Chapter 50 - Appearance of the Dark Mark
After receiving our winnings, I got 600 Galleons while the twin got 507 Galleons 9 sickles and 4 Knuts at our 11/1 odds before we started trying to get out of the stadium.
"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling." Arthur implored the twins.
"Don't worry, Dad," said Fred gleefully, "we've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated." Arthur looked like he wanted ask but he changed his mind. The atmosphere was electric as we walked back to camp, everyone was singing and you could still see the leprechauns celebrating. It was quite late but there was no way anyone could sleep straight away with all the noise outside so Arthur and Amos let us have some cocoa before bed. Ginny fell asleep while I dozed on Cedric's arm and listened to the various debates about the game. Arthur, Amos, Charlie and Abe were all debating about the Cobbing penalty while the twins and Bill were arguing about the Veela's getting sent off. I could also hear Hermione and Cho giggling about Krum, I honestly didn't realise my best friend could be so girly. It was amazing how nice Ced smelled, he smelled of a citrusy, cinnamony smell that just made you feel so good on a cold night. I think I must have drifted off smelling him because next thing I know, he's above me trying to wake me up.
"Ash, wake up. This is serious, wake up now!" I heard his urgent voice. "Cho, wake up! You too, both of you up!"
"Go away." I whined.
"What's going on?" Hermione whispered.
"Death Eaters are attacking or something." He replied.
"What!" I cried jumping from the bed with my wand in my hand.
"Get a jacket, put your shoes on and we have to get out of here." Ced told us, his face was full of worry.
"Ginny, come on, get up now. Hermione, get dressed and get your wands. We have to get out of here." I ordered them before I fled the room with Ced behind me. I walked into the boy's room where Arthur and Amos were waking the boys. "Harry, get up now!"
"I am, I am!" Harry replied.
"Well faster damn it!" I shrieked before leaving the room to peek out of the door.
"What the hell are you doing, Ash?" Ced hissed.
"When you think of Death Eaters, you think of Voldemort, when you think of him, you think of Harry. We need to get him out of here or he's going to be killed. I need you to help me Ced." I pleaded with him.
"Ash, I'm sorry but my first priority is protecting you." Ced whispered looking deep into my eyes as everyone finally came out of their rooms.
"Stick together everyone, these people are dangerous." Amos ordered quietly.
"Oh my gosh." Cho whispered in shock, I looked over to where she was looking and saw the muggles that owned the campsite dangling upside-down, screaming. Even his kids, they looked half my age the poor things.
"That's sick." Ron muttered, his face actually had a green hue to it.
"We have to help them, surely." I whispered, I was horrified people could actually do this to children.
"We're going to help the Ministry!" Arthur shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "You lot — get into 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 toward the oncoming marchers; Arthur and Amos tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. Abe made to follow before I grabbed him.
"Don't you dare. Either of you." I hissed at Abe and Ced.
"We have to help them." Abe replied and exchanged a look between them before chasing after Arthur and Amos.
"Abe no!"
"Ced!"
"Look after eachother." Ced ordered with a glimmer of a smile.
"We need to get into the forest." Fred ordered and started pulling Ginny with him.
"Cho, come on." Ginny cried surprisingly and started pulling her along.
"They'll be fine, Ash." Harry said comfortingly as he grabbed my hand and pulled me along after the others. And then the lights went out as we entered the forest.
"Bloody brilliant." I muttered.
"Ron." I heard Hermione hiss from behind me. "What happened? Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid... Lumos." And there was Ron, sprawled on the floor.
"Where are the others?" I asked nervously.
"Tripped over a tree root," Ron said angrily, getting to his feet again.
"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said a drawling voice from behind us.
"Oh, fuck off, Malfoy." Ron hissed.
"Language Weasley. Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?" Malfoy replied looking at 'Mione.
"Unfortunately, he has a point. All of us should not be here." I glared at Malfoy.
"You'd be fine, Aurora. It's just the Mudblood, Bloodtraitors and The Harry Potter." Malfoy sneered.
"Where's daddy? In the cloaks with the other death eaters?" I sneered right back.
"Well... if he was, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I now?" He smirked.
"Oh come on," said Hermione, with a disgusted look at Malfoy, "let's go and find the others."
"Fred and George can't have gone that far." Ron concurred as we walked in the direction they went leaving Malfoy behind. Ron and I lit up our wands as well to help see where we were going.
"Ah, no, I don't believe it . . . I've lost my wand!" Harry suddenly said.
"Oh, you're kidding me." I whined.
"Maybe it is back in the tent," said Ron.
"Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" Hermione suggested anxiously.
"Yeah," said Harry, "maybe..."
"Well, what do we do?" I asked the others just as a noise came from behind me making the four of us jump. Winky, Mr. Crouch's house elf, had appeared running away from the 'bad wizards', I think against the orders of her owner. We continued further and further into the dark forest where we came across random people all looking for escape, except a group of Goblins who were too busy celebrating their win. We even met up with Bagman who seemed to have no idea about what was going on, what a tool. That actually reminded me that I left my winnings in the tent which was not good. And then we got to a clearing and we heard something.
"Hello?" called Harry. There was silence. I sank to the floor and crawled quietly to where I thought I heard the noise, my wand still out but the light off, it was too dark to see very far even with my good vision but I could almost see the person, it definitely looked like a man but it was just beyond the range of my vision. "Who's there?" Harry called again. The man looked towards Harry's voice and I almost saw his face and then, without warning, the silence was broken by a voice I almost thought I'd heard before.
"MORSMORDRE!" The man cried, the green light shot from his wand and illuminated his face just for a second, a face I recognised but just couldn't place. Then I looked up to the sky and saw it. The Dark Mark. His Mark. I stood from my hiding place and pointed my wand at him.
"STUPEFY!"I cried but he batted it away like nothing. "Who are you?!" The man smirked and shot a spell back, I dodged then he dropped his wand and apparated somewhere else.
"Ash!" My three friends yelled after me as I fell to the ground.
"We have to get out of here!" I told them as they pulled me up, Hermione agreed with me.
"Harry, come on, move!" Hermione had seized the collar of his jacket and was tugging him backward back towards the forest.
"What's the matter?" Harry said, he obviously didn't have a clue.
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, pulling him as hard as she could. "You-Know-Who's sign!"
"Voldemort's —?"
"Harry, come on!" It was Ron this time and he was deadly serious.
"We need to get out of here now!" I ordered them hoarsely, the dark mark terrified every witch and wizard who knew about it. We'd got close to the forest when there was a series of popping noises announcing the arrival of around twenty wizards that surrounded us.
"DUCK!" Harry yelled before pulling the three of us down before who knows how many red shots descended to where we had been standing.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" I screeched at the wizards.
"Stop!" yelled a voice he recognized. "STOP! That's my son!" Arthur barged forward in front of the wizards to us. "Ron... Harry... Hermione... Ash... are you alright?" Arthur asked, his voice shaking.
"Out of the way, Arthur," said a cold, curt voice. It was Mr. Crouch. He and the other Ministry wizards were closing in on them. Harry got to his feet to face them. Mr. Crouch's face was taut with rage. "Which of you did it?" he snapped, his sharp eyes darting between them. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"We didn't do that!" said Harry, gesturing up at the skull.
"We didn't do anything!" said Ron, who was rubbing his elbow and looking indignantly at his father. "What did you want to attack us for?"
"Do not lie, sir!" shouted Mr. Crouch his wand pointed at us.
"Are you kidding me? We're fourteen. You are pointing your wand at children, please lower it." I hissed at him.
"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" Arthur asked us.
"There was someone over there." Hermione whimpered. "He tried to hex Ash when she tried to stupefy him."
"Did I hear that right? Ash?" That's when my brother battled through the wizards with Cedric. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah just the usual, a death eater tried to hex me then a ministry official threatened to the same." I sneered at Crouch.
"Rest assured, our father will hear about this Mr. Crouch." Abe told him with a stormy face, which told him. A few of the ministry officials went towards where Hermione had pointed.
"We're too late," said the witch in the woollen dressing gown, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated."
"I don't think so," Amos said "Our Stunners went right through those trees... There's a good chance we got them..."
"Dad, be careful!" Ced said as Amos 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?" shouted Mr. Crouch, 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. Harry recognized the tea towel at once. It was Winky. Mr. Crouch did not move or speak as Mr. Diggory deposited his house elf infront of him.
"This — cannot — be," he said jerkily. "No —" He moved quickly around Amos and strode off toward the place where he had found Winky.
"No point, Mr. Crouch," Amos 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 and the rustling of leaves as he pushed the bushes aside, searching. "Bit embarrassing," Amos 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," Amos retorted, "and she had a wand."
"What?" Arthur asked shocked.
"Here, look." Amos held up a wand and showed it to Arthur. "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."
"Hey, isn't that your wand, Harry?" I asked finally noticing the wand.
"Yeah! It's been missing for hours, how did the house elf get hold of it?" Harry asked confused.
"So," said Amos, his eyes hardening as he turned to look at Winky again, cowering at his feet. "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!" squealed Winky, tears streaming down the sides of her squashed and bulbous 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!" said Hermione. 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 around at Harry and Ron, appealing for their support. "It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?"
"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "It definitely didn't sound like an elf."
"Yeah, it was a human voice," said Ron.
"It was definitely a man who cast it. I saw him. I even recognised him." I told the ministry people.
"Can you describe him?" Asked the woman in her dressing gown.
"He was about as tall as Mr. Crouch, he had really scraggy clothes on, and he had kind of long light brown hair. He had scary dark eyes and he looked a bit insane and he didn't look that old, maybe my dad's age." I explained as vividly as I could remember. "I swear I've seen his face before but I can't remember where."
"Thank you, you've been most helpful." The lady thanked me with a smile before Amos started interrogating poor Winky and then Crouch gave the poor elf clothes. It was such a sad sight, seeing the miserable elf on her knees begging her master. Then we managed to get back to the tent, thankfully Harry managed to get his wand back, even when it was proved it was the wand the wizard used to conjure the dark mark. Everyone else went inside and straight to bed but I couldn't, I sat outside with the fire. The dark mark was still there just like the man who did it was still in my thoughts. I wondered if they were actually able to remove it or if it just faded over time or if the person who cast it had to take it away.
"Hey." I jumped out of my skin when Cedric suddenly appeared behind me. "Sorry, I'm sorry. You still a bit jumpy?"
"You think?" I replied snarkily.
"You're still mad." He pointed out the obvious.
"You think?" I repeated as snarkily.
"Come on, Ash. We had to help." Ced pleaded.
"It was not your job to help, you've not left Hogwarts yet. I mean, what if something had happened to you?" I glared at him.
"So you were worried about me." Ced smiling a little bit.
"Yes, of course I was you idiot! Is that what you want me to stay?! You could have died, Cedric and so could your dad or my brother or any of the Weasley's. You've never dealt with anything like this and I don't know what the hell I would have done if anything happened to you—" Cedric managed to silence my rant. With his lips. And that was our first kiss.
"I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't realise you cared so much." Ced whispered with his forehead leaning against mine. "I've been waiting so long to do that."
"I've been waiting so long for you to do that." I retorted smiling brightly, all my anger forgotten.
"Kids, shouldn't you be going— oh... erm sorry..." Amos stumbled on his words when he noticed our position.
"Dad!" Ced wined at him as I turned a brilliant red.
"So how long has this been going on?" Amos asked with a mischievous grin on his face.
"About ten seconds ago." I muttered.
"Well, I am sorry— I interrupted your first kiss, didn't I? I'm such a bad dad." Amos was still grinning a little bit.
"I am so going to bed." I managed to squeeze passed Amos and tried to get to my room quickly out of embarrassment.
"Ash." Ced called after me quietly, he stopped me before I got into my room and kissed me soundly. "Good night." He whispered before he snuck into his room leaving me in shock. I shook my head and went into the pink room and climbed into the first top bunk, my bed. I rolled over and screamed into my pillow in happiness. I checked the time just to record this moment for... forever. It was 3.39am. And that was when I realised how tired I was. I rolled over and fell to sleep... but not for long...
-.-
It started in a garden. It was a vaguely familiar garden, I could almost picture the sitting under the apple tree in the garden watching my toddler older twin brothers playing together with Dad while my twin slumbered next to me. I walked towards the red front door as it opened for me, I walked forward slightly and looked into the living room and saw my parents with a younger version of Moony, my uncle. My mother was sobbing onto my father's shoulder while you could see the dried tear tracks on Moony's face showing he had been crying before.
"What about Harry?" Mum whispered.
"Albus already took him to Petunia." Moony replied.
"How could he do that? They'll hate him. That Vernon is a piece of work." Dad immediately jumped from his seat.
"I know but it's something about the sacrifice Lily made so he has to stay with a blood relative." He glared angrily at floor.
"Harry was practically family, why couldn't he come to live with us? Lily was my best friend, I know her and I know she wouldn't have wanted this. Ever since her parents were murdered, Petunia has resented anything and everything magical. We would have protected him." Mum ranted.
"I know, Shauna, I know. Maybe you can convince Dumbledore." Moony sighed. "I'd better go, it's getting late. I'm sorry I was the one who had to tell you about James and Lily."
"I'd rather find out from you than anyone else, Remus and you're welcome here anytime... you know that." Mum stood from her chair and hugged Moony tightly, before they both to fell to sobbing against eachother. Moony left shortly after leaving just my parents.
"I can't believe it, I can't believe they're gone. That Sirius would do that James, they were brothers... as close as me and Lily..." Mum trailed off.
"Like it or not Sirius was a Black... you know what they're like, you briefly met my aunt, Sirius's mother." Dad remarked dryly obviously thinking of her.
"Wicked old hag." Mum muttered making Dad chuckle. They lapsed into silence when suddenly there was a series of pops and an alarm went off. "But he's dead!" Dad leapt from his seat to look out of the window, I followed him and saw four cloaked people walking towards the house.
"It obviously doesn't matter to them, upstairs, now!" Dad ordered, Mum ran passed me and up the stairs closely followed by Dad just as the front door was blown off its hinges. I watched for a second as the death eaters entered the house before following my parents up.
"We have to get to the order's safe house." I heard mum say as she entered one of the bedrooms, it was blue and I recognised my older brothers as young boys, being picked up by Dad. They quickly ran into the next room, it was pale lilac and had bunnies on the walls. And that's when it hit me, that's when I remembered everything which was probably the reason for this dream. And then he walked in just as my parents had picked up that porcelain rabbit that had been next to my crib as a baby after my mother had hoisted my twin onto her hip. But not me. And that's when the dream ended and the nightmare begun. Because the porcelain rabbit did not portkey my parents or my siblings to safety. It did nothing.
"ADVADA KEDAVRA!" The death spell was shouted repeatedly leaving all my family dead on the floor, except for the baby version of me. The very pale young man with straw-like mop of light brown hair and a few freckles on each cheek. His dark brown, almost black, eyes connected with my bright blue eyes as he walked through me and to the orphan baby in the crib. His eye twitched as he smirked evilly before pointing his wand out of the nearby window and up to the sky.
"MORSMORDRE!" He cried and Voldemort's mark was positioned above my childhood house as it might have done all those years ago. That's when the twitchy-eyed man pointed his wand at me. And then I screamed.
-.-
"Ash! ASH, WAKE UP!" A shouting voice managed to get through to me just as I fell from my bank.
"Oh God, Ash! Are you alright?" It was 'Mione standing over me.
"Fine." I replied stiffly.
"You were screaming, I'm surprised you didn't wake everyone up..." Cho said exasperatedly just as everyone ran into the room, ironic timing as usual.
"What's going on?!" Amos asked his wand out and eyes scanning the room for danger.
"I know where I saw that man before. The man who sent up the Dark Mark tonight." I whispered my eyes on my brother. "He was the man sent to kill us twelve and a half years ago. I think he may have recognised me."
"How do you remember?" Abe asked shocked. "Me and Addy can but you were just a baby."
"The dementors last year jogged my memory, I remember everything about that night... even down to the porcelain rabbit portkey that took us to America." I replied dryly. "I'm sorry for waking you, I had a nightmare just as I remembered him. I'm going back to sleep." I stood abruptly and clambered onto my bed facing the opposite direction to everyone in the room.
"Come on, let's leave her be." Arthur told the others quietly. The filed out of the room but not before Abe leaned up to stroke my hair and kiss my forehead.
"Night Ash, don't forget you are safe here with us." He whispered before also leaving the room. The lights went out and the others fell back to sleep. It felt like hours before I managed to fall into a fitful slumber. That strange man still plaguing my mind.