2014 QIDDITCH WORLD CUP

  First Round - Week One

  July 7th: Norway / Ivory Coast.

  July 9th: Nigeria / Fiji.

  July 12th: Brazil / Haiti.

  Sunday, July 6th, 2014. 3:15 PM.

  Shtab?t na B?lgarskiya kuidich natsionalen komitet i otbor

  (Bulgarian National Quidditch Committee and Team Headquarters)

  Golden Sands, 9007 Varna, Bulgaria

  Sinking into one of the armchairs in the spacious sitting area, Ginny took a deep breath. It seemed like the first one she had been able to take since leaving London.

  Nine Apparitions. The route she took only had nine Apparition points. It would have taken a half-hour, 45 minutes, tops, if she had been able to Apparate straight through. Norway was her first stop, since their match, the first of the tournament, was tomorrow. She would swing by and get their opponent, Ivory Coast, later this afternoon. She had also spent a couple of hours in Vaduz, since Liechtenstein’s game against Chad was a week from this Thursday. It was easier to do the pre-game interviews and color while she was passing through anyway. She always combined trips when she could, but Fiji & New Zealand would be Portkey trips. The International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee (ICWQC) maintained Portkeys for all National Teams at their offices in The Hague, Belgium. It was too much of a production to use them for anything but the longest trips, though.

  So, she had gone Oslo to Paris to Bigonville in Luxembourg. Then Munich, where the Münchner Wolpertinger Team tried to shanghai her into celebrating their made-up holiday, JuliBierFest. From there to Vaduz, then Zagreb in Croatia, then to Belgrade, home of the Novi Sad Firebirds, (one of Ginny's favorite team names). Finally into Bulgaria, with a short stop at Vrasta, where she had to listen to the Vultures' coach whine about how none of their players had made it onto the National Team, (Ginny forebore bringing up their abysmal record. Zero Wins, Two-Hundred and Fifty-Six Losses, and One Tie, against a team that were short three players due to an epidemic of food poisoning).

  Finally she had made it to Varna, home of the Bulgarian Quidditch Team. From here, it would be a quick trip to Ivory Coast before heading to South America.

  There would be pre-match work-ups for Brazil & Haiti. That would put her in Patagonia in time for the Opening Ceremony and the Parade of Mascots. Yes, she was looking forward to doing nice easy puff pieces on both of those.

  After she filed the pre-game and Ceremony articles, she would have the morning of the 7th in Africa to get the pre-game articles set for Nigeria. While on the continent, she would pick up Chad, whose game was coming up in Week Two.

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  But for now, she was sitting in one of the guest suites at the Bulgarian National Team Headquarters, in Varna, with a gorgeous view of the Black Sea out the glass doors to her balcony.

  Ask me if I love my job, she thought, then sighed. Well, parts of my job. She pulled open the breast of her outer robes and looked at the antique brooch watch pinned inside. It had a small, round, gold watch with a spring-loaded cover. It depended, via a silver mesh strap, from a gold brooch depicting a witch in Quidditch robes riding a broom, (which appeared to be going very fast).

  "Eirene?" Ginny asked. "What time is it?" The cover of the watch face opened wide, and quivered for a moment, as if it were yawning.

  "Well, my dear, that very much depends on where we are, doesn't it?" The watch yawned again, and continued. "Please don't think I am complaining, dear girl, but the view from inside your robes is not very informative."

  "Sorry, not sorry," said Ginny, unpinning the watch and moving it to the outside of her work robes. "I can't take the risk while travelling. It would break my heart if you got stolen."

  The watch was an heirloom from the grandmother she had never met, Cedrella Weasley (née Black). Her father had given it to her on her 17th birthday, instead of the traditional new watch. Ginny was brought near to tears, knowing that her grandmother had died soon after Arthur Weasley was born. This watch was one of the few mementos he had of her.

  Ginny had tried to give the watch back, and Arthur refused. Folding her fingers back over the watch, he held her hand in both of his.

  "Ginevra," he had said. "Your grandmother would have been so proud of the woman you have become. Not because you were the first girl child in our family, for who know how long, but because of your strength, and your bravery. And..., because she was a damn fine Chaser, herself. My old Dad used to go on and on..." Arthur choked a little, and Ginny had hugged him hard.

  In the present day, Ginny had to blink back tears.

  "My Dear Girl!" Eirene said, "I was teasing, for goodness' sake. Except about our location, that I meant."

  "Varna, Bulgaria. Look at our view!" Ginny walked to the glass doors.

  "Business before pleasure, dear. Plus two hours makes the time, ah, quarter past three, or 15:15 if you prefer. Oh, My Cogs and Springs, that is a lovely vista!" The watch sighed. "Septimus and Cedrella visited the Black Sea once, before your Uncle Parsifal was born. That was Sebastapol, of course, but that is much of a muchness to Varna."

  These little bits of family history were another reason Ginny treasured Eirene so much. She was often able to pass them on to her Dad, who, of course, hadn't actually worn the watch.

  "Well and good; good and well," said Ginny. "Coach Zograf and Viktor will be here soon." She went back into the sitting area, and magicked some furnishings around, until she had three chairs around a moderately sized circular table. In the center of the table she placed a small silver tray covered with finger sandwiches, small sausages, and sliced fruits. Winky would be amazed at how 'far' we've stretched her food. Ginny gave an inelegant snort at the thought.

  She also set out a bottle of good quality Rakija, made of apricots and pears rather than grapes and plums. Putting out three glasses, she cast Fac Me Abstinentem on the one she would be using. While Slavs were not heavy drinkers in particular, it was considered the done thing to offer drinks, at least in social or business settings. Ginny, on the other hand, still had a long day ahead of her, thus the spell.

  The last touch was to set up the P.P.P. on an occasional table beside her chair. The magimachine was ready to go, needing only a touch to start it taking dictation. Turning it so the output hopper was visible only to her, she made sure the font size was large enough for her to read at a glance. She also ensured the P.P.P. was set for silent operation, which would make it save any questions for later.

  Throughout the day, Ginny had been delighted to find how versatile the unit was. Capping the whole experience was the discovery that the P.P.P. was massively multilingual! This business of keeping the reporter in the dark by switching languages ended here.

  "Eirene, can you see anything I've missed?"

  "Not in the least,"

  Just then there was a knock on the suite's door.

  "Ah!" said Eirene. "Brooms Up!"

  nice, easy, puff piece' Ginny mentioned, it can be found here:

  .