The 1994 Quidditch World Cup was over. Ireland had the last laugh, and after the award ceremony and victory lap around the stadium ended, the excited spectators began leaving the grounds.
The crowd flowed back toward the campsite like a tide. Rough, boisterous singing echoed through the night sky, while leprechauns darted back and forth overhead, waving their lanterns and cackling with laughter.
After finally making it back to the tent, everyone was still too excited to calm down, continuing to talk about everything that had happened in the match. Besides, the campsite was far too noisy. People were singing, dancing, and celebrating Ireland's victory. Even if someone wanted to sleep, it would have been impossible.
It wasn't until Ginny started dozing off at the table that everyone finally felt sleepiness creeping over them. Under Mr. Weasley's urging, they changed into their pajamas and prepared for bed.
Even after lying down, they could still hear singing coming from the other side of the campsite. People were still celebrating, completely unaware of what was about to happen.
Just as she was drifting between sleep and wakefulness, Eda suddenly heard Lupin's voice coming from the entrance of the tent.
The former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor said, "Eda, wake up quickly! Something's happened outside—grab your wands!"
Eda immediately rolled out of bed and changed clothes as fast as she could.
Beside her, Hermione and Ginny were still half-asleep and had no idea what was going on. Ginny sat on the bed without even opening her eyes and mumbled groggily, "What's wrong? Are we going home now?"
Listening carefully, Eda realized the sounds outside the tent really had changed. The singing had stopped, replaced by screams and the sound of people running in panic.
Eda quickly slid out of bed, ran to Ginny's side, and grabbed a random piece of clothing to wrap around the little girl.
"Hermione, hurry up with Ginny," Eda said. "I'm going outside to take a look."
Hearing Eda's instructions, Hermione nodded vigorously. She was hurriedly pulling on her clothes, her clever little head not even fully out of her sweater yet.
The moment Eda rushed out of the tent, she saw Mr. Weasley, Sirius, and Lupin standing guard at the entrances of the two tents with their wands drawn.
As far as the eye could see, bonfires and tents were burning. Crowds surged chaotically toward the woods, fleeing the campsite as though some monster were chasing them.
Loud jeering, wild laughter, and drunken shouting had replaced the celebratory songs from earlier.
From revelry to terror, it had taken only a few short hours.
A group of wizards was packed tightly together, every one of them pointing their wands upward as they advanced across the grounds in a slow-moving mass.
Their heads were covered with hoods, and their faces hidden behind masks.
Above the heads of this group of maniacs, four struggling figures floated in the air, twisted into all sorts of grotesque shapes.
It was the Muggle family who had been managing the campsite.
"Death Eaters…" Sirius said in a low voice. "It's Death Eaters!"
At that moment, the others also came rushing out of the tents, all of them stunned by the sight before them.
Hermione and Ginny hurried out, covering their mouths, unable to believe that such brutality could exist in the world.
The boys came out as well, fully dressed, sleeves rolled high, wands already in hand.
"We need to help the Ministry restore order!" Mr. Weasley shouted, his voice carrying over the chaos as he rolled up his sleeves. "You lot, get into the woods now—stay together and don't split up. I'll come find you after this is over!"
Before Mr. Weasley had even finished speaking, Sirius had already charged toward the marching crowd.
Lupin shot a helpless look after him and immediately followed.
Bill, Charlie, and Percy rushed after them as well, leaving Mr. Weasley no choice but to hurry after them too.
"Go on, do what you want to do!" Fred said, gripping Ginny's hand tightly as he protected his little sister.
"Go on, we've got things here!" George added, standing beside Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Take care of Ginny—and Hermione," Eda said with a nod.
She chose to trust the twins' abilities, so without hesitation she ran straight toward the source of the chaos.
Take care of Ginny, because Ginny was the youngest.
Take care of Hermione, because of where she came from.
Sirius had already revealed the identity of the marchers—they were Death Eaters, and Muggle-born Hermione could very well become one of their targets.
"Come on, let's go too," Fred said, pulling Ginny toward the woods.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and George followed behind.
The colorful lanterns that had once lit the road to the stadium were now extinguished.
The only light in the campsite came from one burning tent after another.
Flames stretched on endlessly, and the air was filled with crying and terrified screams.
Before long, Eda caught up to the marching crowd.
Along the way, she had already taken down a few people who had tried to lay hands on her.
The people in the procession were laughing wildly, mocking the Muggles floating above them like puppets, and mocking the Ministry officials surrounding them yet not daring to act.
The Ministry officials were either blocked by the crowds fleeing in every direction, or, even when they managed to get close to the procession, they did not dare cast spells recklessly.
The enemy had hostages in hand, and the officials were afraid of accidentally hurting the Roberts family, so they held back.
That only made the marchers even more arrogant.
Laughing madly, they set fire to everything they passed—tents, trees, anything.
They also fired spells at Ministry officials who tried to approach, preventing them from getting any closer.
Just as the Ministry was at a complete loss, something huge and glowing green suddenly appeared in the darkness.
It tore through the night in an instant and shot high into the sky.
Eda looked up.
It was an enormous skull, made of countless emerald-green, star-like sparks. A giant serpent slithered out of its mouth like a tongue.
The Dark Mark!
It was Voldemort's Dark Mark!
Glowing green and dazzling, the Dark Mark blazed against the pitch-black night sky like a newly born constellation.
The appearance of the Dark Mark threw the campsite into even greater chaos.
The fear Voldemort had once inspired surged back into everyone's hearts.
The marching crowd came to a halt.
Like the Ministry officials, they stood there, staring blankly at the green skull hanging in the sky…
Then, the procession that had been so arrogant just moments ago suddenly collapsed.
Before the Ministry officials could even react, many of the marchers had already Apparated away at top speed.
The rest fled in utter panic, crying and screaming, looking even worse than the terrified campers had just moments before.
The sudden collapse of the procession, the endless screams and cries of alarm, left even Eda momentarily stunned.
Wasn't that your old master's mark? Why are you all running?
Dropping everything and fleeing like defeated soldiers routed from battle!
What was this—loving dragons only in theory?
But Eda had no time to think about it.
Compared to this bunch of useless cowards, the one who had cast the Dark Mark was clearly far more important—a big fish.
She immediately dashed into the darkness, intent on finding whoever had launched the mark.
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been separated from the twins and Ginny in the crush of the crowd.
In the dark forest, they ran into Draco Malfoy, encountered the house-elf Winky, saw a pale-faced Ludo Bagman, and witnessed the Dark Mark.
Harry badly wanted to catch whoever had cast it, but right now, what the three of them needed most was to keep themselves safe.
Just as they were about to cross an open clearing, they had barely taken a few hurried steps when a rapid series of popping sounds erupted.
Twenty wizards descended from the sky and surrounded them.
Harry spun around and immediately noticed one fact—
Every single one of those wizards had drawn their wands, and every wand was pointed at him, Ron, and Hermione.
He didn't hesitate.
"Get down!" Harry shouted, grabbing the other two and yanking them to the ground.
"Stupefy!" twenty voices roared in unison.
A barrage of blinding flashes erupted—
but Harry felt no spell hit him.
Neither Ron nor Hermione had been struck either.
Harry lifted his head and saw Eda standing in front of the three of them.
Her frame was somewhat slender, yet on this night she seemed towering, imposing.
Breathing heavily with anger, she stood there before them.
Looking around, Harry saw that of the twenty wizards who had just surrounded the three of them, half were already lying on the ground.
That was obviously Eda's handiwork!
The remaining ten wizards raised their wands once more and shouted in unison:
"Stupefy!"
Streak after streak of searing red light shot from their wands.
This time, their target was Eda, the only one still standing—though perhaps they themselves had no idea who exactly they were attacking.
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