Ginny walked back into the tent after meeting a few friends, to find Arthur Weasley trying to strike what looked like a match. Fred and George were chatting with their friend Lee Jordan who waved at her. She waved back and turned towards the flap to see Harry, Ron and Hermione had returned.

"You've been ages," said George.

"Met a few people" said Ron, setting some the jug of water down. "You haven't got that fire started yet?"

"Dad's having fun with the matches," said Fred, motioning to where their father was crouching down trying to light a matchstick.

Splintered matches littered the ground around him, but he looked as though he was having the time of his life. "Oops!" he said as he managed to light a match and promptly dropped it in surprise.

"Come here, Mr. Weasley," said Hermione kindly, taking the box from him, and showing him how to do it properly. At last they got the fire lit, though it was at least another hour
before it was hot enough to cook anything. At last, the fire was ready, and they had just started cooking eggs and sausages when Bill, Charlie, and Percy came strolling out of the woods toward them.

"Just apparated, Dad," said Percy loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"

They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when their father jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

"Ahoy there!" Ludo Bagman called happily. He was walking as though he had springs attached to the balls of his feet and was plainly in a state of wild excitement.

"Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming . . . and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements. . . . Not much for me to do!"

He was too merry, Ginny thought. There was not another word for it. It wasn't normal for a person to be this merry or jolly, for that matter. Something told her this Ludo Bagman was a fishy personality.

Percy was the first to be introduced, because he had just started at the Ministry (Ginny had a hard time trying not to roll her eyes) and then their father mixed Fred and George up again, he went on to introduce Bill and Charlie and at last, came to her. She smiled the nicest smile she could muster, but Ludo Bagman wasn't interested at all. Arthur Weasley had just taken the name "Harry Potter" as he introduced Ron's friends. Batman's attention was now focused on Harry, no, Harry's scar.

It isn't a bloody trophy to be carried around, why don't people ever leave him alone? Not like he actually enjoys the attention, she thought.

As Bagman rambled on about the Ministry goings-on and something about gambling, she watched as Barty Crouch himself walked in. Percy of course, started jumping in excitement. Funny, because Mr Crouch didn't recognise him at all.

"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of halfbow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh," said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes - thank you, Weatherby"

Percy looked clearly affronted. She sniggered, but skillfully disguised it as a cough, but Fred and George choked into their cups of water. Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.

Now this Weasley trait she hated. Their similar appearances, she didn't mind, but when it came to embarrassment, it wasn't easy to hide at all. They'd better hear it from her than anyone else. With the Weasley men, when they got embarrassed, their ears would turn into shades of red. When it came to females, their cheeks would turn into shades of red. Once again, Ginny cursed her fate of being an only girl born to the Weasleys.

Crouch and Bagman had started some sort of argument over something happing at Hogwarts, what the children should be told and what they shouldn't. Honesty, she didn't want to know and she didn't care. But her brothers, especially Fred, George and Ron, seemed like the lack of information on the topic was killing them with suspense.

"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" said Fred at once. "What were they talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough," said their father, smiling.

"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."

"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said Fred, and they all laughed while Percy scowled.

At last, it was time for the all-important match of the year. They'd gone strolling through the salesmen that afternoon, looking for things supporters would wear. Ginny had a pretty green scarf and a nice hat.

"It's time!" said their father, looking as excited as any of them. "Come on, let's go!"

"Who'd you reckon will win?" She asked Charlie as they walked to the stands.

"Ireland have excellent chasers, but Bulgaria has Viktor Krum, so you can never be sure" He smiled.

"We reckon Ireland will win but Krum gets the snitch" Fred said confidently.

"As Charlie said, you can never be sure" Bill winked at them.

They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing; Ginny was grinning so much, she was so excited, her cheeks had begun to hurt.

"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."

The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. They clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. The reached the top box and settled down.

Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started testing them, staring down into the crowd on the other side of the stadium.

"Wild!" he said, twiddling the replay knob on the side. "I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again . . . and again . . . and again . . ."
Fred and George chortled on either side of her.Hermione, meanwhile, was skimming eagerly through her velvet covered, tasseled program.

" 'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,' " she read aloud.

"Oh that's always worth watching," said their father. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show."

Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, arrived, Percy bowed
so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend. They had met before, and Fudge shook
Harry's hand in a fatherly fashion, asked how he was, and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.

"Harry Potter, you know," he told the Bulgarian minister loudly, who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold and didn't seem to understand a word of English. "Harry Potter . . . oh come on now, you know who he is . . . the boy who survived You-Know-Who . . . you do know who he is -"

The Bulgarian wizard suddenly spotted Harry's scar and started gabbling loudly and excitedly, pointing at it. Ginny actually did roll her eyes this time.

"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Harry.

"I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house-elf's saving him a seat. . . . Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places . . . ah, and here's Lucius!"

They turned around at the name so quickly, Ginny thought she'd actually stumble. There they were, The Malfoys, in all their dark glory. There was Lucius Malfoy, his wife, and their son Draco. The had a cold look on her face as she watched Fudge greet them, giving them more importance than they actually deserved. The Malfoys were filthy bags of scum, she'd never forgive them. Ever.

Cornelius Fudge introduced The Malfoys to the Bulgarian Minister, who still didn't understand a single word. Then her father and Mr. Malfoy were face to face.

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

Bill and Charlie let out identical snarls. Fudge, who wasn't 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," said their father, with a very strained smile. Mr. Malfoy's eyes had returned to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. He was of course, looking down upon her because she was a muggleborn. But he didn't daresay anything to her here, with the Minister Of Magic still conversing.

The match commenced and people cheered and clapped loudly as the Bulgarian Mascots were introduced, they were shockingly beautiful women, their hair of spun silk fluttering behind them, their perfect bodies emitting some kind of glow. Ginny had seen them before, they were Veela. She almost kicked each of her brothers out of the stands; they were wearing expressions that made her sick. Their jaws were literally hanging open, their eyes were as big as tennis balls, and they were staring at the Veelas with such immense bliss. She saw Harry, he was wearing a similar expression, and her heart clenched painfully in her chest. He would only look at Veela like that, never her.

Hermione, on the other hand, was looking at Ron with a mildly amused expression which changed to annoyance as he kept staring at the last Veela; she dissappeared behind the stands. Hermione, losing her patience, made a loud tutting noise and pulled him back into his seat.

As Fred had said, Ireland won the match but Krun got the snitch. Ron was busy fawning over a miniature Krum figurine he had bought, Hermione had caught up with her; they were leaving the stands through excited chatter, back to the tents.

Raucous singing was borne toward them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, and leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns. When they finally reached the tents, nobody felt like sleeping at all, and given the level of noise around them, and their father agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before turning in.

Ginny sipped the cocoa, which tasted absolutely delightful, as she watched Fred and George counting the amount of gold they had won through the gamble. Charlie and their father started an argument over something related to the match.....her attention was slipping, her eyelids drooped of their own accord.....and she couldn't hear a single thing happening inside.

"Ginny....goodness, I told you it was late....what would your mother say? Ginny, wake up..."

Someone was shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes and her father's face came into focus.

"Dad? What...."

"You fell asleep right here" he said. "Off to bed, now. It's late."

She got up and followed Hermione out of the boys' tent and into theirs. They climbed into their bunks; the Irish were still celebrating, but in a matter of seconds she was asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Don't forget to vote and comment!

Love you guys xxx
Sparked Firewhiskey