The end of the day was a success. Bulgaria didn't win, but my spirits were so high from just watching the match and hearing people cheer, it didn't matter to me. The match ended with BULGARIA: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY and IRELAND: ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY. Ireland won the match, but Krum got the Snitch. It was certainly going to be the talk of the country the next few months. I'm really not sure why Krum would end the match when Ireland were winning, but I guess maybe he thought the Irish Chasers were too good.
We were waking back to the camp, my dad looking proud with his giant leprechaun hat perched on his head, and a sparkling shamrock pinned on his robes. I caught the sound of voices singing old songs I had never heard before, I didn't have the slightest idea of what the words meant because they were sung in Irish.
My father and I returned to our tent as soon as we reached the camp, our feet practically dragging on the ground. We both said goodnight with stifled yawns, and I sank onto my bed after changing into my pyjamas. I fell asleep very quickly once my head hit the pillow.
I snatched the Snitch into my grasp, and hold it up high for the crowd to see. The crowd goes wild, whistling, hooting, yelling or else cheering on my name. I land down onto the ground gently, where I'm then greeted by a beautiful girl. Her shiny black hair is flying behind her as she rushes towards me, her arms outstretched. I stretch out my arms too, and run towards her to close the distance. I have my arms wrapped around her waist as she kisses me passionately on the cheek. My blood rushes up to my cheeks, tinting my skin slightly red. The stadium is filled with the noise of people cheering on my name...
"Cedric! Cedric! Cedric! Cedric!"
But suddenly, I'm being nudged by someone, and the world fades away before my eyes. And Cho is no longer in my arms....
"Cedric! Get up! Quick!"
My eyes fly open, and I sit up in bed, disoriented and confused.
"Oh finally. I called you a million times, while you rambled on about Cho Chang and giggling like a girl." my father sighed, exasperated.
'Oh God! I talked in my sleep again!'
"What do you want?" I groaned.
"We don't have time! Get your shoes on quickly!" He demanded.
"What-"
"NOW!"
I jumped out of bed and hurriedly put my shoes on. My dad was obviously worked up about something, but I had no clue what. I was tying my shoelaces as fast as I could, but there was no time.
"Don't bother! Quickly!" my father yelled.
We speed walked out the tent, where we were greeted by the sight of chaos. People were running around screaming out profanities, and parents were clinging onto their children desperately. Why? What was the source of all this terror?
My father suddenly clutched my arm and dragged me way, and we started running frantically. We ran through the forest, our breath coming out in big white clouds. But I tripped over my shoelace and face planted onto the forest floor.
"Cedric!" My dad yelled.
My father rushed over to me, helping me back up onto my feet. I looked up from the ground, that's when I saw the sky for the first time....
It was glowing green, a skull with a snake protruding out of its mouth. The sight was absolutely horrifying, I knew what it was.
The Dark Mark.
Witches and wizards fear it for a reason, it is the sign that Death Eaters leave behind them. You-Know-Who's sign.
"Dad." I whispered, pointing a finger up at the sky.
"Ced, what-" my dad said, before glancing up to where I had my finger pointed.
"Merlin's beard!" my father exclaimed.
We both stared up at the sky, completely dumbfounded. That's why those people were terrified, the Death Eaters were here. But why here? Why now? And most importantly, what for?
"Ced, you stay right here!" my father said. Without another word, he ran towards the place the Dark Mark was hovering over.
If he thought I wasn't going to follow him, he was so wrong. Did he really think for one second that I would let him blindly run towards a crowd of Death Eaters? I watched my father run away, and quickly followed behind him, but making sure my footsteps were quiet.
I followed after him like a fox, quickly hiding behind shrubs or trees in case he were to look behind him.
We both finally made it to our destination, which was a clearing in the middle of the woods. I hid behind a shrub nearby, and observed the clearing from my hiding place.Harry, Ron and Hermione were there somehow, looking utterly confused. My father, along with nineteen other Ministry workers, whipped out their wands and had them pointed at the three.
"DUCK!" Harry yelled, grabbing the other two and fell to the ground.
"STUPEFY!"
Blasts of red sparks illuminated the clearing in red light. The red sparks flew right over their heads, crossing each other, and bouncing off tree trunks.
"Stop! STOP! That's my son!" a familiar voice yelled. It was Arthur Weasley.
Mr. Weasley ran out of trees and rushed over to their aid.
"Ron - Harry - Hermione- are you all right?" Mr. Weasley asked in a shaky voice.
"Out of the way, Arthur." a wizard said curtly, with a cold tone. I met this man before, and my father had mentioned about him a while back.
Mr. Crouch.
Right now, he looked absolutely livid. His face was covered in angry red splotches.
"Which of you did it?" he demanded. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"We didn't do that!" said Harry, pointing up at the green skull.
"We didn't do anything!" said Ron, rubbing his elbow, probably sore from the impact on the ground. "What did you want to attack us for?"
"Do not lie, sir!" Mr. Crouch shouted. He still had his wand pointed at Ron, who was looking indignantly at his father. "You have been spotted at the scene of the crime!" Mr. Crouch yelled.
Did he honestly believe three teenagers were capable of conjuring the Dark Mark. Was he really accusing these three of causing all this chaos? Out of all people, he was accusing Harry Potter and his friends of conjuring You-Know-Who's sign.
'This man! I swear!' I thought angrily.
"Barty." a witch whispered. She was in a long woollen dressing-gown. "They're kids, Barry, they'd never have been able to-"
"Where did the Dark Mark come from, you three?" said Mr. Weasley.
"Over there," Hermione said shakily, and pointed into the trees, "there was someone behind the trees..... the shouted words- an incantation -"
"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr. Crouch, in a disbelieving tone. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy-"
I mentally face-palmed. 'Oh, for the love of God!' I thought.
Thankfully, the rest of the Ministry workers believed Hermione's words, and they had all raised their wands towards the place Hermione pointed at.
"We're too late," the witch in the dressing-gown said. "They'll have Disapparated."
"I don't think so," my father finally said something. "Our Stunners went right through those trees.... there's a good chance we go them..."
"Amos, be careful!" some of the wizards warned. My father squared his shoulders, raised his wand and trudged into the trees. Both Hermione and I had our hands over our mouths.
But thankfully, after a few seconds, he shouted.
"Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's - but - blimey...."
"You've got someone?" Mr. Crouch yelled, again in that disbelieving tone. "Who? Who is it?"
The noise of snapping twigs and the rustling of leaves could be heard in the now very silent clearing. Then suddenly, my father came out of the shadows, carrying very small and skinny creature in his arms. The creature seemed to be wearing a tea-towel.........
A house-elf?
My father dropped the the house-elf at Mr. Crouch's feet. Everyone was now staring at Mr. Crouch, the clearing had fell into an awkward silence.
"This- cannot- be," Crouch finally said. "No -"
Helplessly, he walked towards the place where my father had found the house-elf.
"No point, Mr.Crouch," my father said, calling after him. "There's no one else there."
But Mr. Crouch had ignored him, and continued searching for any signs of another being. But his search was in vain.
"Bit embarrassing," my father - looking down at the house-elf - said grimly. "Barty Crouch's house-elf.... I mean to say....."
'No, it wasn't the house-elf! She would never have learnt how to do that!' I thought.
"Come off it, Amos," Mr. Weasley said quietly , "you don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."
"Yeah, and she had a wand."
"What?" said Mr. Weasley, taking the word right out my mouth.
"Here, look." My father showed a wand to Mr. Weasley, the wand that the elf supposedly used. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."
Suddenly, Ludo Bagman Apparated, right next to Mr.Weasley. He looked quite disorientated, and looked up at the skull in the sky.
"The Dark Mark!" He exclaimed, panting. "Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?"
Crouch had returned from his search empty handed, looking very pale.
"Where have you been, Barty?" said Bagman. "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat, too - Gulping gargoyles!" Apparently Bagman didn't notice the elf until now, he stared at her, wide-eyed. "What happened to her?"
"I have been busy, Ludo," said Mr. Crouch. "And my elf has been Stunned."
"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why-?"
But he didn't have to ask. He looked at up at the emerald skull, then at the elf, and finally rested his eyes on Crouch.
"No!" he exclaimed. "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand for a start!"
"And she had one," my father said. "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's all right with you, Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself."
Crouch gave no sign of being alive, but my father took his silence for assent. He pointed his wand at Winky.
"Rennervate!"
Winky slowly began to wake, her brown, tennis ball eyes blinked rapidly. Shakily, she sat up, with everyone watching her in silence. My father's feet happened to be in her line of sight, she looked up to his face hesitantly, before looking up into the sky. When she caught sight of the skull in the sky, she gasped, and gave a terrified sob.
"Elf!" said my father. "Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!"
I couldn't believe my father was treating a helpless being this way. It was obvious she was very stressed. I wanted to comfort her, but I knew I couldn't do that. Winky began rocking backwards and forwards, breathing very heavily.
"As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago," my father said to her. "And you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"
'You don't need an explanation,' I thought. 'It clearly wasn't Winky, she's innocent.
"I - I - I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped out loud. "I is not knowing how, sir!"
"You were found with in your hand!" my father shouted at her.
"Hey - that's mine!" Harry said.
'What? Harry's wand?' I thought.
Everyone's eyes immediately looked towards Harry.
"Excuse me?" my father asked.
"That's my wand!" Harry repeated. "I dropped it!"
"You dropped it?" my father said in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You three it aside after you conjured the Mark?"
I mentally face palmed again at the stupidity of my father.
"Amos, think who you're talking to!" Mr. Weasley said in anger. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"
"Er - of course not," my father muttered, embarrassed. "Sorry.... carried away..."
"I didn't drop it there, anyway," Harry said, gesturing towards the trees where the skull hovered over. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."
"So," my father said, looking down at Winky. "You found this wand, eh, elf? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"
"I is not doing magic with it, sir!" Winky said, still crying. "I is... I is..... I is just picking it up, sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, sir, I is not knowing how!"
"It wasn't her!" Hermione said, defending Winky. "Winky's got a squeaky little voice and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" She looked at Harry and Ron, hoping for them to back her up. "It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?"
"No," Harry replied. "It definitely didn't sound like an elf."
"Yeah, it was a human voice." said Ron.
"Well, we'll soon see," my father growled, I had never heard his voice like that. "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell last spell a wand performed, elf , did you know that?"
Winky shook her head frantically, as my father touched the tip of his wand to Harry's.
"Prior Incantato!" he shouted.
Suddenly, a skull with a serpent-tongue protruded out of Harry's wand. Hermione gasped in shock. It was thick grey smoke, and looked very ghost-like.
"Deletrius!" my father shouted, and the smoke vanished.
So, Harry's wand was used to conjure the Dark Mark, and right now Winky was the main suspect. Although, most people believed it wasn't her. I, too, was one of them. But no one had any proof, really. Mr. Crouch disowned her, because she had disobeyed him by leaving the tent.
This meant he would give her clothes.
Hermione tried desperately to defend Winky, saying she was only frightened by those people in dark cloaks that were levitating people. But Mr. Crouch didn't listen to her.
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