Everybody Party Till the Gasman Comes

My legs moved quickly as I ran to catch up with the rest of the group. I'd let my mind wander as we walked back to our tents and was at least ten paces behind everyone else. I smiled brightly at Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny as I passed them, earning a few very confused looks.

Once I was close enough, I launched myself forward and up onto George's back. "Hiya, George! D'you think you could carry me the rest of the way?"

He turned his head slightly so that he could see my face. "Now why on Earth would I do that?"

"Because I'm tired. And you love me. Both are pretty valid reasons, to be honest." I smiled.

"Well, y'know, I'm tired as well."

I jutted my bottom lip out and gave him the best set of puppy dog eyes I could possibly muster up. "Please, Georgie?"

He shook his head at me. "I hate it when you do that."

"Fine," I sighed. I slid off of George's back, but took the spot beside him and grabbed his hand in my own.

***

We arrived back at the tents and immediately fell into disarray. What we were supposed to be doing was going to sleep, but none of us were tired enough to do so just yet. Plus, there was so much noise coming from the tents around us that Mr. Weasley didn't think we'd even be able to sleep. He made us all some cocoa and the tent was filled with the sounds of playful arguments over the night's events.

I sat cross-legged on the floor beside Hermione while Ginny was sat at the tiny table beside us. We watched and listened contently as the boys talked about the match.

Suddenly, a great slop of hot cocoa rolled off of the table from Ginny's spilled over mug and onto my lap. I shrieked and jumped up, only to find that Ginny's head had hit the table top and she was fast asleep. I frowned back and forth between her and the brown stain on my pants.

"Oh!" Mr. Weasley turned away from Charlie, with whom he'd been conversing, to see what had happened. "Well," he said, hurrying over to pick up the mug and wake Ginny, "we'd all best be getting to bed now."

There was a collective groan at this. Hermione and I stood and helped Ginny up so that she'd be able to walk to our tent. We said goodbye to the boys and left their tent. Once in ours, we changed into our night clothes, climbed into our bunks, and fell asleep.

After what seemed like only a few moments, the semi-quietness that we'd fallen asleep to was interrupted by screams and loud footsteps. I sat up in my bed and after only a couple of seconds, Mr. Weasley had emerged from outside and was waking us all up, telling us we needed to get dressed and get outside as quickly as possible. I hopped off of my bunk and pulled a coat on over my pajamas. Hermione and Ginny gave me identical worried looks.

We left the tent together and hurried over to where everyone else was standing. There were crumbled tents littering the ground and the fires that had been illuminating the night only hours previously had been, for the most part, snuffed out. I looked behind me across the grounds and saw what the trouble was; a group of masked wizards were terrorizing the family of Muggles (and their fellow wizards alike) who had been keeping the grounds.

"We're helping the Ministry," Mr. Weasley said. It wasn't until then that I realized that there were various Ministry workers trying to calm everyone and get to the group of terrorists. "You," he glanced pointedly at us under 17-year-olds, "get into the woods. Stay together. I'll come to get you when everything's been sorted."

Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Percy ran towards the marching group. Ministry wizards were all over the place trying to stop them.

Fred grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her towards the woods, glancing at the rest of us to follow. George took hold of my hand and sprinted after them, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione closely behind us.

The sounds that surrounded us as we entered the woods were terrifying, and I was extremely happy that George had a firm grasp on my hand. Knowing he was there with me was one of the only things keeping me from letting my emotions get a hold of me. There were many dark masses, shadows of people, running through the trees of the forest; shouts to family members, children crying.

It was extremely dark, and I had no idea where I was. There were tons of people around me and I let out a gasp as my hand was suddenly pulled from George's. I heard a yelp from somewhere to my left that sounded like Ron.

Hermione's voice was almost a shriek as she said, "What happened?"

She lit her wand and pointed it at Ron. He was laying on the ground spread eagle and I had the strangest urge to laugh, despite the current situation. "Tripped over a root," he explained angrily.

"With feet that size, s'hard not to," a voice said from behind us.

I turned around only to see Draco Malfoy. He was alone, leaning against a tree. Unlike everyone else in the woods, he seemed to be perfectly content in the panic that was ensuing around us. He glanced behind himself and I realized that he'd been watching the growing problem at the campsite from his place behind the trees.

Ron responded to Malfoy's remark by telling him to do something that would have been very stupid to say if his mum had been around.

"Language, Weasley," Malfoy smirked. "Shouldn't you be hurrying along? You wouldn't want them spotting her would you?"

My eyes immediately flashed to Hermione and I wished for nothing more than to be back with George, Fred, and Ginny. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"They're after Muggles, Granger. Do you want to be showing your knickers off in midair? If you do, hang around here; they're moving this way and it'd give us all a laugh."

"Hermione's a witch," Harry snarled.

"You think they can't spot a Mudblood? Stay where you are." Malfoy grinned.

"Watch your mouth!" Ron yelled.

Hermione quickly dismissed Malfoy's comment and grabbed Ron's arm to keep him from hurling himself at the blonde boy in front of him.

"I suppose your daddy told you lot to hide? What's he up to - trying to rescue the Muggles?"

"Where are your parents?" Harry asked heatedly. "Out there wearing masks, are they?"

Malfoy ignored Harry, but continued smiling. Hermione threw a disgusted look at Malfoy and hurried us all off to find everyone else. As we walked through the woods I zoned out again. I kept my eyes pealed for any familiar faces, but didn't see any. I wondered where the other three Weasleys had gotten to, and for a second was worried that something bad had happened to them.

After what seemed like hours of wandering through the dark woods, I finally tuned back in to what was going on once I heard Hermione and the boys' voices stop. I looked at the three of them and wondered to myself what had gone on while I'd been gone. Harry was yelling to see if someone was around, though I honestly saw no one and heard nothing. But after only a few moments, the silence of the night was broken by what sounded to me like a spell.

From the treetops a huge, green something flew up into the sky. I immediately knew what it was and a knot knit itself into my stomach. Screams erupted from every which way in the wood. Hermione led us all away from where we'd been standing and explained to Harry, who'd been confused, that the mark in the sky belonged to his nemesis.

A long series of popping noises announced that several wizards had appeared around us. All of them had their wands out and Harry quickly yelled for us all to duck down. Just in time, too, as each and every one of them tried to Stupefy us all at that moment.

Mr. Weasley's voice broke through the sounds of spells being cast. "That's my son!"

I looked up and saw Mr. Weasley walking quickly towards us. He looked as terrified as I felt.

"Ron, Sam, Harry, Hermione- Are you alright?" His voice was shaky.

"Get out of the way," said a cold, slightly familiar voice.

Mr. Crouch and the rest of the Ministry wizards who'd been firing upon us were swiftly closing in on us. He looked enraged; as if we'd had something to do with You-Know-Who's mark getting thrown up into the sky.

"Which of you did it?" he snarled, confirming my thoughts as to his actions.

I stared at him incredulously as my friends defended themselves.

"We didn't do that!" Harry yelled.

"We didn't do anything," Ron explained, his eyes darting back and forth between Mr. Crouch and his father.

"Do not lie!" Mr. Crouch shouted.

"We're not lying!" I yelled harshly, though the moment the words left my mouth I felt smaller than ever. "Whoever did that, it wasn't us; they were standing over there." I pointed to the trees where the person had said the spell.

"Over there?" Crouch's expression was one of disbelief.

Unlike Crouch, the rest of the Ministry officials seemed to have sense enough to know that we had nothing to do with the Dark Mark be conjured. They all pointed to the spot I'd indicated and sent someone over to check it out.

What they found, though, was an unconscious house-elf, Mr. Crouch's elf to be exact. They found her with Harry's missing wand, and, upon using a spell to find out which spell had been the last the wand had used, found that it had been the wand to summon the Mark. Mr. Crouch immediately dismissed the little elf. As she was crying, Hermione defended the elf. But to no avail.

Mr. Weasley led us all back to the tents. I stared at the ground as we walked. I felt for the elf, she really did love being Mr. Crouch's servant and she'd done nothing wrong, yet he felt the need to let her go. I wondered if she was going to be okay and hoped to God that she would.

We reached the tents and Charlie's head was immediately poked through the front of the boys' tent. "What's going on?" he asked. "Fred, George, and Ginny got back alright-"

"They're here," Mr. Weasley explained quietly, gesturing to the four of us behind him.

We all entered the tent. Bill was sitting at the kitchen table, holding a sheet to his arm to try to stop the bleeding. Charlie's shirt was ripped and Percy had a bloody nose. Fred, George, and Ginny seemed to be unhurt. Upon seeing me, George stood up from where he'd been sitting and strode across the floor to me. He grabbed my hand back in his own and pulled me just outside the tent.

"What happened?" he asked.

Though his question was vague, I knew he wasn't asking about the Mark. "I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I got caught up in the crowd."

"You're not hurt?"

I shook my head. "No."

He pulled me to his chest and hugged me tightly. "I was worried that something was going to happen to you."

"I was worried, too."

George loosened his grip and kissed the top of my head. "You're safe, though. And that's all that matters."