Melody Riddle and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 7: The Quidditch World Cup

We followed the lantern-lit trail through the woods to the field with Lucius and Narcissa in the lead. Draco still held my arm, so tight in fact that I could tell his excitement had made him totally forget about the accident with the tree.

Thousands of other people around us gave loud shouts, bursts of laughter, and rounds of songs. The excitement around us was so contagious that I couldn't help myself from talking with Draco about what could happen during the match – even though I don't even know the teams.

It took twenty minutes to get through the woods before we finally emerged on the other side in the shadow of the biggest stadium I had ever been.

"Amazing," I said along with Draco's enthusiastic nod.

"The Ministry has been working on this all year with a task force of five hundred," Lucius said, leading the way to the nearest entrance. "The Repelling Charms are on every square inch. Every time a Mudblood comes near here, they'll remember that they scheduled urgent appointments and leave immediately."

I really wish he would stop saying that horrid word, I thought to myself with a shake of my head. But, the Dark Lord's daughter wouldn't be telling him not to use it... I may have to say it, myself, eventually – ugh!

We went all the way to the top box and edged along the second row to the four empty seats at the end.

"... ah, and here's Lucius!" I heard someone say.

I looked up to see the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He seemed to have been deep in conversation with Harry Potter.

Harry had turned around at the sound of Lucius's name... well, so had the whole Weasley family and Hermione Granger. They weren't surprised to see me with the Malfoys, though Hermione gave me a small smile, Harry a small nod – he'd warmed up to me at the end of the previous school year, whereas for Ron it went... fairly slowly. Fred and George gave me cheeky grins almost as big as Becky's normally was.

"Ah, Fudge," Lucius said, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco? Perhaps his friend, Melody?"

"How do you do, how do you do? Nice to see you again, Melody," Fudge said, smiling and bowing to Lucius. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk – Obalonsk – Mr. – well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else – you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

It was a tense moment between Arthur and Lucius. Last time I had ever seen them face-to-face, we were in Flourish and Blotts just before our second year at Hogwarts.

"Good lord, Arthur," Lucius said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

The Minister, who surprisingly hadn't been listening, said, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."

"How – how nice," Arthur said, straining a smile for the Minister's sake.

Boy, how can the Minister not feel all the tense hate between the two? I'm simply burning in it! I thought, staring awkwardly at my feet.

We continued down the line to our seats. I sat on the end next to Draco, and on his other side sat his mom.

In the next moment, Ludo Bagman charged into the box. "Everyone ready?" he asked excitedly. "Minister – ready to go?"