Chapter Four: The Dawn

Salazar did not know which was worse. The fact that he was roped into being taken to a Quidditch World Cup, which could go on for ages or that Helga and surprisingly the twins were repeatedly teasing him over his obvious dismay. He was tired, sweaty and very thirsty and was silently cursing the stoned-pathway which he -along with the Weasleys- was walking down. Panting and trying to catch his breath, Salazar thought on whether or not it would be worth trying to explain how he apparated to the top of the large hill that he saw was coming up when the young Weasley girl fell into step with him. Her hair was messy, and her face was a bright red due to a mixture of both exhaustion and thirst. She turned to him as he turned away. Somehow, Helga always knew what he was thinking. He was starting to think that she was secretly a Legilimency master and has been somehow breaching his Occlumency wall all this time. As he turned his head back towards her, she looked at him with a knowing look. Harry shook his head of these thoughts and smirked as he told her about his previous thoughts of apparating under his breath so the others wouldn't hear. It was hard enough trying to explain his attitude changes. Helga looked highly amused and said stretched out

"Yeah.... I don't think that'll work. Look, we're almost there anyways." She pointed to the top of the hill which was slowly getting closer and closer. The Slytherin groaned as he saw that they had yet to trek uphill. Helga just laughed and pulled him along by the arm. He huffed as he thought 'Stupid Hard Working Badgers...' He looked up to see Helga looking at him. It took him a while to realize that he had stopped walking and sped up to catch up to her.

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When the group made it to the top of the Hill, everyone- excluding Mr. Weasley- collapsed, gasping for breath as they lay down on the warm sunny grass.

Mr. Weasley had apparently decided that they didn't need a break as he said "Hurry Up! Grab on, we're almost there!" Harry looked up to see Fred haul him up from the ground and push his hand towards the boot that was now in Mr. Weasley's hand. The last thing that Harry saw was the world spin violently around him as he crashed to the ground.

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As Harry landed with a thud he decided that so far in his entire existence, and that was a long time, that Portkey's were the second worst mode of wizarding travel directly after Apparation. His Slytherin counterpart had created a type of Apparation that was less unpleasant and was silent, though it wasn't very useful to him at the moment as the Weasleys (minus the obvious) were sure to flip if they were to see him apparate, silently no less. As Harry looked up, he saw a campground which was filled to the brim with people and tents. As Harry pushed himself up to his feet, he patted his holster for his wand, pretending to dust himself off. "Wow." he heard Ron exclaim. This is quite an impressive gathering. Harry thought to himself. He silently walked along, half-heartedly listening to Ginny's excited squeaks, Fred and George's prank plans, and Ron's babbling about Krum again. Every now and again, when someone would look at him Harry would pretend to chat with Ginny. It would not do him any good to draw attention, especially in this large of a gathering. One mention of the name Harry Potter will cause the masses to charge and ask for autographs. Circe knows why. It still bothered him how some people could be so obsessed with him.

Surprisingly, there were Muggles mixed in-between the magical folk. He knew that Helga had also picked up on this as she started going on about how it was amazing at the amount of people from all over the world, from different cultures. Harry guessed that either she was telling him that she had some of her powers from her other self or Harry was just being paranoid. If they got their powers and knowledge from their past selves, then it would be infinitely easy to accidentally let something slip. Plus the extra boost in spells and knowledge was bound to give their identities away to their teachers soon enough. Besides, a certain Gryffindor was so obnoxiously loud, he probably would shout their secrets from the Astronomy Tower to get the Slytherin's attention. Harry snorted at the thought and Ron looked at him and looked a little surprised that he was actually listening and continued. Harry had in fact been giving an ear to Ron's lengthy conversation, despite Harry not actually responding and liking any of the information being given to him. Honestly, if Ron goes on one more time about how undeniably talented Victor Krum is, I will Silencio him, underage Ministry decree or not.

Finally, they reached a small opening in the large cluster of tents and people, and Mr. Weasley placed a small fabric box into the center of the dirt. Harry was confused until he saw Mr. Weasley pull his wand out and mutter a spell which turned the  box into a small tent. What Harry was not expecting was the inside of the tent to be fitted with a kitchen, dining area, bedrooms, and a lounge complete with sofas and tables. Harry tried to school his expression into a less surprised one, as the Weasleys may be offended however he was not quick enough as Mr. Weasley took a look at his face, chuckled and said ''Come on then! Fred, George help your brother carry his trunk into his room, won't you?'' Harry snapped back to reality as he realized that he had been standing motionlessly, staring into space for the last few minutes lost in thought. Harry shook his head and made his way to his room. Maybe coming here wasn't such a bad thing, Harry thought as he opened the door to his room.

Author's NOTE:

Whew. This was hard to write. Sorry that this took so long, it's just that school, homework and just a lack of inspiration hit me at the worst possible time. But I have risen! Do not worry, I'll try not to delay an update for so long. The next chapter will be up soon, much sooner than this one took (seriously 3 and a half week?!?!) It makes me glad to know that people are actually reading my story, for when I first made it I wasn't expecting for anyone to read my story. Thanks a lot! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

-Madsinator