Disclaimer--If you like it, assume I don't own it. The Potterverse belongs to JKR, Steve Klowes, Scholastic and WB. Fanon belongs to the multitude...I'm simply paying homage with the sincerest form of flattery. Most of this scene is from GoF by JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made.
Author's Notes-- Progress has been a lot slower in this work. I hope you're still willing to stick with me anyway. As you all know, I may not own it, but I work hard, and I love it, so if you read it and enjoy it, please review it! Please don't print or post this elsewhere without my knowledge.
Jamie Bell--I couldn't ask for a better compliment than that--Thanks! I love knowing I've helped you see Ginny as a real character. *beams* I relate to her and how she feels about Harry, too, so it really means A LOT to me that you think it's so powerful.(I've written two previous stories about Ginny as well...I hope you check them out.) I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
Raiining--I agree...it's fun to see the twins reaction on Harry and his friends, they admire the behaviour and not the fame, which is a nice change. They are very happy with themselves, which is something we would all do well to imitate, and part of what makes them so much FUN. :-) It is a nice touch that Harry and Ginny can have similar daydreams. And I suspect that not only are those kinds of conversation common among the Weasleys, Mrs. Weasley is probably more adamant than any of them!
EEDOE--Thanks...I liked Ginny's nap, too. :-) I can see Hermione and Ginny leaning on one another, staggering around and laughing, and I love it, because it's so rare and special to have a friend you feel that comfortable with, and they both deserve it. The scene with the Roberts was very uncomfortable...*shudders* You have a good point about JK pairing off Ginny and the twins so often...somehow they just seem to be very naturally simpatico. Oh, I agree...the twins ARE shrewd...*smirks* I'm sorry...but I couldn't help it!! *hangs head and grins* I love your reaction, though! *hugs*
Bill--I think a roller-coaster is right! You describe what Ginny heard in Harry and Charlie's discussion better than I could myself. *grins* I agree that Harry is probably on the road to a more cautious future of his own...and that will own make him more attractive...and formidable. *grins* Thanks...I thought it was a good explanation and a nice use of Ginny's interests and the game. Yup...the old fears are back, but I think they're different, too...Sorry--but not much--about the tease *smirks* As for revealing it in the future...I'm not sure. *shrugs* You've been reading my notes--which is odd since I didn't write them down! A punch to the stomach is exactly what I was thinking Ginny felt when I wrote that last line! Thanks, I appreciate the vote of confidence! *hugs*
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Fred and George didn't even notice.
They didn't notice Bill either...until he seized them both by the arm. "What in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing? Don't just stand there-get inside!"
"Bill," Fred said, and Ginny was shaken to realize he sounded uncertain, "what is that?"
Bill's face was unnaturally grim. "That is the Dark Mark."
"The Dark Mark?" George repeated, face blank, eyes impossibly wide.
"His sign," Ginny said hoarsely. "The sign of Voldemort."
"That's right," Bill said, tilting his head to the side to look at her oddly.
She shook her head ever-so-slightly, willing him not to ask. He studied her a bit longer, then nodded, just as imperceptibly.
"But does that mean..." Fred's voice trailed off in a strangled sort of cough.
"I don't know," Bill said grimly. "I don't know what it means."
"Bill," Ginny ventured fearfully. "The Roberts...they aren't..."
"No," he said immediately, "they're okay...maybe a little worse for the wear, but alive."
Ginny sat down heavily, breathing a sigh of relief. Luckily, they'd reached the main room of the tent. Percy and Charlie were sitting in the corner-Ginny could hear Percy muttering about the carelessness of the wizards responsible for the lapse in security.
"Where are the others?" Bill asked, sitting beside her.
"We got separated," George said heavily.
"Do you think..?" Fred began.
Bill shook his head. "They're probably safer now than they have been all week," he said as confidently as he could. "The Death Eaters all apparated the second they saw the Mark. By now they're long gone." He grimaced slightly and shifted his elbow.
Surprised by the motion, Ginny looked down. "You're hurt!" She exclaimed, seeing the dark spot spreading along the bottom of his arm.
"I just...ran into a tree," Bill said, shrugging. "It's not deep."
"Then why is it still bleeding?" Ginny demanded skeptically. She jumped up and ran into the nearest bedroom. "Here," she said, pressing the sheet she'd grabbed over his arm. "Use this."
"Look at Percy!" George exclaimed.
"Somebody hit him a facer!" crowed Fred.
Startled, Ginny glanced over in the corner. Sure enough, Percy's nose was crusted with blood.
"Another tree?" she asked dryly.
"Something like that," Percy sniffed somewhat incomprehensibly.
"One of the guards elbowed him accidentally," Charlie whispered. If things hadn't been so serious, Ginny would have snickered. Before anyone had thought of what to say next, Charlie perked. "Do you hear something?" Motioning to them all to be still, he crept to the edge of the tent and peered out. "Dad," he called a split second later, much to Ginny's relief. "What's going on? Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others--"
"I've got them here," Dad said, ducking past Charlie to enter the tent.
"Did you get them, Dad? The person who conjured the Mark?" Bill demanded, sparing no time for the prodigal friends.
"No," Dad answered. He sounded like Bill, unnaturally grim. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."
"What?" Ginny's older brothers chorused.
"Harry's wand?" Fred repeated, dumbstruck.
"Mr. Crouch's elf?" Percy said.
Talking all at once, Ron, Harry, and Hermione told how Ron had stumbled. They'd gone to help him, looked around, and realized they were separated from the group. They might have followed Fred and George's strategy themselves, but while they were trying to decide what to do, they were joined by none other than Draco Malfoy, who'd been more than willing to threaten Hermione with the same treatment the Roberts were receiving. So they'd continued until Harry discovered he didn't have his wand and they stopped to look for it. While they were looking, Winky had hobbled through the bushes, obviously fighting to escape in spite of some sort of bond. At this point, the story hit a temporary diversion as Hermione launched into a hot speech about how unfair it was that House-elves couldn't do whatever they wanted.
Dad eventually got her calmed down enough to let him continue where the trio had left off...The elf had run past them into the trees, they'd heard a deep voice say an incantation, and the Dark Mark had appeared in the sky. Hermione, aware of what it meant thanks to extensive reading-she interrupted here again to inform Harry she couldn't believe he still hadn't read any of the books that mentioned him-had goaded the others into moving, but before they could get very far, a party of wizards looking for the culprit had appeared, and it was only thanks to Harry's Quidditch-quick reflexes and flawless instincts that they had ducked in time to narrowly miss being Stupefied-repeatedly.
At that point, Dad had intervened, only to have Mr. Crouch accuse them of conjuring the Mark. Luckily, Dad wasn't the only one who thought that was unlikely, and several wizards investigated the area where Harry, Hermione, and Ron had heard the incantation. All they found, though, was Winky. She hadn't been quick enough to avoid being Stupefied. She had Harry's wand, and she insisted she'd just found it lying in the woods and picked it up, but Mr. Diggory hadn't been inclined to believe her...and the wand-Harry's wand-had been the one that conjured the Mark. Hermione concluded lividly that Mr. Crouch had fired Winky just to make himself look better after he'd failed to institute enough security, and he had no right to blame the elf for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Percy, naturally, refused to believe Mr. Crouch could be wrong about anything, and they were in the process of shouting at one another when Ron interrupted.
"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was? It wasn't hurting anyone...why's it such a big deal?"
"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron," Hermione retorted with equal impatience. "I read about it in 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts'."
"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," Dad said heavily. "Of course people panicked...it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."
"I don't get it," Ron frowned. "I mean, it's still just a shape in the sky..."
Ginny closed her eyes, seeing a burning green skull with a slithery tongue like a snake. Scales hit stone...she heard the scrape. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. //Oh, Ron...it's much more than a shape...//
"Ron," Dad said flatly, his voice tense, "You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the sky whenever they killed. The terror it inspired...you have no idea...you're too young."
The terror was still there...in her Dad, in Bill, in the way Mr. Crouch and Mr. Diggory had reacted...in Ginny herself...it had been there along...touching all of them, hovering like a shadow, insubstantial and out of sight...but always there, waiting... the possibility...
"Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your home and knowing what you're about to find inside...Everyone's worst fear..the very worst..."
There was a profound and chilling silence.
Bill, always in control, recovered first. "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?" Harry asked blankly. "What are Death Eaters?"
Ginny couldn't help it. She stared. She knew he'd grown up with muggles, but still...
"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves," Bill said. "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," Dad said with a hopeful note in his voice. "Though it probably was," he added, sounding suddenly defeated. Ginny shivered again.
"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron said 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--" Harry broke off as everyone but Ginny and himself winced. "Sorry. What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles. I mean, what's the point?"
"The point," Dad laughed humorlessly. "Harry, that's their idea of fun."
"But if they were Death Eaters," Ron said, barely waiting for the rest of Dad's explanation, "why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark? They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"
"Use your brains, Ron," Bill advised wryly. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked 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."
It made sense.
Hermione must have thought so as well. "So...whoever conjured the Dark Mark...were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?"
"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione," Dad said. "But I'll tell you this...it was only Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it."
Ginny was still lying awake considering that when Dad came to wake them the next morning.
Author's Notes-- Progress has been a lot slower in this work. I hope you're still willing to stick with me anyway. As you all know, I may not own it, but I work hard, and I love it, so if you read it and enjoy it, please review it! Please don't print or post this elsewhere without my knowledge.
Jamie Bell--I couldn't ask for a better compliment than that--Thanks! I love knowing I've helped you see Ginny as a real character. *beams* I relate to her and how she feels about Harry, too, so it really means A LOT to me that you think it's so powerful.(I've written two previous stories about Ginny as well...I hope you check them out.) I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
Raiining--I agree...it's fun to see the twins reaction on Harry and his friends, they admire the behaviour and not the fame, which is a nice change. They are very happy with themselves, which is something we would all do well to imitate, and part of what makes them so much FUN. :-) It is a nice touch that Harry and Ginny can have similar daydreams. And I suspect that not only are those kinds of conversation common among the Weasleys, Mrs. Weasley is probably more adamant than any of them!
EEDOE--Thanks...I liked Ginny's nap, too. :-) I can see Hermione and Ginny leaning on one another, staggering around and laughing, and I love it, because it's so rare and special to have a friend you feel that comfortable with, and they both deserve it. The scene with the Roberts was very uncomfortable...*shudders* You have a good point about JK pairing off Ginny and the twins so often...somehow they just seem to be very naturally simpatico. Oh, I agree...the twins ARE shrewd...*smirks* I'm sorry...but I couldn't help it!! *hangs head and grins* I love your reaction, though! *hugs*
Bill--I think a roller-coaster is right! You describe what Ginny heard in Harry and Charlie's discussion better than I could myself. *grins* I agree that Harry is probably on the road to a more cautious future of his own...and that will own make him more attractive...and formidable. *grins* Thanks...I thought it was a good explanation and a nice use of Ginny's interests and the game. Yup...the old fears are back, but I think they're different, too...Sorry--but not much--about the tease *smirks* As for revealing it in the future...I'm not sure. *shrugs* You've been reading my notes--which is odd since I didn't write them down! A punch to the stomach is exactly what I was thinking Ginny felt when I wrote that last line! Thanks, I appreciate the vote of confidence! *hugs*
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Fred and George didn't even notice.
They didn't notice Bill either...until he seized them both by the arm. "What in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing? Don't just stand there-get inside!"
"Bill," Fred said, and Ginny was shaken to realize he sounded uncertain, "what is that?"
Bill's face was unnaturally grim. "That is the Dark Mark."
"The Dark Mark?" George repeated, face blank, eyes impossibly wide.
"His sign," Ginny said hoarsely. "The sign of Voldemort."
"That's right," Bill said, tilting his head to the side to look at her oddly.
She shook her head ever-so-slightly, willing him not to ask. He studied her a bit longer, then nodded, just as imperceptibly.
"But does that mean..." Fred's voice trailed off in a strangled sort of cough.
"I don't know," Bill said grimly. "I don't know what it means."
"Bill," Ginny ventured fearfully. "The Roberts...they aren't..."
"No," he said immediately, "they're okay...maybe a little worse for the wear, but alive."
Ginny sat down heavily, breathing a sigh of relief. Luckily, they'd reached the main room of the tent. Percy and Charlie were sitting in the corner-Ginny could hear Percy muttering about the carelessness of the wizards responsible for the lapse in security.
"Where are the others?" Bill asked, sitting beside her.
"We got separated," George said heavily.
"Do you think..?" Fred began.
Bill shook his head. "They're probably safer now than they have been all week," he said as confidently as he could. "The Death Eaters all apparated the second they saw the Mark. By now they're long gone." He grimaced slightly and shifted his elbow.
Surprised by the motion, Ginny looked down. "You're hurt!" She exclaimed, seeing the dark spot spreading along the bottom of his arm.
"I just...ran into a tree," Bill said, shrugging. "It's not deep."
"Then why is it still bleeding?" Ginny demanded skeptically. She jumped up and ran into the nearest bedroom. "Here," she said, pressing the sheet she'd grabbed over his arm. "Use this."
"Look at Percy!" George exclaimed.
"Somebody hit him a facer!" crowed Fred.
Startled, Ginny glanced over in the corner. Sure enough, Percy's nose was crusted with blood.
"Another tree?" she asked dryly.
"Something like that," Percy sniffed somewhat incomprehensibly.
"One of the guards elbowed him accidentally," Charlie whispered. If things hadn't been so serious, Ginny would have snickered. Before anyone had thought of what to say next, Charlie perked. "Do you hear something?" Motioning to them all to be still, he crept to the edge of the tent and peered out. "Dad," he called a split second later, much to Ginny's relief. "What's going on? Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others--"
"I've got them here," Dad said, ducking past Charlie to enter the tent.
"Did you get them, Dad? The person who conjured the Mark?" Bill demanded, sparing no time for the prodigal friends.
"No," Dad answered. He sounded like Bill, unnaturally grim. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."
"What?" Ginny's older brothers chorused.
"Harry's wand?" Fred repeated, dumbstruck.
"Mr. Crouch's elf?" Percy said.
Talking all at once, Ron, Harry, and Hermione told how Ron had stumbled. They'd gone to help him, looked around, and realized they were separated from the group. They might have followed Fred and George's strategy themselves, but while they were trying to decide what to do, they were joined by none other than Draco Malfoy, who'd been more than willing to threaten Hermione with the same treatment the Roberts were receiving. So they'd continued until Harry discovered he didn't have his wand and they stopped to look for it. While they were looking, Winky had hobbled through the bushes, obviously fighting to escape in spite of some sort of bond. At this point, the story hit a temporary diversion as Hermione launched into a hot speech about how unfair it was that House-elves couldn't do whatever they wanted.
Dad eventually got her calmed down enough to let him continue where the trio had left off...The elf had run past them into the trees, they'd heard a deep voice say an incantation, and the Dark Mark had appeared in the sky. Hermione, aware of what it meant thanks to extensive reading-she interrupted here again to inform Harry she couldn't believe he still hadn't read any of the books that mentioned him-had goaded the others into moving, but before they could get very far, a party of wizards looking for the culprit had appeared, and it was only thanks to Harry's Quidditch-quick reflexes and flawless instincts that they had ducked in time to narrowly miss being Stupefied-repeatedly.
At that point, Dad had intervened, only to have Mr. Crouch accuse them of conjuring the Mark. Luckily, Dad wasn't the only one who thought that was unlikely, and several wizards investigated the area where Harry, Hermione, and Ron had heard the incantation. All they found, though, was Winky. She hadn't been quick enough to avoid being Stupefied. She had Harry's wand, and she insisted she'd just found it lying in the woods and picked it up, but Mr. Diggory hadn't been inclined to believe her...and the wand-Harry's wand-had been the one that conjured the Mark. Hermione concluded lividly that Mr. Crouch had fired Winky just to make himself look better after he'd failed to institute enough security, and he had no right to blame the elf for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Percy, naturally, refused to believe Mr. Crouch could be wrong about anything, and they were in the process of shouting at one another when Ron interrupted.
"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was? It wasn't hurting anyone...why's it such a big deal?"
"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron," Hermione retorted with equal impatience. "I read about it in 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts'."
"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," Dad said heavily. "Of course people panicked...it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."
"I don't get it," Ron frowned. "I mean, it's still just a shape in the sky..."
Ginny closed her eyes, seeing a burning green skull with a slithery tongue like a snake. Scales hit stone...she heard the scrape. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. //Oh, Ron...it's much more than a shape...//
"Ron," Dad said flatly, his voice tense, "You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the sky whenever they killed. The terror it inspired...you have no idea...you're too young."
The terror was still there...in her Dad, in Bill, in the way Mr. Crouch and Mr. Diggory had reacted...in Ginny herself...it had been there along...touching all of them, hovering like a shadow, insubstantial and out of sight...but always there, waiting... the possibility...
"Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your home and knowing what you're about to find inside...Everyone's worst fear..the very worst..."
There was a profound and chilling silence.
Bill, always in control, recovered first. "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?" Harry asked blankly. "What are Death Eaters?"
Ginny couldn't help it. She stared. She knew he'd grown up with muggles, but still...
"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves," Bill said. "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," Dad said with a hopeful note in his voice. "Though it probably was," he added, sounding suddenly defeated. Ginny shivered again.
"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron said 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--" Harry broke off as everyone but Ginny and himself winced. "Sorry. What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles. I mean, what's the point?"
"The point," Dad laughed humorlessly. "Harry, that's their idea of fun."
"But if they were Death Eaters," Ron said, barely waiting for the rest of Dad's explanation, "why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark? They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"
"Use your brains, Ron," Bill advised wryly. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked 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."
It made sense.
Hermione must have thought so as well. "So...whoever conjured the Dark Mark...were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?"
"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione," Dad said. "But I'll tell you this...it was only Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it."
Ginny was still lying awake considering that when Dad came to wake them the next morning.