A Little Blood is all it Takes

Dark is Delicious

A deliciously dark scent was right over there. A hiss escape his throat as he inched closer to the invisible person standing there. A silvery doe erupted from Severus's wand. "Inform everybody that there is a vampire loose and to be cautious. It has already attacked Lord Malfoy." The doe nodded before bounding right past Harry who looked shocked as his position was momentarily revealed and he found himself at the end of two wands.

"Who are you?" Lucius asked before a voice interrupted him.

"MORSMORDRE!" Harry's eyes zeroed in on that voice and in a seconds, he was across the clearing and fangs at the throat of the invisible person and ignoring the floating green skull with a serpent coming out of its mouth. . The blood tasted delicious and Harry couldn't stop himself.

The raven felt weak hands push at his chest as a voice gurgled. "Please! Stop!"

"I can't help it." Harry whispered. "I didn't ask to be this way!" He bit viciously into the neck of the unknown wizard who was even darker than Lucius and Severus. Suddenly he was ripped away from the man as the high squeaky voice of Winky was heard.

"Stay away from my Little Master!" The force was so strong he was sent all the way across the clearing and into a tree.

Dazed, he sat up as the Death Eaters ran out of the clearing just as Hermione and Ron ran in. "There you are Harry! We need to leave! That's You-Know-Who's mark!" Hermione said urgently, pulling Harry's arm up as they tries to get home to move. Before they could move, twenty popping sounds arrived in the clearing as twenty wizards appeared, wands aimed at them.

"Duck!" Ron yelped just as the wizards shot stunners at them.

"Stop! That's my son!" Mr. Weasley yelled, pushing his way through with a terrified look on his face. "Ron, Harry, Hermione, are you all right?" Ron and Hermione nodded but Harry didn't say anything just looked away.

"Move Arthur." A cold voice commanded. Mr. Crouch and the other Ministry wizards close in on them. "Which of you did it? Who conjured the Dark Mark?"

"We did not do that!" Ron waved at the skull, an indignant look on his face. "Why did you attack us?"

"Don't lie! You were discovered at the scene of the crime!" Another wizard shouted at him.

"There kids...they would never have  been able to-" A witch defended them but was cut off by Mr. Weasley.

"Where did the mark come from you three?"

Hermione quickly pointed in the direction and Mr. Crouch walked over as she explained. "The incantation came from over there."

Another wizard was quick to accuse. "Over there you said? An incantation? You seem very well informed on how that mark is summoned girlie." The trio looked at him like he was stupid.

"The stunners went right through those trees so there is a good chance we got whoever did it." Someone else replied just as Mr. Crouch came back with a sour look on his face, holding Winky by the back of her shirt as she cried.

"She would have needed a wand..." A witch to the back pointed out.

"She had one. Clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand." Mr. Crouch growled, dropping his elf and pulling out the wand.

Harry moved for the first time."That's my wand!" He said, realizing that it was not in his pocket.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Diggory said incredulously.

"That's my wand. I lost it." Harry repeated.

"You lost it? Is this a confession? You threw it to the side after conjuring the mark?" Mr. Diggory accused.

Mr. Weasley angrily rounded on him. "AMOS! Is Herry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

"Er....of course not. Sorry, I got carried away..." Mr. Diggory had the decency to look ashamed at his accusations before turning back to Winky. "So you found this wand and picked it up and thought you could have some fun with it did you?"

"I is not be doing magic with it, sir! I is, I is just picking it up! I is not making the Dark Mark sir, I is not knowing how!" Winky squeaked out between her choked sobs.

"It wasn't her." Hermione said, shaking her head. "It was a humans voice." Harry and Ron nodded in agreement.

"Well we'll soon see. There's a simple way of discovering the speel last cast, did you know that elf?" Mr.Diggory said smugly. Winky shook her head, not looking at the man. He raised his own wand and placed it tip to tip with Harry's. "Prior Incantato!" Harry heard Hermione gasp, horrified as a gigantic serpent tongued skull erupted from the tip of Harry's wand made of thick gray smoke, almost as if a ghost of a spell. "You have been caught red handed elf."

Shortly after Mr. Crouch gave Winky clothes and fired her Mr.Weasley escorted everybody back to the tent. "Why is everyone so uptight about the skull thing?" Ron asked.

Mr. Weasley looked around tensely. "I'll explain back at the tent." When they reached the edge of the woods, a large crowd of frightened witches and wizards surged forward upon seeing them.

"What's going on in there?"

"Who conjured it?"

"Arthur- it's not Him?"

"Of course it's not him." Mr. Weasley snapped. "Now excuse me, I want to get to bed." He led Harry, Ron and Hermione back to the tent. Bill and Charlie were waiting outside and Bill's eyes immediately zeroed in on Harry who looked guilty.

"Dad, what's going on? Fred, George and Ginny got back okay but the others-" Charlie started.

"I've got them here." Mr. Weasley cut him off. They all went inside the tent and Harry examined everyone's injuries. Bill's arm was bleeding, Charlie had a large rip in his shirt and Percy had a bloody nose. Fred, George, and Ginny looked unhurt but still scared. Harry didn't want to admit it, but he was glad he had fed on the dark wizards. He couldn't hurt his family like that.

So they explained what happened and Hermione got into an argument about how Winky was treated with Percy until Ron interrupted. "Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was? It wasn't hurting anything so what's the big deal?"

" I told you it's You-Know-Who's symbol Ron. I read about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts." Hermione said before anyone else could answer.

"It hasn't been seen in thirteen years. Of course people panicked. It was almost like seeing him again." Mr. Weasley said quietly.

"I still don't get it." Ron said stupidly.

Mr. Weasley rolled his eyes but explained anyway. "Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent that mark into the sky after they had killed. The terror it inspired, you have no idea. You are to young. Imagine coming home and finding the Dark Mark over your house and knowing what you'll find..." Mr. Weasley said, releasing a shaky breath. "Everyone's worst fear. The very worst."

After a little more discussion and treating everyone's wounds, Harry crawled back into his bunk. He knew he ought to feel exhausted. It was three in the morning after all. But the excitement and the dark blood kept him awake. It was a long time after everyone's snoring filled the tent that he fell asleep.