It had been terrifying. Harry wondered if this was a taste of what the War against Voldemort had been like. He worried what these events meant if you added them together with his dream and Trelawney's prophecy at the end of last year. It seemed the peace that had surrounded to wizarding world would soon be entirely shattered.
"Harry!" he heard the Weasleys shouting his name and began walking toward them. He felt around for his wand but couldn't find it...He'd dropped it. Now what would happen? that had been the only wand that would bond with him. If it was lost or broken Harry wasn't sure how he'd continue to do magic.
He waited until he could see it was the Weaseleys before responding (you never know, there were spells to replicate other people's voices after all). "Here I am!" He was instantly surrounded by the large family and Hermione as they all expressed either relief at his safety (Mr. Weasley and his children) or scolded him for not managing to stay with the group (Mrs. Weasley and Hermione).
In the next second screaming could be heard all around them and a shape appeared in the sky made of smoke. It was a skull with a snake around it and coming out of the mouth.
"What is it?" Harry asked. He didn't know where he'd seen it before, but it felt familiar.
"That," Bill responded (over his mother's "don't worry about it dear"), "is the Dark Mark. Symbol of the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who."
If the occasion hadn't been so serious Harry would have been tempted to say 'No I don't' as he often was when faced with the idea of speaking like that. It was a sign of just how tense everything was that the thought of responding in such a way hadn't even entered his mind at the time.
They didn't get long to think on what the dark mark appearing in the sky meant when someone approached the clearing that they were standing in. He was a small man (probably 5 feet tall at best) and painfully thin as well. He wore a beat up black three piece suit with matching black belstaff coat (which was in much better condition than the coat) Around his neck was a purple scarf. His hands had matching purple leather gloves on them and in his gloved hands he held a familiar wand.
"You," He stated slowly while looking directly into Harry's eyes, Harry was struck by the fact that the young man before him (at least Harry thought he was young. He felt both young and old simultaneously somehow) had copper colored irises, "dropped this back there." He spoke with an odd accent. It didn't match the dialects of anywhere in particular. It seemed to have aspects of French, Italian, Russian, and Arabic all at once.
He held the wand out to Harry for him to take. "Thank you," Harry replied. The small man had at least 30 scars running in all directions on his face. Perhaps he was a werewolf like Professor Lupin had been. However, if he reminded Harry of anyone it would have been his Godfather, Sirius Black. Perhaps the fact that this man was so similar to both his Godfather and his favorite professor was the reason that the odd man felt familiar. That didn't seem right, though, to Harry there had to be something else.
In the distance, directly under the Dark Mark, shouting began. Without another word the man spun on one of his booted heals (the boots, like the belstaff coat were in excellent condition) and disappeared the way he had come.
Harry looked at those around him and everyone seemed in varying degrees of wariness of the odd man who had returned his wand. All except Charlie that is. Ron's dragon handling brother had a look that managed to convey both heart break and horror on his face. Harry thought for a moment that the second eldest Weasley boy was going to chase after the man but then he had sighed in a resigned fashion.
The group made their way over to the shouting under the Dark Mark to see what had happened. There was a man unconscious on the ground. In the chaotic shouting Harry could make out things like "Supposed to be dead." and "Black wasn't the first then." Uniformed Aurors surrounded the man (Harry wasn't sure if their intention was to protect the man or to keep him contained...probably both)
The man was quickly put in some type of restraints and tied to a stretcher. A tall, bald, swarthy man seemed to be in charge as he assured everyone, "We will get to the bottom of this...I won't rest until I find out exactly how all of this happened. Especially how Barty Crouch Jr. Managed to escape when he's listed as dead." Another man was quickly arrested as well. Both were lead away.
His mind reeling with all that occurred, Harry followed everyone else back to their tent.