The atmosphere following the match was buzzing with satisfaction from the Irish crowd. The Weasley entourage were soon caught up in the crowds flooding back to the campsites. Raucous singing was borne towards them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, and Leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns.
Wheh they finally reached the tents, nobody felt like sleeping at all, and given the level of noise around them, their father agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before bed.
They were soon arguing animatedly about the match; Charlie and their father were in disagreement about Cobbing. It was only when Ginny fell asleep at the tiny table and spilled hot cocoa all over the floor that their father insisted they all headed to bed.
Bella and the girls went into the next tent, changed quickly, and clambered into their bunks with a quick goodnight to each other. Bella felt as though she had only just closed her eyes when her father burst suddenly into their tent, yelling for them to get up.
Bella slipped from her bunk and quickly pulled on her shoes and jacket. She hurried from the tent after him, the other girls following her.
By the light of the few fires that were still burning, she could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field towards them, emitting bright flashes of light and loud noises. Loud jeering, roars of laughter and drunken yells were drifting towards them; then came a burst of bright green light, which illuminated the scene.
A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight up in the air, was marching slowly across the field. Bella realised at once that these wizards were Death Eaters, loyal followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, due to their off attire; large pointy hats and dark masks. High above them, floating along in mid-air, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. Two of the figures were very small.
More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating people. Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. One of the masked wizards was blasting tents out of his path. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.
The floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent. Bella recognised one of them - Mr Roberts, the manager of the campsite. She assumed the other three people were his wife and children. One of the wizards below flipped Mrs Roberts upside-down with his wand; her night dress fell down to reveal her underwear - she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below screeched and hooted with glee.
"That's sick." Ron said as he appeared behind the girls. "That's really sick..."
At that moment, Charlie, Bill and Percy emerged from their tent, fully dressed with their sleeves rolled up and their wands out.
"We're going to help the Ministry." their father yelled over the growing noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "You lot - get in to the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"
Bill, Charlie and Percy were already sprinting away towards the oncoming marchers; their father tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction towards the source of trouble. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was coming closer by the second.
"C'mon." Fred said, taking Ginny's hand and pulling her towards the woods. He reached back and took Freya's hand in his as well. The rest of them followed after Fred into the woods. They all looked back as they reached the trees. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was larger than ever; they could see the Ministry wizards trying to get through it to the hooded wizards in the centre, but they were having great difficulty. It looked as though they were scared to perform any spell that might make the Roberts family fall.
The coloured lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished. Dark figures were thundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices were echoing around them in the cold night air. Bella felt as though she was being pushed and shoved in every direction by people whose faces she couldn't see. Then Ron cried out in pain.
"What happened?" Hermione said anxiously, stopping so abruptly that everyone walked into each other. "Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid - Lumos!" She illuminated her wand and shone the beam of light across the ground. Ron was lying sprawled in the mud.
"Tripped over a tree-root." he said angrily, clambering to his feet again.
"Well, with feet that size, hard not to" a voice drawled from behind and Bella knew at once that Draco had appeared behind them.
They turned sharply. Draco was standing alone nearby, leaning against a tree, looking as though he was simply out for a nighttime stroll, not in the midst of a Death Eater attack. His arms folded, he seemed to have been watching the scene on the campsite through a gap in the trees. Ron told Draco to do something that Bella knew he would never dare say in front of their mother.
"Language, Weasley." Draco said, his grey eyes glittering maliciously. He looked at Bella pointedly, as if trying to convey a message, and then looked back to Ron as if he hadn't even noticed she was there. "You'll want to get her out of here, now." At that same moment, a large blast came from the campsite and a large flash of green light lit the clearing around them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said defiantly.
"You think they'll be very happy to see you, Granger? They're after Muggles." Draco said.
"Hermione's a witch." Harry snarled.
"Have if your way, Potter." he said. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."
"That's vile." Bella hissed.
"I'm just being honest." Draco replied. "You ought to get out of here if you want any chance of keeping Granger."
"You watch your mouth." Ron yelled.
"Never mind, Ron." Hermione said quickly, catching his arm as he made to take a step towards Draco. "He's not worth it."
There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard. Several people nearby screamed.
"Where are your parents, then?" Harry spat. "Out there wearing masks, are they?"
Draco turned to Harry with a small smirk on his face. "Well... if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?"
"Oh, come on." Hermione said, throwing a look of revulsion at Draco. "Let's go and find the others."
"Keep that big bushy head of yours down, Granger." Draco sneered.
"Come on." Hermione repeated and the rest of them followed her up the path again. Bella turned back and Draco was watching them go. He nodded his head at her and she nodded back, turning around again to follow the path.
"I'll bet you anything his dad is one of that masked lot!" Ron said angrily.
"Well, with any luck, the Ministry will catch him!" Emily said firmly.
"Oh, I can't believe this, where have the other got to?" Hermione said.
Fred, George, Freya and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, though the path was packed with plenty of other people, all of them looking nervously over their shoulders towards the commotion back at the campsite. A huddle of teenagers in pyjamas were arguing animatedly a little way along the path. When they saw the six of them, a girl with thick, curly hair turned and said quickly, "Où est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue –"
"Er – what?" Ron said, looking puzzled.
"Oh..." The girl who had spoken turned her back on him, and as they walked on the distinctly heard her said, "Ogwarts."
"Beauxbatons." Hermione muttered.
"Sorry?" Harry said.
"They must go to Beauxbatons." Hermione said. "You know... Beauxbatons Academy of Magic... I read about it in An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe."
"Some say it's the best magical school in Europe - after Hogwarts, of course." Bella added.
"Fred and George can't have gone that far." Ron said, pulling out his wand, lighting it like Hermione, and squinting up the path.
"Ah, no, I don't believe it." Harry gasped. "I've lost my wand."
"You're kidding!"
Ron, Bella, Hermione and Emily illuminated their wands, holding them high in the air to spread the narrow beams of light further across the ground; Harry looked all around them, but his wand was nowhere in sight.
"Maybe it's back in the tent." Ron suggested,
"Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running." Bella added.
"Yeah." Harry said "- maybe."
A rustling noise made all six of them jump. The house-elf Harry had been talking to in the Top Box earlier that night was fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby. She was moving in a most peculiar fashion, apparently with great difficulty; as though an invisible entity was trying to hold her back.
"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked, leaning forwards and strained to keep running. "People high - high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!" And she disappeared into the trees on the other side of the path, panting and squeaking as she fought the force that was holding her back.
"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked, looking curiously after her. "Why can't she run properly?"
"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide." Harry replied.
"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal!" Hermione said angrily. "It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?!"
"Well, the elves are happy, aren't they?" Ron said with a shrug. "You heard old Winky back at the match... 'House elves is not supposed to have fun',,. that's what she likes, being bossed around..."
"When did they speak to this house-elf?" Bella whispered to Emily as they continued to argue.
"When we first got to the Top Box, I think." Emily replied. "I'm not sure. Harry said he thought she was Dobby, you know, the Malfoy elf he set free."
"Yeah, I remember." Bella said.
Another large bang echoed from the edge of the wood.
"Let's just keep going." Bella said, pushing to the front of their group.
Bella hated to admit that Draco was right; Hermione was in more danger than any of them. If they didn't keep going, they risked her being caught. They set off again, Harry still checking his pockets for his wand. They followed the dark path further into the wood, keeping an eye out for Fred, George, Ginny and Freya. They continued further up the dark path, too engrossed in finding the others that they hadn't noticed they were now venturing into the heart of the woods. They seemed to be alone now; everything seemed still and quiet.
"I reckon we can just wait here, you know, we'll hear anyone coming a mile off." The words were hardly out of Harry's mouth when Ludo Bagman emerged from a tree just ahead of them, Even by the dim light of their wands, they could tell Bagman looked different. He was no longer gleaming with excitement; there was no longer a spring in his step. His face looked very pale.
"Who's there?" he said, squinting down at them. "What are you doing in here, all alone?"
The six of them looked at each other.
"Well - there's sort of a riot going on." Ron said.
"What?"
"On the campsite... some people have got hold of a family of Muggles..."
Bagman swore loudly.
"Damn them!" he said and without another word, he Disapparated with a small pop.
"Not exactly on top of things, Mr Bagman, is he?" Emily said, frowning.
"He was a great Beater, though," Ron said, leading the way off the path to a small clearing and sitting down on a patch of dry grass at the base of a tree. "The Wimborne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them."
"Being a great Beater isn't really going to help him now though, is it?" Bella said.
They all followed Ron's lead, taking a seat on the dry grass. Everything still seemed quiet; perhaps the riot was over.
"I hope the others are okay." Hermione said.
"They'll be fine." Bella assured. "Fred and George might be a bit dim but they do have common sense."
"Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy." Harry said, sitting down next to Ron. "He's always said he'd like to get something on him."
"That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, all right." Ron said.
"Those poor Muggles, though." Hermione said nervously. "What if they can't get them down?"
"They will." Ron said softly. "They'll find a way."
"Mad, though, to do something like this when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight!" Hermione said.
"Exactly!" Emily agreed. "I mean, how do they expect to get away with it! Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just -" Emily broke off abruptly and looked over her shoulder in alarm.
The other looked quickly around, too. It sounded as though someone was staggering towards them. They waited, silently listening to the sounds of the uneven steps behind the dark trees. But the footsteps came to a sudden halt.
"Hello?" Harry called, getting to his feet.
There was silence. He peered around the tree. They watched him nervously, waiting for sign of what he could see.
"Who's there?" he said.
And then, without warning, the silence was interrupted by a voice unlike any they had heard in the wood; and it spoke calmly what sounded like a spell. 'MORSMORDRE! And something huge, green and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness the voice had come from; it flew up over the treetops and into the sky.
"What the –?" Ron gasped, as he sprang to his feet again, staring up at the thing that had appeared.
"That's the Dark Mark." Bella whispered.
As they watched, it rose higher and higher, surrounded by a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation. Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams. The Dark Mark had now risen high enough to illuminate the entire wood.
"Who's there?" Harry called again.
"Harry, come on, move!" Bella cried. She grabbed the back of his jacket and tried to tug him backwards.
"What's going on?" Harry said. "What is that?"
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Bella said anxiously. Her face had gone a ghostly pale and she felt dread in the pit of her stomach. "You know who's sign!"
"Voldemort's -"
"Harry, come on!" Ron was shoving him forward.
They started across the clearing - but before they had taken more than a few hurried a series of popping noises announced the arrival of twenty wizards, appearing from thin air, surrounding them. Each wizards had their wand drawn and pointed straight for them.
"DUCK!" Harry yelled.
They hit the ground just as twenty voices, together, yelled 'STUPEFY!'. There was a blinding flash of light and Bella felt her hair blow out behind her as if an enormous gust of wind had just blown through the clearing.
"Stop!" yelled a voice. "STOP! That's my children!"
Bella's hair had stopped blowing. She raised her head slowly; the wizard directly in front of her had lowered his wand. She raised her head ever-so-slightly higher and saw her father striding towards them, looking terrified.
"Ron - Bella -" his voice sounded shaky, "- are - are you all alright?"
"Out of the way, Arthur." said a cold voice. It was Mr Crouch.
He and the other Ministry wizards were closing in on them. Harry jumped to his feet to face them. Bella jumped to her feet, too, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Harry. Mr Crouch's face was filled with rage.
"Which of you did it?" he snapped, his sharp, bird-like eyes darting between them. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"We didn't do that!" Harry said, gesturing to the large skull in the sky.
"You think any fourteen year old would be able to conjure that?" Bella said.
"What did you attack us for?" Ron asked, rubbing his elbow.
"Do not lie!" Crouch yelled.
His wand was still pointed directly at Ron and his eyes were nearly popping out of his skull - he looked crazed.
"You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woollen dressing-gown, "they're just kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to -"
"Where did the Mark come from?" their father asked quickly.
"Over there." Hermione said, pointing with a shaky hand to the place where the voice had come from. "- there was someone behind the trees... they shouted words - an incantation -"
"Oh, stood over there, did they?" Mr Crouch said, turning his large eyes on Hermione, disbelief written all over his face. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy –"
But none of the Ministry wizards apart from Mr Crouch seemed to think it remotely likely that any of these six children had conjured the skull; on the contrary, at Hermione's words, they had raised all their wands again, and were pointing in the direction she had indicated, squinting through the dark trees.
"We're too late," the witch in the woollen dressing-gown said, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated."
"I don't think so." said a wizard with a scrubby brown beard. It was Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "Our Stunners went right through those trees … there's a good chance we got them …"
"Amos, be careful!" said a few of the wizards warningly, as Mr Diggory squared his shoulders, raised his wand, marched across the clearing and disappeared into the darkness. Hermione watched him vanish with her hands over her mouth. A few seconds later, they heard Mr Diggory shout.
"Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's – but – blimey..."
"You've got someone?" Mr Crouch shouted, sounding highly disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?"
They heard snapping twigs, the rustling of leaves, and then crunching footsteps as Mr Diggory re-emerged from behind the trees. He was carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. It was Winky. Mr Crouch did not move or speak as Mr Diggory deposited Mr Crouch's elf on the ground at his feet. The other Ministry wizards were all staring at Mr Crouch. For a few seconds Crouch remained transfixed, his eyes still full of rage in his white face as he stared down at Winky. Then he appeared to come to life again.
"This – cannot – be," he said quickly. "No –" He moved quickly around Mr Diggory and strode off towards the place where he had found Winky.
"No point, Mr Crouch." Mr Diggory called after him. "There's no one else there."
But Mr Crouch did not seem prepared to take his word for it. They could hear him moving around, the rustling of leaves as he pushed the bushes aside, searching.
"Bit embarrassing." Mr Diggory said grimly, looking down at Winky's unconscious form. "Barty Crouch's house-elf … I mean to say …"
"Come off it, Amos." Arthur said quietly. "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."
"Yeah." Mr Diggory said. "- and she had a wand."
"What?" Arthur said.
"Here, look." Mr Diggory held up a wand and showed it to their father. "Had it in her hand. 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."
Just then there was another pop, and Ludo Bagman Apparated right next to their father. Looking breathless and disorientated, he spun on the spot, goggling upwards at the emerald green skull. "The Dark Mark!" he panted, almost trampling Winky as he turned to his colleagues.
"Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?"
Mr Crouch had returned empty-handed. His face was still ghostly white, and his hands and his toothbrush moustache were both twitching.
"Where have you been, Barty?" Bagman said. "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat, too – Gulping gargoyles!" Bagman had just noticed Winky lying at his feet. "What happened to her?"
"I have been busy, Ludo." Mr Crouch said, barely moving his lips. "And my elf has been Stunned."
"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why -?" The answer suddenly dawned on Bagman's round face; he looked up at the Dark Mark, down at Winky then back to Mr Crouch. "No!" he cried. "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand for a start."
"And she had one." Mr Diggory cut in. "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."
Crouch gave no indication he heard a word Mr Diggory had said, but he seemed to take his silence for consent. He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky and said , 'Rennervate!'
Winky stirred. Her large brown eyes opened and she blinked several times. Watched by everyone in the clearing, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position. She caught sight of Mr Diggory's feet, and slowly raised her eyes to stare up into his face; then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky. They could all see the Dark Mark reflected in her large, watery eyes. She gasped, looked around the crowded clearing nervously and burst into sobs of terror.
"Elf!" Mr Diggory said sternly. "Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!"
Winky began to rock backwards and forwards on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts.
"As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago." Mr Diggory said. "And you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"
"I - I - I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped. "I is not knowing how, sir!"
"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Mr Diggory barked.
"Hey - that's mine!" Harry said. "I dropped it!"
"You dropped it?" Mr Diggory repeated in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"
"Amos, think who you're talking to!" Arthur said very angrily. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"
"Er - of course not." MR Diggory mumbled. "Sorry... carried away with myself."
"I didn't drop it there anyway." Harry said, jerking his thumb towards the trees beneath the skull. "I lost it right after we got into the wood."
"So -" Mr Diggory said, his eyes hardening as he turned to look at Winky again. "You found this wand, eh, elf? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, is that it?"
"I is not doing magic with it, sir!" Winky squealed, tears streaming down the sides of her nose. "I is … I is … I is just picking it up, sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, sir, I is not knowing how!"
"It wasn't her!" Hermione said. She looked very nervous, speaking up in front of all these Ministry wizards, yet determined all the same. "Winky's got a squeaky little voice and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!"
She looked round at her friends, appealing for their support.
"Hermione's right." Bella said. "It didn't sound anything like Winky."
"Yeah, it was a human voice." Ron said.
"Well, we'll soon see." Mr Diggory growled, looking unimpressed. "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?" Winky trembled and shook her head frantically, her ears flapping, as Mr Diggory raised his own wand again, and placed it tip to tip with Harry's. 'Prior Incantato!' he roared.
Hermione and Bella gasped in unison, horrified, as a gigantic serpent-tongued skull erupted from the point where the two wands met, but it was a mere shadwo of the green skull high above them.
'Deletrius' Mr Diggory shouted, and the smoky skull vanished.
"So." he said, sounding pleased with himself, looking down upon Winky, who was still quivering.
"I is not doing it!" she squealed, her eyes rolling in terror. "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!" Mr Diggory roared. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"
"Amos." Arthur said loudly. "Think about it - precious few wizards know how to do that spell - where would she have learnt it?"
"Perhaps Amos is suggesting -" Mr Crouch said, cold anger in every syllable. "that I routinely teach my servants to conjure the Dark Mark?"
There was a deeply unpleasant silence. Amos Diggory looked horrified.
"Mr Crouch … not, not at all …"
"You have now come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure that Mark!" Mr Crouch yelled.
"Harry Potter – and myself! I suppose you are familiar with the boy's story, Amos?"
"Of course – everyone knows –" Mr Diggory muttered, looking extremely 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 practise them?" Mr Crouch shouted, his eyes bulging again.
"Mr Crouch, I – I never suggested you had anything to do with it!" Mr Diggory said quietly, now reddening behind his scrubby brown beard.
"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory!" Mr Crouch yelled. "Where else would she have learnt to conjure it?"
"She – she might've picked it up anywhere –"
"Precisely, Amos." their father said. "She might have picked it up anywhere - Winky?" he said kindly, turning to the elf, but she flinched as though he, too, was shouting at her. "Where exactly did you find Harry's wand?"
Winky was twisting the hem of her tea-towel so violently that it was fraying beneath her fingers.
"I – I is finding it ... finding it there, sir -" she whispered. "there - in the trees, sir."
"You see, Amos?" He said. "Whoever conjured the Mark could have Disapparated right after they'd done it, leaving Harry's wand behind. A clever thing to do, not using their own wand, which could have betrayed them. And Winky here had the misfortune to come across the wand moments later and pick it up."
"But then, she'd have been feet away from the real culprit!" Mr Diggorysaid impatiently. "Elf? Did you see anyone?"
Winky began to tremble worse than ever. Her giant eyes flickered from Mr Diggory to Ludo Bagman, and on to Mr Crouch. Then she gulped, and said, "I is seeing no one, sir - no one."
"Amos." Mr Crouch said. "I am fully aware that, in the ordinary course of events, you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I ask you, however, to allow me to deal with her."
Mr Diggory looked as though he didn't think much of this suggestion at all, but it was clear to Harry that Mr Crouch was such an important member of the Ministry that he did not dare refuse him. "You may rest assured that she will be punished." Mr Crouch added coldly.
"M-m-master..." Winky stammered, looking up at Mr Crouch, her eyes brimming with tears. "M-m-master, p-p-please..."
Mr Crouch stared back, his face somehow sharpened, each line upon it more deeply etched. There was no pity in his gaze. "Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible." he said slowly. "I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. This means clothes."
"No!" Winky shrieked, dropping down at Mr Crouch's feet. "No, master! Not clothes, not clothes!"
It was pitiful to see the way Winky clutched at her tea-towel as she sobbed over Mr Crouch's feet.
"But she was terrified." Hermione burst out angrily, glaring at Mr Crouch. "Your elf's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!"
Mr Crouch took a step backwards, freeing himself from contact with the elf, whom he was surveying as though she was something filthy and rotten that was contaminating his over-shined shoes.
"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me." he said coldly, looking up at Hermione. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and to her master's reputation."
"That's a disgusting attitide to have!" Bella seethed. "The poor elf was terrified out of her wits and you're only making her worse!"
Winky was crying so hard that her sobs echoed around the clearing. Ron grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her backwards to stand behind him, away from Mr Crouch. There was a very nasty silence, which was ended by their father, who said quietly, "Well, I think I'll take my lot back to the tent, if nobody's got any objections. Amos, that wand's told us all it can – if Harry could have it back, please –"
Mr Diggory handed Harry his wand and Harry pocketed it.
"Come on." he said quietly. But Hermione didn't seem to want to move, neither did Bella; their eyes were still upon the sobbing elf. "Bella - Hermione -" he said, more urgently. They turned and followed Harry, Ron and Emily out of the clearing and off through the trees.
"What's going to happen to Winky?" Hermione asked, the moment they had left the clearing.
"I don't know." Arthur sighed.
"The way they were treating her!" Bella said furiously.
"Mr Diggory, calling her "elf" all the time - and Mr Crouch! He knows she didn't do it and he's still going to sack her! He didn't care how frightened she'd been, or how upset she was – it was like she wasn't even human!" Hermione ranted.
"Well, she's not." Ron said. Both Hermione and Bella rounded on him.
"That doesn't mean she hasn't got feelings, Ron, it's disgusting the way –"
"Girls, I agree with you." Bella's father said quickly, beckoning them on. "but now is not the time to discuss elf rights. I want to get back to the tent as fast as we can. What happened to the others?"
"We lost them in the dark." Ron said.
"Dad, why was everyone so uptight about that skull thing?" Ron asked.
"I'll explain everything back at the tent." he replied tensely.
But when they reached the edge of the wood, their progress was halted. A large crowd of frightened-looking witches and wizards was congregated there, and when they saw her father coming towards them, many of them surged forwards.
"What's going on in there?"
"Who conjured it?"
"Arthur – it's not – him?"
"Of course it's not him." he replied impatiently. "We don't know who it was, it looks like they Disapparated. Now excuse me, please, I want to get to bed."
He led them through the crowd and back into the campsite. All was quiet now; there was no sign of the masked wizards, though several ruined tents were still smoking. Charlie's head was poking out of the boys' tent.
"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George, Ginny and Freya got back OK, but the others –"
"I've got them here." he replied, bending down and entering the tent. They entered after him. Bill was sitting at the small kitchen table, holding a bedsheet to his arm, which was bleeding profusely. Charlie had a large rip in his shirt, and Percy was sporting a bloody nose. Fred, George Ginny and Freya looked unhurt, though shaken.
"Did you get them, Dad?" Bill said sharply. "The person who conjured the Mark?"
"No." he replied. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."
"What?" Bill, Charlie and Percy said together.
"Harry's wand?" Fred said.
"Mr Crouch's elf?" Percy said in disbelief.
With some assistance from Harry, Ron, Hermione Bella and Emily, thier father explained what had happened in the woods. When they had finished their story, Percy swelled indignantly.
"Well, Mr Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that!" he said. "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 had up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control –"
"She didn't do anything – she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Hermione snapped at Percy, who looked very taken aback. Hermione had always got on fairly well with Percy – better, indeed, than any of the others.
"Hermione, a wizard in Mr Crouch's position can't afford a house-elf who's going to run amok with a wand!" Percy said pompously, recovering himself.
"Percy, if you don't shut up right now I will hit you." Bella growled.
"She didn't run amok!" Hermione shouted. "She just picked it up off the ground!"
"Look, can someone just explain why everyone went mad for the Dark Mark?" Ron said impatiently. "It wasn't hurting anyone … why's it such a big deal?"
"Because it's the Dark Mark." Bella said, as though the answer was obvious. "It was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's mark."
"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years." their father said quietly. "Of course people panicked - it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."
"I don't get it." Ron said, frowning. "I mean - it's still only a shape in the sky."
"Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed." thier father said. "The terror it inspired - you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home, and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside..." their father winced. "Everyone's worst fear... the very worst -"
There was silence for a moment. Then Bill, removing the sheet from his arm to check on his cut, said, "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Robertses before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."
"Death Eaters?" Harry said. "What are Death Eaters?"
"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves." Bill said. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight – the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."
"We can't prove it was them, Bill." their father said. "Though it probably was." he added hopelessly.
"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron said suddenly. "Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of those nutters in masks! And we all know the Malfoys were right in with You-Know-Who!"
"But what were Voldemort's supporters –" Harry began. Everybody flinched – like most of the wizarding world, the Weasleys always avoided saying Voldemort's name.
"Sorry." Harry said quickly. "What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?"
"The point?" The Weasley Patirarch said, with a hollow laugh. "Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them." he finished disgustedly.
"But if they were the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" Ron said. "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"
"Use your brains, Ron." Bill said. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked really hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, 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 him 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 over-pleased with them, do you?"
"So - whoever conjured the Dark Mark -"Hermione said slowly. "were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?"
"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione." Their father said. "But I'll tell you this … it was only the 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're not now … Listen, it's very late, and if your mother hears what's happened she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours' sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here."
Bella and the rest of the girls went back to their tent and climbed back into bed without a word. Bella lay awake for the rest of the night, tossing and turning and worrying just what the Dark Mark in the sky meant for the Wizarding World as they knew it.
