World Cup

Millie has not, and will never be, a morning person. Uncle Remus used to say sometimes he would prefer the full moon to having to get her out of bed. This is why, at around four in the morning on the day of the world cup, Hermione was not sent to wake her like she was to wake the boys. No, no. Molly Weasley came to wake me up, and having been through this rigmarole before, she cut right to the chase, whispering "Aguamenti!" so Millie was blasted with cold water and out of her lovely dream world.

Millie sat up, gasping, "What in the-? Molly! Why'd you do that?!"

She just chuckled and said, "Dear, we both know you wouldn't have gotten up any other way. So, up! Up! You need to get ready to go, you lot are leaving soon."

After dressing, preparing her bag to take with her, and fixing her curly headed mess of hair, she descended the stairs to find everyone else waiting on her, eating breakfast.

"Hello, lovely. Wake up pleasantly?" Fred inquired, laughing a bit. Millie threw him a filthy glare, he knew that she couldn't function properly without sleep. At this point, everyone at the table was grinning at her mood; they may be tired but they knew Millie was a horror without sleep. Ignoring them, she fixed a plate of Molly's delicious breakfast and saw that she had even put coffee on the table for her- Hurray! Happily eating and slugging down her coffee, she glanced around in confusion. "Where are Charlie and Bill? And Percy, I guess."

"They'll be apparating, dear, so they don't have to wake up as early." Molly explained, spooning more eggs onto Harry's plate as he watched, used to her trying to stuff him with as much food as possible when he was in her grasp. "I'll wake them up around noon to send them along so they can have some lunch before they have to leave. But- look at the time! You need to get going!"

Arthur looked at the clock, alarmed he said, "Oh no! Come on, you lot. We'll need to hurry! Don't want the Diggory's to leave without us!" Fred and George exchanged disgusted looks at the mention of Cedric, never having forgiven him for beating the Gryffindor's in Quidditch last year. Meanwhile, Millie and Ginny and Hermione exchanged excited looks because, after all, Cedric was one of the cutest guys at Hogwarts.

"Well, I think I am wide awake now! Let's get to that Portkey!" Millie exclaimed, rushing to the door with Ginny at her side, and not noticing the annoyed look that Fred gave George.

After having walked for what had to be miles, we finally came along a hill that Arthur declared to be the one and had us look for what was to be the Portkey. Millie searched with Fred and George half-heartedly, listening to them discuss their trick wands. Honestly, she has no idea how they come up with these ideas.

"What do you think Ames? Should we sell the ones that turn into chickens first or the ones that grow arms and try to strangle the user?" Fred asked, genuinely interested in her answer.

Millie laughed a bit before answering him. "I think the strangling ones may be a bit advanced for your market at Hogwarts so maybe the rubber chicken ones first, no?"

They both looked remarkably disappointed at her answer but they knew how she would respond. Gathering this, she knew she would have to be the one to monitor the ethical guidelines of their company but Millie didn't mind. She knew they would never intentionally harm anyone. She opened her mouth to say something in response to their disappointment but am beaten by a new voice calling out, "Arthur, over here! We've found it."

"Children, come meet Amos Diggory." Arthur invites all of us to come do so. Ginny catches up to Millie, grabbing her arm and giggling. She whispers, "Look at Cedric! He is so fit!" Millie laughed but nodded, agreeing silently.

"Well, well! How are you, Arthur? Are all these your children?" Amos asks, looking around interested. He notices Harry, his eyes sparking with interest but turns back to Arthur as he answers, "No, only the redheads are mine! There's Fred, George, Ron and Ginny; then their friends Hermione Granger, Millie McKinnon, and, of course, Harry Potter." We all smile in acknowledgement at our names but step away as Amos starts to go into detail about Cedric beating Harry in Quidditch and how amazing of a story that would be to tell his grandchildren.

Millie jumps when she hears, "I don't actually agree with my dad, ya know." She turned to see Cedric talking to her with an embarrassed look on his face. Millie lifted a brow, "Well, it's not like you're exactly denying all that."

"You don't know my dad, he wouldn't listen to me even if I tried." Cedric explains. Given how his father was still raving about how great he was when Cedric wasn't paying attention, she gave him the benefit of the doubt and asked how his summer went.

"Pretty dreadful to be honest. My parents like to spend loads of time with me in the summer so I haven't been able to see any of my mates. I've mainly been looking forward to the World Cup, I can't wait to see the Irish! There's no way they won't win!" Despite hearing Fred scoff at Cedrics answer for some reason, Millie smiles and replies, "Yeah, I'm supporting the Irish too but Krum will give them a run for their money. He's a bloody brilliant seeker." Cedric smiles in agreement but then he looks around, checking to see if anyone can hear us. He pulled her away a bit so they were out of earshot so she looked at him in confusion, wondering why he is suddenly acting so strange. Especially given that we basically just met.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about your uncle. He was the best Defense teacher we've ever had. It's not fair that Snape got away with telling everyone about you know." Cedric whispered to her, finally explaining his odd behavior. Millie smiled at him and nodded, "Thanks, I appreciate that. He loved teaching and now... now I'm not sure what he'll do."

"It's got to be hard for-" Fred interrupts Cedrics thoughts, angrily saying, "Hard for him? What do you know about life being hard?" Millie gaped at Fred, surprised at this outburst and a little embarrassed because Cedric clearly had no idea what to do. Thankfully, they were saved by Arthur shouting at them to come quickly because the portkey was ready to leave.

Millie examined Fred, rethinking her recent feelings because she didn't appreciate the way he treated Cedric, who was simply being kind. Maybe she was wrong about Fred...

After arriving by Portkey (definitely not her favorite mode of transportation- heights? No thank you!), the Weasleys, Hermione, Harry, and Millie separated from the Diggorys to make their way to the tent. Hermione and Ginny both nudge Millie and give her questioning looks when Cedric hugs her and promises to talk to her later but, seeing as Fred was looking, she just shrugged and feigned ignorance to them.

Several hours later, after having walked around the campsite with Harry and the others, greeting all our many friends and finding out that her old Quidditch captain Oliver Wood had been signed to Puddlemere United's team (Millie was one of the best chasers that Gryffindor's team has ever seen), they made their way back to the tent.

"So, are you just going to pretend that the tension between you and Fred isn't there, Mil?" Hermione questions Millie with a small grin, while Ron just looks confused and Harry listens with interest. She rolled her eyes but replied, "Seeing as we are just friends I don't see any tension, Hermione."

Harry pipes up at that, "Come on, even I know that you two have feelings for each other and I never notice these things!" That's true, Millie thought, knowing Harry is about as observative as Ron was when it came to crushes. "Well, seeing as nothing has happened and he acted like a right arse back there to Cedric, for no reason, I don't think there will be anything between us."

"Oh, come on. He was just jealous, you can't use that as an excuse to push him away." Hermione protested.

"Maybe you'd prefer the rich Hufflepuff?" Ron teased Millie.

"Yeah, they did seem to be hitting it off, didn't they Ron?" Harry smiled at Ron, getting in on the teasing.

"I have decided that I am terminating our friendships. Goodbye. Have nice lives." Millie replied dramatically, stomping into the girls tent. Ginny looked up curiously but decided to not comment on Millie's rather irritated person right then. Hermione entered after Millie and just exchanged amused looks with Hermione. Millie got dressed for the match in silence, irritated at her friends' teasing, and finally made her way to the main tent with the other girls to find the twins painting their faces to support the Irish. Given that they were doing it themselves, it did not look good at all so Millie wordlessly walked up to George and took over painting his face.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to stand me ruining my beautiful face with un-beautiful art."

"Shut up, Georgie." Millie says, concentrating on finishing the Irish face paint and not noticing Fred's constant glances at her.

"Soooooooo you're just going to ignore Fred?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Well, I mean he was just taking up for Lupin..."

"And Cedric was just saying he was sorry about Uncle Remus! That doesn't give Fred a reason to act like a git. Honestly!"

"Come on, we both know Freddie is just protective of his... friends."

"Of his friends?" Millie asked suspiciously, noticing the slight hesitation George took in saying it.

"Yeah, his friends." George quickly said, trying to cover his earlier mistake.

"What were you going to say George?"

"Nothing! I meant to say friends!"

"George Fabian Weasley! You tell me what you were going to say!"

"Come on kids, time to go find our seats!" Arthur called our attention to himself.

"Thank Merlin!" George breathed, rushing away from Millie.

Millie caught up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione catching the end of their conversation about how big the stadium is. She listened to Harry and Ron talk about their predictions for the game, with Ron talking excitedly about Viktor Krum. He has an unhealthy obsession with Krum, Millie thought.

"Where are our seats, dad?" Ginny asked, dragging Millie's attention to her. It did seem like they just kept walking up and up and up and up the stairs.

"Almost there, dear. We are in the Minister's box because of a favor from Bagman, remember?" Arthur explained but Millie's stomach dropped because she knew exactly who else would be in the box from a recent letter bragging about his father's connections to the Minister of Magic.

"Oh no." Millie whispered quietly, only getting the attention of Hermione.

"What's wrong? They sound like good seats." Hermione questioned quietly.

"I've just remembered, Draco and his parents will be up in the box, too." Millie explained, hoping none of the boys overheard because their reactions when it came to Draco were, at best, annoying.

"Well, we are almost up there so they'll figure out it out eventually Amelia." Hermione replied, her face screwed up in disgust because she also hates Draco but she doesn't give Millie as much grief about him. Millie sighed, knowing there would be some argument break out because, despite the many talks she'd had with Draco, he could not resist provoking Harry and Ron; which always, upon always, resulted in the boys rants about how awful Draco was until the next incident happened.

Having arrived in the top box, they all chose their seats with Millie somehow ending up next to Harry and Fred; the two she would least likely want to sit with at the moment, what with Fred being so weird lately and insensitive to Cedric and Harry just wanting to discuss Sirius nonstop.

"Ames, can we talk about-"

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." Millie closed her eyes at the interruption by who the Weasleys hated more than anyone else: Lucius Malfoy. She glanced at Fred, noticing his jaw tightening in irritation at being interrupted but also at the sight of the loathsome Malfoys. Then she glanced down at the trio, seeing what she expected: Hermione looking unsurprised but annoyed, Ron's face already reddening in anger, and Harry's body tensing in preparation for the inevitable fight.

"Weasleys? What, did you have to sell that pile of garbage you call a home to afford these tickets? I didn't think it would fetch quite that high of a price." Draco sneered, not having noticed Millie yet. "We are here by personal invite of the Minister himself."

"Draco, no need to boast with these people." Lucius informed his son, then, unfortunately, he noticed Millie. "Ah, well if it isn't the young lady that my son speaks so highly of. Really, Amelia, you can do better than to associate yourself with these people."

Draco looked surprised at the mention of Millie's name and finally noticed her standing between Fred and Harry. He looked slightly abashed for a moment, but regained his sneer when she replied confidently. "Well, sir, at least these people know how to behave with decorum in public. You should take a few pages out of their book on how to treat others."

Lucius looked disgusted at her suggestion but the minister thankfully entered before anymore jabs could be exchanged between the two groups. Draco looked like he wanted to say more to Millie but couldn't with everyone else there so he just ignored her, turning to his mother and saying something. Meanwhile, Fred continued to try to apologize before the match started and Millie tried to ignore him but his pleas got more and more desperate and ridiculous so she turned to him laughing and slapped his side. "Quit! Fine, fine. You're forgiven, let's just watch the match."

Fred hugged Millie to his side, relieved to be back on her good side. Millie didn't show it but she was glad to have forgiven Fred because she couldn't stand being angry at her family. They waited in blissful anticipation for the match, not having any clue of what was to come.