The events surrounding the game had been as exciting as the game itself. The mascots for each of the teams were very good at swaying the crowds and supporting their team. The Irish naturally had leprechauns, who conjured gold for the crowds and taunted the opposing team in an extremely distracting manner. The Bulgarian team's mascots were Veela- a very wise choice, given the audience in attendance was mostly male. They were extremely beautiful women who quickly swayed the crowds to them when they let loose some type of aura. Harry immediately felt it intruding on his mind, compelling him in some way to give himself over to them, but quickly threw up his Occlumency shields and the thoughts disappeared. Ron and the other Weasleys, however, weren't quite so lucky. Bill was the only one who also seemed to be completely resistant to the charms. It was hard to blame the others, though, as even the referee seemed to fall under their spell at one point.
The game was also the most exciting match of Quidditch Harry had ever watched. The game began with a fast pace with the Irish chasers taking control of the game. They never let up, but the Bulgarian beaters and keepers kept a strong enough defense to keep the game exciting. Viktor Krum of the Bulgarian team was clearly the better seeker, and throughout the game he kept extremely active, luring the bludger, distracting the keeper, and even tricking his opposing seeker into thinking he had found the snitch more than once. Harry learned a lot from watching his play, and resolved to do much more than simply look for the snitch during his future Quidditch games. Amazingly, despite all the action, Krum still managed to keep an eye out for the snitch. He ended the game by catching it, but their team lost due to the extremely large lead the Irish chasers had managed to create. Ireland took home the World Cup.
On their way out the stadium, they ran into the Diggory family again. Cedric waved them over, grinning. "What a game, eh, Harry? This may be my last year at Hogwarts, but I'm sure you'll be flying like Krum in no time."
Harry grinned sheepishly. "I don't know if I'll ever be as good as him, but I certainly learned a lot watching him play. I'm going to test out a few of the moves I saw today."
Cedric laughed. "Well, when you start slaughtering the other house teams with your plays, at least I won't be blamed for Hufflepuff's losses."
Harry smiled widely as his rival seeker complimented him. "Thanks, Cedric. Don't sell yourself short, though, you're a great seeker."
Smiling back, Cedric replied, "Thanks, Harry. I'll be seeing you later. I'm glad Ireland took home the trophy tonight- we'll be celebrating after we portkey back home, I'm sure."
Portkey. Trophy. Cedric. The thoughts rang through his mind. Turning to Hermione, he whispered, "Hermione! I'm getting that bad feeling about Cedric again... something about trophies and portkeys... do you remember anything from the first three trips we took?"
"Not as much, Harry. They seemed even less clear after we took the trip through the new beacon. I've forgotten nearly everything that wasn't packed into an Occlumency capsule in my head," she whispered back. Harry knew it was true. All of the most important information he still remembered- the improvements to the beacon, the location of the Room of Requirement, the horcruxes, and so on... everything else had nearly disappeared.
"I want to keep an eye on him. I have a feeling something bad's going to happen."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "I'll grab the Return Clusters from my trunk, Harry. We might need them. Be careful."
Harry snuck away from the group, tailing Cedric. He only followed him for a few minutes before Cedric reached his exit portkey with his family, and they left the grounds, safe and sound. Huh, thought Harry. I guess I was wrong after all. At that moment, he heard some screams in the distance, and the crowd suddenly seemed to be moving more quickly. Looking in the direction of the screams, he saw people being lifted into the air, tossed around like rag dolls... by people in dark cloaks and white masks.
Nearly everyone around him was running and screaming now. He quickly ran towards the Weasleys' tent, and saw a large group with red hair making its way through the crowd. He ran towards them as fast as he could, but he noticed one person missing from the group. "Where's Hermione?" he shouted.
"Isn't she with you, Harry? You both gave us a fright wandering off by yourselves!" Arthur said to him worriedly.
"No! She's back at the tent! I have to go get her!" Harry ran off as quickly as he could, before anyone could object.
"Harry! It's not safe at the campgrounds! We have to evacuate! Let the Aurors handle it!" he heard the shouting behind him. He couldn't do that... he had to save her. The Aurors might not get there in time. She could get hurt. Or she might already be hurt, he thought. He didn't dare slow down until he reached the Weasley tent.
"Well well, looks like I can finally have some fun with this mudblood here," he heard as he entered the tent. He saw one of the masked, robed men. He immediately cast an Expelliarmus from behind, disarming the man, followed by a Stupefy. He quickly rushed over to Hermione, who was slumped down beside her trunk. Fear and horror rushed over him. He grabbed her, holding her close, but noticed she was still breathing. Good, he thought. I haven't lost her.
Just then, he heard another voice from the entrance of the tent. "What's taking so long? Don't tell me you're shagging some bint in there- Oi!" He heard heavy footsteps come into the tent. There was obviously no place to hide in the tent, so he did the only thing he could think of- attack. He ran out of the bedroom, casting an Expelliarmus at the second intruder, followed up by banishing a chair towards him. The new attacker was evidently on alert when he saw his unconscious partner, and quickly threw up a shield to block the disarming charm, but was hit by the chair. He grunted angrily, "You little runt! I'll get you for that!"
Harry threw a couple more spells at the man- stunners, disarmers, tripping jinxes mixed in with another banishing charm here and there. The man he was facing was not a very adept dueller, but he held his own through brute strength and magic. He kept up a shield that deflected most of Harry's spells, and was barely fazed by the objects Harry banished towards him. He sent a bludgeoning curse at Harry, knocking him back into the bedroom and turned to revive his partner.
Harry knew he was completely outclassed once he got hit by the bludgeoning hex. It hit him harder than anything he could remember. It broke a few of his ribs and threw him backwards a good ten feet. Obviously his opponent was the type who lacked finesse, but made up for it in spades with sheer, brute force. Now that he had to face two of them, both of them right outside, there was no escape for the two of them. Thinking quickly, he banished the bed towards the entrance, and threw a sticking charm. He hoped it would hold for just enough time...
Picking up a rune cluster, he pressed it against Hermione's chest and forced as much magic as he could muster, quickly charging it up until it flashed a bright white. Wasting no time, he grabbed the other cluster and held it against his own chest. He heard some amused laughter from behind the bed. "Looks like the runt thought this could stop us. Heh. Reducto." The bed practically exploded, sending splinters of wood flying into Harry. He managed to shield his face with his arms, but pieces of wood pierced both his arms and legs. He could barely hold up his wand now, and he was almost magically exhausted. Forcing every last bit of magic he could muster into the runes, they began to glow.
"What do you have there, kid? You still want to fight? Diffindo." Pain erupted through his right arm as the severing charm sliced it open, causing him to drop his wand. Just a little more, he thought. With every last bit of effort, he picked up the wand with his left hand and kept it pointed at his chest, forcing more magic into the cluster. I'm almost there...
"I'll take care of this one," said the first man, pointing his wand at Harry. Muttering something incomprehensible, Harry could only see a flash of light before he fell unconscious.
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