Before going to sleep, Harry imagined himself flying like a Quaffle, entering the stadium, and hearing Ludovic Bagman's voice booming around:
- And on the field... Po-o-Potter!
But whether he was daydreaming or his imagination merged with real dreams, an unexpected cry from Mr. Weasley abruptly interrupted him:
- Wake up! Ron, Harry, get up, quickly!
The boys quickly realized that the situation had changed. All the fun and joy of the competition disappeared, replaced by cries of desperation and horror. People were running around, seeking shelter. The air was thick with tension. Something terrible was happening.
Leaving the tent, Ron and Harry looked around. Amidst the general panic, they saw real Death Eaters for the first time in their lives. Drunken Death Eaters were tormenting Mr. Roberts, the Muggle manager of the camp, and deriving great amusement from it. Harry saw Ministry workers trying to overpower the Death Eaters, but they couldn't do anything because the Death Eaters threatened to drop Mr. Roberts and his family from a great height.
"This is madness... Absolute madness!" Ron muttered, watching the Death Eaters torment innocent Muggles.
From the boy's tent, Ron's brothers and Mr. Weasley emerged, while Ginny, Hermione, and Fleur hurried out of the girls' tent. Fleur cast a predatory glance at the Death Eaters as soon as she noticed them. It looked as though an unknown beast had found a few more victims, and the Death Eaters were nothing more than agile prey to her.
"We'll help the Ministry guards!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "All of you, let's go into the woods and stick together. I'll come for you once we've dealt with this."
Taking Bill, Percy, and Charlie with him, Mr. Weasley rushed toward the approaching column of Death Eaters.
"Let's go!" Fred grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her into the woods.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and George followed them. Jeanne hesitated for a moment, watching the approaching Death Eaters, but decided not to stay behind with familiar faces. Catching up to the others, she ran after them. When they reached the trees, they looked back.
The colorful lanterns that had illuminated the path to the stadium had gone out; dark figures strolled among the trees; somewhere, children were crying; alarming exclamations and panicked voices echoed through the cold night air.
Harry felt people jostling him from all directions, their faces unrecognizable. Then he heard Ron grunt in pain.
"What happened?" Hermione anxiously asked, stopping so abruptly that Harry crashed into her. "Ron, where are you? Oh, how foolish of me."
She lit her wand and directed a narrow beam of light across the road - Ron was lying sprawled on the ground.
"Tripped over a root," he grumbled angrily, getting up again.
"Well, with feet that big, it's no wonder," came a voice from behind, drawling the words.
Malfoy stood a few steps away from them, leaning against a tree with a completely nonchalant expression. With his arms folded across his chest, he watched the events in the camp through a gap in the trees.
Ron reacted vehemently to the unexpected encounter with Malfoy. Malfoy didn't appreciate his reaction and advised Ron to choose his words carefully.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to leave? You wouldn't want her to be noticed, right?" Malfoy nodded towards Hermione.
- What does that mean? - Hermione asked challengingly.
- Granger, they're looking for Muggles. Don't you want to show off your trousers between heaven and earth? Oh, and there's this French girl with you... I wonder if she's from your kind?
Understanding the conversation, Jeanne quickly approached Malfoy. She got close to him and stared at him for a few seconds, as if deciding what to do with him. This gaze made Malfoy feel uneasy.
- Whatever you're thinking of - my father will crush you, girl! - he shrugged her off.
- And where are your parents? - Harry exclaimed angrily. - They're among the masked ones, aren't they?
Malfoy turned to Harry, still smiling.
- Well... even if they were there, I doubt I would tell you, agree, Potter.
Jeanne looked Malfoy up and down, and for a moment a shadow of regret flickered in her eyes. Then she glanced at the Death Eaters, and looking into Malfoy's eyes, she drew the ugliest grin he had ever seen on her face. At the same moment, she stomped her foot. Under Jeanne's shoe, a branch snapped unpleasantly, causing Malfoy to flinch. It could have made him fall, but the tree held him up.
- Oh, just stop it. - Hermione said, looking at Malfoy with disgust. - Let's go find the others.
- Don't stick your bushy head out, Granger. - Malfoy smirked.
- Let's go. - Hermione repeated and dragged Ron and Harry toward the road.
- I bet his father is one of those masked gang! - Ron declared angrily.
- Well, in any case, the Ministry's people will catch him! - Hermione remarked with genuine feelings. - I just don't understand, where did everyone else go?
There was no sign of Fred, George, and Ginny, although the road was crowded with people - everyone nervously glanced at the chaotic camp. Nearby on the road, a group of teenagers in pajamas was arguing loudly. The girl from their group approached them and spoke in French. Hermione guessed - they were students from Beauxbatons. Including Jeanne in the conversation, they managed to find out that the French students were looking for the headmistress of their academy. After the conversation, Hermione thanked Jeanne for her help, but looked at her with a shadow of distrust. Harry and Ron noticed it in their friend's eyes.
- Do you suspect her of something? - Harry whispered.
- Only that she didn't study at Beauxbatons. - Hermione replied. - She doesn't even know the name of the headmistress. How is that possible?
- Maybe their headmistress isn't as popular and charismatic as Professor Dumbledore. - Ron suggested.
- Come on, don't be ridiculous! - Harry tried to intervene. - Maybe Beauxbatons isn't the only school in France.
- If that's true, I hope she won't embarrass herself in front of our teachers, especially Professor Snape!
Ron lit his wand and looked around.
- Fred and George couldn't have gone far. - he said.
Harry also reached into his pocket for his wand, but only found the currently useless Omnioculars that he had used in the stadium.
- Oh no, it can't be! I've lost my magic wand! - he exclaimed in frustration.
- Are you kidding me?
Ron and Hermione raised their wands higher to illuminate the ground, but it didn't help - the wands were nowhere to be seen. They looked at Jeanne. She held her wand like an experienced fencer. Her wand resembled a sword in appearance - long, pointed, with an almost complete hilt.
Hermione thought it was unlikely that Ollivander made such wands as she saw.
"Maybe she left it in the tent?" Ron suggested.
"Perhaps it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" Hermione said.
"Yes," muttered Harry. "Maybe."
In the next moment, the sound of suspicious rustling startled the three. Fortunately, it turned out to be Dobby the house-elf. Harry remembered her well - she occupied a seat in the Ministry's box for her master. She was behaving strangely now - muttering about bad wizards and moving as if something invisible was blocking her.
The path led them deeper into the forest, and Fred and George were nowhere to be seen. Along the way, they came across a group of goblins crowing over a huge bag of gold. They had undoubtedly made a successful bet and won. Not far from them, they saw three beautiful veela, whom men of all kinds were bragging about. Seeing through their simple lies, the trio laughed to themselves and hastened to pass by.
When the voices of the veela and the hunters of their hearts fell silent in the distance, in the heart of the forest the three stumbled upon Ludovic Bagman. He looked worse for wear, as if something was bothering him. They told him what had happened, and he transfigured without wasting time on lengthy conversations. The trio decided to stay here and started discussing what had happened and its reasons, but before they could come to any serious conclusions, they heard a suspicious noise from the bushes. Hiding so as not to be seen, they noticed someone's shadow emerging from the woods.
"Morsmordre!" shouted the unknown person, pointing their wand at the sky. Something huge and unknown soared high, and Harry quickly looked up to where it was going.
"What the..." Ron sighed, jumping to his feet and staring at the strange apparition.
A giant green skull glowed in the sky, and it seemed as though a snake protruded from it. Cries tore through the forest. What had happened? Harry wondered. Had all this noise been caused by this symbol in the sky?
"Hey, who's there?" he called, trying to get the attention of the person who created this sign. No one responded.
"Harry, come on, let's go!" Hermione grabbed his jacket and dragged him back.
Jeanne tried to go on the offensive, but Ron grabbed her leg and pulled her with them.
"What happened?" Harry asked, seeing Hermione's pale, frightened face.
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione dragged him with all her might. "You-know-who's sign!"
"Voldemort?"
"Hurry, Harry!" Hermione pleaded.
They were about to leave the clearing when twenty claps echoed around them, and wizards with raised wands appeared.
"Get down!" Harry shouted, knocking his companions to the ground.
In the next moment, those twenty wizards could have attacked them.
"Stop!" roared a familiar voice. "Cease! This is my son!"
Harry lifted his head slightly. Mr. Weasley was standing over them.
"Ron... Harry!" His voice trembled. "Hermione... Jeanne... Are you all okay?"
"Step aside, Arthur."
Mr. Crouch, Percy's boss, approached them along with the wizards from the Ministry. He was questioning the trio, hoping to catch them in the act of conjuring the Dark Mark, but they swore they hadn't done it.
- Did any of you see where the Dark Mark came from? - Mr. Weasley asked.
The kids showed where they saw the person who cast it. The wizards went in that direction. They found the culprit. It turned out to be the house-elf Winky, and she was holding Harry's magical wand.
A couple of hours later, Harry was trying to fall asleep but couldn't. He kept replaying the events of the previous evening in his mind. In his mind's eye, he saw the frightened Winky, assuring Mr. Crouch that she didn't summon the Dark Mark, didn't see anyone, and didn't use Harry's wand. She only found the wand at the spot where the Dark Mark appeared. And yet, Mr. Crouch was adamant. He intended to free her, so as to never have anything to do with Winky again.
"I have no use for a house-elf who doesn't obey my orders."
"Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers released the Dark Mark every time they killed someone," Mr. Weasley's words echoed in Harry's mind as he drifted off to sleep. "The terror it inspired... You have no idea. You have no idea, you were too young. Just imagine approaching your own home, seeing the Dark Mark hovering over it, and realizing what you would find inside... Everyone feared the worst... the absolute worst..."
Three days ago, Harry was awakened by a burning sensation in his scar. Today, for the first time in thirteen years, someone sent Voldemort's emblem into the sky. He couldn't explain everything that had happened, but he subconsciously sensed a connection between these events.