A/N: Not my playlist making y'all nervous LMAO don't worry, I'm not a fan of super dark themes but I'm not gonna deny that this book will be a bit more serious compared to the first 👀

The sound of people talking over one another, music playing in the background, and even small pops and explosions were all that could be heard on one exciting morning in the summer of 1994. There was no moment of peace and quiet whatsoever in that vast field full of tents, but nobody really minded. After all, fans from all over the world had flocked to England to watch the Quidditch World Cup Final that would take place that same evening.

Now that she was just about to enter her final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Jessica Hawthorne couldn't be any happier that she was given the opportunity to watch the big game to start it all off on a good note. It had been the most perfect thing to look forward to for the past few weeks; she had Oliver Wood and his family to thank for that. As promised, his parents reserved and purchased their tickets way ahead of time before they ran out. Before she knew it, Jessica was being dragged away by the Woods early in the morning, into a forest where both muggles and witches and wizards were camping out, and she was now relaxing in a tent that they rented for their overnight stay.

At the moment, Jessica and Oliver were in quite a heated discussion in the living room about a very trivial topic.

"So, there are games and prizes you can win in there, right? And some big machine called a lollycoaster?"

"Rollercoaster, Oliver. Get it right."

"Eh, it's the same thing."

Jessica collapsed on the couch, giving up on trying to correct Oliver. For the past half hour, she had been trying to explain to him what exactly an amusement park was. She already explained it to him when he saw a childhood photo of her riding a carousel — that was around two years ago, back when his family had been invited by her parents to have lunch in the Hawthorne residence — but he still couldn't quite grasp the concept after all this time.

"It's not, but whatever helps you sleep at night," she said simply. Another voice entered the conversation before Oliver could retort.

"Oliver, Jessica, come outside," said Mrs. Wood, poking her head through the tent's entrance. "We should take a walk around the field. There's a lot to see."

The two young adults obliged easily, both eager to explore the campsite full of different witches and wizards doing all sorts of things. Oliver pushed himself up to his feet first and offered Jessica his hand.

"Hurry up, I wanna buy some stuff to support the Irish," he said. "My brain is hurting from all this lollycoaster and fairy wheel nonsense."

"Ferris wheel," Jessica emphasized, taking his hand nevertheless. Oliver pulled her up and led her outside of the tent.

The sunlight blinded Jessica for a moment, and then she was met with the sight of green and red colors buzzing around everywhere as well as an increase in the volume of all the noise she could already hear from inside. She and Oliver walked through the rows of people doing a variety of things: selling merchandise, engaging in loud discussions about the two competing teams, betting on who was most likely to win, and even conjuring either green or red sparks and clouds to show their support for their team. It was mayhem, but at least it was the good kind.

After a couple of minutes of roaming around — during which they purchased leprechaun figurines and green hats in support of the Irish National Team, as well as onmnioculars so that they could replay and slow down what they'd be seeing in the game later on — Jessica and Oliver began to see familiar faces. They spotted some people from their respective school years and even Quidditch players from other houses, like Roger Davies and Cedric Diggory. Not long after that, they bumped into the Weasleys.

"Oi, it's Jess and Ollie!" George was the first to notice them, elbowing his brother.

"Blimey, it feels like forever since we last saw you!" Fred said. The twins dashed towards Jessica and Oliver and enveloped them in a bone-crushing group hug.

"Relax, lads, I'm not dead," said Oliver, forcing himself out of their arms. However, he was secretly happy to see his old teammates. It still felt unreal that he had already graduated from Hogwarts and wouldn't be returning to the castle for the upcoming term.

"And we just saw each other a few weeks ago," Jessica reminded them with a hint of humor.

"Don't ruin the moment," said George.

"Harry, get over here!" Fred beckoned. It was only then that Jessica and Oliver realized that Harry Potter was there with majority of the Weasley clan. Hermione Granger was also there, though Jessica wasn't sure if the girl even liked Quidditch at all.

"Harry!" Oliver beamed, clapping the bespectacled boy's shoulder once he was near enough. "Good to see you."

"You too, Wood," Harry grinned.

"Well, what have you been up to, Oliver?" George asked.

As Jessica expected, the first thing Oliver chose to say was, "I got signed to be part of the Puddlemere United reserve team!"

Fred, George, and Harry congratulated Oliver heartily. Jessica smiled fondly, having already known the news much earlier. After all, her cousin, Charles, was one of the current Chasers of Puddlemere United. He didn't forget to drop some extremely obvious hints to her just before Oliver could even get the news himself by owl and tell her about it. It also turned out that Jessica had been right to be suspicious of Charles randomly deciding to watch her final match the previous school year. Although he genuinely wanted to see how she played Quidditch, the main reason he was there at all was to accompany his manager, Imogen, in scouting possible recruits for the team. Needless to say, they were impressed by Oliver, and Charles didn't even have to vouch for him because Imogen was already sold.

"Don't forget us when you're famous, Ollie," Fred pretended to wipe a tear.

"Give us a shoutout during your first game, will you?" George added. Oliver could only roll his eyes in amusement as the twins continued to act dramatically.

Eventually, Jessica and Oliver had to separate from the Weasley clan and return to their own tents. The hours seemed to pass by in a flash, and when darkness started to fall upon them, Mr. and Mrs. Wood said that it was about time to start moving. Only a few moments after they stepped back outside, there was a deep, booming gong sound from somewhere beyond the woods. All at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the massive Quidditch field.

Together with a bunch of other Quidditch fans, their group trudged their way to the field. Thousands of people around them laughed and shouted with glee — the energy was so infectious that Jessica could feel herself absorbing it. Of course, Oliver was beyond stoked as well, constantly bouncing on his feet and excitedly tapping Jessica to point out something he would see (like a flying Viktor Krum figurine) or to spout some more predictions about the match.

Jessica's jaw dropped when they reached the clearing and her eyes landed on the stadium. To say it was gigantic was an understatement — it could probably fit ten muggle football fields inside. She'd already watched some of Puddlemere United's games when Charles was new to the team, but even their professional pitches looked nothing compared to this.

"It seats a hundred thousand, you know?" Oliver said, looking like he was going to burst with enthusiasm.

"That's right," Mr. Wood nodded. "The Ministry task force have been working on it all year. There are Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it, though, so every time a muggle has gone anywhere near here all year, they'd suddenly remember urgent appointments and leave."

By then, they had arrived at the front of the line. The Ministry witch at the entrance checked their tickets and told them where to pass. They climbed up what felt like thousands of steps, and even with all the exercise Jessica had done from Quidditch trainings, she still found her legs burning from it. At long last, they reached their seats, which were located at the upper middle portion of the stands.

When everyone had settled down, the voice of Ludo Bagman — former beater of the English National Quidditch Team and the current Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports — echoed throughout the stadium.

"Ladies and gentlemen... welcome!" he said. "Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The spectators screamed, clapped, and stomped thunderously. Thousands of green and red flags waved, only adding to the racket. There was a huge blackboard on one end of the field that displayed in giant, white letters: BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.

"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," said Jessica, leaning forward in her seat. When about a hundred gorgeous women with shiny skin and flowing white-gold hair glided out into the field, she muttered, "Oh no."

"What is it?" Oliver asked. But before Jessica could warn him that the creatures were veelas, the music played. The veelas began to dance, and Oliver's mind went completely and blissfully blank. All he knew was that he was utterly entranced by them, and if they stopped dancing, he would probably throw a fit.

"Hey, Oliver."

He barely heard anything because he was too engrossed with the veelas. He felt the urge to do something very drastic right then and there. It suddenly seemed like an impressive move if he jumped from the stands and into the stadium. He could also get a closer look at the veelas while he was at it...

"Oliver!"

There was a tug on the back of his shirt, and he felt himself be brought out of some trance. He blinked in confusion, realizing that he had stood up from his seat and neared the railing without being aware of it. He then turned around and found his parents and Jessica also standing up with their hands raised towards him, almost as if they were about to stop him from doing something dangerous.

"What —?"

"Those were veelas. Sorry, we weren't able to tell you fast enough," Mrs. Wood said apologetically, though she did look sort of amused at what her son had done.

"Veelas?" Oliver repeated. He wracked his brain for a moment before he was able to recall what he learned in his classes. Veelas were incredibly beautiful creatures known to seduce men with their mere looks and movements. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh," Jessica said sarcastically, slightly irked by the fact that Oliver nearly jumped off of the bleachers just for those creatures. Mr. and Mrs. Wood exchanged knowing glances at that, making an effort to not intervene and tease the kids.

"But why didn't you get affected, dad?" Oliver said, pointing at his father.

"Covered my eyes with this," the man replied, waving his hat for emphasis. "You gotta think quick on your feet, son."

"Well, thanks for not warning me," Oliver said grumpily. His ears were red in embarrassment as he returned to his seat next to Jessica who wasn't looking at him.

Jessica knew she was probably acting like a child throwing a tantrum for that. After all, she was well aware of what veelas were capable of, and that men more often than not couldn't even control themselves in their presence. Still, she couldn't push down this bubbling feeling in her stomach.

"So," Oliver started awkwardly. "That was... something."

Jessica simply huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

"Hey, you're not mad, right?" said Oliver.

"No. Why would I be?"

"Er, well, you seem a bit... I don't know, like you're miffed about something I did..."

"I'm not," Jessica denied indignantly.

Oliver should have been worried that she was being so cold towards him, but when the possible reason for that dawned on him, he had to fight back a smile. He didn't know why, but it was sort of amusing and flattering to see her like that.

"Is someone a little jealous?" he questioned.

"Jealous?" Jessica scoffed, not liking how petty it made her sound. Was she seriously jealous of veelas whose abilities made it practically impossible for men to resist them? "Merlin's beard, no."

"Are you sure?" Oliver poked her.

"Yes."

"Then why won't you look at me?"

"So what? Why don't you go look at the veelas instead?"

Oliver couldn't stop himself from chuckling at that comment. He hurriedly cleared his throat to cover that up, scooted close to the girl, and said, "Come on, you know I didn't do that intentionally. It's just the veelas' powers that made me act that way."

Jessica pursed her lips, but she still didn't budge.

"In my defense, dad would've done the same thing if he didn't cover his eyes... but alright, yeah, maybe I should've —"

"You don't have to explain yourself," Jessica cut him off, feeling stupid for that brief moment of jealousy. "I know you didn't mean it."

"Well, okay... still, you should remember that I only have eyes for you, lass," Oliver said cheekily, quickly pecking her lips before his parents could notice or before she could even process it herself. Ludo Bagman's voice boomed throughout the venue again, so all she could do was let a blush and smile linger on her face as she listened to his next announcement.

"And now, kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

A blur of green and gold came zooming in — leprechauns. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller groups, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow suddenly spread over the field, causing the crowd to gasp in awe. When the rainbow faded, the leprechauns formed a shimmering shamrock that rose up into the sky. Then, something like golden rain started to fall.

"Leprechaun gold," Jessica said as it showered down on them. She, Oliver, and even his parents collected only a handful since they knew it would only be a matter of time before they disappeared.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team!" Bagman went on. "I give you — Dimitrov! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand — Krum!"

Seven players clad in scarlet robes flew out. The audience went particularly wild for the last one: Viktor Krum. He was sallow-skinned with thick black eyebrows, and though he was only eighteen, his mature and mysterious appearance made him quite loved by people of all ages — even those who knew nothing about Quidditch. Jessica had to admit that seeing him was exciting. She whooped louder when Krum zoomed past their area, making Oliver look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Hey, why'd you cheer for him like that?" he said accusingly.

"What, you almost die trying to get near the veelas but I can't cheer for a cool Quidditch player?" Jessica teased.

"That was different. Krum's an actual human," Oliver frowned. Jessica laughed lightly and shook her head.

"Don't worry, I only have eyes for one Quidditch player," she mimicked him playfully.

"You mean me, right?"

"Shut up and watch the game, Oliver."

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

Seven more players swept onto the field, this time clad in green uniforms. There was another round of applause and cheering from the crowd.

"Now, let the match... begin!"

★ ★ ★

It was the most intense match Jessica had ever seen in her seventeen years of existence. Ireland's entire team was just too skilled for Bulgaria to catch up. They scored 170 points on their own, while the latter initially only scored 10. However, in the end, Krum decided to end the match once and for all by catching the Golden Snitch, resulting in his team garnering 160 points. This still led to Ireland's victory, but the score had become more or less even enough to at least not hurt Bulgaria's pride for their loss.

Jessica and Oliver could not stop talking about the match even after they returned to their tent. They spoke animatedly and with grand gestures, almost as if they were re-enacting the game. It was rare that Jessica ever felt that hyper, but how could she not be? That game was nothing like she had ever experienced, and she just couldn't control herself after all that excitement. It was also quite entertaining for Oliver to see that; Quidditch really was one of the few ways to get her to be more talkative, and though he liked her usual reserved self, it was nice to see this side of her, too.

When the two of them began to grow tired, they freshened up and got changed into pajamas. Jessica was going to stay in the single bedroom, which should've been Oliver's but he and his parents insisted that she stay there instead. She had been hesitant at first, but Oliver wouldn't take no for an answer. So, after bidding him goodnight, she made her way to bed while Oliver tried to get comfortable on the couch in the living room.

Jessica's bed was surprisingly soft and her surroundings were much quieter as compared to that morning, so it only took a couple of moments before sleep began to take over her body. Her eyelids drooped, and she felt herself start to drift off into unconsciousness until she saw nothing.

But all of a sudden, someone was yelling for her get up almost as soon as she had fallen asleep.

"Wake up! Hey, wake up!"

That made her stir, and now, she could hear even more shouting coming from outside. Were the Irish fans still partying this late into the night? Were they that happy about winning? And who was trying to wake her up? She didn't know exactly how long she had been sleeping, but she knew it was only for a short while, so she hated that someone was trying to ruin that.

"Lass, you have to get up now!"

Hearing the urgency in that all-too familiar voice, Jessica forced her eyes open. She squinted, both in an attempt to adjust to the darkness and to get rid of her sleepiness. There, she found Oliver in an outfit that looked like he had thrown it on in seconds: a grey shirt, navy blue Puddlemere United team jacket, and green plaid pajama pants. His growing hair was messy as well, topping off the entire, mismatching look.

"What's going on —" she started.

"Both of you, get out right now! Hurry!" Mr. Wood's voice sounded from outside her room. Oliver hurriedly grabbed Jessica's jacket hanging from a chair and handed it to her.

"Come on, wear this. We have to go."

She decided not to question Oliver and obliged, shrugging the maroon piece of clothing over her arms as quickly as possible. Once she finished, the two of them left the room, crossed the living area, and stepped out of the tent.

It was pure chaos outside. All the tents and trees in sight were broken or on fire. People were screaming for their lives. It seemed that they were running away from something or someone. And then, Jessica realized what the thing was — or rather, who. There was a group of people dressed in black cloaks and hoods, as well as skull masks that covered their faces. They were shooting spells in every direction, some of them unfortunately claiming victims. They were a bit far away, but that didn't make them any less frightening since they already caused so much damage everywhere.

"Listen, we have to run deep into those trees over there," Mrs. Wood instructed, pointing to their right. "That's where most of the Disapparition and Portkey sites are."

"But I have to help the Ministry," Mr. Wood said. "The three of you must leave, now! I'll catch up —"

"No, I'm coming with you," said Mrs. Wood firmly to her husband. "Oliver, take Jessica and go this instant. We'll be right behind you."

"But —"

"Now!"

Oliver didn't dare disobey his parents' orders. He grabbed ahold of Jessica's hand, and then the two of them stumbled through the mess of crumpled tents, burning furniture, collapsed tree trunks, and panicking witches and wizards.

They were so close to reaching the thicket of trees. They only had a few more meters to go, and then they would be safe... but Jessica halted when something caught her eye that caused her heart to stop. Above some of those masked figures were four floating bodies being contorted into grotesque shapes — they were so twisted that they didn't even look human anymore. It was as though those awful witches and wizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes they were just playing around with. Two of the figures were very small — they were clearly just children.

To make matters worse, Jessica recognized some of them when the moonlight illuminated their faces. She had passed by them that morning when the Woods first brought her to the forest — they were the campsite managers, who also happened to be muggles. If that was the case, then those kids must be their children. She guessed those campsite managers brought them along for a family trip, certainly not expecting to be surrounded by magic and danger. They were truly defenseless from the beginning, and the thought of them not even being able to put up a fight made Jessica's stomach lurch.

"Oh my..." she trailed off, speechless.

"Why'd you stop? We have to move!" Oliver urged, tugging on her hand.

"But — but those muggles," she said, her voice nearly cracking. Oliver finally stopped and turned around to see what she was so fixated on. He almost wished he didn't, because seeing four twisted bodies in the air was far from a good feeling.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled, his grip loosening. Just then, Jessica began to take a few steps towards scene. "Wait, don't —"

"Isn't there a way we can help them?" she said, somehow sounding both terrified and brave.

"Jess, I don't — I don't think they'll ever be okay again," Oliver gulped. He didn't want to say it out loud, but by the looks of those bodies, he wouldn't be shocked to find out that they were close to death or already dead.

"But —"

A few more screams rang throughout the air, accompanied by more sparks as those masked men shot spells everywhere.

"We — we can't do anything anymore," Oliver, pulling on her hand again. "We have to go."

Both of them despised how useless and scared they felt at that moment, but it was true: the situation was out of their hands. Of course, they had wands and could perform magic, but what exactly would they do? Fight these people who tortured innocent muggles without a second thought? There was no doubt that even if they tried, they would lose the battle.

Reluctantly, Jessica gave in and followed Oliver. They continued to sprint deep into the trees along with a few others. It was incredibly dark in there, but they couldn't risk using their wands to light the way just yet in case they caught up to them.

It felt like they had been running for forever when they finally stopped to take a break, feeling as if they were a good enough distance away from the field. By then, it had also become eerily quiet — either everyone had fled the scene, or the Ministry was able to contain the chaos. Jessica desperately hoped it was one of those, and not that those evil people managed to injure or kill everyone that crossed their path.

Jessica and Oliver slowed to a stop, heaving heavily to catch their breaths. They both retrieved their wands and muttered lumos, allowing small balls of light to emit from the tips of their wands that brightened their view slightly.

"Are you okay?" Oliver whispered, not wanting to risk speaking too loudly. Jessica merely gulped, still feeling a bit sick from seeing the distorted bodies of those innocent muggles. She didn't have to say that out loud for Oliver to know what she was thinking. "There... there was nothing we could do, lass. I'm sorry."

"I know," she sighed shakily. Now that they could breathe and take in everything, Jessica wondered what in the world led up to those events in the first place. Who were those masked men? Why were they trying to harm everyone? What was their goal?

"I suppose all we can do is wait here for my parents," Oliver said, leaning on a tree.

"I hope they're alright," said Jessica. "Who do you think those people were?"

Before Oliver could come up with a guess, a distant shout broke the silence. It came directly from where they had just run away. Then, something green erupted from the patch of darkness and launched itself up into the sky. It exploded and spread in the air, forming a shape made out of emerald clouds and glitters — a colossal skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue.

"No way," Jessica's eyes widened.

"It couldn't be," Oliver shook his head in disbelief. He wasn't the smartest wizard out there, but even he knew what that was based on the books he'd read and the stories his parents told him. There was no mistaking such a historic symbol that ignited fear within witches and wizards of all backgrounds and ages years ago.

"It's the Dark Mark."

A/N: To make up for my slow pace, here's a longer-than-usual update for the very first chapter of this sequel!

Also, this is kinda random but I absolutely hate it when I edit a chapter and the comments for a certain paragraph are moved to the general ones UGH. I love reading the comment sections so that really annoys me lmao but I have to sacrifice that for the sake of editing 💀