22nd August cont'd…
Thousands upon thousands of witches and wizards headed towards the stands beyond the woods; the atmosphere was one of feverish excitement. George walked behind me, our fingers still inconspicuously laced together. The golden walls of the stadium suddenly came into view. "Wowzah!" I admired the magnificent architecture.
"Seats a hundred thousand!" Arthur shared from the front of the group, "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle-Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles got near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again… Bless them." Arthur spoke fondly before handing over the tickets for inspection at the entrance.
"Prime seats!" the witch said, "Top Box, straight up the stairs, Arthur, as high as you can go."
George squeezed my hand as I did a little jig on the spot. The excitement going through my body was unreal. Then we began to climb the stairs which were covered in a rich purple carpet- I felt like a member of the Royal Family. Then I looked up, "How on earth am I meant to climb all the way up there?"
"With your feet. Put one in front of the other." Ginny said sarcastically, "Like this." She slowly walked up the stairs, lifting each foot slowly.
Fred joined in with the banter, "I can throw you over my shoulder if you like?" I playfully punched him in the chest, giving him a dirty look. He walked on ahead of me.
Around three quarters of the way up the stairs, George put a hand between my shoulder blades to guide me. He must have heard how out of breath I was. I don't think I was as bad as Hermione though; she was a few people ahead of me and had to stop for a second to catch her breath. Ron had pushed past her, Fred offered to throw her over his shoulder, but instead he gave her a hand. As we reached the top of the staircase, we found ourselves in a small box, set at the highest point in the stadium, halfway between the golden goalposts. About twenty purple and gold fancy chairs stood in two rows, we were in front row. Could our seats be any better?
"Oh my goodness!" I let out a massive breath.
George crunched his face up, "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"
"No, look…!" the view was simply breath-taking.
The eleven of us all shuffled along the row to take our seats, I found myself between George and Ginny. Ginny had managed to get her hands on a programme for the match and we started looking through the photographs of the players, making fun of Volkov and his mono-brow and Troy's handlebar moustache. She flipped the page and sighed deeply, "Isn't he gorgeous?"
"Lynch?" I asked.
Ginny looked repulsed, "No, Krum."
"Him?" I scowled, mimicking Krum's face, "But I just look so… bored." I said drearily, "You wouldn't want to kiss that. No emotion there at all."
"Yet you want to kiss George." Ginny imitated throwing up, "Ugh, no."
I was really surprised George hadn't heard, he was deeply engrossed in conversation with Fred, "I'd kiss him faster than I'd kiss Krum."
"I can't believe you just said that." Ginny's chin dropped, "You mean you would choose my brother over someone famous? Like consciously choose George? George?!"
"You'd kiss Harry."
"That's different!" Ginny blushed slightly.
"No, it's not! Harry's like my brother. Besides, if Harry wanted to date you, you'd choose him over Krum, right?"
"Okay, okay… And you're definitely sure that if Krum wanted to whisk you away and shower you in… whatever you'd say no because deep down you'd rather be with George?"
"Yes?"
Ginny looked impressed, "That's the first time you've been properly honest with me about him."
"I think that's the first time I've been properly honest with myself."
I looked around, realising that the seats behind us were slowly filling. There was a house elf at the far end, next to him or her was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, sitting beside who must have been the Bulgarian Minister for Magic. Four important looking individuals in black suits sat directly behind me whom I had no clue who they were, even George didn't know. The last three seats, I soon found out were for the Malfoys. My heart sank.
Draco greeted me like an old friend as he sneered at the Weasleys, like he was trying to make a point, claiming me as his territory or something, "Kathryn! It's so good to see you! How has your summer been?" he curiously looked between George and me as though we were hiding something. I suppose he expected me to be sitting with Ron, Harry and Hermione.
"There have been good and bad bits." I responded.
Narcissa Malfoy took one look at me and forced what could only be described as a grimace, "I'm Narcissa, Draco's mum."
"We've met." I mirrored the look she was giving me, as though there was a nasty smell under her nose, "You've written a letter to me, you probably don't remember and the first time you saw me you couldn't wait to get out of my vicinity."
She looked shocked by my reply, "I had an urgent appointment, I had completely forgotten about it, I had to run."
Well that was a complete and utter lie. I thought to myself but said, "You don't owe me an explanation."
Narcissa shuddered as though she felt uncomfortable.
"Good Lord, Arthur," Lucius Malfoy locked eyes with Arthur Weasley, the last time these two men met, they were ripping shreds out of each other in Flourish and Blott's, "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"
"And who's ass did you have to kiss, Mr Malfoy?" I smiled sweetly.
Fudge, who clearly wasn't listening said, "Lucius has just given a very generous donation to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."
Fred, George and Ginny all attempted to restrain their laughter.
"How- how nice," Arthur strained a smile. Lucius shot a dirty look at Hermione and sat down and had the same facial expression as his wife. She has a problem with me being a muggle born, too.
Next moment Ludo Bagman entered the Top Box, "Everyone ready?" he said, his face was gleaming in anticipation, "Minister- ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Ludo." Fudge said comfortably, resting back into his chair.
Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his throat and said, "Sonorus!" and then spoke over the roar of the crowd, "Ladies and Gentlemen… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four-hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"
I cheered loudly and clapped along with everyone else. Thousands of flags flew around us, all adding the national anthems to the racket. I noticed a huge blackboard in front of us that would be the scoreboard, it said, BULGARIA: ZERO, IRELAND: ZERO.
"And now without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian Team Mascots!"
"Veela!" I heard someone shout and point desperately towards a bunch of extremely beautiful women with very bright, shiny skin and white-gold hair that looked like it was floating in mid-air. Then music started to play and the Veela started to dance.
Both Fred and George stood up from their seats along with the rest of the nearby male population. Fred looked as though he was about to pole dance with the metal supports holding the stadium up. George's eyes were glued to the women, his mouth wide open, I swear a little bit of drool came out, and he was posing like a model. Some of the moves he was pulling were quite outrageous.
"What on earth are you doing?" I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, then the music stopped.
Angry yells filled the stadium, the crowd clearly didn't want the Veela to go. I looked along the row, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron were also in strange positions staring at these women. I saw Hermione grab Harry and haul him back to his seat.
"And now," Ludo Bagman's voice filled the air once again, "kindly put your wands in the air… for the Irish National Team Mascots!"
Next moment, what appeared to be a green-and-gold comet zoomed into the stadium, completing a circuit and then subdivided into two smaller comets hurtling towards the goalposts. A rainbow then arced across the pitch, connecting the two balls of light. The rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they formed a shimmering shamrock which rose up into the stands. It looked as though golden rain was falling from it. The rain was actually golden coins.
"This is incredible!" Ginny shouted to me over the 'ooohs' and 'ahhhhs' from the crowd, "They're leprechauns!" she informed me. I used my omnioculars to get a clearer view of the tiny men as the shamrock disappeared and the leprechauns drifted onto the pitch on the opposite side to the Veela, sitting to watch the match.
"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, kindly welcome the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you- Dimitriov!" a man in scarlet robes zoomed onto the pitch followed by the rest of the team, "Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Annnnnnnddddd- Krum!" I looked at the pure delight on Ginny's face as she cheered.
"And now, please greet the Irish National Quidditch Team!" Ludo introduced and I got slightly carried away with cheering, "Presenting- Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Annnnnnnddddd- Lynch!" I passed the omnioculars to Ginny for her to take a look at all the players, too.
"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" He appeared in gold coloured robes, striding onto the pitch with the crate containing the red Quaffle, the two black Bludgers and the golden Snitch. As he mounted his broom, Mostafa unleased the balls and with a sharp blast of his silver whistle, the teams shot off into the air.
"THEYYYYY'REEEE OFF!" Ludo screamed.
The ball was passed with such speed and precision, "Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!" It was so hard to keep up. Within a minute, Troy had managed to score, not that I had a clue what was going on, "Ten-zero to Ireland!" Ludo announced.
The leprechauns watching from the sidelines celebrated with the rest of the Irish supporters, forming a massive glittering shamrock. Then play began again and within the next fifteen minutes, Ireland had scored twice more! I had never seen a Quidditch game like it. This is how the professionals do it. I wondered if Oliver would be playing for Scotland at some point in his career. Then I had to focus back on the match again as a mixture of 'boooos' and cheers came from the audience.
"What happened?" I had to shout to Ginny.
She handed me the omnioculars where she had the piece of play on repeat for me to watch as the Irish were forced to scatter because of a bludger and Ivanova managed to break through the ranks and score Bulgaria's first goal past the Irish keeper, Ryan.
The Veela then started to dance in celebration. Half the men started to go into that strange trance again, including George, whom I had great pleasure in hitting with the omnioculars to snap him out of it. The Veela (finally) stopped dancing when Bulgaria were in possession of the Quaffle.
"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova! Oh- I say!" Bagman roared.
I screamed alongside a hundred thousand others, pointing at the two seekers who were plummeting through the centre of the Chasers so fast it looked as though they were falling. I followed their movements on the omnioculars.
"They're going to crash!" I heard Hermione yell from a few seats down.
"AOWWW!" I screamed, almost pulling my hair out as Lynch, the Irish seeker hit the ground with such a thud that it could be heard throughout the stadium. At the last second, Krum pulled out of the dive and spiralled off with ease.
"HE WAS FEINTING!" Fred and George both yelled.
Ludo called for a time out as a medical team had to come onto the pitch to tend to Lynch's injuries. Ginny was hanging over the edge of the box, horrified. Charlie reassured her, stating that he only got 'ploughed' and that he'll be alright, "Which is what Krum wanted, of course."
"He didn't see the snitch? He was faking it?" I questioned.
Charlie nodded.
I opened my mouth in disgust, "Good move though." I had to give it to him. Lynch got to his feet after a minute or so which was followed by huge cheers from the Irish supporters. Once on his broom, the whistle went and the match restarted. Within no more than thirty seconds, Ireland had scored and a minute later they had scored once again.
"IRELAND ARE ON FIRE!" George declared.
In the next ten minutes, they had scored eight more times. EIGHT. The score was 130-10.
Mullet then had possession of the Quaffle and was whizzing towards Zograf, the Bulgarian keeper who flew out to meet her. Zograf then stuck out his elbow in the direction of her throat, then elbowed her in the stomach and elbowed the Quaffle out of her hands, directly towards Levski. It all happened so fast! Mostafa blew his whistle and the Irish supports (along with me) were shouting, "PENALTY!"
"Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing- excessive use of the elbows!" Ludo informed the crowd, "And- yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!"
"YESSSSSS!" I punched my fist into the air as Moran scored.
The leprechauns formed the words 'HA HA HA!' in the air. The Veela, on the other end of the pitch tossed their hair angrily and started to dance again. By this stage, all the boys had learnt to stick their fingers in their ears to not go into a trance.
"Kathryn!" Ginny shook my shoulder giggling, "Look at the referee!"
Mostafa had landed right in front of the dancing Veela and was acting like a prat. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his moustache excitedly. "Now we can't have that!" Ludo commentated, "Somebody slap the referee!"
A mediwizard came tearing across the pitch, with his fingers in his ears and got Mostafa's attention by kicking him in the shins. As Mostafa zoned back into reality, he looked highly embarrassed. He then started shouting at the Veela, who looked livid.
"Unless I'm much mistaken," Ludo began, "Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian Team Mascots! Now there's something we haven't seen before… oh, this could turn nasty…!"
Let's just say it did. The Bulgarian beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing furiously with him. The leprechauns had meanwhile formulated 'HEE HEE HEE!' during the commotion. I watched the argument closely from then on, and saw Mostafa clearly warn the two men to get back up into the air again, so when they didn't, Mostafa blew the whistle twice. Two penalties to Ireland. Two penalties scored- 160-10.
Troy took the Quaffle. Vulchanov and Volkov both on the warpath, didn't seem to care whether their clubs hit humans or Bludgers as they swung violently in the air. It was a task in itself for the Irish team members to keep themselves out of harm's way. Troy passed to Moran, who passed to Mullet, who passed back to Moran. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, nearly knocking her off her broom.
I was exasperated, "FOUL!"
"Is Kathryn usually this animated during matches?" George shouted to Ginny.
"She's usually worse." Ginny yelled back, "Especially when you're playing."
"Foul!" Ludo echoed. I cheered in response. Ludo continued, "Dimitrov skins Moran- deliberately flying to collide there- and it's got to be another penalty- yes, there's the whistle!"
The leprechauns rose into the air, this time forming a giant hand that made a very rude gesture across the field towards the Veela. At this, the Veela lost control. They launched themselves across the pitch and threw what looked like handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. They no longer had shiny skin or golden hair- now they had cruel-beaked bird heads, with long scaly wings bursting from their shoulders- with no hint of beauty whatsoever.
"And that, boys," Mr Weasley yelled, "Is why you should never go for looks alone!"
As ministry officials flooded onto the pitch in great numbers to break up the fights between the two mascots, I returned my attention back to the ongoing match. "Levski – Dimitrov – Moran – Troy – Mullet – Ivanova – Moran again – Moran – MORAN SCORES!"
Not that I had been sitting for much of the match, but I was now literally jumping up and down on the spot in sheer excitement, screaming.
The game recommenced quickly, Levski had the Quaffle, now Dimitrov – Quigley, the Irish beater swung heavily at a passing Bludger, hitting it as hard as possible towards Krum, who did not duck in time. It hit him hard in the face. "Ooooooohhhh…." His nose started to bleed profusely, it was clearly broken from my view in the Omnioculars, his scarlet robes now covered in blood. Mostafa didn't blow his whistle- a Veela had just thrown a ball of fire, setting his broom alight.
"LOOK AT LYNCH!" I heard Harry yelling.
The Irish seeker had suddenly gone into a dive; this was almost certainly the real thing.
"AHHHHHH!" I grabbed onto George's arm and squealed.
Krum was close on his tail. There were flecks of blood flying everywhere, how Krum could see the snitch was beyond me. Krum drew level with Lynch as they hurtled towards the ground once again. For a second time the crowd let out a massive, "oooohhh…." As Lynch hit the ground again and was immediately trampled by a hoard of Veela.
"The Snitch! The Snitch!" Charlie bellowed from the other side of Fred.
"He's got it! Krum's got it – it's all over!" Harry answered from the opposite end of the row. Krum rose gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in hand.
The scoreboard flashed to signal the end of the match, the score: BULGARIA: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY, IRELAND: ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY.
"Wait a second." I said.
"IRELAND WIN!" Ludo confirmed my thoughts, "KRUM CATCHES THE SNITCH – BUT IRELAND WIN! Good Lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"
The Irish national anthem blared. The Irish supporters were going wild; flags were being waved with such pride. The leprechauns were zooming about the pitch; the Irish team were celebrating high in the air. The Veela had shrunk down to their usual selves again but were naturally very disappointed with the loss.
"WE WON!" Fred and George jumped up and down, "I mean we actually won!"
I beamed, "It's great, isn't it?"
"No, you don't understand!" George shook his head, "The bet!"
"We are going to be RICH!" Fred celebrated.
"I- I can't believe it!" I realised what they were saying, "Don't forget me when you're famous." I joked.
"Oh, we could never forget you." Fred elbowed George.
A few minutes later, I was blinded by a bright white light that had been shone onto us in the Top Box; the Quidditch Cup was brought into the Box- it was massive and golden in colour. The Bulgarian Minister for Magic and Fudge both stood as Ludo said, "A massive round of applause for our gallant losers- Bulgaria!"
Up the steps into the Top Box came seven very defeated Bulgarian players. Thousands and thousands of omnioculars were pointed in our direction and I very quickly became very shy. The players filed between the seats in the Box. Ludo called out their names one by one and they shook hands with their own Minister for Magic followed by Fudge. I gave Ginny a cheeky nudge as Krum, who was last in line, walked past us. He looked a mess. His nose was badly broken, luckily the bleeding had stopped but his robes were covered in blood. He was slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered. I noticed that he was still carrying the snitch. As his name was called out by Ludo, what seemed like the entire stadium erupted into an ear-splitting roar.
Then the Irish team arrived in the Top Box, Lynch was supported by both Moran and Connolly, the second crash seemed to have left him a bit dazed, even though he was grinning happily. I would be sending him off to the hospital for a head injury check-up. Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd below thundered their approval. Ginny and I had gone hoarse with all the cheering.
At last, the Irish team did one final lap of the pitch on their brooms (Lynch was on the back of Connolly's broom) and Ludo pointed his wand at his throat and muttered 'Quietus'. Before he had the chance to take a breath, both Fred and George had clambered over the seats and had their hands cupped in front of him.
"Ah, yes. I owe you how much?"
"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling." Arthur warned Fred and George as we got back to the tent around 11pm.
"Don't worry, Dad, we've got big plans for this money, we don't want it confiscated." Fred spoke with a smile, looking at George. It was clear that Arthur decided it was better not to ask.
The singing got louder as time went on, it was getting badly out of tune as supporters got progressively more drunk. The eleven of us sat around in the boys' tent drinking hot chocolate, reminiscing about the match. Arthur and Charlie had a heated discussion about cobbing (which I only learnt today was excessive use of the elbows with the intention to hurt). Percy started moaning about Ludo Bagman and how he hadn't started the search for Bertha Jorkins; Bill, Harry and Ron were all doing their best to ignore him. Ginny, Hermione and I were sitting beside Fred and George who were ecstatic about winning all the money. It was only when Ginny fell asleep and hit her head against the table, dropping the remainder of her hot chocolate on the floor, did Arthur insist that we all went to bed.
Hermione and I sleepily walked Ginny over to the other tent where we got into our pyjamas and into bed- Hermione took the top bunk as she wanted to read for a bit before sleeping. I was well used to this by now, I turned over to face the wall and fell fast asleep.
23rd August
"Girls! Wake up! Something's happened! We've got to go!" Arthur's panicked voice told me that this was no joke.
I rubbed my eyes, forcing myself out of bed. I put on my socks and trainers and pulled my coat on over my Where's Wally pyjamas. I was bought them as a joke by Hermione when I was in hospital. (If you don't get the joke, shame on you.) The three of us found ourselves outside the front of the tent and I caught eyes with Fred and George who had Ron and Harry beside them.
There were a few fires burning in the distance and people were running towards the woods. There was something moving across the field emitting flashes of light and noises like gunfire. A crowd of wizards came into view, moving closely together with their wands in the air. I couldn't make out any faces. High above these wizards, I could make out four struggling muggles, one of whom being the campsite owner and what must have been his wife and two children. Their bodies were contorted into weird shapes as though the wizards below were controlling them by invisible strings. As the large group of wizards came closer, they blew up everything in their way. At one point they turned the woman upside down, revealing her underwear. It was horrifying.
"Kathryn- Kathryn-" I could hear my name being called in the distance, but my eyes were fixed on the poor muggles, I got out my wand, wanting to go help but I was grabbed the hood of my coat, "Katy, we've got to go! They're after muggles and muggleborns!" George caught my attention, "I need to keep you safe!" he took me by the hand and pulled me towards the woods.
"C'mon!" Fred yelled, taking Ginny's hand. Harry, Ron and Hermione followed us close behind as Arthur, Bill, Charlie and Percy went off towards the source of the trouble.
It was pitch black outside apart from the fires around us. The coloured lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished. Dark figures were blundering through the trees. I could hear people screaming. Babies and children were crying. I was being pushed and shoved by people in every direction, someone ran between George and me, causing me to stumble and I lost my grip on George's hand.
"GEORGE?!" I yelled, panicking slightly unable to see anything or anyone clearly.
"I'm here, Katy!" he put a comforting arm around me and guided me in the direction of Fred and Ginny. I had no idea where Hermione, Harry and Ron were. We were completely lost.
"Oú est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue -"
"Huh?" George responded.
"Je suis désolé, je ne sais pas." I replied in a terrible French accent. I think I said that I'm sorry and I don't know who Madame Maxime is. Who knows what I actually said given the last time I studied French was primary school!
"'Ogwarts?"
"Oui…" I said, continuing to walk through the forest.
"You speak french?"
"Un peu." I smiled, indicating I meant a little bit.
"You always seek to amaze me, Katy." He squeezed me gently with his arm, pulling me in tight. Ginny, Fred, George and I continued walking for ages until we came to a spot in the forest where no one else was about. We decided to stop for a bit in the hope that Harry, Ron and Hermione would catch up.
"I hope they're alright!" Ginny was terrified as we sat by two trees that were close together, she cuddled closely into Fred. It was at times like this that I realised she was a year younger and hadn't been exposed to this sort of violence before. Either that or this was wreaking memories of being possessed in her first year again. I don't think she will ever get over it, I don't think anyone really could…
"They'll be the very best!" I assured her, "Hermione is a genius and always has a plan. Harry is the Boy Who Lived, you know he's going to survive. And then there's Ronny-kins who's around to lighten the mood. The four of us have been through a lot worse than this, trust me."
"Tell me something completely outrageous the four of you have done." George said, pulling me in closer to cuddle me.
"Oh, I'm afraid that is completely classified information." I laughed, "I'm very surprised we haven't been expelled yet!"
"And you think the two of us are less likely to be expelled?" Fred joked.
I thought carefully about what I was about to divulge, well, the four of us broke into the forbidden corridor in first year. We found the Chamber of Secrets in second year and nearly got killed by Lockhart and a Basilisk and Mr Riddle. Then in third year we were nearly murdered by a werewolf and then a bunch of Dementors when we snuck out after hours… I thought to myself. Then I thought better, not wanting to scare Ginny any further, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'd reckon you would be on you last warning sometime soon?"
"Last, last, last, warning." Fred mimicked McGonagall's accent.
Ginny giggled to herself quietly.
I smiled, "What's your proudest moment?"
There was silence as the twins thought, "It has got to be the time George and I set off Dung Bombs in Potions and put something in Snape's tea and convinced the entire class that he had explosive diarrhoea." Fred reminisced, "He spent the rest of the class hiding in the toilets…!"
Ginny added now laughing, "What about the time mum accidently ate one of your inventions and came out in pus filled boils all over her face? That was hilarious!"
"Fever fudge?" I queried.
"The very one." George answered, "And do you know what my proudest moment is?" he whispered, "Getting detention with you. One of my fondest moments is lying in the field with you watching the fireworks, seeing the amazement on your face, sneaking little looks at you properly smile for the first time in ages."
"Some of my fondest memories are in those detentions with you." I whispered back, snuggling into him for warmth, "That's where I really got to know you." I poked him in the chest.
"LOOK!" Ginny shouted fearfully, pointing up at the sky. It was a colossal skull, composed of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. It rose higher and higher up into the sky in a mist of green smoke etched into the sky like a new constellation.
Fred and George both came out with a number of curse words that I daren't repeat.
"What's wrong?"
"That's his mark, Kathryn. That's the Dark Mark. It's everyone's worst fear." George explained.
Fred continued, "Something really bad has happened."
"Oh."
"What do we do? What do we do?" Both Fred and George spoke simultaneously, walking back and forth, both completely terrified by this symbol. There were screams surrounding us, running as far from the Dark Mark as possible. Ginny by this stage looked like she was about to cry. I gave her a hand up off the ground and hugged her tightly.
"Everything is going to be okay." I said to her.
"You don't know that."
"I do. I need you to trust me. I need you all to trust me." I took Ginny's hand and said, "We're heading back to the tent, that's where everyone will rendezvous."
George slipped his hand into mine and we started to walk. I could feel him and Ginny tremble on either side of me as Fred took a hold of Ginny's other hand. I got the three of them to tell me stories from their childhoods. Ginny told me about how Fred turned baby Ron's teddy into a spider which gave him nightmares for weeks. George told me how their parents still can't tell them apart and they often switch about just to confuse them. (I already knew that one, but it seemed to be a new revelation for Ginny.) Fred told me how he remembers George sneaking out a broom in the summer of second year and snapping it whilst mid-air, falling and ripping the back of his trousers on impact. He could hardly speak by the end of the story, saying that Molly made George walk about in his underwear for the rest of the day to punish him. Their Aunt Muriel was visiting that afternoon and she didn't know where to look. By the time we had reached the tent, the four of us were relatively calm. Ginny and I went into the main tent with the boys in the hope that someone would be there.
"BILL! CHARLIE! PERCY! It's so good to see you!" Fred, George and Ginny were so relieved.
Ginny looked around, "Where is everyone else?"
"They're not back yet…" Charlie answered solemnly.
Bill was standing with a bedsheet at the kitchen table. It took me a few seconds to realise why; his arm was bleeding profusely. I ran over to help him. "Here," I took the bedsheet, "Let me help you." I lifted Bill's arm and put it up in the air and took my coat off, rolling the sleeves of my pyjama top up. I grabbed some of the cooled boiled water from the kettle and put it in a bowl, ripped up the sheet and cleaned the wound, dressed it and put his arm in a temporary sling.
Bill admired his new bandaged arm, "Where did you learn to do that?" he asked me.
"I've spent a lot of time with Madam Pomfery." I answered, lifting away the bowl of bloody water but Bill took a hold of my arm.
"Scars." He commented, looking up at me and down at my arm.
I nodded, "You learn to look after yourself whenever your parents -"
"Your parents did this?!" he was in shock.
"That's why I'm staying with you all, I was in St Mungos for ten days at the start of August." I said matter-of-factly, but then I saw the look on Bill's face as his expression softened into one of pity, "Please don't look at me like that…" I pleaded, "There's only a handful of people who know, I don't want to be treated any differently. My parents are on the run and I'm going to be living with different people until I can support myself. I'm out of it now, that's the most important step."
Bill nodded as though he didn't really know what to say.
I boiled up the rest of the water and made tea for everyone whilst we waited for the rest of the group to get back to the tent. It gave me something to do because every minute without word made me all the more anxious. The boys and Ginny seemed grateful for the warmth, I think we were all in shock. We were all sitting around not doing anything. When I got up to have a walk about in the fresher air, George grabbed my arm and gave me a warning look.
"Please." I took a hold of his hand, biting my lip, completely unsure of what I should be doing.
He caressed my fingers with his, "I can't let you go, you know that."
"Just kiss her already, George." Charlie shouted from the table beside Bill.
"Piss off." Was all George said, guiding me to a sofa where he sat down beside me, trying to relax me by putting an arm around me and attempting to pull me in for a hug. But I sat bolt upright, staring at the entrance of the tent. I felt like I was going to pull my hair out. What if the Dark Mark signified if someone had killed Ron, Harry or Hermione? What if they were lost and couldn't find anyone? What if they had been taken captive? What if one of them was hurt? What if I could have protected them? It seemed like I was waiting for hours. Charlie even got up and poked his head out of the tent a few times.
"They're here!" he said after the fifth time of looking.
Tears were streaming from my face as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Arthur all climbed into the tent. "Thank goodness you're alright!" I hugged each one of them individually (even Arthur). "What happened? Where did you go? Are you hurt?"
"We're fine!" Hermione calmed me down, "We just got caught up in things. Harry lost his wand, which happened to be the wand used to conjure the Dark Mark which was found in the hands of Mr Crouch's poor Elf."
"We're still none the wiser as to who conjured the spell." Arthur finished, answering the questions of his sons who were confused.
"But Mr Weasley, why were the Death Eaters levitating the Muggles? What was the point?" Harry asked, they had clearly been discussing this before now.
Arthur chuckled slightly, "That's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power was done for fun. I suppose some of them had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist the urge to show how many of them are still at large."
"Why did they disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" Ron asked, "They'd have been happy to see it, wouldn't they?"
"Use your brains, Ron," Bill said, "If they were Death Eaters, they would have worked very hard to stay out of Azkaban. They would have denied working for You-Know-Who, they would have said they were forced to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see him back. I don't reckon he'd be delighted with them going about normal life, do you?"
A few more questions were asked before Arthur announced that we were all to try and get a few hours more sleep before getting an early Portkey in the morning. Hermione, Ginny and I got into our own tent and all three of us were completely out of it within fifteen minutes. It had just gone 330am.