There Ain't No Moonlight, After Midnight

When Victoria first heard noises over the sound of the Irish celebrating, she thought nothing of it. Loud noises were to be expected at the biggest party the Irish would ever hold. Even as the noises grew over the party goers Vicki did her best to drown out with her pillow in an attempt to sleep.

When the twins left her to quickly prepare for a night with the Weasleys she had only pulled on a black tank top and a pair of the muggle brand "Adidas" trackpants. It was still summer but as it was the tail-end the nights were getting a little cooler she thought it was best to wear at least one piece of clothing that was warmer. She also thought it would be inappropriate to wear a skimpy pair of pyjama shorts in unfamiliar company.

Fred was relieved but slightly disappointed when he saw her emerge in modest looking pants. She was well known at Hogwarts for rolling up her school skirt at the top to create a shorter hemline. A few of the girls in his year level did this, but Vicki was the only one who really ever got away with it as she was the Ravenclaw prefect. As he stared at her a lot, it was something he had noticed about her. He realised this was perhaps the first time he had seen her in pants.

It was hard for Vicki to fall asleep once she had settled into the girl's tent. Although she had been given lots of space and it was only Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley in her tent, it was still hard for her to sleep. The alcohol had long since stopped affecting her but as it was now working itself out of her system, she felt pretty awful. Her mind was also working on overdrive about Roger. She was trying really hard not to think about him, but this proved difficult for her. She kept wondering what he was doing at that moment. Where he was, who he was with, who's lips were on his, who he was currently, well, you know.

It was when the Irish went silent that Vicki knew something was not right. Irish were known for being loud and drunk at all major events, so when they go silent after winning the World Cup, it meant something serious. She got up from the bed she was borrowing for the night and left the tent and looked into the open area. It took her a few moments to see what was going on over the smoke of recently extinguished fires and people scampering back into their tents but then she saw them. The group of men in hooded cloaks marching in a straight line across the field with their wands in front of them, casting many destructive spells upon anything within spell-casting distance.

Adrenaline began to run through Vicki's veins as she let the 'fight or flight' human instinct take over. Her mind decided to put the 'flight' into action and she took no time to be a deer in headlights. She stuck her head into the girl's tent and screamed at Ginny and Hermione to wake up and get up. She didn't bother to enforce her barking instructions as she decided her time was best to go to Arthur, warn them and seek help.

She stepped into the tent without hesitation. She was in here a few hours before very briefly before she retired to the other tent so she knew the basic layout. As she ran through the tent she was stopped abruptly by a hand reaching out and grabbing her thigh.

"'s going on?" She heard a slightly groggy voice ask, and she noticed the set of twins were both on the two couches in front of her, everyone else soundly asleep on the beds in the tent.

Vicki took a few moments to quickly study his face in the moonlight (and unfortunately, the fire in the distance was offering some light source as well) before she spoke up.

"Fred, well I think you're Fred, anyway-" Vicki tried to explain but she was cut off.

"You would be right." Fred grinned. He could see she was visibly upset about something so he didn't want to play the old switch-a-roo favourite, and he was also excited that she had been able to tell the difference between him and his twin. Although it was most likely a stab in the dark guess, it was his crush who managed to guess right. This made him happy.

"I-um…well…come with me. It's hard to describe this sort of terror." Vicki stammered as the adrenaline began to leave her body at the human interaction. Now she felt like a deer in headlights as panic began to set in as she grabbed Fred's hand and hoisted him up as they both rushed outside the tent.

Any joy Fred may have felt by the intimate skin on skin contact with the girl he yearned for instantly disappeared by the sight in front of him. He saw the terror reigning over the camp which was now considerably closer than when Vicki first saw it a few moments ago. Fred's brain kick-started as he grabbed Vicki's shoulders in a reassuring way. This calmed Vicki a little as her brain was back in motion as well. She decided it was best to delegate a plan.

"Fred, you wake up your father straight away and let him know what's going on. Help get everyone in your tent up. I'll go make sure Hermione and Ginny are up and we'll meet outside the two tents and go from there." Vicki quickly stated.

Without a response Fred turned around and quickly ducked straight back into the men's tent. Vicki did the same with the ladies' tent and saw that while Hermione was slowly rising, Ginny was still soundly asleep.

"What's happening?" Hermione asked, pulling a coat over her night dress.

"We need to get Ginny up and get out of here. There's an attack happening outside." Vicki responded quickly, and without warning Ginny sprung out of her bed and also pulled a coat on as well.

"Leave everything, but make sure you have your wand. Then get outside." Vicki dictated, feeling the bulge in her track pants of her wand and she bounded outside the tent.

By now many people were now awake and running away from the campsite towards the forest to safety, and screams throughout the camp were just as loud as the destructive behaviour of the terrorisers. Harry Potter and the youngest son of the Weasley clan, Ron, joined Vicki. No conversation was made as the two young teenagers were spectating what was going on, as Vicki anxiously eyed both tents. Soon after, Hermione and Ginny exited the girls' tent and joined the group.

Seconds later the rest of the Weasley family emerged from the tent. The two twins were still in pyjama pants and loose t-shirts but Arthur, Bill, Charlie and Percy were completely dressed with their wands out, and it was made obvious to Vicki that they were going to assist the ministry wizards with stopping these attackers.

"C'mon," Fred lead as he grabbed Ginny's hand and began to pull her towards the forest. Everyone followed his lead and followed the two.

Although the noises around them were almost deafening through the screams, shouts, explosions, fire cackling and many other sounds, the group were running silently and no conversations were to be had. They ran for a while, Fred and Ginny hand-in-hand at the front, with the others trailing behind them.

It was only when Ginny nearly collapsed whilst complaining of a stitch that they all stopped and realised that three of them were now missing.

"Where's Ron, Hermione and Harry?" Ginny asked almost tearfully as she recovered from her stitch.

"I'm not sure. Hopefully they're okay." Fred responded trying to sound confident but it was clear in his voice that he was worried about the trio.

Ginny let out a loud sob, as both George and Vicki glared at Fred for his non-sensitive delivery of the fact that half of their group was now missing.

"I'm sure they're fine." George chimed in, in an attempt to be cheerful, but Vicki saw through it straight away. Ginny remained sceptical, asking how George was sure.

"Well there's three of them, and four of us. Harry is a Quiddich player so he's really active and would be a fast runner. The evidence is there, there's no reason for them to have dropped behind us. So because they're not here with us, they would be in front." Vicki explained quickly.

This brightened Ginny's spirits as she picked herself up and grabbed Fred's hand again. She however then turned and addressed Vicki.

"What do we do from here?" She asked.

"What do you guys think?" Vicki deflected, being caught off-guard as she wasn't expecting to be suddenly be made the de-facto leader and have to make snappy plans.

"You're the Ravenclaw, you're supposed to be smart. Plus, I think you're very quick witted." Fred quickly agreed, and Vicki could tell he was referring to the small fib she had just told Ginny to calm her down.

Vicki went silent as she looked around. The crowds were still heavy as thousands upon thousands of people were screaming as they ran forward as fast as they could. Vicki looked behind them. Although they were now quite far away from the ruckus she could still hear some of it, plus there was still a sea of people behind them.

"These sorry excuses for wizards were marching in a straight line, right? They're also following the crowd to show off their power. So the best thing to do for us is to move sideways, rather than forward. If we run to the side we will be out of their direct path. We can then wait a while and then make our way back to the camp." Vicki mused.

Fred, George and Ginny were silent for a few moments as they thought about what Vicki was preparing. Vicki expected someone to pipe up and disagree with her risky plan of adventuring into the unknown, but instead she was met with a pat on the back from both of the twins.

"I'll lead the way. Ginny, you grab onto my hand. Vicki, you can grab onto Ginny's and then George can grab onto yours. We don't want to lose any other members of our group. It's also going to be difficult to move to the side when so many are trying to push forward." Fred proposed.

Later on in hindsight he would regret not manipulating his plan to have Vicki hold his hand instead. Not only would he gave gotten more of that skin-on-skin contact he would begin to crave later on as he replayed the moment in his head constantly of when Vicki grabbed his hand to show the chaos, but he would also realise he lost an opportunity to play the part of the big strong male, bringing her to safety.

But in the moment of disorder his instinct was to protect his sister first, and Vicki second, even though he did not realise he was doing this by making sure he would be the one to lead Ginny to safety.

This however wasn't lost on the clever Vicki, who smiled at Fred as he carefully manoeuvred the four of them through the crowds of people trying to run through them, as they were trying to move to the side rather than moving forwards. Vicki thought it was very noble he was being protective over his little sister, and if Fred Weasley wanted to impress Victoria Hartwell, he couldn't have chosen a better way.