Tia handed me the winnings on the bet she made on my behalf while we were on our way back to our tent.
But the celebrations on the moor were huge. There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of drunk people.
I stuck close to Tia so I wouldn't get lost. Hermione and Ginny held onto me. "Alright," Tia muttered as soon as we went into the tent.
"Ireland was definitely going to win, I called it!" I boasted. "Bed, missy, it's late," Tia ordered. "Hermione, Ginny, you girls go to bed too, we'll be going back to the house in the morning."
"Tia?" I murmured as soon as I put my pyjamas on. "Joy? Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she asked me.
"Will I ever find out what it is?" I wondered. "When you get back to school, Joy, you can't wait a few days?" she chuckled.
"You should know this by now, Tia," I smiled. "Go on, go to sleep," Tia said and I closed my eyes.
***
"JOY! JOY! WAKE UP!"
I opened my eyes to find Tia shaking me. "Wassgoinon?" I slurred. "Put on your slippers and your jacket, outside now," she rambled while shaking Hermione.
I went outside to hear people screaming and running into the woods.
I looked up to see people floating in the air as people in cloaks and masks were levitating them and laughing. My eyes were fixed on them as one of them pointed their wand at a tent. "Incendio!"
The tent burst into flames and my entire body started shaking as screams erupted from it.
"Joy!" Tia grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around. "Just don't look okay? Don't look."
"Why are they doing that?" I trembled. "These people are sick bastards!"
"They are sick bastards," Tia told me. "But you and the others need to run, I have to join the Ministry and take down those people alright? You have to go hide in the woods, Joy, go, please."
"Stupefy!"
"Protego!" Tia shouted and a shield formed between her and the masked figure. "JOY! RUN!"
I stumbled backwards towards the woods and I turned around and I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.
I couldn't find anyone, they all ran ahead. "Oh fuck," I panted. I looked behind to see no sight of my aunt or my friends. Where are they?!
"Looking for your mates, Jones?"
I whipped my head around to see Malfoy. "Oh, piss off, I'm not in the mood," I grumbled. "They went that way," Malfoy pointed to the left. "You'd better protect your precious Mudbloods."
I glared at him. "Remind me to hex you once we get back to school."
I started running again. It was pitch black, I could hardly see a thing. I took my wand out from my jacket. "Lumos," I whispered.
I closed my eyes, so I could heighten why hearing, see if I could hear anyone. "Maybe you dropped it while you were running?" I heard Hermione's anxious voice coming a good bit from the left.
"Where is she?" I heard Ron ask nervously. "Joy could be in trouble."
"Ron!" I called.
"Joy! Where are you?!"
"I'm over here!"
I laid my eyes on my three friends and sighed with relief. "Bloody hell, Joy," Ron wrapped his arms around me as if he was a koala on a eucalyptus tree. "What happened?"
"I was with my aunt and one of the guys in the masks tried to attack her, she told me to run," I couldn't stop stuttering. A rustle in the bushes made me jump out of my skin.
I was surprised when Winky stumbled out, petrified. "Bad wizards! Everywhere!" she squeaked. "People in the air! Winky must get out of the way!"
She made a run for it but the way she ran looked very odd. "What's up with her?" Ron wondered. Hermione was shaking her head. "House elves get a very rough deal! This is slavery! Crouch made her go to the top of the stadium! She was terrified! She has to ASK for permission to hide! Or run! Someone has to do something!"
"Hermione, house elves like being enslaved!" Ron argued. "Can we do this later, please?!" I grumbled. "People are getting MURDERED! So, let's go!"
We continued on, the path dark, only being lit up by the light on the end of my wand.
"I hope everyone is okay," I trembled. "Did they actually attack Tatiana?" Hermione asked me. I nodded. "Maybe these people are against the Ministry..."
I jumped once I heard a twig snap. "Who did that?"
"Wasn't me," Harry muttered. "Or me," Ron added. "Are you sure it wasn't you?" Hermione asked me.
"It wasn't..."
"MORSMORDE!"
The voice sounded very close and I whipped my head around to see if I could catch a glimpse.
A green bolt shot out of the woods and was aimed directly at the sky. Ron gasped and I let out a small squeal as the green light took form of a huge skull with a serpent inside its mouth.
***
"It's the Dark Mark!" I started panicking. "It's the fucking Dark Mark!"
"Joy calm down!" Hermione tried to shut me up. "Calm down?! Those were freaking Death Eaters! You-Know-Who's followers!"
"Voldemort?" Harry widened his eyes and I flinched. "Come on, we have to run!" Hermione rambled and the four of us started running through the dark woods.
A horrible thought struck me. Tia. She's Muggle-born, they'll go after her!
"JOY, GET DOWN!" Ron screeched but Harry tackled me to the ground as twenty people yelled "STUPEFY!"
"THAT'S MY SON! STOP!" I heard Mr Weasley yell. "Harry, Ron, Joy, Hermione, are you alright?"
We nodded and Harry pulled me up to my feet. "Out of the way Arthur! Which one of you conjured the Mark?!" Crouch demanded.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me, why the bloody hell would we do that?!" I gasped in disbelief.
"Do not lie!" he shouted at me. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" a familiar voice bellowed.
Tia. Oh thank Godric, she was okay.
"Gee, Barty, first you throw an innocent man in Azkaban and now you're accusing my niece! Who is fourteen, by the way! Of conjuring the Dark Mark!" she scolded him
"Then where did it come from then, Tatiana?!"
"It was over there," Hermione pointed towards the woods. "We heard an incantation..."
"Well, you certainly do know how it's conjured..."
I threw my arms into the air in exasperation. Which idiot let him be in charge of Sirius' trial? Or lack of one, I should say.
Tia had the same look of exasperation on her face too. "It's likely they Disapparated," one of the Ministry witches said. A couple of them went into the woods to check. Tia came over to me and hugged me. "You alright?"
"Did a Death Eater attack you?" I asked her, worriedly. "Yes but don't worry, I Stupefied him into next week," she reassured me.
"We got them!" we heard Amos Diggory shout. He came back out with Winky. "Oh, shit," Tia muttered quietly. "It couldn't have been Winky," I murmured. "I heard the voice, it was very male, very human."
"Well, there's no one else there," Amos told Crouch. "This is stupid, the Dark Mark is a wizard's sign, she'd need a wand," Mr Weasley pointed out.
"And she did."
Tia widened her eyes. "But...how?!"
Amos lifted up a wand. "It was in her hand, so that's Clause Three of Wand Use broken."
"What's Clause Three?" I asked Tia. "It means that non-humans aren't allowed to carry wands or use them," Tia explained to me
I jumped once I heard a pop and Bagman walked over. "The Dark Mark! Who did it?! Did you get them?! Why weren't you at the match?!"
"I'm a little busy here, Ludo, my elf has been stunned," Crouch told him. "But why was she....no..you don't think.." Bagman stuttered. "She couldn't have! She'd need a wand."
"And she had one," Amos told him. "She'd better have an explanation."
At that moment, Winky started stirring a little and she woke up. "Elf!" Amos barked at her. "Do you know who I am?!"
Winky looked very frightened and Tia looked extremely uncomfortable. "As you see elf, the Dark Mark was conjured a short while ago and you were found beneath it! Explain!" Amos shouted.
"I..I is not doing it sir," she trembled. "You were found with a wand in your hand!"
My eyes widened once I saw the wand. Harry's wand. "That's mine!" Harry piped up. "I lost it!"
"Oh, so you conjured the Mark and then tossed it away!" Amos accused him.
"Diggory for once in your life..SHUT UP!" Tia growled at him. "Harry lost his wand a good while before the Mark was conjured," I told him, defending Harry.
Amos turned back to Winky. "So, you decided to have a bit of fun then, elf?!"
"It wasn't her," Hermione spoke up. "It was a human that did it."
"It was a man," Ron added. "We'll see," Amos grumbled and took Harry's wand.
"Prior Incantato!"
A tiny Dark Mark came out of Harry's wand and everyone gasped. "I is not conjuring Dark Mark!" Winky sobbed. "I isn't using wand! I isn't knowing how!"
"You were caught red handed, elf!" Amos roared at her. "Be realistic, Amos, where could she have learned it?!" Mr Weasley asked.
"I think Amos is insinuating that I'm teaching my own house elf Dark Magic," Crouch grumbled. "What..no..of course not!" Amos turned red.
"You accused two people who were least likely to conjure that Mark! Myself and Harry Potter!" Crouch grumbled. "You know the boy's story!"
"Everyone knows..I didn't accuse you.."
"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, I despise the Dark Arts and people who practice it," Crouch hissed at him.
"She could have picked it up anywhere," Amos murmured. "Winky," Tia turned to her. "Where did you find Harry's wand?"
"In..in there, Miss," Winky pointed towards the woods. "It's obvious that whoever conjured that Mark is long gone and Winky found Harry's wand and picked it up," Tia said calmly.
"Elf, did you see anyone?!" Amos interrogated her. "I is seeing no one sir," Winky muttered. "I will deal with her, Amos," Crouch told him. "No master, master please," Winky begged him. "She disobeyed me when I told her to stay in the tent. This means clothes."
"NO! NOT CLOTHES! MASTER PLEASE!" Winky wailed. This was very uncomfortable to watch.
"Come on," Tia ushered me away. "Let's go."
The two of us walked away. "Tia..is You-Know-Who back?" I asked her, shaking a little.
"No, no, sweetie, he's not back, just his dumb followers putting on a show," Tia sighed. "I don't think I'll be able to go to sleep tonight," I muttered.
"This'll be front page on the Daily Prophet, everyone's going to be in a panic," Tia said.