Hello! pronghorn here, introducing our breakout masterpiece, Something Wicked This Way Comes. This is gonna be a long one, and is very OC heavy, but we think you'll enjoy. So, have fun!

The pathetic branch stretched out like a spindly finger, deformed and crooked, the peeling bark looking as if it had been burned away. Despite the black and burnt appearance of its bark, however, the smooth white wood was glistening with droplets of water, quivering as the two travelers passed by it. The mud and decay of the bog clung onto their every step, a loud, wet sound sucking them back in as they struggled to pull their feet up from the muck.

"Hey, look- an apple," Eve said, adjusting the heavy pack on her back as to better point to the shriveled fruit hanging on the tip of the branch. The apple might have once been red, but had since faded to a dark brown, the loose skin of the fruit looking as if it were about to fall and sink into the bog. Eve reached out for it, struggling to pull herself out of the claws of the mud long enough to grasp it.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Danny commented, almost losing his balance at the sudden stop in their long, slow trudge through the fog-laden swamp. He swatted at a fly buzzing angrily around his head, and reached out to stop Eve's hand. Her fingers brushed the fruit, and it fell with a sick thud on the surface of the muck, sinking into it slowly and joining the decay that now oozed into both of their shoes. "You can't really trust much of the food in here. Hell, the birds are barely touching the stuff." The pair paused a moment, listening to the occasional call of the birds in the sunken trees the crowned the hazy sky.

"Well, what do they eat then?" Eve asked, pulling on her thigh to detach it from the muck before continuing on their long trudge.

"I don't know. Americans dumb enough to want to hike through Europe," Danny taunted, mimicking the thick Russian accent of the locals. The two laughed a moment, and the sound echoed between the crooked trees, frightening a flock of birds into flight with a cacophony of desperate caws. This, in turn, made Danny jump; he pushed Eve forward, his head down, as if to say move faster, move faster. She complied, unnerved by the unnatural silence of the swamp, rubbing her stomach to relieve the sharp pains of hunger.

"Well, what are we going to eat?" she complained after a moment.

"The same thing the locals do. Americans dumb enough to want to hike through Europe." In ordinary circumstances, they would have laughed again, but now they understood the grim reality of their situation. They were alone in the middle of an unnamed swamp, flies buzzing as if waiting for them to be sucked into the mire, their food supplies running out, their maps gone to the belly of the swamp and their energy nearly there, too. Danny saw Eve shift in discomfort, and thought a moment. "Maybe we should stop for the night."

"Do we even know its night? The sky's looked the same since we wandered into this place." She was right; the heavens were but a rolling sea of tumultuous greys, threatening storms riding on the winds that crept between the trees and rolled the fog over the mire. She knew that her question would go unanswered, and kept on walking, walking, endlessly walking and fighting through the thick sludge.

The swamp was like some kind of twisted, burned architecture, pools of stagnant water marking the paths of stinking mud that lay between the pillars of deformed trees. Sometimes, a bird would call its name and that name would echo through the halls, and sometimes the travelers would pass a tree and not notice its residents until they looked into their glittering, beady black eyes as their bedraggled wings thrust them into the dismal sky.

The clicking of insects and the buzzing of flies around their faces soon faded into the background, white noise in this world of greys and blacks, a world without colour or life. Every once in a while, Eve would cry out in surprise or relief at the sight of an emerald dragonfly resting on a half-sunken log, its scaly thin body glittering despite the gloomy light. Sometimes Danny would look behind them, shivering as he realized that the mud had swallowed their footsteps behind them and left them stranded in the Bulgarian wilderness.

"My feet hurt," pointed out Eve blandly, attempting to strike up a conversation in the uncomfortable silence. With mud seeping into his boots and more and more insects flocking to buzz around his head, Danny's reply was terse.

"Yeah, well so do mine." Eve blinked at his tone, stopping midstep, trying to turn around and nearly knocking Danny over in the effort of the gesture.

"Well, I bet your boobs don't hurt, do they?" grumbled Eve, crossing her arms over her ample chest. Danny bit his lip, smiling a little bit despite himself.

"You're wearing that stupid bra you bought last week aren't you?" Eve paused, and then giggled, pulling her sleeve back to show her bra strap and blowing her friend an air kiss, mirth glowing in her eyes as she resisted laughter.

"I am, actually." Danny snorted and shook his head.

"How did I know. Better question, why do I know?" Eve smiled wickedly.

"For the same reason I know you're wearing red and black plaid boxers." Danny froze and spun to face her, again nearly falling as the mud slurped at him, suspicion on his handsome, if sweaty, face. Eve laughed. "Your pants slipped down because of the mud, chico." she said, snapping the elastic band at his waist. Danny glared and she laughed out loud. That tended to be her only voice setting, Danny noted. Loud. They walked on in comfortable silence, exhausted but still fighting onwards in the hope of reaching solid ground. Danny was beginning to lose that hope; he could feel it slipping from his grasp no matter how tightly he held on. Eve, however, still seemed pleasantly in denial.

When they felt that they could walk no more without their tired muscles bursting into flame, a blessing was cast their way from a god neither of them were sure they believed in. Danny's feet, mud covered and leaden, touched solid ground. He climbed onto the muddy bank, relishing in being free of the mire, and wiped the back of a hand across his brow, the skin cracked and dry. Eve attempted to follow but her bag caught on one of the low-hung tree branches, sending her sprawling into the mud with an 'oof'.

Danny couldn't help it, he laughed. Eve's glare melted into a soft smile as she regarded her friend from her marshy throne.

"I'm glad I amuse you." Danny wiped tears from his eyes, stepping forward to offer her a hand. She took it, getting about halfway out of the bog before mud caused her fingers to slip and she plummeted back into the grime. Eve looked up at Danny, a slightly hysterical glint to her eyes, before she crawled on her hands and knees out of the gunk, heaving herself up to where he stood before dropping to the ground with exhaustion. Danny watched her carefully, there was no indication the girl was alive. He nudged her with the steel toe of his boot and she grumbled. It was alive, then.

"Come on, Eve. Let's move a little farther before it gets dark." Eve reached out with a shaking arm and gripped his left pant leg in her filthy fist. Again her grip slipped, but already the mud had begun to cake on her palm; she was fine to be able to stand, but sank back into the mud, lying on the surface as if dozing. Her eyes closed in a mocking peacefulness as she spoke.

"Not yet you Nazi, let me catch my breath." Danny sighed and dumped his pack before easing his lean body onto the ground next to her. They lay there heaving, staring at the swollen clouds above, thick with rain, listening to the sound of each other's breathing. Suddenly Eve sat up, looking at her friend with an altogether morose expression on her face.

"Danny, am I going to die a virgin?" Danny blinked and then sighed, wondering where the question came from; this was a girl, who, through all of their years together, had never seemed mildly irritated for very long, surely not thinking about things like boys. The pair had always been opposites in that sense. And yet, it seemed that the gloom was beginning to break the girl's almost infallible optimism.

"You know, I've never even kissed a guy." Danny frowned, trying to remember, his brow furrowing as his mind ran over countless memories of high school.

"Sure you did, wasn't there that curly haired kid… oh, what's his name?" Danny wracked his brain but drew a blank.

"That was not by choice, and you know it." Eve said with a sigh, cracking her neck with an audible pop. Danny heard and felt his bones groan with the need to be snapped; he copied her, his own neck popping in the dense fog.

"Fine." said Danny after a while, massaging his now aching neck, uncrossing his long legs and grinning sarcastically. "You're going to die a virgin." Eve laughed and patted Danny's cheek, her energy restored.

"Let's go." The pair struggled to their aching feet and resumed their trudging side by side. Cool wind whistled through the trees, tickling Danny's face. He breathed in deeply, an attempt to alleviate his growing anxiety, and stopped, his fingers reaching out and grasping Eve's mud encrusted shoulder. Something was riding the wind, and in the distance, he could hardly make out the lines of a darker, denser grey against that of the sky. Eve didn't notice his hand, at first, and he shook her, trying to get her attention.

"Do you smell that?" Eve's brow wrinkled in confusion and she took a long draw on the air. He crossed his fingers, praying that it wasn't just some desperate hope of a lost traveler.

"Wood smoke!" she exclaimed, surprised, her eyes glinting with comprehension. Danny grinned, nodding furiously, relief coursing through his body and making his knees weak.

"Where's there's smoke, there'll people. Come on!" The pair's steps quickened, their boots snapping twigs and crushing withered underbrush in their haste. Somehow now their steps were lighter, the mud didn't seem to stick, the packs on their backs not weighing down on them so much as they ran as fast as their aching muscles would allow through the bog.

The endless flat planes of the bog soon gave way to a small rise, then another, another, neither of them noticing that there was less mud to bar their way as they climbed up the ever-heightening hills. The scent of the fires was growing stronger, and what was once but a small touch of desperate hope now held the taste of bonfire ash and burning wood. The smoke rose in pillars above the crest of the hill, but as they ascended higher and higher their packs grew heavy again, and Danny's legs began to burn with the agony of every steep step.

He collapsed, using the rocky hillside as a seat to rest his aching muscles. "Wait," he gasped for air to Eve, who hadn't noticed his collapse in her joyous hope of finding some form of civilization in the swampy wasteland. She spun around wildly, searching for him and seeing him lying sprawled on the ground, his chest heaving with the effort. "You know," he laughed, wincing with the pain of the sharp intake of the rapidly cooling air, "for as much as I work out, and for all those damn gym classes I took in high school…" He trailed off.

Eve laughed. "Come on, I can only make it because I played softball. You can make it, it's not that much farther to the top of the hill." His eyes closed a moment, then opened, staring at her in sarcastic intolerance, then closing again, his head rocking back before he let out a loud groan and pushed himself onto his knees, then back up onto shaky legs.

Eve clapped him on the shoulder happily, nearly knocking him over again, and then let him rest a moment standing before they took another step, another, climbing the steep hill step over bedraggled step. Behind them the swamp cried out in agony, beseeching them to come back to her warm muds, her loving insects, I could keep you warm and comfortable, sink into my muds and let me hold you… But they didn't listen, they couldn't hear, so deafened were they by the sounds of their own gasping and panting as they reached the top of the hill, each of then dropping their packs, Danny sitting on his in relief, resting his head in his hands.

"I think we should stop for the night," he groaned. But his words were lost on their target, for Eve was silent. Waiting a moment, Danny looked up, worried a moment as his eyes fell on Eve, her face glazed over and her eyes wide, staring sharply at the scene below them. In her hazel eyes were reflected lights of winking colour, and though the smell of smoke was strong here, stronger were the sounds of laughter and whooping, hollering and the shouts of children.

Danny followed the trail of her gaze, and nearly fell off of his pack and back down to the devious arms of the swamp behind them. The hillside sloping down before them leveled out to a plateau above the murk of the swamp, and it was from here that the deep lights and bright blues that shone in Eve's eyes arose.

The plateau spread out for miles, and was covered in tents of all shapes and sizes, some as large as small mansions, others small enough to hardly seem to be more than a dyed burlap door. They did not seem organized in any sort of manner, and between them burned countless massive bonfires, around which several odd people were gathered. Between the tents small children played with toys that seemed to bounce light on their hands, and in the sky fireworks cracked scarlet, raining down ashes on the hollering people gathered around the fires.

The tents nearest to Danny and Eve were of a deep scarlet colour, shimmering and changing to be all sorts of deep hues of reds and golds. Scattered throughout were similar tents, light blue or white, the flags hoisted above them sporting a fleur-de-lis. However, as Danny examined the queer scene, he found that the shouting people around the fires were thrusting more of the light blue flags into the fires. In the distance, lights seemed to illuminate a giant stadium, the epicenter of the firework display, but even this high above the marsh the fog still lingered, and neither Danny nor Eve couldn't make it out very clearly. From somewhere in the distance a voice boomed, loud and deep, but it was too far off to be understood.

"Where are we?" Danny wondered out loud, hardly able to tear his eyes form the scene to look at an entranced Eve. She kept looking straight forward, her eyes half-shut, as if she were dreaming.

"I don't know," she muttered softly, more red fireworks bursting in her eyes. High above the tents the bright red, flaming lettering of the words Bulgaria Wins blew to the winds. She turned to Danny, a slow smile inching across her lips. "Do you want to find out?"

Danny thought a moment, taking in the scene again, and turning around again to face the cold, dead quiet of the decaying marshes behind them. "Better here than back there," he said, shivering, and stood up, pulling his pack on his back and helping Eve to do the same. "After you," he offered, smiling as charmingly as he could muster. Eve rocked back on her hip, pursing her lips out.

"Sure, now you're a gentleman."

"Hey, better you than me," Danny said, laughing as he skipped down the steep slope of the hill. Eve was already on the plateau, and turned to wait for him.

"Gee, thanks," she said, sarcasm dripping like honey from her tongue. By now they were wandering through the outskirts of the tents, and Danny tugged at her sleeve as to point out the wonderment around them.

Two small children sat on the grass to their right, playing with something, light glinting off the object as they passed it secretly to one another. "It's a Remembrall," the little boy whispered to his companion as Danny and Eve passed them. As they walked passed, the little boy gasped and moved to hide the Remembrall- whatever that was- form sight, concealing beneath what seemed to be calf-length black robes. Danny watched them a moment, blinking and shaking his head in confusion.

Eve, however, was looking straight forward, her eyes sparkling despite her mud-encrusted clothes and face. She peered in the one of the tents, the burlap door pulled open, and gasped, her eyes widening, as her eyes found a full-size bedroom, complete with three large beds, a kitchen and a chandelier. She blinked, and looked at the tent itself; the tent was no larger than a camping tent, yet the inside was as large as small house. She swallowed and pulled Danny over to her. He looked inside, and his eyes widened in shock as he beheld the impossibility of the tent.

"Excuse me," a woman said behind them, startling Eve to where she almost fell. Danny turned to face her, looking her over in curious confusion. She was short, and her grey hair frizzed out in all directions, thin and wiry, pushed down only by a ratty, crooked witch's hat. Her nose was sharp and bent, and she wore a long black robe, a red badge on her breast changing from reading #1! to Bulgaria!. She spoke in a decidedly British accent. "Why are you looking in our tent?"

"This is your tent?" Eve asked, pushing Danny aside. He huffed, but stood aside while Eve talked with the woman.

"Why, yes. We couldn't get here quite fast enough for the Cup, but Bulgaria won! Isn't that wonderful news?" the woman said, chuckling. "My family and I are celebrating over there." She flapped a hand loosely behind her, gesturing to a nearby bonfire where more oddly-dressed people sat around, whooping and drinking out of dark bottles.

"Well, we're very sorry for looking in your tent," Danny quickly said. "We'll just be moving along."

"No, no, nonsense!" She looked a moment over Eve's dirty clothes and the pair's overall bedraggled appearance. "You're all dirty! Did your portkey drop you off in the marshes or something?" Danny and Eve looked at each other questioningly, but before they could give any sort of answer, the woman reached into the folds of her robe and pulled out what looked to be an intricately carved wand. She tapped Eve's arm with it delicately, muttering a word simply and daintily- "Tergeo"- and in an instant the mud was gone from her body completely, leaving her clothes and face as clean as if she had just come from a hot shower. Eve yelped, and staggered back to Danny, who clutched her arm in tentative fear.

"I- I- I- think we'll just be moving along, then," Danny stuttered, hurriedly leading a stunned Eve away from the curious woman, who shrugged and went back to her bonfire. The two kept their heads down, walking as fast as they could muster through the ever-thickening crowds of people, most all of them wearing robes similar to those worn by the old woman and the little boy. The drunken shouts and laughs of the people as they drank and laughed around their bonfires, music swirling around them out of nowhere, brightly coloured light shooting out of wands much like that carried by the old woman, was almost too much to bear.

The sounds and the lights were impossible, dizzying, the lights swirling in Eve's vision as she looked over to Danny, who had his eyes shut. She led him on through the crowd, avoiding with a wide margin any people, inching around the tents and their curious insides. Just when the crowd was so thick that it was almost impossible to walk through, Danny and Eve burst from the mass of tents and people in a sudden burst, tripping and falling to the grassy ground. From here, they could see the dark silhouettes of the trees that made up the dense forest that now stood behind them, framing the tents and covering the plateau.

"What is this place?" Eve whispered, as they realized that they were lying on what seemed to be a road splitting the tents into two halves. On their right stood endless rows of red tints, few light blue ones mixed in with them. On their left stood the opposite, the expanse shimmering with the light blue hues of the tents; on this side the people were quiet and sulking, some crying around their fires, a heavy contrast to those on the right. Her question was nearly cut short by the loud crack of a nearby firework as it shot out of the red tents to explode in the night sky.

"I have no idea," Danny whispered back, still shaken. A moment later a cheering arose, and people dressed long robes of all colours rushed to the side of the road and cheered. Even those in the blue tents clapped grudgingly, nodding and whispering amongst themselves. On the right side, the noise of cheering and applause was deafening. The sound of the oncoming parade could be heard through the ground, and Danny lifted his head to find Eve already standing to the side of the road, craning her neck to see what was coming down the road.

A cloud of smoke arose from the people's feet as they approached, wearing robes of deep scarlets that shimmered like fire in the low light. A tall, hulking man, his brow creasing in what seemed like a perpetual glare, led the parade; he was in turn followed by two other, leaner but still hulking men, and behind them came three more, two women, their hair shaved close to their heads and the same scowl on their faces, walking on either side of another man. A seventh man, of average height, held up the back of the train. He was shorter, still standing face-to-face with Danny, and yet he was the sort you didn't just approach. He seemed to give off an aura of celebrity, yet there was something dark in his step as he stormed past. All seven were silent, and all seven carried sleek, thick broomsticks. Every time the handles of these broomsticks hit the ground, they sent a small shower of red sparks, and the ground thudded as if being walked on by giants with every impact.

The first six strode by before Eve or Danny could get a good look at them; however, before passing them, the seventh paused and turned a moment, surveying the crowds under a heavy brow. His face remained expressionless as his eyes passed over Danny and Eve, his eye stopping coldly as he saw them. He looked Danny square in the eye, Danny's verdigris eyes following the handsome, if sinister, man's unshaven cheek up to the dark wells that were his eyes. He shivered in the face of the coldness that met him there, coldness masked by a veil of heat and raw muscular power. But the moment of attraction and fear was fleeting, for soon, he, too, followed the other six down the road. As he retreated, and as Eve pointed out to Danny, who was still stunned, words shimmered on his back. Against the deep scarlet of his robes, a name shimmered: Viktor Krum. In a moment, the seven were lost in the forest.

Not a moment passed before a thunderous sound was heard again as insults ripped from the throats of the people on the right side of the road. On the left, the people sulked, some sobbing and sinking to the ground in their despair. From down the road came seven more people in the same arrangement as before, now with five women and two men, all of their frames lighter, more agile than those of those who had gone before. They wore tattered, muddy and torn light blue robes, fleur-de-lis's adorning their shoulders, and their shoulders were hunched in defeat as they trudged by, not looking any one of the people in the crowd in the eye, hardly paying any attention at all to the boo's and insults being thrown at them.

Soon, they, too, fled into the forest, following the strange people who had gone before them. Eve tugged at Danny's shirtsleeve in excitement; he met her eyes to find them shining with glee. "Let's follow them!" she whispered excitedly, her hazel eyes begging him to say yes. He looked around tentatively at the already-dispersing crowds.

"I don't know," he said apprehensively. "No one else seems to be-"

"Have you seen the other people here?" She looked at him plainly, and he took a deep breath, sighing, his breath misting in the cooling night air. She seemed to take that as a yes, grabbing his wrist in her sturdy grip and pulling him alongside her as she raced off down the grassy road and into the forest ahead.