after dusk - draco malfoy

ii. | two

          THE FOLLOWING MORNING I WAS WOKEN by a soft shaking of my body. I opened my eyes to see Hermione standing me, holding a candle. I sat up to see Ginny on her bed, looking overly tired, herself. "Mrs Weasley told me to wake you all up," Hermione explained. "She's starting to make breakfast."

          I nodded my head, letting out a yawn and rubbing my heavy, tired eyes. I glanced over to the window to see it was still quite dark. It concluded it must've still been very early. I stood up and made my way to the bathroom before a queue accumulated at the door.

          I quickly brushed my teeth and jumped in the shower for a quick wash. I splashed the warm water on my face to try to wash the sleep from my eyes. I turned the shower off and headed back to Ginny's room while she showered. It was beginning to become a bit lighter outside but still rather dark.

          I threw on some clothes and quickly dried my hair before making my way downstairs. Ron and Harry followed shortly behind, looking as though they had just rolled out of bed and put some clothes on. Harry looked slightly off so as he sat across from me, I watched him, closely. "You okay?" I asked him, furrowing my brows.

          He quickly nodded his head, humming. "Just had a bad dream," he replied, quietly, making sure Mrs Weasley wasn't in earshot. I sent him a sympathetic look before handing him the toast rack, encouraging to get something to eat. I managed to eat a full English breakfast and a few slices of toast before we needed to set off for the portkey.

          Fred and George seemed very spritely to say it was that early in the morning. As soon as we left the house, they were trying to brighten up my mood. It wasn't long before Ron called out to Mr Weasley. "Hey, Dad!" He called, causing us all to turn around to see Harry and Ron trailing at the back of the group. "Where are we going?"

          Mr Weasley turned back around to face the front and shook his head. "Haven't the foggiest," he admitted to his son. "Keep up!" He told the two boys.

          We continue walking into the woods until a voice yelled Mr Weasley's name. "Arthur! It's about time, son!" The voice laughed, jollily. The man came into sight and Mr Weasley began to apologise for the sleepy start and then introduced him to us.

          "This is Amos Diggory, everyone," Mr Weasley said. Amos seemed a very jolly man, he had a great big smile on his face. "He works with me, at the Ministry." I jumped out my skin when a boy jumped from the tree above me, landing a mere foot away from me.

          I let out a small shriek, falling backwards on to the floor and the twins began to wind me up about it, mimicking the very high pitched noise that came from my mouth. I felt embarrassed that I was even able to make such a noise. My cheeks burned as I realised I was still on the floor. The boy held his hand out to help me up and I reluctantly took it, pulling myself up.

          I brushed off all the leaves that had accumulated on my clothes and tried to forget that had just happened, which was rather hard with the twins laughing about it. "This strapping young lad must be Cederic, am I right?" Mr Weasley spoke up, shaking Cederic's hand.

          Once the embarrassment had finally washed away, I had recognised Cederic as the Seeker and the Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. We all continued walking until we reached the hill where the portkey was located. We tiredly reach the top of the hill, all panting and red from the hike. "Yes, it's just over there," Amos pointed out to an old, rugged boot.

          Ginny and I ran to the top and began to stand around it, waiting for everyone else. Everyone followed shortly behind and Cedric stood at the side of me. I could feel his eyes on me but I tried to ignore it, thinking he was remembering the very awkward first encounter. "I'm Cedric," he said. I turned my head and realised he was still looking at me, holding his hand out.

          I weakly shook it and forced a smile on my face. I avoided eye contact the whole time, still embarrassed from before. "Tasmin," I managed to speak. Amos told us to hurry up and grab on to the portkey so everyone did as he instructed. Everything else went in such a blur after holding on to the boot.

          I remember spinning around so fast, thinking my breakfast was going to come back up. I tried with every ounce of me to hold it back, as it would be very unfortunate for everyone in the vicinity and I had already embarrassed myself enough for the day. Arthur told us all to let go, so we all did, falling from the sky.

          For a few moments, I had thought something had gone wrong and I was about to die but of course, I was being dramatic. My neurotic behaviour was soon rationalised by a big thud when we landed on the ground. I quickly stood up, not wanting to stay on the floor any longer. I had spent enough time on the floor that morning as it was.

          Fred and George stood up and began to push one another, just out of pure boredom. I laughed at the two play fighting, which obviously enticed them to force me to join in. George grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the floor and before long, we were all full-on wrestling. With me not being very tall, I didn't stand much of a chance until Mr Weasley scolded the boys.

          To my luck, it was only a few moments until Mr Weasley noticed and yelled at the boys. George stood up, pulling Fred and me up with him. We headed over the hill to see masses of tents and people on broomsticks flying all around. "Right kids," Mr Weasley announced. "Welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!"

          It was a lot to take in all at once. There was so many things going on, it seemed almost impossible. For some reason, I never thought of there being so many witches and wizards around the world, which I thought to be slightly concerning since I had been to a school abroad that enrolled students from the surrounding countries. It almost seemed unnatural for this many witches and wizards to be in one place.

          We finally arrived at a very small tent and Amos said goodbye to us all, Cederic following not far behind him. "Home sweet home," Arthur announced, opening the front of the tent. Everyone crammed into the small tent and I furrowed my brows at the size, thinking it would be impossible for everyone to fit in.

          Harry and I were the last two left standing outside the tent. I turned to him and he seemed just as confused as I did. He entered the tent so I followed him in, my jaw dropping at the sight. The tent was actually massive on the inside, almost like a small flat. It had a little dining area, enough bedrooms for us all to comfortably share, and a kitchen. "I love magic," Harry claimed, taking in the tent in awe.

          I let out a laugh of shock and nodded my head. "You can say that again," I agreed, my eyes landing on Fred and Geroge, who were already making themselves at home in the dining area.

          "Girls," Arthur announced, putting his bag on a chair. "Choose a bunk and unpack," he ordered. "Ron, get out of the kitchen! We're all hungry!"

          "Yeah, get out of the kitchen Ron!" Fred and George called out in unison.

          "Feet off the table!"

          "Feet off the table!" The two twins sang in chorus, taking their feet off for a brief second before quickly putting them back on.

          I could tell that this trip was going to be amazing and very fun-filled.