Of Apples and Oranges

III: ii: Anti-Death Eaters

Draco and Aurum ran into the woods away from the blazing scene back near the arena. Draco's parents had stayed behind to deal with them. Argentum was with Draco and Aurum, but somehow had managed to slip away.

Aurum stopped by a large oak, hyperventilating from running so hard. Draco stuck by her like a shadow, moving when she did, and stopping when she did. They stayed there for what felt like an eternity.

"I'm almost glad Gregory and Vincent couldn't come though it is odd they chose to go fishing with their parents over us. Makes you wonder." Draco snidely remarked.

"Well, I'm glad they're not here too. I'd hate for them to have to go through this." Aurum sighed.

The rustling of grass and breaking branches alerted them to the presence of the Gryffindor trio and some other Weasley's. They had been running as well.

"Malfoy! Creste! What are the odds we ran to the same spot?" Harry asked with his hands on his hips.

As soon as the words escaped Harry's mouth, a horrible mark appeared in the sky. It was the Dark Mark, a skull with a snake coming out of the mouth. Aurum shrunk into Draco's arms. The toothpick nearly stumbled over her weight.

"Merlin, who would ever fire that?" an elder Weasley asked, more confused than frightened.

Aurum nodded for them to leave the scene and she and Draco went further through the forest, Draco leading as he transformed into a wolf in order to slip through the branches. They didn't dare go in the direction of the arena or the Dark Mark. Draco changed back because somehow, Argentum found the two.

"What're you two trying to do? Make out in the woods? That's how people get MTD's," Argentum said.

"No, Argen, we're just trying to get away from that Dark Mark." Aurum rolled her eyes.

"Same here. I didn't care about the muggles down there, but I can't stand those Death Eaters. There's no stability with them. They're just a bunch of crazy people who think they can control everything just because they have one or two good ideas that a lot of others can agree with." Argentum huffed.

"Argentum, does purism mean everything to you?" Draco asked.

Argentum gave a weak smile. By his furrowed brow, you could see his shock that Draco would ask that, but he was happy to give the answer, "Yes."

Draco looked at Aurum who was cringing at the response. Neither gave a reply, they were silent.

"But you weren't down there with the Death Eaters, were you?" Aurum asked softly. She sounded as if she may cry. "You didn't fire off the—?"

"As much as I love messing with muggles, I don't like to associate myself with those maniacs." Argentum snickered. "I did misplace my wand, though. I hope no one picked it up."

The three walked back to the origin of the Dark Mark which had now faded. There were a couple aurors and many others from the ministry. The Gryffindor trio and Weasley's were still there with a few more of the redheads present now.

The first step Argentum took near the scene of the crime, an auror with sandy blonde hair stuck a wand to his neck. Argentum held nothing but fire in his eyes for the threatening man as he stared him down with a toothy smile. The auror backed off but not by much. Their eyes were still locked on each other.

"It's a shame, Creste. You could've been as great as your father, but you practiced those damn dirty dark arts!" the auror growled. "I know it was you who did this! We've had too many run-ins. So just own up to it!"

Argentum stepped up to him and just barely knelt, trying to make the short auror feel smaller than he already was. "I don't take the advice of idiots who think they can take down Death Eaters by pointing fingers." Argentum put his finger on the man and walked away.

Aurum hopped over to Harry. "What actually happened here?" she asked.

"Winky, Mr. Crouch's elf was holding a wand that just sent off a Dark Mark." Harry explained. "They're really thinking it's your brother."

"He's not a Death Eater." Aurum groaned. "Why does everybody think that?"

"People associate purism with Death Eaters," Draco said. Aurum looked at him with an uneasy look and he shrugged.

The golden blonde turned away from the platinum and watched anxiously as her brother got into several verbal fights with the investigating ministry. This continued until Mr. Weasley, Ronald's father, stepped in.

He held out his hands to his side defensively as he stood beside Argentum. "I've known this boy since he was a small child, most of his family has been in the Order. I don't think he'd go against his parents like this," Mr. Weasley said.

"Yeah, whatever, Arthur. I've still got my eye on him," the sandy blonde auror said, muttering something very unkind under his breath. He pointed again at Argentum and shouted, "I'm contacting your grandmother! You can't cover this one up!"

"Alright, well, I'll see you in Azkaban, Bert." Argentum made a crude hand gesture.

Arthur put a shaky hand on a disgusted Argentum's shoulder. "You need to be careful around the ministry, son; they've really got it out for you now that you're an adult. Your grandmother's very worried."

"I couldn't care less. Now that I'm an adult, I get to live how I like, and I'd like to keep studying the dark arts." Argentum shook his hand off and went back to Draco and Aurum. He put his hands on their shoulders from behind.