The Mascots' Opening Act

Evita returned the package to the Weasley family, said goodbye to them, and joined Lily.

The three made their way across the mist-shrouded grounds. Lily glanced around. "James should have arrived with Harry already, and Remus and Sirius too. They ought to be putting up the tent, shouldn't they?"

As if sensing something, Nagini suddenly pointed in one direction. "Is that black tent ours? There's someone next to it."

"That's Sirius," Evita said happily. "He looks like he's trying very hard to... take the sign off it?"

"I remember now," Lily said. "That's the tent Sirius went back to his house to get. He wanted to get one last use out of it."

The three walked over together, bent down, and ducked through the tent flap. Inside was a spacious five-bedroom dwelling, complete with a bathroom and kitchen. It was very luxurious.

After tidying up briefly, Evita decided to go out for a look around. Soon, she heard someone calling her from behind.

"Evita!"

It was Tonks. She stood in front of her family's tent, beside a seated witch with brown hair, large eyes, and gentle features.

"This is my mum," Tonks said enthusiastically. "Mum, this is Evita."

"Hello, I'm Andromeda. Dora talks about you all the time at home." The witch smiled gently.

Evita sat down with them, and they had a pleasant conversation.

Before long, Ted returned from fetching water. He was a kindly wizard, and they all enjoyed chatting together.

"So this is where you've got to, E..." Sirius's voice came from behind them, then broke off.

"It's been a long time. How have you been?" Andromeda asked gently. In fact, in the family Sirius despised, his cousin Andromeda was the only one he had a reasonably good relationship with, but they hadn't seen each other in a long time either.

"Not bad," Sirius replied. He seemed a little unsure what to say, and finally asked in return, "What about you?"

The two cousins fell into awkward small talk, while the two girls put their heads together and spoke with a hint of secret excitement. "So my mum is your friend's cousin? Then he's my cousin once removed?"

Evita frowned in thought. "If we go by the order in which we met, you're in the same generation as a boy nearly ten years younger than you, not me."

Tonks said, "Huh?"

"Andromeda and Sirius are in the same generation, and you're Andromeda's daughter, Harry is Sirius's godson, and I'm Lily's friend."

A blush spread across Tonks's face, and she asked nervously and excitedly, "You mean the Boy Who Lived?"

"Could you tell me more about that?" Evita asked.

Tonks suspected nothing. "They say the cunning, treacherous You-Know-Who found out about this boy who was being kept safe, so he wanted to kill him in secret..."

The story left Lily and James out entirely, saying only how treacherously Voldemort had chosen to avoid the parents guarding their child, only to be defeated by a fragile baby.

Everyone had been considered except Voldemort and his reputation, Evita thought with glee.

As time passed, wizard vendors began hawking their wares. Evita followed Sirius toward the tent, buying quite a few souvenirs along the way.

"These are Omnioculars," a wizard vendor said as he approached them. "They can replay the action, show it in slow motion... and, if you need it, they can flash up an analysis of the match. Ten Galleons a pair."

Evita counted the number of people, bought several pairs, and stuffed them all into her suitcase.

"Which team are you supporting?" Sirius couldn't help asking. "Why did you buy everything?"

"Neither," Evita replied. "But the things are interesting. Look at these badges, and the moving models. As for the Omnioculars... I'm planning to watch with some other people."

"With other people?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Those Weasley children?"

"That's right," Evita said, a little distracted. "Are we nearly there?"

They walked a few more steps, and the view opened up before them. A huge stadium stood directly ahead.

"First-class tickets," the Ministry of Magic witch at the entrance said to Evita and Sirius after checking their tickets. "Top box. Keep going up."

The box was at the very top of the stadium, facing the golden goalposts. There were about twenty chairs, and the Weasley family sat in the second row.

Evita headed for the first row and sat down beside Nagini.

"I never expected our tickets to be together," Charlie said happily from directly behind her. "Ginny was just talking about you."

He also wanted to look at Harry and seemed about to say something, but forcibly held himself back. Molly hurriedly pulled Fred back as he was about to walk over, regretting a little that she had told them Harry Potter's story before.

"I didn't expect such a coincidence either." Evita took things out of her suitcase and handed them to the people nearby. "A vendor copied a Muggle trick. He saw that I'd spent quite a bit of money and threw in a few pairs of Omnioculars."

"A Muggle trick?" Mr. Weasley leaned over and asked eagerly, "What sort of trick?"

"When you spend enough Galleons, they give you something extra," Lily explained.

They began discussing it.

Evita said, "Actually, I'm planning to visit London after watching the Quidditch World Cup."

Mr. Weasley became even more eager to discuss Muggles, and only stopped reluctantly when the match was about to begin.

Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, came in and asked the witch in the third row, "Minister, may we begin?"

Minister Millicent Bagnold, who had been listening to the conversation in the box with a smile, stood up. "Of course. There's no question about it."

Ludo first said "Sonorus," then announced with great enthusiasm, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 420th Quidditch World Cup!"

The stands erupted in thunderous cheers, and the blackboard at the front, which had been displaying a succession of advertisements, settled on a single screen.

United States: 0, Brazil: 0.

"Without further ado," Ludo said enthusiastically, "let us welcome the United States team's mascots first!"

Charlie leaned out of his seat. Evita had already run to the front and cried in surprise, "They're Snallygasters!"

"What are they?" Lily asked with interest.

"Animals that look a lot like dragons. They're native to the United States and often appear in Muggle newspapers alongside the Loch Ness Monster."

Charlie leaned his head even farther forward.

"And now the Brazilian team's mascots," Ludo's voice boomed. "Please raise your wands to the sky and welcome them..."

"They're Curupiras, creatures with a strong instinct to protect their own kind," Evita explained.

"They're a bit ugly." Ginny, Ron, and Harry all agreed.