Chapter 3: Troubles, Questions and Home
Everyone was sitting around the fire near their tents as the twins sang a song about Ron fancying Viktor - much to everyone's amusement and Ron's annoyance.
Harry was sitting on a log just staring into the fire, lost in his thoughts. He couldn't help the feeling of dread that was coiling in the middle of his gut and he couldn't help the bad feelings gnawing at his mind. He knew that something was going to happen soon and it was making him antsy.
"Getting the feeling that something is about to happen?" Mia whispered to Harry, who nodded in return.
"Big time," he told her as he looked around the camp as if trying to see which direction the trouble would be coming from.
"What are you two whispering about?" Sirius asked and Mia turned to look at her dad before smiling sweetly.
"Nothing really. Just asking how Harry was going to try and sneak Hermione into his bed tonight," Mia told him. Harry choked on the sip of juice he had just taken and Hermione arched an eyebrow at him.
"No we weren't!" Harry denied loudly before shooting Mia a hard glare. She just smiled in return before she turned her attention back to cooking marshmallows.
Hermione pulled her marshmallows out of the fire and placed them onto a cracker. She spread melted chocolate sauce over the marshmallows and placed another graham cracker on top of it. She was about to eat it when she felt someone move closer to her.
"What's that?" Ron asked curiously as he moved closer to Hermione, eyeing her treat. Hermione looked over to Harry with an amused smile, who couldn't help but smile knowingly back. Ron was acting like a five year old kid.
"It's a smore," Hermione told him as she handed the chocolate treat over to Ron. Ron took it and took a large bite before groaning with delight.
Hermione rolled her eyes as another treat appeared in front of her face. She turned and saw Harry holding it out for her with a smile.
"Thought you would give yours to Ron," Harry told her and received a smile in return as she took the treat, brushing her fingers over his. She bit into it and closed her eyes in pleasure as the gooey chocolate and marshmallow melded together on her tongue. When she opened her eyes again she saw Harry staring at her hungrily.
Harry was starting to lean in when he was interrupted by screaming and shouting around the camp. Sirius looked over to where an explosion boomed over to the north of their location.
Everyone watched in morbid fascination at the display - tents were on fire and people were running about wildly, screaming and searching for cover.
A ball of fire shot out from nowhere, narrowly missing Mia, who just jumped off to the side.
"What the hell?" Mia demanded before she ducked again as another came her way.
"Move it!" Sirius shouted, now understanding what was happening.
The kids started running but Harry stopped when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. Mia had stopped next to him, watching the same scene as Harry.
Hermione shouted Harry's name and Harry barely saw Hermione disappear as she left via the portkey.
Harry looked around and saw a blonde haired figure heading towards him. Harry and Mia couldn't help the grins that appeared on their faces as Draco moved closer to them.
"Death eaters," Draco hissed and Mia grinned.
"Time to have fun?" she asked and Harry looked at his cousins before smiling.
"Go ahead," he told them and they happily split up in three directions.
Harry grabbed the earpiece from his pocket and slipped it into his ear as he looked around.
"Mia's in contact," Mia's voice came through.
"Draco's in contact," Draco's voice sounded.
"Harry's in contact, I can hear everyone clearly, can you hear me clearly?" Harry asked.
"Roger that," Draco and Mia confirmed at the same time as they continued to walk their path, keeping an eye out for both attackers and victims.
"Are they using killing spells?" Harry asked, curious as to what the others were seeing.
"Yeah but they're not killing anyone," Draco replied.
"They are using the curse to scare people. They won't risk killing anyone - not while Voldie is still dead," Mia explained.
"Fucker," Harry muttered as he ducked a yellow curse that shot just over his head. "They're using all three unforgivables," Harry told them.
He ran up behind a Death Eater and hit him across the back of his head with a log that he had found, knocking the Death Eater unconscious. He reached down and grabbed a pole that had come from a broken tent but was sharpened at the edge from where it had been snapped.
Harry spun around and threw the pole at a death eater that had snuck up behind him. It embedded itself into his chest smoothly and the death eater looked down in surprise at his body before falling onto his knees. He fell backward as blood continued to pour from the wound.
Mia heard a cracking noise and spun around to see a death eater heading towards her. He snapped a spell at her but she twisted out of its path and faced him squarely once more, rendering him speechless that she hadn't tried to run off yet.
"What's the matter? You look shocked about something," Mia taunted before she spun to her left and delivered a kick, planting her foot in the Death Eater's stomach and sent him flying backward as she ducked another spell heading towards her.
She rolled back up onto her feet and pulled the sides of her jacket away from her legs and pulled out two short swords out of the scabbards attached to her legs just as a bright green light headed in her direction.
Reacting quickly, she drew the swords up, crossing them into an x just as the green light hit the intersection. She separated the swords, rebounding the spell back towards her attacker and saw him sink immediately to the ground.
Mia just grinned before she bolted off to the side and left the dead death eater alone as she went in search for more when she heard Harry's voice speak into her ear.
"I'm missing my wand," Harry muttered as he felt his pockets.
"When did you have it last?" a crackly female voice came over the earpiece.
"Before we sat down at the stadium. I remember checking to make sure it was still there but I forgot to check again on the way back down," Harry admitted.
"So that means someone lifted your wand while watching the game... but people were surrounding us... meaning that there was no way for anyone to take it unless…" Mia trailed off.
"They were wearing an invisibility cloak! It could hide the hand as it drew the wand out - no one would have noticed any difference," Draco finished.
"Oh that's just bloody brilliant," Harry muttered as he rubbed his forehead before he looked around. "Are all of them gone or have they just moved on to a new place here?"
"They're gone," a female voice informed him from behind. He turned to see Mia and Draco making their way toward him.
"Good. Now do you have any idea who could have taken my wand?" Harry asked when all off a sudden there was a loud raspy shout and green smoke shot into the sky.
All three of them looked around for the source of the voice before they looked up and saw the spell that it had created.
"Oh my..." Mia whispered.
Above them was a face of a skull. A snake was wound around it with its head coming out of the skull's mouth.
"The Dark Mark," Draco hushed out before shaking his head. "Now I know what dad had planned."
Everyone spun around when they heard voices and running footsteps before Harry and Mia turned to Draco.
"You gotta go before anyone finds you here," Mia hissed to Draco, who nodded quickly before he Disapparated.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted. Harry turned and saw Hermione running over to him. She threw herself in his arms and Harry could feel her shaking.
"Hey, I'm okay," he whispered as he held her close, rubbing his hands up and down her back in an effort to comfort her.
"You scared me when you disappeared like that," she whispered when all of a sudden Mia lunged at them and knocked them to the ground just as red lights shot over their heads.
"Those bloody arrogant politicking fuckers," Mia muttered angrily under her breath as she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. As she did her hands encountered something and her eyes widened as she turned her head to look more closely at it. "They ripped my top!" she exclaimed, stunned and furious at the same time. Harry bit back a laugh as he stood up and helped Hermione up off the ground and brushed most of the dirt off her.
"Relax, you can fix it later," he told her, causing her to glare at him.
"Those are my children!" a loud male voice roared with anger. Everyone spun around to see Sirius running towards the kids. One of the Ministry officials moved to stop Sirius but was shoved to the ground by Sirius' desperate strength as he hurried over to them. "Are you okay?" he demanded while running his hands over Harry and Mia to check for any injuries.
"Dad, we're fine," Mia promised as she pushed her dad's hands off her. Sirius sighed and stepped back and watched as more Ministry officials made their way over to the kids.
They came to a stop in front of them and Mia decided to let loose.
"Who the hell taught you how to use a wand?" Mia demanded. Everyone looked at her. "You shot at us! Three innocent kids!"
"We had every reason to believe that you were the ones causing the trouble!" Fudge exclaimed and Mia threw her hands up in disgust.
"By who, Lucius Malfoy?" she asked sarcastically. "We all know just how good his word is."
"Miss Black…" Fudge started but was cut off.
"And not to mention that you could have killed us with your stupid spells - that would have been great - the Boy-Who-Lived killed by stupid Minister," Mia informed them. "And you own me a new top! You ripped it!"
Hermione rolled her eyes at Mia but they were all interrupted by a cry of delight.
"I found a wand!" Bagman exclaimed as he picked it up from the ground and brought it over to the group. He tapped the wand with his own while muttering a curse under his breath.
A sickly green smoke came out of the wand, showing that it was indeed the wand that was used to create the Death Mark in the air. Harry, on the other hand, recognised the wand.
"Hey, that's my wand!" Harry exclaimed as he went to grab it but Bagman yanked it out of reach.
"Are you admitting the crime?" Bagman demanded but Harry glared at him.
"No! I lost my wand after the game!" Harry informed him and a glint came appeared in Bagman's eyes.
"Ah, a convenient excuse!" Bagman exclaimed. Hermione's eyes narrowed at the man.
"Are you calling Harry a liar?" Hermione demanded as she took a step forward. "The one person who saved your worthless ass from Voldemort and you're calling him a liar?"
"No," Bagman stuttered out, taking a step back from the young female before Crouch stepped forward.
"Which one of you cast that spell?" Crouch demanded as he snapped his wand from one kid to the next, pinning them with a glare.
Harry and Hermione looked insulted while Mia turned to her dad.
"Can I hit him?" Mia pleaded to her dad with her hands clasped in a petitioning manner her under her chin. "Pretty please?"
"You wouldn't dare to try and hit someone who works for the ministry," Crouch snapped and Mia shot him a dark look.
"One that accuses us of supporting Voldemort, we would," Mia informed him.
"What did you expect us to think?" Crouch demanded. "You were the only ones here and it was Harry's wand that was used to call that!" he pointed to the symbol in the sky emphatically and Mia threw up her hands in frustration.
"Oh and pray tell just how the hell Harry or I would even know how to conjure one of those up?" She demanded. "It's not as if we support Voldemort is it?"
"Wouldn't surprise me if you did," Crouch muttered only to take a step back as Mia made to punch him. A pair of hands held her back from going any further.
"Now, that's a bad move," Harry stated under his breath.
"Get off of me!" Mia snapped as she fought the man's hands that were holding her back.
"Calm down missy," the man stated and she glowered at him.
"Go to hell," she told him before lifting her right foot and slamming it down, hard.
The man let out a scream and pushed her away from him. He hopped as he clutched at his foot. "No one and I mean no one touches me without my permission," she informed him.
"Control your daughter!" Bagman shouted at Sirius, who raised his eyebrows.
"I couldn't control Callie! What makes you think I can control my daughter?" he demanded and Harry snorted, trying to keep his laughter at bay when he saw the redness starting appears on the official's face.
"You know, we should go," Harry stated and they all turned to face him. "Hermione is still a little shaken up after everything that happened and Mia is obviously upset too or she wouldn't be trying to knock everyone's head off," Harry explained and Sirius nodded, catching on.
"Yes, I agree. I know my daughter - she's just lashing out through her frustration and fear of the Death Eaters," Sirius stated, leaving Mia spluttering in annoyance. Hermione reached out, resting her hand on Mia's arm.
"I feel the same," Hermione stated and Mia shot her an annoyed glance before giving in.
"Of course... why wouldn't I be scared?" she muttered.
There was a rustling noise, causing everyone to look towards the bushes before Harry frowned.
"Wasn't that where the spell came from?" Mia asked Harry, who nodded.
Several of the Ministry officials provided cover and Crouch reached into the bushes and came out holding a House Elf by the skin of her neck. Harry noticed that it was the same house elf that he had seen up in the stadium. He watched as Crouch dropped her on the ground and looked through the bushes once more. He seemed frustrated when he turned back to the house elf.
"Barty, isn't that your house elf?" Bagman asked and Barty nodded.
"Yes, it is. I had ordered her to go back to the tent but she disobeyed me," Crouch informed Fudge with a sour mutter. Winky's ear drooped, causing Hermione's heart to melt at the distressed expression that was showing on Winky's face.
"Elf, did you cast that spell?" Bagman demanded. Winky shook her head.
"No!" Winky protested. "Winky never cast any spells!"
"Don't lie!" Bagman snapped. "You were found in the area where the spell had been cast and the wand was near where you were found."
"Winky never cast any spell!" Winky protested. Harry had heard enough.
"It wasn't Winky!" Harry snapped. They looked at him. "It was a male voice who cast the spell - not Winky's."
"And how would you know?" Crouch demanded. Harry rolled his eyes.
"I can hear, you know," Harry shot back at him. "So there is no need to fire Winky just because she didn't cast the spell!"
"No, I fired her because she didn't do her job properly!" Crouch snapped. Mia's forehead crinkled slightly at the wordings.
"What do you mean, didn't do her job properly?" Mia demanded and Crouch looked at her. "She sat on the stadium - up high despite the fact that she didn't like heights - yet you never turned up for the empty seat. She tried to get back to the tent but got lost in the excitement here - it's not a surprising thing considering the fact that everyone was panicking over the Death Eaters attacking. You can't fire her for that."
"Actually I can and I will," Crouch informed her stubbornly before he pulled out a tea towel and threw it at Winky, who clutched onto it, wailing and crying over her dismissal.
"You heartless bast…" the rest of the words were mumbled behind Harry's hand as he covered Hermione's mouth.
"Calm down," Harry whispered to Hermione as Mia moved over to Crouch.
"If you can't even be bothered to look past appearances and appreciate everyone for who they are then you are worthless," Mia informed him before she knelt down in front of Winky and touched her shoulder.
Winky looked up with tearful round eyes. She was sniffling as she clutched the tea towel close to her. "Do you want to come home with me and be bonded to one of us?" Mia whispered.
Hope shone in Winky's eyes that someone would want a dismissed house-elf and Mia smiled as she stood up and held out her hand. Winky hesitantly reached out and placed her small hand into Mia's outstretched one before Mia led her over to Hermione.
"Mia?" Hermione asked, curious and wary about what her best friend was doing.
"Winky, I'd like you to meet Hermione Granger - she'll be your mistress from now on," Mia told her and Winky nodded as she looked over to Hermione with hope and joy in her eyes.
Hermione bit her bottom lip - she wasn't into slavery but she had seen how the Black family's house elves seemed to get along fine and be quite happy besides. She looked down at Winky for a moment while she made up her mind. Reaching a decision, she held her hand out to Winky.
Winky beamed as she reached up and placed her hand in Hermione's. A bright golden glow appeared around them both, signalling that they were now bonded.
"Winky is now bonded to Miss Granger," Winky informed Hermione, who sported a tentative smile.
"Okay, I want you to go to the Black's house please and we'll meet you there," Hermione told Winky. The house elf bowed her head slightly and disappeared with a soft pop. Hermione turned back to the others.
Sirius shook his head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
"At this rate, I'm gonna have to give up one of the houses to the House Elves because there won't be any space left at our house for them to live!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You're stealing house-elves!" Fudge accused and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Actually, I have the Black's House elves, the Potter's house elves, the Lupin's house elves, and Dobby and Winky. They all came over when their living master came over," Sirius informed the blind Minister.
"We'd better go," Lupin informed them all. "I'm sure you have reports to fill out due to the Death Eaters attacks."
"Yes," Fudge informed him sourly while Sirius moved over to the kids.
"Kids, time to go home!" Sirius declared in agreement. Harry, Hermione and Mia nodded as they moved closer to Sirius. Lupin turned to Arthur.
"We're gonna take the kids home. I have a feeling that if they were to go back to your house that there'd be trouble," Lupin told Arthur, who nodded in understanding.
"I understand. Have a safe trip home," Arthur told him. Lupin nodded before he moved over to where Sirius and the kids were waiting and placed his hand on the portkey. They were transported away from the camping grounds and in front of Grimmauld Place.
"Ah, home sweet home," Mia greeted as she walked up the pathway to her home. She opened the door and smiled when she saw Draco and Narcissa standing in the doorway, taking their cloaks off. "Hey!"
Draco and Narcissa turned around and smiled at Mia.
"How much trouble did you get into?" Draco asked and Mia rolled her eyes as she pulled her cloak off while everyone else coming into the house.
"Not so much," Lupin informed Draco as he placed the camping gear in the storage cupboard next to the coat hanger. "She did try to attack an Auror because he held her back from attacking Crouch."
"Mia," Narcissa moaned but Mia crossed her arms over her chest.
"He insulted us - he claimed that we cast the spell for the stupid dark mark in the air!" Mia exclaimed. "As if we would support Voldemort! Plus the flaming thing looks like a worm-infested pear upside down!"
Draco choked on his laughter as he turned his head away from Mia. Hermione had buried her face into Harry's chest while Harry had buried his face into Hermione's hair, both of them muffling their own amusement.
Narcissa, Sirius and Lupin just looked at each other, realising what Mia was getting at.
"You know, I never actually noticed that," Sirius muttered, causing nods of agreement from the other two. Narcissa came out of her sudden thoughtful look and pinned Mia with a glare.
"And you're still not getting out of trouble by changing the subject young lady," Narcissa informed Mia sternly, who just pouted. "You can not go around attacking the Ministry! I know you want to act out your frustrations with them but you need to take it slowly." Mia nodded as she sighed and uncrossed her arms.
"So, what do we do when we go back to school?" Draco asked and Harry sighed as he pulled his face from Hermione's hair and shrugged.
"Act like normal?" Harry suggested but Sirius was quick to nix that idea.
"Absolutely not! I do not want you all picking arguments with the teachers - that goes for all of you," Sirius informed them, giving Mia a pointed look.
"Snape always picks on Hermione!" Mia exclaimed.
"I don't care," Sirius informed them all and they looked at him. "Be on your guard from now on - the fact that Death Eaters were running about amok and that the dark mark was in the air - it's not coincidence. Something is happening, and I don't want anything to happen to any of you."
"What do you think it all means?" Draco asked and Narcissa sighed.
"One of the Ministry people has disappeared - Bertha Jorkins, She said that was heading to Romania - there was a rumour stating that Voldemort is now hiding out at Romania - and no one has heard back from her. We have to assume the worst," Narcissa told them and Hermione sighed.
"Voldemort or one of his men had her killed," Hermione stated and got nods in return. "Let's just hope they gave her a quick death. But why would they kill her - did she find out some information or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"The Goblet of Fire," Draco spoke up and they looked at him. "I over heard dad talking about the Goblet of Fire and how it would be perfect but that was all I got."
Sirius and Narcissa looked at each other before Narcissa sighed and shook her head. "What?" Draco asked, concerned. The adults turned back to face the children.
"The Goblet of Fire is an event that happens every 50 years or so... but it hasn't been used in a long time because of the death rates - the fact that you heard Lucius talking about it, along with everything else makes me believe that they have finally overturned the ban and brought it back," Sirius explained. "I believe that it will be hosted at Hogwarts."
"Oh well, that's just fantastic," Mia muttered. "We don't get enough danger at school, so they gotta bring more in."
"Okay - I think you all should get to bed now. We have to get up early for shopping in the morning," Sirius announced. As Mia made her way towards the stairs she turned back to face Harry and Sirius with a furious expression.
"One of those days - you won't know when or where - but you will know why," Mia warned them with her index finger pointing at first one then the other before she stormed up the stairs. "Scared little girl... who the hell do they think they're talking about?" she muttered angrily while Sirius and Harry looked at each other and Draco smirked.
"Man, it's good not to be the one her bad side for once," Draco stated before heading into the kitchen. Hermione covered her mouth with her right hand, holding back her laughter.
"Good luck," she told them, patting Harry's shoulder in mock sympathy before she headed up the stairs after Mia.
"Now, that's going to be entertaining," she told the warned pair with a large smile as she headed into the living room, leaving Sirius and Harry staring at each other with a slight trace of fear in their eyes.
TBC