18th AUGUST 1994 - 8:00 AM

Splotches of sunlight peaked through clouds spotlighting small sections of the wood with a gentle golden glow. Lushly leafed trees rustled as a light breeze passed over them. There were no greys in the sky foreboding sudden rainfall, making it an overall pleasant day to go walking through the woods.

Meera trudged along slowly behind Harris and Evie, who were wide awake and chatting eagerly about Quidditch. The latter often interrupted seeming to be bursting with ideas and points to make.

Meera simply tried to keep up with their fast pace and understand what they were saying. She would interject with questions but there is little chance that she'd understand their answer. Besides, it was far more fun to see how long they could go on about Quidditch instead.

"There is no way, Bulgaria's going to win. Back me up Meera!" Evie exclaimed turning to her dark haired friend.

"What?" Meera asked looking up from the ground.

"Oh, come on Krum's one of the youngest seekers Evie, he's the best out there he's most definitely going to catch the snitch ergo Bulgaria wins." Harris said calmly.

Meera began to nod, but halted as she noticed the blonde girl's glare, racking her brain for any Quidditch fact she could think off. "Catching the snitch ends the game, whoever has the highest point wins, right?" Meera asked uncertainly. 

Evie nodded. "Exactly! See Just because you get the snitch doesn't mean you win. You just want Bulgaria to win because you're obsessed with Krum."

"I am not!" Harris snapped exasperatedly, his ears becoming a little red.

"I wouldn't understand why you would be, the guy's just trained to be good at ending games. That's no fun." Evie said. "And who even says ergo..."

"I do." Meera said raising her hand. Evie rose her eyebrows at her. "On occasion, it makes me sound smart in essays."

"You don't need words like ergo to make you sound smart. You are smart." Harris said to her.

"Unlike you?" Evie questioned jokingly.

As they continued walking up the hill the pair continued bickering and throwing jibes at each other. Meera nodded and occasionally pitched in on either side, but for most part remained quiet. 

After they reached the top of the hill she saw Amos Diggory, grinning broadly a little red in the face as he made his way up the hill from the other side.

 "Hello, Harris! Ced and I have been looking for you, thought you got lost or something." He said cheerily.

"Sorry about that Mr Diggory, Evie's dad overslept. He was our ride here." Meera replied.

"That's quite alright! How are you all? Has the summer been good?" Mr Diggory asked rubbing his hands together, still beaming. "Excited?"

"Definitely!" Evie and Harris said together. Meera smiled politely and nodded.

"Where's Cedric?" Harris asked, looking around the woods for his friend.

Mr Diggory looked around and frowned. "He should be nearby...I told him to..."

"Surprise!"

"Yikes!" Meera shouted. She stumbled on a twig and fell face first into some leaves. She lifted her head up slowly, squinting for the source of the noise before pushing her glasses up her face.

Meera heard Mr Diggory chuckling behind her and tried to ignore the burning sensation of her ears. She looked up to see Cedric Diggory also laughing as he was brushed off some leaves from his clothes and looked up at the tree above him.

"Bloody hell, man!" Harris exclaimed looking up at the tree then back at his friend beaming with a glint of awe in his eyes..

 "Good one, DIggory!" Evie said chortling gleefully and patting him on the back.

"I guess some things never change, ay Meera?" Cedric grinned as he gave the dark haired girl a hand.

"Yeah, I guess some things don't, because you still have the maturity of a six year old." Meera retorted acidly, swatting his hand away. She hastily heaved herself off the ground and brushed the leaves off of her jeans.

Harris gave Cedric a high five and they both hugged briefly. They both knew that if they spent anymore time celebrating their reunion Evie would ask when's the wedding. At times Meera would say Evie had gone too far but sometimes her comments were justified as they act like they haven't seen each other for years when a maximum of a month or so had passed.

"Alright. Now that we're all here, let's start looking for the Portkey." Mr Diggory said and briskly walked away.  "Evie, Harris, you two look around that side, Cedric, Meera follow me, we'll look here."

Mr Diggory split of from the pair to search some bushes and other areas for the portkey. Meera stuck with Cedric and tried to mimic what he was doing so she didn't get lost amd seem completely clueless.

"So what are we actually looking for again?" She asked looking around the ground for something of significance.

"Something like a boot...or a tattered doll... something that seems out of place to us but not to a Muggle." Cedric replied as he looked behind a bush.

"That totally narrowed things down thanks." Meera said dryly. Cedric chuckled. "How was summer?"

"It was good, apart from all the transition work the teachers set. It took me ages to finish it, my dad said Harris and I couldn't go on our trip unless I finish cause we will be busy for the rest of summer so I had to try and finish it all in July." He replied. "How was your trip to India?"

"It was ok, I guess." Meera shrugged.

Cedric frowned. "I thought you hadn't been in a while, wasn't it fun to visit family?"

"Not when you have to lie to your family about being a witch. I don't know why I have to! it's not like there's something in Hinduism that prohibits it!" Meera replied throwing her hands in the air. "It really sucks cause my grandpa's asking me about how school is and I have to make some decent bullshit up in like 2 minutes and everyone critcises for not talking to people enough. I kinda just wanted to get it over with to be honest with you. Now I'm not obligated to go for another 2 years."

"Well...that's too bad India sounds pretty cool. Harris told me about how you took a picture while sitting on an elephant or something." Cedric said.

"It was cool until the elephant drenched me with water from its trunk...my mum said it was a blessing but..." Meera paused as she saw an old boot lying near a bush.  "Is that it?"

Cedric looked towards where she was pointing and then grinned. "We've got it Dad!"

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!" Meera heard Mr Diggory shout. Cedric walked up quickly and passed the boot to his dad.

A few minutes later they were joined by five Weasleys, Harry and Hermione.

"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, smiling as he strode over to the man who had shouted. The rest of them followed. Mr Weasley shook hands with the ruddy-faced wizard who held the boot.

Hermione and Ginny exchanged appreciative looks as their gaze flickered between Harris and Cedric, who smiled at them politely.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," Mr. Weasley introduced to his companions. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

"Hi," Cedric said, looking around at them all. Evie waved at them. Everyone returned the gesture, but Fred and George Weasley only responded with curt nods . They had never quite forgiven Cedric for beating their team in the previous year and were particularly affronted by the fact that Evie gloated about it for quite a while.

Meera spent a considerable portion of her fourth year ensuring the twins and Evie didn't squabble about Quidditch; she was seen as the peacemaker since she was neither Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.

"I believe we haven't met.", Mr Weasley said as he shook hands with Harris.

"Harris Smithson, these are my friends Meera and Evie." Harris introduced. Mr Weasley nodded and then returned to his conversation with Mr Diggory.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Cedric's father asked.

"Not too bad," Mr. Weasley replied "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still...not complaining ...Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Gal­leons, and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy..." Mr Diggory peered good-naturedly around at the three Weasley boys, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," Mr. Weasley, pointed out his children. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's and Harry, an­other friend..."

"Merlin's beard," Mr Diggory exclaimed, his eyes widening. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

"Er...yeah," Harry responded a little uncertainly. He looked extremely uncomfortable and Meera pitied him as she'd have bolted by now in his position.

"Ced's talked about you, of course," Mr Diggory told him proudly as he patted his son on the back. "Told us all about playing against you last year. ... I said to him, I said 'Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will. ... You beat Harry Potter!'"

Meera and Evie looked at each other and rolled their eyes almost simultaneously. The Hufflepuff girl was always rather affronted at the idea of a Quidditch team's victory being accredited to solely the seeker. She felt Cedric hogged the glory of the their team as the seeker and captain of their Quidditch team.

Cedric smiled a little apologetically. Harry remained silent and the Weasley twins' scowls returned.

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," Cedric muttered abashedly. "I told you ... it was an accident. ..."

"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" Mr Diggory roared genially, slap­ping his son on his back.

Yeah well he didn't get emotionally preyed on by a swarm of Dementors either.

Meera was quite glad that Cedric demanded a rematch last year. Evie supported as she herself detested the Dementors.

Harris had had the worst encounters with them. He had nightmares and had become unresponsive at times if he was close to a dementors. He was closely monitored by Madam Pomfrey during exam season to ensure he remained healthy during O.W.L.s

"Always modest, our Ced, always the gen­tleman...but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!" Mr Diggory continued jovially. 

"Must be nearly time," Mr. Weasley said quickly, pulling out his watch again. "Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," Mr. Diggory replied. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

"Not that I know of," Mr Weasley said while his eyes remained on his watch. "Yes, it's a minute off....We'd better get ready...." He looked around at Harry and Hermione. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do..."

With great difficulty the twelve of them huddled around the small moldy boot. Meera had taken her glasses off and put them inside her coat as a precaution and was currently awkwardly sandwiched between Harris and Fred.

Evie was on Harris' other side and looked grumpy and uncomfortable as she struggled to reach the portkey, due to being shorter and so had to be much closer to the middle. Evie was thankful however that Harry suffered a similar fate so she want alone.

"Three ..." muttered Mr. Weasley, one eye still on his watch, "two ... one ..."

As the Portkey stirred Meera's feet were jerked off the ground and she felt her shoulders clash into her neighbours' as they sped forward in a dizzying spiral of colours.

Then they landed with a heavy thud. Meera's eyes readjusted to the surroundings slowly and her dizziness subsided gradually. She blinked and tried to push herself up, but felt even worse as her vision blurred and collapsed again.

I hate portkeys!

She finally regained her  senses and noticed that Mr Weasley, Mr Diggory, Harris and Cedric remained standing as the others had all collapsed. They all looked fairly amused, with Mr Diggory laughing heartily. Harris quickly walked reached out to help Evie up.

Cedric came over and offered Meera a hand. She glanced at it and instead of swatting it away accepted it and allowed him to pull her up..

"You good?" He asked. She nodded. "Just checking, because you look like a drunken sailor."

"I do not!" Meera protested.

"You do."

"Do not!"

"Do."

"Do not!"

"Do."

"Do not!"

"Do not!"

"Do!"

Cedric grinned at her triumphantly and she gaped.

"I...but...ugh!" she stammered. She scowled and slapped him, but he continued to grin as they joined Harris and Evie.