my best friends brother - fred weasley

x. travel

My mother had a household rule where we weren't allowed to talk about magic, Hogwarts, witches and wizards, or basically anything that my life involved. The start of the holidays was the worst, with most of my time being spent by trying to convince her to let me go to the world cup with Cedric.

"Please, mum! I'm fourteen, I should get to live my life with my friends." I plead, as she cooks in the kitchen. I'm leaning over the bench, trying to get her attention.

"Will there be magic? Will there be boys? Will you be in danger?" She raises an eyebrow.

"No, no and no. Please! You can just pretend I've gone to school early this year. I have no friends here anyway." I pout, hoping that my puppy dog eyes, paired with my relentless pleading, would convince her just in time. She stared straight at me for a long time, trying to make her decision. Sighing, she spoke up.

"I'll send your things to your school." She looked defeated, not wanting to start another screaming match. The Wizarding world was a sensitive subject with her, I always just assumed it had to do with my father. So far Professor Snape had told me more about him than my mother had. I still remember the disappointment she had on her face the day that I got my Hogwarts letter.

"Really?" My face lights up, I run over to hug her.

"Yes, but you have to promise me that you'll be safe. I'm putting a lot of trust in you." She looks down warningly, before turning on the oven and shooing me off.

Just two days later my things were packed for my mum to send, and I was on my way to meet Cedric at Kings Cross station. Mum had dropped me off outside, saying that she didn't want to meet anymore wizards. I hugged her tightly and walked inside. I sat on bench and waited patiently for a familiar face. I placed my backpack at my feet and leant back against the wall.

"Clover!" It felt like ages since I'd arrived, when I heard Cedric from a few metres away. I instantly stood up to run over to him. He pulled me into a tight hug in the middle of the crowd, before pulling back and dragging me over to a man.

"Clover, this is my father, Amos." I give a small wave to the proud looking man. He takes my hand and shakes it enthusiastically.

"I'm delighted to meet you. Miss Chang is it?" He grins for a moment, my face drops a little bit before correcting him. 

"Um it's May actually, but that's- that's a pretty common mistake." I glance over at Cedric who's preoccupied with his backpack.

"Oh sorry about that. Right. We better head off you two, we have a group to meet." Amos sets off towards platform 9¾, Cedric and I following behind. Once we pass through the barrier, Cedric tells me to grab onto his fathers arm. There's a loud crack and the platform warps around me, making me dizzier than ever. I land on a patch of grass, stumbling over before regaining my balance.

"Well done, most people vomit when they apparated for the first time." Amos states, before starting forward. Cedric grabs my arm to stabilise me.

"You feeling okay?" I look at the glint in his eye.

"Never better." I bite my lip and smile back at him. We walk for a few minutes before Amos stops. Cedric suggests that we climb the trees while waiting.

"Waiting for what?" I ask, he ignores me as he jumps to grab a branch and swings himself up. He grins as he holds out his hand for me to take. He helps me up and we try to climb as high as we can.

"Ah, I think this is far enough." I smile, resting my arms on a branch.

"No! We have to go further." he laughs, starting to climb up higher. We're about 3 metres off the ground when Amos waves us down.

"Arthur!" He says, strolling over to the group of people walking.

"Sorry Amos, some of us had a sleepy start." The man replies. Cedric slowly makes his way down, dropping to the ground. "Everybody, this is Amos Diggory, and his son Cedric." The man announces as Cedric helps me down, his arm wrapping around my waist. "Oh I don't believe we've met, I'm Arthur-" The red head man smiles kindly at me, offering his hand.

"Weasley." I finish for him, taking his hand and shaking it.

"Clover?" Ron peers his head over his dads shoulders. Suddenly Harry, Hermione, Ginny and the twins appear behind him. I glance over to meet Cedric's eyes and he's smiling proudly.

"Uh, hi guys." I smile and wave awkwardly, Cedric's arm is still wrapped around my waist, almost protectively. It was no secret that he and the Weasley twins hated each other, especially after Hufflepuff had beaten Gryffindor in Quidditch. He stared directly at them, smirking.

"Amos and I work together at the ministry." Arthur tries to break the tension between the group. Hermione and Ginny look at me then trade glances with each other.

"Yes, well... this way." Amos catches on to Arthurs tone. He leads us back the way we came, he drops back to talk to Harry and Cedric shows us the way.

"It was nice to hear from you, May." Ron appears next to me.

"Well, you know what my mums like." I defend myself, not admitting that I was still hurt from what happened on the last day of school, and just decided to not try and get in touch with any of my friends other than Cedric.

"So what about pretty boy. You two still pashing?" George appears on the other side of me, gesturing to Cedric, who's a few metres in front, talking to Hermione and Ginny.

"Um.." My jaw drops, not knowing how to respond. we hadn't really said anything about the kiss, since it happened. "I mean..." I look over at the boys expectant faces. "It's a bit up in the air." They groan in frustration.

"What do you mean 'up in the air'? Either you're together, or you're not." Fred joins in, behind us. I turn my head to glance at him. I hadn't seen his signature smile yet.

"Well you can't talk." Ron butts in. "You and that Angelina bird."

"Oh George I really like her, oh George I haven't heard from her at all. Do I send her another owl, don't I? Do I play hard to get, George?" George mocks his twin, Fred rolls his eyes in embarrassment. Ron starts howling with laughter. Almost two hours of just walking pass and I'm finally walking hand-in-hand with Cedric, he keeps playfully pushing me away and pulling me back in with his grip around my forearm.

"Do you think they could get a room?" Fred grumbles to George, Ron and Harry, nodding his head toward the two of us. We're so far ahead and preoccupied that we can't hear them.

"Aw are you jealous?" Ron pouts mockingly, making Harry laugh. Fred shoots him a death stare.

"No! Why would I be?" He yells a bit to quickly in response, the boys raise their eyebrows at him. "Shut up." He rolls his eyes again. 

"There it is!" Arthur runs forward, heading towards a boot at the top of the hill. Amos follows him. 

"Hurry up, we don't want to be late." He says, we gather around the boot in a circle.

"A manky old boot?" Harry screws his nose up.

"Not any old manky boot, mate. It's a portkey." The twins correct him. Everyone gets down on the ground, placing their hand on the boot.

"Ready? One... two..." Amos shouts. Arthur reaches up and pulls Harry to the ground. "Three!" We start to spin and fly, travelling faster than I can imagine. 

"Let go, kids." Arthur instructs.

"What?" Hermione and I shout. 

"Let go!" We follow his instructions and fly off, hitting the ground hard. I look up and see Arthur, Amos and Cedric laughing as the gracefully make their way to the ground. Cedric pulls me up, before offering his hand to Harry. The group walks a bit further over the hill, until there are brooms flying above our heads and a sea of Witches and Wizards. 

"Welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!" Arthur announces.