"What are you guys doing here?" asked Harry with a surprised smile.
"Attending the Quidditch World Cup, of course!" said Fred Weasley happily.
"Ludo Bagman owed a few large favours to dad," George told him quietly.
"Ah, understood."
"Harry, this is our oldest brother Bill," said Fred. "He works for Gringotts as a curse-breaker. And this is our second-oldest brother, Charlie. He works in the Romanian Dragon Reserve. Guys, this is our friend, Harry Potter."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Potter," Bill smiled as he shook Harry's hand. "Fred and George have told us a lot about you."
"It's not every day you get to meet your boss," grinned Charlie.
Harry chuckled as he shook Charlie's hand. Ron Weasley apparently heard that so he said, "What boss?"
"Harry owns the dragon reserve Charlie works for," George answered with a casual shrug.
Daphne had been observing the family critically.
The Weasley family, until recently, had been very poor but the incident with Lockhart, however bad it was, helped them as it gave them a lot of money. They got half of Lockhart's total wealth, which thanks to his book sales, was considerable for someone of their station. The clothes they now wore were not second hand and the increase in their confidence was noticeable.
Hearing a child crying, Harry turned around. Amelia was trying to calm Rigel down, unsuccessfully, as she already hands her hands full.
"Harry, please calm him down," said Amelia desperately, handing the baby off to his godfather.
"Don't worry, Aunt Amy, I'll handle it," said Harry soothingly, taking the baby from her arms. "Oh, come on Rigel. Cheer up. Look! Those advertisements are sparkly!"
Dylan also joined him and people in the top box were given a show of the twelve and fourteen-year-old boys trying to calm down the one-year-old baby. After about fifteen minutes, his crying subsided and Rigel's hair turned auburn and eyes his favourite shade of emerald green.
Astoria was chatting with Dylan, telling how cute it was to watch him with little Rigel when someone else decided to make their presence known.
"Hello Astoria," said Draco in his usual drawling voice.
"Oh, Hi Draco," Astoria smiled brightly. "Fancy seeing you here."
"I wasn't about to miss the World Cup!" said Draco, grinning. Dylan quietly left, not wanting to be involved in their conversation, something which Astoria noticed. Not that Draco had acknowledged Dylan anyway, so it didn't matter.
Sitting next to Harry and Daphne, he sighed. "I take it you still haven't spoken to her?" he asked quietly.
"Not yet," said Daphne. "I was thinking of doing it tonight."
A few minutes later, Astoria returned and sat next to Dylan, wondering why he was suddenly silent and withdrawn. Harry handed Rigel over to Daphne and went to Sirius who had beckoned him. He spent several minutes talking to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and his daughter who wanted to be a professional duellist once she graduated from Durmstrang. Daphne pursed her lips at seeing the Minister's daughter blatantly flirting with Harry and checking him out, but kept her silence.
The Irish team mascots were unveiled and it turned out that the Department of Magical Games and Sports had really outdone themselves. Leprechauns were flying over their heads, dropping thick gold coins. Harry was quite amused when people began diving under their seats, trying to scoop as many coins as they could.
"And now the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" shouted Ludo Bagman, looking expectantly down at the pitch.
"I should have known," said Daphne darkly as the Veela emerged. She blinked her eyes in shock when Harry simply kissed her on the cheek.
"Who needs Veela when I have you?" he whispered in her ear. Daphne felt her face heat up as she blushed.
Dylan wasn't so successful in fighting off the allure, though. He had gotten up and was about to dive from the Top Box (not that he would have succeeded as there were wards preventing anyone from doing that), but he was pulled back by an annoyed looking Astoria.
"Huh?" he said, looking confused. "What's going on?"
"You were affected by the Veela allure," said Astoria through gritted teeth. Somehow, she didn't like it. She knew it was natural for all young boys and men to be affected by it - hell, even Harry's gaze had softened - but when Dylan acted like that, her stomach clenched painfully. Why did that happen?
"Oh," said Dylan, blushing madly. "Sorry about that."
And then the game started. It was really amazing, especially with the enormous Miller's mirrors being placed at every corner of the stadium. Small crystals followed the players everywhere and once the goal was scored, the mirrors would play the same in slow motion. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the food served at the Top Box was spectacular. The match ended with Ireland winning 170-160 with Victor Krum catching the snitch. The noise was deafening but Harry had already placed a silencing charm around Rigel so that he did not have to deal with the noise. Once the trophies were handed out, people began leaving the stadium to celebrate. The people in the Top Box adjourned to the after party which was held with all the players and officials.
Amelia had given strict instructions to ensure everything was under control outside. The last thing they needed was something to destroy all the good international relations they had built up over the past six months.
"You were brilliant, Mr Krum," said Harry, smiling slightly at the seeker. "I have tried the Wronksi Feint many times myself, but I must admit, I usually pull up a little higher than you."
"Harry Potter, right?" asked Krum, frowning slightly.
"Yes, nice to meet you," said Harry shaking his hand.
"You're a seeker too?"
"I play for my House team at Hogwarts," Harry shrugged. "We were able to win the Quidditch Cup for the last two years. I love the game, but I don't think I'll be playing professionally. I heard you're still at school. It must be difficult to manage school and practice sessions at the same time."
"You get used to it after a while. I love playing Quidditch which is why I deal with it, though I could do without -"
"- the creepy, stalking fans?" finished Harry, looking amused. "I can understand how you feel. I've just gotten used to dealing with it."
The after party went on for a few hours as delicious food was served to everyone. At two in the morning when Sirius, Amelia, Harry, Rigel and Dylan returned to Black Manor, they breathed a sigh of relief. The Quidditch World Cup had ended without any problems and had been a massive hit.
....
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