The Legilimens: Harry Potter

CHAPTER 4: THE ELF WITH THE WAND

Harry Potter and all the other characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

CHAPTER 4: THE ELF WITH THE WAND

It appeared that the person who had put up the Dark Mark had disapparated or fled by other means as he was nowhere to be seen now, and among all the screaming they hadn't seem to recall any 'pop' going nearby.

'What's got you so worked up?' Ron asked. 'What's with the skull and—'

'Ron, it's the Dark Mark!' Hermione said shakily, her face as pale as a sheet of paper. 'It's You-Know-Who's mark!'

'It's the Mark he left whenever Voldemort or his followers killed', Harry whispered his eyes fixed on the Dark Mark. Ron flinched a bit at his name, but it appeared that he still had not understood the full gravity of the situation. But then again, nor was supposed to—he was a just baby during the first War—and neither did Hermione, most of her understanding came from books and not first-hand. Perhaps, seeing all those scenes from the First War which people had been recollecting had made Harry even slightly aware of the fear that the Mark inspired.

But before they knew there were a series of 'pop's around them and about twenty wizards had them surrounded. Harry immediately knew that they were going to attack.

'DUCK!' he yelled. The three of them ducked just in time as yells of 'STUPEFY!' broke around by the crowd and they narrowly missed jets of red light hurled towards them. Harry felt the hair on his head ripple as though a powerful wind had swept the clearing. He saw the red jets of light bouncing of tree trunks and bounding into the darkness. The people hurling the stunning spells at them were more terrified than they were—some afraid that the person they were confronting might be the Dark Lord they so feared, himself.

'STOP!' a familiar voice yelled out from the crowd. 'Stop—it's my son!'

The jets of red light stopped flying around them and Harry raised his head a little and found Mr. Weasley striding towards them, concern etched on his face. 'Ron—Harry? Hermione?' Mr. Weasley asked shakily. 'Are you all right?'

However before any of them could reply Barty Crouch had strode forward his face filled with rage. 'Move Arthur—' he said coldly. 'Which of you did it?'

Was he nuts? Harry thought to himself. 'We didn't do it!' Harry said quickly

'Do not lie—' Crouch began but he was interrupted by a witch, wearing a wooly nightgown, who spoke in a gentle voice, 'Barty—they are just kids', she said. 'None of them could have done it.'

'Where did the Mark come from, you three?' Mr. Weasley asked hastily, before Barty Crouch could say anything.

'Over there', Hermione said shakily pointing towards the bushes. 'It was a man—he said some incantation—'

'A man said an incantation, did he? You seem very well informed about the conjuring of the Dark Mark thing missy—', Crouch said suspiciously.

None of them however was naïve enough like Crouch to think that any of them had conjured the Dark Mark. 'It's too late', said the witch, who had spoken up earlier, shaking her head. 'The person who had cast the Mark must have disapparated.'

'But one of our stunners may have hit the person, Amelia', a familiar voice spoke up and Harry realised that it was Mr. Diggory. 'Let me check', he volunteered pompously.

'Be careful Amos!' said the witch named Amelia. But Mr. Diggory went up to the spot where Hermione had pointed. He started searching from among the bushes and after a few seconds his voice yelled, 'Yes! We've got them! Look here—Blimey!'