Black and Potter | H. Potter

22 ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆ the burden of a last name.

"Ara! Ara! Girls, wake up! It's urgent!"

The three girls woke up to see Mr. Weasley standing there, wand at hand.

"What's the matter?" grumbled Ara, still sleepy.

"There's no time—grab a jacket and go outside—the three of you—go!" said Mr. Weasley rapidly.

The girls quickly scrambled from their beds, grabbed their jackets and wands and headed outside where they saw Harry, Ron, and the twins, who appeared to have been dragged out of bed as well.

By the light of the few fires that were still burning, Ara could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.

A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. Their heads were hooded and their faces masked. High above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. Two of the figures were very small.

More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. Once or twice Ara saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.

The floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent and Ara recognized one of them: Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager. The other three looked as though they might be his wife and children. One of the marchers below flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee.

Horrified, she turned her towards Harry's figure, seeing that he was already looking at her. Despite the ongoing chaos, his face seemed to be slack in relief as he stared at her. Before she even registered what she was doing, Ara felt her legs move towards him, she vaguely heard Hermione and Ginny's footsteps behind her as they followed her.

"That's sick," Ara heard Ron mutter when she reached Harry's side. He was watching the smallest Muggle child, who had begun to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side. "That is really sick. . . ."

At that moment, Bill, Charlie, and Percy emerged from the boys' tent, fully dressed, with their sleeves rolled up and their wands out.

"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "You lot — get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting away toward the oncoming marchers; Mr. Weasley tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was coming ever closer.

"C'mon," said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her toward the wood. Harry, Ara, Ron, Hermione, and George followed. Harry gripped Ara's wrist firmly, not wanting to lose her in the chaotic crowd. They all looked back as they reached the trees. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was larger than ever; they could see the Ministry wizards trying to get through it to the hooded wizards in the centre, but they were having great difficulty. It looked as though they were scared to perform any spell that might make theRoberts family fall.