"Get up! Ron, get up!"
Ron sat up quickly and bumped his head on the bunkbed above him.
"Wassthematter?" Ron slurred, as he tried to blink away the tiredness of his eyes.
Ron could hear loud noises coming from outside the tent. He could hear screams, and the sound of people running. He rolled out of the bed, hitting his elbow hard on the ground. He winced, and reached for his clothes that he had thrown under his bed.
Arthur, who had pulled on his jeans over his pajamas, said, "No time, Ron! You boys, grab your jackets now and get outside! Quickly, now!"
Ron did as he was told, and grabbed his jacket. He followed Seamus and Dean out of the tent, and came to an abrupt halt. By the light of the few fires that were still burning, he could see people running away into the woods, fleeing figures that Ron could barely make out in the distance. The figures were emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. Loud jeering, drunken yells, and roars of laughter were drifting towards them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.
Dozens of wizards, tightly packed, and wearing long black robes and bone white masks were walking towards them. Ron paled as he realized that they were Death Eaters. A loud scream pierced the air and he looked above their heads to see four struggling figures, floating above them in midair. It was as though the Death Eaters were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from their wands into the air. Two of the figures were very small.
More Death Eaters popped into the field. Tents crumpled and fell, and the screaming grew tenfold. Tents caught on fire, and people fell to the ground. Ron watched in disgust as one of the figures floating in the air was flipped upside down and her dress went flying above her head, revealing white underwear. She struggled to cover herself up and the Death Eaters laughed.
"That's sick," Dean muttered. "That's really sick."
"Listen to me," Arthur said quickly. "Percy come with me. The rest of you, run into the woods! Stay out of site."
Percy pulled out his wand, and looked at the twins. Then Percy and Arthur ran towards the Death Eaters.
"We need to go!" Dean yelled. "Come on!"
Ron looked at his father and Percy, then he looked at the twins, grabbed Ginny's hand and ran after Seamus and Dean. Ron forced himself to run faster as the woods neared. It seemed like an eternity passed before they reached the woods. Ron stumbled over a fallen branch, and caught himself by grabbing onto a low tree branch. He began breathing hard, and dry heaving.
"Where's Ginny?" Fred asked.
"What?" Ron asked, still panting.
"Ginny," Fred said forcefully. "You had her hand. Where is she?"
Ron looked up, his eyes going wide, as he turned around and around. Ron swallowed hard. He hadn't even noticed that he was no longer holding Ginny's hand. He had been so worried about getting into the forest, that he wasn't thinking about anything else.
"Ginny!" Ron yelled. "Ginny!" His voice was becoming more and more panicked.
The twins, Dean, and Seamus joined in calling her name, but no answering voice came.
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The darkness was broken up by flashes of light. Spells flew through the air like owls delivering the morning post. Screams of pain, so horrifying they made you want to claw your ears out echoed around the field. The scent of death hung in the air, and blood flowed like a river down a set of old rickety steps that led up to a ticket booth. And Bellatrix loved everything about it.
Bellatrix had been dueling Sirius for almost five minutes, and she was enjoying playing with him. She would give Sirius an opening and then when he would strike, she would slash out at him. Then Sirius slashed out his arm in a V shaped pattern, and a sickly yellow spell filled the air. She immediately recognized the spell, and Bellatrix contorted her face in fury as she slashed out with her wand. She had been enjoying their little duel, but now she just wanted to end things.
"I've waited twelve long years for this!" Sirius yelled. Spell after spell flew from his wand, faster and more deadly than the ones before.
Bellatrix sent spells just as fast, as her curly black hair flew all around her like a halo. The dark curls stood out harshly against her bone white mask.
"No!" A blood curling scream rang out and Sirius turned his head slightly to the side. Bellatrix grinned and sent a curse of death his way. Sirius dodged just in time, the spell blasted a tree to bits. Sirius threw spells faster and faster, and finally he hit his mark. Bellatrix stumbled back as a jet of purple crashed into her stomach.
Sirius smiled, as Bellatrix grabbed her stomach with one hand and looked up in pure hatred and disbelief as pain shot through her. Never in a million years had she thought Sirius would get the best of her, after all she was the better duelist. Rage filled her, and she slashed her wand through the air.
Sirius' smile quickly vanished when spells came flying at him from two directions. He managed to block Bellatrix' spell, but he was thrown backwards by the blast from another. Bellatrix walked forward, her arm still wrapped around her stomach, when a shout rang out, "Fall back!" Bellatrix raised her wand to end her cousin anyways when several pops sounded, and three men in red robes surrounded Sirius. More pain shot through her stomach. Normally, she would've tried to take out all three aurors to get to her cousin, but more and more pain shot through her. She yelled in frustration, the sound coming out muffled behind her mask, and she apparated away.
xxxxxxxxxx
"Fred! George!" Ginny yelled. Tears ran down her pale cheeks, as she frantically pushed her way through the crowds of people. "Ron! Fred! George!"
A large man ran into Ginny, knocking her into the ground. Ginny landed on her hands, and she hissed in pain as tiny rocks dug into her palms. When she fell, she bit the inside of her cheek and the taste of copper filled her mouth. She brushed the hair out of her face, and struggled to stand up. When she put weight on her ankle she let out a whimper and fell to the ground. Her ankle was either broken or sprained.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A cold, high voice asked.
Ginny looked up, and her eyes widened into saucers. A tall, thin man wearing a Death Eater uniform stared down at her. She couldn't see his eyes, but she pictured them as two cold, empty orbs.
"A little lamb has lost her way," the man said. He raised his wand, and Ginny froze in fear. "Avada—"
Ginny clamped her eyes shut. She felt her body go cold, and she couldn't have moved if she wanted to. All of the noise around her faded away, except for the pounding of her heart, which sounded as if it was coming from inside her throat.
"Ginny!" A voice yelled, that sounded like her father.
At the same time a voice with a slight accent shouted, "Stupefy!"
A thump sounded and Ginny's eyes flew open. Laying in front of her was the crumpled body of the Death Eater who had been about to kill her. Suddenly, the sound of the pounding of her heart was gone and true silence filled the air.
"Ginny!" She looked up in time to see her father pulling her into a hug. "Ginny." Arthur repeated again and again into her hair.
"Dad," Ginny said faintly. She was too shocked too say anything more.
She looked behind her dad and saw a familiar face. Viktor Krum was staring at her, his dark eyes piercing her hazel ones. Arthur pulled away, and keeping his arm around Ginny's shoulders he turned to Viktor.
"Thank you," Arthur said. His voice thick with emotion.
"It vas not a problem," Viktor said.
"It was everything," Arthur corrected. "Thank you."
Viktor nodded.
"Dad," Ginny said quietly. "Where is everyone? There were Death Eaters everywhere." She clung to the back of her dads robes.
Ginny looked around at the deserted field. Less than a minute ago there were dozens of Death Eaters and screaming people, and now there was no one. She didn't know how everyone could be gone just like that.
"When the second group of aurors arrived, the Death Eaters left," Arthur answered.
"They fled like the cowards they are," a sharp voice added. Ginny watched as a thin man, wearing green and gold robes walked towards them, followed by several people Ginny faintly recognized from her visits to the Ministry. She recognized the first man as her neighbor, Amos Diggory. Amos stopped in front of Viktor. "I saw what you did there, Mr. Krum. You saved young Miss Weasley's life. That was excellent work."
"It vas nothing," Viktor said. "I vould've done the same for anyone."
"It wasn't—" Amos began, but he was cut off when a loud voice yelled, "Morsmordre!"
A colossal skull appeared in the sky, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As they watched it rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation.
One of the Ministry officials took a deep breath. "The dark mark!"
"Into the woods!" One of the Ministry officials yelled. "Quickly!"
Arthur pulled Ginny into his side, and Ginny watched, transfixed, as the Ministry officials ran into the woods. Followed by Viktor Krum.