Mr. Weasley nodded. "That's right. It does feel a little odd, but it won't hurt. Now hurry up, you have to have your hands on the portkey in thirty seconds."
Harry let go of Cedric's wrist and placed his hand on the bowl. Cedric did as well. "Five... four... three... two... one..." With a tugging feeling at his navel, they whirled away to the World Cup camping grounds. Harry fell over on arrival, knocking Hermione and Ron over. The twins laughed as Mr. Weasley helped them up.
"Is that why you were so worried about the portkey, Harry? Surely you're not afraid of a bruise or two? You've had far worse injuries from Quidditch alone," Cedric said to him.
"Umm... no, that's not... well, never mind," Harry muttered.
Cedric grinned and slapped him on the back. "No need to be embarrassed about it, Harry. It takes a few tries to really get used to it."
"Well, our camping site's this way, Amos," said Mr. Weasley. "We'll be seeing you!"
They waved goodbye to the Diggorys as they parted ways. As they trekked across the grounds, Hermione leaned over to Harry, whispering, "What was all that about, Harry?"
He whispered back, "I don't know, but it was a horrible feeling... I thought Cedric was going to die if when he touched a portkey. Maybe I was wrong..."
"It must have been one of your memories from the other trips. Maybe it was a different portkey that you have to stop him from touching."
Harry nodded in reply. It was certainly more than instinct, it was something he had experienced, but forgotten. "We should practice our Occlumency tonight. Maybe I can dig up some more detail if I meditate on it."
There wasn't much else to do, in fact. Most of the Weasley boys, save Percy, spent a good portion of the day playing pick-up quidditch with the neighbouring campers. In fact, there were so many people flying around on broomsticks that Hermione couldn't practice flying without the possibility of crashing into someone. Harry spent the day wandering the campgrounds with Ginny and Hermione. There were plenty of merchants selling random trinkets and carnival stalls to make a quick Galleon, but nothing to hold their interest. They had retired by mid-afternoon to practice their Occlumency. Ginny left them to help her father around the tent.
Ron came back from his game some time later, walking in on the two of them sitting in the tent's living room. "Hey, what are you doing, mate?"
"We're practicing Occlumency," answered Hermione.
"What's that?"
"It's a way of organizing your mind," said Harry. "It's pretty useful. You should try it."
"You sure? It looks kinda boring..."
"Ron, you think everything that isn't Quidditch is boring," said Hermione.
"Just try it, Ron. It makes learning stuff in school a lot easier, too," said Harry.
"...Alright, fine." Ron sat down with them. "How do I do this?"
"Well, first close your eyes and imagine a place that will keep you calm, maybe some place you know very well and you're comfortable in," said Hermione.
Ron's made several faces over the next few minutes before finally settling down to a small grin. "What place did you pick, Ron?"
His grin grew wider. "Quidditch pitch. And everyone's cheering for me."
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. "Ron, the place you imagine isn't supposed to make you feel good, it's supposed to make you feel nothing at all! Try again!"
"It's hard! What kind of places do you use?" complained Ron.
"Empty sky, above the clouds. It's all blue above me and endless clouds below," answered Harry.
"Underwater, deep below the surface," said Hermione.
"Wait, so you guys have been sitting around here thinking about practically nothing?" asked Ron incredulously.
"Well, yeah. That's the start of it, at least," answered Harry.
"This is even worse than studying for exams," said Ron. "We're at the World Cup! I'm going outside to have some fun." He got up and left the tent, muttering to himself.
"It's his loss," said Harry, shrugging. "What did you want to try next?"
"I wanted to get started on Animagus training, Harry." Hermione grinned. "I've been reading through Sirius's notes a few more times and I think it actually overlaps with Occlumency exercises."
"Really? How do we begin?"
"Well, the key to finding your inner animal is to tap into your most basic, primal emotions. You have to focus on thoughts that make you incredibly happy, sad, angry, fearful, and so on."
Harry listened and began to think. He already had practice finding thoughts that made him happy, which he used to cast a Patronus. Receiving his Hogwarts letter and discovering he was a wizard. Finding out Sirius was his godfather. Catching the snitch for the first time in Quidditch. He could feel very happy with those memories. Fear was nearly as easy, as he could remember the effects of the Dementors- the chilling feeling and the screams of his mother coming to mind. Anger, though, was more difficult. Had he ever truly been angry? He supposed the Dursleys did make him mad, but after living with them for over a decade, it was all he had known, and he had gotten used to the neglectful attitude of his aunt and uncle. He knew Hermione grew extremely angry when she found out how they treated him, but he couldn't evoke the same kind of emotion. Draco Malfoy was certainly an annoyance at school, but for the most part, he was only that- an annoyance. He would have to search his memories harder to find something that truly made him mad, as well as the other primal emotions.
The two of them continued to meditate until everyone was back in the tent for dinner. Everyone was excited about the match tomorrow, and they were all discussing the strategies and plays they were expecting to see in the game. Hermione was not happy to find out that the twins had placed a bet on the outcome. Their argument that they had bet with the Director of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman himself, didn't help at all. The discussions and debates ran well into the night, when all of them finally crawled into their beds for the game, which was to begin at noon.
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