Judgment

The world seemed to suddenly become very quiet. In the darkness and the fading heat, the howling wind and the crackling of firewood being roasted by the flames gradually faded away. Roberts felt his body moving continuously.

His mind raced uncontrollably back to the events of the past few months, to the strangely dressed, the Dark Lord, to the group of masked the Dark Lord who suddenly broke into his house, to the guns he had prepared for self-defense that had been rendered useless by a single point of a thin wooden stick... His wife, his children, and he himself were all shrouded in an invisible, mysterious force, suspended in mid-air, subjected to utter humiliation.

Roberts felt his mind was in a mess, with countless memories crammed back into his head, making his temples twitch and his brain throb.

And all those hazy memories eventually turned into a final word of advice in my ear.

"Please close your eyes..."

The choking smoke gradually dissipated, and the hellish laughter had long since vanished. Feeling myself being gently laid down, beneath soft yet slightly prickly bushes, far from the fire and the crowd... I must be saved.

With his vision still completely dark, Roberts listened to the sounds around him in a daze.

"Just leave them here..."

"We have to get back quickly, Mrs. Weasley is waiting for us."

"Yes... they are out of danger, and the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic will handle it."

Everything quieted down, and the voices of a young man and woman disappeared, probably having gone far away. Perhaps they were sent by God to save him... Roberts thought absentmindedly.

When Loren and Hermione returned to the woods, the skull and python mark still hung high in the air, radiating an eerie green light, illuminating the entire area like a terrifying neon sign, and screams echoed through the woods.

From the edge of the woods near the clearing, came Harry's voice, filled with surprise and uncertainty:

"Can you hear that? Someone is chanting ' The Bone-Growth Charm '..."

Mrs. Weasley whispered anxiously, "Harry, we have to get out of here, hurry... Where are Loren and Hermione? Has anyone seen them?"

Hearing Molly's call, Hermione immediately grabbed Loren's hand and ran out of the bushes, calling out in a clear voice, "Mrs. Weasley, we're here!"

"Oh, darling..." Molly's voice trembled as she pulled the two of them into her arms, hugging them tightly as if she wanted to meld them into her body.

A warm feeling washed over him. Loren quietly looked up and saw the middle-aged Witch's pale face, filled with panic, anxiety, and hidden fear.

For Mrs. Weasley, who had experienced the First Wizarding War, that mark meant pain and death.

Hermione replied in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley, the path in the woods was too dark, and we were pushed ahead by the crowd."

"It's alright, it's alright..." Molly breathed a sigh of relief and came to her senses, quickly pulling the others toward a crowded open space.

Ginny looked at her mother's panicked face in surprise and couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"That's the Dark Mark, darling..." Molly said in a low voice, "The symbol of the Dark Lord!"

Harry and Ron's eyes widened: "Voldemort's— "

"Darling, let's go!"

They began to cross the open space, and after a few hurried steps, they heard a series of popping sounds as space was torn apart. About twenty wizards descended from the sky and surrounded them.

Before they could react, twenty voices shouted simultaneously, "[Stupefy]"

Then came a series of dazzling flashes, powerful gusts of air swept across the open space, and streaks of burning red light shot out from the tip of the wand.

In a flash, Molly could only shield Ginny and fall to the ground. While she was worried about the other children, she discovered that they were quick to react.

George and Fred quickly dodged the spells, while Loren, Hermione, Harry, and Ron crouched down, dodging most of the spells while using the Shield Charm to intercept a few that they couldn't avoid, leaving some energy to watch out for the other side.

The red-glowing magic intertwined above their heads, striking the surrounding tree trunks and turning into specks of crimson light.

"Stop!" Arthur cried out in terror, his voice trembling as he pushed his way out of the line. "Stop! Those are my wife and children!"

Arthur staggered toward them. "Molly! Harry... Oh, Merlin, are you all alright?"

"Get out of the way, Arthur."

Barty Crouch and the other wizards approached, their expressions serious and tense, their voices cold and devoid of emotion. "Which of you did this?"

I don't know what you're talking about!

Molly shielded the children behind her like a mother hen, glaring angrily at Crouch.

Loren stared blankly at the group of wizards judging them, without uttering a word... The way they hesitated in the face of the parading wizards was still fresh in his mind.

Crouch frowned, his sharp eyes sweeping over them. "Which of you has conjured the Dark Mark?"

"We don't!"

"Don't lie, madam!" Crouch's wand didn't fall; his eyes were fixed on them, almost popping out of their sockets. "You were found at a crime scene!"

"Barty," Bagman said, his face showing exhaustion, but he forced himself to speak, "They're still children, Molly is Arthur's wife, they can't possibly..."

"Yes!" Arthur quickly said, then asked anxiously, "Molly, have you seen where this mark came from?"

Molly gave Crouch a cold glance, then pointed to the woods behind them. "There was someone behind that tree just now, chanting the spell ' Bone-Growth Charm '."

"Great!" exclaimed Amos Diggory, sporting a short brown mustache. "Our scaredy-cats must have disappeared into these bushes... we might just catch them..."

He raised his wand and strode across the clearing, disappearing behind the trees. Soon, shouts rang out, "Got it! Got it! There's someone here! Unconscious! Oh my god..."

"You've caught someone?" Crouch shouted, his tone utterly incredulous. "Who? Who is it?"

Half a minute later, Crouch watched as Diggory placed his House-elf at his feet, and a chill ran through him, freezing him to the bone.

"This is impossible, impossible, impossible!"

He muttered incredulously as he walked past Diggory and strode into the woods.

"It's no use, Mr. Crouch," Diggory called after him. "There's no one else there."

But Crouch completely ignored him and walked straight into the bushes, parting the bushes and searching, rustling the leaves.

Diggory scratched his beard, looking down at Winky's dazed figure. "It's a little embarrassing... Barty Crouch's House-elf... I mean..."

The wizards from the Ministry of Magic who were watching glanced at the House-elf lying on the ground, then glanced furtively at the swaying bushes in front of them, and fell into deep silence.

"Stop talking nonsense, Amos," Arthur said in a low voice. "Do you really think it was the House-elf who did it? The Dark Mark is a wizarding symbol that requires a wand."

"Yes, she's holding a magic wand."

"What?"

"Look here," Mr. Diggory held up a wand, "What she's holding... This violates, first and foremost, Rule 3 of the Wand-Use Code: No non-human being may carry or use a wand..."

Mr. Crouch returned empty-handed, his face deathly pale, his hands and mustache twitching. Looking at the crowd, he pressed his lips together tightly and said, word by word, "My House-elf has been put under Stunning Spell."

"I noticed she was holding a wand, and if you'd like, Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear how she defends herself." Diggory glanced at the unconscious House-elf on the ground, then at his face, and slowly extended his wand.

"[Rennervate]"

Her Winky, gleaming fingers trembled slightly. She opened her large, brown eyes, blinked hard, her expression blank. Under the silent gaze of the wizards, she shakily sat up.

She saw Crouch's shoes, then slowly, tremblingly, she raised her eyes to look at his face, and then slowly turned her gaze to the night sky above.

The green skull and python's shadows came into view, Winky gasped. Her gaze was dazed as she looked at the people gathered in the open space. Two tears suddenly fell, and the House-elf began to sob.

"House-elf!" Diggory stared at her sternly. "Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Magical Creature Management and Control Department!"

Winky began to sway back and forth on the ground, her breathing interrupted by loud sobs. This was how House-elf looked when they were frightened by disobeying orders.

"You saw it too, little imp! Just now, someone conjured Dark Mark here. Moments later, we found you right beneath the mark! Give us an explanation!"

"I, I, I didn't, sir!" Winky gasped for breath, as if suffering from severe asthma. "I don't know how I changed, sir!"

"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Mr. Diggory roared, waving the wand in front of Winky.

"That's Bertha's wand," Crouch suddenly said. Seeing everyone looking at him, he explained, "Bertha left her magic in the box while watching the game. When the chaos happened, I told her to go back to the stadium to wait."

The wizards of the Ministry of Magic fell silent; it was perfectly normal for Bertha Jokins to lose her wand.

Arthur nodded thoughtfully. "Bertha was indeed sitting with the House-elf at the time."

"So..." Diggory's gaze then fell on Winky, who was curled up at his feet, and his eyes turned cold. "Little imp, you were the one who found this wand, weren't you?"

"I didn't use it to do magic, sir!" Winky shrieked, tears streaming down her flattened, bulbous nose. "I...I...I just picked it up, sir! I didn't conjure the Dark Mark, sir, I don't know how!"

Hermione's sobbing, almost to the point of fainting, was heartbreaking to watch. Loren held Hermione's hand and felt the girl gripping it tighter and tighter, a slight, sharp pain shooting through his mind.

He looked up at the Dark Mark still hanging in the sky. A huge python was wriggling in and out of the skull's eye sockets and mouth holes. The pale green light shone down, making everyone's faces look green.

He seemed to see a venomous snake devouring a corpse:

On the desolate wasteland, cold corpses lay strewn about, their pale skin gradually losing its warmth. A venomous snake twisted its body and crawled out of the grass, gnawing at the still-unrotted carcass. Its fangs tore through the skin and muscle, and its head pressed against the wound, slowly sucking the blood...

Looking back, the fire in the camp had stopped spreading, but the areas that had been set ablaze were still churning with flames. Another group of wizards from the Ministry of Magic, led by Fudge, were carrying the petrified Veela and wizards.

The interrogation of the House-elf Winky was not yet over.

Diggory, from the Magical Creature Management and Control Department at the Ministry of Magic, exudes authority when dealing with House-elf:

"You picked it up thinking you could have some fun with it, didn't you?"

The sight of Winky crying reminded Harry of Dobby. After a brief silence, Harry spoke up to defend himself, "It wasn't her. That voice definitely wasn't that of an House-elf."

Ron immediately chimed in, "Yes, that's a human voice."

Diggory seemed unconcerned about the two young wizards' testimonies. He gave Crouch a deep look. "Well, there's an easy way to find out the last spell cast on the wand..."

He pointed his wand at Bertha Jokins ' wand and chanted, "[Prior Incantato]".

The surrounding wizards gasped in shock. A terrifying skeleton with a forked tongue emerged from where the two wands met. It seemed to be made of thick gray smoke, less distinct than the Dark Mark on its head.

Dispersing the gray smoke, Diggory wore a cruel, smug expression as he looked at Winky at his feet. "What do you mean? You've been caught red-handed, you little imp!"

"It wasn't me!" Winky cried out, her whole body trembling violently, her eyes darting around in terror. "It wasn't me, it wasn't me, I don't know how! I'm a good elf, I didn't touch the wand, I don't know how!"

"Amos ..." Arthur patted him on the shoulder, "Think about it... There are only a handful of wizards who can cast that spell... Where did she learn it from?"

"Perhaps Diggory is implying," Crouch's every syllable dripping with icy rage, "That I regularly teach my servants to apply the Dark Mark?"

Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere suddenly became oppressive.

"Mr. Crouch ...no...absolutely not..."

"I believe you recall that throughout my long career, there has been much evidence that I have consistently abhorred and hated Dark Arts, and all those who wield it, haven't you?"

"Mr. Crouch, I, I never implied that you were involved in this!" Diggory stammered, as if terrified.

"..."

Loren felt he looked exactly like House-elf, except the judge was Barty Crouch, a big shot he couldn't afford to offend.