It was a long trek up the stairs to their seats for theQuidditch World Cup, and Harry's arms were sore by the time they finished theirjourney. Overloaded with merchandise and snacks, they clamored into theirseats. Sirius had gone a bit overboard in his spoiling, and their group (theWeasleys, Hermione, and Luna) were all bogged down in souvenirs, their view ofthe field proved that their seats were the best in the arena.
Once the game started, Harry forgot all about his snacksthough - the roar of the crowd, the blasts of wind that swept across his faceas the players flew at top speed around the field - it was the kind offast-paced action that Harry adored. He was so focused on the movement of theplayers that he didn't notice anything unusual until his seat jolted fromSirius jumping out of his chair.
Harry turned to see what was happening. Sirius grumbled,shaking slightly as he peered over the edge of the seats and scanned thecrowds.
"Sirius?" Mr. Weasley asked in concern.
"Sorry, someone must have let off somefireworks," he complained, returning to his seat with a final furtive scanover the area. "Loud noises don't agree with me anymore."
"I didn't hear anything," Harry said.
"Don't mind me, these old bones get paranoidnowadays," he said and shoved some popcorn into Harry's face. A food fightensued - a brief violent tossing of popcorn before excited screams returnedtheir attention back to the game just in time to witness the Ireland keepermiss the Quaffle by the tips of his fingers resulting in another goal.
A quick glance to his side showed that Sirius looked calmagain, so Harry let his attention return to the game as the Irish team moved toretaliate. When they scored, Ron grabbed Harry and they shuffled around in anexcited sort of dance, screaming along without words to a chant that began topick up across the stadium.
He heard then, a deep, rumbling boom from somewhere nearthe ground level which caused Sirius to jolt. Harry grabbed his hand to settlehim to which Sirius shot him a grateful look. Harry didn't see any fireworksthough. The mascots were arguing very loudly, but they were floating above theair and it had been a heavy boom as though from the earth itself.
Sirius began to mutter. "Fucking old man. God damn,can't even have fun anymore. You're not in a raid. Relax!"
Unsure where the noise was coming from, but not seeinganyone else looking panicked, Harry kept one eye on the game and one eye onSirius. But the happy adrenaline from the match had soured with anuncomfortable tension. His quickly beating heart was now all he could focus on.He tried to force himself to calm down, just like Sirius, he knew thateverything was fine. He was so excited to be here, and now he wasn't even ableto enjoy it. There was a faint buzz in the back of his mind, an instinctualwarning that buzzed louder and louder with each passing second.
Ron grabbed at him again, screaming. "Holy shit!Krum! Krum!"
The Snitch was caught and the world crescendoed intonoise. Harry let himself be swept away into the excitement. The players beganto do a victory lap around the stadium, waving and cheering when anotherthunderous boom echoed and shook the stands so loudly that it bellowed over thenoise of the crowd. The cheering quieted down significantly as everyone lookedaround in confusion. There were still no fireworks. Sirius was out of his seat,wand in hand before the shaking had time to stop. He had a grim, calculatinglook on his face that frightened Harry. It was not a look he'd seen on the manbefore, and he couldn't help but assume that because Sirius was acting likethat then something had to be wrong. Another boom sounded and Minister Fudge,from a few seats over, cursed as the tallest parts of the stadium buckledslightly, jostling the lot of them out of their seats.
The structure held although the floor beneath them wasstuck at a slight angle. Across the field, Harry watched as the rows of seatstilted and buckled like an accordion, a great wail sounded as the pressuresnapped steel.
Sirius and Mr. Weasley, both looking concerned, corralledtheir group down the stairs as the crowd began to increase in volume, thecheering giving way to panic and confusion. Others began to leave and theycrowded the steps, pushing and crashing into each other. Harry was shoved hardto the side. He would have face-planted had a firm grasp not yanked on himfirmly. Risking a quick glance behind revealed Sirius, who kept his grip on hisshoulder.
"Right behind you," he assured him."Everyone, keep a hold of each other! Where's Hermione?"
Hermione shouted from somewhere behind them. Harry sawLuna a few people ahead becoming separated from them by a horde of screamingchildren and he pushed some Ministry workers to the side in his haste to reachthe girl. Another rumbling boom sounded and panic kicked into full force. Thestairs rattled beneath their feet, the joints groaned, the wood creaked and thewhole building wiggled like it was made of gelatin. From their crampedstairwell, they could not see what was happening, but screams were coming fromthe grandstands - piercing, frantic screams and everyone began to evacuate enmasse. Harry reached out with a shadow and pulled Luna back to him. She trippedand he caught her by the back of her shirt.
The closer they came to the ground level, the louder thescreams became. The building wobbled in increased frequency, the more unsteadythe steps beneath them became, some of them giving way entirely. It felt like amiracle that they finally reached the ground level.
It was impossible to see over the mass of taller bodies,but there were unmistakable neon slashes of spellfire coming from deeper withinthe pitch. Sirius steered their group away from the commotion and the crowdsdamming up the exit, the area so tightly packed that an escape from one of theexits would cost several elbows to the face and more time than was safe tolinger.
Cutting through an empty stretch of the pitch, Siriusbrought them over to a door marked as staff only. Inside was a locker room -the baskets of towels and belongings strewn across the floor as the room shookand knocked dust onto their faces. Sirius threw up several spells in quicksuccession over the door as Mr. Weasley counted heads.
"Is anyone hurt?" - "What'shappening?" -"There's anti-apparition jinxes up." Everyone beganto talk over each other.
"Everyone, listen up!" Sirius shouted overtheir talking. The panicked, shaking nerves from before had entirelydisappeared from Sirius and he regarded them all calmly. "We don't knowwhat's happening, so we need to stay calm and assume anything. We can't stayhere for long. First, we need to find another way out, then get the childrensomewhere safe -"
On cue, the stadium shuddered with another great boom. Itwas ear-wrenching, filling up the entirety of the room, rattling into hisbones. It tore through the stadium, shaking the construction and causinganother great tidal wave of noise as the entire structure shuddered. Debrisscattered across them as the ceiling buckled. A dozen protego charms eruptedfrom their wands as, only seconds after the great rumbling noises began, theroof began to crash down on top of them.
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