome boy she had seen at the train station was a friend of the Malfoy's and supporting their rude remarks.

For a short moment their eyes even met, though Milo looked away as Lucius hit Draco in the stomach with his walking stick/wand, even though Milo knew it wasn't a strong blow, he was happy to see that even Lucius was annoyed by his son.

Potter seemed to have enough of the Malfoys and turned away, pulling Hermione with him (Milo didn't really like that, he would've liked to look at her for a bit longer). However, Lucius was still not finished with him, catching him by his shirt, Lucius told Harry to "Enjoy himself. While he still can." It strangely reminded Milo of the words his grandmother had said to him when he returned home, he never thought about them again, seeing no meaning behind them, now he thought that maybe he should be a bit worried.

Milo followed the Malfoys and took a seat near them, leaving two seats empty in between for his parents. When they finally arrived they greeted everyone and held some small talk out of politeness, sitting down Milo's mother turned to him talking with a thick german accent, "You shouldn't have gone ahead."

Milo apologized and told her about his small run in with the Weasleys, although she didn't really seem interested in it.

Then the game began and Milo had to try and find something interesting to do because watching fourteen on a broom riding people got quite boring after a few minutes.

So he decided to spend his time doing something reasonable. What that is, you may ask?

He did nothing else other than to stare into space while thinking about Hermione. The way her eyes had so much life and emotions in them, holding endless universes in their brown color. Then how her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with some stray strands framing her face and the brown locks jumping up and down her shoulders as she was walking away from him. But then he had to think about the way Potter pulled her away in a manner that seemed a tad bit too friendly, of course, they were friends as it seemed, but did friends act like this?

Milo had to admit that he had no clue, after all he never had anything remotely close to a friend, there was only Mirjam but Mirjam was . . . well, she was Mirjam.

Now there was another thought coming to his mind. Why did he think things like these about a complete stranger? That was not normal, especially not for Milo and to top that she also was a friend of Harry Potter, so he could never even dream of having something even remotely close to a friendship with her.

Was he only intrigued by her because she punched Draco Malfoy in the face? Did he subconsciously want to get punched in the face by her? What else could be the reason for his apparent interest in her? She was no one special, maybe not even a half-blood, but why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

All those questions and many more swirled around Milo's head for the whole game and afterwards there were even more questions than answers.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 𝖆𝖒𝖔𝖗 𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖎𝖙 𝖔𝖒𝖓𝖎𝖆
! hermione granger x milo bähr !
✎ᝰ. -NEPTUNXS