The Irish knew how to celebrate.
Jigs were being danced all over the fields in the wee hours of the morning, the stars shining bright overhead, the fires flickering orange, glowing in their pits all over. Shouts and song, a cacophony of celebration, filled the air. A few fireworks whistled through the sky, banging into sky-wide images of shamrocks and pots of gold with a shower of golden coin-shaped sparks that rained down over the camp, disappearing before they could land. A lot of laughter was going up, echoing off the trees, most of it beer induced.
In other words, it was a right proper ceilidh.
Wally Grant stood outside, drinking a bottle of Irish beer and raising the toast with his mates as they shouted and made giddy of themselves. Wally clapped in tune with them as he stood by and watched them dancing - especially Geri, who was spinning about, her hair flying around her face in a mass of dark curls.
"Wally!" Suddenly he was being jumped upon - it was Dexter and Macy was behind him, her hair twisted into two knots at the top of her head - and Dexter was dancing about him eagerly. "Oi you're far too calm for a man wearing an Irish jersey about now! Why aren't ya dancin'? I saw a bloke not three tents from here, giant shamrock painted on his belly, hooting and hollering, drunk off his gourd. You're the soberest Irish supporter I've encountered tonight!"
"Ah don't be calling me out," Wally laughed as Macy rushed through to where Geri was dancing and grabbing her hands. Geri squealed and the pair of them were hugging wildly.
"Thrown off by Ollie?"
Wally flinched at the name. "No."
"Except yes, you can't fool me, Wal - I know, I recognize your face. You've been thinkin' on him."
Wally flushed.
"All bars held, he did look really good though, didn't he?"
"I didn't notice."
Dexter laughed, "Fine, be stubborn. Once upon a time I couldn't get you to shut up about how good looking he was."
"Once upon a time I meant something to him but things change, Dex, now he's just somebody I used to know and he's off in his taj mahal, probably celebrating with Aiden Lynch or whoever his latest secret lover is..." Wally rolled his eyes.
"He said he hasn't been mates with Aiden Lynch," Dexter said. "In fact, he made it sound like they barely knew each other."
Wally looked over at Dexter. "So?"
"So all that time you spent jealous and not reaching back out? It was a rumor, I reckon." Dexter took a long sip of his own drink, which looked like it was more along the lines of butterbeer than actual beer. Dexter went on, "You know Aiden Lynch's married?" he paused, then added, "To a woman?"
"So? So am I," Dexter shrugged.
Dexter added, quietly, "Happily."
"Alright, you've got me there."
Dexter laughed.
"But that doesn't mean that --" Dexter started, but he stopped.
Suddenly, a scream had ripped through the night.
Dexter and Wally both looked up, their heads snapping toward the direction of the scream. Both put down their drinks and drew their wands.
Younger wizards around them looked confused, older took on similar stances - a clear divide occurred then - those who had been old enough to be affected by the war and those who had not been. The people who remembered, they were the ones dropping into defensive reaction and those who had not didn't know what to do, or even seem to recognize what the sound was as a ripple of panic swept the field, originating from the far end. More screams followed the first and a surge of energy, a rush of feet, witches and wizards turning and running, scattering, the air filled with cracks and pops, the music dying away.
Wally turned and grabbed the arm of a wizard running by with a panicked look in his eye. "What's on?" he asked.
"Death Eaters!" the man gasped, wrenching away from Wally with panic, his eyes wide, "Death Eaters!" and he was gone, running between tents, tripping over an abandoned banner painted with the colors of the Irish and the team insignia.
Dexter looked at Wally. "Can't be."
Wally's eyes darted back across the field the way the man had come.
Geri and Macy were at their sides and Dexter took Macy's arm protectively, "Come on love, let's get the boys." He looked at Wally, "Floo up tomorrow."
Wally nodded and Dexter and Macy left, running for their tent.
"We've got to get Livvy," Geri gasped.
Wally nodded, "Go on. I'm going to see what's going on."
"Wally -- there are dozens of aurors here --"
"And they may need help," Wally intoned darkly. "Go get Olivia and go home. I'll be right behind."
Geri hesitated, then she nodded and bolted away to the south end of the field, where their tent was, where they'd left Olivia with a nanny.
Wally watched her go a moment, then set off running across the field in the direction that everyone else was running from, his wand in his fist, heart pounding. He saw the muggles being levitated ahead of him before he could really comprehend what it was he was seeing, but when it sank in, his stomach double-flipped.
Below the muggles, wands raised and cackling loudly, their masks on their faces, the Death Eaters he was promised all stood together in a cluster. They were flipping the muggles over and over in the air and carrying them along overhead, parading along, one of them marching ahead, blasting bits of the remains of the celebrations out of his way, sending stones from the fire pits flying off and blasting up chairs and lawn gnomes, bits of fencing and sundials and kiddie pools and merch booths, setting fire to banners and tents and laughing when witches and wizards screamed and ran - all running away toward the line of trees, toward the pitch. Streamers and wreckage followed along in their wake, damage and rubble and misery.
Wally quickly set to rushing to tents nearest him. "Wake up! Wake up!" he yelled inside, "Wake up! Trouble, you'v got to run! Death Eaters!" he cried, and he went on to the next, shooting protective charms in the direction of the Death Eaters, attempting at creating a barrier to direct them away from the south side of the field. He spotted a couple others doing the same further on, saw they were setting up shield charms and there were patronuses being sent, otters and dogs, cats and does and blue jays and even a tiger running from tent to tent, waking people up. "Wake up!"
The aurors were appearing, too, surrounding the cluster of Death Eaters, and there were stunners being fired, flashes of magic and shield charms meeting...
He'd been setting protective charms for several minutes when he heard his name being called in a frantic tone. He turned around and saw Geri coming across the field, tears in her eyes.
"WALLY!"
He looked over at her, "Geri?"
"WALLY, SHE'S GONE!"
"What?"
"LIVVY! OUR TENT --"
"WHAT?"
"There's more Death Eaters to the south, our tent in flames, I doused it enough to get in and see she's not there! She's not there!"
Wally felt his stomach drop and his senses went numb.
He looked around the field, panic stricken, heart next to stopped.
"Oh God Wally, she's not there! She's not there, she could be anywhere, she --"
"We'll find her," Wally said.
God please, Wally begged, looking to the sky. I can't lose my family again. I can't.
Oliver Kent woke from a nightmare to the sound of Arthur Weasley's voice echoing through his tent in a panicked tone.
He jolted and lay in his bed gasping for breath, disoriented by the fabric ceiling and walls of the tent's bedroom, and his mind reeling, trying to piece together what was real (the mattress, the room, the acidic feeling in his stomach, Arthur Weasley's voice) from what was not (the memory of the motor car, the smell of fire and smoke, the sound of crunching metal, the blood, the screaming).
But as he blinked more awake, he realized the screaming was actually real.
He struggled up, shoving his feet into slippers and grabbing a crimson and orange night robe with the Cannons logo blazoned onto the back. He tied the robe off at the waist, shuffling through his tent, hair an absolute fright, and stepped out of the tent, looking around blearily.
The night sky sparkled over head, but it was far from beautiful out there. People were running in droves, great crowds of them, shoving frantically as they passed by, their eyes wild like a herd of wilderbeasts out of control, a frenzy. He stepped back in shock as someone plowed by, nearly taking him out on their way. "Bleeding hell," he gasped, looking around.
Arthur Weasley was several tents away, leaning in and shouting to the next and the next...
An auror with bright pink hair that Oliver recognized rushed by. "Oi! You!" he called out, her name slipping him, "Hey!"
She turned to him, panic on her pretty face.
"What's happening?"
"Death Eaters!" she shouted back.
Death Eaters? he stared, gaping after her as she worked at setting protective charms, reinforcing a shield that blocked off the woods from the field, a security feature for the quidditch pitch, which was the benefit for having a tent so close to the pitch - the access to safety. She was joined by two of the Weasley boys.
Everyone from all over the field was running through past him, the main pathway to the safety of the woods ran right past his tent after all, and behind hem hey were leaving nothing but damaged land and tents.
Were Wally and Dexter okay?
He didn't know where Dexter's tent was. Suddenly he wished he'd gone with Dexter to meet his boys, to see Macy, and then he'd know where the tent was at... But he did know where Wally's was. He turned back to his tent hurriedly and reached inside, grabbing his broomstick from the wall just inside, flinging himself upon it and getting some lift, quickly flying over the heads of the panicked people, dashing about, disturbed and frantic.
Wally's tent was on fire.
All the tents to the south were.
Oliver dove to the ground, clutching his broomstick and touching down. The air was hot and crackling with magic, a dozen tents burned, the smell of flame filling the air and Oliver felt sick to his stomach as he ran up to the tent. Wally and Geri were outside, frantic as the people all around, and Oliver heard Wally's voice calling out, and with a twist of his stomach, he thought it was his own name at first - but worse, it was his daughter's.
"OLIVIA!"
"Wally?"
Wally looked up at Oliver as he rushed up.
"Wally are you alright?" he asked, breathless.
"My daughter! She's missing!" Wally choked, tears were straming down his face and mingling with the soot that was already collecting across his nose and Oliver saw the panic in Wally's eyes. "My little girl - she --"
"I'll help find her."
Wally nodded.
Oliver mounted his broomstick quickly and began sweeping low loops around the tents surrounding Wally's, searching the ground and the crowd, eyes roving ceaselessly over the horrific scene. It was a horrible game - searching for a living snitch in a sea of quaffles.
He was quite a ways off from where Wally and Geri were when he heard the wailing and spotted the girl on the ground below. He feinted down, landing and searching for where the waiilng was. He spotted her, cowering against a tree at the edge of the forest, hugging her knees and screaming in fear, tears running down her face.
"Olivia!" he gasped as he arrived to her. "Olivia, do you remember me from today?" he asked.
She was sobbing too hard to answer.
"I'm -- " an old friend? he didn't have it in him to say friend, so he skipped it, "-- your dad's."
Suddenly, there was a crashing in the woods beyond her, trees being blasted out of the way, and he lunged forward and caught her up in his arms, and though she wriggled in panic and he would've rathered to have collected her up a lot more kindly and gently than he was doing, to give her a chance to be comfortable with him, to let her know he wouldn't hurt her... After all, he remembered too well what it was like to be a terrified child. But he hadn't a choice because the danger was closing in around them, so he pulled her into his chest and threw himself over to where he'd touched down, grabbing onto his broomstick.
A lanky, pale man with a twitchy face stepped from the trees, a wand in his hand an a manic expression on his face as he stepped along, determination and a bright eagerness to his demeanor. Trees were being blasted to bits in his path as he cackled - no mask for this man, no, he walked with a look of pride and excitement - he was in no way ashamed to be doing what he was.
The man saw Oliver and Olivia there on the edge of the woods and he grinned and shot a spell toward them, which Oliver only narrowly avoided. The tree Olivia had been crouching beside exploded into flame and the man cackled, "Oh it IS a good thing you dodged that one, it would've smarted!" his tone was unhinged. "Here, see if you can dodge this."
The man whipped the wand in a long sweeping motion and it was as though a web of eletricity had been thrown over the ground, a netting of some sort. Oliver only just managed to jump onto his broomstick and get off the ground before the sweeping blanket of sparks reached them.
"Oh it feels so GOOD to be FREE again," the man cackled and he grinned, "No fair hopping on a broomstick, though, you took away the fun." His tongue darted out of his mouth as he licked his lips and snickered. "I can do it in the air, too. Watch me now --" and he was about to cast another spell, aimed toward Oliver, when there came a voice out of the trees.
A young woman was running toward them.
"Olivia?" she called.
The man turned around on his heels, grinned, and hissed, "CRUCIO!" and the girl fell, hitting the ground, a whip of crackling power wrapped about her body. Oliver shot a spell at the man's hand and he was shocked out of holding the spell, a welt rising up on his thumb. He looked up at Oliver with a glowering hatred and he waved his wand, carelessly, "Avada Kedavra!" he hissed and the jet of green light that flashed through the trees hit the woman without any ceremony.
Oliver's face paled and he felt sick as her form went limp. He stared, wide-eyed, breathless.
"Another mudblood dead in the glorious name of the Dark Lord, Voldemort!"
Oliver held all the tighter to Olivia.
The man grinned up at him, took aim, and --
Oliver feinted down quickly, but the aim hadn't been at him.
"MOSMORDRE!" he shouted.
And into the sky shot green sparks indeed, just over Oliver's head and he ducked as it went past, hissing like a firework until a great burst above him in the sky, lighting up the dark with pale green light - a yawning skull, a snake coming out of the mouth of it, and Oliver felt his skin crawl cod and he stared up at it, a shiver going down his spine. The Dark Mark lit up the whole field and the screaming of people below redoubled as they raced out of the smoldering remains of this side of the camp grounds.
Oliver covered Olivia's head with his hand and held her close as she let out renewed wails of fear.
He raised his wand - and his stunner was one of about ten that flew through the trees in that moment - though he had no idea where the others came from. It was Oliver's spell which hit the man and knocked him to the ground, unconscious.
He heard shouts, recognized Arthur Weasley's voice among them, crashes as people ran through the trees, and, hurriedly he looped about on his broomstick and shot low across the grounds, back toward Wally's tent, his hands shaking as he went... He could just about imagine the PR feeding frenzy that would occur if he was spotted anywhere near any of this.
Declan Aletrick would have enough to keep him busy for the rest of time, Oliver thought.
He found Wally and Geri still searching for Olivia, the Dark Mark glowing in the sky above, but the frantic frenzy below relatively quiet in this second of the campground, everyone having cleared off by then, it was downright quiet as Oliver landed and staggered, still carrying Olivia clutched to his chest.
"Olivia!" Wally shouted, running toward where Oliver had touched down. Wally scooped his daughter out of Oliver's arms and she turned, clinging twice as hard to him as she'd been doing to Oliver, her face pressed into her daddy's neck and she sobbed loudly, wailing that went up from the very depths of her. Geri came and wrapped herself around Wally and Olivia both, also sobbing, and tears were falling over Wally's cheeks. "You're alright, you're alright," he cried, "Oh thank God you're alright, I --"
He paused, and he gently handed Olivia into Geri's arms.
Wally looked up to Oliver. He took three quick, long strides and his arms were around Oliver Kent for the first time in far too long. Oliver felt his knees buckle and stumbled into Wally, melted into him, really.
"Thank you," Wally cried, "Thank you."