This is the last of the chapters I wrote in Portugal, and since I start back at school this friday, the updates will slow - not that they've been particularly fast recently, but at the start of the summer, they kinda were.

Anyway, please R&R!

Chapter Six

Back inside our tent we sat up drinking hot chocolate and discussing the match. "You know," I mused thoughtfully, swirling the last of my hot chocolate in my mug. "It felt kinda strange to be cheering the players in green rather than in scarlet."

"Yeah." Maria yawned. "For a moment it felt like Gryffindor versus Slytherin."

"Oh, please!" Raimundo scoffed. "As if Slytherin could play that well."

Maria slumped forward on the table, fast asleep, and Antonio declared that it was time for bed.

"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling." Antonio implored the twins as we traipsed off to bed, me half-carrying Maria.

"Don't worry, dad," grinned Ricardo, "we've got big plans for this money, and they don't involve it getting confiscated."

Antonio looked for a moment as if he was going to ask what these 'big plans' were, but upon reflection, he seemed to decide that he didn't want to know. "Oh, I'm glad I'm not on duty." He murmured sleepily, referring to the singing and fireworks coming from the other side of the campsite. "I wouldn't fancy having to go and tell the Irish they've got to stop celebrating."

I helped Maria climb into bed before crawling into the top bunk. Since we were the only girls, we got the smallest room to ourselves. I lay awake, too wired to sleep, watching the occasional leprechaun lantern fly overhead, and itching to get back on my Firebolt and try out that Wronski Feint…

I must've fallen asleep, as the next thing I knew, Antonio was shouting. "Get up! Maria – Kimiko – come on now, get up, this is urgent!" It was obvious that he was telling the truth, not just by the panic in his voice, but by the fact that outside, the singing had turned to screaming, and those bangs definitely weren't fireworks… sounds like people running, too.

I jumped down from my bed and hurriedly shook Maria awake. Xiaolin instincts can be a pain sometimes, but in instances like this, they were a lifesaver. I was wide awake in a second, unlike Maria, who groaned and sat up. "S'matter?" she mumbled, but I pulled her out of bed and she was awake enough then to hear the screams. She glanced at me before reaching for her clothes.

"No time, Maria – just grab a jacket and get outside – quickly!" We exchanged frightened glances. It must be really serious if Antonio – who was wearing jeans over his pyjamas – was telling us to go outside, into the cold night air of England, in spaghetti strap tops and shorts. I pulled on my boots and grabbed the first jacket I could find, coincidentally, it was the hoodie Rai had given me last year, and we scurried out of the tent.

It was chaos. A few fires were still burning, and I could see people fleeing into the woods, escaping the large mass of something that was moving across the field, emitting flashes of light and the bangs I had heard earlier. They were roaring and laughing drunkenly, and as they set fire to the nearest tent as they passed, I could see them through the light of the flames. It was a group of hooded and masked wizards, who were levitating a family of muggles – the family of the site manager – and treating them like their own personal puppets.

"That's sick…" Maria muttered as I watched helplessly. "That is really sick…"

I couldn't just stand there and do nothing! Blame it on my Xiaolin instincts, but I dashed towards the group, only stopped when Rai, Clay and Omi – having emerged from the tent and seen what I was doing – grabbed me from behind and held me back.

Juan, Carlos and Pedro emerged from the tent, fully dressed with their wands out. "We're going to help the Ministry." Antonio shouted over the noise, rolling up his sleeves and drawing his own wand. "You lot – get into the woods, and stick together! Fernando, Ricardo – Maria is your responsibility! I'll come and get you once this is all sorted out!" He sprinted towards the crowd, as did Juan, Carlos, Pedro and many other Ministry wizards, who came from all directions.

"C'mon!" Fernando and Ricardo grabbed Mara's hands and started to pull her towards the woods. The four of us scrambled after them, Rai still keeping a tight grip on my arm, as if he was afraid I'd run after the masked wizards again, or disappear.

The woods were pitch black. You could see the dark shapes of people running, and hear panicked voices, but even we couldn't make anything out. I eventually got too impatient and lit my hand so we could see. Fernando, Ricardo and Maria were nowhere to be seen, but Jack Spicer was leaning against a nearby tree, watching the scene on the campsite with a smirk. "Hadn't you better be scurrying along, now? You wouldn't want her spotted, now would you?" he sneered.

My eyes narrowed; almost as a reflex from being near him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He gave a derisive laugh. "They're after muggles." He grinned nastily. "D'you want to be their next puppet? Because, if you do, hang around…they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."

"Kimiko's a witch." Omi stated, looking confused.

"Have it your own way." Spicer shrugged. "If you think they can't spot a mudblood, stay where you are."

"You watch your mouth!" Rai snarled, lunging at Spicer, but I pulled him back.

"Just ignore him."

A loud bang came from the campsite, and several people screamed. "Scare easily, don't they?" Spicer said lazily before turning to Rai. "I suppose your daddy told you all to hide? What's he up to – trying to rescue the muggles?"

"Where're your parents?" Rau shot back, his temper rising. Not good. "Out there wearing masks, are they?"

"Well…" Spicer floundered for a moment before he found something halfway intelligent to say. "If they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you Xiaolin losers." But he sort of just did.

"Oh, come on, let's ho and find the others." I pulled Rai after me so he wouldn't kill Spicer, though it wouldn't be much of a loss if he did.

"I'll bet you anything his dad's one of that masked lot!" Rai said hotly.

"Well, with any luck the Ministry will catch him."

We pressed onwards, looking for the twins and Maria, and soon came across a group of arguing teenagers. When they saw us, a blonde girl turned to us. "Où est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdu-"

The boys blinked, utterly lost. "Je suis très désolée, mais je ne sais pas." I smiled apologetically.

"Merci." The girl shrugged, and I walked on. The boys hurried after me, looking rather shocked.

"You speak French?" Rai asked incredulously.

"Yeah," I shrugged, "I speak most languages – papa used to take me with him on his business trips."

Clay and Omi pulled out their wands and lit the tip. Rai searched his pockets. "I don't believe it…I've lost my wand!"

"You're kidding?"

We turned to look for it, but it was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe it's back at the tent." Clay suggested.

"Yeah…maybe…" It must feel awful without a wand – so vulnerable – but at least he had his elemental magic. I offered him mine, since I was using my flames for light, but he declined, saying that I might need it.

Winky the house-elf jumped out of a nearby bush, but she was moving oddly, as if something was holding her back. "There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked. "People high – high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!"

"What's up with her? Why can't she run properly?" Rai asked, staring curiously after Winky.

Clay shrugged. "Maybe she didn't ask permission to hide."

I thought about it as we continued searching. Winky's master had forced her to save him a seat in the Top Box, even though he was scared of heights, and had never come for his seat. And yet, she adores him…

We came to a quiet clearing, where no one was running about like headless chickens and we could still hear the sounds from the campsite. Though I'm not sure someone with human hearing could. "I reckon we can just wait here, you know, we'll hear anyone coming a mile off."

We sat down to wait and after a while, Ludo Bagman appeared. "What are you doing in here, all alone?"

We exchanged glances. "Well – there's a sort of riot going on."

Bagman stared at me as I explained. "What?"

"On the campsite…some people have got hold of a family of muggles…they're levitating them…"

Bagman swore loudly and disapparated. We sat in silence, waiting.

"I hope the others are okay." Clay muttered after a while.

"They'll be fine." Rai insisted, but he sounded worried.

"Imagine if your dad catches Marcus Spicer!" I mused with a smirk, sitting down next to Rai and trying to cheer him up. "He's always said he'd like to get him for something."

"That'd wipe the smirk off Spicer's face, all right."

"Those poor muggles, though. What if they can't get them down?"

"They will. They'll find a way."

"Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight! I mean-" But I broke off and we all scrambled to our feet, Xiaolin instincts on full alert. Someone was moving through the trees. "Hello?" The footsteps stopped. "Who's there?"

The voice answered, but not with words, with a spell. "MORSMORDRE!" It shrieked. A jet of green light shot into the air and formed a giant skull with a snake for a tongue, sticking out.

Suddenly the wood was alive with screams, but I couldn't figure out why. All of my instincts told me do duck, and it was lucky we did so, for a moment later, voices all around us yelled, "STUPEFY!" and jets of red light shot over our heads, rebounding through the wood.

"Stop! STOP! That's my son!" Antonio was rushing towards us, looking terrified. "Are you alright?"

"Out of the way Antonio." It was Mr Crouch, his face taut with rage and his eyes popping. He looked rather mad. "Which of you did it? Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?" So that was the Heylin's mark – Wuya and Chase. No wonder everyone is terrified.

"We didn't do that! We didn't do anything!" Rai said indignantly. "What did you want to attack us for?"

"Do not lie, sir!" Mr Crouch shouted, the only one still pointing his wand at us. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Barty…they're just kids, Barty. They'd never be able to-" A witch in a dressing gown tried to reason with him, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Where did the Mark come from?" Antonio asked us.

"Over there." I pointed in the direction where we had heard the footsteps. "There was someone behind the trees and then they shouted something…"

"Oh, stood over there, did they?" Mr Crouch turned to me, looking madder by the second. "Said something, did they? You seem awfully well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy-"

"Barty!" The witch said sharply as the others headed to where we had indicated. "Think of who you are accusing! Is Kimiko Tohomiko likely to conjure the Dark Mark? Be reasonable!" But Mr Crouch didn't seem to be in a very reasonable mood.

He was only distracted by Amos Diggory's shout from the trees. "We got them!" he shouted. "There's someone here! Unconscious! It's – but – blimey…"

"You've got someone?" Mr Crouch called. "Who? Who is it?"

Mr Diggory didn't answer, but walked over, carrying the last person I would've expected – Winky. Mr Crouch seemed to be as shocked as me. He stuttered out, "This – cannot – be – No –" before he moved to check the bushes himself.

"Come off it, Amos!" Antonio muttered. "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. For one thing, it requires a wand, and-"

"Yeah. And she had a wand."

Ludo Bagman appeared then, almost trampling Winky in his panic as he spotted the Mark. "The Dark Mark! Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on? Gulping gargoyles!" he leapt into the air as he spotted Winky. "What happened to her?"

"My elf has been stunned, Ludo." Mr Crouch said shortly. I blinked in surprise. Somehow, I hadn't expected Mr Crouch being Winky's master.

"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why – no! Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark?" He fell silent in disbelief.

They revived Winky and began questioning her. "I is not doing it, sir! I is not knowing how!" she squeaked tearfully.

"You were found with a wand in your hand." Mr Diggory brandished the wand in question. Hang on…

"Hey – that's mine!" Rai shouted in surprise. Everyone stared at him. "That's my wand! I dropped it!"

"Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"Amos!" Antonio cut in angrily. "That's my son. And think who he is – is he likely to conjure their mark?"

"Er – of course not." Mumbled Mr Diggory. "Sorry…carried away…"

They discovered that Rai's wand had been used to conjure the Mark, before they gave it back to him. It couldn't have been Winky though – her voice was too high-pitched, and the voice and the presence we had felt of the one who had cast it were definitely human – but Mr Crouch dismissed her anyway.

When we got back to the tent, Carlos stuck his head out as we approached. "Dad, what's going on? The twins and Maria got back okay, but the others-" he broke off when he saw us.

"Did you get them, dad?" Juan asked once we were back inside. "The person who conjured the Mark?"

"No." Antonio sighed. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Raimundo's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."

"What?" Juan, Carlos and Pedro exclaimed in unison. Something I had always associated with the twins. Perhaps it's a Pedrosa thing.

"Raimundo's wand?" the twins echoed.

"Mr Crouch's elf?" Pedro was thunderstruck.

We told the story, and Rai got impatient. "Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was? It wasn't hurting anyone…why's it such a big deal?"

"It's the Heylin's mark, isn't it?" I asked and Antonio nodded gravely.

"And it hasn't been seen for twelve years. Of course people panicked…it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."

"I don't get it. Rai frowned. "I mean…it's still only a shape in the sky…"

"Rai – Wuya, Chase and their followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed." Rai's face showed a dawning comprehension.

Antonio nodded slowly. "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… Everyone's worst fear…the very worst…" Antonio finished with a shiver.

It was silent for a moment as everyone thought over what Antonio had said. Juan broke it, wincing as Rai healed his arm of a rather nasty gash. "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 gotten near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Roberts family before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."

"Death Eaters?" Rai spoke us as he came to sit back at the table after healing Juan's arm. "The Heylin's followers, right?"

"Yeah. I reckon 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, Juan." Antonio sighed hopelessly. "Though it probably was."

"But if they were Death Eaters," Maria piped up, looking confused, "why did they disapparated when they saw the Dark Mark? Wouldn't they be happy to see it?"

"Use your brains, Maria!" Carlos teased, ruffling her hair. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked really hard to keep themselves out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, and told all sorts of lies about her forcing them to torture and kill people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see her come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with her when she lost her powers, and went back to their daily lives… I don't reckon she'd be over-pleased with them, do you?"

I shook my head. "No. Somehow, Wuya didn't strike me as a very forgiving person two years ago. Did she to you, Rai?"

"Nah. Neither did Chase."

"I keep forgetting you two have met them…" Carlos muttered, shuddering at the thought.

"But," I furrowed my brows in confusion, "only Death Eaters would know how to conjure the Dark Mark…"

Juan looked as though he was going to reply, but Antonio cut his off, yawning, "Listen, it's very late, and we'd best try to get an early portkey tomorrow – your mother will be worried sick!"

He shepherded us off to bed, but I lay awake for ages, my mind buzzing with questions. That dream…it couldn't be real…could it?

"I reckon it is."

I jumped out of my skin. "Rai! What have I told you about staying out of my head!"

Even though we were talking over our mind link and were at opposite ends of the tent, I could practically see his smirk as he replied. "Well, I couldn't sleep and I was bored. Then I found you were awake, so…"

Note to self – reinforce mind barriers.

"Why me, though? Why not Clay or Omi?"

"They're asleep."

"Oh. Lucky them. So, you reckon the dream was real?"

"Yeah. I mean, you said Trelawney mentioned a servant and master being reunited in her prediction last year, and now this…" He trailed off, but I understood his meaning perfectly.

"Stuff like this doesn't just happen by coincidence."

"Uh huh."

"By the way, what Spicer said in the woods…'mudblood'…what does that mean?"

"It's the most insulting word he could come up with! It means dirty blood – a derogatory term for people with muggle parents."

"Oh. I mean, I knew it was bad by the way you reacted…thanks again, by the way…for sticking up for me, again."

"I meant what I said earlier – anytime." There was silence then that was just a tinge awkward – mostly on Rai's side. "Well, dad's right; mum will be freaking out. The clock will have told her… We'd best get to sleep and get up extra early."

"Yeah. Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Thank you, GCSE French! I'm totally flabbergasted that I managed to get an A* in it though - Spanish was always so much easier, and I guess that's why I thought I wasn't good at French.

Anyway, please tell me what you thought, and do let me know if my french was wrong - I wrote the bit that Kimiko says, but the french girl's lines were taken from the GoF book.