Chapter 44

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August 19th 1994

More than a few hours later the World Cup is over, Ireland having won even though Krum caught the snitch, and everyone are finally in bed after spending a lot of time celebrating the win, and Hermione, Harry and Neville are sound asleep in the tent they are sharing with Remus and Sirius, or they are until Sirius and Remus start to shake them awake.

"Get up! Hermione, Harry, Neville, get up! Now! This is urgent." Remus's worried voice says.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asks confused, but she can tell that something is wrong as coming from the campsite isn't the happy celebrating that was going on early but instead people are screaming and by the sounds of it, running.

Slipping down from their bunks Harry, Hermione and Neville all reach from their clothes, all three of them looking worried.

"No. There's no time." Sirius, who has put his jacket and jeans on over his pyjama's, says "Just grab jackets and get outside, quickly." He says worried and the three teenagers do as they are told.

Hurrying outside Harry, Hermione and Neville that people are running towards the woods, feeling something that is coming towards them, emitting odd flashes of light and noises light gunfire.

As the something comes towards them the three teens hears loud jeers, roars of laughter, and drunken yells, then suddenly comes burst of strong green lights, which illuminates the crowed of wizards that are tightly packed and moving together with their wands pointing straight upwards and their faces masked.

"Oh god." Hermione says horrified as she notices that above the group are four figures, two of which are very small, that are being contorted into grotesque shapes by the growing group of wizards bellow.

As tents crumple and fall, some catching fire, the Weasley's as well as Remus and Sirius who went to help wake them up, come running out of the tent, like Remus and Sirius Bill, Charlie, Percy and Arthur are dressed while the others are just wearing jackets over their pyjama's.

"We're going to help the Ministry." Sirius shouts as he and the other adults pull their wands and roll up their sleeves, "You lot get into the woods and stick together." He says to Hermione, Harry, Neville, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George.

"We'll come and fetch you when we've sorted tis out." Arthur explains.

"Keep your eyes open and your wands out." Remus adds before he, Sirius, Arthur, Bill, Charlie and Percy sprint towards the oncoming marches, as they do other Ministry Wizard do too, coming from every direction.

"C'mon." Fred says as he grabs Ginny's hand and pulls her towards the woods. Seeing that Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville and George follow. The group run and don't stop until they reach the trees, but once they do they look back to see that the crowed below the people who are the Roberts family is larger than anything.

From their distant it looks like the Ministry Wizards are trying to get to the hooded wizards in the centre, but they are having great difficulty, it seems like they are scared to perform any spell that might make the Roberts family fall.

As they get into the forest the group finds Dark figures blundering through the trees, they hear children crying, anxious shouts and panicked voices.

As they are pushed further and further into the forest Hermione, Harry and Neville suddenly hear Ron yell in pain.

"What happened?" Hermione asks worried as Harry walks into her, "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid, Lumos!" Hermione says, illuminating her wand to reveal Ron sprawled out on the ground.

"Tripped over a tree root." Ron says, angrily, as Neville helps him to his feet.

"Well, with feet that size, hard not to." A drawling voice says and Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ron turn to see Draco Malfoy standing alone, leaning against a tree, looking completely relaxed.

"Go fuck yourself, Malfoy." Ron says annoyed.

"Language Weasley." Malfoy says, his pale eyes glittering, "Hadn't you better be hurrying along now? You wouldn't want them spotted, would you?" Malfoy asks, nodding at Harry, Hermione and Neville, and as he does a blast like a bomb sounds from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lights the trees around them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asks, though she has a sinking suspicion.

"It means that, considering who your parents are you might not want to draw attention to yourselves as the people out there would love to use you three to get revenge." Malfoy comments.

"And I guess you know that because your parents are out there being scum?" Hermione asks, taking several steps towards her cousin.

"Don't you dare call my parents scum, you blood traitor." Malfoy says angrily, pulling his wand and pointing it at Hermione.

"You don't scare me, Malfoy. You never have." Hermione informs her cousin and before Malfoy can respond there is a loud bang, louder than anything they have heard which causes several people nearby to scream.

"Mione, we should keep moving." Neville says, doing his best to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Nev is right, Mione, come on." Harry says, reaching out and taking his friends no wand hand and pulling her along the path.

"Keeps those heads of yours down." Malfoy calls after the foursome as they disappear into the trees.


"Oh, I can't believe this, where have the others gotten to?" Hermione asks concerned a little while later when it becomes clear that they have separated from Fred, George and Ginny.

"They can't have gone that far." Ron says as he pulls his own wand and lights it. Seeing that Neville pulls his wand and does the same, but as Harry attempts to he finds his wand gone.

"Ah, no, I don't believe it. I've lost my wand!" Harry informs the others.

"You're kidding." Neville says shocked as he, Hermione and Ron raise their wands high enough to spread narrow beams of light further on the ground. As he looks around him Harry sees that his wand is nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe it's back in the tent." Ron suggests.

"Maybe it fell out your pocket when we were running?" Hermione suggests, looking worried.

"Yeah," Harry says, "Maybe." He says, feeling very vulnerable.

"Here, use mine." Neville offers.

"No, you need it." Harry says, honestly not even sure if Neville's wand would work for him, as even though he knows he and Hermione can use each other's wands he doesn't know about anyone else.

"You're better than me when it comes to defensive spells, we both know that, considering everything, it's probably better for you to be armed than me." Neville explains.

"No, I am not taking your wand, Nev. You're better than you know, you're a great Wizard, you just have to believe in yourself." Harry says, taking several steps towards his friend, "I have faith in you…."

"So do I…." Hermione interrupts.

"Now, you need to have faith in yourself." Harry says, placing hands on Neville's shoulders.

"Okay." Neville says with a hesitant nod, but then a sudden rustling noise makes them all jump. Turning the foursome see Winky the House-elf fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby, but the way she is move is quiet odd, it almost looks like someone invisible is trying to hold her back.

"There is bad wizards about." Winky says as she leans forward and attempts to keep running, "People high, high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!" she say before disappearing into the trees on the other side of the path, attempting to fight the force that is restraining her.

"What's up with her?" Ron asks, looking curious, "Why can't she run properly?"

"Bet sHe didn't ask permission to hide." Harry guesses.

"Probably." Neville comments, as that's what it seems like to him.

"We should keep moving. We're too in the open here." Hermione comments and as the boys agree the foursome once more keeps walking, doing their best not to focus on the terrifying sounds coming from the campsite.


A little while later Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ron have found a dry patch of grass at the foot of a tree in a clearly off the path and they have been sitting there a little while, watching Ron's figure of Krum walk around.

"I hope the others are okay." Hermione comments as it starts to sound like there is no more sounds coming from the campsite.

"They'll be fine." Ron comments.

"I really hope one of your Dads, or Papa, catches Lucius Malfoy." Harry comments.

"That would be great." Neville says with a grin.

"It would really wipe the smile off Draco's face." Ron says, also grinning.

"I really feel sorry for those Muggles." Hermione says worriedly.

"They'll be able to get them down, right?" Harry asks, looking at the people who grew up in the magical world.

"Yeah, they'll find a way." Ron says, sounding reassuring.

"I can't believe they would be stupid enough to do something like that with practically the entire Ministry of Magic out there." Hermione says, "They can't have expected to get away with it." Hermione says with a frown.

"They're probably we're thinking." Neville comments, "Maybe they had been drinking or….." He starts to say as all four of them hear a sound that sounds like someone is staggering towards them.

"Hello?" Harry calls out,

"Don't…." Hermione hisses at him, but Harry doesn't listen, he gets to his feet and peers around the trees, and Hermione gets up too, "What is it?" Hermione asks in a whisper,

"There's someone out there." Harry whispers back, "Who's there?" Harry calls and then, without warning, the silence is broken by a voice unlike any other they have heard in the woods and it utters, not sounding at all picked,

"MORSMORDRE!"

And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness and it flies up over the treetops and into the sky.

"What the?" Ron asks as he and Neville both spring to their feet to, all four of them staring up at the thing that has appeared.

"No, oh god, no." Neville says, sounding completely horrified, as he gets a quick flash of the night he wasn't able to remember for most of his life, but that the Dementors caused him to remember more, the night his parents were tortured.

In the sky above the entire woods is a colossal skull, comprised of what looks like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As it rises higher the woods all around them erupts with screams, Harry and Ron being completely confused as to why.

"Who's there?" Harry calls again.

"Harry, come on, move!" Hermione says as grabs Harry's hand and pulls him backwards.

"What's the matter?" Harry asks, confused as to why Hermione and Neville are both looking white and terrified.

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione says as she pulls Harry as hard as she can, "Voldemort's sign." Hermione explains and hearing that the foursome starts to run across the clearing but they only make it a few steps before there are a series of popping noises as twenty or so Wizards appear, surrounding the group, all of them having their wands out, and pointed at the foursome.

"DUCK." Harry yells and He and Hermione both grab Neville and Ron and pull them down to the ground.

"STUPEFY" Roars twenty voices, causing blinding series of flashes.

"STOP." Yells three voices that the foursome recognizes, causing Harry and Hermione to lift their heads a fraction.

"STOP! THAT'S MY SON!"

"THAT'S MY DAUGTHER!"

"THAT'S MY GODSON!"

Arthur, Remus and Sirius respectively yell, allowing Hermione and Harry to roll over and see Sirius, Remus and Arthur all striding towards them, all three of them looking terrified.

"Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville." Remus says, his voice shaky.

"Are you okay?" Sirius and Arthur say, both sounding just as afraid.

"Out of the way, Arthur, Black, Lupin." says Mr. Crouch's cod, curt voice as he and other ministry Wizards start to close in on them, causing Hermione, Harry, Neville and Ron to stand up.

"Which of you did it?" Crouch snaps, his sharp eyes darting between them, "Which of you conjured the Dark mark?"

"We didn't do that!" Harry and Hermione say together.

"Do not lie!" Crouch says, "You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Really Crouch? I know that you're big on assigning guilt without evidence, but they are kids." Sirius says angrily, his eyes blazing, "They'd never have been able to!"

"Where did mark come from?" Remus quickly asks, knowing that Crouch won't stop accusing the kids without having someone else to blame.

"Over there." Hermione says shakily as she points to the place where they heard the voice, "There was someone behind the trees, they shouted words, it sounded like an incantation."

"Oh, stood over there, did they?" Crouch turning to look right at Hermione, "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how the mark is summoned, missy."

"Don't you dare, Crouch." Sirius says, fury in his voice, "Don't even think about accusing my daughter. She didn't do it, neither did the boys."

"Black's right." A witch in a woollen dressing gown says as all the ministry wizards raise their wands again and start to point them at the direction Hermione indicated, squinting through the dark trees, "We're too late." She says, "They'll have Disapparated."

"I don't think so." Amos says as he and Remus start to move closer to where Hermione said.

"Our stunners went right through those trees. There's a good chance we got them." Remus comments.

"Amos, Remus, be careful!" A few of the Wizards warn as Amos and Remus both raise their wands and march into the clearing and they both disappear into the darkness, as they do Sirius and Arthur move closer to Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville.

"Yes! We got them!" Amos says, sounding shocked, "There's someone here! Unconscious!

"It's, but…" Remus says, sounding shocked.

"Rem?" Sirius asks concerned

"You've got someone?" Crouch asks, sounding highly disbelieving.

"Who?" Arthur asks, "Who is it?"

For the next couple of minutes, the group hears snapping twigs rustling of leaves and footsteps before Amos and Remus reappear, Remus is carefully carrying a limp figure in his arms, a figure that everyone recognizes as Winky.

As Remus walks right over to Crouch and carefully places Winky on the ground no one speaks, or moves, but everyone is staring at Crouch.

After Remus places Winky on the ground Remus walks back over to Sirius as Crouch remains transfixed until he finally come to live once again.

"This…. Cannot…. Be." He says, "No…." Crouch says before quickly moving around Amos and strides of to the place where he and Remus found Winky.

"There is no point, Mr Crouch." Amos calls after him, "There's no one else there." He comments, but Crouch doesn't listen he just keeps searching.

"Bit embarrassing." Amos says, grimly as he looks at Winky's unconscious form, "Barty Crouch's house elf, I mean to say…."

"Come off it, Amos." Arthur says quietly, "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard sign. It requires a wand."

"Yeah, and she had a wand." Amos comments.

"Where? I didn't see one." Remus comments.

"I picked it up before you came over." Amos explains, "Here, she had it in her hand." He reveals, it being too dark for anyone to be able to see it properly, "So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."

He says and as he does Bagman appears and everyone has to quickly explain to him what is going on as he seemingly has no idea.

"No!" Bagman says, sounding shocked once the situation has been explained to him, "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!"

"And she had one." Amos says, "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's all right with you, Mr Crouch, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself." He says and without anyone saying anything Amos raises his wand and points it at Winky, saying, "Ennervate!"

He says and as few seconds Winky waits and sits up, once she sees the skull she bursts into a terrified sob.

"Elf!" Amos says sternly.

"She has a name Amos, maybe you should use it." Sirius says, as from what he has seen Winky is a very good elf, much better than his old family one anyway, and should be treated better.

"Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" Amos says, ignoring Sirius, as Winky begins to rock backwards and forwards, her breath coming in sharp bursts, "As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago." Amos says, "And you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"

"I….I…..I not doing it, sir!" Winky gasps, "I is not knowing how, sir."

"You were found with a wand in your hand." Amos says, waiving the wand and as he he does it catches the light allowing Harry to recognize it.

"Hey, that's mine!" Harry says, causing everyone in the clearing to look at him.

"Excuse me?" Amos says, shocked.

"That's my wand!" Harry repeats, "I dropped it!"

"You dropped it?" Repeats Amos in disbelief, "Is that a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"Seriously Amos?" Sirius asks, shocked and angry, "Use your brain for a second, is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

"Er, of course not." Amos mumbles "Sorry, carried away."

"I didn't drop it there, anyway?" Harry says, jerking his thumb towards the trees beneath the skull, "I missed it right after we got into the woods."

"He did." Neville confirms, is voice shaking, but wanting to help his friend.

"So…" Amos says, his eyes hardening as he turns to look at Winky once more, "You found this wand, eh, elf? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"

"I is not doing magic with it, sir." Winky squeals as tears stream down her face, "I is… I is…. I is just picked it up, Sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, Sir, I is not knowing how!"

"It wasn't her!" Hermione says, being nervous but determine as she isn't going to keep letting Winky get blamed, "Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" She says, looking at Harry, Neville and Ron, appealing for their support, "It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?"

"No." Harry says, shaking his head.

"It definitely didn't sound like an elf." Neville adds.

"Yeah, it was a human voice." Ron finishes.

"Well, we'll see soon." Amos grows, looking unimpressed, "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?" Amos asks and as Winky shakes her head as Amos raises his own wand again and places it tip to tip with Harry', "Prior incantato." He roars and as he does Harry, Hermione and gasp as the same thing that is in the sky erupts form the point where the two wands meet,

"Deletrius." Amos shots and the smoky skull vanishes, "So…" Amos says with a kind of savage triumph.

"I is not doing it." Winky squeals, "I is not, I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"

"You've been caught red-handed, elf!" Amos roars, "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"

"Give her a chance to explain, Amos." Remus requests, being annoyed about the way Winky is being treated

"Rem is right." Sirius says, "Think about it, Amos, precious few wizards know how to do that spell…"

"Exactly, where would she have learnt it?" Arthur asks.

"Perhaps Amos is suggesting." Crouch says, anger in every syllable, "That I routinely teach my servants to conjour the Dark Mark?"

"It wouldn't necessarily have been you, maybe another member of your family could have." Sirius says, causing several gaps as people realises what he is suggesting, as even though he really doesn't think it was Winky he can't help himself, what with it being Crouch.

"No… Mr. Crouch…. I wasn't suggesting that at all." Amos says, looking horrified.

"You have now come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure the mark!" Mr. Crouch barks, "Harry Potter, and myself. I suppose you are familiar with the boy's story, Amos?"

"Of course, everyone knows." Amos mutters, looking very uncomfortable.

"And I trust you remember the many proofs I have given, over a long career, that I despise and detest the Dark Arts and those who practice them?" Mr Crouch shouts, "Black there is proof of that."

"No kidding." Sirius says, bitterly.

"Mr. Crouch, I never suggested you had anything to do with it." Amos mutters, now going red.

"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory!" Crouch shouts. "Where else would she have learnt to conjure it?"

"Your son." Sirius mutters, but no one hears.

"She might have picked it up anywhere." Amos suggests, trying to save himself.

"Precisely, Amos." Arthur says, "She might have picked it up anywhere, Winky? Where exactly did you find Harry's wand?"

"I… is finding it, finding it there, sir." Winky whispers, "There, in the trees sir."

"You see, Amos?" Remus asks, "Whoever conjured the Mark could have Disappararated right after they did it leaving Harry's wand behind." He explains.

"It would be the smart thing to do." Sirius adds, "After all someone's own wand could have betrayed them. Winky probably just came across it minutes later and picked it up." Sirius assumes.

"But then, she'd have been only a few feet away from the real culprit!" Amos says, impatiently, "Elf? Did you see anyone?" he asks and Winky begins to tremble even more.

"I is seeing no one, sir, no one." Winky explains.

"Amos." Crouch says curtly, "I am fully aware that, in the ordinary course of events, you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I as you, however to allow me to deal with her."

"Of course." Sirius mutters bitterly and no one is at all surprised when Amos agrees and Crouch is allowed to deal with Winky himself, which results in Crouch dismissing Winky from service, and after a few minutes Arthur, Sirius, Remus, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ron are allowed to go, Harry getting is wand back before they go.


After about ten minutes of walking Remus, Sirius, Arthur, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Neville arrive back at their tents where they find Charlie poking his head out of the Weasley's tent.

"Dad, what's going on?" Charlie call through the dark, "Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others…."

"We've got them here." Arthur explains and everyone walks into the Weasley tent, all knowing that they need to have a conversation.

As the group walk in they find Bill sitting at the kitchen table, holding a bedsheet to his arm, which is bleeding a lot, Charlie has a large rip in his shirt and Percy has a bloody nose. Fred, George, and Ginny on the other hand look unhurt, but shaken.

"Did you get them?" Bill asks, looking at Arthur, Sirius and Remus, "The person who conjured the mark?"

"Nope." Sirius answers as the group find places to sit down

"We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark." Arthur explains.

"What?" Billy, Charlie and Percy ask together.

"Harry's wand?" Fred asks.

"Mr. Crouch's elf?" Percy asks, sounding thunderstruck and together Arthur, Remus, Sirius, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Neville all explain everything that happened.

"Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that!" Percy says, "Running away when he'd expressly told her not to, embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry, how would that have looked, if she'd been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control…."

"She didn't do anything!" Hermione says, cutting off Percy, "She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Hermione snaps, to Percy's shock.

"Hermione, a wizard in Mr. Crouch's position can't afford a house-elf who's going to run amok with a wand!" Percy says pompously, causing Sirius to roll his eyes.

"She didn't run amok!" Hermione yells, "She picked it up off the ground!"

"Look, can someone just explain what the skull thing was?' Ron asks, impatiently, "It wasn't hurting anyone. Why's it such a big deal?"

"Don't you know?" Neville asks surprised as even he knows.

"No, should I?" Ron asks.

"I told you, it's the Dark Mark, Voldemort's Mark." Hermione says, causing all the Weasley's to flinch.

"It hasn't been seen for almost thirteen years." Remus explains, "People panicked, it was almost like seeing Voldemort back again." He says, Ignoring the flinches.

"I don't get it." Ron says, frowning, "I mean, it's still only a shape in the sky."

"No, it's not." Sirius comments, "Voldemort and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed."

"It inspired terror, it was eveyrone's worse fear, you have no idea, you're too young." Arthur says, causing all the teenagers in the room to frown.

"It might be best we try to explain." Remus says, noticing the frowns, and Arthur gives him a look which says, 'Go ahead', "There was terror everywhere, people were afraid, mistrustful, you didn't know who to trust, where the next bad news was going to come from, you just knew it was coming, you accepted it."

"People were dying, people were disappearing. When you said goodbye to someone there was a part of you that expected that that would be the last time you saw them. No one knew what to do, no one knew what was going to happen next, and it seemed like there was no end in sight." Sirius adds.

"Coming home to the Dark Mark was everyone's worse fear as you just knew what you'd find inside." Arthur finishes, causing the group to drift into a tense silence.

"Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it." Bill says as he removes the sheet from his are to check the cut, "It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They Disapparated before we got near enough to unmask any of them. We did catch the Robert's though; they're having their memories modified." He explains.

"So you know for sure that it was Death Eaters?" Neville asks, fear in his voice.

"Probably, I think we saw what's left of them tonight, the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway." Bill sys, causing Sirius to shiver at the mention of Azkaban.

"We can't prove it was them, Bill." Arthur says, "It probably was though." He adds.

"Why did they do it? What would Voldemort's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?" Harry asks.

"There isn't one." Sirius says bitterly, "It's their idea of fun." He adds with a frown.

"Sirius is right, half the muggle killings back with You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun." Arthur explains, "They probably just had a few drinks to tonight and couldn't resist reminding us that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them." He says, looking disgusted.

"But if they were the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" Ron asks curious, "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't the?"

"No." Sirius and Remus say together.

"Use your brains, Ron." Bill tells his brother, "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost powers, and told all sorts of lies about him forcing them to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see hhim come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives, I don't reckon he'd be pleased with them, do you?" Bill asks.

"His followers in Azkaban definitely aren't." Sirius comments, causing everyone to look at him, even Remus, Hermione and Harry as Sirius hasn't talked about his time in Azkaban, "A lot of the Death Eater's in Azkaban talked in their sleep and they sounded angrier at the people who lied than the people who put them in Azkaban." Sirius reveals, "If that's how they feel I can't imagine how angry Voldemort is."

"So, does that mean that whoever conjured the dark mark were doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or where they trying to scare them away?" Hermione asks, curious.

"Your guess is as good as ours." Remus tells is daughter, "But it was only Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I'd be very surprised if the person who did it hadn't been a Death Eater once, even if they not now."

"Most likely." Sirius says, agreeing.

"It's late." Arthur realizes, "When Molly and Augusta hear what happened they'll be worried sick. We should get a few more hours sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here."

"That would be a good idea." Remus says approvingly.

"Let's get to bed." Sirius adds and he, Hermione, Harry and Neville get up and head out of the tent and into their own.

As soon as Remus, Sirius, Hermione, Harry and Neville walk into their tent they all find themselves being hugged by Sirius and Remus.

"Are you all okay?" Remus asks concerned.

"Yes." Hermione, Harry and Neville say, though Neville isn't entirely sure of that.

"Good, that's good." Sirius says, still looking worried, "Get some rest you three, you're going to need it." He says as they break apart.

"Night." The three teens respond and head to over their bunks.

"I need a drink." Sirius mutters as the go.

"You're not alone in that." Remus mutters as he puts his arms around Sirius's waist, and rests his head on Sirius's shoulder, "First Harry's dream, now this. Things are getting bad again." He says worried.

"That they are." Sirius says, looking worried, "Moony, what if he comes back?" he asks his voice even quieter and full of fear.

"Then we do exactly what we did last time, we fight. We fight to protect our family." Remus says, it being the only thing he can think to say.

"After everything that happened, I couldn't handle losing you, or Mione, or Harry." Sirius says as he turns to face Remus.

"Me either, but we don't have to think about that, not now." Remus says, before leaning and kissing Sirius, doing so to distract both of them from what they are fearing.

"We should get some rest too." Sirius says when they break apart.

"Yeah, guess we should." Remus responds and they both head to bed, but neither are surprised when they don't sleep, instead they just lie in each other's arms listening for signs of more trouble.


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