Arthur was speaking in a trembling voice, but he was shoved out of the way by Bartemius Crouch.
"Out of the way, Arthur!" His voice was cold and curt.
His wand pointed right at Lucifer and about ten other Ministry Officials aimed theirs at him as well
"Wand down! Which of you did it!?" He demanded of them.
Lucifer did not lower his wand, though, "I said lower-"
"Barty, they're only kids, and he's... well... do you actually think Merlin's Descendant would've cast up His mark?" A Witch asked him.
"You all lower yours, before you get seriously hurt," Lucifer said very calmly, or he tried to make his voice sound at least.
"Now see here boy-" Crouch started, but was cut off again.
"I don't give a fuck who you are, Crouch, as long as your wand is up in the direction of my girlfriend, you are a threat. Now lower your wands," Lucifer said, still calm in his voice.
Everyone but Crouch lowered their wand, "I am the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and current Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation! I will not be talked to by a mere child! I don't give a damn who his ances--------W-what on Godri----"
"Crouch... this isn't a fight you can win," a Wizard off to the side, having one artificial eye marched up.
"Lad apparated in front of you at the age of Fourteen, he non-verbally cast the Protection Charm, and he killed almost all of the Death Eaters in that large group with the Blasting Curse, an incredibly advanced spell."
"Almost?" Crouch asked, the color draining from his face.
"The ones he didn't kill disapparated with barely functional limbs. So, Lower the wand, Crouch!"
"Believe me you don't wanna end up like the ones I just saw around with their skulls crushed...."
That made Barty Crouch lowered his wand begrudgingly, and when he did, Lucifer finally lowered his, his red eyes turning back to normal.
"Where did the mark come from, you four?" Arthur asked quickly.
"Over there," Hermione said, pointing in the direction that it came from, "there was someone behind the trees, they shouted an incantation, and then the mark appeared in the sky."
"You seem to be very well informed about how that mark is summoned missy-" Crouch was saying, but he stopped himself when Lucifer stepped in between him and Hermione.
"Well... our Stunners went right through those trees if they didn't ricochet off of his shield. One of us had to hit something!" Amos Diggory said.
He marched off into the trees and began searching.
He was heard yelling back to them, "Yes! We got them! There's someone here! It's - but - blimey..."
"You've got someone?" Crouch shouted back to Amos, but his voice was highly disbelieving, "Who? Who is it?"
They all heard crunching footsteps, snapping twigs, and rustling leaves as Amos re-emerged from behind the trees.
He was carrying a tiny, limp form in his arms. It was the House Elf that Lucifer had noticed back in the Top Box.
Amos had carried the Elf up to Crouch and laid it at his feet.
Lucifer had no idea if it was a boy or girl elf, but he heard Hermione whisper under her breath, "Winky?"
Crouch did not speak or move, his eyes remained transfixed upon Winky, his eyes blazing in his white face as he stared down at her.
He suddenly appeared to come back to life again, "This - cannot - be!" He yelled jerkily, "No-"
He moved quickly around Amos and strode off to where Winky was found, "No point, Barty," Amos said, "There's no one else there."
Crouch didn't seem prepared to take his word for it.
They could all hear him rustling the leaves around as he pushed the bushes aside.
Lucifer found it to be odd that he was that dead set on finding something else.
He didn't even believe Winky did it, because he couldn't find an answer for why a House Elf would send up Voldemort's mark.
"Bit embarrassing," he heard Amos say.
He turned to him to see what he was going on about, "Barty Crouch's House Elf... I mean to say..." he was looking down at Winky's unconscious form.
"Come off it, Amos," Arthur said quietly, "You don't seriously think it was the Elf, do you? The Dark Mark is a Wizarding sign, it requires a wand."
"Yeah," Amos said in agreement, "and she had a wand."
"What?" Arthur asked, his face going pale.
"Here, look," Amos said, holding the wand up for Mr. Weasely to see.
Lucifer eyed the wand from where he was, it looked awfully familiar, "Had it in her hand she did. So that's Clause Three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."
Ludo Bagman then suddenly apparated right next to Arthur.
Looking breathless and disoriented, he spun on the spot, eyes towards the sky to look at the emerald-green skull.
"The Dark Mark!" He was panting, and almost trampled Winky as he turned inquiringly to his colleagues,
"Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?" Crouch had returned empty-handed.
His face was still ghostly white, and his hands and his toothbrush mustache were both twitching
"Where have you been, Barty?" Bagman asked him, "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat too - gulping gargoyles!" He had just noticed that Winky was at his feet, "What happened to her?"
"I have been busy, Ludo," Crouch said, still talking in the same jerky fashion, barely moving his lips, "and my elf has been stunned."
"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why-" Comprehension had suddenly dawned on Bagman's round, shiny face; he looked up at the skull, down at Winky, and then at Crouch.
"No!" He yelled, "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!"
"And she had one," Amos said, "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's alright with you, Barty, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself?"
Crouch gave no sign that he had heard Amos, but he took the silence for assent.
He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky, and said, "Rennervate!"
Winky stirred feebly.
Her great brown eyes opened and she blinked several times in a bemused sort of way.
Watched by the silent Witches and Wizards, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position.
She caught sight of Amos' feet, and slowly, tremulously, raised her eyes to stare up into his face; then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky.
Lucifer could see the floating skull reflected twice in her enormous, glassy eyes.
She gave a gasp, looked wildly around the crowded clearing, and burst into terrified sobs.
"Elf!" Amos suddenly yelled, "Do you know what I am? I am a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" Winky began to rock back and forth on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts.
Lucifer felt sorry for the tiny creature, and was reminded of Dobby when he saw him trying to go against his then still Master, Lucius Malfoy, "As you see, elf-"
"Winky."
Amos turned to him, "What?"
"She has a name, and her name is Winky. You wouldn't like it if I called you man-thing, or wretch, would you?" Lucifer asked Cedric's father, with a glance of looking at scum.
Amos faltered under the calm, but menacing look he was receiving.
"As you see, Winky, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago," Amos and Winky went back and forth a moment, and when he brought out the wand again, everyone saw it this time, especially Harry, who claimed it as his wand.
Amos continued to barrage Winky with questions, who kept claiming innocence.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all defended Winky by saying she didn't cast it, that the voice was deep and human compared to the squeaky, timid voice typically associated with a lot of House Elves, but Amos wasn't willing to believe them.
"Priori Incantato," Amos said, putting both wand tips together.
Lucifer heard Hermione gasp as a smoky replica of the Skull and Snake above them appeared.
"Deletrius!" Amos shouted, the smoky skull vanished in a wisp of smoke.
"So," Amos said with a kind of savage triumph, looking down upon Winky, who was still shaking convulsively.
"I is not doing it!" She squealed, her eyes rolling in terror. "I is not, I is not, I is now knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"
"You've been caught red-handed, elf !" Amos roared, "Caught with the guilty wand in your hands!"
Lucifer clenched his hand tightly into a fist just as Arthur spoke up, "Amos," he said loudly, "think about it... precious few witches or wizards know how to do that spell... Where would she have learned it?"
"Perhaps Amos is suggesting," Crouch suddenly said, cold anger in every syllable, "that I routinely teach my servants to conjure the Dark Mark?"
There was a deeply unpleasant silence.
Amos looked horrified, "Barty... not... not at all..."
"You have now come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure that Mark!" Crouch barked madly, "Harry Potter - and myself! I suppose you are familiar with the boy's story, Amos?"
"Of course - everyone knows-" Amos was looking incredibly uncomfortable.
"And I trust that you remember the many proofs I have given, over a long career, that I despise and detest many of the Dark Arts and those who practice them?" Crouch shouted, his eyes bulging again.
"B-Barty, I - I never suggested you had anything to do with it!" Amos said hurriedly, turning red behind his scrubby brown beard.
"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory!" Crouch shouted, "Where else could she have learned to conjure it?"
"She - she might have picked it up anywhere-" Amos tried to defend his stance.
Lucifer continued listening in amazement.
'What the hell am I watching unfold?' He asked himself.
Arthur suggested Winky picked it up, and when asked, she pointed towards the Forest.
Amos argued she should have seen the person then, because she'd be right on top of them.
She said she hadn't, which didn't make it look good on her, but there was no way she conjured it, Lucifer was sure of that.
xxxxxx
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