Chapter 2
Portkeys are perhaps one of the most inconvenient ways to travel. Harry, had landed right on top of me as we landed, leaving me with the sensation of having the air knocked out of me. We only had to walk for a little before we reached the campgrounds.
Thousands of people from all over the world were dressed in green or red, supporting their preferred team for the win. I could hear several different languages at once, and the name Krum popping up in several different conversations. There were smells of people roasting over their campfires different types of meats and potatoes to celebrate with.
"Alright Amos, we'll meet up with you before the game at six," Mr. Weasley waved to Mr. Diggory. I breathed a sigh of relief; the man had been getting under my skin worse than Mr. Malfoy even could. Alright, maybe not.
Arthur led Ginny, Fred, George, Hermione, Ron, Harry and I through the tents until we came to one small triangular shaped tent. Everyone began to pile in without question. Harry and I exchanged looks of confusion until Mr. Weasley gently pushed us forward into the tent. As soon as I stepped inside I realized how everyone fit. The inside was at least ten times the size of what it was on the outside.
Ron immediately ran to the kitchen, his knapsack still tied around his shoulders. Fred and George plopped down at a table in the back lounging their long lanky legs across the table. Hermione and Ginny were taking their bags to the bedroom were several hammocks were all set up and layered on top of another. I took my bag and placed it next to the couch that was placed right near the entrance.
"Ron, get out of the kitchen we're all hungry. Fred, George, feet off the table."
"Feet off the table!" The boys both chimed and pretended to take their feet off but didn't actually do so.
I pulled out a book that I had stolen from Hermione's collection and nuzzled into the couch. Sports weren't really my thing. For a few hours I was able to ignore the boys buzzing about and fighting over who was going to win the Quidditch World Cup. By the time it was time to go, I had become so invested in my book that I didn't notice the twins sneak up next to me. I had been right up to the part where Mestrophis was about to be revealed for his disloyalty towards his army when I was sent flying up in the air.
My book shot up over my head and I took a big gulp of air in surprise when I felt myself being quickly lifted off the couch. I flailed my arms out until they found the shoulders of each of the twins.
"Ireland!" The boys screamed facing each other, each holding me like a cradle from my right and left side. They bolted quickly out of the tent then flipped me over like one would do to a child. I let out a short yelp when my feet were sent over my head. As I mentioned sports were not my forte and neither was anything that was more physically active than flipping a page of a book.
Harry, Hermione, and Harry came out of the tent followed by the other Weasley boys and Mrs. Weasley who were all also dawned in either red or green. I had apparently missed the face painting ceremony. As well as the appearance of Charlie, Percy, and Bill.
We met up with the Diggorys again, Amos started to go off about how his son proved to be one of the best charmers known to wizard kind. While Mr. Diggory went on bragging Arthurs and Percy's ear off we, including Cedric, all ran ahead and started purchasing some little trinkets to bring with us to the game. I purchased a five hour tattoo from a charmer, it was a vine of shamrocks that moved. It traveled started at first at the very tip of my middle finger where the charmer had first placed his wand and started to wrap and grow up my finger to the rest of my hand.
"Thank you," Hermione and I spoke in unison then moved back to the group. I had purchased her the tattoo, she hadn't brought any money with her to the game and I had no objections to lending her a bit. Harry had thought the same as I had apparently. He handed Hermione and I each an omnicular, an object very similar to a pair of binoculars that could also slow down movement for better definition of actions.
"I can't take these," Ron awkwardly tried to avoid taking the omnicular from Harry.
"It's no big deal, I just won't get you a Christmas present," Harry waved Ron off and handed him the omnicular before moving on.
We all walked to the field where the game was to take place. I could see the bright shine of the arena before I actually reached it. The arena had to be at least thirty or forty stories high. I had a strong distaste for heights, only my brother and Draco had figured that out. One was more than cautious when dealing with my fear and the other would often forget and suddenly remember after the chance for preventing the mental damage was far long and gone. Surprisingly to many Draco was the gentler handler.
We began the trek up the many staircases regardless. I could feel the queasiness in my stomach grow more and more with each flight of stairs we passed. Eventually we reached at least the twentieth floor, Arthur was starting to weaze a bit, but the excitement in his eyes did not waver.
"Blimey Dad! How far up are we," George yelled out as we were about to ascend another set of stairs.
"All the way up," Mr. Weasley yelled forward to George who was at the front of our group. I groaned on the inside but forced myself to imagine that we were only climbing the same first floor flight of stairs over and over again so that I didn't vomit all over. We finally reached the top of the stadium when I realized that I had actually climbed the first floor a total of forty-seven times. Seven more than what I had originally predicted. When I was able to see the sudden drop that allowed us to few the field I couldn't resist myself from snatching Harry's arm.
"Ouch!" He grabbed at my hand that was surely bruising his skin. I decided that I was going through more mental pain than he was physically and didn't let go.
"Ah, here we are," Arthur led us over to our small box. Of course right up against the front of the balcony. So that we had the best chance to fall off and possibly die. "Aren't these just prime seats!" I grimaced and took my seat. I was so preoccupied on controlling my panicing state that I hadn't taken in anything that was happening around me until I heard my name being picked up in a conversation.
"And this is his sister, Rose Potter." I jumped and looked around until I saw Cornelius Fudge introducing myself and Harry to some man that I didn't recognize.
"Harry, Rose, this is the Bulgarian Minister," I put on my calm Slytherin face that I had been mastering through the years and smiled politely at him. The Prime Minister suddenly seemed to notice Harry's scar then pointed excitedly at him then back at me.
"Knew we'd get there in the end. Where's Barty Crouch when I need him, the man doesn't speak a spot of English. He'll be here soon enough though, I see he sent up his house elf to keep his seats for him. Good thing too those Bulgarians have been snatching the seats. Ah! And here comes Lucius Malfoy." Fudge turned to greet Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and Draco who followed close behind. I smiled again politely at Lucius and his wife who returned the smile.
"Fudge," Mr. Malfoy shook hands with the Minister, "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"
"How do you do, how do you do?" Fudge flashed a large smile to Mrs. Malfoy and bowed a little. "It's a pleasure to meet you, let me introduce you to Mr. Oblansk – Obalonsk – Mr… well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a damn word I'm saying anyway so never mind. And let's see who else – you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?" Mr. Malfoy raised his chin and looked at the entire group we had come with.
" Good lord Arthur, what did you have to sell to get in the top box? Surely your house isn't worth enough," his tone was soft but his words were far from that. Fudge had been distracted by a firework that had went off like they had been for the past half hour.
"Lucius has just donated a very generous amount to the St. Mungo's hospital, Arthur. He's here as my guest." Fudge smiled politely at Mr. Weasley who in turn offered a strained and uncomfortable reciprocal.
"How – how nice."
Lucius gazed over at Hermione whose face then turned slightly more pink than usual. The Malfoys hated muggles, and muggle born witches and wizards. They didn't have an overly fond taste for half-bloods either. They really only approved of pure-bloods and supporters of pure bloods. They had once informed me that they believed that I took after my pure-blood side, and that they didn't believe that my 'unfortunate muggle born blood' was as present in my body than as my brothers. I remember that day as the day I had literally bit a hole in my tongue. I had spent some time with the Malfoys every summer, I told the Dursleys I had a position at a muggle studies camp to teach witches and wizards how to become better at being normal. They of course approved.
"Enjoy the game Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy." Lucius bowed his head at me and Narcissa offered a short smirk after glaring dissaprovingly at my brother.
The game went on without another thought of the Malfoys. After another hour the shock of the height we were at lessened and I could enjoy the rest of the game being only slightly terrified. Upon the end of the game when Krum had caught the snitch but still lost the game, I had never seen Fred and George Weasley even more excited. They enthusiastically accepted the bet they had made with Ludo Bagman.
Everyone rushed out of the stadium. I however knew that I was going to need some time on the stairs. Coming down was always harder than going up.
"Are you coming," Hermione asked when she realized I was staying in my seat.
"No, I'm going to watch the fireworks. I'll meet up with you guys later." She nodded and went down the stairs along with the rest of the group. I sat back while the place emptied out and watched the fireworks form different shapes and animations of course all were shamrocks, leprechauns, or the Irish flag.
"Enjoy the game?" I looked behind me and found Draco standing by himself. He walked around the row of chairs separating us and sat down right next to me.
"Yes, I actually did," I crossed my arms and crossed my legs. Despite it being summer, being up so high in the night made it a little chillier than normal.
"Let me guess, you're waiting for people to leave so that you can go down without having to worry about people seeing you scared." He had a smug face that I had seen him use quite often on my friends. We stared at eachother for a moment until I sent a little spark at him from my wand, which I kept up my sleeve. He yelped and jumped in his seat a little. We laughed for a little then settled down again and enjoyed the rest of the fireworks in silence. A lot of our time together consisted of silence. We seemed to be comfortable with each other enough that we didn't always have to fill the air with our voices. Neither of us was very fond of chit-chat either. When then last firework went off a half hour later we both began to stand up.
Luckily there weren't a large amount of people leaving at this point since many had already left, either bummed that their team had lost or so excited that they immediately wanted to go and celebrate. Draco and I slowly made our way down the stairs. I held on to the railing for dear life and tried not to look down through the grated stairs. The first set was the worst after some time the knowledge that I was getting closer to the bottom encouraged me to fear less. Draco walked silently next to me. I was more than thankful when the last step came up. We started to walk through but when he saw his parents with their backs turned to us while they were speaking to Goyle's parents he stopped in his tracks.
"Wait," he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a closet that was right next to the bottom of the staircase. Draco started to inspect the small room as if looking for someone and threw a muffling charm on the door. I didn't question him. He started to pull something out of his pocket slowly as if he were debating something within himself. He wouldn't look at me while he did it, but he pulled out a chain with a silver pendant on it. "Father heard there is supposed to be an attack here at the tents late tonight." He put the chain in my hand. "This should protect you against the hexes and jinxes that they normally use, but don't take the chance it's tempermental with the curses. Get out of here. Don't tell anyone that my father knows, not even your idiot brother." I gaped at him with my mouth open.
"Who's going to attack," I asked surprised. He looked at me then shook his head.
"I can't tell you, just trust me." He took the charm off the door and left the closet. I put the chain around my neck and stuffed it inside my shirt before leaving the room.
"Ah, Ms. Potter," Mrs. Goyle chimed seeing me over the shoulder of Mrs. Malfoy. I walked up next to Draco who was standing with his parents.
"Good evening Mrs. Goyle, Mrs. Goyle, Gregory." I concealed the panic that had built up in me. Gregory Goyle and I weren't particularly close friends, we just tolerated each other since we both were friends of Draco. I tended to stay away from Crabbe and Goyle though when I could. The two had always been a nasty pair.
"Did you come with Lucius and Narcissa, dear?" Mrs. Goyle asked sweetly. I had prior experience with Mrs. Goyle and her sweet conversations were typically the reciprocal of what her thoughts were.
"No, my brothers friends invited me to come with them, they were given some seats and had some extra for my brother and I." I knew better than to call Hermione or the Weasleys my own personal friends to the Malfoys or the Goyles. Draco knew that I did indeed enjoy their company, but the majority of pure-blood families believed that I only tolerated them for the sake of my relationship with my brother. Family bonds were strong to many pure-blood families, most thankfully didn't question my liking of my brother.
"The Weasleys," Mr. Goyles face scrunched up as if he had just walked into a cloud of noxious gas. "You let the poor girls game be spoiled by a bunch of muggle lovers, Lucius?" I bit the inside of my cheeks and did not dare show any distaste for their conversation. Lucius laughed cooly.
"I was not aware that she would be attending at all." Lucius looked over to me with a sharp eye. I knew that since Draco and I had such a strong bond that whatever I did would reflect the Malfoy household. I had overheard Lucius many times bragging about how he had practically taken me in as a child of his own in the summer to save me some torment from the humiliation of living with muggles. Obviously I never viewed Mr. Malfoy as a father figure but I was often times thankful for that week of release from the Dursleys.
"Thank you for the thought, however I'm afraid that I must be off. The excitement of the festivities has made me tired. I'll see you both on the train." I smiled politely to both before I took off to quickly reach the tent. I practically ran to the tent once I was out of eyesight of the Malfoys and Goyles.
"Ah, there you are, I was beginning to get a bit worried," I had almost ran into Arthur as I ducked and bolted into the tent.
"Sorry, I wanted to see the rest of the fireworks." I said quickly. I looked around at how unorganized and unpacked everyone was. It wouldn't be a quick pack up when we had to leave. I wringed my hands trying to think for a moment. Ron, Fred and George were running around singing some Irish chant.
"Don't you think we should straighten up a bit, maybe pack back up some of our bags. I mean people can just walk right in the tent, there's nothing stopping them from grabbing some of our stuff and leaving with it," I suggested loudly so that everyone could hear. Percy seemed to take the threat seriously and started to pack up the small bag he had packed.
"Oh, always such the worry wart you are." Arthur patted my back. I groaned, my back still feeling a bit sore from the episode the night before. I shook my head and packed my bag up and even packed up Harry's small bag a bit.
The already loud campsite from everyone celebrating started to grow louder. At first I didn't think it was the attack until I heard an ear piercing shriek. Fred and George were throwing shamrock confetti up in the air pretending to do a jig when Arthur cam running in from outside of the tent after another uproar from the crowd outside. I started to feel very uneasy and shakily was throwing everything into bags.
"Sounds like the Irish have got their pride on," George remarked.
"Stop! It's not the Irish," He grabbed twins who were standing on the coffee table. "Get your things, we're being attacked." The screams were starting to get louder. Arthur grabbed Ginny's bag and threw it over her head and pushed her over to Fred and George.
"What do you mean," Ron asked taking the quilt off his head that Fred had thrown on him.
"Get her out of here," he pointed to Fred and George. "Kids you all stay together." He pointed to Harry, Hermione, Ron and myself. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, with me," the four of them all pulled out their wands and Percy threw me his bag which he had shrunk quickly before they all ran out of the tent. Fred and George left their stuff and both grabbed one of Ginny's arms with their other hand on their wand as they ran out.
Hermione ran and grabbed her small bag. I grabbed Ron and Harry's bag and pushed them into their hands.
"Get moving," I pushed them all since they were standing there confused. When we left the tent I thought we had stepped into a warzone. People were running and screaming, I saw several of them with singed hair and clothing. I could see the glow of fire just beyond some of the tents then those tents erupted into flames. More people suddenly came darting at us and pushed us all around. Hermione grabbed a hold of my shirt and Ron grabbed a hold of Hermione. The multitude of people running about us separated us from Harry.
"Harry," we screamed out realizing he wasn't behind us. A person in a black robe and a silver mask suddenly appeared and pointed a wand at us.
"Confringo," a burst of flames erupted out from the tip of the wand. I didn't even think as I lifted my wand.
"Aqua eructo," I pointed my wand and a giant cloud of steam built up in the middle where the fire and a jet of water my wand produced met. The fire stopped, presumably because the cloaked man was surprised. Hermione took the moment to grab us and run since the cloaked man couldn't see through the thick cloud.
"Harry!" Ron, Hermione and I were all shouting his name as we continued running through the panicking crowd. We kept running through the crowd trying to find him. Every dark haired teen we passed I yanked on to see if it could have been Harry. After a while we ran around the tents to pass past the group of men that were pillaging through the campsite. We would duck by a tent and wait for a bit then run behind the next one. The fires were starting to completely destroy the tents, leaving nothing but burnt wood and ash. We kept at it though. We kept running screaming his name out until our voices grew hoarse and our legs were going limp, but I couldn't feel any of that. Losing my brother was not a possibility to me.
Soon enough the place was entirely barren. The only movement was the flicker of dieing fires and the slow creep of the fog and smoke that was moving along the grounds.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed out.
"Harry, where are you," Ron let out a defeated sounding yell. We were looking out around the grounds, still dragging our clumsy tired feet up and over fallen down tents and rubble. I saw a quick dash of movement that looked to be a person.
"Over there," I started running toward the figure who was faced away from us. As I grew closer I saw that the figure was wearing the same black jacket that Harry had been wearing that day.
"Harry!" I ran faster and nearly tackled him but he turned around just before I threw my arms around him. He caught me and returned the hug. Hermione and Ron soon followed.
"We've been looking for you for ages. I thought we lost you," Ron shook his head. I let go of Harry when I noticed he was antsy and looking at something up in the sky. I looked up at what caught his attention and felt a lurch in my stomach from the shock. I had seen that design. Lucius Malfoy had that tattooed on his left forearm along with Mr. Goyle. I had accidently walked in on them showing their tattoos to each other on one of the days I had spent with the Malfoys over the summer. They quickly hid it away but I had already seen the mark. Draco later regretfully informed me it was the dark mark.
"What is that," Harry asked, almost as soon as he finished the question a shock of pain went through my back. I staggered backward and clutched onto a broken tent that had been burnt except for the foundation. Hermione and Ron were fussing over Harry thankfully so I was able to get through the pain on my own. I dug through my bag that I packed but couldn't find the salve through my foggy, pain filled mind.
"Acio curse scar salve," I pointed my wand into my bag and the salve jumped right out of the bag. I fumbled with the lid but smeared it on my back under my shirt and gritted my teeth until the salve started to calm my burning skin. I ran over to Harry after I was able to think again and slathered a little of the salve onto his forehead. He started to breath normally again and I could tell that the pain was dimming down. We apparently weren't allowed to have a second to fully relax. About six sudden bursts of smoke appeared six men all with their wands out.
"Stupefy!" The men all yelled in unison sending a six red sources of light in our direction. Before the hexes could reach us I (without knowing) deflected the spells to all travel upward. That pendent Draco had given me seemed to boost my instinct.
"Stop!" I heard Arthur Weasley's voice yelling from past the men. He ran towards us desperately, "that's my son!" Barty Crouch followed him running at us. "Harry, Rose, Ron, Hermione, are you alright?"
"Which of you conjured it?" Crouch yelled pointing his wand in our face.
"Crouch, you can't possibly," Arthur seemed flabbergasted.
"That is a lie, you've been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Crime?" Harry asked in unison.
"Barty they're just kids." Arthur seemed seriously confused and almost worried for the chief inspector.
"What crime," Harry insisted.
"It's the dark mark Harry, it's his mark." Hermione whispered to him.
"Voldemort, those people tonight in the masks they're his too aren't they, his followers?" Harry asked Mr. Weasley. He nodded.
"Death eaters." Arthur confirmed to Crouch whose expression grew serious in a terrified manner.
"Follow me." He motioned for the other five men to all follow him in the direction he was running to. Harry hesitated a moment then stepped forward calling after Crouch.
"Um.. There was a man before…" Barty Crouch looked back to Harry with wide eyes. Harry point just to the right of where Crouch was already heading, "There."
"All of you this way!" We watched the men all run off.
"A man harry who," Arthur asked.
"I dunno, I didn't see his face." He looked at me for a moment then turned his attention to the ominous design in the night sky. Arthur then began to pull us away.
"You don't need to see this, let's get going. Molly will be sick with worry."
A/N: Just a reminder in case anyone is a little confused, I'm mixing the books and the movies. I hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reading. Any criticism is welcome, it is how I learn to become a better writer.