Edie woke up to screaming and smoke, flames, everywhere. It took a few moments before she realized that the surface she was lying on wasn't actually a surface at all.
"HELP!" she screamed, flailing around in mid-air. "Help, help, help, help, help." Her scream of fright turned into a miserable whisper through her tears, a sort of mantra, as if the simple act of talking through her fear could keep her from falling. She didn't open her eyes– as painful as it was to be conscious, she didn't want to black out again, and Edie knew that that was exactly what would happen if she saw how far up she was now. If it had been twenty feet before… she shuddered. "Help, help, help…"
Little Robert Roberts was floating limply a few feet away, unconscious. At least, Edie hoped he was only unconscious.
"You will let the Muggles down– safely!" an authoritative voice was booming from below. Help? Edie risked a quick glance downward.
It was the scene of a nightmare. Tents were trampled for yards and yards around, people ran in every direction, sparks were flying from wands, and yet the troupe of her tormenters marched onward. Facing them in a solid wall were about a dozen wizards Edie assumed to be in the Ministry. And there! Was that a glimpse of– no, she couldn't be sure from up so high. Probably a reflection from all the fire or a wand, the flash of red Edie thought she'd seen.
"YOU WILL CEASE THIS AT ONCE!" the voice boomed again as the marchers surged forward. The Ministry wizards stood with their wands at the ready, but none cast a spell– their constant glances upward made it clear they worried what would happen if the marching wizards were distracted and let the Muggles drop. When the marchers reached the barrier of Ministry officials, the wall broke and the men in masks passed through easily.
More screams, and Edie couldn't figure why– nothing new had happened to either her or any of the Robertses, and everything on the ground looked the same. As she flipped over onto her back and began to plummet downward, Edie saw what everyone was screaming about– a smoky skull hung in the sky, with a snake slithering out of the mouth where a tongue should have been.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" twelve voices shouted at once. Edie was floating again, but it was a different quality, lighter, if that was possible. Gently, she drifted down to a harmless plop onto the ground, the rest of the Roberts family plopping down around her soon after.
"Wait here!" shouted one of the Ministry wizards as the rest ran off in the direction of the strange, sky-bourne apparition that had made the masked wizards scatter. He looked back with a look of horror on his face.
"Edie?" Percy asked incredulously, but she didn't have a chance to answer. In a second, he was gone with all the others and Edie was left with the rest of the Robertses, who were hugging and crying all at once. With a sudden longing for her own family, Edie stood up shakily. There was a forest a little ways away– she would go and hide in there. The Ministry officials would be back any minute to wipe all of their memories, and she wouldn't let that happen, not after everything she'd been through.
"Where are you going?" Mr. Roberts asked as Edie staggered off into the darkness. She didn't answer.
Edie didn't get very far before pain forced her to stop. A huge gash she hadn't noticed before in all the panic had been cut into her jeans, and her leg was dripping blood. She had barely made it into the forest when she knew she wouldn't be able to walk further without rest.
"Obliviate!" "Obliviate!" she heard out of the dark. "I don't have a daughter," and then, "Obliviate!"
Edie shuddered and clutched her head, as if that would help protect her memory when they found her. She ripped out her notebook, which, miraculously, hadn't been lost in the flight.
Men in black robes and skull masks levitate the Roberts family and me (levicortus? levicorpse?) Skull and snake in sky made them drop us and run, Ministry wizards aught us all before impact. Robertses' memories wiped, hiding in forest, leg bleeding badly. Percy Weasley there, think he recognized me. I'm about to be found. I can hear footsteps and people talking. I wonder if Krum caught the snitch after all. I wonder if those splinched people ever got put together again.
"… check for people in the forest. You have your wand, Arthur?"
And, hastily: "I'll do it, dad. Homenum revelio!"
There was no flash of light, no brightly colored sparks. In the darkness, Edie couldn't see anything, but she felt, very clearly, a spell pass through her. She clutched her pen even more tightly. She would have all of this, even if she never believed it again.
"Homenum Revelio"– felt something go IN me, lets them know where I am, without having to see me
Edie heard a crackle of leaves as the caster of the spell stepped forward. Edie covered her mouth in horror.
"Come on, what was it Perce?" another voice asked.
Percy Weasley stood a few feet from Edie's hiding place, his face… unreadable. He was clearly torn between something, and Edie didn't have to search far to find out what it was. Duty to his Ministry, and desire to help out… some girl he only met once? There was no question what he'd pick. Edie saw a vision of Mr. Crouch and "Weatherby." She covered her face with her hands and pushed her notebook into her pocket again. She'd probably think it was some wacky dream she'd had and managed to remember well enough to write down. Maybe she'd write it out as a story for her Creative Writing class, an ordinary girl caught up in powers beyond her control. She figured she could flesh it out to make the story more dramatic, more worthy of literature. Percy could turn her in because of jealousy– he found the address George had written down in her sock. Or maybe blackmail– he'd lose his job if he lied. Or maybe the heroine would stand up at this point in the story and give herself away, to save his reputation. Edie still had that option, after all. Percy's face looked so horribly resolute. He turned around.
"Nobody," he said clearly. "She must've gotten away."