The Marriage Decree

Chapter 48: I Regret Your Pairing

At the gates of the estate, Hermione disapparates straight to the gates of The Holyhead Harpies stadium. She can see Dana, in her small booth next to the gate, with her feet resting up on the desk as she leans back in her chair, reading a magazine. Hermione walks up to the door of the booth, knocking and making the girl inside jump again.

"Miss Granger!" She stares at her for a second. "Back so soon?" She smiles as she hides her magazine beneath some parchment strewn across her desk.

"Yes, I need to speak to Gwenog about some details for the party." She smiles back.

"Oh, yeah. I'll get you a visitor's pass. How's it coming along?" She asks as she digs around the draw for a badge.

"Great. I'm planning the music at the moment. She's quite into muggle music at the moment." She states.

"Here you go?" She says, producing the visitors pass from the draw. "I'll call up to the club house and have Gwenog meet you again." She adds, taking her wand out to open the gate.

"Thank you, Dana."

Hermione slips through the gate and begins the long walk up to the club house. She's about hallway when the front door opens. Gwenog exits and starts running down the steps and along the path towards her.

"Hermione!" She gasps when she's within hearing. "Hi!" She adds when she reaches her. "I didn't expect to see you this soon." She says, taking Hermione's hand in hers and squeezing it excitedly. "Did you speak to David?" She asks hopefully.

"Not yet, I need to clear something up with you first," Hermione admits.

Gwenog frowns, dropping her hand. "What's wrong?"

"I just want to make sure I've got all my facts right before I explain anything to my uncle." She explains.

"What do you need clearing up then?" Gwen asks, glancing around to make sure none of her teammates are around to overhear.

"Should we go to the summer house again?" Hermione suggests.

"No, most of the team have gone over there for a break between practices," Gwen tells her. "We can go for a walk around the grounds. It's usually quite around this time of day." She suggests.

"Okay, lead the way." Hermione smiles at her encouragingly.

Gwenog sets off back down the path towards the gate. They walk in silence until they near the gate when Gwen guides Hermione onto the grass where they skirt around the wall and its protective trees, nettles and daffodils.

"Are you going to ask me," Gwen suddenly asks as Hermione's busy admiring the view again. "Whatever it is you need clearing up?" She adds.

"You said Lucius wanted you to vote to keep the world cup in England." Hermione starts.

"Yeah." Gwen nods.

"Why hasn't anybody heard of there being a vote?" She stops in her tracks to stare questioningly up at Gwenog.

"Who did you ask?" She asks, eyes glancing around nervously.

"Some friends that are big Quidditch fans who would have heard about a vote." She explains. "And they didn't know anything about it when I asked." She adds.

Gwen sighs deeply, rubbing her face tiredly with her hands. "It was a secret. Nobody besides Minister Fudge, Ludo Bagman, the ministers of each country that qualified for the world cup, and the team captains of those countries knew about it." She explains.

"Why was it such a secret?" Hermione questions.

"How do you think people would react if they knew the ministry were worrying about hosting the world cup?" She rhetorically asks.