𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. fred weasley

𝚒𝚒𝚒. 𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜

─── ⋆⋅ ☾⋅⋆ ───

Cress is definitely not panicking. No, she is completely calm, completely at peace with her life right now. Sure, she is alone, and stranded in a crowd full of panicking people whilst some idiots in mask torture Muggles, but that's no big deal, really--not the Muggle torture part, of course, because that is a big deal, but the part where she's alone and not panicking. Honestly, she's happy being alone, glad she doesn't know where Cedric ran off to, and definitely not panicked, at all.

Except she kind of, most definitely, is.

Around her people push and shove their way through the crowd aggressively, screaming out obscene words as loud, booming sounds echo in the distant. People are pushing against Cress, moving her along with the strong crowd and she fears that someone is going to break one of her limbs from how hard they're shoving her. The forest is dark, and the trail she is currently on is barely lit, but somehow she's making her way through, barely managing to keep herself upright as she hunts for her brother.

It is all Cedric's fault, she decides, as she leans up against a tree to catch her breath. If he would have just stayed in the tent like Amos instructed them to do, she wouldn't be in this mess.

When the Quidditch World cup had ended, Cress had returned to the tent along with Cedric and Amos. They were all in high spirits, even though Bulgaria didn't win the Cup like Cedric wanted them to. Her brother had worn a bright smile on his face anyway, and Amos was actually civil with Cress for once, so she had been content, for the most part. They had stayed up for hours after, sitting around a fire eating snacks and drinking the best hot cocoa and tea Cress has ever had in her life. It was familiar and content, and Cress had been so joyous over it.

They had talked nonsense, bringing up each and every topic to talk about to pass the time. Cedric talked about the Wronski Feint ("I'll definitely master that move before the end of the year, you just wait!"), Amos brought up Ministry work ("Everything's okay, nothing to complain about. . . yet."), and Cress spoke about another Muggle book that Axel lent her awhile back (It was about a futuristic utopia that burned books because reading was banned. It's so horribly dark and absolutely phenomenal!"). It was a quiet discussion, but still lovely and when Amos had instructed them to go to bed, Cress did so with a smile on her face.

But then something had happened, of course, because something always had to happen to ruin a good day. No later than twenty minutes or so later, Amos had come into Cress's makeshift bedroom, telling her to stay put and not to leave the tent, no matter what. And Cress, having been disoriented due to just waking up, had been confused, and had opened her mouth to respond, to ask what was wrong, but Amos had already disappeared.

Cedric had come in a moment later, and sat on the edge of her bed, eyes worried and bright in the dim light of her lantern. He'd said, "There's a lot of commotion going on out there."