Beginners: book 1, Goblet of Fire

The Dark Mark

The match is spectacular, roars fill the stadium as Ireland is announced the winner. Dad and I are out late into the night, partying, shouts sound all around us. Dad sees a friend, leaving me for a moment to go say hi when the shouts turn to screams. Lights fill the air, spells shooting in all directions.

"Dad!" I scream, spinning around, trying to spot him, but someone knocks into me, sending me to the ground. A stampede forms, feet trample all around me, one landing on my back, sending shoots of pain up my body. More screams sound, I think I can make out the words death eaters but I can't hear well over the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. Covering my head with my hands, I try to orient myself but my brain is getting foggy.

Suddenly, I feel another person's hand on my back, "come on!" The person yells into my ear, I open my eyes to find two green ones, framed by glasses and dark hair. Harry loops an arm under mine and lifts me from the mud, helping me limp over to the woods, where his group of friends is waiting.

"Harry what on earth were you thinking!?" Yells the brown-haired girl before she spots me, "merlin's beard are you alright?"

"She was trampled," he says, helping me sit on a downed tree.

I gasp for air, finally able to get out, "thank you, I- um, I'm okay."

"Can you walk?" This time it's the red-headed boy.

I lift myself up, gingerly putting weight on my left ankle, pain shoots up my leg and I stumble. Harry catches me before I land, and helps me try again, "yeah, yeah I can walk." I half hop half limp behind the redhead, catching some of their conversations through the dizzying pain.

"Fred and George can't have gone that far," he says, looking down the path. Even as the grounds go quiet, we continue to walk, finally coming to a clearing.

"I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off." Harry says loudly to his friends and then quietly to me, "let's find somewhere we can sit down."

We start for a log when a man emerges from behind a tree at the edge of the clearing. "Who's that?" he says, trying to make out our faces. "What are you doing in here, all alone?"

"Well- there's sort of a riot going on," said the red-haired boy.

"What?"

"At the campsite... some people have got hold of a family of Muggles... "

The man 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 the girl, frowning.

"He was a great Beater, though. The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them." He says, sitting beside Harry. "What's your name?"

"Elizabeth," I say stretching out my leg, "Beth."

"I'm Hermione, this is Ron, and that Harry." The girl, Hermione, says.

"Yeah I- uh, kind of gathered that," I chuckle. "Thank you, again."

"Don't mention it, who're you here with?" Harry replies.

"My dad but I don't know where he ended up, we got separated when the riots began."

"We're looking for Ron's brothers, people must be gathering somewhere, we'll find him." I already like Hermione, she has a kind face.

She and Ron begin talking about the muggles, when there's a noise behind them, almost like footsteps. But just as abruptly as they began, they stopped.