raucous singing was borne toward them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, and leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns. when they finally reached thetents, nobody felt like sleeping at all, and given the level of noise around them, mr. weasley agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before turning in. they were soon arguing enjoyably about the match; mr. weasley got drawn into a disagreement about cobbing with charlie, and it was only when ginny fell asleep right at the tiny table and spilled hot chocolate all over the floor that mr. weasley called a halt to the verbal replays and insisted that everyone go to bed. hermione, elara, ginny, and aurora went into the next tent, still chattering about the match

they changed into their pajamas and elara pulled a jumper she may or may not have stolen from nymphie over her head. the girls clambered into their bunks. the other three had fallen asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. elara stayed awake, the adrenaline still pumping from watching the match. she was proud of herself for not vomiting at the sight of the ground hundreds of feet below them.

elara had forgotten her journal at home, and instead prompted to sneak a book of hermione's and begin to read it. from the other side of the campsite she could still hear much singing and the odd echoing bang.

she got lost in the world of romeo and juliet, the two star cross'd lovers and how their violent delights turned into their violent ends.

she was only pulled out of the fictional story when mr. weasley burst into the tent, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. "we need to go, now."

no time was wasted. questions would only suck up the precious seconds they had. elara grabbed uncle ted's jacket and threw it over her shoulders. sensing the situation could be life-threatening, elara grabbed her wand and shoved it into the waistband of her shorts. her heels weren't fully in her shoes before she was ushered out by mr. weasley.

by the light of the few fires that were still burning, she could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.

a crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. elara squinted at them. they didn't seem to have faces. then she realized that their heads were hooded and their faces masked. high above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. it was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers,and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. two of the figures were very small.

more wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. once or twice elara saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. several caught fire. the screaming grew louder.

the floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent and elara recognized one of them: mr. roberts, the campsite manager. the other three looked as though they might be his wife and children. one of the marchers below flipped mrs. roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee.

"we're going to help the ministry!" mr. weasley shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "you lot — get into the woods, and stick together. i'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

bill, charlie, and percy were already sprinting away toward the oncoming marchers; mr. weasley tore after them. ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. the crowd beneath the roberts family was coming ever closer.

it was so surreal that elara finally recognized what they were. death eaters. she freezed and stared at the crowd as they drew closer and closer.

"no," she whispered, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no..."

her heart began to pound so violently that elara thought she might collapse. her thoughts were everywhere, and she couldn't pin one down. someone was tugging at her hand. she finally was able to rip herself from her fear fueled stupor to start running. where, she didn't care. as long as she was going away from the death eaters.

she could hear her own blood pumping in her ears as she'd sprinted with a speed she didn't know she possessed. as long as she got as far away as possible. she didn't dare look back. she knew she'd only stop again and watch, helpless as the fear snaked around her like the devil's snare, pulling her under.

she was sprinting, and then she was on the ground. her foot had caught on a tree root and she yelped in pain. someone landed next to her. elara wasn't aware someone was still holding her hand as she ran.

"what happened?" said hermione anxiously. "lara, harry, where are you? oh this is stupid — lumos!"

she illuminated her wand and directed its narrow beam across the path. elara winced when the bright light came in contact with her eyes. she was sprawled on the ground, half of harry was on top of her.

"i tripped," she said impassively, voice devoid of any emotion even though she was feeling the exact opposite. she got to her feet.

confusion. anger. fear. anxiety.

"well, with your head in the clouds, hard not to," said a drawling voice from behind them.

harry, ron, elara, and hermione turned sharply. draco malfoy was standing alone nearby, leaning against a tree, looking utterly relaxed. his arms folded, he seemed to have been watching the scene at the campsite through a gap in the trees. anger became the dominant emotion in elara. of course.

"go fuck yourself," elara spat as she eyed the direction she had come from, desperately wanting to go further into the woods and away from the manifestations of her greatest fear.

"would it kill you to be proper, for once?" he drawled.

"go fuck thyself."

"language, dear cousin," said draco, his pale eyes glittering. "hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? you wouldn't like her spotted, would you?"

he nodded at hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them.

elara itched to run and never stop running.

"what's that supposed to mean?" said hermione defiantly.

"granger, they're after muggles," said draco. "d'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? because if you do, hangaround . . . they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."

"hermione's a witch," harry snarled.

"have it your own way, potter," said draco, grinning maliciously. "if you think they can't spot a mudblood, stay where you are."

"you watch your mouth!" shouted ron. everybody present knew that "mudblood" was a very offensive term for a witch or wizard of muggle parentage.

"never mind, ron," said hermione quickly, seizing ron's armto restrain him as he took a step toward draco.

elara would've loved to see ron deck draco if it weren't for the present situation.

there came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard. several people nearby screamed. draco chuckled softly.

"scare easily, don't they?" he said lazily. "i suppose your daddy told you all to hide? what's he up to — trying to rescue the muggles?"

"say, where are uncle lucius and aunt cissa?" said elara, her infamous temper rising. "they're out there wearing masks, aren't they?"

draco turned his face to elara, still smiling.

"well . . . if they were, i wouldn't be likely to tell you, would i, dear cousin?"

"you don't have to tell me, because i know."

"oh come on," said hermione, with a disgusted look at draco, "let's go and find the others."

"keep that big bushy head down, granger," sneered draco.

"come on," hermione repeated, and she pulled them up the path again.

they heard another loud bang. elara jumped and grabbed onto whoever was nearest to her and refused to let go. every shifty shadow and every noise caused elara to flinch. one hand was tightly clutching her wand and the other was squeezing someone else's.

she didn't have to look to see that her hair was snow-white.

fred, george, aurora, and ginny were nowhere to be seen, though the path was packed with plenty of other people, all looking nervously over their shoulders toward the commotion back at the campsite. a huddle of teenagers in pajamas was arguing vociferously a little way along the path. when they saw harry, ron, elara, and hermione, a girl with thick curly hair turned and said quickly, "où est madame maxime? nous i'avons perdue —"

"er -- nous ne savons pas qui est madame maxine, mais nous avons aussi perdu le groupe." said elara, the words flowing out of her before she could stop herself.

"ah, d'où venez-vous?"

"hogwarts, et toi?"

"beauxbatons. tu parles bien le francais."

"pour être honnête, je ne sais pas comment je fais ca. je ne connais même pas le français."

the curly haired girl gave her an odd look and returned to her own group. harry, ron, and hermione looked at elara incredulously. still stricken by fear, she shrugged. elara had no idea how that just happened, and didn't want to talk about it. her number one priority is to get as far away from the chaos as possible.

"fred and george can't have gone that far," said ron, pulling out his wand, lighting it like hermione and elara, and squinting up the path. harry dug in the pockets of his jacket for his own wand — but to no avail.

"ah, no, i don't believe it . . . i've lost my wand!"

"you're kidding!"

ron, elara, and hermione raised their wands high enough to spread the narrow beams of light farther on the ground; harry looked all around him, but his wand was nowhere to be seen.

"maybe it's back in the tent," said elara.

"maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" hermione suggested anxiously.

"yeah," said harry, "maybe . . ."

a rustling noise nearby made all three of them jump. elara grabbed harry's upper arm and raised her wand towards the noise. winky the house-elf was fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby. she was moving in a most peculiar fashion, apparently with great difficulty; it was as though someone invisible were trying to hold her back. elara lowered her wand.

"there is bad wizards about!" she squeaked distractedly as she leaned forward and labored to keep running. "people high — high in the air! winky is getting out of the way!"

and she disappeared into the trees on the other side of the path,panting and squeaking as she fought the force that was restraining her.

"what's up with her?" said ron, looking curiously after winky. "why can't she run properly?"

"she didn't ask permission to hide," said elara.

"you know, house-elves get a very raw deal!" said hermione indignantly. "it's slavery, that's what it is! that mr. crouch made hergo up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! why doesn't anyone do something about it?"

"well, the elves are happy, aren't they?" ron said. "you heard old winky back at the match . . . 'house-elves is not supposed to have fun' . . . that's what she likes, being bossed around. . . ."

"it's people like you, ron," hermione began hotly, "who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to —"

another loud bang echoed from the edge of the wood.

"can we please keep moving?" said elara, her voice a mixture of panic and urgency. elara glaned edgily at hermione. there was truth in what draco had said; hermione was in more danger than they were. they set off again, harry still searching his pockets, even though his wand wasn't there.

they followed the dark path deeper into the wood, still keeping an eye out for fred, george, aurora, and ginny. they passed a group of goblins who were cackling over a sack of gold that they had undoubtedly won betting on the match, and who seemed quite unperturbed by the trouble at the campsite. farther still along the path, they walked into a patch of silvery light, and when they looked through the trees, they saw three tall and beautiful veela standing in a clearing, surrounded by a gaggle of young wizards, all of whom were talking very loudly.

"i pull down about a hundred sacks of galleons a year!" one of them shouted. "i'm a dragon killer for the committee for the disposal of dangerous creatures."

"no, you're not!" yelled his friend. "you're a dishwasher at the leaky cauldron. . . . but i'm a vampire hunter, i've killed about ninety so far —"

a third young wizard, whose pimples were visible even by thedim, silvery light of the veela, now cut in, "i'm about to become the youngest ever minister of magic, i am."

ron's face had gone oddly slack, and next second ron was yelling, "did i tell you i've invented a broomstick that'll reach jupiter?"

"honestly!" said hermione, and she, elara, and harry grabbed ron firmly by the arms, wheeled him around, and marched him away. by the time the sounds of the veela and their admirers had faded completely, they were in the very heart of the wood. they seemed to be alone now; everything was much quieter.

harry looked around. "i reckon we can just wait here, you know. we'll hear anyone coming a mile off."

the words were hardly out of his mouth, when ludo bagman emerged from behind a tree right ahead of them. elara jumped and grabbed onto hermione.

even by the feeble light of the two wands, elara could see that a great change had come over bagman. he no longer looked buoyant and rosy-faced; there was no more spring in his step. he looked very white and strained.

"who's that?" he said, blinking down at them, trying to make out their faces. "what are you doing in here, all alone?"

they looked at one another, surprised.

"well — there's a sort of riot going on," said ron.

bagman stared at him.

"what?"

"at the campsite . . . some people have got hold of a family of muggles. . . ."

bagman swore loudly.

"damn them!" he said, looking quite distracted, and without another word, he disapparated with a small pop!

"not exactly on top of things, mr. bagman, is he?" said hermione, frowning.

"he was a great beater, though," said ron, leading the way off the path into a small clearing, and sitting down on a patch of dry grass at the foot of a tree. "the wimbourne wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them."

elara couldn't understand how they were having a casual conversation. they were being so calm, as if they didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

he took his small figure of krum out of his pocket, set it down on the ground, and watched it walk around. like the real krum, the model was slightly duck-footed and round-shouldered, much less impressive on his splayed feet than on his broomstick. elara was listening for noise from anywhere.

she heard a cracking stick and jumped. harry, ron, and hermione turned to stare at her.

"what's got you so worked up?" said ron. his lack of tact wasn't new.

"do you remember," elara began, fiddling with her wand, "my boggart last year?"

"yeah, but -- "

"oh merlin, lara, i had forgotten!" said hermione anxiously, reaching over to comfort her. "i'm so sorry, i had no idea -- "

but she broke off abruptly and looked over her shoulder. harry, elara, and ron looked quickly around too. it sounded as though someone was staggering toward their clearing. they waited, listening to the sounds of the uneven steps behind the dark trees. but the footsteps came to a sudden halt. elara's hair began to turn snow-white again.

"hello?" called harry.

"harry!" elara hissed. something was off. something was so very off.

there was silence. harry got to his feet and peered around the tree. it was too dark to see very far, but she could sense somebody standing just beyond the range of her vision. without another thought, elara slipped her hand into harry's. she'd be damned if she let harm befall him.

"who's there?" he said.

and then, without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any they had heard in the wood; and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell.

"MORSMORDRE!"

elara had heard those words before. sometimes in her dreams she'd hear them, but before she could see what the spell did, she'd wake up with sweat drenching her forehead.