Chapter 5 - … Magicals

Emma, wanting to get some air, and space, away from her thoughts, and Hermione, left the tent and sat outside the front opening. Ruefully, she watched as the campsite began to wind down in some areas as families turned in for the night. Some extinguished their fires, others didn't. It made it difficult to see some parts of the fields, interfering with her night vision, but what she could see was interesting enough.

Not paying a lot of attention, she wasn't sure how long she'd sat there before a quick flash of light caught her eyes. In a far corner of one of the fields was a group of people, too obscure to make out, casting magic and moving in the direction of the woods. Curiously, people in tents nearby were running from them.

When another flash went off and what appeared to be a tent was sent spinning in the air and landed a ways away, Emma ran to the boys' tent, to Mr Weasley, to wake him up.

'Mr Weasley, sir.' she whispered, loudly, shaking him awake.

'What's the matter, Emma?' he asked, groggily, not noticing her anxious face.

'Sir, something's going on outside you should see.' she said, urgently, pulling him.

He followed her, stooping to exit the tent and look over to where Emma was pointing. The group of people had gotten a tiny bit closer, but now they were in the light of a fire, and Emma could see they were masked and hooded.

'What's going on?' he asked, alert now, seeing the flashes of spells being cast. 'I can't quite-'

'Let me help.' said Emma, reaching out a hand.

Emma touched a finger to Mr Weasley's temple to help her focus on him, and projected her vision to him. Immediately there was a sharp intake of breath as Mr Weasley gasped and stumbled back a pace. At first, she thought it was the suddenness of her vision, but it wasn't.

'Death Eaters.' he mumbled, so quietly that Emma wasn't even sure that's what he'd said, before raising his voice. 'Wake Ginny and Hermione!'

With that he stooped again into the boys tent, and he began shouting, loudly, for the others to get up. There was clearly an edge of fear to his tone and Emma did as she was told, running back to the girls' tent.

Once she was in the bedroom, she saw Hermione asleep in the bottom bunk of one of the beds, while Ginny was in the top bunk of the other. Emma ran to Ginny's bed, stepped on the lower bunk and reached up to shake her, with some difficulty given how short she was. While crossing the room to get there, though, she shouted in her head for Hermione to wake up and pushed that thought into her mind. By the time Emma had managed to shake Ginny awake, Hermione had already rolled out of bed and slipped on a pair of jeans underneath her nightdress and was putting on her shoes.

'What's wrong?' she asked, tired but alert from the rude awakening.

'Something's going on outside, Mr Weasley's worried.' she said hurriedly, leaving the room. 'Ginny, get some shoes on.'

'And a jacket.' added Hermione, grabbing hers and walking quickly outside after Emma.

Together they could see the band of Death Eaters still heading their way, toward the woods, only, now they could see figures floating above them. One of them looked like Mr Roberts, and the others were presumably his wife and young children.

Soon, Hermione and Emma were joined by Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George.

'That's sick.' muttered Ron, seeing this too. 'That's really sick.'

One of the Death Eaters had turned Mrs Roberts upside-down so that her nightdress fell down, showing her underwear, while another had begun to spin one of the children around like a spinning top, all about sixty feet up in the air. This was in addition to them continuing to destroy tents and starting fires, causing absolute chaos, people running and screaming in all directions.

Emma could hear the masked wizards laugh and holler, and she began to lose her calm. Her face became a grimace, she felt her claws extend, and she let out a low growl.

Hermione, turning to see this happen, suddenly stepped up to Emma, and thrust her hands out, palms over Emma's eyes.

'Emma! Calm down!' she hissed, very quietly. 'Your eyes are glowing! Someone might see you!'

'I'm going to kill them!' replied Emma, in an even lower growl.

Hermione was going to say something, but just then Mr Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Percy left the tent.

'We're going to help the Ministry.' shouted Mr Weasley, over the noise, rolling up his 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 had already begun running, closely followed by Mr Weasley. Other Ministry wizards were running in that direction too.

'C'mon.' said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and pulling her toward the woods, joined by George.

Meanwhile, Emma was still fuming, delaying her, Hermione, Harry and Ron.

'Close your eyes.' commanded Hermione, when the others were far enough away. 'Now!'

Emma couldn't help it. Hermione sounded cross, so she did what she was told, suddenly very guilty. Feeling Emma's eyelashes brush against her palms, Hermione took her hands away, and shook her head. For just a split-second, she was smug, and hopeful, when she thought about how easily Emma gives in to her. Maybe Emma did feel the same way about her as she did for the vampire. That was too much to hope for, however, and now certainly wasn't the time.

'Let's go!' shouted Harry, pulling Emma's arm.

Together, the other three led Emma in to the dark forest, but even without sight, she fared better than the others. Not even one minute into the trees, Ron fell over, flat onto his face.

'What happened?' said Hermione, anxiously, stopping too quickly, making Harry walk into her. 'Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid, Lumos!'

Emma saw a faint light through her eyelids as Hermione's wand lit up.

'Tripped over a tree-root.' he said, angrily, getting to his feet.

'Well, with feet that size, hard not to.' said an unmistakable drawling voice.

Harry and Ron turned angrily to the sound, but Hermione meant to grab Emma's arm, except, she was no longer at her side. She feared the worse and turned to Draco, trying hard to focus to see Emma.

Ron, not having noticed Emma's disappearance, told Draco to do something with a phrase he wouldn't have dared say in front of his mother.

'Language, Weasley.' said Malfoy, his eyes glittering, clearly enjoying himself. Time at home must have given him back a bit of his courage. 'Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?'

He'd turned his head to Hermione, insinuating that she's a mudblood and the Death Eaters are there for Muggles. Hermione feared he'd say something like that, provoking Emma, and provoke he did.

There was a flash of red light, muted as it came from behind Draco, directly behind him. His eyes went slack, and he fell to the ground, out cold.

'I've been wanting to do that for years!' said Emma, stepping out from behind the tree Draco had been leaning on, her eyes and claws back to normal.

'Emma!' gasped Hermione and Ron in very different tones.

'Well, at least you didn't kill him.' sighed Hermione, shrugging.

'I promised.' said Emma. 'He's right though, Mia. We really should be going. Lumos!'

Ron lit up his wand too, and Harry went to do the same, but, after frantically patting down his pockets, he started looking on the ground.

'Ah, no, I don't believe it! I've lost my wand!' he exclaimed.

'You're kidding?' said Ron.

They raised their wands high, and looked around, but couldn't see it.

'Maybe it's back in the tent?' suggested Ron.

'Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?' said Hermione.

Emma just stepped up to Draco, took his wand and passed it to Harry.

'What?' she asked, when Harry turned his nose up at it. 'He's not going to need it, his dad is probably one of those masked people, but you might.'

Frowning, Harry grudgingly accepted it and cast Lumos too. The wand resisted him at first, but it did work after a few attempts.

Now, though, the four of them were far behind Ginny and the twins, and with all the people running by, it was too noisy and there were too many scents for Emma to be able to track them. They decided to follow the crowd and hope the others were far ahead enough to remain safe.

It wasn't long before the crowd thinned, spreading out throughout the woods, and soon the four of them were almost completely alone. They still bumped into some people, like a group of teenagers in pyjamas, arguing in French amongst themselves.

'Où est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue-' asked one of them when they approached.

'Er - what?' asked Ron.

'Oh...' said the girl, turning away and ignoring them. ''Ogwarts.'

'Must be Beauxbatons.' said Hermione, to Emma, who nodded.

'Sorry?' asked Harry, and the two of them had to explain about other schools.

The next encounter startled them at first, even Emma. There was a sudden rustling sound further in the woods and out walked Winky, though she looked odd. Her walk was strained, as if she was struggling against something invisible.

'There is bad wizards about!' she squeaked. 'People high - high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!'

And on she continued with her peculiar walk, mumbling to herself.

'What's up with her?' asked Ron, staring at where she vanished. 'Why can't she run properly?'

'Probably she didn't ask permission to hide.' said Harry.

'That's absolutely barbaric!' hissed Hermione. '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! Now he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't someone do something about it.'

Emma just kicked a rock, too annoyed to speak.

'Well, the elves are happy, aren't they?' said Ron. 'You heard old Winky back at the match... "House-elves is not supposed to have fun"... that's what she likes, being bossed around.'

'Did it look like she was happy to you?' growled Emma, glaring at him. 'Did she look like she was enjoying herself at the match? Of course, you weren't paying any attention to her, were you?'

Emma let out an angry huff and kicked another rock to stop herself hitting Ron.

'It's people like you, Ron,' hissed Hermione, furious. 'who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to-'

Too lazy to do what, they never knew. At that moment they heard another loud bang near the edge of the woods.

'Let's just keep moving, shall we?' said Ron, meekly, under the girls' glares.

Emma, at least, was a bit distracted now. Draco had probably been right about the masked wizards, the Death Eaters, that they would want to hurt Hermione, and other muggle-borns, most of all. The four of them set off again with very little more interaction.

Along the way they passed a group of goblins, cackling over a sack of gold, who looked really at ease with the current events. Next they found a clearing with a Veela and a number of men bragging about ridiculous things. Even Ron tried, caught by the charm, and they had to drag him away. As they were leaving, Emma heard one brag that he'd killed about ninety vampires. It took a very firm tug and a telling off from Hermione to drag her away without harming anyone.

'Do you really think one of the hunters after you would be stupid enough to fall for a Veela?' she'd asked, and Emma had to concede to her logic.

By the time the Veela and her admirers were out of earshot, they appeared to be in the densest part of the wood, and they seemed to be alone, except one other.

'Mr Bagman?' asked Emma, to a tree, getting stares from Harry and Ron.

'Who's that?' he said, blinking down at them after stepping out from behind the tree. 'What are you doing in here, all alone?'

He looked rough, pale and strained, dejected even. Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron looked at each other, confused and surprised.

'Well, there's sort of a riot going on.' said Ron.

'What?' said Ludo, staring blankly.

'On the campsite... some people have got hold of a family of Muggles!' said Hermione, angrily.

'Damn them!' he swore, loudly, and without a second glance, disapparated.

'Useless!' spat Emma. 'Worse than useless! He should be ashamed of himself!'

'He was a great Beater, though.' said Ron.

'Oh, of course, that makes everything better, doesn't it?' hissed Emma, sarcastically.

Hermione put her hand out to hold Emma's, to calm her again, and they gave each other a sad stare. Emma hated being this angry and venomous, but she couldn't help it. This whole experience had been awful.

'Let's settle here.' said Harry, trying to defuse the situation. 'We'll hear anyone coming a mile off.'

Ron sat down and put his Krum figurine on the floor, watching it waddle around, while Hermione pulled Emma to sit next to a tree, next to her and away from Ron, and held her hand tightly. Harry, however, continued standing, keeping an ear out.

'I hope the others are OK.' said Hermione, after a while.

'They'll be fine.' said Ron, automatically.

'Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy.' said Harry, smirking, finally sitting next to Ron. 'He's always said he'd like to get him on something.'

'Those poor Muggles, though.' sighed Hermione. 'What if they couldn't get them down safely?'

'I'm sure they will.' said Ron. 'Or have.' he added.

'Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight.' said Harry. 'I mean, how do they expect to get away with it?'

'Shh.' hissed Emma.

She heard footsteps heading their direction, still a fair distance off and held up a finger on her free hand, then pointed that way. At first the other three couldn't hear anything, but then Harry's eyes went wide as he heard a rustling.

The footsteps were heavy, like they were stumbling, or limping, and they got closer every passing second.

'Hello?' asked Harry, to the void of darkness.

The stumbling stopped dead and then there was only silence, even to Emma.

'Who's there?' repeated Harry.

The only reply they got was a loud, deep but reedy, incantation.

'MORSMORDRE!'

Something vast, green and glittering shot into the sky and Emma's heart sunk. Both she and Hermione shot up from the floor, and Emma grabbed Harry by the shirt and began tugging him away, quickly helped by Hermione as she reached him too.

'Run!' she hissed, quietly, still pulling.

'Wha-?' exclaimed Harry, resisting, but Emma covered his mouth, and they pulled harder, helped now by Ron.

'Run you idiot! That's HIS mark!' she yelled, this time only into his mind.

Up in the sky was an image unmistakable to anyone who had read as many books as Hermione and Emma had. A colossal skull made of green lights, with a snake for a tongue. The Dark Mark, in all its horrid glory, growing larger and rising in the sky with every passing second, and causing a chorus of screams throughout the woods.

Before they got very far, thanks to Harry's resisting, they heard a multitude of popping sounds and Emma heard the heartbeats of over twenty people suddenly appear.

'DUCK!' yelled Harry, seizing Ron, and pulling him to the ground. Emma had already been ahead of him, falling on purpose and taking Hermione with her.

'STUPEFY!' roared all twenty or so wizards.

Suddenly, the forest was lit up with blinding red flashes in all directions and Emma felt more than one graze past her back, narrowly missing her. The stunning charms continued for a second or two, bouncing off the tree-trunks and shooting off into the darkness.

'Stop!' yelled Mr Weasley's voice. 'STOP! That's my son!'

The flashes died down, and then Mr Weasley was running to them, looking far more terrified than earlier.

'Ron - Harry -' he said, voice shaking. 'Hermione - Emma - are you all right?'

'Out of the way, Arthur.' said the cold, curt voice of Barty Crouch, as he and all the other Ministry wizards surrounded them.

Emma felt like this was a repeat of the scene at her mother's death, trapped by angry wizards, all pointing wands in her direction, and she was overcome with a paralysing fear, unable to do anything but shake. She couldn't kill that many wizards to protect herself, even if she wanted to.

'Which of you did it?' snapped Crouch, his sharp eyes inspecting all four of them. 'Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?'

'We didn't do that!' said Harry, emphatically, gesturing to the skull in the air.

'We didn't do anything! What did you want to attack us for?' complained Ron, rubbing his elbow.

'Do not lie, sir!' shouted Crouch, his eyes bulging like a madman. 'You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!'

'Barty.' whispered a witch in a woollen dressing-gown. 'they're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to-'

'Where did the Mark come from, you four?' said Mr Weasley, quickly.

'Over there.' said Hermione, also shaking like a leaf, pointing to where they'd heard the voice.

There was a little back and forth, Crouch not believing Hermione, but all the others did. A few minutes later, they heard Amos Diggory call out.

'Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's - but - blimey...'

As the adults moved and turned their attention away, Emma felt herself freed from her panic.

'You've got someone?' shouted Crouch, turning away, sounding disbelieving. 'Who? Who is it?'

Thinking quickly, while no eyes were on them, she hissed to Harry.

'Give me Draco's wand. No discussion.'

He turned to question her.

'No discussion! Give it. Now!'

He handed it over, confused, then surprised, then understanding, as Emma chucked it with all her might into the darkness of the trees. It would not do for Harry to be found with someone else's wand, least of all a Malfoy's.

Moments later, Amos Diggory returned into the clearing, carrying a small limp figure, Winky, in her off-white tea-towel.

'No!' yelled Emma, anger replacing her fear. 'It wasn't her! It wasn't Winky! It was a man's voice, deep. Winky couldn't have!'

'There was no-one else.' said Amos, gravely.

'This - cannot - be.' said Crouch, jerkily. 'No-'

All the Ministry members just looked on in silence as Barty Crouch went to look for someone else. At first Emma thought he believed her, but she already knew him to be a cruel man.

'Bit embarrassing!' said Amos. 'Barty Crouch's house-elf... I mean to say...'

'Come off it, Amos, you don't seriously think it was the elf? Emma said as much, and the Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand.' said Mr Weasley.

'Yeah, and she had a wand.' replied Amos.

'What?' gasped Mr Weasley.

'Here, look.' said Amos, holding something up, hidden behind Mr Weasley. '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.'

'But she didn't do it!' pleaded Hermione. 'It wasn't her!'

'If it's all right with you, Mr Crouch, I think we should hear what she has to say for herself.'

Barty gave no indication he had even heard Amos, pacing around still. Amos took that as an OK and used the Rennervate revive charm on her. She stirred slowly, blinking a few times and sat up, looking around at the crowd of wizards, and then up to the Dark Mark. It shone in the reflections of her two large glassy eyes.

'Elf!' said Amos. 'Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!'

Winky quickly began rocking backward and forward, terrified, her breathing coming in gasps, and Emma really wanted to help her. This wasn't going to go well, knowing magicals.

'As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago,' said Amos, continuing. 'and you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation if you please!'

'I - I - I is not doing it, sir!' squeaked Winky. 'I is not knowing how, sir!'

'You were found with a wand in your hand!' barked Amos, brandishing it.

'Hey, that's mine.' yelled Harry.

'Excuse me?' asked Amos, stunned, as the whole group of wizards looked to Harry.

'That's my wand!' repeated Harry. 'I dropped it!'

Amos accused Harry, but Mr Weasley was quick to remind him who Harry was, and he let it go.

'I didn't drop it there, anyway.' said Harry. 'I missed it right after we got into the wood.'

'So.' continued Amos, eyes hardening. 'You found this wand, eh, elf? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, didn't you?'

'SHE. DIDN'T. DO. IT!' screamed Emma. 'Why won't you listen?'

'Quiet, girl!' commanded Amos, condescendingly. 'This doesn't concern you.'

Hermione pulled and turned Emma away, and took her hand again.

'They won't listen to us.' she said, quietly, hysterically, begging. 'Don't show yourself, please! Calm down, please.'

'I is not doing magic with it, sir!' squeaked Winky, tears streaming down her face, making Emma and Hermione hug, terrified for her welfare. 'I is... I is... I is just picking it up, sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, sir, I is not knowing how!'

'Well, we'll soon see.' growled Amos, unimpressed, heartless. 'There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that? Priori Incantato!'

They heard gasps from the Ministry wizards as a second, duplicate Dark Mark appeared, ghostly in appearance.

'Deletrius!' incanted Amos, making the copy vanish.

'So.' he said, with savage triumph, looking down at Winky, who was now shaking convulsively.

'I is not doing it!' she squealed. '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!' roared Amos. 'Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!'

Emma had to stop and cover her ears. She was crying almost as much as Winky, and her 'I is not's were breaking her heart. She was so close to losing it and killing Amos right there. He was treating Winky like a wild rabid beast. Beside Emma, Hermione wasn't faring any better either.

A new shriek broke through though, some time later.

'No, master!' screamed Winky. 'Not clothes, not clothes!'

'But she was frightened!' burst Hermione, tears in her eyes and anger in her voice, glaring at Crouch. 'Winky is scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!'

'I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me.' he said icily, staring at Hermione. 'I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and to her master's reputation.'

Winky was crying so hard, her sobs were echoing around the clearing.

'You are a cruel and sadistic man, sir.' said Emma with unadulterated hate.

And with that, she left, unable to take any more. She was going to kill someone if she stayed a moment longer.

'Well, I think I'll take my lot back to the tent, if nobodies' got any objections.' said Mr Weasley, uncomfortably. 'Amos, that wand's told us all it can - if Harry could have it back, please.'

Amos handed it over and Mr Weasley practically pushed Ron and Harry away, Hermione already going after Emma.

'What's going to happen to Winky?' asked Hermione, sobbing.

'I don't know.' said Mr Weasley.

'The way they were treating her!' she gasped, her breath hitching in her throat. '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 even care how frightened she'd been, or how upset she was - it was like she wasn't even human!'

'Well, she's not.' said Ron.

'WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?' shouted Emma, rushing right up to him, face to face, or as close as she could with him being so much taller than her.

Her claws were out at the ready, and her eyes were glowing brighter and greener than ever before. She looked like one wrong word would be fatal, and Ron looked suitably afraid, cowering away from her.

'Emma!' warned Mr Weasley, firmly, his wand out.

Of course, Emma ignored him, but not the gentle hand of Hermione on her arm, tugging her away.

'It doesn't mean she hasn't got feelings, Ron. It's disgusting the way-'

'I agree with you, both of you.' said Mr Weasley, looking to the girls and lowering his wand again, though still cautious. '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.' said Harry, pausing. 'Why was everyone so worried about that skull thing?'

'I'll explain everything back at the tent.' replied Mr Weasley, tensely.