By Reason Of Birth

Chapter 33 At The Cup

They arrived at their campsite without incident, and found that the house-elves had everything set and ready for them. Hermione and her friends looked at where they would be staying, mouths agape.

The Notts were one of the Wizarding families that stood out as magical that Hermione, Harry, and Ron had noticed the last time they went to the Cup. Only, instead of turrets and children playing on brooms, the Nott’s “tent,” if one could call it that, was an exact replica of Nott Cottage, only it was the size of a small hunting cabin.

Hermione looked at Ron and Harry, who seemed to be just as amazed as her, and her family, who was already headed to the mini-cottage. Brisco took out his wand and muttered something under his breath. An invisible door opened up, taking up a quarter of the cottage front. It was as tall as the roof, spanning both “floors.” Ron raised an eyebrow, and Hermione shook her head, baffled, before leading her friends forward.

The mini-cottage had the same Enlargement Charm as the tents they had stayed in at the last Cup. “The sitting room, kitchen, and dining room are on this level, and the bedrooms are upstairs. Each floor has a full bathroom. Harry and Ron, there are only four bedrooms, so you will have to share. All of your belongings have been put in your rooms,” Caoilinn said.

Hermione, who had gotten over her amazement sooner than Harry or Ron, smiled at her mother. “You know,” she laughed, “Muggle tents look absolutely nothing like their houses.”

“Yes, but their tents don’t have Muggle Repulsion Charms on them, either,” Caoilinn commented back, a smirk on her lips.

“I suppose that is true,” Hermione conceded. “I’m going to check out my room and get settled in before we go walking around.”

When the boys agreed, Brisco levelled his gaze at the teens. “If we are not here when you get back from traipsing the campground, Caoilinn and I will be at the Parkinson’s site. The house-elves will be here, keeping their eyes on you, and you four are the only ones who will be able to go up the stairs to the bedrooms.”

“Wow. Thanks for the trust, dad,” Theo commented.

“Your mother and I can always stay here,” came the response.

“No, the house-elves are fine, thanks.”

“That’s what I thought,” Brisco said, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.


***


Bulgaria’s Vrasta Vultures were playing against France‘s Quiberon Quafflepunchers, and it seemed that they were staying in the middle of France’s stronghold. Everywhere around them, shocking pink was used as decoration to show support for the team. Hermione, in her tight fitting red and black Bulgaria tee, felt out of place and was on the receiving end of more than a few glares.

More than half of the campsites they passed were inhabited by people speaking in rapid French, all ecstatic that their team was in the Cup, and many were celebrating in style. In fact, it seemed that there were very few Brits near where they were staying; everyone was either French or Spanish, though that was to be expected when Hermione considered that they were in Spain.

As they walked through the campground, Hermione skipped ahead excitedly; she hadn’t seen Viktor in a long time, and she was anxious to see him, and to meet his girlfriend. Anastasia was the first woman he had dated for more than a month, and from what she could garner from his letters, he was falling in love with the witch.

Her boys laughed at her as the walked behind at a more leisurely pace, talking amongst themselves about the upcoming game. While Hermione was excited to see her friend, they knew that she didn’t care about the actual game, and all three were practically drooling over their seats. Even Theo and Ron were getting along well, their mutual love of quidditch bringing them together in the way only sports can. Though, while Ron favoured the Chudley Cannons, Theo was a devout follower of the “Prides”, or the Pride of Portree.

After walking around for an hour or so, the quartet ran into Seamus Finnigan and Lavender Brown. Lavender’s father worked as an editor for a popular quidditch magazine, and had gotten tickets in the press box for his family and one friend for each of his two children. Lavender had chosen her boyfriend, while her ten-year-old brother had chosen their cousin, who was eleven and would be attending Hogwarts in the fall.

This time when Seamus saw Hermione and Harry with Theo, he saw Ron with them as well. That, coupled with the fact that Hermione’s true parentage had been in the gossip column and he had time to get used to the idea, had him calling out to them, apologising for how he had acted earlier in the summer. While Lavender wasn’t all that close to any of them, she was happy to see not only someone who spoke English, but people that she knew.

Less than five minutes after they started talking, though, they heard Lavender’s mother call out for them from their site, and the couple left with an invitation to a small get-together that night at the Nott’s mini-cottage.

A few hours later, not only were Hermione, Theo, Harry and Ron standing around the sitting room, but so were Daphne and her sister Astoria, Blaise, and the recently arrived Seamus and Lavender. The wireless was blasting in the background, and the air was loud with conversation.

“Excuse us a moment,” Blaise said to Astoria, who was being very obvious in her questions about Ron. He then moved his arm from where it was resting on Hermione’s shoulder and grabbed a hold of her hand before he started to swing her around the room in time to an upbeat Weird Sisters song. While he didn’t know it, he was leading Hermione around in a dance extremely similar to Muggle swing dance, and she couldn’t help but let out a merry laugh, her smile lighting up her face.

Theo and Harry chuckled, and Daphne and Astoria conspired together to find their own dancing partners, covertly glancing over to Ron, who was standing next to the food deciding what he wanted. Seamus and Lavender looked at Hermione and Blaise in awe. When they had first heard of the match, they had been very doubtful, but seeing the two together, they were happy for their housemate.

The song ended and the two came back over to their friends, their breathing laboured. “Hermione, no offence, but when did you learn to have fun?” Lavender asked, astonished.

Hermione looked shocked for a moment, but then she started to laugh. “Not long after we didn’t have to worry about Voldemort anymore. I still love to learn just as much as ever, but now I feel like there’s less stress, and it helps me let loose a bit,” she responded, slightly more serious.

“Well, I like it,” Lavender said, with a sharp nod. “It’s nice to see that you’re a person and not just a brain.”

Ron, who, along with everyone else, was listening intently to the conversation, let out a large snort, breaking any awkwardness that may have arisen from the statement. He had forgotten how close he was standing to Hermione, though, and was acutely reminded when her hand met with the back of his head, causing everyone in the room to burst into laughter.

Ten minutes later, Hermione, Harry, and Daphne were doing their best to ingratiate Ron to Astoria. The two seemed to be getting along well enough, and the others slowly left them alone, shooting them smirks behind their back.

Blaise had just pulled Hermione into his arms, and into a kiss that was awarded with a catcall from Seamus, when there was a knock on the door.

As they weren’t expecting anyone else, all heads turned to the door. Theo pulled out his wand, and muttered a charm that turned the door invisible from the inside so they could see who was there. There was a tall blonde woman, wearing the same Bulgaria shirt as Hermione and tight fitting blue jeans. Next to her was a stocky man that was only a few inches taller than her. His red hair fell in front of his face, effectively hiding it from any who might catch a glimpse.

“Who’s there?” Theo called out, as though he couldn’t see the two strangers who were standing in front of the door.

“We are here to see Herm-own-ninny Nott,” the woman said through the door in a thick Bulgarian accent.

Hermione stepped away from Blaise and towards the door, squinting to see the man’s face. “Viktor!” she suddenly called out as she threw the door open and jumped into his arms.

Chapter End Notes:

okay, so as always thanks to the readers, the reviewers, and to the beta, lupie, who told me that there is absolutely no substance in this chapter. to you i say..... you are correct. but without this chapter i cannot write the next one, lmao. *evil cackle*