The Kind Hufflepuff

Chapter 72: Foyer

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The Kind Hufflepuff - Year Four

Chapter Seventy- Two: Foyer

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"I can't believe we're all going to the Quidditch World Cup!" James cheered excitedly, "This year has been the most amazing by far, I had wanted to go to all of the matches but father wasn't too keen on that idea. He's not much for those kinds of crowds but he did get these tickets, enough for my friends too which is why you guys are coming along," James explained to the group as they stood in the foyer of his home. 

Everyone had grown, it seemed to Cali. They were all towering over her and she had noticed that Peter, Sirius, and Remus' voices had even deepened over the summer much to her surprise. Cali had noticed while she was staying with Greta that she had been growing up to, her flat chest becoming less flat as time went on as her entire body seemed to morph more than they already had been doing so.

The summer with Greta was amazing, albeit a little confusing for Cali. She had never lived in such a household where magic wasn't just a staple. She had watched Greta and her mother cook on multiple occasions and the idea of flying ingredients not just coming out of nowhere seemed completely foreign to her. She had watched Greta's father pack for a trip, wandering around the room as he tried to remember everything he needed and she had to refrain from asking him why he wasn't using magic to pack instead. Instead of practicing spells at night, she realized that she couldn't do that and had to instead live a fairly muggle existence. Except for the little bowtruckle that lived on her shoulder as a gentle reminder that she was not, in fact, a muggle. 

Greta had gotten into that cooking class which meant that it was time for Cali to try and find a place to stay, and just like magic, James Potter had floo'ed to the Catchlove home and invited her to stay at his home for the rest of the summer and attend the Quidditch World Cup that was taking place this year. 

Even if you weren't an avid Quidditch fan like James Potter, everybody seemed to be aware of what was going on during the 417th Quidditch World Cup. The International Director of the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Conference had just been hired a few months prior to the event had implemented quite a few controversial laws- including but not limited to: the bans of wands in the stadium. 

This had been an interesting law, for sure, and he had lost essentially all favor that existed previously. The result of this was acts of viscous compliance- as instead of wands, the eventgoers had brought a musical instrument called dissimulators that issued bright lights and puffs of colorful clouds. The instrument also was able to emit cheers across the stadiums, essentially making it worse than what a wand would have done considering this all pretty much was due to the man's hatred for loud crowds. Cali, who was not a fan of Quidditch by any means, had been following the match with pure amusement and had been excited when she was actually invited.

"Don't forget to leave your wands here," Fleamont reminded them.

"Oh, yes!" James yelled, laughing loudly as he went upstairs to drop off his wand and returned with his very own dissimulator. "This was such an epic idea, I could not simply ignore it," James had informed the group.

"I have dissimulator's for everybody," Remus cleared his throat awkwardly, opening his bag to retrieve the items. "James, may I drop these off in the guest room? I don't want to bring my bag along."

"That's my room for the rest of the summer," Cali giggled. "But feel free!" 

"Thank you Cal," Remus nodded shortly before going upstairs to drop his bag off. 

"Did you know that the first few matches had basically no attendees?" James rambled. "I mean, everyone hated the idea of not bringing their wands so much that they had opted to not attend. I bet that the stupid director regrets implementing those dumb laws, he lost the conference so much money as a result."

"We know," Sirius laughed. "I'm pretty sure the entire wizarding world knows."

"Well, Cali isn't that big of a Quidditch fan AND she's been in a muggle household all summer. I showed up in the fireplace and Catchlove's mother seemed like she was going to have a heart attack," James told them, laughing.

"Even I knew that," Cali rolled her eyes. "But he's totally right," she added after a moment.

"Alright, I think it ought to be time to go. The portkey isn't far off," Fleamont hummed, checking the clock in the living room. The boys all cheered in excitement, bouncing in their spots as they headed out the door as Cali watched the group for a moment as, giggling before following after them.

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A/N: Welcome to Year Four! I think it's so interesting that during James' 4th year at Hogwarts was the Quidditch World Cup and so was Harry's. I imagine that James would have talked about this particular match so much that Harry would have known what happened by heart. And he would have had tickets to see every single match for the entire summer in a lead up to this match. Harry would have probably been sick of the whole thing... Sad that it's not the reality of what happens.