European Quidditch Championship

Chapter I

Amber Black woke up that morning with a smile on her face. The best days of her trip to Europe would only just be starting. For a few hours she'll get out of the hotel where she was staying with Hermione, Harry, Ron, Bill and Tonks and they'll go watch the opening of the European Quidditch Cup, England versus Switzerland!

Looking out the window to the beautiful Portugese sea coast, Amber remembered the past week which she spent in England. How she received nothing but kindness from Harry Potter, his friends Hermione and Ron and everybody that have known her father... mostly due to the fact that he was dead. Amber still didn't know what to think or feel about all of this - her father whom she had never met and whom she paid a little trans-continental visit while her mother was on a business trip had died only a few weeks before her arrival... and the way he died was still left unexplained to Amber. She could see though that he was involved in something BIG. Something that included Harry Potter, her father's godson, and the boy who saved the world sixteen years earlier... about whom even Amber had heard, and she wasn't much familiar with goings-on in Britain. For as long as she could remember, she lived with her mother and her big family (that's really BIG family, of Irish-Sicilian origins) in Salem, Massachusets. But then... when her mother finally got tired of saying plainly 'No' to all of her questions about her father, the day Kate Black was parting to Washington, and when Amber got hold of Sirius Black's address, which turned out to be London, England, she became captured in a whirl of events that she couldn't really control. Well, she could've not gone to England in the first place, but that simply wasn't an option. She needed to meet him. It wasn't a revenge at her mother. It was simply... a thing she had to do.

So after a confusion she brought in the house in Grimmauld Place, and being confused herself by the situation she has come to see, things started to settle down. She had met some friends and cousins of her father that, she supposed, were still discussing how to share the property left behind him, and which was obviously huge - but she didn't care about that. She got to know Harry better, and meanwhile, he was relieved that at least she wasn't treating him like a hero or a lunatic, like everyone else were. They talked about Sirius - as much as Harry was allowed (or able) to tell her, because she felt that there was a limit on that - as easily as about all the usual things like Quidditch, and soon they had befriended. She had also met his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and they all seemed nice and kind, but weirdly concerned about something, as Amber remembered. She just supposed it's something about Englishmen in general.

And then, the invitation for the Championship - Amber still couldn't believe it, but Mr. Weasley, Ron's father, and the rest of the grown-ups that took care about the house, decided to send the kids to European Quidditch Championship that was taking place that summer in Portugal. At that point, Amber realised she had to tell her mother where she was. Staying at her father's friends, no matter how far away from home, was one thing, and going to Portugal, something completely different. Still, she wasn't thinking about asking a permission to go - after all, popping up from England at her mother's fireplace in her hotel room in Washington and asking her if she could go some 500 miles more southern hardly made sense. Giving her a pleading look, but with a voice determined nevertheless, Amber stated she goes to the Championship. It didn't go without yelling, but Kate knew she couldn't do much. She was so stuck with work she just couldn't see a way out of this.

"Oh, come on, there'll be a bunch of people taking care of us! Like Lupin and Tonks..." Amber stopped when she saw her mother's changed face expression. After a moment of silence, Kate stuttered:

"Y-you mean, Remus Lupin and Andromeda Tonks?"

Amber realised she had no idea what Tonks' first name was. "Yeah, something like that, but really... You know this people, right?"

"Yes, I do, and that's exactly... Why are you staying there? Tell me the truth."

"Mom, it's European Championship. So much better than our crappy Championships with banana-republics..."

"Amber, the truth."

"I want to find out something about him. You know that. You wouldn't tell me, and these people don't seem really eager about it either, but certainly it's more likely I'll find out something from them than from you. And there's European Championship," Amber finished with a smile, because she felt like she was an inch from really going there...

"Just... be prepared to hear things you won't like," Kate said, averting her eyes in a manner that Amber would describe as painful... or just thoughtful?

"Oh, and you'll support Ireland, of course. Right?" Kate said, smiling slightly at her daughter. Amber responded with a wide grin.

"Thank you!!!"

She wished she could add some Floo Powder and jump to her mom's room to hug her, but Kate had already closed the connection.

And as Amber was thinking, coming down from window board in her room in a fancy Muggle hotel, she really was thankful to her mother. She was about to have the time of her life!

***

"D'you reckon our Seeker will catch it?" Ron asked, as Harry, Hermione and him were taking their places in the dining hall for breakfast. Hermione rolled her eyes. How many times have they already had this conversation? And how much more of it would she have to listen before... "Oh, great," she thought, "Amber's coming."

But her hope of a normal conversation was extinguished as Amber, noticing them, sat down at their table and, grinning widely, spread scarves in the colors of England all over it.

"Hey guys! A great day for beating some Swiss asses huh? Pick any of those, I just bought them on the market down on the beach. They're actually Muggle-made for soccer fans but they'll have to do," she said, putting one of the scarves around her neck.

"Whoa! They're great! Thanks Amber. We were just talking about the Swiss Seeker, Schmielau, d'you think he could catch the Snitch before Lancelot does?" said Ron, taking one of the scarves spread across, which made Harry wince a bit at the thought how hard it was for Ron to accept presents from him.

"Sven Schmielau? No way. He used to play for the Vancouver Bears and he was always this bragging prat that would brake down under pressure. This Lancelot, he's English Seeker? Is he any good? I remember Hooch used to be the Seeker for the English team, what happened to him?" asked Amber, grabbing jam from the bowl on the table.

"Yeah, he used to, but a few months ago the Department for Magical Games and Quidditch decided to appoint a new coach to the national team. Maccius Wembley - he's made some big changes in the team. No one knows exactly who will play today, actually," Harry said.

"Did you hear that Oliver Wood might be the Keeper?" Hermione tuned in, to everyone's surprise.

"What? Our Oliver Wood?" Harry, Ron and Amber asked simultaneously.

"Wait. Oliver Wood, ex-captain of the Gryffindor team?" Ron added, confused.

"Yeah, that one. I heard it from Ginny, who heard it from Oliver's sister, Laura, and they're in the Muggle Studies summer school together..."

"Whow, wait a second. You know Oliver Wood? Too cool!" Amber said, watching them in awe. "He's been playing for Salem Sturgeons for two months. He's just...."

"Yeah, he's a great Keeper. I replaced him in the Gryff..." Ron interjected.

".... gorgeus," Amber finished, looking dreamily to a point between Ron and Harry, who rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Well, he is! Right, Hermione?"

Hermione flushed a little. "He's quite handsome. But anyway, did you guys know that Malfoys are here as well?"

"A-a, we're not gonna change the subject at this point, Hermione. You have hots for him, right?" Amber interwened, but no one seemed interested in that anymore.

"M-Malfoys? But the bloody bastard is in jail! How did he..." Harry stuttered.

"Junior and Mrs. are here alone. I saw them last night when I was returning from library, they're staying in this hotel. They came in a taxi. Malfoys," Hermione said, taxi part sounding the weirdest.

"What are they doing? Shouldn't they be trying to bail the old man outta jail?" Ron added grimly. "And why haven't we seen them yet - don't they breakfast?"

"I guess they're too busy with their evil plans, whatever they are this time. God! And I honestly believed we'll get a decent vacation from everything, just watching Quidditch..." Harry fumed, throwing himself to the back of his chair.

"They might just be here to support England..." Hermione noticed quietly.

"Right. Oh, look, there's a flying cow above your head!" Ron mocked grimly. Everyone sat frowning and fuming in their chairs.

"Ah-haaa... Who are Malfoys?" Amber said, taking another piece of toast cautiously.