18TH AUGUST 1994 - 06:00 PM

After speaking with Wood, Evie and Meera had gone to get some souvenirs, and omnioculars, before returning to the tent. To pass the time Evie had started drawing whilst Meera read. Cedric and Harris entered the tent laughing hysterically. Evie rose her eyes at the boy and looked at Meera who shrugged.

"What's so funny?" Meera asked the pair of guffawing idiots who stumbled their way into the tent.

Harris was the first to console himself, he then looked at her and then burst out laughing again. This sent Cedric into more fits of laughter. Meera exhaled forcefully and returned to her book, knowing it was a lost cause.

They finally calmed down, after getting a sharp kicks in the shin from Evie. She had tried to hit them on the head but both were too tall for her too reach.

"What's so funny boys? spill! Now!" Evie demanded.

"Oh nothing, just a joke the Weasley's made." Harris said.

"A joke hilarious enough to make you two reserved proper prefects look like idiots high on crack?" Meera asked. Harris nodded solemnly. "We need to spend more time with them Evie."

"While the Weasleys are hilarious I think there's more to this story Meera." Evie said, she turned to Harris and rose her eyebrows at him. 

"Well what's funny is that Fred Weasley is rather interested in someone." Harris said.

"He gets new interests every week, Harris. He's not a goody two shoes like Cedric here who will only have eyes for one person." Evie shrugged returning to her drawing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cedric exclaimed.

"It means you are a guy who would get a crush on someone and then proceed to fall head over heels for them, over an excurciatingly slow time, while being in denial about it and then not having the guts to tell them I believe." Meera said.

"No Cedric's just the part upto falling head over heels for them and not having the guts to tell them part." Harris disagreed. "The rest sounds more like you." 

"Shut up." Meera snapped. She shut her book and exited the tents. A deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field.

"It's time!" Mr Diggory exclaimed excitedly 

"That's...huge!" Harris exclaimed. "15 Camelot castles could fit in there."

"What?" Meera furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Nothing" He said quickly.

"It seats a hundred thousand people." Cedric informed us.

"Ministry taskforce of 500 have been working together on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charm on every inch of it. You see they'd always remember some kind of important event if they came near this place." Mr Diggory added.

As they finally reached the nearest entrance a witch checked their tickets and directed them to their seats. The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple and they soon made their way to their floor. They seated themselves and Meera skimmed through the velvet covered program.

"Let me look at that." Harris said outstretching a hand. Evie pushed it out of the way as she was testing her omnioculars.

Meera moved around the back of Evie's seat and dropped the brochure on her friend's knee.

"Thanks."

Meera yawned as she looked around the stadium and saw people slowly filing and taking their seats, the steady movement was oddly hypnotising and she suddenly felt rather drowsy. She then felt the person on her left nudge her and awoke from the daze.

"Let's talk...otherwise you'll fall asleep." Cedric suggested.

"What should we talk about?" Meera asked him sitting up right.

"Teach me how Muggle money works again...or how those devices work. You know radios. Telephones? Ele...I mean the thing they did with lightning."

Evie groaned beside me. "No! Don't let her talk about physics!"

"I'll save you from that...let's talk about legends." Harris told her.

Oddly, for someone who had little patience to read, Harris was extremely good at History of Magic. He managed to make the subject interesting enough for Meera and Evie to be asked to learn it. However, Professor Binns disapproved of his use of stories and legends to make the subject...bearable.

Evie particularly enjoyed the stories and legends as she loved writing fiction and drawing. She'd often try and draw or paint the scenes Harris would describe and had a wall in her dorm covered in beautiful paintings...some even moved like the portraits in Hogwarts.

"Anyway..." Cedric said drawing her back from her thoughts. "Muggle money and physics."

Meera sighed heavily. "How long?"

"About 15 or 20 minutes." He said.

"Okay, we'll start with the basics. The notes are worth the amount of money it says on them..." Meera began and went on to explain why they are used and why they are more convenient. Cedric actually seemed quite interested in this and electricity so she gave him explanations of not only that but other topics.

"SSH..." Evie hissed at me as Meera was talking about forces. Cedric frowned at her. "They're starting."

Meera turned and straightened her legs so that they were planted on the ground. However, she subconsciously began bouncing her leg as she waited for them to start. 

----

"Ladies and gentlemen ... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" The voice of Ludo Bagman echoed across the stadium.

The spectators screamed and clapped. Hundreds and thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard, which had been advertising Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans now showed BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce ... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

"I wonder what they've brought over." Mrs Diggory mused.

"Veelas!" Mr Diggory exclaimed. He removed his glasses and wiped it before replacing it.

Harris' eyes were wide as he stared at the Veelas and Cedric appeared dazed.

Harris then moved to the edge of the stands and was beginning to climb over. Mrs Diggory had a firm grip on her son. Meera signalled to Evie to help her but she also appeared dazed.

"Snap out of it!" Meera shouted slapping them on the back of their heads. 

"Huh? What? Bulgaria." Harris blurted bemusedly.

"Just take a seat. Okay. You'll be okay." Meera said soothingly as she led him back to his seat.

Cedric had escaped his mother's grip and he got up. Meera stamped on his foot. He frowned and massaged his temple before shaking his head.

"You good? You look like a startled stoat." Meera said as they sat down again. Cedric nodded and the dazed that had been in his eyes moments ago disappeared.

"What did you say?" Harris asked quickly. Meera turned and frowned at him.

"I said, 'you like a startled stoat' to Cedric." she repeated.

"Where did you get that one from?" Harris asked.

"Something I read maybe...I don't know...I think Evie called me that a couple of months ago." she shrugged. "Why?"

"Just wondering...it's a good insult." He mumbled. I narrowed my eyes at him but didn't push it.

Meera glanced at Cedric questioningly. He shrugged.

By now the veela had lined up along one side of the field.

"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air ... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Almost immediately, what seemed to be flashes off green and gold came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium then diverged into two green-gold blurs, which were hurtling towards the two goal posts.

A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two blurs of light. The crowd collectively oohed and saved at the vibrant display that had burst overhead.

The colours began to fade and blurs reunited and merged, forming a great shimmering shamrock which rose up into the night sky and began to soar over to the stands. There were faint tingling noises as a golden rain fell from it. Several coins fell in front of Meera's feet and she picked them up to examine them.

"Galleons?" Harris exclaimed. "Well, blimey..."

"Leprechauns!" Meera burst out as realisation hit her. It all made sense. The rainbow, the gold. "I guess you do get a pot of gold if you chase a rainbow."

"What?" Cedric gave me a quizzical look.

"You've never heard of that?" Meera asked. 

"Well yeah, but..."

 "How are they leprauchans?" Evie interrupted.

"Squint at the shamrock. You'll see beards." Cedric told her. She leaned forward and squinted. Then her eyes widened and she gaped a little. Many in the crowd were applauding and scowering the floor for gold. Meera passed some of hers to Evie who hadn't managed to get any as she was too busy figuring out what was zooming over their heads.

As the great shamrock dissolved away the racket began to die down and people were resettling into their seats. The leprauchans settled themselves opposite to the veela, sitting cross-legged to watch the match.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgar­ian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!"

A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

"Ivanova!" A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out. "Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!"

Harris was apparently fan of Krum as he appeared to be springing up and down in his seat with excitement.

Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose that resembled a beak and thick black eyebrows.

"Are you sure he's only eighteen?" Evie asked Harris  as he moved his omnioculars away from his eyes. He nodded and went back to peering through them again.

"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand - Lynch!"

Seven green blurs swept into the field. Looking through my omnioculars I could see their names embroidered in silver.  

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

Hassan Mostafa was a small skinny wizard, who was bald and had a thick moustache. He was covered in robes of pure gold and a silver whistle protruded from beneath his moustache.

He carried a large wooden crate and a broomstick with him. Mostafa soon mounted his broom and kicked the crate open to release the contents.

Four balls burst into the air. The crimson Quaffle, the two black Bludgers and for a fraction of a second I could see the tiny golden ball that was the snitch.

With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls. "Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"

Meera pulled her omnioculars away and saw the players zooming around as Bagman commentated in the background. She'd thought Quidditch in Hogwarts with Lee Jordan screaming out the progress was wild, but comparing Hogwarts' Quidditch to the world cup was like comparing a game of football in a primary school to the FIFA World Cup.

Meera glanced at Cedric who's gaze kept flickering nervously between her omnioculars and then back to the game. Meera sighed and passed it to him. "You owe me 10 Galleons, Diggory."

"I can keep it?" He asked incredulously as she handed them to him.

"I don't have much use for it." Meera told him.

"I bet I could tell you at least one other use by the end of the game." He said as he watched the game through them.

"If you can then I'll take them back and you don't have to pay. If you can't then you have to pay me 15 Galleons." Meera told him.

"15?" Cedric asked.

"Interest." she explained.

"Deal." Cedric agreed absently, beginning to watch the game through them. He was mumbling to himself and Meera returned to watching the game.

"I guess he's trying to make notes to improve Quidditch this year." Evie told Meera passing her omnioculars to the Ravenclaw. "Here, my hands hurt from holding them up."

"TROY SCORES!" Bagman roared, and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. "Ten zero to Ireland!"

"What?!" Harris exclaimed. "How...but...oh..."

Meera moved her omnioculars away to see what he was doing. He was fervently fiddling with the dials his brows furrowed with frustration. 

"Just use your eyes for a little I'll sort this." Evie suggested to him gently taking the omnioculars away. She fixed it and started watching the game through it earning a dull glare from Harris.

Meera chuckled and replaced Evie's ones to her eyes.

The match only became faster and more brutal and her eyes struggled to keep up. By now she had returned Evie's Omnioculars and Evie had returned Harris'. The three were intently watching the game easily following the players. Meera tried to keep up but her eyes grew tired from darting around all the time. Harris and Evie had switched seats and he was giving her a mini commentary to keep her updated while they watched.

Finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks; dodge the Keeper, Ryan; and score Bulgaria's first goal.

"Cover your ears!" Mr Diggory exclaimed as the veelas began to dance. Cedric, Harris and Evie screwed their eyes shut after placing their fingers in their ears. Meera laughed and quickly pulled a camera out.

Harris had opened his eyes to check whether they had gone yet and glared at her. "Say cheese!"

Evie grabbed the camera from Meera's hand and glared at her. Bulgaria was in possession of the Quaffle again.

"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova - oh I say!" Bagman shouted over the eager fans.

Suddenly gasps spread across the stadium as the two seekers Krum and Lynch plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it seemed that they'd jumped out of an airplane without parachutes.

"Oh, my..." Evie began getting up from her seat. Harris looked over to her but glanced back anxiously.

"They're going to crash!" Meera exclaimed.

At the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, inevitably hit the ground with a dull thud that resounded throughout the sta­dium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats.

"That was a good Wronski Defensive Feint." Harris murmured appreciatively.

"It's time-out!" yelled Bagman's voice, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

"Now Krum's using this time to search for the snitch." Cedric observed, bitterly.

Lynch got to his feet at last, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters, mounted his Firebolt, and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to give Ireland new heart.

After 15 minutes, Ireland was ahead by ten more goals and the game only became more brutal and dirtier.

As Mullet shot toward the goal posts yet again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her.

Meera couldn't catch it as she did not have any omnioculars but the cries of outrage and the shrill blow of the whistle was proof enough that there was a foul.

"It was a foul." Harris informed.

"I figured." Meera told him dryly.

"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing - excessive use of elbows!" Bagman informed the spectators. "And - yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!"

The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled, now darted to­gether to form the words "HA, HA, HA!". Meera giggled.

Cedric rose his eyebrows at her. "What? It's just...stop judging me!"

"I didn't say anything." He said calmly.

"You didn't have to." Meera replied abashedly.

The veela on the other side of the field leapt to their feet, tossed their hair angrily, and started to dance again. Cedric and Harris stuck their fingers into their ears. Evie did not join however as she was laughing hysterically and pointed out the referee causing Meera to join her. She nudged Cedric and tugged at his arm while Evie did the same with Harris. "Look at Mostafa." Cedric's eyes widened and he also laughed.

Mostafa was currently flexing his muscles and smoothing his moustache as he watched the veela with a particular excitement in his eyes.

"Now, we can't have that!" said Ludo Bagman, though he sounded highly amused. "Somebody slap the referee!"

An irritated mediwizard made his way across the field (his fingers jammed in his ears) and sharply kicked Mostafa. Mostafa started and Meera chuckled. Cedric passed her the omnioculars for a minute and Meera noticed the redness of his face. He began shouting at the veela who had now stopped dancing...they looked mutinous as they tossed their head and shook their hair indignantly.

"And unless I'm much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots!" Bagman's voice said. "Now there's something we haven't seen before. ... Oh this could turn nasty. ..."

Bagman predicted correctly: The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing furiously with him, gesticulating toward the leprechauns, who had now gleefully formed the words "HEE, HEE, HEE."

Mostafa appeared unimpressed by the Bulgarians' arguments, however; he was jabbing his finger into the air, clearly telling them to get flying again, and when they refused, he gave two short blasts on his whistle.

"Two penalties for Ireland!" shouted Bagman, and the Bulgarian crowd howled with anger. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms ... yes ... there they go ... and Troy takes the Quaffle ..."

The game became even more ferocious if that was possible. The beaters were merciless, particularly the Bulgarian beaters who did not care whether their clubs hit human or Bludger as they swung them haphazardly. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.

"FOUL!" roared all the Irish supporters including Evie, Harris and Cedric, they were all standing up now and pulled me up to. Meera saw a great wave of green around the stadium.

"Foul!" echoed Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Moran - deliberately flying to collide there - and it's got to be another penalty - yes, there's the whistle!"

The leprauchans now arose to form a hand with a familiar rude gesture Evie and Meera grinned at each other. Evie was actually crying tears as the pair exclaimed. "I love leprauchans!"

Evie was now making the same gesture with her hands at the veela but quickly stopped after Harris nudged her. Mr Diggory was giving her a reproving look and Meera bit back a laugh.

The leprauchans' unanimous gesture had set the veela off into a tumultuous rage. They launched themselves at the tiny bearded men throwing fire balls at them.

Harris looked at Meera and then back at the veela. Meera rose her eyebrows at him. Then he said. "Sometimes I wonder if you're part veela. Because I could swear you look like you have beaks when you're mad.

Evie laughed.

"And for all I know you could be a leprauchan." Harris told her, cutting her laughter short. "Just get you a beard and a green outfit."

Cedric pursed his lips and tried to fake a series of cough to cover up his laughter. Both girls punched Harris and he winced his hands going to knead where they'd punched him.

Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile, the pitched battle below was nothing to the one taking place above.

The Quaffle was a red blur zooming out of a player's hand across the field into another's with the speed of a bullet.

"Levski - Dimitrov - Moran - Troy - Mullet - Ivanova - Moran again - Moran - MORAN SCORES!" Bagman boomed.

The cheers of the Irish crowds were barely heard over the cacophony below: the Veela's shrieks, the Bulgarians' roars and the blasts issuign from Ministry members' wands.

Meanwhile, the game restarted almost immediately. Now Levski had the Quaffle, now Dimitrov. The Irish Beater Quigley swung heavily at a passing Bludger, and hit it as hard as possible toward Krum, who did not duck quickly enough. It hit him full in the face. There was a deafening groan from the crowd; Krum's nose looked broken, there was blood everywhere, but Hassan Mostafa didn't blow his whistle.

"You can't blame him." Cedric said. He pointed to the tail of his broom which was now alight. "I wish someone would notice though."

Harris was outraged and was screaming. "Time out! He can't play like that! Come the hell on!"

"Look at Lynch!" Evie exclaimed jumping out of her seat, her omnioculars were glued to her eyes. "He's seen the snitch!

"HE'S SEEN IT!" Evie and Cedric shouted in sync.

Harris and Meera also bolted out our seats and looked in the direction the two Hufflepuffs were pointing to.

Half the crowd seemed to have realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on ... but Krum was on his tail.

"How the hell can he see through that?" Harris shouted over the racket.

"He's having an adrenaline rush...pupils dilated, blood pumping to his muscles...and he isn't me..." Meera shrugged.

"The last point's true. You're as blind as bat." Evie commented absently.

"They're going to crash!" Cedric exclaimed.

"Lynch is!" Meera corrected.

For the second time that night, Lynch crashed into the ground.

"The veela then stampede over the Irish seeker with mighty force!" Meera announced jokingly. Evie grinned at her friend.

"Where's the snitch now?" Harris bellowed frantically.

"Krum's got it." Cedric yelled past Meera.

"Jeez Diggory, he's only a few metres away." she pressed her hands over her ears and he looked away sheepishly.

Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was ris­ing gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand.

The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 across the crowd, who didn't seem to have realized what had hap­pened. Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS - good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

Harris was frowning. "What?"

"Ireland was 160 points ahead of them...why catch the snitch?" He mused.

"Ireland's chasers were far too good. So he wanted to end the game in his own terms." Cedric explained. Harris nodded.

Krum appeared surlier than ever and adamantly refused their attempts to mop him up. His team were dejected in contrast to the Irish who were dancing gleefully in the golden shower descending from their mascot. The Irish national anthem blared across the stadium and Meera noticed that the veela had shrunk back into their usual beautiful selves, dispirited by their team's loss.

"And as the Irish team performs a lap of honour, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" roared Bagman.

Evie, Harris and Cedric looked towards the top box and Meera followed their gaze.

"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers - Bulgaria!" Bagman shouted.

The crowd applauded appreciatively. There was a sudden roar at the mention of Krum's name. Harris jumped out of his seat and stumbled onto his face.

Evie and Meera chuckled.

The crowd thundered in approval as the Irish players held up the cup.

"Let's get going then kids." Mr Diggory suggested and they began to exit as the cheers died down. 

Evie and Harris were ahead them and Harris had an arm around the Hufflepuff causing Meera to raise her eyebrows at Evie. Evie noticed this when she glanced back but ignored her friend's questioning gaze. Cedric frowned at this peculiar exchange but chose not to question them.

"So what did you think of that?" Cedric asked as they made their way out. Meera remained silent for a few minutes and then admitted. "It wasn't too bad, actually. But that doesn't change my opinion of Quidditch."

"If you say so." Cedric chuckled, patting her head and putting an arm around her.

"I do and it's the truth." Meera said finally and shrugged his arm off and shoved him. Cedric laughed as he regained his balance shaking his head at the younger girl. As they made their way down the stairs his gaze lingered on her, while she chatted animatedly with friends. He chuckled to himself and then focused on exiting the crowded stadium without losing them.