The Quidditch World Cup

Three years later...

The mid-afternoon sun shone through the upstairs windows in Malfoy Manor. Now fourteen-year-old Danica Lestrange shut the silver curtains of the windows in her room. It, along with her, changed drastically after Danica was sorted into Ravenclaw.

She had created her own unique personality that clashed with her aunt and uncle, who every time Danica irritated them, would threaten to disown her. But Danica knew that wouldn't happen because she could often hear Lucius and Narcissa arguing about it afterward and Narcissa would always bring up the promise that she made to her sister.

If Danica could have it her way, she would have left years ago, but the Manor is her home and deep down she knows that they like her enough to tolerate her behavior.

"Danica, get down here!" Lucius shouted upstairs towards her room "We will leave without you."

"Just give me a minute," Danica responded and swiftly grabbed her wand and looked in the mirror to check how she looked. She was sporting a black skirt with a white blouse and a black blazer. Danica hated how formal she had to dress for the Quidditch World Cup, but it was the only way she could go. She fastened the charm bracelet that her friends had given her for her last birthday as she ran down the stairs.

"You decided to finally show up," Draco snickered to Danica.

"Shut up you git," Danica hissed to him as Narcissa came into the foyer.

"We'll be Apparating once Lucius gets here," Narcissa spoke to the two teenagers.

Lucius entered the grand foyer a few moments later and prepared herself for the Apparition process. Even at a young age, she would be traveling with her relatives occasionally and their preferred method of traveling was Apparition because it's a "classy way to travel". Danica personally wanted to try using the Floo-Network since Apparition always made her feel like vomiting afterward. But within a minute, the Apparition process was done and Danica and the Malfoys were at the Quidditch World Cup.

Because of Lucius's job at the Ministry, they got excellent seats in the Minister of Magic's box. Danica was following the Malfoys up the stairs when she spotted multiple red-heads near her.

"Awesome," she said to herself and smirked. Danica wanted to have fun that night and the only way possible was if she could escape from her aunt and uncle and make it to the Weasleys.

Danica and the Malfoys were almost to their seats when the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, called Lucius over. Fudge had just been talking to Harry and the Weasleys before this moment, so there was extreme tension between the two families. Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco stared-down the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione while Danica just gave them a small wave.

"Ah, Fudge," said Lucius, holding out his hand as he reached to the Minister. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son Draco and my niece, Danica?"

Once Danica heard Lucius introduce her, she plastered the brightest fake-smile on her face to please her family. Fudge shook their hands and turned to Lucius.

"And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk-Obalonsk-Mr.-well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind," the Minister said to Lucius. " And let's see who else-you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

Oh, no.

Danica thought back to the last unforgettable encounter that Mr. Weasley and Lucius had in her second year in Flourish & Blotts.

Lucius and Narcissa sent Draco, along with Danica, to purchase their new textbooks for their second year. There was quite a crowd in the bookstore, seeing that Gilderoy Lockhart was having a book signing.

Danica was trying to make her way through the crowd when she bumped into a red-head. It was Ron. Danica struck up a brief conversation with him about their summer break. Out of the Golden Trio, Ron had been the kindest to her, pushing aside the fact that her parents were death eaters. Some Griffyndors still believed that Danica should've been a Slytherin.

Harry and Hermione pulled Ron away from Danica, so she took that opportunity to finish paying for the textbooks. She enjoyed catching up with Ron, so she weaved through the crowd of Lockhart fans to find the trio.

By the time she found them apparently, Draco had too.

"Bet you're surprised to see Harry here," Danica heard Ron say to Draco.

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," he sneered. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all of those"

Ron and Ginny both became flushed to match their hair. Ron dropped his books into the empty cauldron beside him and started towards Draco, but Danica came up to the group and stopped him.

"You don't have to be rude about it, Draco." She said to him.

Draco stepped forward to face her. "Oh, so you're siding with them?" He proceeded to make a face at her.

"I never said-"

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling with the twins. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

Danica had never met Mr. Weasley, but she sure did hear a great deal of him from her uncle. Every week there would be a new thing that Mr. Weasley did that Lucius didn't approve of.

"Well, well, well- Arthur Weasley."

It was Lucius.

He came behind Danica and Draco and put his hands on each of their shoulders. Both Draco and his father sneered at the Weasleys, but Danica didn't. A year ago, she would have done the same thing, but she realized how wrong her family was and started to change her opinions.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," Lucius said coldly. "All those raids . . . I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and pulled out a very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," said Lucius with fake sympathy. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," Lucius replied, his eyes straying over to two Muggles, who Danica guessed were Hermione's parents since she was present in the bookstore. "The company you keep, Weasley . . . and I thought your family could sink no lower-"

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Lucius, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from the Weasley twins; Danica tried to hold in her amusement of Lucius fighting another adult in public making a fool out of himself; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over.

That fight had been memorable, but chaotic.

"Good lord, Arthur," Lucius said coldly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Fudge, who wasn't listening, said, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."

"How-how nice," said Mr. Weasley, with a very strained smile.

Draco shot Harry, Ron, and Hermione with a smirk before the Malfoys and Danica continued their way to the Top Box.

She chose the seat at the end of their row to make it easier to abandon the Malfoys and watch the game with the Weasley's group.

After a few minutes, the Minister came up to the box and motioned to Ludo Bagman to speak. He whipped out his wand, pointed it at his throat, and said "Sonorus"! and then spoke over the roar of the packed stadium.

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

The spectators around Danica erupted into cheering.

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

The right side of the stands, dressed in scarlet, roared in approval.

"Wonder who they brought," Draco snickered.

"Veela," was all Narcissa said, barely above a whisper, and she rolled her eyes. But Danica knew what the Veela were.

A hundred veela glided out onto the field and positioned themselves in front of the stands. Then, the veela started to dance.

Danica looked over at her cousin and couldn't help herself from laughing. Draco had stood up on his seat and taken off his suit coat, acting way out of line. He was going to get in trouble later for sure.

Once Danica thought it was over, the veela started to dance faster.

"Draco, Merlin's beard what are you doing?" Danica said after Draco tossed his coat over the railing and prepared to jump. She looked over to where the Weasleys were seated and Harry and Ron were acting the same way.

The music stopped and angry yells filled the stadium with people who didn't want the veela to leave. Draco had come back to his senses and sat back down.

"That was the weirdest you ever looked," Danica whispered to him. "And you threw your coat over the edge, too."

Draco's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything.

"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air. . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Danica started to clap loudly for the Irish since she was rooting for them to win. Back at Hogwarts, she was a beater on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team with her friend, Lia Swallows. She and Lia had been beaters together since their second year and looked forward to playing with each other. Quidditch allowed Danica to be free in the air and let her competitive side loose.

The Irish mascots, Leprechauns, raced around the stadium in glittering swarms to form different figures in the air. Bright, shooting sparks of tiny leprechauns burst throughout the air surrounding the pitch. To finish their act, the leprechauns merged into one great, big shamrock. It rose higher and higher above the stands before it started to rain golden coins.

Danica eagerly got up from her seat to catch as much gold as she could. Sure, her family had enough wealth to make sure she didn't work a day in her life, but Danica loved to participate in the same festivities as everyone else. Also, she had to pay Ginny back for getting her a green Irish hat. Lucius and Narcissa forbade Danica and Draco from wearing any team's merchandise because they had to look sophisticated.

After Bagman announced the players of both Quidditch teams, Danica decided that it was time for her to make her move: successfully getting to the Weasely's group undetected to watch the game.

"I'm just going to go further down the stands to get a better view of Connolly if that's alright," Danica said to her aunt and uncle. It seemed like a fool-proof lie, that wasn't entirely false.

"You're still obsessing over that Irish beater? I thought you gave up after he didn't answer your owl?" Draco smirked at her.

"Hey, HEY! That was just a phase," Danica replied back to him as she started making her way down the steps. Ever since she was introduced to Quidditch, Danica had been a huge fan of the Irish team's beater, Finn Connolly. His clean, strategic moves made Quidditch seem effortless and simple. Also, Danica used to, and still might, have a crush on him.

Once Danica spotted the Weasleys, she climbed into their row and moved past the other wizards and witches to get to them.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" she shouted in Ginny's direction to get her attention. Once the two girls made eye contact, Ginny waved Danica on over to their seats.

"You didn't have to announce my full name out to the world," Ginny complained to Danica as she handed her the Irish hat she'd bought for her.

Danica shrugged, "It got your attention, so it worked."

"But-" Ginny protested before she was interrupted by Fred and George.

"Hey Strange-y!" George said to Danica.

"Fancy seeing you here," Fred added.

Although the twins weren't in her year, Danica had befriended them, even though they gave her a ridiculous nickname: Strangey.

"But I'm not strange at all!" Danica would try and tell Fred and George, hoping that they would stop with her nickname.

"You're just a little strange; a little Le-strange." They'd always respond, and say the last part in unison.

As much as the name bothered her, Danica eventually found a way to ignore it. Plus, a friendship with the twins would give her immunity to most of their pranks.

"TROY SCORES!" was heard all throughout the stadium and Danica resumed watching the match. "Ten zero to Ireland!"

When she cheered with excitement for Troy scoring, Harry glanced in Danica's direction and spotted her amongst the Weasleys. He was somewhat shocked to see her there and not with the Malfoys, but he knew that she was close with the twins and Ginny.

Harry looked like he was going to say something, but Mr. Weasley spoke first.

"I don't believe we've formally met. Arthur Weasley, and you must be-"

"Danica Lestrange. And I'm sorry for your earlier interaction with my uncle. He's... not the nicest person to deal with."

"It's no trouble, just get back to watching the match." Mr. Weasley chuckled.

With even just a few minutes with the Weasley family, Danica could already feel their warmth and general happiness. It was such a difference from the sullen atmosphere that was felt around the Malfoys.

Danica smiled to herself and shook her head thinking about Draco right now; she knew how much he liked Quidditch and that he would have had a better time without Lucius and Narcissa. But, Draco was a Malfoy and had to follow their rules, and alas, Danica was not a Malfoy, so she didn't feel obligated to follow their mindless rules.

Sorry I haven't updated in almost three weeks, but here's a time-skip to the Quidditch World Cup! Oh yea and I watched the Les Misérables a few days ago and I'm in love with soundtrack.