Chapter 418: Portkey (Edited)

"Newt, are you sure you're not coming with us?"

Professor McGonagall had asked Newt a week before the Quidditch World Cup started.

Shortly before, Ludo Bargman had sent Professor McGonagall a letter asking her exactly how many tickets she needed.

"No," Newt said with a smile and a shake of his head, "I've never been much of a fan of.... well..." He glanced at a certain dog who was watching TV with delight and Professor McGonagall was keeping him in the dark, changed his tone and said, "Anyway, Tina and I are getting too old to go back and forth."

Newt had grown up studying all sorts of magical creatures and wasn't really obsessed with Quidditch as a sport, and Tina, being an American wizard, liked the sport Quodpot more than Quidditch.

The same could be said for Rolf's parents, who had spent so much time in America that they weren't really interested in Quidditch.

"Minerva, are we going back nya?"

(??ω??)

The program went to commercial on the television, and Fish had time to focus on Professor McGonagall and Newt's conversation.

"Yes," Professor McGonagall replied, "We'll be here for another week before we have to go back, but first we have to go somewhere for a day."

"Where? Where?"

?(??ω??)?

When Fish heard that he was going somewhere new, he jumped up next to Professor McGonagall excitedly and asked.

With a mysterious smile, Professor McGonagall said, "We'll keep it a secret for now, but you'll know when we get there."

"Is Hermione coming with us too?"

Fish asked again, and at the same time Hermione looked at Professor McGonagall, she too was kept in the dark.

Hermione did know that the Quidditch World Cup was being held in England this year, after all, Harry and Ron had talked about it almost all the way back on the train at the end of term, and Ron had even sent her a letter inviting her to go to the match not too long ago.

But how could she go to a boring Quidditch World Cup if she had the cat with her now?

"Of course, I've already spoken to Jacqueline and she's agreed," Professor McGonagall explained. "Hermione can stay with us until school starts, and then you can go back to Hogwarts with her."

"But Fish doesn't want to go on the train nya."

(?ω?)

Fish said with some annoyance.

"I didn't say you have to go on the train," Professor McGonagall said, shaking her head and laughing, "We'll go straight from home, like we always do... Hermione do you agree?"

"Of course!"

How could there be a problem?!

Hermione was eager to spend more time alone with Fish, instead of being bothered by other girls on the Hogwarts Express.

"Dad, can I go with Fish?"

Rolf knew nothing about the Quidditch World Cup, he just wanted to spend two more days with Fish.

Mr. Scamander didn't answer right away, but turned his head back to Professor McGonagall.

"If it's alright with you, no problem," an extra ticket was no problem for Professor McGonagall, "I'll send him back later."

Although Professor McGonagall was vague about where they would be going, clever Hermione could hear that they were supposed to be going together to some event in a week's time, and she related it to the letter Ron had sent via the owl named Hedwig not long ago....

"Minerva, we're not going to the Quidditch World Cup final, are we?"

Hermione asked with a strange look on her face, knowing that Fish wasn't interested in that sport at all.

Professor McGonagall was a little surprised, then shook her head helplessly and laughed, "You guessed it... Yes, the Quidditch World Cup final is in a week's time, Bulgaria versus Ireland.... If you don't want to go, forget it."

He had intended to tease the puss, but Hermione, the clever little witch, had guessed it, so there was no point in tricking Fish into going.

"Minerva is eager to go to that place nya?"

(??ω??)

Fish remembered that Professor McGonagall was a big Quidditch fan, and although he knew nothing about the Quidditch World Cup, he could guess from the term that it was a rather important event.

"Fish can go with you, it's only one day anyway isn't it?"

"Ah... yes the competition is going well."

Professor McGonagall smiled complacently, it would be nice to have Fish with her, it was because the puss always showed such thoughtfulness from time to time that she often couldn't be too hard on him....

Of course, there were times when the Cat got into serious trouble and when he was angry.

Although the plan to tease Fish had failed before it had even started, Professor McGonagall had finally decided to take the three boys with her to the Quidditch World Cup final.

Rolf wasn't interested in Quidditch either, but he wasn't going to refuse a night out with Fish.

Hermione wasn't very happy about her lack of insight, but she was relieved when she thought that she would meet Harry and Ron on the day of the Quidditch final, and the chances of meeting other students were also very high....

Anyway, now that she was Fish's girlfriend and had learned how to transform into Animagus, she would have plenty of time to spend alone with the cat, not just a day or two.

...

A week passed quickly, and on the morning of the last day, Professor McGonagall and the others finished breakfast at the Scamander house, rested for a while, and watched television for a while before leisurely leaving the house.

There was a five-hour time difference between the United States of America and England, and it was still early in England, so they had no need to rush.

"Minerva, don't we need to use the Red Floo?"

(??ω??)?

It was only when he had followed Professor McGonagall out of the house that Fish came to, tugged on Professor McGonagall's shirt and asked curiously.

"The location of the Quidditch World Cup is held in a remote location, and it's a Muggle-run venue, there's no chimney nearby that connects to the Floo Network." Professor McGonagall explained to Fish, "While I could take you with me with Apparition, I thought it would be good for you to experience another form of long-distance wizarding movement."

"Another form of movement?"

Now not only Fish, but also Hermione and Rolf were a bit curious.

"Portkey," she replied, "Since there aren't many people who like to watch Quidditch here in the United States of America, and there are only four of us wizards who buy tickets nearby, the Ministry of Magic has left the Portkey's in this area directly in that nearby parking lot."

"What's a Portkey?"

"Well... Portkey's are used to transport wizards from one place to another in a set amount of time. Simply put, a Portkey is the equivalent of a portable fireplace, except that they don't need to use the Floo Net and they come in all sorts of shapes."

Explained Professor McGonagall to the three curious children as she led them to a subway parking lot.

They made their way to the deepest part of the parking lot, and then Professor McGonagall picked up a broken toy car from a corner, with only one wheel left and a door missing.

"Is this the Portkey?"

?(?ΦωΦ?)?

Fish looked at the toy car in Professor McGonagall's hand and twitched his nose slightly.

"Doesn't look like anything special nya?"

"Put your finger on the car."

Professor McGonagall pulled a pocket watch out of her pocket, checked the time and, without further explanation, held the car in front of Fish and the others.

The three boys put their hands on top of the car as they had been told, while Professor McGonagall kept looking at the pocket watch and began counting the seconds, "Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one...".

As soon as he finished counting, Fish suddenly felt what appeared to be a hook behind his navel move forward with irresistible momentum, and he went flying through the air.

Then he felt himself moving through the air at great speed, the landscape around him was a blur and he could see nothing.

Fish tried to pull his hand away, but realized that his fingers were stuck to the toy car and he couldn't peel them off.

Just when Fish wanted to add a spell to himself and keep trying, his feet had already stepped on the soft grass and the hand that was attached to the toy car was easily removed.

"Thud."

Hermione fell into Fish's arms and Rolf swayed a couple of times before Professor McGonagall grabbed him by the collar and held him steady.

At the same time, an unfamiliar voice sounded next to him:

"Thirty-two past five, from the New York parking lot."