Chapter 166: Marks in the Sky

 

The first confirmation came from the Burrow.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys had reached home. No one was seriously injured. Arthur remained at the campsite to help the Ministry.

The second came from Narcissa. The Malfoy Portkey had delivered the family to the manor, where the guards found no sign of pursuit.

Kreacher entered both messages in the ledger.

Sirius contacted Dumbledore through the brass signal. The reply arrived as a phoenix Patronus.

"Remain where you are. Amelia Bones is securing witnesses. Do not return to the site."

 

Sirius repeated the message in an insulting imitation of Dumbledore's calm voice, then obeyed it.

Edward wrote his account while the details remained fresh. Ireland had defeated Bulgaria. The first disturbance came roughly half an hour after they left the stadium. The family Portkeys failed inside the campsite and recovered beyond the outer boundary. A masked attacker engaged them near the eastern lane. Narcissa stunned him. The Dark Mark rose after they reached the open field. Edward saw a thin, dark-haired figure near the eastern tree line.

He could not say whether that figure had cast the Mark. He had seen a wand lower but not the spell leave it.

Sirius added his own observations separately. He had found the eastern route blocked by conjured debris, not by the crowd. The placement suggested someone wanted people driven south or kept inside the interference field.

 

"Could be Ministry crowd control," Edward said.

"Could be."

They put the cause on the question wall.

Lucius arrived by Floo shortly before dawn. Ash streaked one sleeve, and the usual polish had left his expression.

"The attacker Narcissa stunned is gone," he said. "Someone cut the bindings before the Aurors reached him."

"Did you see who?" Sirius asked.

"No. The Ministry is interviewing its own security staff."

Draco had finally fallen asleep. Narcissa remained with him.

Lucius accepted tea and looked toward the confirmed-facts wall. "Dumbledore warned me about Pettigrew and an unidentified servant. He did not mention a weak body."

"That detail remains classified," Sirius said.

"Yet someone raised the Dark Mark hours ago."

"The sign proves that someone wanted the crowd to believe Voldemort was present or returning. Albania provides stronger evidence, which you are not entitled to hear from a witness before the inquiry releases it."

Lucius's eyes moved to Edward. "You have become very correct."

 

"I have become tired of useful facts being dismissed because someone exaggerated the uncertain ones."

That answer held Lucius longer than defiance would have.

He gave them what he knew. Several masked participants had once moved in Death Eater circles, but Lucius refused to name anyone based only on posture or voice. The display with the Muggle family resembled old celebrations after Ministry raids. The Dark Mark frightened the masked group as much as the victims. Most fled when it appeared.

"They did not expect it," Sirius said.

"No."

"Then the caster may not have been part of the group."

"Or wanted them to think so."

 

Another question went on the wall.

Edward described the pale hand and dark hair. Lucius knew too many people who fit. He had seen no one near the tree line because he was already beyond it.

"Did Draco see the Mark?" Edward asked.

"Yes."

"Do not tell him he imagined the danger."

Lucius's expression hardened. "I have no intention of doing so."

The statement mattered. Draco had grown up hearing old loyalties softened into family pragmatism. The campsite showed what those loyalties did to people without power.

Amelia Bones arrived after sunrise. She brought a copy of the preliminary incident notice and requested the Portkey cases for examination. Lucius handed over the Malfoy device. Edward gave her his after Kreacher recorded the transfer.

The interference had affected hundreds of Portkeys. Anti-travel charms could be legitimate crowd measures, but no Ministry office admitted activating them after the match. Bones opened a separate inquiry.

"What about the Muggle family?" Edward asked.

"Alive. Injured and traumatized. Memory specialists will work with them only after medical treatment and consent from the senior official responsible."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Consent?"

"I changed the order."

The masked attackers remained unidentified. Two had been detained; four others escaped. The person Narcissa stunned was not among those held.

Bones read Edward's description of the figure near the Mark.

"The spell was cast with Harry Potter's wand," she said.

Edward looked toward the extinguished Floo.

"Harry lost it during the riot?"

"His account says it disappeared after the camp attack began and was recovered near Winky, Mr. Crouch's house-elf. Winky denies casting the spell."

Sirius swore.

The evidence complicated rather than simplified. Someone had taken Harry's wand, used it to raise the Mark, and left it beside a house-elf linked to Bartemius Crouch. The unknown servant in Albania might fit the glimpse Edward saw, but there was no basis to merge them.

Bones took copies of the Albanian facial impressions for comparison. She promised no quick answer.

She then reconstructed the handling of Harry's wand. A camper found it near Winky and passed it to a Ministry wizard. The wizard failed to bag it before testing the last spell, contaminating the grip with his own magic. Priori Incantatem still confirmed that the Dark Mark had been its most recent cast, but the poor handling weakened any claim about who held it.

Harry's pocket showed a clean cut through the lining. Someone might have removed the wand during the panic rather than finding it after it fell.

The wand returned to Harry only after Ollivander checked for damage and a healer verified that no curse remained attached. Bones apologized for the delay and explained every seal. Harry signed the return receipt.

Edward added the episode to the safety notes. Famous ownership did not excuse careless evidence handling, and a recovered object should not move through a chain of unrecorded hands.

Lucius offered the names of two private guards who had seen a thin figure near the eastern trees. Their descriptions conflicted on clothing but agreed that the person moved without a limp. That detail argued against Moody while proving nothing about the Albanian servant.

Dumbledore came later in person. He examined the altered Portkey cases and the map of the blocked lane. He confirmed that Hogwarts protections would be reviewed before students returned.

"Will the tournament still happen?" Lucius asked.

Edward noticed the word.

"What tournament?" Sirius said.

Dumbledore looked at Lucius, who showed no regret.

"An interschool event under discussion," Dumbledore answered. "The final decision is not public. Last night's failure will be part of the safety review."

Bertha had known tournament arrangements. Crouch had tried to minimize their value. Now Lucius knew enough to ask.

The links did not yet form a conclusion, but they belonged on the same wall.

After Dumbledore and Bones left, Lucius returned to his family. Sirius closed the Floo and looked at Edward's packed school trunk in the hall.

"Fourth year may be complicated."

"That is a modest prediction."

They slept in shifts until afternoon.

When Edward woke, the Dark Mark was gone from the sky, but its purpose remained. It had frightened old followers, challenged the Ministry, and announced that someone could reach Harry's wand inside a guarded camp.

 

One sign had carried several messages.

They would not assume which one mattered most.