Hermione Granger and the Goblet Of Fire (Completed)

Chapter 4 - The Portkey

Hermione felt like she had only just shut her eyes when Mrs Weasley was shaking her awake
"Wake up, dear, it's time to go"
Hermione was too tired to do anything except mumble "Whadyoumean?"
"You're going to the World Cup today, remember?"
"Hmm... Oh yeah" Hermione yawned and sat up just as Ginny was waking up

About ten minutes later Hermione and Ginny came downstairs, both of them pale and bleary eyed. All the Weasley's were downstairs, except for Bill, Charlie and Percy, who had passed their Apparition test. All the children were experienced at dressing as Muggles and Mr Weasley, though very inexperienced as such, looked relatively normal. He was wearing a golfing jumper and rather large jeans held up with a leather belt
"Why do we have to be up so early?" said Ginny, sitting down
"We've got a bit of a walk" said Mr. Weasley, examining the tickets
"Walk?" said Harry. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?" "No, no, that's miles away" said Mr. Weasley "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup-"

"George!" said Mrs. Weasley suddenly, making Hermione jump
"What?" said George, as if he'd done nothing wrong
"What is that in your pocket?"
"Nothing!"
"Don't you lie to me! Accio!"
Small, brightly coloured sweets flew out of George's pocket and into Mrs Weasley's hand
"We told you to destroy them!" said Mrs. Weasley indignantly "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"
It took at least ten minutes for Mrs Weasley to find all of the sweets Fred and George were trying to smuggle out of the house, and by the end Mrs Weasley and the twins weren't exactly in the best of moods
"We spent six months developing those!" Fred howled as Mrs Weasley threw whatever it was away
"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" she yelled "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"

The atmosphere wasn't great as they left The Burrow, but no one was more furious than Fred and George, who stormed off without saying goodbye to her mother
"Well, have a lovely time" said Mrs. Weasley, hugging everyone else in turn "and behave yourselves" she yelled at Fred and George, who were already disappearing into the horizon "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday" she added as everyone else turned to go

It was freezing as they walked down a hill, and Hermione was too cold to talk, so she listened to Harry chatting to Mr Weasley
"So how does everyone get there without all the Muggles noticing?" he asked
"It's been a massive organizational problem" said Mr. Weasley "The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up at the World Cup, and of course, we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all. There are places Muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or platform nine and three-quarters. So we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti- Muggle precautions as possible. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. First, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals. People with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand. A limited number use Muggle transport, but we can't have too many clogging up their buses and trains - remember, wizards are coming from all over the world. Some Apparate, of course, but we have to set up safe points for them to appear, well away from Muggles. I believe there's a handy wood they're using as the Apparition point. For those who don't want to Apparate, or can't, we use Portkeys. They're objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time if you need to. There have been two hundred Portkeys placed at strategic points around Britain, and the nearest one to us is up at the top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're headed"
"What sort of objects are Portkeys?" asked Harry
"Well, they can be anything" said Mr. Weasley "Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them... stuff they'll just think is litter..."

At that point they reached Stoatshead Hill, which was very steep. It was exhausting getting up the hill, especially as Hermione wasn't great at P.E. . She was the last to get to the top and at that point she had a large stitch in her side
"Now we just need the Portkey" Mr. Weasley, was saying "It won't be big... Come on..."
They all started squinting at the ground, but about two minutes later they heard a shout
"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!"
Two figures were standing utop the hill, shillouetted against the sunrise
"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, walking over to the two of them, and everyone else

Mr Weasley was shaking hands with the shorter of the two, who's brown hair and beard was thinning slightly. The man was holding a manky old boot which had a weird blue tint
"This is Amos Diggory, everyone" said Mr. Weasley "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"
Cedric Diggory was a very good looking boy which Hermione was pretty sure was going into his sixth year, just like the Weasley twins
"Hi," said Cedric, grinning at them. Everyone greeted him back cheerfully except Fred and George, who just nodded. Cedric was the captain and Seeker for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and Hufflepuff had beaten Gryffindor during last year's Quidditch tournament. Fred and George, who were the Gryffindor Beaters, obviously held a grudge

"Long walk, Arthur?" said Amos Diggory
"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley "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... All these yours, Arthur?"
"Oh no, only the redheads" said Mr. Weasley, "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's-" Hermione felt the warm bubbly feeling she felt every time someone called her Ron's friend "-and Harry, another friend-"

"Merlin's beard" Amos Diggory breathed "Harry? Harry Potter?"
"Er - yeah," said Harry.
Hermione noticed Amos glance at the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead, as most people did when he first met him. The scar was a souvenir of the curse Lord Voldemort had used when he had tried to kill Harry. Harry was the only person ever to survive this curse, and as Lord Voldemort disappeared after this, Harry became famous
"Ced's talked about you, of course" said Amos "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!"
"Harry fell off his broom, Dad" Cedric muttered, going red and looking embarrassed "I told you... it was an accident..."
"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" said Amos brightly "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!"

"Must be nearly time" said Mr. Weasley quickly, as Fred and George looked like they were about to hit Amos "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" said Mr. Diggory "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"
"Not that I know of" said Mr. Weasley, looking at his watch "Yes, it's a minute off... We'd better get ready..."
He turned to Hermione and Harry
"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do-"
As they were all wearing large backpacks, it was difficult for everyone to crowd around the boot. Eventually, Hermione managed to squeeze in between Ginny and Harry, holding the boot with her forefinger and thumb
"Three..." muttered Mr. Weasley, one eye still on his watch, "two... one..."

Hermione felt her feet leave the ground and she was dragged into the air as if with an invisible hook. She shut her eyes, but she could feel herself spinning round and round ludicrously fast, her fingers glued to the Portkey as if by a magnet. They were flying madly through light and colour, covering miles in mete seconds...

Her feet found solid ground and she fell onto dewy grass. She felt Ginny and Harry do the same
"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill" said a voice