After getting to their spot, getting their amazing tents set up, unlike anything Harry, Hermione and Rubi had ever seen, cooking their lunch, the twins making a bet with Ludo Bagman, they were at the match, playing around with their omnioculars as they awaited the match to begin.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were busy talking to a House-Elf named Winky; the other Weasleys were more busy meeting people of the Ministry. Fred, George and Rubi stood to one side, Rubi admiring the whole scene before gazing through her omnioculars, the awe expressed upon her face. Fred was chatting with George about the bet they'd made with Ludo Bagman before his eyes caught sight of the girl he had feelings for. She looked away from the omnioculars, smiling broadly,
"This all feels so cool! I can't wait for the match."
"Same." The twins chorused.
Soon it began.
"Ladies and gentlemen... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" Ludo Bagman was yelling out.
The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message (Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans - A Risk With Every Mouthful!) and now showed BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.
"I wonder what they've brought," said Arthur, leaning forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "Veela!"
"What are veel-?" Harry began asking but it was answered for him when a hundred veela were gliding out onto the field, Veela were women... the most beautiful women. Their skin shined moon-bright, their white-gold hair fanned out behind them without wind... but then the music started, and the veela had started to dance. Rubi tore her gaze away with a frown.
"Harry, what are you doing?" said Hermione's voice from a long way off. Rubi turned to find her cousin doing something, almost as if he was trying to impress the Veelas. Rubi, with a frown, turned to look at her best friends, afraid to see Fred's reaction to the dancing beauties.
George was eagerly leaning forward against the railing, a dazed expression on his face. When Rubi turned to look at the other ginger, to her surprise, her eyes connected with those intoxicating, sweet, chocolate ones. Fred had been watching Rubi the whole time, the Veelas didn't seem to affect him. He saw her look at the Veelas and then around at everyone else, a sourness visible on her face. She raised an eyebrow at Fred, as relief seeped through Rubi. Fred, wanting to tease the girl to get a reaction out of her, smirked and winked at Rubi, who blushed and quickly turned to look away. Although this action didn't go unnoticed by Fred, who felt a certain sense of hope course through him. Perhaps Rubi felt the same as him.
The music stopped, and everyone recovered out of their trance state, also stopping and realizing what actions they were doing. The crowd began roaring in anger as the veela's left.
"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!" 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 arched suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd oohed and aahed, as though at a fireworks display. Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it -
"Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. Squinting up at the shamrock, Rubi realized that it was actually composed of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.
"Leprechauns!" said Arthur, over the tumultuous applause of the crowd, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.
Rubi excitedly also tried to catch as many as she could, a delighted expression on her face, one that made Fred watch her and smile. The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!" A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters. "Ivanova!" A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out. "Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!"
"That's him, that's him!" yelled Ron, following Krum with his Omnioculars. Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen.
"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand - Lynch!" Seven green blurs swept onto the field. "And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" A small and skinny wizard, strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under the mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open - four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and the minuscule, winged Golden Snitch. With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls.
"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"
The rest of the match passed by in a blast, and Rubi had never been happier or fascinated, like this. In the end, Krum caught the Golden Snitch; however, due to the score, Ireland won the match. Fred and George had won their bet with Ludo Bagman, about which they were excited about, and Rubi couldn't help but applaud their guess, since she could never have guessed it herself.
Back in the tent, it was a fun atmosphere singing to "Viktor, I love you, Viktor I do!" due to Ron's obsession with the athlete before they went to bed. However Rubi felt as if she had just closed her eyes, when she was being shaken awake.
"Rubi, wake up. Come on, Ginny, Hermione!"
Rubi sat up, squinting. "What's happening?" But as soon as she asked, the noise from outside seemed to register.
"No time to explain, come on girls!" Arthur said and ushered them out.
Grabbing a leather jacket that had once belonged to her mother, Rubi along with the other two girls headed out. There was total chaos. A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. At the same 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!" Arthur 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; Arthur 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 Rubi's hand and starting to pull her toward the woods. Rubi looked down at their joined hands in surprise but she didn't have time to think about it, as the chaos only seemed to increase. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and George followed. They all looked back as they reached the trees.
The crowd beneath the Roberts family, the muggle family, was larger than ever; they could see the Ministry wizards trying to get through to the hooded wizards in the center, but they were having great difficulty. It looked as though they were scared to perform any spell that might make the Roberts family fall. Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air.
The crowd was beginning to push them around and after a while Rubi realized that all the others were gone.
"Fred! Where are the others?"
Fred stopped walking and looked behind him, there seemed to be people running around in the distance but no one belonging to their group.
"We must have lost them on the way."
"We have to go back and find them!" Rubi said urgently, panic flooding her body. She made a move to leave but Fred pulled her back, resulting in the girl getting pulled flush against him.
"No, I'm sure they're alright. It's best to wait it out here, we'll head back once it all calms down."
Rubi slowly nodded but didn't remove her gaze from Fred, who let go of her and began looking around. Although she didn't realize it then, her heartbeat had quickened at the proximity. Time passed and the two stayed put in their spot.
Fred suddenly spoke, "Nice jacket."
Rubi blinked before realizing what he meant, "Oh, thanks. Not mine actually, belongs to mum. I had to steal it though when I found it earlier this summer, it looked cool."
"Looks amazing, especially on you." Fred quietly said, making Rubi's eyes widen for a second.
"What?" She breathed out in surprise.
"Um, I mean it looks good." He awkwardly said, not meeting the girl's gaze who for a second felt Ginny and Hermione's words ringing in her head.
What if he does too? No, it can't be. Just another compliment as a friend, again, right?
She shook her head.
The night was silent and Fred said, "Let's head back, I think it's over now." Rubi nodded in agreement.
However before either of them moved, a sudden bright light emitted up in the sky, piercing the darkness. Both of them jerked, before Rubi felt herself step forward, her eyes glued upon the sight unfolding before her.
It was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. It rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation. Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams. This however, didn't seem to reach the young Black, as her eyes watched the sky. Suddenly, the scene before her eyes switched.
She rounded a corner, only to pull back herself against the wall to avoid a narrow flash of light that zoomed past. She went forth, only to pause momentarily, her eyes scraping over the scene before rushing forwards to help the girl with bushy hair.
There was a ball of light headed for her, and Rubi heard a voice shout "Hermione, duck!"
With a start, she realized it was her voice. The person whose eyes she was looking through was her.
Hermione ducked while Rubi turned and sent a spell to the person who had cast it in her friend's direction earlier.
"Stupefy!"
He ducked, and when he straightened, he said, "Oh, I was hoping to run into you, Black. I'll be rewarded when I finish you!" A ball of green light emitted through his wand, and Rubi jumped to the side, the curse missing her by mere inches.
Strands of red hair fell into Rubi's eyes and she immediately shouted out a spell, "Waddiwasi!" The girl directed a pebble into the man's nose, who yelped. "Better luck next time, Lestrange." Rubi then turned around only to fall forwards onto her knees, her attacker having pushed her. She whirled around only to be met with a wand.
"If you thought your pathetic trick would work on me, then you thought wrong. Any last words, Black?" Rubi made to raise her wand, but Lestrange stepped on her arm, forcing it down. Rubi felt pain soar through her right forearm, and her wand fell from her hand. "Goodbye, Black."
Rubi felt panic flood her, however, her eyes went past the man towering over her and instead into something in the sky, soaring towards them. Through her watery eyes, she looked at the man and smirked. Lestrange's face frowned and before he could have turned around to look at what she was looking at, a creature flew by and slashed his talons at his face. Lestrange staggered, yelling as he gripped his face.
Rubi stood up and ran but she suddenly stopped as she felt her throat go dry at what she saw next.
It was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue, rising higher and higher in the dark sky.
"The Dark Mark." She breathed out.
Rubi gasped, her chest heaving up and down, while she blinked and tried to process what she had just seen.
"The Dark Mark." She whispered. She felt hands gripping her shoulders and she looked around wildly until she heard a voice.
"Rubi!"
It was Fred, who was trying to shake her back to her senses.
"Fred." Rubi breathed out.
The ginger placed a hand on the girl's face, stroking her cheek soothingly, "What happened, are you alright?"
"I think so."
Lie.
She was beyond confused and almost scared by what she had seen. It felt too real to be a dream but she thought perhaps the day's events were getting to her, maybe she needed some real sleep. "What happened?"
"You just froze, kept staring up at the mark. You had a misty expression on your face, you didn't move or respond when I called your name." He said, something like concern and almost fear lacing his voice.
"I'm fine, Freddie. My mind just went somewhere else. I'm alright, really." Rubi said, trying to convince Fred she was indeed well. He slowly but reluctantly nodded, stroking her cheek before his hand went down to intertwine with Rubi's.
"The commotion seems to have died down." Fred voiced, after a while. "Should we head back?"
Rubi nodded, "Yeah."
And the two began to make their way back to camp, their hands still holding onto each other, bringing a sense of comfort and belonging upon the two.
The chaos seemed to have died down, as their tents came into view. Fred pushed the flap back, allowing Rubi to enter first while he bowed like a gentleman, in an attempt to cheer up Rubi. She cracked a small smile but was feeling disturbed on the inside.
George, Ginny, Charlie, Percy and Bill were all there, the older three Weasley siblings all sporting injuries but no signs of Harry, Ron or Hermione. The first to notice the pair was Charlie, who immediately stood up from his seat at the dining table and came over.
"Oh thank goodness, you're back." Although his relief turned into worry when he peered behind Fred and Rubi. "Where are the others?"
"We don't know. We lost them in the chaos." Rubi mumbled out hollowly. Fred wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her into his side in an attempt to calm her nerves down.
Everyone sat down in their own places, waiting in silence for the news of the last remaining ones from their group. Although their wait was cut short when they heard Charlie conversing with his dad, as he had decided to take a peek outside to see for a sign of any familiar face.
Arthur came in first, bending down and entering the tent, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered after him. Rubi immediately rushed forth, launching herself at Harry.
"Oh my gosh, you're alright." She pulled back, surveying him for any injuries. "Are you alright?" Harry glumly nodded, and Rubi asked Ron and Hermione if they were alright, before retreating to Fred's side, who wrapped an arm around her again,
"Did you get them, Dad?" said Bill sharply. "The person who conjured the Mark?"
"No," said Arthur. "We found Barry Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."
"What?" said Bill, Charlie ,and Percy together.
"Harry's wand?" said Fred, while Rubi looked horrified.
"Mr. Crouch's elf?" said Percy, sounding thunderstruck.
With some assistance from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Arthur explained what had happened in the woods. When they had finished their story, Percy swelled indignantly.
"Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that!" he said. "Running away when he'd expressly told her not to... embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry... how would that have looked, if she'd been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control-"
"She didn't do anything- she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Hermione snapped at Percy, who looked very taken aback. Hermione had always got on fairly well with Percy- better, indeed, than any of the others.
"Hermione, a wizard in Mr. Crouch's position, can't afford a house-elf who's going to run amok with a wand!" said Percy pompously, recovering himself.
"She didn't run amok!" shouted Hermione. "She just picked it up off the ground!"
"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" said Ron impatiently. "It wasn't hurting anyone... Why's it such a big deal?"
"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron," said Hermione, before anyone else could answer. "I read about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts." Rubi gasped, causing Fred to peer down at her in concern, while Rubi looked thunderstruck at this revelation.
"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," said Arthur quietly. "Of course people panicked, it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."
"I don't get it," said Ron, frowning. "I mean... it's still only a shape in the sky-"
"Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed," said Arthur Weasley.
Rubi didn't understand but she had somehow dreamed about the Dark Mark as soon as she saw it in the sky. A dream that seemed a bit too vivid and real for her liking. She shook her head, hoping it was just due to all the chaos from that reign of terror. She desperately hoped it wasn't a glimpse of something forthcoming.
"The terror it inspired, you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside..." Arthur winced. Rubi shut her eyes, imagining what her family may have gone through. "Everyone's worst fear... the very worst..."
There was silence for a moment. Rubi released a shaky breath.
Then Bill, removing the sheet from his arm to check on his cut, said, "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Robertses before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."
"Death Eaters?" said Harry. "What are Death Eaters?"
"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves," said Bill. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight- the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."
"We can't prove it was them, Bill," said Arthur. "Though it probably was," he added hopelessly.
"Yeah, I bet it was!" said Ron suddenly. "Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of those nutters in masks! And we all know the Malfoys were right in with You-Know-Who!"
"But what were Voldemort's supporters-" Harry began.
Everybody apart from Harry and Rubi flinched- like most of the wizarding world, the Weasleys always avoided saying Voldemort's name.
"Sorry," said Harry quickly.
"What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?"
"The point?" said Arthur with a hollow laugh. "Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them," he finished disgustedly.
Rubi felt disgusted by this, that they killed and tortured innocent people for fun.
"But if they were the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" said Ron. "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"
"Use your brains, Ron," said Bill.
"If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, and told all sorts of lies about him forcing them to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see him come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives. I don't reckon he'd be over-pleased with them, do you?"
"So, whoever conjured the Dark Mark..." said Hermione slowly, "were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?"
"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione," said Arthur. "But I'll tell you this, it was only the Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I'd be very surprised if the person who did it hadn't been a Death Eater once, even if they're not now. Listen, it's very late, and if your mother hears what's happened she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours of sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here."
Fred gave Rubi a reassuring embrace before parting ways, both going to bed with difficulty as the night's events replayed in their heads.
Hello!
So I'm back with this story and expect an update every 1-2 weeks now! I've been able to write all the way to January for fourth year so far, and I'm really excited to share the updates with my readers! Oh, also, if you have any suggestions for the future plot, please do share!
Thank you all so much for the support, whether it's this story or my others, but I appreciate my readers so much! Take care, stay safe and I hope to see you in the next one! <33