she changed her hair from its usual unruly black mess to a swirl of green, orange, and white. they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. they could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing. the atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; elara couldn't stop grinning. they walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until at last they emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. though elara could see only a fraction of the immense gold walls surrounding the field, she could tell that ten cathedrals would fit comfortably inside it.

"seats a hundred thousand," said mr. weasley, spotting the awestruck look on elara's face. "ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. muggle repelling charms on every inch of it. every time muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again . . . bless them," he added fondly, leading the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.

"prime seats!" said the ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "top box! straight upstairs, arthur, and as high as you can go."

the stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. they clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. mr. weasley's party kept climbing, and at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. about twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and harry, filing into the front seats with the weasleys, looked down upon a scene the likes of which he could never have imagined.

a hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. the field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. at either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at elara's eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it,elara saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field.

the bluebottle: a broom for all the family — safe,reliable, and with built-in anti-burglar buzzer . . . mrs. skower's all-purpose magical mess remover: no pain, no stain! . . . gladrags wizardwear — london, paris, hogsmeade . . .

elara tore her eyes away from the sign and looked over her shoulder to see who else was sharing the box with them. so far it was empty, except for a tiny creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind them. the creature, whose legs were so short they stuck out in front of it on the chair, was wearing a tea towel draped like a toga, and it had its face hidden in its hands.

"dobby?" said harry incredulously. he must have been looking too.

the tiny creature looked up and stretched its fingers, revealing enormous brown eyes and a nose the exact size and shape of a large tomato. elara stared at harry with her eyebrows raised. how did he know dobby?

elara remembered dobby from all the times she had visited aunt cissa during the holidays. uncle lucius and draco were always assholes to him, and aunt cissa was always a tad cold, but elara really liked dobby. when dobby learned of elara's distaste for the extravagant meals the malfoys enjoyed, so he would always make comfort foods elara enjoyed: mac and cheese, chicken tenders, cheeseburgers, fettuccine alfredo, etc.

"did sir just call me dobby?" squeaked the elf curiously frombetween its fingers. its voice was higher even than dobby's had been, a teeny, quivering squeak of a voice, and elara suspected —though it was very hard to tell with a house-elf — that this one might just be female. ron and hermione spun around in their seats to look. even mr. weasley looked around in interest.

"sorry," harry told the elf, "i just thought you were someone i knew."

"but i knows dobby too, sir!" squeaked the elf. she was shielding her face, as though blinded by light, though the top box was not brightly lit. "my name is winky, sir — and you, sir —" her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon harry's scar. "you is surely harry potter... and you, miss," she said to elara, "you is surely elara lestrange! dobby speaks most highly of you, miss!"

harry, ron, and hermione looked at elara in surprise. she shrugged and mouthed, 'i'll tell you later.'

"yeah, we are," said harry.

"but dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" she said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck.

"how's he doing?" said elara. "how's freedom treating him?"

"ah, miss," said winky, shaking her head, then to harry, "ah sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but i is not sure you did dobby a favor, sir, when you is setting him free."

"why?" said harry, taken aback. "what's wrong with him?"

"freedom is going to dobby's head, sir," said winky sadly."ideas above his station, sir. can't get another position, sir."

"why not?" said elara.

winky lowered her voice by a half-octave and whispered, "he is wanting paying for his work, miss."

"paying?" said elara blankly. "well — why shouldn't he bepaid? he's a excellent cook. best mac and cheese i've ever had."

winky looked quite horrified at the idea and closed her fingers slightly so that her face was half-hidden again.

"house-elves is not paid, miss!" she said in a muffled squeak. "no,no, no. i says to dobby, i says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, dobby. he is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir,what is unbecoming to a house-elf. you goes racketing around like this, dobby, i says, and next thing i hear you's up in front of the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures,like some common goblin."

"well, it's about time he had a bit of fun," said harry.

"house-elves is not supposed to have fun, harry potter," said winky firmly, from behind her hands. "house-elves does whatthey is told. i is not liking heights at all, harry potter" — she glanced toward the edge of the box and gulped — "but my master sends me to the top box and i comes, sir."

"if he knows you don't like heights, why'd he send you up here?" said elara, frowning.

acrophobia is something elara is all to familiar with. she'd spent the entire summer going over all the information she could find on dealing with her fear of heights in preparation of the world cup. she knew if someone had forced her up here against her will, she'd be scared out of her mind. in fact, her heart still dropped everytime she looked down.

"master — master wants me to save him a seat, elara lestrange. he is very busy," said winky, tilting her head toward the empty space beside her. "winky is wishing she is back in master's tent,elara lestrange, but winky does what she is told. winky is a good house-elf."

she gave the edge of the box another frightened look and hid her eyes completely again. harry turned back to the others, but elara stayed. she wished to help the house elf.

"winky," elara began, and the house-elf peered through her fingers, "i don't like heights much either. i find that if you look at the horizon line, or if you distract yourself with a conversation or game, it's not as scary."

"thank you, miss. winky is grateful."

"if you want, you call just call me elara -- or lara." elara smiled warmly at the terrified house-elf.

winky nodded, and elara turned back in her seat. everyone was staring at her curiously.

"what?" said elara, shrugging her shoulders, "i only did what was right."

the box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. mr. weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. when cornelius fudge, the minister of magic himself, arrived, percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat,throwing jealous looks at harry and elara, both of which cornelius fudge had greeted like old friends. fudge was the judge in elara's guardianship trial, and he and harry had met before, and fudge shook their hands in a fatherly fashion, asked how they was, and introduced them to the wizards on either side of him.

"elara lestrange," said fudge loudly. "her mum was bellatrix -- you know -- the death eater."

there it was. the bulgarian minister nodded. he looked incredibly interested, like there was something he knew that she didn't

"harry potter, you know," fudge told the bulgarian minister loudly,who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold and didn't seem to understand a word of english. "harry potter . . .oh come on now, you know who he is . . . the boy who survived you-know-who . . . you do know who he is —"

the bulgarian wizard suddenly spotted harry's scar and started gabbling loudly and excitedly, pointing at it.

"knew we'd get there in the end," said fudge wearily to harry and elara."i'm no great shakes at languages; i need barty crouch for this sort of thing. ah, i see his house-elf's saving him a seat. . . . good job too, these bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places . . . ah, and here's lucius!"

harry, ron, elara, and hermione turned quickly. edging along the second row to three still-empty seats right behind mr. weasley were none other than dobby the house-elf's former owners: elara's uncle lucius; her cousin, draco; and aunt cissa.

elara and draco had never seen eye-to-eye in all their years of knowing each other. a pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair, draco greatly resembled uncle lucius. aunt cissa was blonde too; tall and slim, but she always wore a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose.

although, aunt cissa's expression softened when she saw elara.

ignoring the looks from the weasley's along with harry, hermione, and aurora, elara got up from her seat and ran to give aunt cissa a hug. despite the tension between aunt meda and aunt cissa, they had agreed that elara would go visit malfoy manor from time to time. aunt cissa loved elara like a daughter.

elara shook hands with uncle lucius and sneered a draco before sitting down again. she ignored the glare ron was shooting at her and looked in the opposite direction; away from ron and the quidditch pitch.

"ah, fudge," said uncle lucius, holding out his hand as he reached the minister of magic. "how are you? i don't think you've met my wife, narcissa? or our son, draco?"

"how do you do, how do you do?" said fudge, smiling and bowing to aunt cissa. "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. and let's see who else — you know arthur weasley, i daresay?"

it was a tense moment. mr. weasley and uncle lucius looked at each other and elara vividly recalled the last time they had come face-to-face: it had been in flourish and blotts' bookshop, and they had had a fight. uncle lucius' cold gray eyes swept over mr. weasley, and then up and down the row.

"good lord, arthur," he said softly. "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.

uncle lucius' eyes had returned to hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. elara knew exactly what was making uncle lucius' lip curl like that. the malfoys prided themselves on being purebloods; in other words, they considered anyone of muggle descent, like hermione, second-class. however, under the gaze of the minister of magic, uncle lucius didn't dare say anything. he nodded sneeringly to mr. weasley and continued down the line to his seats. draco shot harry, ron, elara, and hermione one contemptuous look, then settled himself between aunt cissa and uncle lucius.

"slimy gits," ron muttered as he, harry, elara, and hermione turned to face the field again. elara took one look down at the pitch for the first time since entering the box. her heart dropped and she unconsciously laced her hand with harry's and squeezed it tightly.

next moment, ludo bagman charged into the box.

"everyone ready?" he said, his round face gleaming like a great,excited edam. "minister — ready to go?"

"ready when you are, ludo," said fudge comfortably.

ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said "sonorus!" and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.

"ladies and gentlemen . . . welcome! welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second quidditch world cup!"

the spectators screamed and clapped. thousands of flags waved,adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. the huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message(bertie bott's every flavor beans — a risk with every mouthful!) and now showed .

"and now, without further ado, allow me to introduce . . . the bulgarian national team mascots!"

the right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

"i wonder what they've brought," said mr. weasley, leaning forward in his seat. "aaah!" he suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "veela!"

"what are veel — ?" harry had begun to ask.

but a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and harry's question was answered for him. veela were women, and elara couldn't deny it, the most beautiful women she'd ever seen. their skin was moon-bright like that, and their white gold hair fanned out behind them without wind. music started, and every man and boy in the stadium fell into a trance.

hermione, elara, aurora, and ginny looked upon the men they were with scornfully. hermione huffed and tapped her foot impatiently. elara watched harry with a frown tugging at her lips. aurora was fuming at george, who was standing with his mouth wide open, some drool dripping out his mouth. ginny watched mr. weasley in distaste.

the veela had started to dance. and as the veela danced faster and faster, harry had pulled his hand from elara's and was beginning to climb over the railing. ron was frozen in some sort of stance, looking like he was about to dive off a diving board.

"harry, what the hell are you doing?" said elara with a sharp edge in her voice.

the music stopped. angry yells were filling the stadium. the crowd didn't want the veela to go. harry began toying with the shamrock pinned to his chest. ron, meanwhile, was absentmindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat. mr. weasley, smiling slightly, leaned over to ron and tugged the hat out of his hands.

"you'll be wanting that," he said, "once ireland have had their say."

"huh?" said ron, staring open-mouthed at the veela, who had now lined up along one side of the field.

"honestly," elara and hermione hissed simultaneously as they dragged the two boys back into their seats.

next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold cometcame zooming into the stadium. it did one circuit of the stadium,then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goalposts. a rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. the crowd oooohed and aaaaahed, as though at a fireworks display. now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it —

"excellent!" yelled ron as the shamrock soared over them, andheavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. squinting up at the shamrock, elara realized that it was actually comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests,each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.

"leprechauns!" said mr. weasley over the tumultuous applause, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.

"there you go," ron yelled happily, stuffing a fistful of gold coins into harry's hand, "for the omnioculars! now you've got to buy me a christmas present, ha!"

ron didn't seem to realize it was leprechaun's gold. it would disappear within a short time, but elara didn't have the heart to tell ron that. he looked so happy and jovial.

harry then looked down at elara's hand. he smiled when he noticed the turquoise thread bracelet with the tiny silver feather charm clad around her wrist. it was the wish bracelet he had gifted her last year for christmas

"you've still got the bracelet on," said harry in an odd, sort of hopeful voice.

"yeah, my wish hasn't come true yet." elara said offhandedly as she looked down at her wrist.

"i'll give you a galleon if you tell me what it was."

"nice try, harry."