THE DARK MARK
"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling." Mr. Weasley implored Fred and George as they all made their way slowly down the purple-carpeted stairs.
"Don't worry, Dad." said Fred gleefully. "We've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated."
Mr. Weasley looked for a moment as though he was going to ask what these big plans were, but seemed to decide, upon reflection, that he didn't want to know.
They were soon caught up in the crowds now flooding out of the stadium and back to their campsites. Raucous singing was borne toward 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.
When they finally reached the tents, nobody felt like sleeping at all and given the level of noise around them, Mr. Weasley agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before turning in. While he was preparing them, someone shouted from outside the tent.
"Arthur! You still celebrating?"
"Amos? Come in!"
Cedric and his father entered the tent. Both with huge grins on their faces, the only difference was that Cedric's smile was directed at Rose.
"Can we join you?"
"Of course, of course, I was just making hot cocoa. Want some?"
Cedric strode over to Rose the minute Mr. Weasley had given his okay to join them.
"So, what did you think?" Cedric asked.
"It was amazing, it's so different to actually be there instead of joining in on a memory. Not that I didn't enjoy your memory, it's just different."
Rose was rambling a bit, the match had left her overexcited.
"But it was good that I had seen your memory first. I would have been too overwhelmed to actually pay attention. And then I would have missed all those maneuvers, they were really impressive."
Cedric laughed and hugged her.
"You're tired."
"No, I'm not." Rose protested.
"You're rambling, you do that when you're nervous or tired."
"I do?"
Cedric nodded happily.
"So, what did you think of the Veela?" Rose said playfully.
"They didn't bother me." Cedric said calmly, while taking the chair next to Rose.
"Not at all?" Rose said surprised. "You didn't have to plug your ears?"
"No."
"All the boys had to do it or they would be tempted to do something stupid, like jumping off the topbox."
Cedric laughed loudly at that.
"I kept thinking of you and I was fine. I talked about it with dad and he said that when you're in love you don't get affected that much by them."
Hearing that made Rose's heart flutter and spread a warmth trough her.
Cedric smiled sweetly at her, before taking the cup of hot cocoa Mr. Weasley was bringing to everyone. While he was busy drinking, a knot in Rose's stomach twisted and her eyes flicked to George.
George wasn't sitting very far away and his face was very red, although he seemed calm.
When you're in love…
It couldn't be! No! He was affected the first time. She had to stop him from jumping off. It was only after he could control himself.
No way.
Rose was convincing herself that it wasn't possible, he saw her as a sister. And he had been affected. And while convincing herself the knot in her stomach tightened.
"So, Rose what did you think of the match?" Charlie suddenly pulled her into the conversation.
They were soon arguing enjoyably about the match, Mr. Weasley got drawn into a disagreement about cobbing with Charlie and it was only when Ginny fell asleep right at the tiny table and spilled hot chocolate all over the floor that Mr. Weasley called a halt to the verbal replays and insisted that everyone go to bed.
Hermione, Rose and Ginny left the tent to go into the other one. Mr. Diggory and Cedric followed them outside.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" Cedric asked.
"Ofcourse!" Mr. Diggory interceded. "We're taking the same portkey!"
Rose smiled widely.
"Goodnight Rose." Cedric said and gave her a sweet kiss on the corner of her mouth.
Hermione and Ginny started giggling behind her.
"Bye."
Hermione, Rose and Ginny went into the next tent and they changed into their pajamas and clambered into their bunks.
From the other side of the campsite they could still hear much singing and the odd echoing bang. Rose, who was on a top bunk above Hermione, lay staring up at the canvas ceiling of the tent, watching the glow of an occasional leprechaun lantern flying overhead and picturing again some of Krum's more spectacular moves.
She was itching to get back on her own Firebolt and try out the Wronski Feint… Somehow Oliver Wood had never managed to convey with all his wriggling diagrams what that move was supposed to look like...
Rose saw herself in robes that had her name on the back, and imagined the sensation of hearing a hundred-thousand-strong crowd roar, as Ludo Bagman's voice echoed throughout the stadium.
"I give you... Potter!"
Rose never knew whether or not she had actually dropped off to sleep… her fantasies of flying like Krum might well have slipped into actual dreams… all she knew was that, quite suddenly, Mr. Weasley was shouting.
"Get up! Hermione, Ginny, Rose… come on now, get up, this is urgent!"
Rose sat up quickly and the top of her head hit canvas.
"S' matter?" She said.
Dimly, she could tell that something was wrong. The noises in the campsite had changed. The singing had stopped. She could hear screams and the sound of people running.
She slipped down from the bunk and reached for her clothes, but Mr. Weasley, who had pulled on his jeans over his own pajamas, stopped her.
"No time, Rose… just grab a jacket and get outside… quickly!"
Rose did as she was told and hurried out of the tent, Hermione and Ginny at her heels.
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 toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire.
Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them, then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.
A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field.
Rose squinted at them... They didn't seem to have faces...
Then she realized that their heads were hooded and their faces masked.
High above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes.
It was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air.
Two of the figures were very small.
More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies.
Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled.
Once or twice Rose saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire.
The screaming grew louder.
The floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent and Rose recognized one of them: Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager.
The other three looked as though they might be his wife and children.
One of the marchers below flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand, her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee.
"That's sick." Ron muttered, watching the smallest Muggle child, who had begun to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side. "That is really sick…"
At the same moment, Bill, Charlie, and Percy emerged from the boys' tent, fully dressed, with their sleeves rolled up and their wands out.
"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley 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.
Mr. Weasley tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble.
The crowd beneath the Roberts family was coming ever closer.
"C'mon." said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her toward the woods.
Rose, Ron, Hermione, and George followed.
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 center, 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 colored lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished.
Dark figures were blundering through the trees, children were crying, anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air.
Rose felt herself being pushed hither and thither by people whose faces she could not see. Then she heard Ron yell with pain.
"What happened?" said Hermione anxiously, stopping so abruptly that Rose walked into her.
"Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid - lumos!" She illuminated her wand and directed its narrow beam across the path. Ron was lying sprawled on the ground.
"Tripped over a tree root." he said angrily, getting to his feet again.
Rose wanted to help him but suddenly a wave of people came towards them and though as hard as Rose tried she couldn't stop being pulled away from Hermione and Ron.
"Ron, Hermione!"
"Rose!"
"Rose!"
Suddenly the people scattered Rose started running back but she realized she couldn't see Hermione and Ron anymore.
She spun around multiple times, but they weren't in sight anymore.
Rose cursed under her breath and wanted to head towards the woods but another wave of people passed. And they were moving in the wrong direction.
They looked thoroughly drunk and a lot rougher.
Rose got pulled and pushed around until one of them glanced at her face, more specifically her scar.
Sickening smiles appeared on their faces and Rose's neck hairs rose.
"Hey! You're…"
"What do we've got here."
"Let's take her to them…"
Suddenly both her arms were stuck in an iron hold that squeezed the blood flow shut in her veins.
Rose struggled to get free, bit clawed, kicked but to no avail. The marching group came closer and she could see now their masks were like skulls. A horrible realization dawned on Rose, muggle haters, violent, and they want to bring her to them, not her as a girl, but her, The-Girl-Who-Lived…
That could only sum up to one thing, Voldemort followers.
Panic almost stopped her heart and her magic started to rise up in her. She felt the air around her grow heavy with energy, and the familiar ripple through her skin instantly made her more comfortable.
Rose almost smiled when she let the energy flow by giving a mental, hard, push.
The invisible force knocked the men who were holding her off their feet.
The iron grip released her and Rose stood, ready to make a run for it. But she was surrounded.
"You little! How did you…"
The men on the ground cursed. And while they were getting up, Rose noticed something else.
Everyone that was surrounding her were all men and they now all had a hunger in their eyes that made Rose break out in cold sweat.
Her muscles locked in place and subconsciously she got into a fighting stance. Rose rolled up the sleeves of her jacket and reached into it's pockets.
She wanted to pull out her wand but to her horror it wasn't there. The only thing she could find was her Omnioculars. She must have lost it in the commontion.
"Oh, how adorable, she's getting ready to fight."
"Where is your wand, pretty girl?"
At the sound of their mocking voices, Rose gritted her teeth in anger.
One of the men reached for her and she slapped his hand away.
Amused chuckles sounded in the group.
She had to slap multiple hands away, they started tearing and scratching.
They were drawing nearer, as well as the people wearing the masks drew closer.
Her heart started beating overtime now, kicking the adrenaline in.
It was coursing through her veins and Rose felt it awakening her magic, once more.
She was building it up, getting ready to blast them all into oblivion.
Suddenly a loud bang sounded right above them and everyone looked up in surprise.
During the confusion, something knocked the men to her right over.
An iron, painful grip yanked at her arm and practically started dragging her away.
It all happened so fast, Rose let it happen in the confusion.
"I swear…" A cold voice entered her ear and she wanted to push him away, her magic ready to be released.
"… You must have a death wish Potter."
And suddenly Rose knew who was dragging her away.
"Hey!"
One of the men shouted and the grip tightened even more, she had to run to keep up.
When there were enough people between them and the group of men, they slowed down again.
She glanced up and took in Draco Malfoy's features in reddish light from the fires. His jaw was locked tight and the anger shone like blue flames in his eyes.
"Malfoy?"
"Shut it." He hissed and he quickly glanced around, but they weren't in the thick of the group anymore, they were back in the flow of people running towards the woods.
His grip on her arm hardened and Rose had to suppress a wince of pain. Her arm felt crushed after the brute force of those men and now Malfoy's grip.
Malfoy was muttering something under his breath, it sounded as a rant.
"… not a grain of brains in those Weasley's, they should have gotten her out of here immediately. Idiot's. What was she thinking getting so close, always the hero, doesn't she know what they would do…"
"I'm not stupid Malfoy. I know who those people are. Some guys dragged me up there, I was trying to get away." Rose said calmly.
Malfoy looked surprised for a second, he hadn't expected Rose to hear him.
"Have you ever heard of a wand Potter? Even minors are allowed to use them outside of school when in danger."
"I… I think I lost it in the thick of the mass." Rose said softly, trying to hide the panic about losing her wand.
They reached the tree's and Malfoy stopped marching, turned around and looked at her.
"Then how did you get loose? I saw them falling did you kick them or something?" Disgust sounded through his voice when he said 'kick'.
"No Malfoy, I did it the same way I pushed you up against the wall that time in the corridors." Rose snapped.
Surprise flashed across his face.
"You still have your outbursts of magic?" Malfoy asked stunned.
"When I panic." Rose responded carefully, not wanting to give too much away, he was still a Malfoy after all. "Can you let go of me now?"
A jolt went through Malfoy and he let go of her arm.
Blood flow was restored and Rose felt pins in her arm. She glanced down and saw the start of a bruise forming on her arm.
Malfoy saw the bruise, sighed and took out his wand.
"Episkey." Her arm instantly felt a lot better and the dark colors faded. She looked him gratefully in the eyes. Like a miracle, Rose felt a smile creeping up her face. Who would have thought, Draco Malfoy to her rescue.
They looked at each other for a while and a heartfelt 'thank you' started to form in her mouth.
At least until Malfoy provided her with a cold shower.
"Now run off and find your mudblood and weasel."
Anger flared up in Rose.
"What is your deal huh?"
Malfoy just looked at her, a stoic look creeping in his eyes. The blue flames were extinguished.
"You almost convinced me you can be decent and then you say something like that." Rose snapped.
"I'm not decent, I'm a Malfoy."
Normally he would sound proud while saying that, but now it just came out flatly.
"That is not everything you are!"
"Yes, it is."
"If it is, why save me? You could have just let them have me and kill me. Your father would be happy with that, he tried it in second year."
Suddenly pain and panic flashed in his eyes. It was so fast Rose almost though she had imagined it but his next words made her doubt that.
"He did what?!" Malfoy almost shouted.
"I tricked him into freeing Dobby, when he realized that, he tried to curse me but Dobby stopped him."
Malfoy looked… well Rose couldn't really determine what he looked like. Before she could register it Malfoy quickly recovered from his outburst and the stoic look came back.
"Well then, you're right, I should have left you there."
"Why didn't you?"
Malfoy seemed to be looking for an answer himself.
"Last year you saved me, I repaid you the favor. I'm no longer in your debt."
Rose remembered her automatic reaction to save Malfoy from Buckbeak. It had happened so fast, she automatically had tried to keep him out of harm's way. They had been enemy from the first day of school and still she had felt the pull to save him.
"You were never…"
"Rose!"
"Rose!"
"Nobody hears about what happened Potter." Malfoy whispered sharply before the voices reached them. She wanted to snap a refusal but something in his eyes stopped her.
Hermione and Ron were panting when they joined her.
During the last steps, Ron tripped again and cursed.
"Stop tripping Ron!" Hermione said.
"Well, with feet that size, hard not to." Said Draco in a drawling voice. Ron told Malfoy to do something that Rose knew he would never have dared say in front of Mrs. Weasley.
"Language, Weasley." said Malfoy, his pale eyes glittering. "Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?"
He nodded at Hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Hermione defiantly.
"Granger, they're after Muggles." said Malfoy. "D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around… they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."
Rose had to use everything in her might not to punch Malfoy in the face. They had just finished their first somewhat 'normal' conversation and now the cold, hard, hostile mask she knew all too well had slipped on again. She wanted to punch him and see if it could slip off again.
"Hermione's a witch." Rose snarled.
"Have it your own way, Potter." said Malfoy, grinning maliciously. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."
"You watch your mouth!" shouted Ron.
"Never mind, Ron." said Hermione quickly, seizing Ron's arm to restrain him as he took a step toward Malfoy. There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard. Several people nearby screamed. Malfoy chuckled softly, but without humor.
"Scare easily, don't they?" he said lazily. "I suppose your daddy told you all to hide? What's he up to… trying to rescue the Muggles?"
"Where're your parents?" said Rose, her temper rising. "Out there wearing masks, are they?"
Malfoy turned his face to Rose, still smiling that cold emotionless smile of his.
"Well... if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?"
"Oh, come on." said Hermione, with a disgusted look at Malfoy. "Let's go and find the others."
"Keep that big bushy head down, Granger." sneered Malfoy.
"Come on." Hermione repeated, and she pulled Rose and Ron up the path again. Rose glanced back before Malfoy got out of view, and he was still looking at her with a different expression on his face. Was it relief? She couldn't analyze it further because the trees took him out of view.
"I'll bet you anything his dad is one of that masked lot!" said Ron hotly.
"Well, with any luck, the Ministry will catch him!" said Hermione fervently. "Oh, I can't believe this. Where have the others got to?"
Fred, George, and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, though the path was packed with plenty of other people, all looking nervously over their shoulders toward the commotion back at the campsite.
A huddle of teenagers in pajamas was arguing vociferously a little way along the path. When they saw Rose, Ron, and Hermione, a girl with thick curly hair turned and said quickly.
"Où est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue…"
"Er… what?" said Ron.
"Oh..." The girl who had spoken turned her back on him, and as they walked on they distinctly heard her say.
"Ogwarts."
"Beauxbatons." muttered Hermione.
"Sorry?" said Ron.
"They must go to Beauxbatons," said Hermione. "You know... Beauxbatons Academy of Magic... I read about it in An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe."
"Think of it as Hogwarts but in French." Rose explained, when she remembered the name.
"Fred and George can't have gone that far." said Ron, pulling out his wand, lighting it like Hermione's, and squinting up the path.
"Rose come on, light yours as well." Hermione said.
"I lost mine somewhere, it wasn't in my pockets anymore." Rose admitted sullenly.
Ron and Hermione looked surprised but before they could say anything a rustling noise nearby made all three of them jump.
Winky the house-elf was fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby. She was moving in a most peculiar fashion, apparently with great difficulty, it was as though someone invisible were trying to hold her back.
"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked distractedly as she leaned forward and labored 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 restraining her.
"What's up with her?" said Ron, looking curiously after Winky. "Why can't she run properly?"
"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide." said Rose.
She was thinking of Dobby: Every time he had tried to do something the Malfoys wouldn't like, the house-elf had been forced to start beating himself up.
"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal!" said Hermione indignantly. "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. "You heard old Winky back at the match… 'House-elves is not supposed to have fun'… that's what she likes, being bossed around…"
"It's people like you, Ron." Hermione began hotly. "Who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to…"
Another loud bang echoed from the edge of the wood.
"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" said Rose, breaking up the argument.
They set off again and followed the dark path deeper into the wood, still keeping an eye out for Fred, George, and Ginny.
They passed a group of goblins who were cackling over a sack of gold that they had undoubtedly won betting on the match and who seemed quite unperturbed by the trouble at the campsite.
Farther still along the path, they walked into a patch of silvery light, and when they looked through the trees, they saw three tall and beautiful veela standing in a clearing, surrounded by a gaggle of young wizards, all of whom were talking very loudly.
"I pull down about a hundred sacks of Galleons a year!" one of them shouted. "I'm a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."
"No, you're not!" yelled his friend. "You're a dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron… but I'm a vampire hunter, I've killed about ninety so far…"
A third young wizard, whose pimples were visible even by the dim, silvery light of the veela, now cut in.
"I'm about to become the youngest ever Minister of Magic, I am." Rose snorted with laughter. She recognized the pimply wizard: His name was Stan Shunpike, and he was in fact a conductor on the triple-decker Knight Bus.
She turned to tell Ron this, but Ron's face had gone oddly slack and next second Ron was yelling.
"Did I tell you I've invented a broomstick that'll reach Jupiter?"
"Honestly!" said Hermione, and she and Rose grabbed Ron firmly by the arms, wheeled him around, and marched him away.
By the time the sounds of the veela and their admirers had faded completely, they were in the very heart of the wood. They seemed to be alone now, everything was much quieter. Rose looked around. "I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off."
The words were hardly out of her mouth, when Ludo Bagman emerged from behind a tree right ahead of them. Even by the feeble light of the two wands, Rose could see that a great change had come over Bagman.
He no longer looked buoyant and rosy-faced, there was no more spring in his step. He looked very white and strained.
"Who's that?" he said, blinking down at them, trying to make out their faces. "What are you doing in here, all alone?"
They looked at one another, surprised.
"Well… there's a sort of riot going on." said Ron. Bagman stared at him.
"What?"
"At the campsite… some people have got hold of a family of Muggles… Bagman swore loudly.
"Damn them!" he said, looking quite distracted and without another word, he Disapparated with a small pop!
"Not exactly on top of things, Mr. Bagman, is he?" said Hermione, frowning.
"He was a great Beater, though." said Ron, leading the way off the path into a small clearing, and sitting down on a patch of dry grass at the foot of a tree. "The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them."
He took his small figure of Krum out of his pocket, set it down on the ground, and watched it walk around. Like the real Krum, the model was slightly duck-footed and round-shouldered, much less impressive on his splayed feet than on his broomstick.
Rose was listening for noise from the campsite. Everything seemed much quieter, perhaps the riot was over.
"I hope the others are okay." said Hermione after a while.
"They'll be fine." said Ron.
"Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy." said Rose, sitting down next to Ron and watching the small figure of Krum slouching over the fallen leaves. "He's always said he'd like to get something on him." And maybe it would knock some sense in his son, Rose thought.
"That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, all right." said Ron.
"Those poor Muggles, though." said Hermione nervously. "What if they can't get them down?"
"They will." said Ron reassuringly. "They'll find a way."
"Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight!" said Hermione. "I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just…"
But she broke off abruptly and looked over her shoulder.
Rose and Ron looked quickly around too. It sounded as though someone was staggering toward their clearing. They waited, listening to the sounds of the uneven steps behind the dark trees.
But the footsteps came to a sudden halt.
"Hello?" called Rose. There was silence. Rose got to her feet and peered around the tree.
It was too dark to see very far, but she could sense somebody standing just beyond the range of her vision.
"Who's there?" She said. And then, without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any they had heard in the wood, and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell. "MORSMORDRE!"
And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness Rose's eyes had been struggling to penetrate, it flew up over the treetops and into the sky.
"What the…?" gasped Ron as he sprang to his feet again, staring up at the thing that had appeared. For a split second, Rose thought it was another leprechaun formation.
Then she realized that it was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue.
As they watched, it rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation.
Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams. Rose didn't understand why, but the only possible cause was the sudden appearance of the skull, which had now risen high enough to illuminate the entire wood like some grisly neon sign.
She scanned the darkness for the person who had conjured the skull, but she couldn't see anyone. "Who's there?" She called again.
"Rose, come on, move!" Hermione had seized the collar of her jacket and was tugging her backward. "What's the matter?" Rose said, startled to see her face so white and terrified.
"It's the Dark Mark, Rose!" Hermione moaned, pulling her as hard as she could. "You-Know-Who's sign!"
"Voldemort's…"
"Rose, come on!" Rose turned, Ron was hurriedly scooping up his miniature Krum, the three of them started across the clearing, but before they had taken a few hurried steps, a series of popping noises announced the arrival of twenty wizards, appearing from thin air, surrounding them.
Rose whirled around and in an instant, she registered one fact. Each of these wizards had his wand out, and every wand was pointing right at herself, Ron, and Hermione. Without pausing to think, she yelled.
"DUCK!" She seized the other two and pulled them down onto the ground.
"STUPEFY!" roared twenty voices, there was a blinding series of flashes and Rose felt the hair on her head ripple as though a powerful wind had swept the clearing.
Raising her head a fraction of an inch she saw jets of fiery red light flying over them from the wizards' wands, crossing one another, bouncing off tree trunks, rebounding into the darkness…
"Stop!" yelled a voice she recognized.
"STOP! That's my son!"
Rose's hair stopped blowing about. She raised her head a little higher.
The wizard in front of her had lowered his wand. She rolled over and saw Mr. Weasley striding toward them, looking terrified.
"Ron… Rose…" His voice sounded shaky. "Hermione… are you all right?"
"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. Rose got to her 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 Rose, 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, child!" shouted Mr. Crouch. His wand was still pointing directly at Ron and his eyes were popping… he looked slightly mad.
"You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Barty." Whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown. "They're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to…"
"Where did the Mark come from, you three?" said Mr. Weasley quickly.
"Over there." said Hermione shakily, pointing at the place where they had heard the voice.
"There was someone behind the trees… they shouted words… an incantation…"
"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr. Crouch, turning his popping eyes on Hermione now, disbelief etched 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 Rose, Ron, or Hermione had conjured the skull, on the contrary, at Hermione's words, they had all raised their wands again and were pointing in the direction she had indicated, squinting through the dark trees.
"We're too late." said the witch in the woolen dressing gown, 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?" 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 reemerged from behind the trees.
He was carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. Rose recognized the tea towel at once.
It was Winky.
Mr. Crouch did not move or speak as Mr. Diggory deposited his 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 blazing in his white face as he stared down at Winky. Then he appeared to come to life again.
"This… cannot… be." he said jerkily. "No…"
He moved quickly around Mr. Diggory and strode off toward 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 and 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." said Mr. Weasley quietly. "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."
"Yeah." said Mr. Diggory. "And she had a wand."
"What?" said Mr. Weasley.
"Here, look." Mr. Diggory held up a wand and showed it to 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."
Just then there was another pop and Ludo Bagman Apparated right next to Mr. Weasley. Looking breathless and disorientated, he spun on the spot, goggling upward at the emerald-green skull.
"The Dark Mark!" he panted, almost trampling Winky as he turned inquiringly 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 mustache were both twitching.
"Where have you been, Barty?" said Bagman. "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." said Mr. Crouch, still talking in the same jerky fashion, barely moving his lips. "And my elf has been stunned."
"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why …?" Comprehension dawned suddenly on Bagman's round, shiny face, he looked up at the skull, down at Winky, and then at Mr. Crouch.
"No!" he said. "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!"
"And she had one." said Mr. Diggory. "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 sign that he had heard Mr. Diggory, but Mr. Diggory seemed to take his silence for assent.
He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky, and chanted.
"Ennervate!" Winky stirred feebly.
Her great brown eyes opened and she blinked several times in a bemused sort of way. Watched by the silent wizards, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position. She caught sight of Mr. Diggory's feet, and slowly, tremulously, raised her eyes to stare up into his face, then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky.
Rose could see the floating skull reflected twice in her enormous, glassy eyes.
She gave a gasp, looked wildly around the crowded clearing and burst into terrified sobs.
"Elf!" said Mr. Diggory 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 backward and forward on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts.
Rose was reminded forcibly of Dobby in his moments of terrified disobedience.
"As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago." said Mr. Diggory. "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!" barked Mr. Diggory, brandishing it in front of her. And as the wand caught the green light that was filling the clearing from the skull above, Rose recognized it.
"Hey… that's mine!" She said Everyone in the clearing looked at her.
"Excuse me?" said Mr. Diggory, incredulously.
"That's my wand!" said Rose. "I dropped it!"
Everybody stared at her, their eyebrows very high on their foreheads. Rose was growing uncomfortable.
"Well at least I think I dropped it. I noticed it was gone a long while back, it must have happened while we were fleeing towards the woods. I swear, I would never…"
"Don't be ridiculous." Mr. Diggory waved as it the movement would swipe the stares away. "We know you didn't do it. The Girl-Who-Lived casting the dark mark…"
The other adults seemed to relax.
"So." said Mr. Diggory, 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 Rose and Ron, appealing for their support. "It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?"
"No, Hermione's right." said Rose, shaking her head. "It definitely didn't sound like an elf."
"Yeah, it was a human voice." said Ron.
"Well, we'll soon see." growled Mr. Diggory, 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 Rose's.
"Prior Incantato!" roared Mr. Diggory.
Rose heard Hermione gasp, horrified, as a gigantic serpent-tongued skull erupted from the point where the two wands met, but it was a mere shadow of the green skull high above them, it looked as though it were made of thick gray smoke, the ghost of a spell.
"Deletrius!" Mr. Diggory shouted, and the smoky skull vanished in a wisp of smoke. "So." Said Mr. Diggory with a kind of savage triumph, looking down upon Winky, who was still shaking convulsively. "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." said Mr. Weasley loudly. "Think about it… precious few wizards know how to do that spell… Where would she have learned it?"
"Perhaps Amos is suggesting." said Mr. Crouch, 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."
"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory!" shouted Mr. Crouch. "Where else would she have learned to conjure it?"
"She… she might've picked it up anywhere…"
"Precisely, Amos." said Mr. Weasley. "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 Rose'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?" said Mr. Weasley. "Whoever conjured the Mark could have Disapparated right after they'd done it, leaving Rose'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 only a few feet away from the real culprit!" said Mr. Diggory impatiently. "Elf? Did you see anyone?" Winky began to tremble worse than ever. Her giant eyes flickered from Mr. Diggory, to Ludo Bagman and onto Mr. Crouch. Then she gulped and said.
"I is seeing no one, sir… no one…"
"Amos." said Mr. Crouch curtly. "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 Rose 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!" shrieked Winky, prostrating herself at Mr. Crouch's feet. "No, master! Not clothes, not clothes!"
Rose knew that the only way to turn a house-elf free was to present it with proper garments. It was pitiful to see the way Winky clutched at her tea towel as she sobbed over Mr. Crouch's feet.
"But she was frightened!" 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 backward, freeing himself from contact with the elf, whom he was surveying as though she were 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 over 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 that her sobs echoed around the clearing.
There was a very nasty silence, which was ended by Mr. Weasley, 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 Rose could have it back, please…" Mr. Diggory handed Rose her wand and Rose pocketed it.
"Come on, you three." Mr. Weasley said quietly.
But Hermione didn't seem to want to move, her eyes were still upon the sobbing elf.
"Hermione!" Mr. Weasley said, more urgently.
She turned and followed Rose and Ron out of the clearing and off through the trees.
"What's going to happen to Winky?" said Hermione, the moment they had left the clearing.
"I don't know." said Mr. Weasley.
"The way they were treating her!" said Hermione 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!"
"Well, she's not." said Ron. Hermione rounded on him.
"That doesn't mean she hasn't got feelings, Ron. It's disgusting the way…"
"Hermione, I agree with you." said Mr. Weasley quickly, beckoning her 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." said Ron. "Dad, why was everyone so uptight about that skull thing?"
"I'll explain everything back at the tent." said Mr. Weasley tensely.
But when they reached the edge of the wood, their progress was impeded.
A large crowd of frightened-looking witches and wizards was congregated there and when they saw Mr. Weasley coming toward them, many of them surged forward.
"What's going on in there?"
"Who conjured it?"
"Arthur… it's not… Him?"
"Of course it's not Him." said Mr. Weasley 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 Rose, Ron, and Hermione 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, and Ginny got back okay, but the others…"
"I've got them here." said Mr. Weasley, bending down and entering the tent.
Rose, Ron, and Hermione entered after him.
"Rose!" Two voices rang out and suddenly she was pulled into a hug.
She knew the familiar scent of rain and started to relax.
"I was so worried, the minute I figured out what was going on I tried to find you."
"I'm fine Ced."
Cedric let go of her and examined her. Rose noticed that George was standing right beside him a bit red in the cheeks. Cedric's eyes dropped down to her arm and his face whitened.
"You're not fine."
Rose looked down confused and her arm looked fine, of course it did, Malfoy had healed it.
"What are you…"
"Your other arm Rose!"
Cedric softly pulled it forward and she saw blue bruises blooming over her skin and you could clearly see the shape of hands in them.
The people in the tent gasped.
"Eh…"
Cedric looked her over and saw more bruises and even scratches. Wow, she looked worse than she felt.
"Bloody hell, Rose, what happened when we lost each other?" Ron muttered.
Mr. Weasley rushed forward and touched it lightly. Okay, now she could feel the pain and she suppressed a wince.
"Rose, why didn't you say anything?" Hermione shrieked.
"Because I didn't feel it until now…"
"Was it MALFOY?" Ron suddenly boomed.
"NO!" Rose snapped quickly. Malfoy didn't want them to know but she couldn't let them blame him either.
"We bumped into each other after…"
"Rose…" Mr. Weasley looked at her with worry. There was a fear in his eyes, a fear that might have come true if not for Malfoy…
"Can you please tell us what happened?" He asked calmly.
"I got separated from the rest because of a mass of people. Some shabby guy's saw my scar and wanted to take me to the masked men…"
Mr. Weasley's face got drained of blood.
"… They weren't being very careful about it."
Rose decided to keep the sickening hunger to herself, they didn't need to know…
"I put two and two together and realized the masked men must be Voldemort's followers…" Everyone winced at the name. "So, I struggled and got away, while running back to the woods I came across Malfoy. That's when you found me."
"You got away without a wand?"
"There was a loud bang in the sky and I took the opportunity to kick the one holding me where it hurts most so he'd release me." Rose shrugged. "It worked." She didn't want to many people knowing about her magic, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other knowingly.
Mr. Weasley smiled lightly.
"You're really something Rose. Come closer so I can heal you."
Mr. Weasley started healing her while muttering 'Episkey' multiple times.
"Didn't… didn't you have an... euhm… episode?" Hermione said hesitantly.
Rose blinked slowly at that and realized she indeed didn't had a panick attack.
"No… It's probably because nothing about that situation made me think about Marge. Too different and too much magic I guess…"
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, and Ginny looked unhurt, though shaken.
"Why so worried about me? Look at you guy's, you're off way worse. Heal them first."
"We were hurt with magic, your injuries are easier."
"Did you get them, Dad?" said Bill sharply. "The person who conjured the Mark?"
"No." said Mr. Weasley in between chants. "We found Barry Crouch's elf holding Rose's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conured the Mark."
"What?" said Bill, Charlie, and Percy together.
"Rose's wand?" said Fred.
"Mr. Crouch's elf." said Percy, sounding thunderstruck.
With some assistance from Rose, Ron, and Hermione, Mr. Weasley 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 brought 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!" said Percy pompously, recovering himself.
"She didn't run amok!" shouted Hermione. "She just picked it up off the ground!"
"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" said Ron impatiently. "It wasn't hurting anyone… Why's it such a big deal?"
"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron." said Hermione, before anyone else could answer. "I read about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts."
"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years." said Mr. Weasley quietly. "Of course people panicked… it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."
"I don't get it." said Ron, 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." said Mr. Weasley. "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…" Mr. Weasley 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?" said Rose. "What are Death Eaters?"
"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves." said Bill. "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." said Mr. Weasley. "Though it probably was." he added hopelessly. "Yeah, I bet it was!" said Ron 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…" Rose began. Everybody flinched.
"Sorry." said Rose quickly. "What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?"
"The point?" said Mr. Weasley with a hollow laugh. "Rose, 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?" said Ron. "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"
"Use your brains, Ron." said Bill. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very 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…" said Hermione 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." said Mr. Weasley. "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."
Cedric hadn't said much during the whole conversation, he had been staring at how Mr. Weasley was healing Rose.
"There, all done. Does it hurt anywhere else?"
"No, thank you Mr. Weasley."
"I should get going as well. My father will be looking for me." Cedric said.
"I'll walk with you."
Hermione and Ginny followed them outside, but this time they entered the girls tent immediately.
Rose turned towards Cedric to say goodbye and suddenly she got pulled into his arms and his lips were on hers.
Rose could feel a sense of desperation and relief through the kiss. Cedric pulled her even closer and their chests were pressed together.
It lasted longer that their goodbye kisses usually do and when Cedric pulled back Rose was sure she was as red as a tomato.
"Why do you insist on getting yourself in danger without me?" Cedric muttered.
"I don't do it on purpose." Rose replied.
"I know, but… Do you have any idea what I was going through? You-Know-Who's followers here, if they had gotten their hands on you…"
Cedric shuddered and pulled her close once again.
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about, I just want you safe. That's all."
"Cedric…" Rose hesitated but decided to tell him anyway, he needed to hear it. "You know I probably won't be?"
Cedric stared at her.
"Voldemort is coming back, it might not be this week, this month or even this year, but he is coming back. He's not dead. And the moment he does, you know he's coming for me, right? I'm 'The-Girl-Who-Lived'."
"So, what?"
Rose sighed.
"I'm the one who did him in. Even if neither me or him know how. It's not even about the fact that 'I' could do it, it's about the fact that someone did him in. It's a weakness and it give people hope. And when he comes back, the only thing he can do to make people fear him again… is…"
"Killing you…" Cedric finished, finally understanding. "Who told you this?"
"I realized it myself the moment I accepted the high probability of him coming back."
Rose whispered.
"So, you see, I'll never be safe, not until he's dead."
"I'll stand by you." Cedric said. "If you have to run, I'll run with you, if you hide, I'll hide with you, if you decide to confront him, well I'll be standing right next to you. I promise you this, Rose."
Cedric said this with a fire in his eyes.
That fire warmed Rose to the core and while watching him she realized something, a truth she had to bite back, before she blurted it out.
She loved him. She wasn't simply in love anymore, she loved him with every fiber in her body, and she had no doubt on her mind that he would do those things he just promised. And somehow, her hard future suddenly looked a lot brighter.
