"Wake him up," Mr. Crouch said harshly.
For a moment Harry thought he was going to kick Ron's body, but a glance at Mr. Weasley caused him to visibly rethink his action.
That the wand was the one that had cast the spell wasn't in doubt. Harry hadn't known that there was a spell to reveal the last spells cast by a wand, but the aurors certainly knew.
The expression on Mr. Weasley's face showed that he knew the wand belonged to Ron as well as Harry did.
"Ron was with us the whole time," Hermione said. "He couldn't have cast the spell."
Harry nodded emphatically. Ron never would have cast that kind of spell even if he'd known it. Harry hadn't even known the spell existed before tonight.
"He could have given it to my house elf and told her to do it," Crouch said. "I want to know why."
"We never met Winky before today," Hermione said indignantly. "Besides, she has a squeaky little voice and the voice we heard wasn't anything like that."
An auror finished casting a spell on Ron, who woke up groggily.
"Bloody hell, what..." he said before he realized that there was a circle of adult wizards standing over him with their wands pointed at him.
"Your wand was used to cast the Dark Mark," Mr. Weasley said carefully, glancing over at Mr. Crouch. "Can you tell me when you lost it?"
Ron goggled at his father for a moment, and it took him several moments to collect his thoughts. "I had it at the game for sure. I used it to check the leprechaun gold. I don't remember...I didn't know I didn't have it until we were running through the woods."
"So you didn't give your wand to my house elf and tell her to cast the Dark Mark?" Crouch asked, leaning forward.
"Why'd I do something stupid like that? With my own wand? I'm not an idiot." Ron looked offended.
"Winky could have stolen it from him," Cedric Diggory's father said. "She's about eye level to hit pockets and in the excitement of the game I doubt he'd have noticed."
Mr. Crouch's lips tightened as he looked at the prone form of his house elf still being held by Mr. Diggory.
"Wake her," he said grimly.
Mr. Diggory lowered her carefully to the ground, then pulled out his wand. He cast the spell to wake her, and a moment later it was done.
She blinked for a moment, confused and uncertain as to where she was or what was happening. Slowly she pushed herself into a sitting position. She noticed Mr. Diggory's feet first, her eyes traveling up to look at him.
The moment she saw the Dark mark in the sky over his shoulder her eyes widened and she began to sob.
"Elf," Mr. Diggory said. "I am a member of the Department for the Control of Magical creatures."
She continued to sob, and began rocking back and forth where she sat. Harry glanced at Hermione, and then at Steven. The same expression was on all of their faces; pity.
"The Dark Mark was cast a short time ago, and you were found right beneath it with a wand in your hand," Mr. Diggory said sternly.
"I...I...I is not doing it sir," Winky gasped. "I is not knowing how!"
"You had a wand in your hand...you know it is forbidden," Mr. Crouch said. "Why should we believe you?"
"I is not using it to do magic sir. I is just picking it up." Winky's eyes were even larger than usual, seeming to take up her entire face.
"The spell was cast by the wand in your hand," Mr. Diggory said. "A stolen wand...a wand that you are forbidden to even hold much less use. Crime after crime..."
"Where would she have even learned the spell?" Mr. Crouch hastily. "Do you think I am in the habit of teaching my servants dark magic?"
"No..." Mr. Diggory said.
"Where did you find the wand?" Mr. Weasley asked Winky. His voice was gentler than Mr. Diggory's.
The elf looked around and pointed back in the direction she had come. "Over there. On the ground."
"The perpetrator could have easily used the wand then apparated away," Mr. Weasley said. With a glance at his son, he said, "Apparently they weren't idiotic enough to use their own wand."
"Did you see who did it?" Mr. Weasley asked.
Winky trembled and looked down at her feet. She shook for a moment before shaking her head.
"I know in the normal course of things that you'd keep her for questioning," Mr. Crouch said. "But I'd prefer to deal with this matter privately."
The man was a politician. Harry had heard Steven talk about the mayor in his hometown, a man who would lie and promise anything to anyone to get re-elected. Having his house elf implicated in this kind of crime would be the kind of black mark that his career couldn't handle. People would be whispering that he was secretly a death eater from now on.
Of course, if justice in the Wizarding world was truly impartial, Winky would be taken in for questioning even if she was innocent. It was possible that she knew something that either she wasn't telling or that she didn't realize was important.
The Durselys liked police procedurals and he'd listened to enough of them while locked in his cupboard to know how it was supposed to go.
He was surprised when Mr. Diggory grimaced and nodded.
"Don't worry. She'll be properly punished," Mr. Crouch said. He glanced at the miserable elf. "I told her to stay in the tent. I told her to remain there while I left and sorted things out."
He scowled. "I never would have believed that a house elf in my house would act so...reprehensibly. This means clothes."
"No master!" Winky sobbed loudly as she fell to the ground in front of Mr. Crouch's feet. "Not clothes! Not clothes!"
"She was frightened," Hermione protested. "She's afraid of heights and they were levitating people."
"I have no use for an elf who disobeys me," Mr. Crouch said coldly. "I have no use for a servant who has no regard for her master or her master's reputation."
Steven was standing next to Hermione. He glanced at Hermione, and then at Winky. His expression was hard to read in the darkness.
"Maybe there's another way," he said slowly.
Crouch stared at him.
"You know who I am, right?" Steven said. "Steven Universe. I've been helping the Ministry out with problems like the troll and basilisk at Hogwarts."
Mr. Crouch glanced at the aurors, who nodded. Steven was rapidly gaining almost the reputation and fame that Harry himself had. He was known as a monster hunter and fighter.
"The thing is, I'm really busy with all my schoolwork and fighting monsters and all that, and I've been having trouble keeping up with little things," Steven said. "I don't need a lot of help; it's not like I have a lot of things to spend my money on."
"Are you saying you want to buy my elf?" Crouch asked incredulously.
"You just said yourself that you can't trust her anymore," Steven said. He shrugged. "Maybe I'm not as picky."
Hermione stepped away from Steven, horrified.
"Elves don't come cheap," Mr. Crouch said. His expression hardened. "Why would I think a child like you could even think of affording a house-elf?"
"Have you seen the prices on basilisk parts lately?" Steven asked. He shook his head. "I don't have a lot to spend my money on either."
Crouch was silent for a moment, then leaned forward. "Let's discuss this in private," he said.
Winky was staring up at them both, still horrified.
Steven followed Mr. Crouch off into the distance.
"Is Steven about to buy a slave?" Hermione asked. She stared at Steven and Mr. Crouch talking in the distance.
Harry sighed.
"Winky," he said. "It looks like Mr. Crouch is determined to get rid of you."
She started sobbing again.
"Would you rather be free or serve someone else?"
She stared at him for a long moments as though she didn't understand him. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, but at least she'd stopped crying.
"I know Steven," Harry said. "He's a good person. He wouldn't make you serve him if you'd rather be free."
"I..I...wants to stay with Mr. Crouch," Winky said.
"That's not going to happen," Harry said. "Your choices now are freedom or service with my friend Steven."
Winky cried for a moment. She'd fallen back to her knees and she stared at her hands. "I'd rather serve Mr. Steven."
"You just watch," Harry said. "He'll ask the same question before he makes the deal."
As it turned out, Harry was right.
It wasn't until later that Harry learned that Steven had bartered away half his fortune to save a single, miserable and forlorn young house elf.
When he asked Steven later about it, Steven expressed not a single regret.
"I can't just stand by and let somebody get hurt, no matter who it is," he'd said. "No matter what the cost, I have to protect people."
It didn't take Hermione long to forgive him.
Winky had been quiet and withdrawn since the deal had been finalized.
Steven held her hand in his and said, "It's all right. This is where I live when I'm not going to school in Hogwarts."
Since Pearl had revived at the end of the last school year, the temple had changed. It had been expanded over the past few weeks, and a great pool and fountain had been added. Half the temple was now spotlessly and meticulously clean.
"I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "This is going to be a challenge. You're going to want to clean Amethyst's piles, but that'll make her mad. Pearl likes to do her own cleaning...I think your best bet will be to help Peridot."
"What is this place...M...m...master?"
"It's your new home," Steven said. "With any luck, we'll make it a place where you can be happy."
The house elf looked dubious, but she followed him as he led her deeper into the interior of the temple.