▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER ONE ▬▬▬▬▬

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! 🥳🥳🥳

REMUS LUPIN STARED UP AT the dark building. Above the locked doors was a sign: Animal Care Center.

Am I seriously about to do this? He questioned himself. Break into an animal shelter at two o'clock in the morning because my idiot friend got himself and his niece taken away by animal control?

He liked to think he was a law-abiding citizen, which wasn't too much of a stretch. The only thing he ever did was befriend two criminals—Sirius and Esmerelda—but it wasn't as if that was illegal, per se.

But now Sirius was asking him to break into a muggle animal shelter.

He took a deep breath and steeled himself. Right when he was about to whip out his wand and cast alohomora on the locks, the door suddenly swung open.

It was a guard.

"Can I help you?"

Remus stared at him like a deer in the headlights before plastering on a pleasant smile. "Er, hello there. I'm sorry for coming in so early in the morning, but..." He quickly racked his brain for a plan. "But I lost my two dogs a few hours ago..." He said with feigned sadness. "I've checked all the other animal shelters in the area, and this is the last place they could possibly be in. If... if you'd be so kind, will you let me check if they're here?"

The guard blinked. "Oh, you're British," he noted, and his gruffy exterior lessened just a smidge.

Wow, Sirius was right. Americans are suckers for a British accent, Remus couldn't help but think.

"Yes," he replied. "I came here for a vacation. With my two dogs. May I...?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he grunted, then stepped aside. "I'll take you to the back where all the dogs are."

"Thank you," Remus said brightly as he stepped in.

"So what kind of dogs are you looking for?" The guard asked as he began leading him away.

"Ah, one is a black female pomeranian. Very little and fluffy-looking. The other one has black fur too, but he's larger. Quite ugly and rude. Extremely inconsiderate and reckless too," Remus described, knowing very well that Sirius could hear him.

"Ohhhh, I think I know who you're talking about." The guard muttered, then pushed the doors open.

Remus spotted them immediately. Sirius was a metal cage much bigger than the others, but even that wasn't spacious enough for his larger size. He was wide awake, and his grey eyes lit up once he saw who entered the room. The cage next to him was a lot smaller, and he could see a familiar little pomeranian already napping away.

"Oh, Snuffles, there you are!" Remus cried out in fake relief. Sirius glared at him for the embarrassing name while Esmerelda snapped awake from the volume of his voice.

"You named that thing Snuffles?" The guard asked blankly.

"Yes, and the little one is named Demon." Remus answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh. Yeah. That makes sense..." Awkwardly, the guard began to unlock the cage. He did Esmerelda's first and she immediately sprung out, barking and excitedly running around Remus' legs only to accidentally bonk her head onto his foot, knocking herself back.

Sirius let out a bark once he was released next. He gave Remus a very dry look before nudging Esmerelda back up to her feet.

"Thank you so much, sir," Remus smiled tightly at the guard.

The guard just nodded before shooting Sirius a weary look. After the three of them walked out of the building, they waited until no one was looking before shifting back into human forms.

"Thanks for getting us out of there," Esmerelda said, yawning and stretched her arms out.

"Snuffles? Seriously? That's humiliating!" Sirius whined. "Why'd you have to pick that name?"

"I wouldn't have had to do that if you had just stayed out of trouble," Remus scolded. "How did you two even get captured by animal control?"

"We didn't mean to," Esmerelda complained. "I was trying to teach him how to drive one of the cars the Stolls stole for him, but then we had a monster attack and Sirius had this idea of switching to our Animagus forms to get away from them. It worked but it turns out one of the mortals called animal control..."

"Essie got knocked out and then they locked us both up," Sirius sighed. "Essie was still unconscious so I called you to get us out."

"And why couldn't you have done that yourself?" Remus asked.

"I, er... left my wand in the car..." He said sheepishly. "Speaking of that, can we go fetch it?"

"Oh yeah, can we go eat at McDonalds too? I'm hungry." Esmerelda chimed.

Remus groaned, but walked with them anyways. "I hope you both know we still have to wake up early. We wouldn't want to be late for the Quidditch World Cup after all."

Ah, the Quidditch World Cup, Esmerelda mused as they ambled down the lively streets of New York. Thanks to the unlimited amount of money Remus now had, he was able to nab Top Box seats for the three of them and Andromeda, Ted, and Tonks.

Even better was that Harry would be attending the game with Hermione and the Weasleys, so that was another thing that Sirius was excited about. He hadn't seen his godson since their third year had ended, so he was eager for the reunion.

Regulus had expressed his jealousy upon hearing that she would be watching the games. According to him, the Quidditch World Cup was only held every four years (kind of like the Olympics) and he had attended every one of them with his family before he died.

Esmerelda, however, wasn't as hyped as everyone else. She wasn't a big fan of quidditch thanks to Zeus and it actually kind of looked uncomfortable to watch them sit on brooms (seriously, didn't dudes feel any pain from that?). Anyways, she was more excited about the tents they would be bringing. From what Sirius said, the tents were enchanted to look small on the outside, but be as spacious as a regular apartment on the inside.

She was eager to experience that—plus, if she could find a way to make them more compact, she could even bring them along for quests!

(Not that she wanted to go on any quests, she just had the tendency to get dragged into them anyway, so it was just better to be prepared for it...)

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Two hours later—because of the time zone difference—Remus, Sirius, and Esmerelda were forced to wake up early and get ready for the trip. Remus already had a portkey prepared for them, and it dropped them on some deserted misty moor. It was a pretty violent drop, but even that wasn't enough to wake them up.

"Uuuugh, why did we have to wake up at the asscrack of dawn?" Sirius lazily complained.

"Watch the language," Remus warned. "And it's your fault for staying in that McDonalds for so long."

Sirius grumbled, but said nothing else as they approached a pair of equally as tired looking wizards. Esmerelda had a feeling they were trying to dress up as muggles, but they did a pretty terrible job. One man wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes and the other guy was dressed in a kilt and a poncho. She'd give them a C for effort though.

"Good morning, sir," Remus said politely before discarding the portkey into a large box full of other portkeys.

"Hello there. Looking for your campsite, I reckon? Can I get a name?" The one in the suit asked.

"Remus Lupin," he replied.

The two men tensed up.

The one in the kilt rose a brow. "...Lupin, you say?"

He pursed his lips while Sirius scowled. Esmerelda just sighed and wondered if she needed to step in in case these two were going to deny them entry.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that. Instead, the first man consulted his parchment list and said in a more curt tone, "Your campsite's about a quarter mile away. It'll be the first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts."

"Thanks," Sirius said in a less-than-nice voice.

It took them a while to get to their destination. They reached a small stone cottage next to a gate, and beyond it were about a thousand tents rising up the gentle slope of a large field towards a dark wood on the horizon. They paid Mr. Roberts—who turned out to be a muggle—before setting off.

"Ooooh," Esmerelda awed once they reached the field.

Most of the tents looked ordinary, but some had chimneys, bell pulls, or weather vanes. There were the rare few that were so obviously magical that it was a miracle Mr. Roberts hadn't grown suspicious yet. Halfway up the field stood an extravagant confection of striped silk like a miniature palace, with several live peacocks tethered at the entrance. A little farther on they passed a tent that had three floors and several turrets; and a short way beyond that was a tent that had a front garden attached, complete with birdbath, sundial, and fountain.

"I bet you the Malfoys are the ones with the peacocks," Sirius scoffed.

Remus was about to disagree until he got one good look of the tent and slowly nodded in agreement.

"Will our tent look as cool as that?" Esmerelda asked hopefully, pointing to one that was pretty much the size of a mansion.

"Who's in charge of the supplies?" Sirius asked Remus.

"I think it's Ted."

"Then no," he answered Esmerelda, who deflated. "If it were Andy, then yes, most likely. She was always fond of the ones with marble floorings and chandeliers... Ted's a bit more simplistic than that."

"Oh..."

They reached the edge of the woods, where a simple green tent laid.

Esmerelda stared at it. "Er... so this is it?" It was barely as tall as her.

Sirius snickered and patted her on the shoulder. "Just wait until you get inside." Then, he crawled in.

"Trust me, it's much more impressive than it looks." Remus assured her before following his best friend in.

Esmerelda was a bit skeptical, but she crawled in anyways.

Her jaw dropped. She had just crawled into what appeared to be a cabin. It was rustic styled, with wooden floors and walls. There was even a kitchen full of brick walls and she wouldn't be surprised if a bathroom was added somewhere. Tonks was already relaxing on a brown leather couch while Ted and Andromeda were preparing the dinner table.

"Heyyyy, my favorite cousins!" Tonks cheered, hopping off the couch and bounding towards the trio. "Hey hold on! Essie, did you get taller?!"

"Five foot seven," the younger girl said smugly, relishing in the minor height difference between her and the older woman. Tonks was about two inches shorter than her now.

"...What's that in normal measurements?"

"170 centimeters," she corrected.

"Not fair!" Tonks cried out.

Esmerelda grinned. "If it makes you feel better, the Apollo campers told me that I've basically done all my growing. I'm pretty much stuck at 5'7"."

"Still think it's unfair," she grumbled before turning her attention to Remus, the only other person she hadn't met yet. "You're Remus, right? Sirius' friend and the rich guy who got us the Top Box seats?"

Remus reminded Esmerelda of an awkward schoolboy who had never interacted with a female aside from his mother before. He stammered something about magical coin purses before reaching out to return the offered handshake. "Hello," he said, flustered. "I'm Remus. Nice to meet you."

"She already knows your name, Moony," Sirius teased.

Remus nudged him.

"Food's still burning hot, Sirius, so why don't you guys go out to meet Harry while it cools down?" Andromeda suggested. "He's in the tent next over—just remember that the Weasley's don't know about you yet."

"Right, right. I'm Steve White," Sirius muttered to himself. "Steve White, Steve White..."

With Remus dragged into a conversation by an excitable Tonks, Sirius and Esmerelda headed off to next tent over to pay Harry a visit.

"Harry!" Sirius cried out as he entered their tent as if he owned the place. The Weasley's tent was designed differently than the one Ted had chosen. While the one she was staying in resembled the inside of a cabin, the Weasleys' tent looked like an old-fashioned, three-room flat, complete with a bathroom and kitchen. There were crocheted covers on the mismatched chairs and a strong smell of cats.

Harry spun around when he heard Sirius' voice. His eyes widened in disbelief and a grin broke out in his face. He was just about to cry out his name: "Siri—"

"—Steve!" Esmerelda hastily cut in. "Hahaha, Harry, meet my uncle Steve White! I wrote to you about him, remember?"

Harry realized his mistake and nodded rapidly. "Oh, right, of course! Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, this is my friend Essie and her uncle... Steve."

"Hey Steve," Ron waved.

"Hello, sir," Hermione greeted with an amused smile dancing on her lips.

"Oh! I didn't think we were going to have guests!" Molly Weasley gasped. "Oh goodness, I haven't made enough food—"

"—Hold on, mother," Percy (Weasley) interrupted with narrowed eyes directed at Esmerelda. "Aren't you Esmerelda from Hogwarts? The daughter of Sirius Black?"

Sirius nearly snorted, but had the decency to keep his face mostly straight.

"Percy," Molly hissed. "You don't judge people based on family!"

"But mother, she's a daughter of a mass murderer and—"

"—So?" She asked testily. "And I like to knit and sing to Celestina Warbeck! Are you saying you like to knit and sing songs too since you're my son?"

Marry me, Esmerelda thought. Finally, a witch who wasn't judgmental.

Percy flushed and backed down immediately. "Er—no, I suppose not."

"Thank you for that, Mrs. Weasley," Esmerelda said with genuine cheerfulness. "And you don't have to worry about feeding us or anything. We're staying over at my aunt Andromeda's tent, we're right next door actually. I only came here because my uncle was, uh, really excited to meet Harry."

"Oh yeah, I'm a big fan," Sirius exaggerated, nodding excessively. "Always wanted to meet him, and, uh, see that super cool forehead scar of his! Maybe even get an autograph!"

"Why stop there? You can even get a photo with him," Ron added innocently.

Harry sent him an embarrassed glare.

"Brilliant! I should have a camera back at the tent. Harry, would you like to come with? You and your friends can come too!" Sirius grinned.

"Sure," Harry said through gritted teeth and flaming cheeks.

They left the tent where Harry immediately glowered at them. "Seriously?" He grumbled.

"What? I needed a way to get us to talk more privately," Sirius shrugged. "Anyways, c'mere kid!" Without even waiting, he yanked Harry to himself and messed with his already messy hair. Esmerelda couldn't help but note that he desperately needed a haircut.

"How's New York been?" Hermione asked, laughing a little.

"Oh it's been great!" He exclaimed. If you exclude the fact that a huge battle's about to partake in the city, he mentally added. "Has Harry showed you the pictures I took of my new home? It's brilliant, and Merlin, the view is to die for! Buckbeak loves it, especially since he has so much space to fly. Ahhh, it's just amazing...!"

"I can't believe how easy it is for you to get away from the Aurors," Ron said excitedly. "And they seriously can't tell who you are?"

"Nope! I look a lot different than in my mugshot, don't you think?"

"I had some friends give him a makeover." Esmerelda smiled. "Got him a whole new closet too."

"Muggle clothes are fabulous," he sighed dreamily. He then lifted up his foot. "Look at my shoes. Wanna know what they're called? The muggles call them Gucci. Don't they look great?"

"Uh, is that a golden fly stitched on the side?" Ron asked with furrowed brows. 

Sirius ignored him. "And feel how soft this shirt is!" He said excitedly. "And look at these sunglasses!"

While Sirius was busy showing off his 'fabulous new wardrobe' as he called it to Hermione and Ron, Harry turned to Esmerelda and gave her a small grin.

"Thanks for all this," he said to her.

She blinked. "Hmm?"

"All of this," he motioned to Sirius. "Helping him out, giving him a home and everything. I know he's your uncle and all, but I'm still really grateful for it. I was worried he'd be stuck on the run after we helped him escape."

"Technically, he's still on the run," she corrected. "He's just really comfortable while doing it. And you don't have to thank me."

"I, er, also know that you guys tried to talk to Dumbledore about bringing me over..." He said, his eyes dimming a little.

Esmerelda pursed her lips. She and Sirius were still very displeased about Dumbledore's decision, and the displeasure only to seemed to worsen as her eyes scanned over Harry. He looked thinner than normal, to an unhealthy degree. The way his clothes dwarfed over his body reminded her all too much of Nico when he was roaming around the world homeless. 

"Yeah... I'm sorry, Harry. I know how excited you were about it. I don't know why Dumbledore keeps insisting that you stay with your relatives..." She apologized. 

"Me neither," he replied sullenly.

"Hey, you two!" Sirius called out to them. "Come on, someone's selling omnioculars nearby! It'll be on me, so hurry up!"

"Coming!" They called back, before rushing back to the group.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The omnioculars were similar to regular binoculars, but they could also slow things down or replay an action while also zooming in on things. This was useful because the Top Box seats were aaaaall the way at the top.

Esmerelda and her party were settled in a small box with a bunch of other important looking wizards. They were at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts.

She looked around the stadium, seeing thousands of witches and wizards taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again.

Remus looked around. "Hmm, looks like Harry and Weasleys haven't arrived yet."

"Probably 'cause Andy made us leave so early—ohhhhh shit!" Sirius suddenly cursed, turning his head away.

Ted looked at him weirdly. "What's wrong?"

"It's Narcissa! She might recognize me!" He hissed back.

Esmerelda looked around, and just like he said, the Malfoys were at the Top Box too. They hadn't noticed them yet, but she couldn't risk Sirius being recognized.

"Let me handle that," she whispered, then used the Mist to disguise Sirius' appearance. His hair became a chestnut brown, his skin a little tanner, and a few freckles appeared on his face. She also made sure to change the shape of his nose and made his lips thinner.

"There," she beamed.

"Nice," Tonks gave her a thumbs up.

Sirius whipped out his sleek iPhone that she had given him and checked out his reflection. "At least I'm still good looking."

Remus and Andromeda rolled their eyes.

Just then, a whole group of people entered the box. It was Fudge, the Minister, and he was walking with a family of blondes, a dark haired boy, and an older man.

"That's the Bulgarian Minister," Tonks informed her. "And that other blonde guy—the younger and good looking one—he's Maxence Rosier, the French Minister. I think that's his family."

Maxence Rosier was a lot younger compared to the other two Ministers he was with. He was probably around his late twenties or early thirties. He seemed a lot more charismatic though, attractive, as Tonks had said, and less stiff.

His family consisted mostly of blondes—aside from the dark haired boy. Maxence's mother reminded Esmerelda of Narcissa: elegant, but stuck-up with her nose always in the air. The man beside her, most likely her husband, had cold, cutting blue eyes and only seemed to warm up whenever they laid on the dark haired boy. There were two other blonde women—Maxence's sisters. They were curly haired and beautiful, less haughty than their mother. And lastly came the youngest boy: the dark haired one. He looked nothing like his family. While they were all blonde and blue eyed, he was dark haired and had bold green eyes. It wasn't just his appearance that separated him from his family though, it was the literal physical distance between them. The second they entered the box, he found himself a seat and sat there while the rest of his family surrounded the Ministers.

"It's so nice to meet you, Madame Géraldine, Monsieur Lazare. I'm honored to meet the two people who raised such an esteemed young Minister!" Fudge said with a little too much flatter.

Lazare let out a low chuckle. "Nonsense, Minister Fudge. We may have raised him, but Maxence did everything else once he became an adult. Have you ever met my other son, Étienne, though? I feel you will find him equally as impressive."

Maxence's bright smile slipped right off his face. Even Esmerelda felt bad for his sake. His dad basically said 'Yeah, my kid's cool, but my other kid is even cooler! You should meet him!'.

She wasn't the only one who noticed it, though. Because Géraldine immediately scowled while his two daughters bristled.

Yikes.

"Étienne!" Lazare called over, and the dark haired boy who just sat down was forced back up to his feet. He plastered on a forced smile as he trudged towards the group. Lazare gripped his shoulder, the wide smile on his face genuine. "This is my son, Étienne." He said proudly.

"Hello, Minister Fudge," Étienne said politely, ignoring the looks from his family.

Even Fudge found the whole thing awkward. He chuckled and offered him a handshake. "Greetings, my boy. Are you also hoping to pursue a career in politics?"

Oh no. It was the dreaded 'what are your plans for the future' talk.

Étienne fidgeted on his spot. "Er, I apologize, I'm still in my fourth year, I haven't really given that much thought yet..."

"I'm not too worried. Étienne is brilliant," Lazare said. "He has many options to choose from."

Double yikes. Even Étienne seemed uncomfortable with his father's bragging.

Géraldine's eye twitched and she quickly took up the spotlight. "These are my daughters, Minister. Odette, my second eldest, and Bernadine, my youngest. She's currently taking her seventh year in Beauxbatons."

"Ah, how nice," Fudge chuckled uncomfortably. "Er, will either of you be taking up poli—poli—hoooaaaah!" He suddenly screamed, catching sight of Esmerelda.

Everyone whirled around to face him. When Lazare saw her, the smile on his face slipped off.

Fudge pointed at Esmerelda, who had to fight the urge to reach out and snap his neck. "Y-you! You're Sirius Black's daughter! How did you get up here?!"

Everyone gasped in horror.

Uuuuuugh, she mentally groaned.

Sirius looked ready to fight someone for her sake, and so did Tonks. She should probably take control of the situation before it got nasty.

"I got here through a ticket, of course, Minister," she said sweetly. "Now why don't you just forget about lil' ole me and focus on the game? It's about to start."

Dazedly, the wizards and witches in the box obeyed her and fell back to their seats, eyes glued to on the field. The only one who wasn't affected by her power was Étienne, but she barely paid him any mind as she whirled back to face the front and fist-bumped Sirius.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Okay. She lied. The game wasn't close to beginning, but now it was. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys made it just in time.

One of the wizards, some guy called Ludo Bagman, whipped out his wand and aimed it at his own throat. For a second, Esmerelda thought he was going to commit public suicide until she realized he was actually using the sonorus charm on himself.

"Ladies and gentlemen... welcome!" He exclaimed, his voice reaching to the thousands of spectators. "Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last messages that she couldn't read because she didn't have her glasses on her.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

"I wonder what they've brought?" Arthur wondered, leaning forward. "Aaah! Veela!"

Harry furrowed his brows. "What are veel—?"

Esmerelda was amazed when a hundred beautiful women glided onto the field. They were kind of like daughters of Aphrodite, or maybe nymphs or other beautiful nature spirits. They had an intense sort of aura, as if they were using Charmspeak on the male spectators. She had to yank Sirius back into his seat when he nearly threw himself off the stands.

"And now!" Bagman roared once the veela went away. "Kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light, like a mass Iris Message. 

The crowd ooooh-ed and aaaaah-ed. Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Golden coins fell through the air.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome—the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you—Dimitrov!"

A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

"Ivanova!"

A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.

"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand—Krum!"

"That's him, that's him!" Ron squealed, following Krum with his Omnioculars. Esmerelda did the same. Viktor Krum was built like a dark, broody football player. He looked like he was in his twenties, but it turned out he was actually only eighteen.

"And now, please greet—the Irish National Quidditch Team!" Bagman yelled. "Presenting—Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand—Lynch!"

Seven green blurs swept onto the field. Esmerelda had to use her omnioculars to be able to see them correctly.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

A small and skinny wizard strode out onto the field. He was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. Swiftly, he mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open. Four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and the minuscule, winged Golden Snitch. With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls.

"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" Bagman screamed.

Esmerelda found it very hard to follow what was going on, even with the help of the omnioculars. She blamed it mostly on Sirius, who kept screaming in her poor ears and Ron, who sat behind her and was so giddy that he kept throwing his snacks around. Though only one who looked as lost as her was Andromeda, who sent her a very exhaustive look when her husband shot up to scream.

Her leg was bouncing and her butt began to hurt. The game went on for hours. Night was falling at this point and Esmerelda still didn't have a clue on what was going on. And then it happened:

"He's got it—Krum's got it—it's all over!" Harry shouted.

Viktor Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand. He caught the snitch, but despite that, the scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170.

The crowd seemed to be momentarily confused, but slowly, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH—BUT IRELAND WINS—good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

Bless you, Viktor Krum, Esmerelda thought, jumping to her feet and shaking her legs off. Now I can finally get off this death trap!

The excitement didn't die down even when they all returned to their tents.

Sirius was fuming. "Bloody hell, I wanted the Bulgarians to win!"

"Aren't you glad that I stopped you from making that bet, then?" Remus asked wisely.

"Shut up," he said stubbornly.

"I'm going to bed," Andromeda said sleepily. "Goodness, this whole night has left me tired... I doubt I'd be able to sleep though with all that yelling."

From the other side of the campsite, they could still hear much singing and the odd echoing bang.

Andromeda scowled. "I still don't understand your weird obsession with that game..." She muttered.

"I feel you," Esmerelda said drowsily.

"You should get to bed too, young lady," she said sternly.

She turned to Sirius for help. "Do I have to?"

He was about to say 'No! Of course not! Stay up and have fun!' until he saw the firm look his cousin was throwing at him. Plus, he could vaguely hear his brother's annoying voice nagging him about giving his daughter a bedtime. Urgh.

"Sorry kid," he said instead. "It's off to bed for you!"

She scowled, grumbled under her breath, and retreated for her room. She'd learn to thank Andromeda for her insistence later though. Because tomorrow, she was going to need all the energy (and patience) she could get.

— author's note —

I didn't wanna write about the whole quidditch scene... sorry guys, I got bored of it. :/

Meet the Rosiers (or, the french branch, at least)!

You already know who's playing Étienne, so here's the rest of them:

LAZARE ROSIER
played by MADS MIKKELSEN

GÉRALDINE ROSIER
played by KRISTIN BAUER VAN STRATEN

MAXENCE ROSIER
played by NICK SLATER

ODETTE ROSIER
played by SAMARA WEAVING

BERNADINE ROSIER
played by GABRIELLA WILDE