A/N: Final update of the year! Hope 2023 served everyone well. Nothing else to say really but "Happy New Year!"
The campgrounds had been rowdy well into the night, which Harry had expected. People were celebrating a rather spectacular game of Quidditch, as well as just enjoying the atmosphere. It was simply fun to be surrounded by people who shared an interest and a passion with you, and there were few people in the world, muggle or magical, that could match the raw enthusiasm of a Qudditch fan. Harry briefly wondered if the muggle football fans could give Quidditch buffs a run for their money, and he was of the mindset that they could.
What made Harry the happiest though, was seeing Susan so ecstatic at the game. She had been talking non-stop about how incredible both team's performances were, and while Harry could appreciate Quidditch, he simply couldn't match her enthusiasm for it. That was fine though, Susan was enthusiastic enough for all of them.
Hermione by contrast was less enthused about the whole thing. She was happily joining in on the festivities around her, but it was quite obvious that she didn't care a thing for the sport. She was here for the surrounding experience, and because it made Susan happy. Harry was glad that the girls he had chosen were willing to do things like that for each other. That they were willing to go outside of their respective comfort zones to make another member of their group feel seen and validated in their hobbies and interests. That made Harry smile.
All parties though, had died out by midnight, and those who remained at the campground started to slowly make their ways to their beds to sleep off the excitement of the day. Susan had fallen asleep in her chair, a sight that was adorable to Harry.
"You kids go ahead and turn in. We'll be leaving decently early in the morning, so you need your sleep." Sirius said, as he checked around the firepit they were using, ensuring no errant embers would set the tent ablaze.
"Probably for the best. Night Sirius, Night Mum." Harry said, as he walked over and picked up Susan. Harry was glad for the physical training he had done for his dueling lessons, with the strength he gained from that, carrying Susan from her chair to her bed was an incredibly simple matter.
Harry laid down in his cot between Hermione and Susan's, and closed his eyes, letting sleep quickly take over his mind.
Harry awoke to a strange smell in the air, and a tightness in his chest he was unsure about. Smoke? Harry shot up, and saw that the air in the tent was indeed filled with smoke. Nymphadora had apparently been brought awake by the sensation as well, and was rolling out of bed herself. Harry shook Susan and Hermione, rousing them both from their slumber.
"Harry? What?" Hermione asked drowsily, not processing what was happening yet.
"Fire, get up we've gotta move." Harry said, as he made sure to grab their wands. Clothes and other items were completely replaceable, the wands weren't really.
That had placed urgency in the pair, and they quickly shot up and grabbed their wands from Harry's hands as they made their escape from their room. Sirius and Andromeda had just exited their bedroom, and were on their way over. "Good you're awake. Come on, quick!" Sirius said, holding the tent flap open for everyone to get out.
"I thought you made sure the campfire wasn't going to set the tent on fire?" Andromeda asked.
"I did." Sirius said, as everyone made their way out of the tent. What greeted them was more smoky air, and the orange glow of flames coming from all around them.
"There's no way this many people's tents caught on fire by accident, not in so many places." Nymphadora said. "Someone's attacking people, but who?"
"Over here! It's the Potter brat who killed the Dark Lord!" Came a voice from down the way, and Harry had only a moment to dodge before some unknown spell shot past his head.
Instinct came over Harry as he pulled out his wand. "Stupefy!" he incanted, his mind barely processing what he was doing as the white ball of energy shot from his wand and into the chest of his attacker. He crumpled at the spell, and Harry regained his senses.
"Death Eaters? Now? Why?" Sirius asked aloud, though certainly not to any of them.
"Oh no. Look, Mum, Sirius, if there are Death Eaters, I have to go help any of the other Aurors deal with this." Nymphadora said.
"I can't stop you, this is your job. Be safe and come home to me okay?" Andy said, kissing her daughter on her head.
"It'll take more than some whack-jobs in masks to take me down." Nym said, hugging her mother before running off.
Harry took a look at the man he had stunned. He was in black robes that concealed the vast majority of his body, leaving only his face exposed. That though, was covered by a silver skull mask Harry hadn't seen before, but it invoked some kind of primal deep-seated fear in him. Like he recognized the mask more instinctively than actually. Harry wondered if perhaps he had seen it, that Halloween night.
Harry shook his head. Less focusing on the past, focus on now. What could he do now? Luna. Luna needed his help. Fleur too maybe. "We should go find Luna and the Weasleys, make sure they get to safety." Harry said, trying to be confident. He couldn't tell if it was working, but it was better than the alternative.
"You're right, we should try and help." Sirius said. "Hate to drag you into this pups, but you're here already. Harry, do you remember how to get to their tent?"
"Yeah, come on. This way." Harry said, as he began moving through the rows of tents, the others following behind.
The devastation these Death Eaters were bringing was wide-spread. Harry thankfully hadn't seen any dead bodies yet, but he wasn't naive enough to believe that no one had been hurt yet. The flames had overtaken too many tents.
Harry saw a group of people, being surrounded by a group of the dark cloaked figures. Harry pointed them out and said "We need to help them!" Sirius and Andy nodded, and the three sent Stunners towards the dark figures. Three had gone down before the others could even blink, and the confusion had bought those in the middle enough time to ready a counterattack. Harry watched as one of the individuals banished a stone into the chest of one of the Death Eaters, and then saw one of the others petrify another one. It was after that that he recognized who he was looking at, it was Marianne and Fleur, who were standing with the rest of the Delacour family. "Fleur!" Harry called out.
"'Arry! You are un'armed?" Fleur asked, the excitement of the situation bringing her accent back to the forefront.
"I'm fine, are all of you okay?" Harry asked, looking over their group. Harry didn't see Appoline or Gabrielle, which worried him. "Where's your mother and sister?" Harry asked.
"They went home shortly after the match. Gabrielle was upset that Bulgaria had lost, and Maman was happy to avoid the celebrations. Papa and I stayed to see some of the other festivities, although I am beginning to believe this was a bad idea." Fleur said, as her father nodded.
"We're making our way out of the tents, but it seems whoever these people are have been blocking a lot of the exits. They shut down apparition too, so we're stuck until we can find a way out." Mr. Delacour said.
"Yeah, that's how Death Eaters always operated, make people unable to flee and cause mass panic." Sirius said.
"You're familiar with this group?" Jean-Paul asked.
"Fought in the war against them in the 70s." Sirius said. "We thought they'd all gone to ground after their leader died. Seems this group didn't get the memo."
Harry wondered about that. He knew that at least some part of Voldemort had survived that Halloween. He'd fought part of him in the back of Quirrell's head in his first year, and then a memory of him locked in the diary during his second. Was it possible that more pieces of him were floating around? Giving orders to his minions this many years after his demise? If not, why now? What's changed?
"Alright, how about we stick together until we can make it out of these wards huh? We're looking for another family. Bunch of red-heads, they'll have a blonde girl with them too." Sirius said, and Harry snapped back to reality. Luna first, worrying about the Death Eaters later. "How much further to their tent Harry?"
"Shouldn't be too much farther, come on." Harry said, as he continued navigating towards the Weasley tent.
Said tent was found within only a few minutes, it didn't appear to be damaged at all, which eased Harry's worries a bit. Arthur and Molly Weasley came out of the tent holding their wands.
"Back off you… Oh, Sirius. Good to see you, dearie." Molly Weasley said, her face briefly as red as her children's hair before returning to a normal color. "Nasty business isn't it?"
"Putting it lightly Molly. All your kids here and accounted for?" Sirius asked, keeping an eye out for any more Death Eaters. The bodies of several stunned ones lined the ground in front of the tent. Did Mr. Weasley do that?
"Oh yes, all mine that were here. Little Luna and Cedric too. We heard the commotion and started trying to evacuate when Ronald realized he left his wand. We just got back to grab it when you all arrived." Molly said.
"Alright. How about you all stick with us while we make our way out of here? We need to get beyond the anti-apparition wards, and then one of us can get someone here for the others." Sirius said.
"Good then. Kids! Amos! Come on, we're leaving!" Molly said into the tent. Several red-heads poured out of the tent, followed by a portly man in a funny hat, a handsome boy a few years older than Harry, and Luna.
"Hello Harry. Have you come to rescue me? I've been waiting a while for my turn." Luna said in her usual cheerful tone.
"Don't know if I'm doing much of the saving here, but come on, let's go." Harry said, grabbing Luna's hand.
As they made their way through more and more rows of destroyed tents, Harry was briefly worried that being in such a large crowd would draw too much attention to themselves. There were sixteen of them in the group, so they couldn't be very stealthy. Harry kept his wand held tightly in his hand, running through his list of spells. Stupefy had been effective so far, and as far as general purpose attack spells, it got the job done. He didn't have as much practice with it as he'd like for a situation like this, Stupefy was dangerous to use in a tournament setting, as overpowering it too much could be fatal. Flitwick had pounded that into Harry's head enough to know he needed to be sparing with its use, Harry already had more power than a standard adult wizard, and he still had a lot of development to do. A stunner he put too much power into could permanently stop someone's heart.
Continuing on, it was clear that everyone was tense. Even the traditionally laid-back Weasley twins didn't make any jokes during their sauntering through the ruins of what was once a joyous campground. Harry thought for a moment he saw a body of someone, burned, lying under the charred remains of some leather tent. Sirius took no time to wait for Harry to confirm his suspicions though, which was probably for the best. The group had almost made their way away from the largest section of the campground when it appeared.
Massive greenish-black clouds filled the air, coalescing from the smoke and ash of the burning tents, forming a shape. A large skull, two or three stories high appeared in the sky gaping its jaw open in a slow deliberate movement. A tongue rolled out of its mouth, or rather, what at first appeared to be a tongue. This "tongue" grew fangs, and a tongue of its own as its tip elongated and widened to form the head of a viper. The whole image was unsettling at the very least, and brought forth another bit of primal unknowable fear from Harry.
"The Dark Mark? They're claiming this openly?" Sirius asked aloud. His face was pale, more so than usual, the kind of pale that only came from a man who was looking at something that truly scared him. All the adults had that expression on their faces, coupled with thousand-yard stares that came from those who had seen something terrible in the past. The kind of look that Harry had seen in interviews with American soldiers from Vietnam. This mark was more than just a message of identification, it was designed to not just invoke fear. It invoked terror, raw primal terror that resonated deep within oneself.
Noticing how the other adults had paused, Jean-Paul kept everyone else moving. After a few minutes, the group had come across a gathering of aurors, who were corralling escapees from the camp.
"Over here! Do you have any injured?" A voice came from one of the aurors, a large man with dark skin.
"No injuries, just some surprise I imagine." Jean-Paul replied, as he did a quick head count to make sure everyone was present. "Where do you want us?"
"Fall in over here. We'll ask some questions to get to the bottom of what happened here, and we'll let you go afterwards." The auror said, and the group followed his instructions.
It was just after dawn when everyone was finally released, and the adrenaline of the night had completely worn off. Hermione and Susan were once more unconscious, and Harry was beginning to drift as well. Every time he closed his eyes though, the image of the skull and the snake projected itself against the inside of his eyelids.