Jake awoke early in the morning they were leaving for the World Cup, earlier than anyone else as a matter-of-fact. After using the bathroom, he walked down the stairs and over to the couch, sitting down and unable to stop himself from yawning. He pulled out from his Pouch the book for Grade 7 Spells, and he was reading up on a peculiar Spell that he was surprised to see in a Standard Book of Spells . It was the Blasting Curse, " Confringo ?"
It was a simple enough spell, only requiring the user to point their wand and say the incantation. It seemed simple enough, he'd have to try it out when there was no risk to another person.
It was a half hour later when both Arthur and Molly came downstairs, "Jake? What are you doing up so early?" She asked him.
"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I stayed up," he said with a smile to her.
"Was it another nightmare? You haven't had one since that first night here, but better to cover all bases," Molly said as she walked up to him.
"No, it wasn't a nightmare," he lied through his teeth. Since he was using the Silencing Charm, no one had heard him scream out in agony every night he'd been at the Burrow since the first night. When he got to Hogwarts, he'd make a Sleeping Draught to take if the nightmares persisted into the School Year at all. He didn't have the ingredients at Merlin's Tower, and didn't have the time to order them, so he just simply dealt with it.
"I'm glad to hear it. You probably won't want a large breakfast, using a Portkey can cause you to lose it very quickly," she said with a light laugh before going into the Kitchen.
Arthur sat down in his usual chair in the Dining Room to read a letter from someone, Jake didn't ask who. Jake wasn't sitting at the table because he didn't want to take up a seat someone else could use.
In his time at the Burrow, he'd helped out wherever Molly needed help; he enjoyed Quidditch, Exploding Snap, and Wizard's Chess with Ron because no one else wanted to play him in it, whom he still couldn't believe was taller than him. He noticed near the end of Third Year that Ron was starting to outgrow him, and that frustrated him a little. Now Ron was definitely taller than him, and was really frustrated. The bright side was he was still taller than Harry, not by much, and Hermione by a full head.
He smiled knowing that she didn't like being the shortest of the four of them, but she didn't complain about it.
It was about another half hour later when Molly went to wake up everyone else. Jake, in the meantime, continued reading about the Blasting Curse; it was a dangerous spell that could be lethal if enough power was put behind it. He'd have to be careful with it if he ever used it. And yet, it also intrigued him that the spell existed; he couldn't understand why the Unforgivable Curses existed at all, or what kind of evil person could possibly invent them, but the Blasting Curse wasn't an Unforgivable, so it's existence and allowed use intrigued him.
He looked up to see Harry, Ron, and the Twins walking down the stairs. They greeted him and walked past him into the Dining Room as well, "What do you think?" He heard Arthur ask, "We're supposed to go Incognito - do I look like a Muggle, Harry?"
Jake didn't know why Arthur didn't ask him, but he wasn't that concerned, "Yeah," he heard Harry say in a still tired voice, "very good."
"Where's Bill, Charlie, and Per-Per-Percy?" he heard George or Fred ask, failing to stifle a yawn.
"Well, they're Apparating, aren't they?" Molly asked as though it was obvious, "So they can have a bit of a lie-in. Jake, are you hungry, dear?"
He closed his book, putting it back into the pouch, and entered the Dining Room. Really it was the same as the Kitchen with how small it was, but there was technically enough room to separate them into their own rooms, if you squinted, "Just a little bit, please? I'm not overly hungry," he said and just stood there.
"You can have a seat, you know," Arthur said, giving him an odd look.
"Thank you, but I feel that if I sit back down, I may not get back up," he smirked a little.
"Are you feeling alright? You've looked exhausted since you basically arrived," Arthur had noticed his condition wasn't up to par as it should be.
"I'm alright, honest. I just still haven't been resting well," Jake tried to play it off.
Molly had poured him a bowl of porridge, "I know you said only a little bit, but eat what you can, okay?"
Jake accepted the bowl, "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." He took a bite out of it and did honestly feel better, but it wouldn't last. He had a feeling he knew why his body was so tired all the time, aside from the Nightmares. The amount of physical and mental exertion he pushed his body and mind through last month, it was taking a toll on him. Maybe when he got to Hogwarts it'd finally smooth over and he could sleep regularly again without feeling exhausted all the damn time.
"So they're still in bed?" Fred asked her, "Why can't we Apparate?"
"Because you're not of age, and you haven't passed your test yet," Molly said, setting down the large pot of Porridge, "Have Hermione and Ginny woken up yet?" She asked, but didn't wait for an answer, "Jake, go wake them up, please?" She turned back to do something.
"Okay," he took one more bite of his food and set it down, feeling done with it anyway. He walked into the living room and ascended the stairs to the Second Floor, stopping in front of Ginny's room.
He knocked and waited a few minutes to see if either of them answered. He was about to knock again when it was opened by Hermione, "What? Oh, good morning, Jake," she said with a bright smile. She was still dressed in her nightgown and hadn't tamed her hair yet.
He thought she was a masochist for being able to smile that brightly that early in the morning, "Mrs. Weasley wants you and Ginny to hurry up. So hurry up," he said, a smirk trying to form on his face.
"Prat. We'll be down there soon," Hermione said, closing the door on him.
"How rude," he muttered to himself and walked back down the stairs.
He arrived back down and into the Kitchen to hear Fred talking, "Charlie had to take the test twice," he said grinning, "He failed the first time. Apparated five miles South of where he meant to, right on top of some poor old dear doing her shopping, remember?"
"Yes, well, he passed the second time, didn't he?" She asked amid snickering at the table. Jake stood near the counter, still refusing to sit down, "Are you sure you aren't still hungry?" She asked him.
"No, thank you," he smiled and then looked to the door when movement caught his eye.
Hermione and Ginny had just walked into the Kitchen, "Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat down.
"We've got a bit of a walk," Arthur said.
"Walk?" Harry asked, absolutely dumbfounded, "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"
"No, that's miles away," Arthur responded.
"We are taking a Portkey to the World Cup," Jake informed him from where he was standing.
"Exactly. We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of Wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup-"
Molly suddenly began yelling at George and Fred for trying to smuggle out some sort of toffee, but Jake hadn't paid attention to much that was said after he answered Harry's question. Hermione walked up to him while that was going on, "Are you alright?" She asked, yawning after doing so.
"I'm okay," he smiled at her and she saw that he wasn't as okay as he wanted her to believe. He looked sleep deprived with some dark circles under his eyes.
"Are you sure? You don't look okay... even without the nightmares, have you been getting enough sleep?" Hermione asked him.
"Yes, mom," he said, knowing that would rile her up.
"Prat!" She smacked his arm, a bit harder than usual, but he didn't even flinch.
After about ten minutes of Molly finding the toffee all over the place, they took their leave, "Well, have a lovely time, and behave yourselves !" She called after the Twins, "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday," Jake heard her tell Arthur. The rest of them marched out after Fred and George, who walked on ahead after Molly took all of their Toffee that apparently was prank Toffee, which didn't surprise Jake as it was Fred and George who manufactured it.
It was chilly and the moon was still out as they walked. Only a dull, greenish tinge along the horizon to their right showed that daybreak was slowly drawing ever closer. Hermione saw Harry bound ahead of them to talk to Arthur and she turned to Jake, "You do have your ticket, right?"
He pulled out the ticket from his right pocket, "Of course, same seating area that Mr. Weasley got tickets for. I'm surprised, honestly, that you didn't ask me to get you one."
"Oh, there was no reason to bother you about it knowing that Mr. Weasley was going to be able to get them with no cost to him," she smiled at Jake, "I'm a little surprised that you were willing to spend the money for that seat, it's an expensive ticket..."
"Well... for a lot of Wizards, yeah..."
"Money is no concern to you... I forgot," she gave an embarrassed laugh.
They trudged down the dark, dank lane towards the village, the silence broken only by their footsteps from then on. The sky lightened very slowly as they made their way through the village, its inky blackness diluting to deepest blue.
They eventually came to Stoatshead Hill and began to climb it, stumbling occasionally in hidden rabbit holes, slipping on thick black tuffets of grass. Hermione was so out of shape, she felt like she was going to see the Porridge she ate again. She looked at Jake and saw that he wasn't having any trouble on the climb.
"If you want me to carry you on my back, Hermione, just say so," he said without looking at her.
She felt her cheeks burn, "N-No, i-it's okay..." she said, breathing heavily as she did.
She found herself staring at his back as he stopped in front of her, "It's not a problem, Hermione, trust me," he said and she couldn't see it, but she had a feeling that he was smiling.
"O-Okay then..." Hermione said and clamored onto his back, arms going around the front of his neck and his hands going under her knees, and he was now carrying her in a piggyback. She could see over him as he carried her. Her cheeks burned as she pressed herself closer into him, knowing that her breasts were pushing against his back. They weren't anything impressive, 'That may be why he likes Katie so much... she's got a bigger chest than I do...'
Another five minutes and they finally made it to level ground, "Whew," Jake could hear Arthur panting as he spoke on the hill, "Well, we've made good time - we've got ten minutes..."
Jake was the last up the hill, and everyone turned to see him carrying Hermione, and he wasn't the least bit out of breath.
"Bloody hell..." Ron said in awe, "since when did you get to be so in shape?" He was still breathing a little heavily.
"I've always been in shape, I just never had to really show it," Jake said as Hermione was resting her cheek on his upper back, enjoying the not walking and over-exerting herself as she listened to his heartbeat; it was a little elevated, but nothing compared to what anyone else's probably was. The rhythm was enough to put her to sleep.
"Now we just need the Portkey, come on," Arthur said, "it won't be a big item," they trudged on, keeping an eye out for the small object.
They barely started to look for it when a voice rang out, "Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!"
Two tall figures were silhouetted against the starry backdrop on the other side of the hilltop, "Amos!" Arthur said, smiling as he strode over to the man. Everyone else followed and Jake recognized Cedric immediately, so Amos must have been his father. Hermione raised her head off his upper back to look at the two men they all approached.
Arthur was shaking hands with a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard, who was holding a moldy looking old boot in his left hand.
"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," Arthur said, "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"
"Hi," he said, looking at them. His eyes stopped on Jake when he saw that he was carrying Hermione on his back.
"Long walk, Arthur?" Amos asked.
"Not too bad, we live just on the other side of the village there," Arthur pointed back the way they came, "How about you two?"
"Had to get up at two, didn't we Ced?" He gave a hearty laugh, "I tell you, I'll be most glad when he's got his Apparition test passed. Still... not complaining... Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sack full of Galleons - and the tickets cost about that much. Mind you, looks like I got off easy..." Amos said and looked around at them all. His eyes stopped on Jake and Hermione a moment, "all these yours, Arthur?"
"Oh, no, only the redheads," Arthur said, "This here is Hermione, a friend of Ron's; Harry, another friend of Ron's-"
"Merlin's Beard!" Amos said energetically, "Harry Potter !?"
"Er... yeah," Harry said, obviously peeved about someone fangirling over him.
"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year," Amos said, "I said to him, I said - Cedric, that'll be something you will get to tell your grandkids, that will - You beat Harry Potter !"
Harry flushed a little, Jake could see it even in this poor lighting, "Dad, I told you, Harry fell off his broom, it was an accident ," Cedric tried to explain, again apparently.
"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" Amos roared genially, and it was pissing Jake off, "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman... but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same wouldn't you?"
"Well I wouldn't," Jake spoke up after being quiet for the entire conversation. He stood up straight, coming up a few inches shorter than Cedric, and Hermione had to lean up a bit to look over his shoulder.
"And why would you disagree with that statement, dear boy?" Amos asked.
"Because I didn't realize we were okay with Dementors interrupting the game? Or did Cedric not tell you that?" Jake eyed Cedric, and the look on his face told Jake that he hadn't. "If the Dementors hadn't interfered, Hufflepuff would have lost that match. I don't want to hear that Cedric is a better flyer when that's still up for debate."
"Jake, we really don't-" Arthur started to say.
"Jake? Jake Kidd?" Amos asked, giving him an odd look, "You're... you're Merlin's Descendant!" Amos was acting even weirder than when he did with Harry.
"Cedric did you-" Jake was about to ask.
"I didn't tell him, the Daily Prophet had an entire three pages on it a week ago, did you not see it?" Cedric asked him.
"No, I don't read the Prophet ... Mr. Weasley, did you know about that?" Jake asked, looking at Arthur.
"Can we discuss this after we are at the World Cup? It's almost time for the Portkey to activate," Arthur said and they all scrambled, "Are we waiting for anymore?"
"No, the Lovegoods arrived a week ago, and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," Amos said.
"Luna didn't tell me she was going to be there..." Jake said.
"I don't think she knew you were going to be there either," Hermione said in his ear. She was glad he couldn't see her face right then, because she was not happy about the way he talked about Luna. 'Well... Luna is pretty... far prettier than I am... it makes sense that he'd look forward to seeing her...'
When they got around the Boot, he set Hermione down and the ten of them all squeezed in, "Just a finger will do," Arthur said aloud for anyone who didn't know. He looked down at his watch, "Three... two... one..."
It happened in a nanosecond. Jake had the feeling of someone spearing his stomach with a harpoon, and they began to reel him in at Mach 5. He looked around and saw that everyone was hanging on for dear life.
"Okay!" Arthur was heard yelling, "Everyone, let go, now!"
Jake did without hesitation and he appeared at what he believed was the location for the Quidditch World Cup. He had landed on his feet and had begun dusting himself off when someone had flown right into him. He fell and hit the ground with his head with said someone on top of him. Disoriented and unaware of anything around him, he felt for the person who was on him to try and get the person off of him, but that didn't work, he had no idea who it was; the person made a sound that he couldn't make out. He managed to open his eye and saw that it was in fact, Hermione Granger, and her cheeks were a bright red.
She quickly stood up off of him, dusting herself off and smoothing out her clothes, 'He just squeezed my breast... firmly... and I moaned into his ear... oh god... if I don't die of embarrassment it'll be a miracle...' She quickly looked around and was glad that no one else saw that happen. Hermione knew Jake didn't mean to do that, but it felt good, way too good. Her hormones raged on wanting the feeling again, wanting it to last longer, wanting it to go farther. When she really thought about it, she wanted him all to herself, 'Oh Merlin... what is wrong with me?'
"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," someone said off to the side.
As Jake stood himself up, Hermione began to wonder what her life would be like if she never met Jake. For starters, she'd probably be dead along with Harry just even trying to get past that Manticore back in First Year, but if they had somehow survived it, would she be the way she is now? A horny teenage girl who is madly in love with her best friend because he unintentionally makes her feel special in a way no one else has? No, she wouldn't still be that way, because no other guy even comes close to being like him or making her feel the way she does. It's because of him that she's the way she is; if Dumbledore hadn't brought him to Hogwarts and he instead attended the American Wizarding School, Hermione doubted she'd be as sane as she was, and probably she'd do something stupid in the near future if it weren't for him; she was grateful to have him in her life. He proved to be a rock for her; she was his anchor, but he was her rock, her lifeline, her everything.
Her love for him was so great, she'd stop breathing if he ever did the same.