Ron pulled out his wand too. Harry reached for his only to find he didn't have it.
"Did you leave it in your tent?" Evie asked.
"Did you drop it while you were running?" Hermione offered.
"I don't know." Harry looked uncomfortable.
"We'll find it mate. After all this is over we'll check the woods and the tent for it." Ron said. Harry just nodded.
The group moved forward into the woods, but a rustling noise nearby caused them to jump. Evie and Hermione pointed their wands out though Evie doubted either of them would be able to take the masked men. It was instead the small house-elf Winky, struggling against an invisible force to find a place to hide.
"What's up with her?" Ron asked.
"She probably didn't ask permission to hide." Harry stated.
"You know house-elves really do get a raw deal." Hermione started indignantly. "It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go all the way to the top of the stadium, she was terrified, and –"
"Hermione!" Evie cut her friend off. "I understand your objections and I feel the way Mr. Crouch treats his house-elf is wrong too. But there are masked men setting fires and floating around poor muggle families just outside of these woods. Do you really think now is the time for an indignant tirade?"
Before anyone could respond another loud bang echoed from the edge of the wood, as if to punctuate her point.
"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" Ron said, glancing edgily towards the woods.
Evie glanced at her friends as they continued on and wondered if perhaps they should all be worried for Hermione. Sometimes, because of Hermione's prowess in magic Evie found she forgot that her friend was Muggleborn. But now, thinking on what she had said about the floating Muggle family, she wondered if they ought to be worried for Hermione as well. Evie grew up knowing very well that others were not as accepting of Muggleborn of Half blood witches and wizards as her family, or the Weasleys were. If these masked wizards were so bold as to steal a whole family of Muggles from their home and parade them around the biggest magical event of the year, perhaps decade, why shouldn't they try to harm Muggleborns as well? The thought made Evie uncomfortable, and she walked a little quicker as they followed the path deeper into the woods.
As they walked, keeping an eye out for the twins, Ginny and Cedric, they passed by a group of Goblins. They were counting a sack of money and looking completely unperturbed by the havoc down at the campsite.
Not long after that they stumbled into what appeared to be the heart of the woods. They made the decision to stay there, since it was so quiet they would be able to hear anyone coming from a great deal off. Not long after they got there Mr. Bagman stumbled upon them, when they told him what had happened he immediately disapparated off and they were once again alone.
"I hope the others are alright." Evie sighed, thinking of Cedric, hoping he had not backtracked to look for her and Hermione.
"They'll be alright." Ron said.
"Those poor Muggles though." Hermione shook her head. "What if they can't get them down?"
"They will." Harry reassured her.
"I wonder what these people were thinking, attacking tonight with so many Ministry officials around. Mad, isn't it?" Evie thought out loud.
"Exactly! How do they expect to get away with this?" Hermione jumped in as though she had been thinking the same thing. "Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just –"
Hermione and Evie turned quickly to look behind them. Harry and Ron, who had pulled out his miniature Krum figure turned as well. Something was staggering towards their clearing. They stood silently, listening to the staggering footsteps move closer to the clearing. Evie held tighter to her wand. The footsteps never reached the clearing however. They came to a sudden halt somewhere on the other side of the trees.
"Hello?" Harry called.
Harry moved to peer around the tree, but Evie stopped him. When he looked at her confused, she sighed. "You don't know who's out there. What if it's one of them? You want to give them a clear shot at you?"
"If it was one of them, they would've already tried to come at us." Harry brushed her off and peered around the tree.
There was still nothing but silence for a short time. Then, quite suddenly a voice broke through the silence and called out, not in fear or pain, but a spell. "MORSMORDRE!"
From the place Harry was searching, something vast, glittering and green shot up towards the sky. Evie grabbed Harry and pulled him back before she realized the spell was aimed for the sky. She let him go and moved farther into the clearing and looked up to follow the spell. What she saw terrified her to the core. A giant skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, the Dark Mark. Throughout the woods, screams of terror filled the night.
"Who's there?" Harry called back towards the person who shot the spell.
"Harry, let's go!" Evie yanked at him again, staring at him and wondering how he could be so stupid.
He turned to look at her, Ron and Hermione, who were in equal states of fear. "What's the matter?" Harry asked looking concerned but completely lost. It was another moment Evie realized how little Harry knew of not just the Wizarding World, but his own past.
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, looking more terrified than Evie had ever seen her. She tugged at Harry with all her might, trying to get him to move.
"Voldemort's –"
"We have to go!" Ron had scooped up his miniature Krum and Harry finally moved with Evie and Hermione to rushed away from the clearing. Before they made it however, twenty odd wizards apparated each with a wand out, ready to battle.
"DUCK!" Harry yelled, and the four of them dropped to the ground.
"STUPEFY!" Twenty voices called at once.
The power of the spells made the hairs on the back of Evie's neck stand up. She could see the clearing was being lit red by all the spells. It was the first time since they had entered the woods that she had been able to see the ground clearly. She wished it was still too dark to tell where she was going.
"Stop!" Two voices called out. Evie recognized both.
"Those are our children, stop it!" Mr. Weasley yelled. The spells stopped and Evie heard a very welcomed sound.
"Evie?" Amos called with worry.
"Dad!" Evie shot up as Amos and Mr. Weasley strode quickly over to them.
"Are you all alright?" Mr. Weasley asked with a shaky voice.
Before they could answer a curt voice cut them off. "Out of the way Arthur." It was Mr. Crouch, the man Evie had seen before, but barely met. He led a group of Ministry wizards closing in on them. "Which one of you did it?" He spat at them. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"How dare you!" Evie snapped.
"We didn't do that!" Harry said, gesturing to the Mark.
"We didn't do anything!" Ron turned to look at his father indignantly, rubbing is scratched elbow. "What did you want to attack us for?"
"Do not lie, sir!" Mr. Crouch shouted, pointing his wand at Ron. His eyes were popping, he looked a bit deranged. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Well, that great detective work would be why you aren't an Auror, wouldn't it?" Evie snapped, stepping up, but Amos held her back.
"Evie." He whispered strictly. One look at her father told Evie it was time she held her tongue and controlled her anger. She shrank back.
"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown, "they're just kids. They couldn't have been able to…"
"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" Mr. Weasley turned to ask them.
"Over there." Hermione pointed to where they heard the sound. "There was someone there, we heard him. We tried to find out who it was, then said something…an incantation, and…" She trailed off, looking at the horrible mark still hanging in the sky.
It was only then realized Evie realized her friend was shaking and so was she.
"Oh? Stood over there, did they?" Mr. Crouch looked down his nose at Evie. He clearly didn't believe them. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how this Mark was summoned, missy…" His beady eyes popped out at her.
"We was here, we saw it happen." Evie glared at him.
All of the other Ministry officials seemed to see this as a more likely explanation than Mr. Crouch did. They were sure none of them could've possibly summoned the Mark. All the other officials had their wands raised and pointed in the direction Hermione had indicated.
We're too late," the witch in the woolen dressing gown shook her head. "They'll have disapparated."
"Maybe not." Said Amos. "Our Stunners went right through the trees, there's a chance we got them…" He then squared his shoulders and raised his wand.
"Dad?" Evie questions.
"Evie stay right there with Arthur. I'll be right back." The Amos marched across the clearing and disappeared into the trees. He was gone for a few minutes before they heard him call back. "Yes! We've got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's – but – blimey…"
"You've got someone?" Shouted Mr. Crouch. Evie glared at him for a second and his disbelieving voice, before turning her attention back to the place her father had disappeared. "Who is it?"
When her father reemerged from the trees Evie recognized the tiny, limp figure in his arms as Winky, Mr. Crouch's own house-elf. He set her down at Mr. Crouch's feet, who seemed a bit in shock. Still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"No – but –" He stuttered, and ever though Evie was smart enough to know it couldn't possibly have been the small house-elf who had conjured the Mark in the sky she enjoyed the embarrassment and shock etched across Mr. Crouch's face for all the accusing he had done.
"There's no one else there Mr. Crouch." Amos said as Mr. Crouch had strode around him and back into the woods from where Amos had just come. They listened to him rustle around.
"This doesn't make any sense." Mr. Weasley said.
"Bit embarrassing really." Amos commented. "Barty's own house-elf…"
"Oh, come off it Amos. You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark is a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."
"Yeah, and she had a wand." Amos said. At this everyone turned to him in shock.
"What?" Mr. Weasley said.
"If nothing else, that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken."
Mr. Crouch returned empty handed, just as Mr. Bagman popped up, stumbling into the clearing, late again. "The Dark Mark…" He stumbled around. "Barty! What's going on?"
"I'm a bit busy Ludo." Mr. Crouch said, barely moving his lips. "Amos, she couldn't have done this, and you know it. She would've needed a wand to start –"
"And she had one." Amos said again. "I found her holding it. If it's alright with you, I'd like to hear what she has to say for herself."
When they revived her, Winky stirred feebly. She looked around confused, shaking with fear. She noticed Amos' feet and followed them to his face. Then, shaking even more, if that were possible, she looked up to the sky. Evie watched the recognition appear on her face as she looked around the crowded clearing wildly and then burst into terrified sobs.
"Elf! I am a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. As you can see, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short time ago." Amos said looking at her. Winky was rocking back and forth, her breaths coming in short and sharp bursts. "You were discovered right beneath it. An explanation please!"
"I is not doing it sir! I is not knowing how!" Winky gasped.
"You were found with a wand in your hand." Amos said, pulling the wand out to show her. Evie knew that wand at once.
"That's mine!" Harry shouted.
"Excuse me?" Amos turned to Harry in shock.
"That's my wand!" Harry repeated. "I dropped it!"
"You dropped it?" Amos looked at Harry in disbelief.
"Yeah, not there though. I noticed I lost it earlier, when we were running through the woods."
"So," Amos turned a hardened face back on the little elf. "You found the wand, eh? And you picked it up and thought you'd have a little fun with it, hmm?"
I is not doing it sir!" Winky sobbed.
"Dad, it wasn't her." Evie called her father's attention.
"She's right. We heard the voice. It was definitely a man." Hermione said, looking very nervous to be speaking in front of all the Ministry officials. She turned to Ron and Harry for more support.
"Yeah, it sounded nothing like Winky's voice." Harry nodded.
"No doubt it was a human voice, not an elf." Ron finished.
"Well, we'll soon find out for sure what happened." Amos touched the tip of his wand to the tip of Harry's. "Prior Incantato!" He roared. Evie was beginning to think he was just trying to show off for all the other officials there. But she couldn't help the gasp the fell from her mouth when a miniature version of the Mark burst from the tip of Harry's wand. "Deletrius!"
"I think I know what happened here." The witch in the woolen dressing gown spoke up finally. "Whoever preformed the spell, did it with Harry's wand because their own would betray them, were they caught. Then this elf found the wand after they disapparated and was just in time to be stunned by us." She sighed. "They're long gone by now."
"Elf, did you see anyone?" Amos turned to Winky once again.
"I…I is seeing nothing sir." Winky said, still trembling as though she'd been tossed into a freezing lake in the middle of winter.
"Amos, I am fully aware of the ordinary course of action you'd want to take. But I ask you to allow me to deal with her." Mr. Crouch said.
Evie watched her father struggle with the want to deny that suggestion, but she could tell by now that Mr. Crouch was a very high ranking official at the Ministry, at least higher than her father. So when he nodded, she understood.
"You may rest assured that she will be punished."
"M-m-master?" Winky looked up at Mr. Crouch, pleadingly. "M-m-master, p-please…"
Mr. Crouch just looked down at her, not a hint of pity in his eyes. "Winky has behaved in a manner tonight that I would not have believed possible. She has disobeyed me, this means clothes."
"NO!" Winky sobbed. She knelt at Mr. Crouch's feet. "No, Master, please! Not clothes! Not clothes!"
"But she was frightened!" Hermione burst out angrily.
"She was struggling against it the whole time!" Evie added, thinking back to the invisible force Winky had been fighting. "She could've died if she had followed your order!"
"She did everything else you asked of her! She saved your seat even though she's terrified of heights. Those men were floating people!" Hermione glared at Mr. Crouch.
"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me." Crouch said coldly, glaring between Hermione and Evie. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and to her master's reputation."
There was a nasty silence in the clearing, filled only by the heart wrenching sobs coming from Winky. Mr. Weasley was the one to break it.
"Well, I think I'll take this lot back to the camp grounds, if nobody has any objections. Amos, I'll keep Hermione and Evie with me while you finish up here." Amos nodded. "And, if Harry could have his wand back, I think it's told us all it can."
Her father handed Harry his wand. "Evie, find Ced. Take him with you to the Weasley's tent until I come for you." Evie finally tore her glare from Mr. Crouch and looked at her father. He seemed very weary. She nodded slowly, shooting one more glare at Mr. Crouch before pulling Hermione away from the poor little elf.
They walked back to the campsite without any more problems. A crowd had formed around the edge of the wood and wanted to know what was going on, but Mr. Weasley dismissed them and continued on to the tent. As they neared Charlie popped his head out of the tent.
"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George and Ginny made it back, but –"
"I've got them." Mr. Weasley answered tiredly.
"Are Hermione and Evie with you? Evie's brother –"
"Cedric?" Evie perked up, cutting Charlie off and rushing into the tent. When Cedric saw her, he jumped up from the table and ran to pull her into a tight hug.
"I was so worried." He sighed, pulling her back to look over her.
"I'm fine. I'm just happy you're okay." Evie sighed. After everyone entered the tent, the whole group sat around the table. Evie, Mr. Weasley, Harry, Ron and Hermione explained everything that had happened. The group was shocked of course. Then Percy said something about Winky and Hermione lost it on him. The argument went on only a short time though, because Ron still didn't understand the Mark, or why so many were fearful of it.
"Ron, You-Know-Who's followers would put that Mark in the sky when they killed somebody." Mr. Weasley explained. "The terror it inspired…you have no idea, you're too young. Imagine coming home to that over your house…knowing awaited you inside…" Mr. Weasley winced. "Everyone's worst fear…the very worst…"
They all stayed silent for a moment before Bill broke it as he examined the cut on his arm. "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared all the Death Eaters away. We did manage to catch the Roberts before they hit the ground though. They're having their memories modified as we speak."
"What are Death Eaters?" Harry asked.
"That's what they call themselves, his followers." Evie answered, all this talk was making her think of her mother, who would've been alive had it not been for Voldemort and his followers.
Cedric placed his hand over hers and gave a gentle squeeze. He was thinking of their mother too.
"That's probably who the masked men were." Evie shrugged. "What's left of them anyway."
"We can't prove that." Mr. Weasley said.
"It probably was." Bill agreed. Mr. Weasley nodded sadly, he didn't want to say it, but Evie could tell that's what he thought too.
They continued to talk until Amos came for Cedric, Evie and Hermione. Then they said goodnight to the Weasley's and went back to their tent to get some sleep. In their room, Evie and Hermione sat awake for a bit longer.
"Do you get the feeling something big, and possibly terrible is starting?" Evie asked Hermione.
"Yeah, I think you may be right." Hermione answered. Both girls sighed. Evie lay back on her bunk and wondered if this might be the year things really started to change.