A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. I'm back after my finals with a long chapter this week. I feel like I owe you guys after last week's short one. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 10

Annie sat bolt upright and tried to entangle herself from her blanket but fell off the couch instead. "What's going on?" she said looking up at Sirius and rubbing the back of her head. Over at the bunk beds, Mr. Weasley was waking Hermione and Ginny.

"Death Eaters. Tons of them," said Sirius helping Annie to her feet. "We're helping the Ministry."

Annie grabbed her jacket and followed her father out of the tent with Mr. Weasley, Ginny and Hermione behind her. Once outside she rushed to where Harry, Ron, Fred and George stood waiting. Remus and James came out of their own tent pushing the sleeves of their robes up and ran to help out the Ministry and Sirius turned to follow them.

"Dad!" shouted Annie.

Sirius turned around to face his daughter. "I have to, Annie. I'll be back. I promise." Annie nodded and watched as he ran after his friends.

"Kids, I need you to hide," said Mr. Weasley. "Go into the forest and stick together. We'll come find you when this is over." He ran off to join the other three and left the group standing there.

"Come on," said Fred grabbing Ginny's hand. They made their way deep into the forest following large crowds of people. As they rushed to safety, they watched as a group of Death Eaters suspended a muggle family in the air. They ran faster, away from the chaos. Suddenly, someone behind Annie screamed and she heard them fall to the ground. She turned around and saw Harry sprawled on the ground. Ron reached out a hand and helped him up.

"Nice fall, Potter," said a voice behind them. Annie spun around and found Draco Malfoy smirking at her and leaning against a tree.

"Piss off, Malfoy, or did your daddy tell you to hide while he went frolicking with his Death Eater mates?" said Annie shaking with anger.

Malfoy smiled. "You might want to watch what you say, Black, or Granger will be their next victim. In case you hadn't noticed they're after muggles. You don't want them to come after that thing you call a friend, do you?" he said with a nod in Hermione's direction.

Hermione blushed and Ron drew his wand. "Hermione's a witch and you know that, Malfoy," he said, his hand shaking.

"Ron, no," said Hermione grabbing his arm. "Let's just get out of here, he's not worth it."

The group walked away from where Malfoy stood, leaning against a tree and laughing. Annie shot him a dirty look and followed Hermione.

"Oh no, we've lost the other three," said Hermione trying to look over the crowd. "Ron, can you see them?"

Ron looked around and shook his head. "Let's keep going, maybe we'll see them."

They made their way deeper into the forest, keeping an eye out for George, Fred and Ginny. People everywhere were Disapparating and shouting for loved ones. Soon they found themselves in a remote part of the forest where they sat down in a clearing of some trees. Ron and Annie took out their Krum and Connolly figurines and made them battle while Hermione lit her wand and sat down on the ground. Harry reached into his back pocket to light his wand but found it empty.

"Have you guys seen my wand?" he said patting his pockets and looking around on the ground.

"Nope, sorry mate. Didn't you have it when we left the tent?" said Ron poking his Krum action figure.

"I thought I did," he said. He sat down next to Hermione, ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"Maybe by some dumb luck it fell out of your pocket and it's lying on the floor of the tent," said Annie.

"Yeah, maybe."

Just then a rustling in the bushes caused them all to jump a foot high. Hermione, Ron and Annie turned their wands toward the spot while Harry took a closer look.

"Nothing's here," he said.

"MORSMORDE!" said a low, deep voice just a few feet away from the group. A large green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth lit the night sky. They ducked right in time when they heard the distinct "pop" of people Apparating around them and throwing Stunning spells in their direction.

"Stop! Stop!" yelled Mr. Weasley running forward. "They're just children!"

The spells stopped firing and a man stepped forward.

"Which of you did it? Who conjured the Dark Mark?" said Barty Crouch, his wand shifting between the four teenagers.

"You think we did that?" said Ron, his eyes darting between Mr. Crouch and Mr. Weasley.

"Barty, they're just children," said Amos Diggory behind him.

Mr. Crouch spun around. "Just because they are children doesn't make them any less guilty. They have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"We didn't do anything!" yelled Annie who was looking desperately around for Sirius who was not there.

"Which direction did the Mark come from?" asked Mr. Weasley.

Hermione pointed to the bushes Harry had checked earlier. "We heard a voice coming from over there. They shouted something," she said.

Mr. Crouch turned to Hermione with a crazed look. "Oh a voice, you say? And they stood over there?" he said disbelieving.

"Barty, really, they are just children," said a Ministry witch, her wand pointing in the direction Hermione pointed in. "Amos, go check over there."

Mr. Diggory walked forward to check out the bushes. "There's someone here. I think our Stunners got them. Oh blimey," he said stooping down to pick up the body. Mr. Diggory returned to the group and placed the body at Mr. Crouch's feet. Winky lay there unconscious clutching a wand.

"Hey, that's my wand!" said Harry. "I thought I'd lost that."

Everyone turned to look at Mr. Crouch who was now staring at Harry. "Your wand is it?" He advanced toward Harry and directed his wand at his face. "Thought it would be funny to send the Dark Mark in the sky and blame it on my house-elf, did you?"

"Because that's a great practical joke," said Annie snorting with laughter. "We were all just sitting here thinking up ways to cause even more mayhem and work for the Ministry when we thought 'Hey, let's send the Dark Mark into the sky and blame it on a house-elf.' You really think Harry Potter would send the Mark into the sky?"

"You admit it then?" said Crouch pointing his wand at Annie now.

"Easy, Barty," said Mr. Diggory. "Let's hear what the elf has to say." He bent down over the elf and muttered, "Ennervate."

Winky's eyes fluttered open and she sat up clutching her head. She looked up and saw Mr. Diggory and Mr. Crouch looking down on her. She threw the wand on the ground and burst into tears.

"Elf!" said Mr. Diggory. "I am a Ministry official in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. You were found holding a wand beneath the Dark Mark. Care to explain yourself?" he said sternly.

"Winky is not doing it!" she said between sobs. "Winky is not doing anything, sir!"

"But you found Potter's wand, eh? You thought you would have some fun with it," said Mr. Diggory stooping down to pick up the wand.

Winky gasped and let out a sob. She shook her head violently and said, "No, no, no! I is not knowing how! I is not doing it!"

"We heard a human voice not a squeaky one like Winky's," said Ron.

"The voice we heard was deeper than Winky's and it sounded like a male," said Hermione whose eyes were shining with tears. Harry and Annie nodded silently.

"Well, we'll just check that then," said Mr. Diggory. He took Harry's wand and placed it tip to tip with his own. "Prior Incantanto!" he shouted.

Annie and Hermione gasped. A smaller version of the skull floating above them emitted from the wand. The image lingered for a few seconds and vanished.

"Well, well, well," said Mr. Diggory. "I believe you have just been found guilty." He looked down at Winky and she trembled.

"Winky, where did you find this wand?" said Mr. Crouch.

Winky stopped shaking and looked up at him. "I-I is finding it in the trees, sir. Over there," she said pointing.

"Whoever conjured the Mark must have Disapperated leaving the wand behind. She must have come across it when she was running away," said Mr. Weasley.

Mr. Diggory looked between Mr. Weasley and Winky. "Was there anyone behind the trees, elf? Did you see anyone at all?"

Winky looked up at Mr. Crouch, terrified and shook her head.

"Well, Amos," he said. I know that normally you take her in for further questioning but I think I will deal with her if you don't mind."

"Of course not, Barty," said Mr. Diggory.

"P-p-please, Master Crouch!" begged Winky sobbing even harder.

"Winky, you disobeyed me tonight. I told you to stay behind in the tent and refused to listen. Winky, this means clothes," he said sternly.

Winky flung herself to the ground and banged her tiny fists on the ground. "No, no, Master! P-please no clothes!"

Mr. Crouch looked down at Winky with disgust. "I do not need an elf that disobeys my orders."

"That isn't fair, she was scared!" yelled Hermione.

"Like I said: I do not need an elf that disobeys her master," said Mr. Crouch looking at Hermione, outraged to be addressed on this matter. A silence fell between them in which they stared at each other angrily.

Mr. Weasley broke the silence. "Amos, if you do not mind giving Harry his wand back and I'll take these four with me," he said.

Mr. Diggory handed Harry his wand and the group left the clearing in silence. They walked back to the tents and found everyone sitting around a fire. Annie ran to Sirius who stood up and wrapped her in a hug. She noticed that he had a gash on his cheek.

"What happened?" she asked as they sat down next to each other.

"Nothing, nothing," he said waving his hand. "Arthur, what happened in the forest?"

Everyone listened quietly as Harry, Ron, Annie, Hermione and Mr. Weasley recounted the events. After they were finished, a silence broke out as everyone took in the information.

After a while Annie broke the silence. "So what does this mean?" she said looking up at Sirius.

Sirius looked down at her and ruffled her hair. "You mean with the Death Eaters and the Mark?" he asked. Annie nodded. "Probably nothing. Drunk, maybe, celebrating the match."

"By torturing muggle-borns?" asked Hermione.

Sirius looked at Hermione. "I'm not saying what they were doing was okay," he said. "It was barbaric and disgusting. But don't worry; the Dark Mark scared them off. We did manage to capture a couple of the bastards though."

Annie laughed. "Awesome!"

"Were any of them Lucious Malfoy?" asked Harry.

James laughed this time. "As much as I would like to see him in Azkaban, no."

"Shame," said Ron. "When we met Malfoy in the forest, he practically told us his father was out there with the Death Eaters."

Another silence followed. Mr. Weasley broke it this time by suggesting they get a few more hours of sleep. Annie got up from her seat on the ground and bade goodnight to everyone before following Hermione and Ginny into their tent. Annie picked up her discarded blanked and flung herself once more onto the couch. She fell right to sleep and didn't wake up until she felt the piercing chill of a bucket of cold water fall on her head. She sat bolt upright to spluttering and dripping wet and found Fred and George laughing above her.

"Sirius said if you don't wake up, we're leaving you here," said George while Fred still howled with laughter. Annie flung her pillow at them as they left the tent.

Ten minutes later the large group split up and said their goodbyes. Hermione and the Weasleys took a portkey back to the Burrow and Annie, Harry, Remus, James and Sirius took one back to Potter Mansion. Once back at the Potter's, they recounted the night's events to Lily who listened with rapt attention. Annie, who lived the story and already retold it once before, sat back in her chair and fell asleep.