Chapter 6 - ...After The Cup

Mr. Roberts and his family had no idea what was going on. One moment they were fast asleep, the next, they awoke with their house was on fire.

They all ran out to see strange hooded men in masks, pointing at him and his family with strange sticks with lights at the tip. Behind them, they could see several people screaming as tents were set on fire and several trampled.

"What do you want?!" Mr. Roberts asked, scared as he shielded his family from the strange men.

The men didn't answer as one of them flicked his wand. The next moment, he found himself starting to float. In a panic, he struggled in vain as his wife and two children yelled fearfully for him as he rose higher and higher.

Uncontrollably, he started twisting into different shapes as he spun, each one more grotesque than the last as he felt several of his bones crack. He tried to scream, but found that nothing came out as the masked men below started laughing and jeering hard, pointing at the scene he was making.

On one of his spins, he caught glimpse of them approaching his family, sticks pointed and raised.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" he tried yelling out, only to find himself still unable to speak.

All of a sudden, in from the covers of darkness came a small vial that flew into the middle of the masked men. A small boom sound was heard as all of them were thrown far back, creating a small clearing underneath Mr. Roberts as he started falling.

He then felt arms underneath him as a young boy caught him, mid fall, in mid-air. They landed in a small cloud of dust, just as he was being set down.

"You alright Mr. Roberts?" The boy asked.

Mr. Robert could only nod, still dumbfounded on what was happening. The boy then pointed to his family.

"You and your family should run while you can," The boy advised as turned to face the surrounding masked men who started to get up. "And I mean now."

...

Vincent watched Mr. Robert's and his family run from the corner of his eye while still keeping watch on the masked wizards whom started slowly surrounding him.

"I...may have bitten off more than I can chew," Vincent muttered as he took in the number of wizards surrounding him. He unsheathed his rods and held them at the ready.

"He's a Muggle!" A deep voice came from one of the men. The voice, however, sounded slightly off to Vincent, coming out somewhat slurred as if they were drunk or something. "Don't be wary of a singular Muggle!"

In truth, Vincent didn't want to fight against a wizard due to all their versatile spells. His time with his teacher Snape had taught him that even a singular wizard could prove troublesome to fight against without magic, and yet, here he was facing a horde of them. So Vincent did the most logical thing anyone would do in his situation...

...He ran.

It took a while before the masked wizards processed that Vincent ran into the trees, by then, all they could see was Vincent's back as he grew further and further away from them.

"That sneaky little," One of them yelled as he gave chase.

"What about the other Muggles, we can have more fun with them then—" A rod came flying at the head of the one talking talking. The wizard yelled in pain and surprise as recoiled from the hit, holding his chin.

"Son ofa...hebroke my shin!" the man yelled in a muffled tone as he hobbled after Vincent.

Vincent kept a small pace as he continued to look back at the group of wizards after him. He made completely sure that they could follow him while at the same time leading them away from the campsite. He didn't want the Roberts to be caught again after all.

Spells were shot in volleys as he ran, zipping around trees and dodging the fiery lights that came after him. Instead of feeling discouraged however, the Masked wizards seemed even more eager to catch Vincent, whether it was out of spite, or simply because he was the only Muggle in sight.

Vincent narrowly avoided a scarlet shot that brushed by his side hitting the ground in front of him. A large wall then rose in front of him to which he responded by jumping over it only to see sharp metal spikes waiting for him on the other side.

"Lock, off," Vincent muttered as he braced for impact. "Cloak, on."

In that single instant, his black shirt puffed out, turning into wraps that spread across his arms, and body before tightening. The remaining cloth then made a hood at the back of his neck and a small flap at the back. Soon enough, Vincent appeared to be wearing a black, wrapped, form fitting cloak that sent out an odd chill, one that resonated with one's very soul.

Bracing himself for impact Vincent crashed into the spikes. What was strange was that, instead of being impaled, he instead rolled over them, his cloak seemingly protecting him from the spikes.

Vincent did, however, grimace in pain as he rolled to his feet. Falling from that height and speed did allow a couple of spikes to pierce through the cloak.

"Seems that the Dementor's cloak works best against blunt force," Vincent grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder which was now bleeding slightly.

The wall soon crumbled down, revealing the masked wizards before him, all pointing wands.

"Gloves, on," Vincent's wristbands morphed into black gloves with a small black gem on the back. "Left set, ice, right set, pulse."

The black gems in his left and right gloves turned over to reveal a icy blue gem and a bright silver one.

A bright flash of light happened in front as a volley of spells were shot at Vincent, leaving no room for escape. Vincent, in response, held out his left hand.

Out of his left hand came a silvery wisp which solidified into a large ice wall, blocking all of the spells that came at him as bits of it blew up in large chunks of ice. Vincent then slapped his right hand at wall of ice, sending a silvery shockwave through the wall.

The whole wall of ice exploded out as ice bits flew towards the wizards. A few were knocked down by larger chunks that crashed into them, while others blinded from the small makeshift blizzard that Vincent had created.

"Right set, ice," Vincent's right glove had it's silvery gem switch into the same icy blue gem. He sheathed his rods before holding out his hands where the silvery wisp emanated from his gloves and solidified into two ice rods which he ditched at two masked wizards.

Both of them fell backward as the ice balls smashed against their masks, cracking it somewhat in the process. Vincent continued to lob ice rods at them, forcing them all to stay on the defensive as they held out their wands. The moment shield charms came up Vincent stopped throwing and decided to fall back, hiding behind another tree as the rest of the masked wizards regained their bearings.

"Too many of them, probably should have aimed for their legs," Vincent mumbled to himself as he ditched several more ice rods behind before hiding back behind the tree. "Really considering blowing them up right now..."

As Vincent was seriously contemplating whether or not to throw a Thunderbolt potion vial at them, one that would no doubt obliterate them, he heard several snaps before shouts of ""Stupefy"" filled the air.

Vincent looked behind to see that several wizards had appeared, ones without the mask thankfully, and started shooting spells at the ones with masks whom reacted by deflecting and firing some back, turning it into a small war of sorts. He even saw Mr. Crouch join the fray, face red with rage as he fought

"That's that I guess," Vincent sighed as he slumped up against the tree, feeling like he wasn't needed anymore.

"Vince?!" A voice called out, making Vincent's head turn. He then saw a very worried Mr. Weasley and an anxious Sirius. Sirius, finding Vincent's slumped form against the tree, knelt beside him. "What are you doing here?! What happened?! And that cloak—it's like..."

"Vincent, explain," Mr. Weasley said sternly as he kept watch over the battle. Vincent could make out Percy, Bill, and Charlie among the mess. It seemed that they joined their father, trying to quell the chaos.

"I was checking out the commotion when those guys saw me," Vincent decided to leave out the information of him saving the Roberts. He had no doubt that they'd scold him for getting involved. "They recognised me as a Muggle and started chasing me. Who are they?"

Just as Sirius opened his mouth to explain, Mr. Weasley's face went pale as he stared at something in the sky. Vincent looked up to see a large green smoky skull in the air with a snake protruding out of it's mouth. They weren't the only ones who noticed however as everyone stopped firing spells in that moment, looking up in fear as the skull rose higher and higher into the air.

"What is that?" Vincent asked Mr. Weasley.

"The Dark Mark," Mr. Weasley whispered. "You-Know-Who's sign."

"Voldemort?" Vincent thought as popping sounds were heard. He turned to see the masked wizards running away, apparating away once safe. "Doesn't seem to one of theirs if their running like that."

"Arthur, with me, now!" Mr. Crouch yelled out as he apparated away along with the several wizards that were with him.

"Right, Sirius, stay with Vince, take him back to the tent," with a snap Mr. Weasley also disappeared.

"Come on, let's go, we should find Harry and the rest back there," Sirius patted Vincent's shoulder before frowning. "What's with this cloak of yours?"

"Customised Dementor's cloak, props to Madam Malkin," Vincent got up and brushed himself off before placing a palm onto his chest. "Cloak, off...Gloves, off...lock, on."

Sirius watched in amazement as Vincent's cloak reverted back into a his black shirt. Vincent's gloves however, started sparking slightly making Vincent curse as he threw it to the ground, just as it burst into flames.

"Gosh damn it," Vincent grumbled as he picked up the remains of it. "And here I thought it would survive. Looks like even dragon skin can't take it."

"And those?"

"Haven't named them," Vincent picked up ten small gems, two of each colour. Hot red, icy blue, emerald green, lightning yellow, and shining silver. "Their meant to help channel the gems power, but every single one that's been made so far has broken for some reason. Makes them rather unreliable when you don't know when they're going to break."

After pocketing a majority of the gems, he grabbed the green gem, holding it against his shoulder wound. A bright green glow later, and the wound was gone.

Sirius whistled. "Now that's nifty."

Vincent nodded and looked up at the green skull, still floating in the sky. "We should get going, let's see if we can find everyone else along the way."

...

"So what your saying, is that Mr. Crouch got rid of Winky, not only because she disobeyed him by leaving the tent, but also because she was holding Harry's wand, the same one that casted the Dark Mark," Vincent summed Harry's explanation up once they gotten back to the tent.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione along with Mr. Weasley came back after Vincent and Sirius did. Apparently, the three of them encountered a man who casted the Dark Mark, although they were unable to see him. Sirius looked frustrated with himself, most likely because Harry and crew were so close to danger.

Harry nodded while in the background, Hermione and Percy were fighting about whether Mr. Crouch should have gotten rid of Winky or not. Apparently, Hermione had become somewhat obsessed with the idea that all house elves should be free like Dobby and not enslaved like Winky once was. If Vincent was asked on his opinion on the matter, he would be hard pressed to pick a side. He honestly didn't know what was right, whether House-elves should be free, or whether they should continue doing what most of them enjoy doing. In the end, he just didn't know what was the right answer.

"How on earth did you lose your wand?" asked Vincent.

"I don't know, it must have dropped while we were running," said Harry.

"What exactly was the big deal about a mark?" Ron interrupted. "Even if it was You-Know-Who's, why was everyone so terrified of it?"

"It's because it hasn't been seen in nearly thirteen years," Mr. Weasley said softly. "It's like seeing 'him' back again. Of course people would panic over just seeing it. The terror it inspired...you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside...." Mr. Weasley winced. "Everyone's worst fear...the very worst..."

For an instant, inside Vincent's mind, flashed a door splashed with what looked like red paint on it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them, just as Bill started speaking.

"Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them. Their idea of fun is certainly twisted, must've gotten drunk or something. Fortunately, no one was hurt too bad. Although, several Muggles would have to have their memories tweaked slightly. Mr. Robert's himself kept going on about a boy that saved him, not sure what that was about."

Sirius and Harry both glanced at Vincent who looked away, suddenly interested in the floor.

"So why did they run?" Ron asked. "If that truly was their mark, why did they run?"

"Probably because they were also terrified," Sirius chuckled darkly. "Most likely soiled their pants once they saw it. Whole lot of them lied about 'being under his control', or something before going on with their normal lives. Having denied working with him out of free will, of course Voldemort (the Weasley's flinched) wouldn't be very pleased with them, would he?"

"So the spell was fired with the intention to either support, or scare the Death Eaters, if that's what they're called," Hermione speculated.

"Who knows, Hermione," said Mr. Weasley. "Regardless, it's late, let's not go on thinking on this any further. We'll try and get a few hours rest before getting an early portkey out of here."

As Vincent lay in bed, thoughts ran rampant around his head.

Death Eaters running about...Harry losing his wand...Winky ending up with it...And that finger he saw in his Omnioculars, it was where Winky was saving a seat for Crouch...one who never turned up to the seats in the first place.

Vincent frowned as he continued along that line of thought. Even in a world where people can fly on brooms and conjure fire at the flick of a wand, a floating finger is still a cause for alarm. The only explanation that Vincent could think of was that someone was invisible, at least, as far as his knowledge on the wizarding world can go.

Adding on the fact that Harry seemed to not know when he dropped his wand, if he did at all, there was a chance that it could of instead been stolen, most likely by whoever was sitting in Crouch's seat, which was why it ended up with Winky. This left one question.

Could Crouch have anything to do with whoever fired the mark?

Out of all the scenarios that Vincent thought of, this was the one that was most likely to be true, although, it was a bit of a stretch.

"Most I could do is tell Mr. Weasley of my thoughts, at least, that's the best I can do now." Vincent thought as he closed his eyes, letting sleep take over.

...

...///AUTHORS NOTE\\\...

Depending on how this story goes, I may come back to change the fact that Vincent is suspicious of Mr. Crouch or not. I'll keep it until further notice.

Had three routes written about this chapter, one where Vincent annihilates everyone, one where he fights with other wizards helping them save the Roberts family, and this one, where he leads them on a chase.

There were problems with ideas number one and two, but I won't go into that now, so I decided upon number three where Vincent could showcase several new items and possible ability's. Seemed to be best option.

Well, regardless of what you think, whether the ideas good or bad, thanks again for reading, hope to you guys again!