– Chapter Nine –

Whispers of the End

"That was fantastic," Romi said, as she slowly made her way down the purple-carpeted stairs.

"Yes," Charis agreed as they walked. She scratched her left wrist distractedly. "It was an amazing performance."

They reached the bottom of the stadium as thousands and thousands of wizards disappeared into the lantern-lit trail in the forest.

"I have to go, sweetheart," Hector said, stopping them, placing a hand on Charis' arm.

"Really, Hector? You've been awake for twenty four hours as it is," Charis said with a sigh.

"Yes," Hector replied, giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. "I'll try and get away as soon as I can, but this is my job. The World Cup won't ever happened again in England while I'm ambassador."

"Alright," Charis said, as her husband gave a kiss to their daughter. "Come back when you can."

"I will," answered Hector, and with a wave he disappeared on the spot.

"Come along, Charis," Aunt Narcissa said, linking arms with her friend. "He'll be back as soon as he can."

Romi and Draco led the way through the forest, following the loud raucous singing through the forest. Leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns around.

They made it back into the campground and walked through the tents towards their own. Most of the tents still had people sitting around the fires, laughing, drinking and cheering as they made their way past.

Arriving at their own tent, neither Draco nor Romi wanted to go to sleep, and Charis agreed that they might stay up a little later. Some of Uncle Lucius' friends had come and settled out front, and were singing loudly around a campfire. Uncle Lucius went to go and join them, but Aunt Narcissa and Charis insisted that Romi and Draco stay inside.

They sat around the dining room table for a long time, talking about the match, and replaying events, laughing again at Cornelius Fudge's face when he found out the Bulgarian Minister could speak English.

Finally, Charis stood up, and insisted that they both go to bed immediately. She tucked Romi into bed, pulling the covers up close and then with a kiss departed. Romi stayed awake. Her mind was much too wired to sleep, she tossed and turned and couldn't help thinking about the match and all the excitement.

She was just contemplating getting up for a glass of water to help her calm down, when she heard voices in the living area.

"Come along, Charis," Uncle Lucius was saying. It sounded like he was a little drunk. "It'll be fun!"

"Don't you think you're a little bit old for that?" Charis said calmly.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," replied Uncle Lucius. "It's just a little Muggle-baiting. Everyone's up for it."

"I'm not going, Lucius," Charis said firmly.

"Really, you should be," said Uncle Lucius, dangerously. "If you still count yourself as one of us."

"You know I do," Charis said, betraying no emotion, "but I will not go while my daughter is in this campground!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Perhaps you should send them to the forest then," Uncle Lucius replied tensely, and there were footsteps leaving the tent. It was silence for a long while.

Romi lay unmoving in bed, trying to figure out what exactly had just passed between her mother and uncle.

She could still hear singing and partying outside, the Irish partiers hadn't stopped yet. There were lights from the Leprechaun's lanterns swooping past the tent outside, their lights playing patterns on the tent walls.

Uncle Lucius' tone had worried her, and she didn't know what 'Muggle-baiting' was, but it didn't sound remotely pleasant. She didn't have a whole lot of time to think about it, because a couple of seconds later, Charis came into her bedroom.

"Romi," she said quietly, as if trying to wake her gently. "Romi?"

Romi pretended to be waking up from sleep, "mmm?" she said, turning over to look at her mother. There was light streaming through the tent flat causing Romi to squint, and she could only see a shadowy outline of her mother.

"Romi, I need you to get up now," Charis said, coming into the room. Romi sat upright in bed, rubbing her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Romi asked, looking around for her glasses. She found them and put them on.

"Nothing," Charis insisted, pulling out a set of clothes for Romi and tossing them to her. "Get dressed." Charis left the room.

Bewildered, Romi did as she was told and went out into the living room. Charis was just exiting Draco's room; she bypassed Romi and went straight to the tent flap and outside.

Half a minute later, Draco left his room, fully dressed, looking wide awake, like he hadn't slept either.

"What's up?" Draco asked as he saw Romi there.

Romi shrugged in response. Charis came back inside and saw the two of them there.

"Go take a stroll in the woods and stay there," she said, walking past them to her bedroom, she disappeared inside for a moment.

"What?" Romi asked, completely at a loss for what was happening.

"Nothing to worry about," Charis said, coming back out of her room. "Just, go and take a stroll to the forest, and wait until it's finished."

"Mum, what's happening?" Romi asked.

"Just, please, do as I say," replied Charis, this time she sounded a little worried.

Romi look confused at Draco and he just shrugged.

"Sure," he said to Charis, and taking Romi's hand dragged her out of the tent. The party seemed still in full swing, there were people walking around singing at the top of their lungs with large tankards of beer in their hands. Uncle Lucius was outside the front of the tent with a party of his friends.

"Ah, Draco," he said when he saw his son walk out. Uncle Lucius went over to him and whispered something in his ear. Draco looked startled for a moment, but then nodded.

"Okay," he said. "Come on, Romi," Draco said to her and started to lead her away from the tent towards the woods.

"Be good!" Uncle Lucius called after them.

"What did he say to you?" Romi asked.

"Oh – uh – nothing, just nonsense," Draco lied swiftly to Romi. "He's had a couple of beers… you know."

"Hmm, sure," answered Romi unconvinced.

They walked through the tents getting closer to the forest each step. Draco and Romi did not talk, and finally they made it there, the only people in the forest.

"Draco, what are we doing here?" Romi asked finally. They were just on the edge, with a perfect spot to look out over the campground.

"We're just watching," Draco replied calmly and leaned against a tree. There was a gap in the branches that afforded a good look at the campground.

"What did you father tell you?" Romi demanded.

"I am not telling you," answered Draco, looking away from her and at the campsite. "Because you won't like it."

There was silence for about five minutes between and finally Romi opened her mouth to say something, when she was interrupted by the sound of a scream. Startled Romi looked to the campground.

There was a large bright blaze starting from the far end of the campground, and it seemed like they were moving slowly towards the forest.

"What is that?" Romi asked.

"The thing you won't like," Draco muttered in response. Romi strained on her tiptoes to see what was happening. She couldn't really see what was going on, but there were more screams and she could see people running towards the forest.

"What's happening out there?" she demanded at Draco.

"It's just – you know – Muggle-baiting," Draco replied, not looking at her.

"And what exactly is 'Muggle-baiting'?" questioned Romi angrily. Draco didn't reply to her, he just kept staring at the campground. It seemed like the whole camp was awake now, and screaming was slowly outweighing the singing. "Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll go find out," Romi said and she took a step towards the campground.

"No," Draco said, grabbing her arm, "don't go back there. It's not safe right now."

Romi stared at him for a long moment. "Then I'll fly it."

Draco watched her for a lengthy amount of time, and then let go of her arm. "If you have too. But I'm warning you, you won't like it."

Romi watched him for a second longer, then transformed into a Hawk and soared up above the trees towards the campground.

The Hawk watched everything below with its sharp eyes. No detail was lost to it. Remembering back, the Hawk would think of all the things it saw, there was an overpowering memory of orange. Everything was orange, the tents, the grounds, the glow cast by the fires made everything orange.

The Hawk would never quite feel safe around anything that matched that fiery orange in the summer night.

There was a large crowd of people marching across the campground and growing by the second. In the centre they were all in black, and the Hawk could only see grotesque masks that did not remind it of human faces. But around them, many brightly coloured people were joining the mass, pointing upwards and laughing.

The Hawk circled slowly, watching small figures that were above the tightly packed crowd. It appeared to be two human adults, and two human fledglings. They appeared to be struggling, fighting against something unseen. The Hawk had not seen humans fly like this before, and it unnerved the Hawk.

Tents fell as the crowd matched across the campground, fires started reaching upwards. People who were not joining the crowd were running and screaming towards the forests. A handful were running towards the crowd, holding small sticks out in front of them with their hands.

The Hawk circled back towards the forest, it had seen enough. It glided to the tree where it'd left the pale boy. He was still there, watching the crowd. He looked up as the Hawk settled in the tree above him.

"Come down, Romi," he said. But the Hawk ruffled its feathers and looked away. It was too mad to come down beside him. "I told you, you wouldn't like it," the pale boy said.

Just then there was another noise in the forest below them, much closer and the Hawk recognized those voices.

"What happened?" said the bushy haired girl anxiously. "Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid – Lumos!"

Wand light illuminated the ground below, landing on the redheaded boy who was lying sprawled on the ground.

"Tripped over a tree-root," he said angrily, getting to his feet again.

"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said the pale boy with a drawling voice.

The bushy haired girl, the redheaded boy and the brother turned sharply to look at the pale boy, who was leaning relaxed against the tree which the Hawk sat in.

The redheaded boy swore at the pale boy.

"Language, Weasley," said the pale boy. "Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?"

He nodded at the bushy haired girl, 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 the bushy haired girl defiantly.

"Granger, they're after Muggles," answered the pale boy. "D'you want to be showing off your knickers in mid-air? Because if you do, hang around… they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."

"Hermione's witch," the brother snarled.

"Have it your own way, Potter," said the pale boy, grinning maliciously. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."

"You watch your mouth!" shouted the redheaded boy.

"Never mind, Ron," said the bushy haired girl quickly, seizing the redheaded boy's arm to restrain him as he took a step towards the pale boy.

There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard. Several people nearby screamed.

The pale boy chuckled softly, "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?" asked the brother, his temper clearly rising. "Out there wearing masks, are they?"

The pale boy turned to look at the brother, still smiling. "Well… if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?"

"Oh, come on," said the bushy haired girl, with a disgusted looked at the pale boy. "Let's go and find the others."

"Wait," said the brother to the pale boy. "Where's Romi? She was staying with you. Did you just leave her in that campground?"

The pale boy didn't answer right away and the brother took a threatening step getting right in the pale boy's face.

"Where is she?!" the brother demanded.

The pale boy pointed up into the tree where the Hawk was sitting, listening to their conversation. The bushy haired girl, the redheaded boy and the brother looked up at the Hawk.

Annoyed, the Hawk ruffled its feathers and turned its back on them.

"I think she's mad," the pale boy said lightly, "she took a flight over the campground and won't come back down."

The pale boy was right, the Hawk was mad, and the pale boy's attitude was making it madder. Quick as lightning, the Hawk swooped down and whacked both the brother and the pale boy in the back of the head with its wings before flapping up into the sky again.

"I was right," the Hawk just heard the pale boy say, "She is mad."

The Hawk flew up and over the campground again. The mob of people was moving closer and closer towards the woods. The four figures dangled above them, just looking at them mad the Hawk angry. It could see figures running towards the mob of people, sticks raised, but there were no lights coming out of them.

Loud bangs were going off from the sticks of the people in the crowd. They sent fireballs and other bright lights, and sometimes just the tent the stick was pointed at erupted. Tents were trampled underfoot and there were people running everywhere.

The Hawk glided lower, even though it's vision was perfect right up in the sky. It flew slowly, flapping every so often, turning gently on its wings. There was a single person that caught its fierce eye. A young woman with long curly hair was watching the scene around her. She was not screaming and she was not fleeing.

The Hawk felt like it knew this curly haired person. The woman was familiar in some way. The curly haired woman looked up and caught sight of the Hawk. The Hawk held her gaze for a long moment.

Suddenly a tent exploded under the Hawk, and tossed it to the side. It took the Hawk a wild moment to regain its wings, and it immediately looked back to where the curly haired woman had been standing.

The woman was no longer there. The Hawk flew straight up into the sky, and did a circle of the campground; its keen eyes looking for the curly haired woman. But it could not find her again.

The Hawk turned back to the forest, and started streaming towards it, when suddenly something huge and green burst out of the canopy. The thick green mist rose up and arranged itself into a giant human skull shape with a large snake protruding from the mouth.

It twinkled for a moment like a thousand green stars, all of which hurt the eyes of the Hawk, before anyone noticed it. Then screams started to come from all over the forest and campground.

Hysteria was setting in with the people below the Hawk. It turned quickly, looking back at the massive crowd that had gathered. The people in black had disappeared without a trace, and some other people had caught the four flying figures. There was mass panic happening, and thousands of people came streaming out of the forest, looking up into the sky; pointing at the large glittering human skull, screaming and sobbing.

The Hawk thought it would be prudent to return to the pale boy. It shot through the air towards the spot where it had left him in the forest, and to the Hawk's relief, the pale boy was still there, looking up in the sky, though not at the skull.

Romi materialized beside Draco as soon as she was close enough.

"Romi!" he said, clearly relieved that she had returned, it seemed he had been looking for her. "Where did you go?" he demanded.

"I flew around the campground," Romi said, quickly. "I think we should get out of this forest."

"Agree," Draco said, taking her hand, the walked out of the forest as swiftly as possible.

There was a great crowd of people hanging around the edge of the forest, as more and more people came streaming out of it. Draco pushed his way through the crowd, holding onto Romi's hand as she went after him.

Beyond the people who were waiting near the edge looking into the forest, there was more space to move. Many of the fires had been put out, and there were several off duty ministry workers, fighting the rest of them.

Romi and Draco walked silent for a while, and they didn't get too far before Ginny Weasley appeared at Romi's shoulder.

"Romi!" she said, looking panicked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," said Romi stopping, but still holding onto Draco. He paused a couple of steps away, keeping out of the conversation, his arm outstretched behind him, still holding onto Romi's hand. "Are you alright?" Romi asked looking around, seeing if Ginny was by herself.

Fred and George were barely two steps behind her.

"We're okay," Ginny said looking back at Fred and George. The twins arrived and looked suspiciously at Draco, who just looked away from them. "Right?" Ginny asked her two brothers.

"Yeah, we're fine," replied Fred. He glanced up at the skull in the sky. "I don't know about the others though…"

"Have you seen Ron, Harry or Hermione?" George asked.

"No," Romi replied, glancing at Draco. He was still looking in the opposite direction. "Not since that anyways," she added, pointing up to the green skull. "We saw them about fifteen minutes ago."

"Where did they go?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know, I flew off," replied Romi, she yanked on Draco's hand and he turned to look at her. "Where did they go?"

"Who?" Draco replied.

"Harry, Ron and Hermione," answered Romi icily.

"I don't know, farther into the forest, I think," he said grumpily. "I didn't see them after that."

Fred and George exchanged dark, worried glances with each other.

"Do you think they're okay?" Romi asked, looking worriedly at the twins.

"Yeah," George said quickly. "They've got themselves into worse situations before and come out okay."

"Totally," answered Fred. "Absolutely fine." He paused and then looked at Romi hard. "Do you know what that is?" he gestured.

"Yes," Romi replied, feeling a dreaded twisting feeling in her stomach. She looked back up to the sparkling green figure. It was the Dark Mark. Her mother had told her about it a long time ago.

Charis had said that was the symbol of the Greatest Dark Wizard of the century. He was cruel and mean, and the greatest trickster. He could play a deadly prank on anyone and they wouldn't know until it was too late. The Mark hadn't been seen in thirteen years, and it was normally thrown over the dwelling where that great dark wizard had killed someone.

Charis never did tell Romi what this dark wizard's name was, she never told Romi about it around Uncle Lucius and Aunt Narcissa. Romi was old enough now to realise that the Dark Wizard her mother talked about, was the same wizard that Uncle Lucius praised as being a true wizard, faithful to the pureblood notion. Charis had just been secretly telling Romi the truth while pretending to play along with her brother-in-law.

Fred and George looked up to the mark again in the sky, and then back to Romi.

"You guys had better get back," said Fred. "Your mum's going to be looking for you, Romi."

"Yeah," Romi replied. "Where are you going?"

"We'll head back to our tent," George said. "Dad will meet us there. Take care of yourselves."

"You too," answered Romi.

"Write to me as soon as you can," Ginny said hurriedly, as her brothers guided her back towards their tent.

"I will!" Romi called. She turned to Draco. His eyes were staring up at the green skull, and she couldn't decide what he was thinking. "Come on, Draco," she said finally. He looked down to her, smiled and nodded.

They made their way back to their tent, which was still standing, in almost perfect quality, with the exceptions that the peacocks had broken free and flown away. Romi entered it first, and saw her mother and Aunt Narcissa sitting at the dining room table, completely silent.

Charis and Aunt Narcissa looked up immediately when Romi and Draco walked in.

"Oh, there you are," said Aunt Narcissa looking relieved, and slightly restrained. "Are you two alright?"

"Fine," Romi answered.

"Okay," Charis said, "It's off to bed for the two of you." She got up and guided both of them to where Draco had been sleeping.

"Um, mum," Romi started.

"You can sleep together tonight," she said. "We'll be leaving as early as possible, so it'll only be a couple hours. Get what you can."

She left them alone to crawl into bed without any questions asked. Romi and Draco stood for a moment, surprised at Charis' behaviour.

But if what she said were true then they wouldn't have a whole lot of time to sleep. Romi crawled into bed and Draco found a spot beside her. They did not talk, and Romi tried to settle down and sleep.

But every time she closed her eyes, she could see the campground beneath her, alight with a bright burning fire. The only thought that floated through her mind before she fell asleep was that Phoebe Capello Seer lady was wrong, it wasn't just a little campfire that got out of control, it was a much bigger problem.