The campgrounds were amazing. The sheer variety of people alone was enough to take one’s breath away. There were tents of all sorts, ranging from a small muggle variety lean to, to a literal castle-like tent. There were flags and pennants flying all around, though the predominant ones were the Irish green and the Bulgarian red, today was their day after all.

Darius and his friends were all at the campgrounds for the Quidditch Cup finals. Darius was there along with Hermione, Daphne, Harry, Neville, Hannah and Susan. They were chaperoned by Kaela, Sirius, Amelia and Lupin. The sacking of Lupin had gone nearly the same way as canon with minor differences. This time the news was not leaked by Snape but by the Slytherin house. Daphne didn’t tell us much, Slytherins had their own code of silence after all. But what she did tell us was enough to piece together that Snape was not behind this, at least not directly. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Draco either, guess there is a new faction in Slytherin. Lupin had been forcefully invited by Sirius to his house, who insisted that he live with them. Harry had no problems with this whatsoever, in fact he joined Sirius’ side on the matter and both of them insisted that Remus live with them.

Sirius and Amelia were getting along like a house on fire. Sometimes, it felt like they hadn’t been separated for nigh on twelve years at all. She came over frequently and all of them got used to her presence. Her niece Susan accompanied her and after meeting her best friend Hannah, stayed over frequently to accompany us. From then on, it became natural to call her every time they gathered together.

Darius roamed the grounds alone for a while. Mione and the other girls were chatting together, and the adults were also doing the same. Harry and Neville had spotted some of their classmates and had gone to spend some time with them. He decided to roam around alone and see the sights. And the sights were truly incredible! Witches and wizards from around the world were here and it was a unique opportunity to mingle with them. He cursed himself for not learning the translation charm earlier, it was a nifty little charm that allowed one to understand the speaker even if they spoke a different language. He knew enough arithmancy and magical theory to come up with a knockoff spell himself, but it would take him days to do so, time which he currently did not have. So, he had to make do by just observing the people. One could tell a lot about people by their aura and he stayed well clear of any which gave him even slightly bad feeling.

There were African wizards in animal patterned and tribal motif bearing robes. Most of them chose to carry staves while some had no visible foci. Those were the more formidable, Darius knew it. They were either nature shamans who used natural magic exclusively or elemental practitioners, an art long forgotten to British wizards. They each looked formidable and ready to go toe to toe with an opponent at any opponent. From his studies, Darius knew they did not use a magical creature core in their staves, instead the trees themselves were nurtured with magic in a special way to make them into adequate foci. So, their staves were adequate magical foci but not the par excellence items that came forth from a magical Nova. He was certainly hopeful that his wand might come through and be able to upgrade into a proper staff, they certainly looked intimidating in the hands of the foreign visitors.

Then there were the wizards from the other countries of Europe. One thing to note was that the boundaries of the muggle countries and the magical ones did not always coincide. In fact, it was rarer when it did than not. In the European block, Britain held an important position for being on of the cradles of magic. Greece was also a significant power and their large-scale spell and the group spell were feared with good reason. France had some of the most advanced magical research groups and was among the top few in the world. Spain was also a significant power. They were among the richest in terms of sheer wealth and had good relations on the international scene. Then of course, Switzerland was known for its neutrality, whether in the muggle world or the magical. In fact, the meeting place of the International Confederation of Wizards, or ICW was situated in that country. There has not been blood spilt in that country for over a millennium and the ICW ensures that it stays that way, it is the ultimate safe haven.

Darius further roamed around and saw even more variety. The South American wizards had ridiculously flamboyant robes, but they managed to pull it off. They also almost always had an animal companion with them. It ranged from normal non-magical birds to a winged Aethonian horses. If he wasn’t mistaken, there were particular magical communities or tribes there which used beast control magics and warging.

And then there were the Indians. Ne of the two premier powers of the Asian continent along with China, they boasted the most diverse range of magic within any single country. There were magicians solely using body reinforcement magics, illusion magics or ‘maya’ as it was known there, the normal wand-based magic, natural casting, runic magic, aria magic, terrain magic and so much more. They were also one of the premier countries as far as potions, herbology and healing. In fact, India was definitely going to be one of Darius’ long stops while he wandered the world. There was just so much to learn there. There were also certain tribes which could even teach someone parseltongue, if they could be convinced to do so. Unlike Europe, there was not as much of a negative connotation to the skill, instead it was revered for its powerful effect on healing and ward based magics.

Darius finally reached the Irish and Bulgarian camps and promptly turned around and started walking back to their campsite. The reason was obvious, the campsites were in utter bedlam. The Irish were already half drunk and belting out songs and dancing merrily. While the Bulgarians had an even bigger and more ostentatious contingent and were trying to party as if there was no tomorrow. He did catch sight of a few of the Veela cheerleaders but his Occlumency was easily able to handle any possible effects they may have on him, particularly since they weren’t even trying to actively use their allure. He did see them through his aura sight though and it was a rather beautiful sight. They were giving out a rather ephemeral aura in tones of red and pink which drifted around them like smoke. It was easy to see that that was what was responsible for ensnaring every weak-willed foe around them to act like love-sick fools. He didn’t catch a sight of the leprechauns though. He was rather intrigued by their ability with the temporary gold and was rather interested in observing it through his aura sight.

The aura sight was a more all-encompassing version of the mage-sight, which is already considered to be a rare gift by the other mages. It allowed him much greater insight into any spell cast and also made it easier to emulate wand-based spells using wandless or natural casting because he knew how to shape the spells properly. His natural casting was coming along swimmingly now and the more he practiced it, the more he realized just how much wands held one back.

The closest comparison he could make were the training wheels of a bicycle. While they did help in the early stages, using them too much made one reliant on them and unable to measure up to their full potential. He was now in full agreement with the Russian system of snapping their wands once they reached magical maturity. He didn’t know how the Brits came to restrict themselves this way, but he was having none of it. Mione was already improving by leaps and bounds and he was determined to see her reach her full potential.

“Hey son, where were you? You’ve been gone for ages.”

Darius had just made his way back to their campsite and met his mother. He had indeed been gone a long while, what with roaming nearly the entire breadth of the campground but they knew he could take care of himself.

“Just roaming around, mum. There are witches and wizards from all across the world here and it was fascinating to see all the different foreigners. The only problem was that I have not learnt the translation charm yet, otherwise I could have talked to them as well.”

“That’s my boy! I’m proud of you for making the effort. Our clan is well known for its inclusive policies and has people all across the world. Why, your father also happened to be a foreign wizard. But sadly, the majority of the British magical population do not share that sentiment. Most of them, especially the higher strata of society are bigots of the worst kind and xenophobes to boot.”

“I know that very well mum. After all, I’ve been dealing with the heirs to these families for the past five years at Hogwarts.”

“That’s true! Anyway, you have been gone a long while and you should be getting ready now. We will be heading down to the stadium in another half-hour. I personally do not understand all the hullaballoo about the sport but the rest of them are positively dying to get there.”

“Very well, mum. It won’t take me long to freshen up. Are the rest of them all back yet?”

“The boys as well as girls are back. Only the adults are left. But don’t you worry, they’ll be back in time.”

All of them, Sirius, Remus, Amelia, Kaela, Harry, Daphne, Astoria, Susan, Mione and him headed to the copse of trees at the edge of the grounds. Thought, by this pint Darius was getting pretty nervous. The attack of the Death Eaters was going to happen after the match tonight but there was no way to warn everyone. If he only warned his own friends, it would look suspicious if they sneaked out in the middle of the night. After all, there were still some people who were convinced that Sirius was part of the Dark Lord’s army. They cold easily try to pin the blame on us by citing our actions to be highly suspect. Plus, the others won’t like it if everyone else in the campground is attacked while we sneak out in a cowardly way. It is also not possible to warn everyone in the campground and convince them that it is the truth. He couldn’t do anything but remain vigilant and protect his friends and loved ones.

Darius would also have to take down Crouch Jr without arousing anyone’s suspicions. It would be too dangerous to do it with his family around, it may lead to a hostage situation and he couldn’t have gone to the Crouch manor on his own without inviting suspicion on himself. So, his plan was to take him down tonight after he fired off the Dar mark and get Crouch Sr taken down as well. It may be able to further destabilize Voldemort’s plans and delay his resurrection. He had understood by now that this was not a book and that each and every one of his actions had had an effect on the future. The future had already irrevocably changed with his actions and he had to begin taking proactive actions rather that depend on Voldemort to follow the same script as the book.

The Malfoys and Weasleys were already in the Top Box by the time they had arrived, in fact they had cut it somewhat close and the last of the advertisements were just finishing. Darius swept his eyes across the Box and took in several details. Winky was there in the corner as he had expected and the slight bend in the back of the chair next to her told him that Crouch Jr was there as well, hidden under a invisibility. Ron was glaring at him as soon as he entered as he did all year at school. The bigoted idiot at least had the brains to understand that it was his influence that stopped Harry from becoming to pally with the ginger haired boy. And boy, was he angry about it. Harry was his ticket to fame and money and he was always kept at arms-length from Harry because of Darius. The boy was barely managing to eke out ‘Accetable’ grades without Mione’s help. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise Darius if he flunked out this very year. If not, he would definitely fail in his OWLs. Ron continued to glare at him, but Darius just turned around without paying any attention at all.

The match went nearly the same as canon. The Irish were just amazing as a team. They absolutely trounced the Bulgarian side. Darius could positively see through his omniculars, as the scowl on Krum’s face getting even more surlier from his place high above as he was searching for the snitch, and the Irish team kept scoring points.

His Wronski Feint midway through the math was a thing of beauty. No matter how much of a grouch he may look, the guy had some mad skills on the broom. With all his reflexes, magical power and flying skills, Darius wasn’t sure he would be able to pull one off even half as good. The man looked utterly focused as he went down, as if he was just seconds away from catching the snitch and pulled out from the dive at the very last moment he could have possibly done so without sending himself plummeting into the ground as well. The Irish seeker was taken in hook, line and sinker and absolutely smashed in to the ground, the poor guy.

The final score was nearly the same as canon as the match ended 180-170 in Ireland’s favor. Krum caught the snitch to end the match. The procession of teams made their way up to the top box where Ireland was given the cup and loud cheers broke out throughout the stadium.

It was an extremely festive atmosphere as we made our way through the tents towards our campsite. Irish banners hung everywhere and there was a never-ending stream of green fireworks up in the sky. Drinks were being chugged down by the gallons and there were already a few drunk sots laid out by the wayside. It was hilarious.

But Darius couldn’t keep up the grin on his face for long. After all, the merriment no was fine but there was a much more sinister event following it. He had no clue whether the Death Eaters would attack or if his actions had somehow changed events enough that that attack won’t occur. But he wasn’t going to be taking chances anyway. Tonight, he would keep an eye on the surroundings. He wasn’t going to wake up in the middle of the night with Death Eaters storming the place. Some of the others noticed his slightly put off mood but put it off to merely being a bit exhausted.

But Darius waited. He might not be a seer, but even he could feel that something was going to happen that night!