• Serena Black •

„There are two types of secrets
the kind you want to keep in
and the kind you don't dare to let out"

Flickering lanterns at the edge of the narrow path showed the group the path that would lead them to the stadium. The thin branches of the trees rustled their leaves in the wind and in the dim light looked like monsters stretching out their scrawny arms one after the other. Although the forest through which the spectators had to walk was muddy and musty, the atmosphere could not have been better. Loud laughter and even louder singing penetrated through the gloomy trunks of the dense trees and brightened the atmosphere immensely.

In all, they walked for about twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, before they finally emerged from the dim light of the leafy canopy and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic, brightly lit stadium. Serena had to squint her eyes, so dazzled were she by the escape lights and floodlights that restlessly swung their beam across the meadows.

"One hundred thousand seats," Mr Weasley announced enthusiastically, taking a deep breath before leading them to a nearby entrance. In front of it, a swarm of noisy wizards and witches had already gathered, waiting excitedly to be admitted. "First class seats!" the Ministry Witch at the entrance exclaimed, impressed, as she checked their tickets. "VIP box! Straight up the stairs, Arthur, until you can't go any higher."

Excitedly, Serena entered the massive stadium behind Harry. VIP box! She hadn't known that. They must have had a fantastic view from there. The narrow staircase they climbed seemed to have no end. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic, otherwise it would have been very narrow. Serena only caught a glimpse of the gigantic playing field now and then, but before she could take a closer look, she was pushed on.

The Gryffindor gasped when they finally reached their destination, but the sight that Serena now saw took her breath away even more. Their seats were at what was actually the highest point of the stadium, from where she could see everything, really everything. Rarely had she been able to enjoy such a fantastic view.

The scene before her was bathed in a mysterious golden light that seemed to come from the stadium itself. From high above where they sat, the field seemed smooth and soft like velvet. It was at least twice the size of Hogwarts. The goal rings were brightly polished and gleamed in the glow of the escape lights, which were so bright that not a star could be seen in the sky.

There were so many witches and wizards in the arena that only green or red dots could be made out in the tiers, which merged into one overall picture. Interested, Serena turned her gaze to the blackboard, which displayed various slogans. George seemed to have followed her gaze and tapped her on the shoulder before pointing in that direction. "They'll be advertising our products on it one day, you'll see."

"Maybe if you hadn't bet all your money," she teased him about what she thought was an unwise decision. George merely turned away with a mysterious smirk on his lips and shook his head in amusement before Harry drew her attention. "Dobby?"

Serena leaned past Remus, frowning, to see what, or rather who, Harry meant. She followed his incredulous gaze to a tiny creature squatting all alone in one of the seats in the back row. Serena remembered Harry's descriptions of a house elf, but to actually meet one now was something else again.

It had large wrinkled ears that tapered to a point and an oversized nose and eyes. It's skin looked leathery and sallow. It glanced around nervously and clasped the seat with his bony fingers, but when he caught sight of them, a curious expression came over it's small face. "Did you just call me Dobby, sir?" the elf chirped in such a high-pitched voice that it was actually very close to the version Remus had spoken with after his prepared tea.

"I beg your pardon," Harry quickly rebuffed. "I just mistook you for someone I know."

"But I know Dobby too, sir!" the elf exclaimed excitedly. Her dark brown eyes darted to his forehead to the scar before widening to plate size. "My name is Winky and you sir.... You must be Harry Potter! Dobby always and always talks about you!"

"How is he?" asked Harry. "How does freedom suit him?"

The elf merely shook her head, regret in her gaze. "Sir, with all due respect, but Winky is not sure you did Dobby a favour when you freed him, he can't find a job sir, he wants to be paid now sir."

"Why shouldn't he be paid?" Hermione, who had also overheard the conversation, asked, puzzled. But what was quite normal for her seemed to inspire outright horror in Winky. "House elves don't get paid, Miss!" she groaned with a stifled squeak. "House elves do as they're told."

She demonstratively glanced towards the parapet of the box, and at the same moment held her slender hands in front of her huge eyes . "I don't like to sit that high up, but my master sends me to the box, and I'll go, miss."

"Why then does he send you up here when you don't like it?" inquired Serena, frowning, beginning to wonder why it was even necessary to drag his house elf to such an event.

"Master wants me to fill a seat for him, he has so much to do," Winky answered her question with a tone of voice as if it had been obvious. She then tightened her lean body. "Winky would love to be back in the master's tent, but Winky does what she's told, Winky is a good house elf."

"Funny creatures, aren't they?", Serena could hear Ron whisper and noticed Hermione scowling at him in return. However, Harry seemed to share his best friend's opinion and said dryly, "Dobby was even weirder."

But with Sirius' equally quiet reply, the subject of house-elves was over for the time being. "You're lucky you never met our old house-elf..."

Before the final game finally started, Serena tried to kill time with her new Omnioculars. She was completely fascinated by the device and was glad that, thanks to her father, she could at least take home a nice souvenir from the championship. In fact, through the Omnioculars, she could see someone picking their nose in the opposite box on a continuous loop.

The stadium gradually filled up and the adults were constantly busy shaking hands with apparently very important wizards and witches. Even Percy jumped every time he saw someone significant, and when Cornelius Fudge entered, the Weasley bowed so low that his glasses fell to the floor and broke. Which he hardly seemed to care about.

Serena's father, however, was far from enthusiastic about the minister and kept giving him disdainful looks. She couldn't even blame him. After all, he had sent him to Azkaban without a hearing and let Pettigrew slip through his fingers.

"Ah, Fudge!" a croaking voice called, making them all whirl around. To the seven seats still available in the front row, Lucius Malfoy, his son and his wife pushed their way through the wizards standing around. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? And our son, Draco?"

"Pleased to meet you," Fudge said with a smile, indicating a bow to Mrs Malfoy. "May I introduce you to Mr Oblansk, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he doesn't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else... You know Arthur Weasley, I presume?"

The moment the Minister gestured towards them a few seats away, an uncomfortable tension began to spread between the parties. "Goodness, Arthur," Malfoy Senior said so quietly that the Minister could not possibly hear him, and took a few long steps towards the person he was addressing. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the VIP box?" Then his cold silver-grey eyes wandered along the row of seats. "I didn't realise they let werewolves and murderers in here too."

Serena felt a jolt go through her seat as her father stood bolt upright, giving Mr Malfoy a look that truly could have killed. "Well, they do apparently let blonded..."

Remus gave him a kick in the footwell, as at that moment Fudge turned to face them again. "Lucius has just given a very generous donation to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Diseases and Injuries. He is my guest today."

"How... how nice," Mr Weasley replied with a strained smile that said anything but that he thought it was nice. With one last condescending look, Lucius Malfoy finally strutted back to his seat and much like his father, Draco also gave Harry, Serena, Ron and Hermione a disdainful look and settled down between his two parents while the four seats next to him remained empty.

"Slimy lot," Ron muttered, turning back to the pitch with a grim expression. But Serena had meanwhile turned her attention to the entrance of the VIP box, where another family had appeared who seemed to resemble the Malfoys in more than just appearance.

With features that did not seem to allow a hint of emotion, they greeted some people before joining the Malfoys at the very front. The cloaks they wore were equally noble and their hair equally bright. Albeit a few shades darker. Serena knew the youngest of the newly added group; Edmund Hall, who she had spotted hours earlier with Malfoy and who had nearly knocked her off her broom last term.

She didn't know the boy standing next to him. He had to be a few years older and because of the undeniable resemblance, Serena would put her flash of fire that this was his brother. Only his dark blond hair stood out against the almost white-blond of the younger boy and his features were less angular too.

The woman standing by was undeniably pretty. Her chest-length silky hair was by far the brightest in the family. She had a delicate face with a straight nose that pointed at the end and noble features that gave her something haughty despite her angelic appearance. Her slender figure was tucked into a high-necked black cloak that was more reminiscent of a funeral than an event like the Quidditch World Cup.

Just then, she greeted Lucius Malfoy with a warm hug, which he returned - Serena could hardly believe it - with a happy smile. Her husband, on the other hand, possessed the charisma that Blondie Senior usually displayed: undercooled, calculating and simply unsympathetic. He wore his dark blond hair pulled to one side, but it couldn't hide the way it was slowly receding at the corners of his receding hairline. His features looked set in stone as he held out his hand to a witch and before Serena could stop it, his cold blue eyes met hers.

Serena felt the blood rush to her head and hastily averted her gaze. But the heat in her cheeks remained and probably just conjured an unpleasant blush on them. Fortunately, at that moment, Ludo Bagman burst into the box and grabbed all sorts of attention as he held his wand to his throat and his voice echoed through every crack in the stands a moment later. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final match of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The crowd shrieked and clapped. Thousands of flags flew, and the national anthems, sung in many voices and inaccurately, increased the commotion in the stands. Serena quickly forgot about the Halls and the Malfoys and watched the action. On the huge board opposite, the last slogan was erased and now appeared in flaming letters:

BULGARIA: ZERO || IRELAND: ZERO

"And now, without further ado, I would like to introduce our guests... the Bulgarian national team! Dimitrov!" A scarlet-clad figure on a broom, flying so fast that it could only be seen in a blur, shot out of a hatch onto the pitch. Immediately, wild applause from Bulgarian supporters erupted and filled the hushed stadium. "Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulkanov! Volkov! Aaaaaand Krum!"

"That's him, that's him!" exclaimed Ron excitedly, eagerly following the last player with his Omnioculars. "And now, please give a warm welcome to the Irish National Quidditch Team!" shouted Bagman. "I introduce: Connolly. Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Uuuuand... Lynch!"

Seven blurry green figures raced onto the pitch towards the Bulgarians, who were waiting impatiently. A short time later, the referee threw the balls into the air with a shrill whistle.

"Looooooos let's go!" shouted Bagman and began to commentate on the game as Lee Jordan usually did at her school games. "Mullet on the ball!"

It was a Quidditch game unlike any Serena had ever seen, and the entire audience seemed transfixed by the game as well, oblivious to the world around them. Not the Halls.

Serena could have slapped herself for looking again. But then she wouldn't have noticed that the whole family was looking over at them instead of following the game. Even when she tried to look at the field again, she could still feel the stares tingling on her skin. She thought they were more likely directed at her father or Harry. She shifted uneasily in her seat and looked to her friends for help. But they, like her father and Remus, were far too focused on the game. Just as everyone in the stadium should be.

Ireland, meanwhile, had extended their lead to one hundred and thirty to ten. Serena looked ahead vehemently and tried to concentrate on the game, but she couldn't quite manage it. Only a few minutes later, she ventured another glance in the direction of the peculiar family. This time, all four pairs of eyes were no longer on them.

Mr Hall had averted his gaze. Edmund wore a grin on his lips, as he had the last time they met before the Quidditch game. But this was not a smile that one gave to one's schoolmates whom one had met by chance during the holidays. It was a mocking grin that drove her up the wall when she thought of how he was going to knock her off her broom shortly afterwards. It seemed almost amused, as if he was making fun of her.

His mother, meanwhile, was talking to his brother, who had lowered his eyes and merely flickered up to her now and then. Her hand was on his arm and she smiled at him encouragingly. Serena frowned. Was he such a big Bulgaria fan that he was so upset by the intermediate score?

At least she was no longer under the prying eyes of the wondrous family and so she began to relax a little and turn her attention back to the pitch. The Irish seeker had abruptly gone into a dive the moment she resumed watching the game. "He's seen the Snitch!" cried Harry excitedly, leaning over the parapet. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"

At least half the audience also seemed to have realised what was going on. The Irish fans rose in one great green surge, cheering on their seeker, with Krum close on his heels. He caught up with Lynch and they both plunged in.

"They're going to crash into the field!" shrieked Hermione in panic, covering her face in fear with both hands as Winky had done earlier. Ron was literally glued to his Omnioculars, shouting, "They don't!"

"Lynch will!" remarked Harry, and sure enough, moments later the Irish Seeker hit the ground with tremendous force. Serena almost went deaf as her father frantically scanned the pitch, yelling, "The Snitch, where's the Snitch?"

"He's got it, Krum's got it, the game's over!" shouted Harry, clapping his hands together, completely caught off guard by the situation. Confused, Serena looked at the scoreboard, which showed the new score:

BULGARIA: ONE HUNDRED SIXTY || IRELAND: ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY

"Why the hell did he catch the snitch?" asked Serena, completely gobsmacked at the sudden end of the game. Meanwhile, the seeker of the Bulgarians, his red cloak glistening with blood, rose elegantly into the air and held out his fist, in which something golden gleamed. The crowd, too, did not seem to have quite grasped what had happened. But gradually the Irish fans began to rumble louder and louder and the tension dissolved into cries of joy.

"Ireland wins!" shouted Bagman, who, like the Irish and Serena, had obviously been surprised by the sudden end of the game. "Krum gets the snitch, but Ireland wins.... my God, I don't think any of us expected it!"

"That idiot finished the game when Ireland were one hundred and sixty points ahead!" exclaimed Ron in utter bewilderment, but jumping for joy in the air and clapping his hands above his head."

"He knew they'd never catch up," Harry answered the question that everyone in the stadium was probably asking right now. "The Irish chasers were just too good.... He wanted to finish the game as it suited him, that's all."

"He was very brave, wasn't he?" remarked Hermione, watching in awe with her eyes as Krum landed. The rest of the players had also gathered on the sandy ground and were celebrating, at least the Irish. The Bulgarians merely patted each other on the shoulders with bitter expressions. But at least their seeker had averted a major embarrassment.

"This will be talked about many years from now," Bagman said hoarsely, just shaking his head. His voice had now returned to a normal volume and no longer echoed throughout the stadium. Sighing, he reached for his wallet. "A really unexpected turn it was... pity it didn't last longer.... How much do I owe you?"

Fred and George had climbed over the backs of their seats and were now standing in front of Ludo Bagman in the doorway, grinning broadly and holding out their hands. Serena was still gobsmacked by the end of the game and delighted that Ireland had won. Her cheeks were still red with excitement as she fell into the arms of the others in celebration. At that moment, she did not notice that the Malfoys and the Halls had long since disappeared. But if she had, she might have drawn the right conclusions that night.

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