It took about twenty minutes into their first practice for the team to get use to the new pitch (or field, as the Yanks called it). Having played at Hogwarts and Puddlemere, they were used to full stadiums which sat hundreds of spectators and created a bowl separating the players from the rest of the world. However, while the game pitches had the stands equal to Hogwarts, the practice pitches had only bleachers which allowed a view of the surrounding forest and the twin marble buildings that were the Salem Witches Academy.

As Scorpius flew down the pitch, he looked over into the stands to see Jimber and his Grandfather Quarrel Dokes watching the practice closely. Jimber had already checked out the Peruvian practice earlier that morning and gave his friends a scouting report.

â€�“Now, Scorp, their best Chaser is this really cute girl named Isabella Rojas. You’re going to have to Bludger her. Knock her pony-tail into the sand. Are you sure you’re up to it?” Jimber teased him with the ease of long time friend. Turning to face Rhys Jones he added, â€�“Pinto, their Seeker, is garbage, man. You will have the Golden Snitch before Pinto can get his broom up to cruising altitude.” The team seemed to feed off of Jimber’s confidence.

After a night of fitful sleep, Scorpius joined his teammate for their mid-morning pregame breakfast. The team nervously nibbled at the food on their plates. Also sitting quietly at the tables behind them was the Costa Ricans, a group E team, who would be playing their number one seed Egypt at the same time on Pitch number 1. At a nearby table the New Zealanders were talking loudly about their defeat of Nigeria. The Kiwi’s had won three hundred to sixty. The Russian team was also celebrating a victory over Honduras the day before. The louder they got, the more nervous Scorpius felt.

As all conversation died away from the team, Jimber walked in. Walking up behind the Seeker he leaned forward and said, â€�“Rhys, I expect a quick capture. I have a date with a Chaser on the Nigerian team at five.”

â€�“Really, what’s his name?” asked Grindus. A murmur of laughter came from the Potter boys and Kaitlin.

Jimber faked a laugh. â€�“Her name is Toyin and she wants to find out all about you lot.”

Kaitlin seemed incensed. â€�“You’re willing to betray your friends just to get a date with a girl!”

â€�“It all depends on how cute the girl is. I think I might be able to hold out for at least two kisses with this one before I tell her all of your secrets.”

The team laughed and relaxed a bit.

At a quarter till eleven, Lily showed up at the table. â€�“Mum wants all of you in the changing room. Now!” The team stood up as one and quietly walked out of the door following the young girl.

Scorpius listened to the coaches. They were saying the same thing they had said in the caravan and on the practice field. He let his mind wander back home. He wondered what his parents were doing. It was only when Geoffrey Grindus nudged him on the shoulder did he notice that the entire team was standing but him. The coaches were giving him the evil eye. He swallowed and returned their gaze evenly.

â€�“Okay, your first international match. You may be nervous now, but the moment the whistle blows, that feeling will leave. You are too good to be worried. You’ve put in too much practice to be in trouble. Go at them, don’t let them think, let their nerves grow with each breath. You are as talented a group that I’ve ever coached. Now, go take the pitch and the match. Hands in.”

The team pulled a circle with their right hands extended and touching in the center. Coach Potter spoke, â€�“On three, ‘Rule Britannia’. Ready, One, two, three…”

â€�“Rule Britannia!” they all shouted and James Potter laughed for a heartbeat until he saw his mother pursing her lips and staring him down.

As they lined up at mid-pitch, the players shook hands with all of the other team’s players. Scorpius noticed the Chaser that Jimber had teased him about. She was really cute, but not as cute as Rose.

Grindus nudged his distant cousin and fellow Beater. â€�“Your mate, Dokes, can sure pick them.” Scorpius smiled in response. It was the first time since he had made the team that Geoffrey had talked to him about something other than strategy.

The players took their positions, the referee blew her whistle and the balls were released. She whistled again and the teams kicked off. Scorpius saw that Marino, a Peruvian Chaser, intercepted James’ long pass toward a streaking Kaitlin. The gamble on the quick score meant that the team was out of position to play the Whirlwind. Desperately swinging around to find the closest Bludger, Scorpius angled his flight and was able to hit Isabella Rojas at the same time that Marino’s pass did. She dropped the Quaffle and Albus picked the grabbed the ball at waist height. He drove across the pitch, flying towards the out of bounds on the left. Just as he crossed mid-pitch, he blindly tossed the ball over his left shoulder to Kaitlin. She dodged two Bludgers and drove to the right. As the Keeper began to move that way, she fired the ball back to her left to where James awaited. The shot was almost too easy.

As Scorpius relaxed at the ease of their first score, Rojas shot past him heading for Rose. Marino had just received a pass and was rushing to catch up with his teammate. Scorpius cursed himself. In his joy at the score, he had lost the feel for the position of the Bludgers. Throwing his weight back and bringing the nose of his broom perpendicular to the ground, he pulled his broom in a quick circle searching for the balls. About two-thirds around, he spotted one coming at him from the bat of Zambrano. Realizing his bat was out of position to knock it at a real target, he flicked it up to deflect the ball up over his shoulder. Now with a ball ready to be struck, he charged up angling to bring his bat into the perfect striking position. He accelerated to the where the ball would be and drove it toward the Peruvian Chaser, but Grindus had broken up the play with a strike into Marino’s back.

James was attacking the goal. Scorpius drove his strike towards the off Beater Ramirez who was watching the play. Ramirez did not hear the Bludger until it was too late. He was struck on the shoulder of his bat hand. The bat flew from his hand and crashed onto the pitch. James scored, throwing the Quaffle through the hands of the Keeper.

The match lasted only a half hour more, when Rhys Jones leisurely skimmed the grass and collected the Golden Snitch. The United Kingdom had won two-hundred-and-twenty to thirty.

As the team headed for the changing rooms and showers, Jimber met them at the door. He clapped Scorpius on the back and said, â€�“Way to go team. I even have a couple of hours to get ready for my date tonight. By the way, Honduras makes the Peruvians look like the Tutshill Tornados.”

Although they had won by almost two hundred points, Coaches Devon and Potter still seemed to have a lot to unhappy about the play of their charges.

â€�“Malfoy, where was your head after the first goal?” Devon yelled. â€�“A monkey on a broom wouldn’t let himself get that close to being hit.”

Scorpius swallowed and nodded in silent agreement.

â€�“Rose, Isabella Rojas scored her first two goals by charging the right hoop with the ball in her right hand and throwing back. How could you’ve not known that she was going to do that the third time she attacked the goal?”

Rose’s head sank. Scorpius could sense Rose being deflated.

â€�“She had five saves,” Scorpius offered in defense.

Mrs. Potter, who was standing behind them, yelled into the back of his head, â€�“Is your name Rose, Malfoy? We know the statistics, we need explanations.”

Rose looked over at him with a sort-of-annoyed or sort-of-angry look that he had never seen from her and answered Devon. ”I thought she would feint to the backside hoop and attack the right hoop. I was wrong. I guess I gave her too much credit.”

â€�“I see, at least you had a reason.” Devon replied and Scorpius saw Devon give Rose a little wink and Rose’s head popped up.

â€�“Congratulations. You’ve just played your easiest game of the whole tournament. Peru didn’t know you from Hagrid. Well, I saw every coach from Group D plus the United States and most of the others in the stands. They now know every little quirk and strength of each of you. If you thought playing at school were everybody knows everybody’s tactics was tough, wait to see what professional coaches will have designed for you in your next game. And that game will be noon Thursday, Pitch One against Honduras. The Russians crushed them by three hundred. They will be happy to get a chance to ruin your tournament.”

Ron Weasley was wearing his Muggle outfit number three. When he had graduated from his Auror training, Hermione had taken him to multiple Muggle stores and bought him outfits to fit in with Muggles. Each outfit was in a little bag in his closet, with a label explaining what the outfit represented on the outside. Outfit three was designed to look like an Inspector from Scotland Yard. Inside the garment bag was also a small satchel which held fake identification papers and a small Muggle box called a mobile phone which contained a device for talking, taking photographs, and notes. She had even given him a tutorial on how to look like he knew how to use it.

Ron showed his papers to the Muggle security guard and was given access to the back room. As he entered the room, he saw a dark, burly man wearing a waist coat, top hat and cut off dungarees sitting magically tied to the chair. Behind him stood a man with his wand tucked into his armpit. The guard was wearing a uniform of a Sotheby employee; the face was unfamiliar to Ron. However the face didn’t matter, the guard was Teddy Lupin using his ability to change his looks to appear like the man who had won an all expenses paid cruise to the Greek Islands.

Ron turned to the guard and he left the room and stood in front of the smoked glass door blocking any shadows. He turned to the prisoner. â€�“Dirk Yaxley, what would your father think of you skulking around a Muggle business? And what makes it even more embarrassing is that you got caught by a Muggle.”

â€�“He’s as much a Muggle as you are, Weasley”

Ron pretended to be shocked by the comment. He used his wand to magically lift up a tiara, concentrated and silently cast a revealing spell. Ron smiled and reached over to the desk near the chair to pick up the portfolio of the items to be auctioned. A matching tiara was pictured in the book.

â€�“Let me guess Lucius Malfoy gave you the assignment to steal this item and these jewels of this Duchess and replace them with these cursed items. You’d get the diamonds and the jewelry and some poor Muggle would be have bought a cursed headpiece. The plot was nice and neat, Lucius Malfoy at his sickest. Too bad he chose an idiot to carry out the plan.”

â€�“Bugger you, Weasley. And your monkey over there must be that blood-traitor, Lupin. Yeah, we’ve got a book on spiky hair and all the rest of your Aurors. Someday soon, your bosses will find what’s left of him floating down the Thames.”

Ron saw Lupin swallow. If Yaxley knew, then Lucius’ whole organization knew. Teddy had been one of the most successful weapons against Malfoy. He and Harry would have to have a meeting about how to use Lupin without risking him on something minor like this plot.

Ron attempted to deflect the effect of Yaxley’s comment. â€�“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now let me get you to the Ministry and arrange a cell assignment in Azkaban. A really tiny cell.”

Scorpius had never seen his friend with a bigger smile and for Jimber Dokes, who always seemed to be smiling, that was saying a lot. The U.K. team had no trouble in defeating Honduras and Nigeria. Now the only teams on the schedule were the top two seeds in their group. The next game was against the undefeated Russians and Jimber had a scouting report on them. The news was not great.

In their last match, Russia had defeated the previously undefeated New Zealand team by almost two hundred points. Jimber took a deep breath and said, â€�“The Keeper, Sofia Petrovia, she has almost the same range as Rose. She catches everything. We will not get any garbage goals from deflected shots. Chasers Panov, Malovia, and Federov, when they are on attack, are like Flukegutters.” Jimber saw the confusion on his audience’s faces. â€�“Flukegutters, they are like the fish in the Amazon River that eats in packs, what do you call them?”

â€�“Piranhas?” replied Rose.

â€�“Yes, piranhas. They attack using a variation of what you call the hawks head formation, but they bring both of the Beaters in as lead blockers. They open a hole for the offense and turn to cover the back side of the Chasers from Bludgers.”

â€�“With that formation, they are out of balance. If we steal the Quaffle, or when Rose stops them, no one will be back for defense,” Kaitlin observed.

â€�“They don’t care about defense, Kitty-Kat,” James said. â€�“Look at the scores of their matches; they beat Nigeria and Peru by four hundred and Honduras by three fifty.”

Scorpius saw Coaches Devon and Potter whispering to each other. Devon seemed, to Scorpius, pleased and a bit proud of the insight into the tactics of the other team. He stepped forward next to Jimber.

Devon looked each player in the eye, before he spoke. â€�“The Russians will rely upon Petrovia to keep us from matching them and count on Popov, their Seeker, to keep Rhys away from the Snitch until they are over one hundred and sixty ahead. Remember, New Zealand caught the Snitch to close the score to Four-hundred-and-seventy to Two-hundred-and-eighty. Rhys, Popov drew four penalty shots from the Kiwi Seeker, Warren, because he frustrated him. You will have to ignore him and get the Snitch.”

â€�“What do you want Geoffrey and me to do? Do we try and help the defenders? Will we be playing the Whirlwind or what?” asked Scorpius. For the first time in the tournament, he was worried about losing.

â€�“The Whirlwind will not be effective against this attack; the Chasers are so close that they are practically inside each other’s tunics.” Devon turned to look at Mrs. Potter.

She shrugged and turned to look at Scorpius. â€�“Malfoy, Grindus will remain back to help break up any attack and support a breakout. I want you, as often as possible, at the point of our counter-attack to even out the numbers. And Scorpius, remember to tuck you bat under you arm. If you accidently hit one of them with your bat, it’s a foul.”

Scorpius nodded.

â€�“Well, let’s all gather in the field on the other side of the Commissary. I want to walk through our defense on the ground before we take to the air at the practice pitch later. Thank you, Mr. Dokes. Your observations were spot on.” Devon reached over and offered his hand to Jimber.

â€�“Wait. What about him? What if there’s a pretty Russian girl who kisses well? How do we know he won’t give them our plans?” Kaitlin asked. Scorpius saw an exaggerated fearful look on her face. Was Kitty-Kat trying to make a joke?

â€�“Oh, you don’t have to worry about the Russians. Their girls are not my style. However, there is a Chaser from New Zealand, a tall Maori girl, named Aaireen Keet. She will be my guest for your game against the Russians. So the better you lot play, the better my date might go.” Jimber gave a wink towards Albus and left the caravan.

â€�“Is he for real?” asked Geoffrey.

â€�“Believe it,” Scorpius replied.

When the players met at the mid-pitch for the normal pre-match handshake, Scorpius noticed something weird. The Federov twins, Chaser Denis and Beater Yuri, were both carrying small bouquets of mixed color carnations. When the first Federov, Denis, got to Rose he handed her the flowers and kissed her hand. The second gave his flowers to Kaitlin Jones, but his attempt at kissing her hand got a shove, not from her, but from James Potter. Quickly both teams were grouped around the two boys; James and Yuri were face to face and chest to chest pushing with their arms on each other’s faces like some sort of wild animals that Hagrid would keep in the Forbidden Forest.

The whistle blew and the coaches separated the two boys. The Indian referee extended her wand and yellow sparks flew out.

â€�“Warning Penalty: James Potter and Yuri Federov. This is the only yellow you two get. The next incident will be red sparks, penalty shot, control of the Quaffle, and removal from game.”

Rhys was finally able to pull James out of the melee. â€�“Way to go Potter, you’re half way out of the game. And if he goes after you again, they lose their number two Beater and we lose one third of our offense.”

James wasn’t listening. He tried to pull away from Rhys and he kept his eyes locked on Federov, whom he was pointing at. Albus came to further aid in the removal his brother out of harm’s way.

Scorpius did not partake in the separating of the combatants. He watch as Rose blushed and thanked Denis for the flowers. He felt his heart drop.

When the whistle blew, the Russian Chaser, Talia Panov, snatched the Quaffle out from in front of James and she flew up in a rising spiral as all of her teammates gathering into formation. Scorpius watched in fascination at the formation, forgetting where he was supposed to be until it was too late. Instead of being at the point of defense to intercept the Beaters, Federov and Makiyev, he somehow got in between Kaitlin and James. The ‘Flukegutter’ offense blew through the white clad Brits and Rose was out numbered two on one. She took Denis’ feint to the right and Malovic caught the pass and threw the ball through the left hoop in one motion.

Kaitlin took the Quaffle and charged down the pitch. She found Albus on the wing and they tied the match up. On the second attack, Scorpius was in position and he was able to break up the attack. However, he did it by paying the price of taking a brush of an elbow to his head and a broom foothold to his thigh as they flew past. By the end of the second hour, he was battered, bruised and exhausted. During the third hour, Makiyev swerved to change the direction of the formation to the left and as Scorpius turned to adjust, his bat slipped from under his arm, he grabbed the bat in his left and just as it struck Denis Federov in the side of his head. A whistle blew.

â€�“A penalty called on Malfoy for striking player with the bat.”

Exasperated with what had happened, he turned toward the woman and yelled, â€�“Oh, come on, it slipped. It was an accident!”

â€�“I know, but it is still a penalty. If I thought it was on purpose, you’d have been yellow sparked. Penalty shot to Federov.”

Scorpius looked down and tried to catch his breath. He took a deep breath and dared to look over at the scoreboard. Russia was leading two hundred sixty to one hundred twenty.

As Denis flew into position for his try against Rose, Scorpius heard shouting from behind. The voice was James’ and he was yelling at Yuri Federov. Albus flew in between the two boys, attempting to block his brother from the laughing Russian. Federov started to fly toward mid-pitch when he swung past James and said something almost too softly to be heard. All Scorpius caught from his position was Kaitlin’s name, but it caused James to push Albus aside and charged Federov. Federov remained stationary like he wanted to be attacked.

â€�“James! No!” shouted Kaitlin, Scorpius and Albus all at the same time.

James did not heed them and he rammed his smiling opponent. He took a swing with his fist, but the Russian ducked it and he was about to punch again when Rhys and Albus caught his cocked right arm. Whistles blew.

â€�“Take it back” shouted James. â€�“Take it back, now!”

The referee pointed at James and out of her wand red sparks. â€�“James Potter, you are dismissed from the match for fighting.” James turned to argue with her. She held up one finger, â€�“One word and it’s a two game dismissal.”

Geoffrey grabbed James by wrapping his arm around James’ head and flew him down to the sideline. He only released the struggling Potter when he reached the coaches.

â€�“Get off me,” shouted James as he pushed Grindus away.

JAMES SIRUIS POTTER, bench now!”

James looked at his mother, and for the first time realized how much trouble he was in. He dismounted from his broom and slammed it to the ground. He turned toward the sky looking for Federov. When he located him, he made a very rude hand gesture which the Russian returned.

Denis Federov made his penalty and his brother made the second one. However more than twenty points had been lost, the loss of James meant that the heart of the UK team had been ripped out.

Coach Devon signaled for a time out. The old man looked at his charges, snarled, and took a deep breath like he was going to shout. He seemed to vibrate as he swallowed his words. Scratching his toe in the sod, he looked in turn at each of his remaining players. â€�“A Galleon’s worth of Posies! They conjure up some half dead flowers and they buy the game because I’ve got two jealous little boys and a Keeper, who goes all doe-eyed over them and forgets how to protect her hoops!” Scorpius, who was already staring down at his trainers, saw in the corner of his eye Rose’s head drop also. â€�“Kaitlin, you better be glad your Aunt Gwenog wasn’t here. Do you know what she would have done if an opposing player offered her flowers!”

Rhys snorted and fire flew from Devon’s gaze towards the boy. Rhys noticed and stumbling for verbal cover said, â€�“She would have first punched the bloke and then took the flowers to their girl Keeper and gave her a kiss.”

Scorpius couldn’t help but chortle. Luckily, Albus’ laugh was louder. Scorpius looked up to see Coach Potter hiding a laugh and the fire gone from Devon’s eyes.

â€�“Two minutes to restart of play, coach,” shouted the referee as she flew toward the pack of Russians across the pitch.

”Rhys, I need you to catch the Snitch. They got to us today. We’ve got to get out of here and leave a message. So Rhys, do what it takes to catch the Snitch and end this.”

Rhys nodded his head. â€�“Scorpius and Geoffrey, I want you to blast Popov. I want every Bludger you reach aimed at him. I want to see him picking himself off of the pitch and onto his broom repeatedly. I want old Andropov worried about what we will do to the boy next time. Understand?”

Scorpius looked at Geoffrey, who looked as confused as he was. â€�“Next time?”

Kaitlin was now sporting an ear-to-ear grin, â€�“Next time in the round of twelve, when we will get our revenge.” Devon nodded.

It took just under a half of an hour, but Rhys caught the Snitch to limit the damage to a loss of Russia three hundred and fifty to the United Kingdom two hundred and ninety. It had been Russia’s closest match.

As the two teams lined up for the post game handshake, Scorpius noticed that Coach Potter sent Lily onto the pitch with the wrappers of flowers. The three girls talked back and forth before joining the line. The older two girls moved in front of the boys in the line and began to shake the Russian’s hands. When they got to the Federov brothers, the girls broke the buds off and handed the stems back to the boys. Denis and Yuri both spoke to Scorpius about Rose during the handshakes. He ignored them. When obviously sore Popov reached Grindus, who was just in front of him, Scorpius saw Geoffrey lean into the Russian and say something to him. Popov’s face turned red and he shouted something in indignant Russian. Geoffrey flashed a large grin at the angry player. Popov eyed Scorpius ready to strike. Scorpius did not take the bait. He grasped Popov’s hand and the two boys began a hand squeezing contest. After a minute, the two boys released the hands.

â€�“Do yourself a favor, lose to New Zealand,” said Popov breathily as if he could not dare fill his lungs.

â€�“You wish,” Scorpius replied. â€�“See you in the next round and bring some padding.”