CHAPTER THREE
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-: fourth year :-

── IN WHICH COLLISIONS
OCCUR

. . .

THE CAMPSITE WAS PACKED, and Evie, Harry, Ron and Hermione were making an attempt to direct themselves around the busyness, past all the tents, ropes holding them down and the people that stayed within them. 

At the end of their walk on the moor, Mr Diggory and Cedric disappeared to make their way to their campsite manager, whilst Evie and Harry were enlisted to help Mr Weasley with Mr Roberts, the Muggle that was looking after their campsite. 

It was far to say that Mr Roberts was particularly grumpy and judgemental, and didn't seem too impressed with the lack of knowledge that Mr Weasley held about Muggle money. Evie counted out the notes for him, and they were on their way. 

The Weasley - or the 'Weezy' campsire (the label wasn't particularily accurate) - campsite was right on the edge of the wood beside the misty field and overlooked the slowly awakening population. They had passed many extravagant tents on their journey there, one that resembled a castle and even one that had several peacocks tied up outside, and now they were waiting to see the inhabitants. 

Except Mr Weasley had yet another task for those three who knew more about Muggle culture and just generally how they did things without magic, and soon enough, Evie, Harry and Hermione were helping put up the two tents that had been packed up into the bags upon Mr Weasley's bag. 

Neither of the twins had ever been camping in their lives; they had barely even been away from Privet Drive. Evie severely doubted that the Dursleys had ever considered going camping and she couldn't even picture them in a tent. Whenever they went away on holiday, Harry and Evie had been subjected to the unfortunate fate of being left with Mrs Figg, who smelt distinctly of cabbage and loved to take pictures of the twins with her four cats; Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws, and Tufty.

It took experimenting until the three of them got it sorted, ending up taking more time than they probably should due to Mr Weasley's introduction to a mallet, but finally they could step back and take a look at the two shabby tents, which had patches dotted all over the surface.

Mr Weasley had a grin on his face as he finally discarded the wooden mallet and ducked down between the tent flaps, turning back to them. "It'll be a bit cramped." He was still beaming, despite his words. "But come in - have a look around and settle in."

"That must be the understatement of the century." Evie wrinkled her nose, stepping to the side to examine the size of the tents; they reached no more than two and a half metres back - nowhere near big enough to fit the group still stood in front of them, let alone Percy, Bill and Charlie when they Apparated.

"Give it a chance." Hermione looked nervous as she stepped forward, following Harry and Ron into the tent. 

"Holy crap." Evie slapped a hand over her mouth to stop any following reaction, backed up by Hermione doing the exact same thing. Their gazes landed on what looked like an old-fashioned, three-room flat, complete with bathroom and kitchen. Oddly enough, it was furnished in exactly the same sort of style as Mrs Figg's house: There were crocheted covers on the mismatched chairs and a strong smell of cats.

They were practically staying in a tent version of Mrs Figg's house. But unlike with her, Evie and Harry were surrounded by welcome company.

"Well, it's not for long," said Mr Weasley, mopping his bald patch with a handkerchief and peering in at the four bunk beds that stood in the bedroom. "Evie and Hermione, you'll be next door with Ginny." Mr Weasley smiled at the two girls. "I borrowed this from Perkins at the office. Doesn't camp much anymore, poor fellow, he's got lumbago, the other is from Bixby, I believe. Now-"

But before Evie could hear what he was going to say, Hermione was pulling them out of the tent and dragging the both of them into the girls' tent, which they discovered to be a smaller version of the tent beside them, with three single twin beds instead of the sets of bunk beds. 

"Well, this is cosy." Evie looked around, letting her backpack slide of her shoulders and screeching when Ginny's arm reached out and dragged her down onto one of the armchairs, the two of them somehow squeezing into the chair. "Hey - 'Mione, you're next." 

She reached out her arm and with a sigh, the Granger girl perched on the arm of the chair, looking down at the two girls, one of which now had an arm flung around her waist. "You two are too touchy-feely for your own good." Hermione turned her gaze down at them. "And I'm sure that you're going to hurt yourself being squished together like that."

"You get posessed together and then you're best friends - it's the rules of nature." Ginny replied, her expression turning to one of musing as she turned to Evie. "We can joke about that now, right?"

"Yeah of course. But only us. If I catch anyone making fun of you for it I'll punch them." Evie leant her head on Ginny's shoulder. "Or Hermione could, she packed a pretty good punch last year. Remember when you got Malfoy?" 

"If we can refrain from punching anyone, please." The three of them looked up to see Mr Weasley moving through the tent flaps, heading towards the sink. "Hermione and Evie, you wouldn't mind going with Ron and Harry to get some water? Ron knows about the pump on the other side of the field... just fill up everything you can carry." 

Hermione got up first, tugging Evie up with her. They shouted 'see you later's to Ginny as they collected up the metal pots kept in the cupboards of the tent and followed Ron and Harry through the maze.

The campsite was waking up as they stepped outside, many wizards waking up from the noise of others and beginning their days. A few children were running around, their underage magic already going wild in the rising sun. 

"Woah there-" Evie swerved around a little kid producing slugs in his footsteps, his mother following behind and apologising profusely to the group, eyes flickering over the scar.

Evie was out of there as quickly as she could, following behind Harry and sliding in the gap between Ron and Hermione. 

"Er - is it just my eyes, or has everything gone green?" Ron glanced back to Evie then to Harry, who confirmed his sightings; they had just walked into a sea of shamrock-covered tents. It hurt her eyes, and she blinked hurriedly and her eyes landed on a green, white and orange flag - it was the Irish. 

Their focus on the tents that rose from the ground like strange little hills was disrupted, attention turning towards the shout of their names. It was Seamus and Dean, the fellow Gryffindors waving at them.

Their route was diverted as they made their way over to their two friends, coming to a stop outside their similarly adorned tent. "Like the decorations?" Seamus asked, grinning as he held his arm up to the side of the tent. "The Ministry'snot too happy."  

"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" Mrs Finnigan bustled over, accent think."You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all overtheir tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?"

Her beady eyes fell on the group of four. The teens glanced to each other, Evie's eyes sliding over to Dean and Seamus, who were nodding as quickly as they dared.

"Oh of course." The Potter girl was quickly saying. "Why support the Bulgarians when we can support Ireland?" She laughed nervously, but Mrs Finnigan seemed to agree with her, and after Harry, Ron and Hermione had also reassured her they made their way back to their journey.

They could hear Mrs Finnigan telling Seamus and Dean how much she liked her. Evie looked back to the group, catching Seamus' eye and seeing him go bright red.

They decided to stop by the Bulgarian supporters' area, not entirely surprised to find that it was completely red. Instead of shamrocks covering the tents, it was pictures of Krum, who Ron was quick to point out.

"Krum!" Ron's index finger was raised to the poster. "Viktor Krum - the Bulgarian Seeker."

"He's handsome." Evie tilted her head. "In a... grumpy sort of way." A snort could be heard and the four of them looked up, but nobody could locate to where it had come from so they only shrugged and returned their gaze.

"Yeah.." Hermione nodded. "He looks really grumpy."

" 'Really grumpy'?" Ron rolled his eyes as he set off again. "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight,you'll see."

 Not too far from the sea of tents belonging to the Bulgarian supporters was the tap from which they were supposed to fill their pots. The four joined the short queue, Hermione and Evie having to dip out and join the end upon hearing about a rather old wizard named Archie, who seemed to be having a problem with his muggle clothing which consisted of only a nightgown.

Which was considerably problematic in these circumstances.

But no matter whether Hermione and Evie got their water before or after old Archie had gotten his, Ron and Harry waited patiently for them. 

"Come on Evie!" Ron whined from across the clearing as the Potter girl was filling up her very last pot. "My arms are killing me - you and Harry play Quidditch, it's no fair for us."

"Speak for yourself Ronald!" Hermione seemed to be doing just fine with her pots and Ron grumbled a reply that Evie, who was stood a short distance away at the tap, couldn't catch.

"Besides, Ron." Evie called out as she balanced her pot on her lifted thigh and turned off the tap. "When I play Quidditch, all my strength is in my core. It's hard to stay upright on a broom when you've got Marcus Flint up your arse trying to-" 

The girl turned around and began to make her way to Harry and the others, her focus on the pot she was holding when she came to an abrupt stop, colliding with someone passing by. 

"Oh crap." She swore softly, eyes widening just a little as she saw a small flash of light and her grip on the pot tightened. She could see no damp patch on the person's red shirt and she looked up, eyes flickering around the scene. 

Evie had bumped into someone who looked around her age, clearly an avid supporter of Bulgaria given the shirt he was wearing. Either side of him was what looked to be a hardened wizard dressed in dark robes  - bodyguards.

Instantly she was reminded of Malfoy and his cronies and her tone changed. "You know you're not supposed to be using magic here?" Evie's eyes darted from the boy to the two robed wizards. "And at least make an effort to fit in, there are muggles around."

The teenager smirked a little, head twisting around to see one of the bodyguards, saying something that Evie could only assume was a translation of her words in Bulgarian. Then he turned back to her, having not recieved a reply from either of the silent men and looking relatively amused.

"But they stopped you from spilling water." He said, in perfect English with only the slightest hints of an accent here and there.

"We're right besides a water pump." Evie would have gestured at it had she not been holding a heavy container. "And I'm clearly carrying a pot of water. Any idiot who stands that close to someone deserves to have water spilled on them."

The boy didn't say anything for just a moment. "Perhaps." He replied, bowing his head just slightly. "Enjoy the match." 

With that, he began on his walk again, the two bodyguards following him.

Evie wrinkled her nose as she finally reached the three friends waiting for her. "Why the hell does he need to be escorted?" She exclaimed, using Harry as a resting point. "He's like our age."

Hermione was still watching him leave. "Maybe he's someone important." She shrugged, head of bushy hair turning towards the ginger boy. "Ron, you seem to be an expert on the Bulgarian."

"Doesn't mean I recognise him." Ron retorted, but he looked thoughtful. "But he does seem slightly familiar... I wonder where from."

"Can we please just get this water back?" Harry broke through the speculation, pushing up his glasses with a free hand. "My arms are going dead - let's go."

And with the three others still caught up on the just-passed situation, Harry led the way back to the Weasley campsite.

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a/n
sorry i had to make
ginny and evie besties