Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I blinked in surprise at Mr. Crouch's accusation. "You thought... you think we –?"

"We didn't do that!" said Harry, gesturing up at the skull.

"We didn't do anything!" said Ron, who was rubbing his elbow and looking indignantly at his father. "What did you want to attack us for?"

"Do not lie!" shouted Mr. Crouch. His wand was still pointing directly at me, and his eyes were popping – he looked slightly nuts. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown, "they're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to –"

"Where did the Mark come from, you three?" said Mr. Weasley quickly.

"Over there," I said, pointing at the place where they had heard the voice. "There was someone behind the trees... they shouted words – an incantation –"

"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr. Crouch, disbelief etched all over his face. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy. I should have expected nothing less from the daughter of an escaped convict–"

"That's what this is about?" I demanded.

None of the Ministry wizards apart from Mr. Crouch seemed to think it remotely likely that either of us had conjured the skull. In fact, at my words, they had all raised their wands again and were pointing in the direction she had indicated, squinting through the dark trees.

"We're too late," said the witch in the woolen dressing gown, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated."

"I don't think so," said a wizard with a scrubby brown beard. It was Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "Our Stunners went right through those trees... There's a good chance we got them..."

"Amos, be careful!" said a few of the wizards warningly as Mr. Diggory squared his shoulders, raised his wand, marched across the clearing, and disappeared into the darkness. Hermione watched him vanish with her hands over her mouth.

A few seconds later, they heard Mr. Diggory shout.

"Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's – but – blimey..."

"You've got someone?" shouted Mr. Crouch, sounding highly disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?"

They heard snapping twigs, the rustling of leaves, and then crunching footsteps as Mr. Diggory reemerged from behind the trees. He was carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. I recognized the tea towel at once.

It was Winky.

Mr. Crouch did not move or speak as Mr. Diggory deposited his elf on the ground at his feet. The other Ministry wizards were all staring at Mr. Crouch. For a few seconds Crouch remained transfixed, his eyes blazing in his white face as he stared down at Winky. Then he appeared to come to life again.

"This – cannot – be," he said jerkily. "No –"

He moved quickly around Mr. Diggory and strode off toward the place where he had found Winky.

"No point, Mr. Crouch," Mr. Diggory called after him. "There's no one else there."

But Mr. Crouch did not seem prepared to take his word for it. They could hear him moving around and the rustling of leaves as he pushed the bushes aside, searching. I burned with second-hand embarrassment at his desperate manner. He seemed completely determined to prove that it wasn't Winky.

"Bit embarrassing," Mr. Diggory said grimly, looking down at Winky's unconscious form. "Barty Crouch's house-elf... I mean to say..."

"Come off it, Amos," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "you don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."