Out of The Shadows (Golden Trio Era) {1}

Mayhem At The Ministry

Mr Weasley rose bright and early, waking up the kids after only a couple hours of sleep, to find Mikayla's bed empty. "Where is she?" He asked the others, who shrugged. Mr Weasley stepped outside to see the blonde girl asleep, leaning against the tent, her head tilted up to the sky, her arms wrapped around her for comfort and warmth and tear streaks on her face. "Mikayla." Mr Weasley lightly shook the sleeping girl in the attempt of waking her. Mikayla stirred slightly, causing Mr Weasley to call her name again and her eyes to flicker open. "Is it time to go?" Mikayla asked before taking in her surroundings, and realised that she had slept on the rough ground all night. Mr Weasley nodded helping her off of the ground and handing her a tissue, "Are you ok?" Mikayla nodded quietly at Arthur's question, "Just a rough night." She shrugged before wiping the remains of the tears left on her cheeks off and heading into the tent.

Mikayla walked with Ginny and Hermione through the campsite, she kept catching Mr Weasley checking on her and Percy sending her dirty looks. "What's going on with you?" Ginny asked Mikayla whilst Arthur talked to Basil, the portkey keeper, "Just a lot on my mind." Mikayla offered an excuse to her problems, Hermione gave her a very stern look, making Mikayla uncomfortable. "Look, all you said was the truth, and if Mr Crouch took offence to it then that's his problem." Mikayla nodded grateful of Hermione's efforts to comfort her, "Thanks 'Mione." However the incident hadn't left Mikayla's mind, even the horrible feeling of travelling by portkey couldn't overtake her thoughts.

They walked back through the woods, Ottery St. Catchpole, and the damp lane leading up to the Burrow, exhaustion taking over their bodies. "Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!" Mrs Weasley came running towards them still wearing her nightgown and bedroom slippers. She was very pale and a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet was strangled in her hand. She flung her arms around Mr Weasley's neck telling him how worried he had been, causing the Prophet to it the ground. The Headline read: SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP, a picture of the dark mark in the sky placed directly underneath it.

"You're all right." Mrs Weasley muttered distractedly, her eyes rimmed with red. "You're alive... oh, boys..." And to everybody's surprise, she seized Fred and George and pulled them both into such a tight hug that their heads banged together. "Ouch! Mum, you're strangling us" "I shouted at you before you left!" Mrs. Weasley said as she started to sob. "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s? Oh Fred... George..." "Come on, now, Molly, we're all perfectly okay." Mr. Weasley said soothingly, prying her off Fred and George and leading her back toward the house. "Bill," He added in an undertone, "Pick up that paper, I want to see what it says..."

When they were all crammed in the kitchen, and Mikayla made Mrs Weasley a cup of tea which Molly put a shot of Ogdens Old Firewhiskey into it, Bill handed his father the newspaper. Mr. Weasley scanned the front page while Percy looked over his shoulder. "I knew it." Mr. Weasley said heavily. "Ministry blunders... culprits not apprehended... lax security... Dark wizards running unchecked... national disgrace... Who wrote this? Ah... of course... Rita Skeeter." "That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" Percy exclaimed furiously. "Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans -" "Do us a favor, Perce," Bill yawned. "and shut up." "I'm mentioned." Mr. Weasley said suddenly, his eyes widening behind his glasses as he reached the bottom of the Daily Prophet article. "Where?" Mrs. Weasley spluttered, choking on her tea and whiskey. "If I'd seen that, I'd have known you were alive!" "Not by name." Mr. Weasley said. "Listen to this: 'If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.' Oh really," Mr. Weasley sighed in exasperation, handing the paper over to Percy. "Nobody was hurt. What was I supposed to say? Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods... well, there certainly will be rumors now she's printed that." He heaved a deep sigh. "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office; this is going to take some smoothing over." "I'll come with you, Father." Percy said importantly whilst Mikayla flinched at the word father, no one seemed to notice. "Mr. Crouch will need all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person." Mikayla rolled her eyes at the mention of Barty Crouch, before Percy bustled out of the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley looked most upset. "Arthur, you're supposed to be on holiday! This hasn't got anything to do with your office; surely they can handle this without you?" "I've got to go, Molly." Mr. Weasley said. "I've made things worse. I'll just change into my robes and I'll be off..." 

Harry decided that he was going to tell, Ron and Hermione about his scar hurting him. Mikayla told him that she was going to head to bed, because she had a rather rough nights sleep, the night before. Harry was accepting of Mikayla's request and tells her that the sleep will probably make her feel better. "Call me for dinner." She requested from Harry, this would give her 4 hour nap, Harry agreed politely to Mikayla's request.