Pink in the Night.

Chapter Twelve.

"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling," Arthur implored Fred and George as they made their way slowly down the purple-carpeted stairs.

"Don't worry, Dad," said Fred gleefully, "we've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated."
Arthur looked for a moment as though he was going to ask what these big plans were, but seemed to decide, upon reflection, that he didn't want to know. 
They were soon caught up in the crowds now flooding out of the stadium and back to their campus. Raucous singing was borne toward them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, and leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns.

"Hey, (Y/n)—" Ginny cut herself off. "...(Y/n)?"

"Over here!" (Y/n) shouted from a distance at which she most definitely shouldn't have heard Ginny's call of her name. Hermione's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Not even a moment later, (Y/n) emerged from the crowd, positively beaming at the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione.

"Where'd you go?" Harry frowned.

"I saw Luna," (Y/n) said simply. Harry, who had never met Luna but knew (Y/n) well enough to know she spent two weeks every summer with Luna, nodded his head.
When they finally reached the tents, nobody felt like sleeping at all, and given the level of noise around them, Arthur agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before turning in. They were soon arguing enjoyably about the match; Arthur got drawn into a disagreement about cobbing with Charlie, and it was only when Ginny fell asleep right at the tiny table and spilt hot chocolate all over the floor that Arthur called a halt to the verbal replays and insisted that everyone go to bed. Hermione, Ginny, and (Y/n) went into the next tent and changed into pyjamas before they came to a problem: two beds and three of them.

"I'll take the couch," (Y/n) assured.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, peeking in and out of the rooms. "Queen beds. Two people will fit."

"I'm sure," (Y/n) laughed. "You kick in your sleep and I don't want to keep Ginny awake," she said.

"...do I really?" Hermione mumbled.

"Clinging, kicking, stealing the blanket," (Y/n) listed off. Hermione grimaced. "I don't mind. You never kick hard enough to leave a bruise, I'm just left awake at night," she said. She peeked her head into Ginny's room, finding the girl already in bed with her lamp on. (Y/n) turned off the lamp and cracked Ginny's door, finding Hermione had retreated to her own room, returning shortly with a throw blanket and two pillows. 
"Thanks, 'Mione," she said, accepting the blanket and pillows.

(Y/n) lay wide awake, having yet to fall asleep with what was filling her head. In addition, her sweater and Looney Tunes shorts were no help in keeping her warm. She had heard the loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells long before any other of their party had. She had simply brushed it off as people still celebrating and was instead trying to focus on the happier parts of peoples' thoughts and conversations. She was wrong. Very wrong, in fact.
Arthur burst into their tent, looking rather sick. She sat up, alarmed and Arthur, who was just about to shake her awake, came to a halt.

"Oh thank heavens," he murmured, spotting (Y/n) was just fine. "Get up!" he shouted for the girls. "Come on now, get up, this is urgent!" he shouted, opening Ginny and Hermione's doors and rousing them. 

"What's happening?" (Y/n) heard Hermione ask. 

"No time— Ginny, quickly—" He entered the girl's room and shook her awake. "Just grab a jacket and get outside— quickly!" The girls, quite scared, obliged. (Y/n) slipped on Charlie's sweater and Hermione and Ginny put on their own jackets over their pyjama dresses
Outside, floating high above them, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the masked wizards standing on the ground below them were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. Two of the figures were very small.
(Y/n) covered her mouth, feeling rather sick as the woman of the four was flipped over, revealing her drawers and the smallest Muggle child was spun like a top, his head flopping limply from side to side. At the very same moment she, Hermione, Ginny, and Arthur left their tent, Bill, Charlie, and Percy had emerged from the boys' tent, fully dressed, with their sleeves rolled up and their wands out.
"We're going to help the Ministry!" Arthur shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "You lot— get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out."
Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting away toward the oncoming marchers; Arthur tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was coming ever closer.