Hidden In These Walls

CHAPTER SIX

"Hey, Dad, how far up are we?" Ron, after eating once more before we left, his tune had changed. All of a sudden it was all about the World Cup. Though I couldn't complain much, he was finally enjoying himself. He wore a bright smile, his and Harry's eyes gazed up the stairs seeing the dark sky finally breaking through the shadows above with stars twinkling and shimmering. Arthur makes his way around and up the stairs, gauging where he's at by glancing around.

"We'll put it this way, if it rains, you'll be the first to know," I heard the sniveling voice from below. We all spun around and gazed down. Below us on the balcony was Lucius and Draco Malfoy. I thought after leaving I would be able to at least escape Draco, but turns out fate despised me. They smirked and sneered up at us, like watching an amusing cirus. Arthur rolled his eyes and tried making his way up, but ignored them.

"Father and I are in the minister's box, by personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself!" Draco primmed like a peacock, following his father with his chest puffed out. Lucius turned and thrust his cane into Draco's chest causing the boy to knock back, "Don't boast Draco. There's no need with these people!" The rest of us began to follow suit of Arthur, at this point we were all annoyed and done with the Malfoy's already. Harry grunted and stopped. I glanced back to see Lucius' cane, shaped at the end like a snake, digging its metal teeth into Harry's sleeve, anchoring him to the railing.

"Do enjoy yourself, won't you?" Lucius smirked devilishly, "While you can," I had about rounded and threw a fist into the bastard's face, but he yanked his cane away, letting Harry go in the knick of time. I waited for Harry to go up first, glaring down at them as they passed through the opening to where I imagined they sat.

We clambered up, up, up, and finally, the lights that beamed down on the field broke through the top, blinding us momentarily. It was a beautiful sight. The stadium was packed people shoulder to shoulder, filled up to the brim with the crowd cheering loudly. It was deafening. I thought out there in the fields by our tents were loud, this put it completely to shame.

Suddenly as everyone cheered, above our heads came a thunderous sound and the air around us pushed past. In flew a group with white and green robes overhead, "It's the Irish!" Yelled Fred. The twins began naming off each of the 5 players one by one. They flew upward and with a bit of their magic and fireworks, a little leprechaun appeared in the sky, doing a jig and waving down at everyone. Everyone began to chant for the Irish in unison.

"Here come the Bulgarians!" As George screamed out all at once another team flew, barreling through the leprechaun through its chest and making it explode in various shades of red. There at the front the seeker began to fly around, doing tricks and flips. The crowd began to chant, 'Krum, Krum, Krum, Krum!' He finally stopped and everyone cheered loudly as he waved his fist in the air.

"Good evening!" It was the Minister's voice, echoing throughout the stadium. The crowd quieted down into a low murmur, "As Minister of Magic, it gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you, to the final of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. Let the match begin!" He waved his wand and a bright ball of light flew out of the end of it. The World Cup had begun and brooms flew in all different directions.

I felt so much exhilaration, I could hardly contain myself. Back and forth they went, and not even 5 minutes in, I felt a pounding in my head. At first I figured it was from all of the excitement. As it wore on my vision went fuzzy and everyone around me went silent.

"Ozwald..." Moody? I tried to hold myself up straight with the railing in front of me as my legs began to wobble. I clutched the railing harder. My chest began to pound.

"There's not much time..." His voice echoed in my head. I could see him, or flashes of him. He was in his home, with a bloke's back turned to him. He was on the floor, clutching his chest, "Call for help. Tell Arthur that we've been breached...."

With that, his voice faded and my vision cleared. I gasped as all of the outside noises came back to me at once. That was new. I had never experienced anything like that before. Something was wrong... Terribly wrong... and there was nothing I could do about it. Even with my chest thudding, even with the churning in my stomach.

I spun to Arthur to tell him, but it was too loud and I knew it. It wouldn't be wise to do this right now. I figured at that point it would be best to keep the information to myself and tell Arthur afterward. After all, he was enjoying family time with his children.

My head, although not nearly as fuzzy as it was, I thought to myself about what I saw. Who was that man? Was it the Dark Lord? Was it the man who escaped prison? Was Moody alright? My head couldn't stop spinning and thinking of the worst-case scenarios.

For now, I could distract myself with the game... Speaking of, I finally took my gaze back over to the match. I had already missed quite a bit of it. How long had gone by? When I checked my watch. Shit... It was half an hour later! How did I miss so much time... Whatever this was, I needed to get to the bottom of it.