I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the two main pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them certainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
For now, the story will update every second Saturday, until I say otherwise.
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Chapter 39: The Dark Mark
"Again, I'm sorry. I had no idea you would react this badly to the portkey," Arthur told the children, feeling guilty for not having warned them what to expect, thus resulting in all six of them vomiting right after arrival.
He got no reply - not that he expected one. While magic had been really helpful in cleaning up the mess, though they still smelled and would need a bath, the children rightfully were ticked off that there had been no warning about that portkey travel involved. Even Luna looked unhappy, and that was a very clear sign. It honestly baffled them why they'd even been given breakfast considering what possibly could happen, especially due to them still being tired.
I better don't speak any further about this. Man, poor Basil getting that mess all over his shoes and robes, Arthur thought, thinking of the wizard who had documented their arrival.
They continued to walk in silence through a forested area until Hermione spotted an old, half rotted sign. "'Warning, live ammunition used in this area'? Where exactly is the finale taking place?"
"Well, the original plans, which involved an area close to a regular camping ground, were axed when the non-magical government got involved. They made an agreement that they close off an old military training area for us to use, since this land still belongs to the military," Arthur explained.
Hermione let out a small prayer to the heavens. "Please let no one find not exploded ordnance. That would only end badly."
"I'm pretty sure the government won't be so petty as to give the Ministry a place for the finale that is contaminated with live ammunition. Alone for the security of their soldiers while they had still used it, cleaning up had to be a must-have," Harry tried to reassure Hermione.
Despite that, Hermione still felt a bit unwell.
They walked for a little longer before reaching the camp site, although considering its size the name didn't really fit. It looked like a small city made of tents had grown here in the middle of nowhere, all the tents organized in 'city blocks' with dirt paths allowing for foot travel between the various parts of this temporary city.
Due to the fact that everyone within miles was magical, the inhabitants of this tent city saw little reason to hide its nature. A lot of tents had things like chimneys, bellpulls and weather vanes added to them, or had other weird things set up in front of them. Then there were the tents that were meant to impress, like one that looked like a miniature castle, or one with a portable front garden.
"I guess some people like to show off," Harry remarked.
"Yes, which makes me thankful that the original plans got altered. Many of us are simply bad at trying to hide our true nature," Arthur said, remembering some of the more prominent cases he'd seen over the years, including to his embarrassment some blunders of his own.
Most people still seemed to be asleep while they walked down the dirt paths to find the reserved place where they could erect their tents. Only a few people were up and about, including one witch who complained about too much firewhiskey before barfing, causing the six friends to look away in disgust, as it reminded them too much of their own recent bout of vomiting.
"Hey, Arthur, over here!"
That was Sirius, and indeed, there he stood in front of a rather ordinary-looking tent, while Diane sat on a camping chair next to it, looking a bit sleepy and holding a cup of warm coffee. The spot next to their tent was empty and could easily hold two tents. Bagman clearly wanted to suck up to Sirius, thus why he had arranged for the Weasleys to be situated right next to Sirius.
"Hello Sirius, Diane," Arthur greeted them, then looked at their tent. "A bit of a relief that not everyone sees the need to show off."
"Yes, having money doesn't mean you have to flaunt it. Some others however didn't get the memo." Sirius pointed to a big tent looking like an extravagant confection of striped silk like a miniature palace, with several live peacocks tethered at the entrance. "Lucius never had good taste."
"That monstrosity belongs to the Malfoys?" Ginny asked, though already knowing the answer. "What's with the peacocks?"
"As I said, no taste whatsoever. Guess the peacocks are representative of how vain he is, although it very well could also have been Narcissa, since she always got that need to flaunt around her wealth." Sirius then looked to a different tent very close to that of the Malfoys. "Though the Parkinsons are not much better."
The Parkinson tent was a clear case of wanting to play in the big leagues, being a veritable silk castle with small towers, a garden with two big and kitschy fountains surrounding it. Yet, it was obvious that the tent's owners were trying to show off in order to be accepted by the old money, but were missing the mark by some distance.
"So knowing our luck, we'll have to endure both families in the top box. Wonderful..." Harry remarked, hoping against better knowledge that it wouldn't be the case.
"Well, enough of the chatter about rich fops. Let me help you put up your tents, Arthur... From where did you get the second one for the girls?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, Perkins in the office let me borrow his for the occasion. He no longer uses it, now that he's suffering from lumbago," Arthur explained while removing the tents from his backpack.
While the men were busy with erecting the tents, Diane became more awake thanks to her coffee and noticed a smell. "Children, no offense, but all six of you smell rather strongly. What happened?"
"Well, we didn't have a chance to wash ourselves yet. There also had been an accident when using the portkey..." Neville was a bit reluctant to admit what had actually happened.
"It is a sad reality that being sleepy and just having eaten do not mix well with using a portkey for the first time," Luna admitted, actually feeling embarrassed about it. It had not been one of her better moments and quite unpleasant at that.
"So that is that smell," Diane said, grimacing when realizing it was the smell of vomit on them. Vanishing the vomit had not gotten rid of the smell. "Better get cleaned up once the tents are standing and put these clothes into the wash."
"Thank all goodness for magical tents," Ron sighed, playing upon the fact that the inside of these tents were like a house with all the needed conveniences like bathrooms.
It was half an hour later that the children emerged from the tents, now freshly showered and wearing clean clothes. The girls still had slightly damp hair, but thanks to the summer temperatures that problem would solve itself quickly. Sitting down at a table that Diane had set up, they gladly accepted mugs with warm cocoa milk.
"Ahhh... This is much better," Hermione sighed while enjoying her warm drink. "I hope the twins don't mind being separated from you for a bit."
"Well, they were little disappointed they couldn't come, but there is no way I want the magical world to learn of their existence until they are older; if possible only when they attend Hogwarts," Diane explained her reasoning to leave Steve and Kathleen in the care of Thomas and Veronica. "I on the other hand am a big girl and can take the verbal abuse some of them give me."
Diane being revealed to the magical world during last year's visit to Diagon Alley - someone had sold the story and photos had turned up - had filled up many pages in Witch Weekly and other publications. The fact that Sirius Black had married a non-magical woman had not surprised many, since Sirius did have a certain reputation. Those that already disliked him as a blood-traitor now just had an extra reason to do so.
Neville meanwhile looked around, noticing the steadily growing activity in the tent town. "Looks like everyone is getting up. Eh, when are the others expected to arrive?"
Arthur looked at his pocket watch. "Not for another two hours."
Ron also looked around in fascination, now that he no longer was sleepy. "Dad, maybe we can explore a bit? This all looks really interesting."
"You certainly all are old enough. Also, considering the number of Ministry officials being present, there is no reason to say no," Arthur decided, then looked to Sirius and Diane. "Any objections?"
Sirius waved it off. "None. After all, we don't want to become mother hens. They need their freedom to explore."
"You two are not coming?" Ginny asked when seeing Fred and George not getting up from their seats.
"Nah, we'll sit here and enjoy this drink of the gods," Fred said while getting a refill in his cup.
"Yes, there also are a few things we want to take a look at, now that we are out of the house," George added, taking out a wand that looked to be rather fake. No doubt another piece of their future merchandise, which somehow had survived the purge and they managed to smuggle out.
I better don't ask how they smuggled that one out, Ron thought, knowing how resourceful his brothers could be when being pressed.
Walking at a leisure pace through the tent town, they took in the various sights.
It really looked like these wizards and witches had come from all corners of the world to witness this event. One of the more unusual sights were three African wizards in long white robes sitting around a purple fire, roasting a rabbit over it. Then there was the tent of several middle-aged American witches, whose nationality was being made very clear by the huge American flag hanging from a flagpole next to their tent. They also did spot three Bedouin-style tents, seeing an Arabic woman exiting form one of them.
The number of languages they hard gave an idea how these people came from all corners of the world. There also was an interesting divide in that while many of the people did dress in traditional wizarding outfits of their countries, an equal amount of people dressed, like them, in modern clothes. It indicated that the modern times seeping into wizarding culture, and the tension it caused, was not only an issue in Britain.
"This all feels a bit like a fair showing the people of the world. I never really thought about how different wizards and witches from other countries could be," Harry admitted while looking around. "It's also like behind each corner we see something new and unusual."
"Look at that. Seems we do have green week," Luna said, pointing to several rows of tents that were covered with a thick growth of shamrocks, making them look like they had grown out of the ground.
"All right, this is new and unusual," Harry admitted.
"They are from Ireland, though all the flags are a dead giveaway. No wonder they are here in force, considering their team made it into the finale," Ron commented at the sight, clearly not finding it that unusual.
"Hey, I know these faces! Over here!"
That voice was familiar. Indeed, they did see Seamus Finnigan, a fellow Gryffindor in their year, sit in front of one tent together with his friend Dean Thomas. Next to them sat a sandy-haired woman who could only be Seamus' mother. Surprised at seeing familiar faces, they walked over quickly.
"You like the decorations? This is the first time in many years that Ireland has a chance to win the title, so we decided to actively show our presence," Seamus explained the decor.
"It certainly is... unique, though perhaps with a bit too many flags," Neville said carefully, knowing how Seamus was an Irish patriot and secretly didn't like that unlike on the non-magical side, the Ministry in London was still calling the shots.
"You can never show your allegiance too often," Seamus' mother remarked, looking up from what she was doing for a moment. "When you walk by the Bulgarians, take a look what they got dangling all over their tents. Those people have no taste."
"I can remember you saying that you got invited to the World Cup, Dean, but it still is a bit weird to see you here in the middle of all this green," Harry meanwhile asked Dean, honestly not having expected to run into him.
"You should have seen how envious my siblings were that I get to see this after I told them," Dean said, also playing upon the fact that he was the only one in the family who got magic. "I had to promise them to take many pictures," he added, pointing at the camera hanging from a strap over his shoulder. "After England not even qualifying for the Football World Cup this year, this is compensation."
"Even at school we heard of that one," Harry agreed. England humiliating themselves by not even qualifying for the Football World Cup in the United States had stung quite a bit.
"I hope all of you root for Ireland," Seamus said, making clear he wouldn't like if they didn't.
"After what happened to England, Wales and Scotland of course Ireland is the last chance to get the title to the British Isles," Ginny said, making clear what her preference was.
"Yes, though for myself it's a bit of a conflict, since Krum is on the Bulgarian team," Ron admitted.
Dean knew what Ron was talking about. "Yes, I've read about him. A bit of a shame that we have to wish for his team to lose."
Their exploration then continued and soon enough they had reached the tents of the Bulgarians, easy to be recognized by the various Bulgarian flags. The tents themselves looked rather ordinary, but each of them had a poster of a man with heavy black eyebrows and a surely face attached to it. Of course the couldn't read cyrillic script, but Ron did recognize the man right away for his friends.
"Guys, look, that's Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker," Ron explained, pointing at one poster.
Hermione took a closer look. "Well, he looks quite... serious. To think he's just three years older than us is a bit mind-boggling."
"That's simply who he is. It's a real shame that he has to play against Ireland, otherwise I would really look forward to what tricks he can pull off," Ron said with a sigh, being annoyed at divided loyalties.
They continued their exploration of the camp grounds and did manage to meet several other people they knew from Hogwarts. Most of the interactions were friendly, though some were strained, like when Ginny gave Cho Chang a cold look, clearly still not having fully forgiven the girl for going for the win while a panic had broken out during that game.
"Ah, I knew I saw correctly!"
All of them knew this voice, and indeed they saw Oliver Wood walk towards them with a big grin. "Oliver, haven't seen you since you left Hogwarts! How are you faring?" Ginny ask, since despite the man having some faults she did have good memories of him as the Captain of the Quidditch team.
"Things are going great!" the former student told them excitedly. "I've signed a contract for being on the reserve team of Puddlemere United."
"So you did make it. Yes, only the reserve, but that's understandable. They want time to make sure you measure up to their standards," Harry observed.
"Yes, having managed my own reserve team in Hogwarts taught me it's good for getting the skills before things get serious. Really have to thank you for insisting we have one, otherwise I probably would have been disappointed," Wood explained. "Ah, and there is out local master strategist."
"Oliver, please..." Ron felt uncomfortable with so much praise given to his Quidditch strategy.
"No no, praise where it's due. Without you there would have been no chance for us to get the cup a second time," Wood quickly shut Ron up, causing Ron's face to match his hair in color.
Re-uniting with Wood was quite a relaxing affair, and the young man insisted to introduce them to his parents Wood did promise to come over to them in the evening after the game was over - since he didn't expect it to go for too long with two such professional teams. The thought of Wood meeting Arthur and Sirius made them wonder how that would turn out.
They were just walking back to their tents when they stumbled upon a scene.
Three teenage girls had cornered a blond girl who looked like she already was a young adult and the boys in the group couldn't help but to notice she seemed to be exceptionally beautiful. The girls had to be French, since they hissed things like "Putain!", "Voleur d'hommes!" and "Cul paresseux!" at the older girl, which had to be insults.
The older girl for her part didn't look scared, like she had heard that too often. The way the girl was trying to keep a face of indifference also spoke volumes.
"Hey, you! What do you three think you are doing!?" Harry shouted, for some reason being a bit more aggressive than he had thought he would be. "Get lost!"
As it turned out, all bullies did have the same behavior. As soon as they were confronted with someone who didn't take their shit and was capable of fighting back, they turned into cowards. The three rude girls, seeing that they got an audience, paled in fear and ran off, leaving behind the victim of their verbal attacks. The girl for her part sighed when seeing the boys and a moment later it was like a light fog had lifted from Harry's, Ron's and Neville's minds, making them wonder what had happened.
"Je te remercie. Leurs insultes étaient très blessantes," [I thank you. Their insults were very hurtful,] the girl told them, her mask of indifference having dopped.
Thing was, none of them could speak French... with the exception of Hermione. "Je suis désolé, mais mes amis ne parlent pas français," [I'm sorry, but my friends don't speak French,] Hermione excused the non-reaction of her friends.
"Oh..." It seemed the girl only now realized the problem and looked a bit embarrassed at her faux-pas. "Thank... you. It is not too often... that others defend me," she told them, and the way she had to stop at times showed she was not yet fluent in English.
"Anyone decent would have done so. No one deserves to be bullied," Harry told her. The girl then gave them a wave with her hand before leaving.
"There was something weird about that girl," Neville said, watching her walk away.
"Weird? I didn't notice anything" Ginny said, wondering what Neville was talking about.
"So it was not only me?" Ron said. "It was like there was some kind of fog in my mind and some kind of halo surrounding her, making her look like something in these magazines the upper year boys like to read. I'm glad it suddenly stopped or I probably would have done something I didn't want to do."
"It was like that for me as well, only that it also made me even more eager to help out the girl and chase away these bullies," Harry admitted. "The desire had been there anway, but all of a sudden it had priority to me."
The girls now looked disturbed at that confession, and Luna finally put the puzzle pieces together. "That girl has a magical allure which makes her look incredibly attractive to boys, but does nothing to us girls."
Hermione grimaced at the implications. "That explains why these girls were so hostile to her, though she can hardly be blamed for how she was born."
"I'm thankful she turned it off once she realized she was doing it. I guess that she didn't even notice what she was doing means it's sort of leaking out of her, as if she doesn't yet have full control of it when she is distracted," Harry added.
It left them with the realization that becoming magically more attractive to men was kind of fake and cheapened the whole experience for everyone involved, especially for the girl in question with said powers, while at the same time giving her the enmity of other girls. And teenage girls could be especially cruel to those they saw as the enemy.
Looking at it at that angle, it was a crappy power to have.
...some time later...
The table now was set and magically enlarged to have enough seating space available. This would now be a proper breakfast and enough time had passed to settle stomachs and for hunger to return. All of them had just sat down when Bill, Charlie and Percy arrived.
"Ahhh, just in time," Charlie said when seeing that the table had been set. He especially eyes the coffee pot with anticipation.
"Dig in, boys. Just mind your manners," Diane said, knowing very well the table manners of young men when hungry.
Percy rolled his eyes when hearing that. "That's a lost cause. Mum has tried for years and these two didn't get it."
Everyone then did dig in and it was a very nice and filling breakfast. The children did tell the others of the things they had seen in the tent town and of the people they had met. Sirius, Arthur and Diane had nothing against meeting Wood, feeling they should see what kind of man had led Gryffindor through three years of Quidditch.
In the middle of it however, they got a visitor. "Ah, Arthur! What a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming... and hardly a hiccup in the arrangements... Not much for me to do!"
The man did look memorable. For some reason he was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal stripes of bright yellow and black. An enormous picture of a wasp was splashed across his chest. His nose was squashed like that of a boxer who got his in the face too many times. Considering the man looked to be past the Quidditch prime age and also a bit overweight, his choice of dress looked more like a longing for days past.
Arthur felt the need to introduce the man. "Everyone, this is Ludo Bagman. Once celebrated Quidditch player and now head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. He's the one who organized the tickets for me."
"No problem, you helped Otto get out of a tight spot," Bagman waved it off. "Can I get some coffee? All this walking around is making me thirsty." He did get a cup. "Ahh, much better. My counterpart on the Bulgarian side is making my life difficult, especially since I don't understand him."
That Bagman hadn't bothered with having organized a translator in time was a big warning sign right there.
"I haven't been in your department for some time. How is Bertha doing, Ludo?" Arthur asked, wanting to catch up now that they did have the time.
"No idea." When there was no reply, Bagman decided to go into detail. "She hasn't been seen since her vacation to Albania. Nah, she'll turn up just walking into the office, probably thinking it's still January. No need to involve law enforcement just because of bad memory."
There was astonishment at such an uncaring and dismissive attitude to someone who was missing for seven months. That Bagman had not even seen the need to notify the authorities of his missing co-worker let their opinion of him plummet. Granted, he organized tickets for them, but meeting the man in person was proving that once having been a great Quidditch player did not automatically make someone a good person.
How did someone like him even get into such a high position? Hermione wondered in disgust.
Meanwhile Bagman again became all smiles. "Yes, before I forget! Any of you want to make a little bet on the outcome of the game? Some of you boys might want to, aren't you?"
Fred and George were about to speak up, when... -wham- Sirius slammed his hand onto the table. "Bagman, are you trying to rope minors into gambling?!"
Being suddenly confronted with the anger of someone like Sirius Black did hit Bagman unprepared. "Well... you see..."
Diane picked up from where her husband had let off. "Oh yes, you did. Even worse, it would be entirely on an honor system, and frankly, I don't trust you, Mr. Bagman."
Seeing that he had overstayed his welcome, Bagman decided to retreat. "Oh, I still have to prepare stuff for the evening... I have to go!" That said, he hastily left.
"Thanks..." Arthur sighed in relief. "He managed to get me the tickets, so there was no way I could have called him out on that."
"Why did you do that?" George asked, looking disappointed. "We could have made a fortune!"
"No, you wouldn't. He simply wanted to scam you out of your money. Did you even bother to see that he's not exactly a pillar of integrity?" Sirius waited for an answer but got none. "I thought so. Bets with people like him mean you lose either way. Next time don't get blinded by the idea of a quick win."
"Honestly. Just because he once was a famous player does not qualify him for public office," Hermione said, finding the idea stupid. "Perhaps becoming a team trainer or club owner, but not something like that."
Hermione's words reminded them that something indeed was not right with the Ministry if someone as unqualified as Ludo Bagman could get into a position of political power, regardless how minor his office seemed.
"Ah, finally found you." As distracted as they were, they had not noticed Penelope Clearwater until she had spoken. "This is quite the circus here, so it's difficult to get through. Percy, I hope you don't mind that I first need a coffee after all of this."
"Penny, you are here. Come, I've saved a seat for you," Percy said, sounding quite happy to see her while pointing at the empty camping chair next to him.
Fred and George couldn't help but snicker at the byplay between Percy and Penelope while he pulled back the camping chair for her like a gentleman. That was, until their father gave them a knowing look and they fell silent. After all, if your own father reminded you that you shouldn't make fun of your brother dating due to yourself never having attracted the interest of a girl, then you knew that your situation sucked.
...later that day, early evening...
Slowly the day had passed - though no one had noticed since it had been filled with so many things to see and explore in this multi-cultural tent town - and evening had settled. Everyone was streaming towards the stadium where the game would take place. That such a huge stadium had been built in secret was testament how big of an event this was.
However, the path towards the stadium led through dirt roads with rows of stands selling all kind of things, from snacks and drinks to all kind of trinkets related to the teams. It was every bit as bad as the salesmen in front of an ordinary football stadium, proving again that some things were universal. However, while most of the not food-related things offered where junk, some items had their use, as Sirius proved.
"What are these things?" Diane asked her husband while looking at the strange brass binoculars he had brought for all of them. All the knobs and dials on them made these things look like a strange piece of steampunk technology.
"Omnioculars. These binoculars have a built-in recorder that allows you to replay scenes or stop them. Basically binoculars and a camcorder in one gadget. Should be really useful for the game," Sirius explained.
"Almost as important as what we have," Ron called while he and the twins returned with all sorts of snacks and drinks.
"I should have known..." Hermione said with a sigh, though by now nothing anymore surprised her about Ron's hunger. "I've gotten us the programs so we know what comes first."
In the end all of them had bought some kind of souvenir before they made their way towards the stadium entrance. Thanks to their prime tickets they were granted entrance to the stairs leading to the top box. Thankfully, the stairs were of the self-moving kind, so they felt like standing on an escalator while being moved to the top box. They guessed that everyone else had less luck had was forced to move up the stairs the old-fashioned way.
"All of this really reminds me of Wembley. The size, the atmosphere... even the advertisements," Diane commented while looking around.
"I certainly can see where you are coming from," Sirius agreed with his wife.
Indeed, the stadium was huge, easily seting a hundred thousand, which put the Quidditch pitch back at Hogwarts to shame. The atmosphere indeed was like in a filled football stadium as well. And then there was the gigantic blackboard acting like the magical version of the huge electronic scoreboard found in football stadiums, right at the moment showing all kind of advertisements in golden script for things like broom manufacturers or stain removers.
Some things indeed are universal, Harry thought, remembering his last visit to a football stadium.
Reaching the top box itself, they saw that they were the first to arrive in it, so they made themselves comfortable and set down all their snacks and drinks on the provided small shelves besides their seats. Clearly whoever built this stadium was working from experience and knew what the spectators needed.
"Man, after seeing this, I will always feel the pitch at Hogwarts is tiny," Neville said while taking in the enormous stadium surrounding the pitch. "Even regular Quidditch stadiums look tiny compared to this."
"It is a nice reminder how small our population actually is," Luna said while tinkering with her omnioculars. "That it takes a world-important sports events to fill a stadium of this size, while in the non-magical world there are countless stadiums with this capacity, highlights the issue nicely."
"I never asked, but how big actually is the population of Magical Britain? Considering that the United Kingdom and Ireland together have a bit under 70 million inhabitants..." Hermione asked, remembering that each year at Hogwarts consisted of no more than 50 students, which was ridiculously little.
"To be honest, no one has made a full census in a while. I do know however that it has to be less than the number of people in this very stadium," Arthur told her, trying to remember the latest guesses correctly.
"I don't know how the Ministry works, but a government not knowing the size of its population base is not a good thing," Diane commented.
"These things are really nice," Ron meanwhile said, testing out his omnioculars. "We should keep those for Hogwarts, should be great for watching the games there... Hm, you think we also can record lessons with those? Really good magnification and... and I just saw Cedric Diggory snogging with Cho Chang." Ron put down his omnioculars. "I don't need to see that."
"Well, I wouldn't want to see Cho Chang snog someone, either," Ginny remarked, looking turned off at the mental image.
Hermione, meanwhile was skimming eagerly through her velvet-covered, tasseled program. "They say a display from the team mascots will precede the match," she told everyone. "I know of football teams that have a goose or a goat as a mascot, so what could these two teams have?"
"Oh that's always worth watching," Arthur said. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show. Can go great but can also backfire like that one team which had brought along mascots that caused the whole pitch to stink like a latrine."
Slowly the other people started to arrive in the top box. Arthur and Sirius were getting busy with shaking hands with clearly important people. While for Arthur it obviously was to show proper respect, with Sirius it seem to be a careful observation of a potential rival or ally. No doubt even at an occasion like this there was lots of politics in play.
Diane for her part didn't look too happy. "Honestly, how often are they going to ask if I'm really your wife?! I feel like some of them treat me like an exhibit in a zoo."
"Maybe knowing that you are way smarter then most of them makes it more bearable?" Sirius asked his wife, knowing she was taking all of this quite personally.
"I swear, the next who does that gets their toes stomped," Diane declared and they all knew she really meant it. She was not a woman who took such things silently.
Thankfully, the next people entering the box were a welcome sight.
"Look who's also here, together with a boatload of redheads." That was Daphne Greengrass, who was accompanied by her parents and her younger sister. Also right next to them stood the three Bulstrodes.
This was indeed a welcome sight, and the had not known the Greengrass and Bulstrode families would actually attend the World Cup finale. While greetings were exchanged, it was noticeable that Millicent didn't look as happy as one would expect her to be.
"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked her, hoping it was nothing serious.
Millicent sighed. "It's only... When I told Dudley that my parents were willing to get a ticket for him, he said his father would never let him attend. It's kind of depressing that he's missing all of this."
Suddenly there was giggling coming from Astoria. "Oooh, you are disappointed he couldn't be at your side. Admit it, you are more sad that he isn't here with you than him missing all of this." Seeing Millicent blush, Astoria knew she had hit it. "Aha, so you do like-like him!"
Thankfully for Millicent's nerves, they all moved to get to their seats.
Sadly, they were quickly replaced by a less welcome sight. The Malfoy and Parkinson families had entered the top box. Draco's parents didn't seem too happy that the Parkinsons acted like they were closer to them than they really were, but discipline made them sacrifice their dislike for the newly-rich Parkinsons, clearly feeling the possible gains made up for it. That, or they simply tolerated them for Draco's sake.
"I see it seems like any rifraff nowadays is allowed to enter the top box," Narcissa Malfoy said in a tone that sounded like they had just encountered a bunch of hobos, especially giving Sirius and Diane looks of utter loathing.
"Seems you are socially insecure, otherwise you wouldn't resort to that," Diane commented, making no secret of her opinion that someone feeling secure in their position would never resort to verbal abuse to assure themselves of their position.
Sirius, knowing his wife was not made of glass, decided to add his own bit. "Your need to be this aggressive against us is telling a lot. Also, I agree with my wife that you are insecure and always have been. After all, you had all the options for a husband but picked Lucy here, who - surprise, surprise - was the richest of the options."
"No one talks to my wife like that! Especially not you, Black!" Lucius growled, looking tempted to draw his wand.
"Then Narcissa should keep her big mouth under control and not spit poison at every opportunity," Sirius reminded him.
Draco meanwhile snorted at the sight. "What an illustrious gathering of charity cases; a bunch of panhandlers who got lucky."
"Yes, they certainly are an eyesore that does not belong here. They do not understand their place," Pansy agreed with Draco.
"Oh, and it's someone like you who gets to decide the place of people?" Neville asked. "I share the social background, but unlike you two I'm not as arrogant to think I can lord over others."
"Yes, it also is kind of funny to hear that from you. Weren't the Parkinsons impoverished until two generations ago?" Luna analyzed sharply while betraying no emotion in her voice. "Not to forget the shame of Perseus Parkinson."
That earned her angry looks from all three Parkinsons present and the situation most likely would have become worse, if not for some final arrivals - though it was a bit doubtful if that made the situation much better, considering who was leading the group.
"Ah, I see everyone is already present. Wonderful, most wonderful." That was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, flanked by Ludo Bagman and a man they didn't recognize.
Manners dictated that they had to shake hands with the Minister if offered by him, though thankfully he only limited himself to Sirius, Harry and Arthur, all three of which clearly feeling the urge to wash their hands. That he was making a little show about skipping Diane on purpose, even though she probably wouldn't have wanted to shake hands with the man anyway, didn't speak well for the man.
Truth to be told, Harry by now knew the Minister didn't like him due to him actually getting the good press that the Minister didn't - most recently with him helping in the defense of Hogwarts against Greyback - and was only hiding his growing dislike behind a front. The same went for Sirius, who was a rising politician and Fudge clearly felt threatened by a possible rival.
Then there was the greeting he gave Lucius Malfoy. "It is so great to see you again, Lucius!" He then with a bright smile explained to everyone else "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He and his family here as my guests."
And they have the nerve to call us charity cases while being too cheap to busy their own tickets?! Ron thought, again being reminded of how the Malfoys just had been massive hypocrites.
Fudge then introduced the man standing next to him; a tall and buff man wearing gold-trimmed black summer robes. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk - Obalonsk - Mr. - well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. I had to use translators the entire day. These Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places..."
Fudge added the final part clearly in the knowledge that his Bulgarian counterpart wouldn't understand him.
"This is embarrassing to watch..." Harry whispered to Ron.
While Fudge was off shaking more hands, Minister Oblansk sat down next to Mr. Greengrass, who suddenly started whisper to him in Bulgarian. "Министър Обланск, знам, че владеете перфектно английски. За какво се отнася?" [Minister Oblansk, I know you are perfectly fluent in English. What is this about?]
While Oblansk was surprised about Mr. Greengrass' language skill, he didn't show it and whispered back. "След дипломатическата криза, причинена от вашето министерство с Германия, исках да измеря истинския характер на министъра. Мисленето му, че не мога да го разбера, ми отива добре, тъй като днес ми даде много неволни прозрения." [After the diplomatic crisis your Ministry caused with Germany, I wanted to measure the Minister's true character. Him thinking I can't understand him suits me well, since he has giving me lots of unintentional insight today.]
Guess Fudge will have another diplomatic crisis at hand soon, Mr. Greengrass thought, trying to imagine all the insults Fudge must have said over the day about his counterpart and Bulgaria while thinking Oblansk wouldn't understand.
Finally Fudge stood up and amplified by magic held a short speech to welcome everyone to the finale of the World Cup. Once that was done, Bagman stepped forward, while the big blackboard now showed the score tally, which right now was still at zero to zero.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" his amplified voice carried through the stadium.
They saw a group of a hundred women start to enter the pitch and suddenly the adult men in the group gasped before quickly drawing their wands and starting to do magic, looking quite panicked by whatever it was.
"Hey, what is...?" Ron's protest was cut off when a transparent bubble appeared, surrounding his head.
Looking around, he noticed that all of the males in the group, the adults included, now sported such bubbles. The bubble felt weird to Ron, since the air he was breathing smelled sterile and he was cut off from any kind of sound, finding the silence somewhat unnerving. Even his sight was slightly impaired, everything having a bluish tint.
All of the boys wondered what this was about when the women on the pitch started dancing and chaos broke out in the stadium.
The girls, who didn't get any bubbles, had a front row seat for what was happening next. As soon as the women has started their dance, it was like many of the men seemed to lose their mind - though thankfully none of theirs - while after a moment all the women reacted with exploding anger and open hatred at the display. Bottles, food and other things were thrown, causing the women on the field to shriek in anger and panic as they fled the pitch.
Seeing that the women were gone, the adults dissolved the bubbles.
"What was that about?!" Diane demanded from her husband.
"Those were Veela. They have an allure that causes any man that is into women to make them see as the most important thing in the world and the end goal of all their desires. It's very difficult to resist them, especially in such numbers. What in all names were they thinking?!" Clearly Sirius felt the Bulgarian team had been morons to think that had been a good idea.
"Have they honestly thought that would gain them sympathy? Why were they not prohibited from doing this by the organizers?" Hermione wondered aloud, seeing how the stadium was still in utter chaos, both genders now being really angry. She then looked to Bill. "And Bill, you didn't protect yourself. Why?"
"Because I wanted to see how well my immunity works." Seeing the questioning looks, Bill continued "Don't get me wrong, I'm very much into women as numerous dates in the past have proven, but mind-altering magic has great difficulty taking hold of me. That's why I'm so valuable to the goblins. I wanted to see if such a strong dose affects me."
"And, did it?" Fred asked, honestly wondering about it.
"Only a little. It proves I do have my limits, but whatever that limit is, a hundred Veela don't reach it," Bill said, looking quite pleased with his discovery.
Harry meanwhile looked around and spotted something. "Take a look at that. Looks like someone is getting a talking-to."
They did look and saw Pansy looking a bit cross with Draco, who was being busy with apologizing to her. The looks Narcissa was giving Lucius also spoke of annoyance. ""Looks like Malfoys have difficulty keeping it in their pants," Ginny laughed when seeing that.
As amusing as that was, the incident made Harry think. "You remember that girl from the morning? That looked like what she did, only much stronger. You think she is a Veela?"
"That would depend on what the French laws about wand usage are, as I saw a wand poking out of her pocket. I only know full-blooded Veela are not allowed wands in Magical Britain," Hermione thought aloud.
They had not noticed a man in sitting at the back of the top box not having been affected by the display, but instead looking utterly annoyed at what happened. In a different part of the stadium a blonde French girl meanwhile was being consoled by her parents while complaining bitterly it was crap like that which made her life difficult.
After several minutes things finally had calmed down and it was time for the Irish mascots.
"I honestly hope they are a bit more sensitive about it or they could risk a riot," Harry said.
"I wouldn't hold my breath for it," Ron snarked, though he wondered how this could be topped with something worse.
Next moment what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light.
"Looks nice, but what is that about?" Ginny wondered, seeing no mascots, only a light show.
"Use your omnioculars," Arthur told them and when they did they realized the now glowing shamrock above the stadium comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green. "Leprechauns. You can't get more Irish than that, though I have a bad feeling this also will be a bad decision."
"Aren't Leprechauns also known for their gold?" Fred asked, looking interested at the idea.
Charlie was tempted to smack his brother on the back of the head. "Had you taken Magical Creatures at school, you would know that Leprechaun gold is fake."
Ron snorted when hearing that. "Hagrid used some last year in our Niffler lesson. No way we would fall for such a trick now."
Then it indeed started to rain gold coins, clearly thrown by the Leprechauns. None of the children bothered with the coins, since they after all remembered Hagrid's first lesson about Nifflers and how he'd used Leprechaun gold, which he had explained was fake. Clearly many other people in the stadium realized that fact as well and the bad attempt at bribing the audience caused an explosion in anger.
The Veela incident had already caused much anger, but this was too much.
"Honestly, it's like no one used their brain to realize that this could only go wrong," Harry snarked, finding it embarrassing that countless adults did not realize the problem with the mascots.
...half an hour later...
Things were finally back under control and tempers finally had calmed down. They had managed to avoid a riot... barely. The Aurors on duty now were highly nervous, fearing that Ireland losing the game could be the spark to cause an explosion.
This certainly was not how the Ministry had thought the finale would go. It now was a given that they would be crucified by the international magical press for shitty organization of this massive event, since such mascots should never have gotten through the planning stage considering the riot potential of Veela and Leprechauns.
Ludo Bagman, who ultimately was responsible for organizing the finale, had shrunk significantly under the furious looks Fudge was giving him while getting a report on the situation. After all, it was his incompetence that had caused this serious incident and the loss of face Fudge now surely would suffer from.
"Honestly, what were they expecting would happen by first trying to have all the men get seduced and then trying to bribe everyone with fake gold?" Hermione said in disbelief, up until this point not having believed someone organizing such a big event could not see the problem in these mascots and wave it through.
"I have the feeling Bagman now is on thin ice with Fudge," George remarked smartly, now being really relieved to not have made a bet with Bagman.
"Ah, looks like the game is finally about to start," Neville interrupted them, then pointed to where the teams were actually flying onto the pitch one by one, each of them being introduced by an announcer.
When Viktor Krum got announced, Ron said to the others to use their omnioculars to take a good look. "Should I ever get the opportunity, I must ask Krum if he has something avian in his ancestry. He looks a bit like an overgrown bird of prey," Luna commented.
"You honestly want to ask him that?" Ron asked, though he had a feeling what the answer would be.
"I do not see the problem," Luna said, clearly wondering why Ron was even asking.
Then the game was on and in a short time those of them that play Quidditch at school were left in sheer awe at the sheer gap between what they were doing and what true professionals were capable of. It was incredibly humbling and even the league games some of them had witnessed had nothing on this display of sheer skill, speed and roughness. At times it was difficult to follow the action.
"Boy, what would I need to do to reach this level?" Millicent wondered, suddenly not feeling so confident in her skills.
"You honestly compare yourself to professionals with years of experience?" Daphne wondered, feeling her friend was a bit too harsh on herself.
"You are being a bit stupid," Astoria added.
Millicent had to admit that maybe the comparison between a third-year student and professionals playing for the national team was not a good one. "If you say it like that..."
If anything, the game only started to get more intense and the referee had a difficult job. Yet, it was clear that the man was up to the task and knew no mercy for rule-breakers, regularly giving penalties and some players even got time-out punishments. Yes, compared to the games at school this was an entirely different level of roughness.
Ron for his part was eagerly observing the game. "Good that I have these things. I'll use the recordings to help us develop a better strategy at school. Man, the Slytherins will make big eyes..." He then remembered that Draco was sitting nearby. "Listen all you want, Malfoy, you won't get anything useful from me."
"Tell me a good reason why I would need to spy on someone like you to win a game of Quidditch," Draco snorted.
"Really, perhaps the fact that thanks to my tactics Slytherin lost all games against us?" Ron remarked while he continued watch the game through his omnioculars, missing the dark look Draco gave him.
The game continued and so did the comments.
"Ouch! The bat of a beater most certainly is not meant to be used for that!" Ginny grimaced when seeing the incident in question.
Fred and George grimaced as well. "Even we wouldn't be this mean," George quickly assured the others. "Maybe Oliver would have considered it a valid tactic, but he thankfully already graduated," Fred added.
Somewhere in the audience Oliver Wood knew someone was talking about him and for some unknown reason he felt a strange sort of relief that he recently had graduated from Hogwarts.
Unlike the school games, which at most were half an hour long, this game went on for a while now and both teams were racking up a high score. However, by now it was obvious that Ireland had the better chasers and were starting to get quite ahead in the score. Clearly their tactic was to get such a high lead that even Bulgaria getting the snitch wouldn't make a difference.
"I hope this won't go as long as one game I've read about, though that one went as long as it did due to one moron not actually releasing the snitch," Ron commented, fearing he could run out of recording space in his omnioculars.
"They are ramping up the score to win either way and the Bulgarians know it. Just look at how frantic and beaten up Krum already is," Bill observed, feeling the endgame would be up soon.
Indeed, Krum looked rather worse for the wear, having gathered numerous injuries over the course of the game. He looked like he'd been beaten up repeatedly, which was close to the truth considering how rough the Irish players were against him and how he got pelted with bludgers. Then suddenly however he made a dash forward.
"He must have spotted the snitch, hoping to end it before it is too late!" Charlie gasped. "He got it..."
Indeed, Krum managed to get the snitch to end the game, but he had been a bit too late, as Ireland had won by ten points even after the additional 150 points for Bulgaria.
"It was too late, the point difference had just become too big." Ron said.
"Well, I did take something home from this. Having magic for a quick fix has made these people downright callous when it comes to injury. Just look at that literal bloodbath down there and how seemingly no one thinks that is unusual," Diane said, her opinion of the event having taken a nosedive while watching the mounting injuries.
They did look at the players that were now surrounded by healers. While Krum had been the one with the worst injuries, all them were injured one way or another and smeared with crimson. Now that the game was over they actually realized how utterly brutal it actually had been and how little this could be called a sport anymore.
Yet, even the biggest Quidditch fans among them had to admit they had never thought about it before. At its core Quidditch was about injuring your opponent, since what else could you call the use of massive iron spheres whose only job is to injure players? Thinking about it was sobering and no one said a word during the award ceremony, while the still visibly injured players received the trophies for second and first place in the top box.
It was after the ceremony that Minister Oblansk got up. "Well, it's about time I visit the team and tell them how well they did."
Fudge looked like a deer in the headlights when hearing this. "You- you speak English?"
"Always could. I have to thank you, Mr. Fudge. You have given me a lot of insight and I will make sure to keep that in mind when it comes to relations between our countries," Oblansk said dryly before leaving.
Fudge looked like someone had kicked him into the head, realizing talking badly about Bulgaria and Oblansk all day now was sure to cause a diplomatic nightmare.
No one paid any mind to the man in the back of the top box who, while mainly having watched Sirius and those he surrounded himself with, had also watched that exchange with interest, knowing that he had to report it as soon as possible to MI-X, since that was a major development and more proof how incompetent Fudge was.
However, watching Black also had been enlightening and he most certainly would give his approval of the man to be on the track of finally being brought into their circle, the doubters be damned. He still thanked all goodness that he had held back from any interaction despite orders. That would have been too suspicious.
He had not known that there was another set of eyes - an invisible one.
That set of eyes however had been concentrating on Lucius Malfoy as the target, not letting the man out of sight.
...later at night on the camp grounds...
Even with the dampened mood in the group, they in the end had gotten into the mood of the celebrations surrounding them. It certainly had been nice having that big celebration with various people from the school and Wood, who commented that the game had been outright insane. Celebrations were still going on when the sky above them had become pitch-black, stars visible.
Of course the six friends due to their young age had become tired at one point and retreated into their respective tents, not even bothering with undressing before the laid down into their beds - even Hermione for once ignored such a thing after the long day.
However, before they could fall asleep, Arthur ran into the room, looking quite panicked. "Boys? Boys! Good... you are still dressed."
"Dad, what's going on?" Ron wondered, seeing that his father looked quite panicked.
"No time, quickly come out! Diane is gathering the girls right now! Make sure you have your wands at hand!" Arthur then left quickly.
"Something is wrong..." Harry didn't like whatever was going on. Something causing Arthur Weasley to panic like that could only be bad.
They had just managed to get out of the tent when they saw the girls do the same. -blom- -zomm- However, all of them were distracted by what they saw and heard. The celebrations had died down, instead had been replaced with screams of panic and sounds of chaos. What they then saw made them stop in their tracks, wondering if they were in a bad dream.
A big group of people in dark robes were slowly marching through the tent town, throwing spells left and right. It was impossible to see who these people were, or even their genders, since all of them were wearing skull masks. Around them tents were burning and there were occasional flashes of green light thrown around which caused great panic and dug up a very unpleasant memory deep within Harry.
"Who the hell are these guys?!" Ginny gasped when seeing the destruction caused.
"Where are the people from the Ministry?!" Percy gasped, fearing for Penelope who was somewhere out there, having only said her goodbyes about ten minutes ago.
Sirius looked ready to foam in anger. "They dress up like Death Eaters - Voldemort's lapdogs. You can bet dear Lucius is gleefully leading them to have some 'fun' of their own without having to fear any consequences!"
For once Arthur Weasley looked like a man who had seen too much, the scars from the last war emerging in light of this display of senseless destruction. With it however also came a resolve they had not yet seen. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, get out your wands! We have to drive them off!"
"Yes... Diane!" Sirius called to his wife, indicating at all the teenagers who were still underage. "Get them behind the treeline into the nearby woods! No need to have them near any of this."
Diane, while being worried about her husband going to confront the danger, knew that he knew what he was doing. Sirius was no longer the hothead he admitted he had been in his youth and besides facing mundane dangers in his work for the police had also faced magical threats. Yes, while worried for his well-being, Diane was not doubting that he knew what he was doing and instead concentrated on her own task, knowing that she was in actual danger right now.
"All of you lot, follow me! Don't even think about trying any adventures," she told the teenagers, using her police-voice to ensure that they would follow her orders.
None of them dared to voice any dissent. While Diane normally was incredibly nice, when she got into police-mode you better follow her orders, especially since those were for your own safety. Even Fred and George knew better than to cross her - they had done so one time and afterward wished it had been their mother who'd punished them instead of Diane getting them to comply without raising her hand. Never annoy a cop.
They were not the only people having the idea, many were fleeing into the woods surrounding the tent town, many people wearing little more than their sleepwear, looking utterly panicked. Behind them the light from the fires illuminated the scene of destruction. Finally having reached the treeline themselves - which was far enough away that Diane stopped the group.
Looking at the fires that bathed everything into a reddish light, the rising smoke and the lights that showed a struggle going on, Hermione was pale. "What kind of sick people do something like this?"
"Afraid that you could be in the middle of this, Granger?"
That unwanted voice alerted them to the presence of unwanted people. Indeed, it had been Pansy who had spoken, her and Draco leaning against nearby trees while watching the chaos in the camp grounds with interest, actually smirking at the sight. Them being fully dressed and not looking tired hinted that they had been forewarned.
"You seem to actually enjoy watching this," Harry remarked, finding their behavior suspicious.
"I bet their parents told them to wait here and watch while they are walking around in these masks," Ron added, having added one and one together. "How sick can you be?"
Draco waved it off. "To us that's baseless slander. Too bad however you are here, would have been interesting to see what they would do with Granger the mudblood and animal Black got for himself."
If anything, Draco's racism and bigotry seemed to have become worse, especially now when he felt he could do so without repercussions. Diane for her part was not impressed. "You two are just punks who think talking big makes them powerful. I only see two snot-nosed brats trying to ape their bigoted parents."
"We don't have to take that from some magicless beast," Pansy said, now looking angered, clearly itching to draw her wand.
"Calm down, Pansy. They will get what's coming to them and then they'll be happy if we allow them to kiss our feet," Draco told Pansy, clearly remembering the incident where Diane had verbally ripped into his mother.
Pansy looked a bit displeased but moved her hand away from her pocket. She however couldn't resist having the final word. "Only too bad Granger isn't down there. They could do much more to her than me when I made her buck-teeth more prominent."
-zap!- "Iiiiijuuutschh!" Pansy screamed when a spell hit her arse, feeling like someone had stuffed stinging nettles down her knickers. Hermione, normally the most rule-abiding of the group, had lost her cool and used her wand, giving a damn on a possible warning from the Ministry. "Draco! Cancel it! Cancel it!"
Quickly moving away from Draco frantically trying to undo whatever jinx Hermione had put onto Pansy, the small group was cursing about horrible bigots. Ron on the other hand looked at Hermione at awe. "That was awesome!"
Hermione said nothing, but deep inside it had felt so good to get back at Pansy after these hurtful words. She then looked to Diane. "Ehm..."
"I'll let that one slide. She did deserve it," Diane said with a sigh.
Someone else meanwhile was more disgusted than anything.
So they renounce the Dark Lord but still feel his uniform is good enough to disguise themselves so that they can spread terror? They will soon learn of their folly, Barty thought while waiting for the best opportunity.
Barty for his part had kept a close eye on Lucius Malfoy the entire day. The man had been in close company the entire time or in crowds where kidnapping him would have been difficult. However, things had become interesting after the game. As he'd calculated, Malfoy had come together with many of the 'old crowd', as well as several newcomers like the Parkinsons - though he clearly was still a bit reluctant about them.
While there had been plenty of beer involved, Malfoy's plan of spreading terror in the tent town had a surprisingly pragmatic reason. In order to make their position stronger than it was right now, the Ministry had to become weaker - not in its institutions but its reputation. Not only would Fudge become even more desperate and do everything Malfoy suggested, no, it also would make the Ministry easier to take over at a later date. Malfoy clearly gave a damn on what that meant on international relations.
While it was not a bad plan, Barty could see Malfoy being short-sighted. The Dark Lord had always insisted to make sure the international community had to be kept out of everything so that it would be seen as a power stuggle inside the British Isles. Malfoy's plan would only serve to actually give the country more international attention.
That's for later however. Ah, there he is... Barty thought when spotting Malfoy despite his mask. They should all get a sign that these days are about to end.
Stepping up behind Malfoy while still being invisible, Barty quickly put him out of nowhere into a choke hold. "The Master is waiting for you, Malfoy," he said calmly, then lifted his wand. "Morsmordre!"
Right afterwards he tapped his wand against the portkey and activated it, both of them vanishing.
The effects of Barty's spell meanwhile played out. A colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue, was rising above the tent town. It rose higher and higher until it settled in the sky, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation. Screams of terror erupted from many wizards and witches when they saw that thing.
"What in all names is that?!" Harry gasped, especially since the appearance of whatever that thing was had caused panic and the troublemakers all of a sudden ceased their activity, causing no more destruction.
"Beats me, but whatever that thing is, it's causing a panic," Ginny said, being clueless what that imagine could be, though it did look disturbing. Ginny then noticed that Hermione had paled and looked like she had just wet her trousers (which she thankfully hadn't). "Hermione?"
"That.. that's the Dark Mark... Voldemort's sign," Hermione finally said.
Her friends looked unsettled, but at the same time wondered what this was about. "Yes, but he hardly could be here. What's the point of that thing apart from looking scary?" Ron asked.
"I honestly am surprised that most of you don't know about it," Luna suddenly said, seemingly looking unfazed at the Dark Mark, but a closer look would show signs of nervousness. "Perhaps your parents didn't want you to know. I asked Daddy about it when I read about it."
Neville, who now felt stupid for being this ignorant, asked the obvious question. "Yes, but what is that thing good for then? I mean, it seems rather pointless apart from looking scary."
"Daddy told me that whenever Voldemort or his followers committed murder, they would conjure the Dark Mark over the crime scene before leaving. It would spread terror in the population when seeing that another is dead, the message being that no one is safe and 'you could be next'," Luna explained, remembering how unsettled her father had been while explaining.
"Downright sick..." Harry already knew that Voldemort was a dangerous psychopath, but this gave the whole thing another dimension and kind of reminded him of the carnage Greyback made on his kills, only grabbing even more attention.
I can very well imagine Voldemort had planned to put this above the house after murdering my parents and me, Harry thought, feeling cold at the idea.
Several tense minutes passed before they saw the adults running to them, looking a bit worse for the wear.
"Sirius!" Finally able to let go of her discipline, Diane didn't waste any time to hug her husband. "We feared the worst when we saw that thing rise into the sky."
"No one is dead, thankfully. There are injuries and lots of property damage, but that's it," Sirius said, making no secret how hard this sudden state of emergency had been on him. "As soon as they saw the Dark Mark they fled; disapparated. We got none of them."
"Why did they flee? I mean, after all it had to be one of them setting off that thing, right?" Ron wondered.
"Ron, I know you are smarter than that," Bill sighed. "It couldn't have been them, since after all they backstabbed their boss and denied they had ever meant any of it. Any sign of his return would fill them with fear, since he would not be very pleased with them."
"Then what was that about? After all, someone must have conjured the thing," Harry wondered, looking at the Dark Mark still hovering in the sky.
Arthur scratched his nose while being relieved that his family and their friends had come out of this alive. "Our best guess is, that there had been Death Eaters who managed to stay undetected and didn't renounce their leader. They would have every reason to be offended at the misusage of his insignia and did that to send a warning."
"Percy? Percy!" It took a moment before they recognized Penelope running out of the woods, since she partially was covered in soot and looked scared out of her mind.
"Penny, I..." Percy held her, noticing that she was shivering in terror.
Sirius meanwhile leaned closed to Arthur. "There had been surprisingly little security when it started. Most of them only arrived near the end of this."
"As much as I hate to admit it, they must have been misled to go elsewhere. Only people with influence could have done so. You better talk with Dumbledore about it. I don't like the implications of what this could mean," Arthur replied, dreading the most likely explanation.
o
At the same time while panic was breaking out over the Dark Mark in the sky, directly after it had been cast, Lucius Malfoy found himself in a different place and a very uncomfortable position.
"Ah, Lucius, my slippery friend. At last you have decided to appear before me. It is regrettable that it took such measures however."
Whatever alcohol was still in his system failed in its influence when Malfoy heard that voice. He however had no time to react in any way when several hands roughly took hold of him, taking away his wand and ripping the skull mask off his face. Frantically looking around, he realized that it was the Carrows, who had vanished from Britain over a decade ago, who held him.
"His wand," Alecto said, handing Malfoy's wand to a man who had just taken off an invisibility cloak. Malfoy didn't recognize him.
"He is dressed... interestingly. Barty, I think there is an interesting story behind that?"
Malfoy looked at the man in confusion before making the connection, wondering how that was possible. The man meanwhile stepped forward. "Indeed, Master. Despite how they couldn't renounce you fast enough, they still want to enjoy the perks of the position. I have taken measures to give a message. I'm an open book to you, Master."
Silence hung over the room for some moments, before a dark chuckle came from the throne. "Indeed, very interesting... You have done the right thing to summon my mark in order to put an end to that display. They are now forewarned and each single of them soon will have to answer to me."
"That will be a pleasure," Barty said with anticipation.
"But now to the business at hand. Oh, where are my manners? Get him in front of me so that he gets the best view possible. I want this to be eye to eye."
While being roughly pushed forward, Malfoy finally was able to take in his surroundings. He was in what looked like a sort-of throne room. The lighting was dim, most likely on purpose in order to intimidate him, and the throne itself was bathed in darkness. He saw that someone was standing beside it, but could not see who it was. Finally, he was forced to his knees in front of the throne.
"Ah, I see you wonder... Let me enlighten you."
The two braziers next to the platform on which the throne rested lit up in blue flames, allowing Malfoy to see the... thing sitting on the throne. Malfoy's eyes widened in sheer terror and his face lost all of its color, yet he didn't manage to get out a single sound.
What... What in all names...? Malfoy tried to understand the horrible sight in front of him.
He had long made peace with the fact that the Dark Lord was dead and gone, thus to suddenly be confronted with him, especially with him being in such a bizarre and horrifying form, had hit him completely unprepared. Once he finally came to terms with what he was seeing, the horrible implications of this became clear to him. Suddenly his future didn't look great.
"I see you are speechless, Lucius," Voldemort snarled. "In time Potter will pay for what he has done to me, but only at my own hand. No, now is the time for you to be judged by me."
"Master, I..." Malfoy tried to say, realizing the horrible situation he was in.
"Silence!" Voldemort hissed, raising his voice. "You had always presented yourself as the most loyal of my subjects, yet when the moment came to stay true to your allegiance, you renounced me, cowardly claiming that I put you under the Imperius Curse to do my bidding."
Voldemort let the accusation hang for a moment before he continued. "Your loyalty had been nothing but lip-service! As soon as your cushy position was threatened, you couldn't backstab me fast enough... and worse, others followed your example."
"Master, I only did that to..." Malfoy cut himself off when seeing the look the small malformed Voldemort gave him.
"Liar..." Voldemort said slowly. "The only one you considered in your actions was yourself."
I'm a dead man, Malfoy realized, no longer wondering how Voldemort was still alive. Looking at the big snake coiled around the throne, he had a feeling where the journey would go now.
"Oh yes, I judge you guilty for treachery against Lord Voldemort." Voldemort then narrowed his eyes. "Yet, you made even more mistakes. And one of the worst has to do with a certain book I entrusted you to keep safe."
"The book...?" Malfoy gasped, only now remembering. Realizing what this meant, he knew things were about to get worse.
"Oh yes, the irreplaceable book which I entrusted in your care... And which you thought you could use in your petty schemes, resulting in my property getting destroyed and Slytherin's chamber being desecrated." Voldemort's voice now was deadly calm, which meant the worst was about to happen, while he raised his wand. "You are guilty on all accounts."
"Master, mercy!" Lucius begged.
Voldemort gave him a cold look. "Lord Voldemort does not forgive. Crucio."
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" Malfoy collapsed screaming, Voldemort's anger at the treachery making the torture especially horrible and painful. Voldemort coldly watched the screaming Malfoy while pushing all of his pent-up anger into the spell. This went on for several long minutes before Voldemort finally lifted the spell.
"You probably thought I would kill you, right? But that would be too easy of a punishment and you still are useful to me." Malfoy was manhandled again and forced to kneel directly in front of Voldemort. "I do give you a second chance, but this time however I will make sure you won't turn on me. You've enjoyed your ill-gotten spoils for thirteen years, and thus you now will enter thirteen years of indentured servitude."
Amycus pulled up Malfoy's right sleeve, exposing the faded Dark Mark. "Like with the others, my current condition caused it to fade," Voldemort observed when inspecting the mark. "But that doesn't matter. Your connection to me was never cut and now it will fulfill another purpose."
Voldemort then pushed the tip of his wand into the mark and Malfoy felt like it was burning with an unholy fire. Compared to the pain the Dark Lord in the past used to send through the mark, this was a wholly different level. He could feel a dark and sinister magic seep into the mark. Finally, after a long minute, Voldemort was done with whatever he was doing.
"Now you have to do my bidding. Trying to go against me again will have... dire consequences," Voldemort declared.
He knew it was useless to resist now and he knelt in front of Voldemort. "I... I understand, Master, and I submit."
"Good. Serve me well in the coming thirteen years, and I will consider your debt to me as repaid."
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"The Announcement"
Notes:
Here the notes.
This whole chapter deals with the World Cup, but I changed truly a lot of things to make it more realistic and also fit with my story better.
I bet you didn't expect to already see Fleur. I reasoned since other people from France are present, so why not her as well. Harry's defense of her actually made an impression on her. I also tweaked her character after thinking about how her powers wouldn't be much fun for a teenage girl (we learn more about that later on).
As you see, I don't think highly of Bagman and thus have no problem showing why moving someone, simply due to having been a popular Quidditch player, into a political position is a horrible idea. While canon already showed him to be a scumbag, I took glee at deconstructing him.
Of course tensions are high in the top box. I also took great pleasure in deconstructing the mascots. Honestly, something like that would realistically lead to a riot. They were lucky they barely avoided one here.
And of course Fudge causes another diplomatic crisis...
And then we have the highlight. Of course Lucius still organizes the chaos, only this time in order to get Fudge where he wants him to be. However, the evening, as you read, ends very badly for him and he really ends in the doghouse with Voldemort. I hope you all like how Voldemort systematically takes Lucius apart.