Catching Her Heart Pt. 2

Chapter 59

*The sun had set by the time they reached the pitch, and Hermione was surprised as they entered from ground level, and beyond the ground level, single story facade, was a large pit.

"Programs!" A saleswizard shouted. "Get your programs!"*

Hermione hurried over, counting her money as she approached the man. "Six," she said at first then bit her lip as she counted again. "Well, wait..."

"Five, is okay," George said. "Fred and I can share."

"Five, then," she said, and looked at George in relief, knowing she still had money available to firecall her parents the next morning. She thanked the salewizard after he handed her the programs and she handed one to George as she followed the Weasleys to the edge, *she saw that the stadium seating had been built down into the pit and that the Quidditch field had in fact been placed at the bottom. There were as few stairs for them to climb to get to their seats, but they stayed within the single story height of the outer facade.

"Blimey, dad," Ron said as they approached the railing on the ground level and he noticed how big the pitch was. "How far up are we?"

"Well, look at it this way," the uppity voice of Mr. Malfoy called from below them. "If it rains, you'll be the first to know."

"Father and I are in the minister's box," Draco informed them with a smirk. "By personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself."

"Don't boast, Draco," Mr. Malfoy said, turning sharply and holding out his snake headed cane that the boy ran into because he wasn't paying attention. "There's no need with these people."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to usher Hermione up the stairs ahead of him. He was about to follow her when a movement from below caught both their attention and they turned to look at Mr. Malfoy as he caught Harry's arm with his cane, pinning it to the railing.

"Do enjoy yourself, won't you?" Mr. Malfoy asked. "While you can."

Harry, Hermione and Mr. Weasley had a stand off, staring at each other for a moment before Mr. Malfoy released Harry's arm and they turned and went their separate ways.

Hermione couldn't believe how many people showed up in one place. Looking around from their seats, she was able to see the entire stadium, all the way down to the field below them, and there were rows upon rows of boxed seats. There was red and black, and green and white everywhere she looked. It was like the whole of the wizarding world had come out for this one event. It was truly unbelievable - and loud. The players hadn't even taken the field yet and the noise was deafening.

"Come on up, take your seats," the familiar voice of Mr. Diggory said. "I told you these seats would be worth waiting for," he said seeing the look on Hermione's face.

"Come on!" George yelled when he reached the top.

Just then, as if on cue, seven brooms sped overhead trailing green and white smoke.

"It's the Irish!" Fred said. "There's Troy!"

"And Mullet!" George exclaimed in excitement.

"And Moran!" Fred said.

The players streamed over the stadium and set off fireworks that formed the shape of a leprechaun that danced a jig to the Irish music that was playing and people chanted for Ireland. It only lasted a moment though before it was destroyed by being flown through by the Bulgarian team coming from the opposite direction. The Bulgarian bowled through the Irish team on their flight around the stadium. One player flew vertically, climbing higher and higher before he performed a flip, doing a one handed hand stand on his broom for a moment and then flew off on his broom, seated again with the rest of his team.

"Who's that?" Ginny asked, and Hermione could only guess that she'd been talking about the player that was showing off.

"That, sis," Fred said. "Is the best Seeker in the world."

The crowd began chanting "Krum! Krum! Krum!" as the Seeker Hermione had seen on the posters early flew around and stopped over the crowd, raising his fist.

"Good evening!" the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge said, his voice amplified throughout the stadium. "It gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to the final of the four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup!"

He paused as the crowd cheered to deafening proportions.

"Let the match... begin!" he said excitedly.*

Hermione watched through the Omnioculars for a while, before giving up because the game was so fast paced she had a hard time keeping up even with the play-by-play and slow motion features. She really missed Lee's commentary, as she found the crowd was so loud that she couldn't hear the announcer - if there even was one - so she found herself cheering whenever someone scored or a goal was blocked, regardless of what team they played for.