"Val," Harry said softly, crouching down next to me. "We're heading back to the tent." I nodded, getting up with his help.
"Fred," I breathed, running to him the moment I saw him inside the tent.
"Merlin, are you okay?" Fred asked, burying his head in my hair as I clung to him.
"Y-Yeah, are you?" I asked.
"I'm fine," he assured. I shifted, burying my head in his chest as I tried to calm down.
"Did you get them, Dad?" Bill asked sharply. "The person who cast the mark?"
"No," Mr. Weasley replied. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the mark."
"What?" Bill, Charlie, and Percy exclaimed.
"Harry's wand?" Fred repeated from above my head.
"Mr. Crouch's elf?" Percy exclaimed. Mr. Weasley explained everything that happened. Percy began raving again about Mr. Crouch, but it gave me a headache so I waited until someone else started talking.
"She didn't run amok!" Hermione retorted indignantly. "She just picked it up off the ground!"
"Look, can someone just explain what the skull thing was?" Ron asked impatiently. "It wasn't hurting anyone. Why's it such a big deal?"
"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron," Hermione replied. "I read about it in the Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts."
"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," Mr. Weasley added. "Of course people panicked, it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."
"H-He's coming back," I whispered, getting everyone's attention as I shook in Fred's arms. "He's coming back. Dad and Remus were right, he never truly died."
"That's not what that means, Valerie," Mr. Weasley countered.
"He always said he'd come back," I said quietly, but only Fred could hear it. Pulling away from Fred, I explained, "The reason it matters, Ron, is because whenever the Death Eaters killed, that mark would hang over the house where they died. The mark itself may not be scary. But it is terrifying because of what it means. That mark means death, Ron, and in this case, it means that he's coming back."
"What're Death Eaters?" Harry asked. "You said that word earlier too. What does it mean?"
"Supporters of Voldemort," I explained, causing everyone but Harry to flinch. "I need to send a letter to Remus, he'll be worried once he hears what happened." I left the tent and went to the girl's tent. Sitting down, I began writing two identical letters, aside from the name.
Dear Dad/Remus,
I'm sure by now you've heard what happened at the Quidditch World Cup. In case you haven't, Death Eaters went out and wrecked havoc before someone else sent up the Dark Mark. I just wanted to write and tell you that I'm okay. I miss you and I love you.
Love,
Raven/Val
P.S. Harry's fine too and so are all the Weasleys and Hermione.
Folding the letters, I got up and went outside. It looked almost like a battlefield with burnt tents everywhere. Shaking, I wandered around, trying to find an owl I could ask to borrow. By chance, I saw Oliver. "Oliver!" I shouted.
"Valerie," he replied, rushing over to me. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," I replied. "Are you?"
"I'm fine," he assured. "What's wrong? Why are you out here?"
"Do you have an owl I can borrow?" I asked. "I need to send a letter to someone."
"Yeah," he replied. "Give me one sec." He went inside the tent and soon returned with a barn owl. I tried to tie the letters to the owl, but my hands shook so badly Oliver had to do it for me.
Once the owl was gone, I said, "Thank you, Ollie. I should get some sleep."
"Okay," he replied. "I'll see you around, then." I went back to the tents, flicking my wand at the fire pit to start up a fire again. I sat down by it, staring into the young flames. I was only just getting to be calm when Mr. Weasley left the tent.
"Did you get some sleep?" Mr. Weasley asked. I shook my head, my eyes never leaving the fire. "Well, we need to get going. I'm about to wake the other girls. The boys are up." I didn't respond so he moved into the other tent. Next I felt a hand on my shoulder, causing me to flinch away. Turning, I saw it was just Fred.
"Sorry," I muttered, getting to my feet. "I'm a little on edge." Soon we were heading for the portkeys and managed to get back to the hill we walked to before just before the sun rose. I held Fred's hand as we walked, leaning against him. About an hour later, we arrived at the Burrow.
"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!" Mrs. Weasley cried, rushing towards us. "Arthur I've been worried, so worried!" She instantly wrapped her arms around him, dropping the Daily Prophet from her hand. "You're all right, you're all right. Oh boys." She instantly moved from her husband to Fred and George.
"Ouch, Mum, you're strangling us," George protested.
"I shouted at you before I left," she cried, beginning to sob. "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s? Oh Fred...George." To my shock, she turned to me, exclaiming, "Oh, Valerie. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean what I said. Being related to Black doesn't make you a bad person. I'm so sorry."
Glancing at the others awkwardly, I said, "I-It's okay, Mrs. Weasley. I'm fine, we're all fine." Mr. Weasley pried her off of me and began to lead her to the house as I picked up the paper. Scanning over it, I scoffed, handing it to Mr. Weasley, saying, "Look at this, Mr. Weasley. Rita Skeeter is spewing rubbish again." After handing off the paper, I went upstairs to Ginny's room. A little bit later Harry came into the room.
"You want to play Quidditch?" he asked. "Me, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny were going to play."
"Yeah," I agreed, getting up and grabbing my Firebolt. "I'll play."