Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

I looked around at the others, I could only see their shapes in the darkness, but I saw Hermione point her wand towards Harry. There was a bang right before the people surrounded us inside the tent.

People were dragging us outside then, and they took the wands from our hands.

“Get – Off – Her!” I heard Ron shout, and I heard knuckles hitting skin.

Ron grunted in pain and Hermione screamed, “No! Leave him alone, leave him alone!”

“Your boyfriend’s going to have worse than that done to him if he’s on my list.”

I gasped slightly. I knew that voice.

“Delicious girl…What a treat…I do enjoy the softness of the skin…”

I suddenly felt nauseous. It was Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf who worked for the Death Eaters.

Then, as some of them searched the tent, we were thrown onto the ground.

“Now, let’s see who we’ve got,” said Greyback.

I heard him laugh then he said, “I’ll be needing a butterbeer to wash this one down. What happened to you ugly?”

No response.

“I said,” Greyback repeated, then it sounded like he hit something, “what happened to you?”

“Stung,” Harry’s voice muttered. “Been stung.”

“Yeah, looks like it,” said another voice.

“What’s your name?” asked Greyback.

“Dudley”

“And your first name?”

“I – Vernon. Vernon Dudley.”

“Check the list, Scabior,” said Greyback. “And what about you, ginger?”

“Stan Shunpike,” answered Ron.

“Like ‘ell you are,” said the voice I guessed belonged to Scabior, “We know Stan Shunpike, ‘e’s put a bit of work our way.”

I heard another thud.

“”I’b Bardy,” said Ron, it sounded like he had blood in his mouth. “Bardy Weadley.”

“A Weasley?” snarled Greyback. “So you’re related to blood traitors even if you’re not a Mudblood. Oh, look, Barny has two pretty little girlfriends…”

I glared up at him.

“Easy, Greyback,” said Scabior over the jeering of the others.

“Oh, I’m not going to bite just yet. We’ll see if they’re quicker at remembering their names than Barny. Who are you girly?” he looked at Hermione first.

“Penelope Clearwater,” she sounded terrified, but convincing.

“And you?”

“Danielle Bass,” I answered, scowling.

“What’re your blood statuses?”

“Half-blood,” we answered at the same time.

“Easy enough to check,” said Scabior. “But the ‘ole lot of ‘em look like they could still be ‘ogwarts age – “

“We’b lebt,” said Ron.

“Left, ‘ave you, ginger? And you decided to go camping? And you thought, just for a laugh, you’d use the Dark Lord’s name?”

“Nod a laugh, aggiden.”

“Accident?” there was laughter from our capturers.

“You know who used to like using the Dark Lord’s name, Weasley?” growled Greyback. “The Order of the Phoenix. Mean anything to you?”

“Doh.”

“Well, they don’t show the Dark Lord proper respect, so the name’s been Tabooed. A few Order members have been tracked that way. We’ll see. Bind them up with the other two prisoners!”

Someone grabbed me by the hair, pulling me up.

“Ow, Christ, there’s a head attached to that,” I muttered.

Then I was pushed down, sitting back to back with other people.

“Anyone still got a wand?” I heard Harry whisper.

“No,” we all said.

“This is all my fault, I said the name, I’m sorry – “

“Harry?” I heard a familiar voice say.

“Dean?”

“It is you! If they find out who they’ve got - ! They’re Snatchers, they’re only looking for truants to sell for gold – “

“Not a bad little haul for one night,” said Greyback, as they reapproached our group. “A Mudblood, a runaway goblin, and four truants. You checked their names on the list yet, Scabior?”

“Yeah. There’s no Vernon Dudley on ‘ere, Greyback.”

“Interesting. That’s interesting. So you aren’t wanted then, Vernon? Or are you on that list under a different name? What House were you in at Hogwarts?”

“Slytherin,” said Harry, without hesitation.

“Funny ‘ow they all thinks we wants to ‘ear that,” jeered Scabior. “But none of ‘em can tell us where the common room is.”

“It’s in the dungeons,” said Harry. “you enter through the wall. It’s full of skulls and stuff and it’s under the lake, so the light’s all green.”

“Well, well, looks like we really ‘ave caught a little Slytherin,” said Scabior. “Good for you, Vernon, ‘cause there ain’t a lot of Mudblood Slytherins. Who’s your father?”

“He works at the Ministry, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.”

“You know what, Greyback, I think there is a Dudley in there.”

Wow, Harry was a lucky kid.

“Well, well,” said Greyback, “If you’re telling the truth, ugly, you’ve got nothing to fear from a trip to the Ministry. I expect your father’ll reward us just for picking you up.”

“But,” Harry said, “If you just let us – “

“Hey!” came a shout from inside the tent, “Look at this, Greyback!”

They came out holding Gryfindor’s sword.

“Ve-e-ry nice,” said Greyback, “Oh, very nice indeed. Looks goblin-made, that. Where did you get something like this?”

“It’s my father’s,” I heard Harry say, “We borrowed it to cut firewood – “

“’ang on a minute, Greyback! Look at this, in the Prophet!”

Scabior read, “’ermione Granger, Mudblood, and Caroline Firth, Half-blood, both known to be travelling with ‘arry Potter.”

Greyback crouched down in front of us. I continued glaring at him.

“You know what, little girlies? These pictures look a hell of a lot like you.”

“Actually, I think it looks more like you, I mean, with your complexion…”

“Be quiet,” he growled at me.

“Right, sorry,” I muttered.

I should probably work on knowing when not to make comments.

He turned his fierce gaze to Hermione and she squeaked, “It isn’t! It isn’t me!”

“…known to be travelling with Harry Potter.” He repeated. “Well, this changes things, doesn’t it?”

He moved to where Harry was sitting, and crouched down.

“What’s that on your forehead, Vernon?” he asked softly.

“Don’t touch it!” Harry suddenly yelled.

“I thought you wore glasses, Potter?” Greyback said, just as quietly as before.

“I found glasses!” someone yelled from the tent. “There was glasses in the tent, Greyback.”

“It is!” I heard Greyback say. “We’ve caught Potter!”

“Should we take them to the Ministry?” someone asked.

“To hell with the Ministry,” growled Greyback. “They’ll take the credit, and we won’t get a look in. I say we take him straight to You-Know-Who.”

“Will you summon ‘im? ‘ere?” asked Scabior, sounding frightened.

“No,” he snarled. “I haven’t got – they say he’s using the Malfoys’ place as a base. We’ll take the boy there.”

I knew why Greyback wasn’t summoning You-Know-Who. He didn’t have the dark mark. He might be allowed to wear Deaht Eater cloaks and carry a wand, but he wasn’t truly one of them.

They started arguing then about being sure it was really Potter and if they should take all of us.

They finally decided and each grabbed one of us and Disapparated. We landed in front of a large iron gate in front of a long drive.

I closed my eyes and tried to breathe normally. I was scared, it hadn’t kicked in till now. How long after they figured out it was Harry for real would it take for Voldemort to get here?