✧AFTER PARTY✧

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***

The game had been nearly three hours, and the Lestrange children were on the edge of their seats and cheering for just as long. It was a pleasant surprise to see them just as excited minutes following their attempt to leaving the stadium.

It was rather nerve-wracking to make sure they were all accounted for, especially when Aurora herself had to hold onto Rabastan after being shoved twice before.

Thankfully he hadn't noticed. Otherwise there would've been a massive outbreak on their hands. As if Rabastan had ever outgrown his need for protecting her over a simple mistake.

Aurora hadn't even thought of the tournament if the twins hadn't asked for their OWLS gift, but now she was undeniable happy that they had gone. Even with the promise of a glass of wine back at the tent was just another addition to an already wonderful evening. While the children enjoy their time in front of the fireplace with a fresh cup of tea or butterbeer to start winding down.

"Get undressed love and relax, I'll be right back with the bottle and glasses." She hummed as her eyes fluttered, wondering how she would stay awake for more than a few sips.

But Rabastan had taken his time, and she was highly tempted to close her eyes as she lied down for the few minutes in waiting for her husband.

The rest of the Lestrange siblings had been relaying each and every play, or the fact that the Weasley twins had beaten the probabilities and won the bet.

"Don't think Bagman is all that loyal to a bet, even if they shook on it," Romulus mentioned, and Cara hummed as she knew it had been a bad idea from the very beginning while Imara had felt rather bad that Fred and George had been ripped off.

"Father! I think Mister Malfoy is waiting for you outside!" Ronan called out and Rabastan had hurried forward with a bit of wine on his lips. "Shite—I suppose he wanted a drink afterward...Are you all going to stay here?" Romulus hadn't decided whether or not he wanted to join the crowd in the pub, but the excitement throughout the grounds had yet to expire and thus the siblings had followed their father.

But not until Romulus had left a note to his sleeping mother, apparently a glass of wine had been all she could handle.

"Alright, I left something for her to read if she freaks out the tent's empty. Let's get some butterbeer!" He cheered and the rest of his siblings followed him in pursuit of an after-party. Granted the area was still jammed packed, the Irish were still roaring with excitement hours after the game had been called.

Lori, who was still gushing about the way Krum had caught the snitch, had changed her entire direction on being keeper the following year and would try out for seeker.

"Er, Malfoy is seeker." Ronan reminded and she just shrugged her shoulder. "And from last season he didn't give much to the team. Potter was flying circles around him even Cara who's played more Chaser managed better!" It was true, Cara had switched between either position for the rest of the season.

And she was still deciding which one she would stick to in the following years.

Songs had broken out, and those in the tent had drunkenly tried to follow the lyrics until a glass-shattering scream had caused the song to stumble. "Irish are a reckless bunch, what do you suppose happened?" Ronan nudged Romulus, but the eldest was already looking off at the commotion.

"Rommy?" Lori whispered up to her brother and the brother still couldn't tear away from the sound of panicked shouting and thunderous footsteps started to take the grounds by storm.

"I...I don't think it's the Irish. Where's father?" The Lestrange siblings had looked this way and that, only for Cara to become lightened and nauseous—The pit in her stomach had felt as though it burst from what had been bubbling up the entire day.

"Can't see him anywhere, I thought he was at the bar—"
"Fire! Fire's spreading! Everyone needs to evacuate!" Romulus didn't hesitate to grab Lorelei's hand and lead his siblings to where the Auror's were directing them to a safe area. Only this one was just as crowded regardless, and the group began to gasp at the intake of smoke.

"What the hell is going on?!" Imara called out, and Romulus was digesting the scene once again. Until he gasped and swirled his head back around. "Mum's back at the tent." He dwelled and Ronan shook his head.

"I'm sure that's where father headed, mum will be fin—"
"I'm not taking that chance, she's sleeping already!... You see the edge of the forest, Imara, I need you to bring everyone with you that way. I'll meet you there with mother. Screw the age rule, use your wands if you need to. Keep your wits about you!" He shouted over the commotion, and Ronan had attempted to get a hold of him. But the damn bloke slipped away in the crowd with Cara in pursuit.

"CARA!...Damnit!" Imara cursed, taking her wand out right alongside Ronan as the two weaved their way through the dozens of families trying to escape the unknown threat. Both Ronan and Imara had done well in keeping the fire from spreading by summoning water on either side, but the smoke was stuck in their throat, regardless of their efforts.

"We—We have to find—Father!" Ronan coughed, and Imara pulled her sleeve in front of her mouth right alongside her siblings to cough. "They'll find us later, or we'll send a patronus when we're in the clear. Come!" They continued, meeting another Auror who didn't hesitate to allow them entry into the field. And Imara had nearly cried tears of joy in seeing Fred with his twin and Ginny.

"Imara!" He called out, soot over the majority of his face and clothes. Yet the two tackled one another and the Weasley family had united with the Lestranges.

"Where's mum...?" The youngest of the group called out, starting to dry heave at the possibilities that lied with those not with them. Ronan had wrapped his arms tightly around his youngest sister as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"They'll be alright, bet father's with them right now," Ronan whispered, but the all too knowing eyes between Imara and him spoke that they had no idea just where their father had gone. And the shouts of terror only worsened it all.

It was difficult for Romulus to make sense of any direction now that people were darting left and right, nor did it make anything better with the smoke rising—Or that the tents were now piles of ashes on the ground.

Many of the Quidditch flags were burning at the crisp and urging the fire to continue, worse of all, those with tortures were most likely the cause—And he did his best to stay dutifully away from them.
Yet his sudden stop in pace had caused someone to crash into his backside.

"Oi, watch where your—Cara?! What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" He yelled to ensure that she heard him, but with another tent giving way and its embers flashing towards them, Romulus had no choice but to grip onto Cara's hand off to their tent.

"Shite!" He shouted, throwing all the spells and charms he could to stop the fire—And yet upon entering inside, it had been unmistakable worse. Aurora's coughing filled the area and Romulus and Cara shouted as best they could.

Aurora, who had been awoken by the fallen beam in their room had managed just far enough—But had inhaled far too much smoke into her lungs to walk out cleanly, not to mention the burns on her shoulder that weren't aiding her escape.

Through the thickened and her blurred vision, she had caught sight of someone and smiled in relief. "Raba—Romulus!" She yelled, only managing to cough further into her hand. In dashing the area with water, he pulled her arm up and over his shoulder to aid her out while Cara was not the one to clear a path from the harmful chemicals.

"W-where's—"

"Everyone's at the edge of the forest mum, they're fine." He deemed, yet having to watch for both his mother and Cara had been too much, especially when he had to focus his strength on keeping her up and moving.

"Cara!...CARA!" He had turned back for a moment and she was gone, and Aurora had clutched her red hand to her chest and screamed as loud as she could—Her daughter was gone and lost in the crowd.

*

 The task of leading his mother to safety was now ten times harder, as she had the brilliant courage and mindset to go and look for her. "Mum, I will come back this way once I get you with the others, please...We'll send a patronus." Aurora did not want it to come to that, not when she caught sight of just how damaging everything had turned in the time span of one hour.

She limped her way forward, and eagerly joined in with her children—Just where Romulus had pointed them off too, and even if the pain in her side was aching, she didn't deny the tackling hug Lorelei had given her.

Not when she thought all was lost, yet even now she was still waiting for Cara to return back. Romulus had ducked out with a quick whisper to Imara, who tried to yank him back by the arm of his cloak—Yet he'd managed to go without an issue.

"Cara!" He shouted with every fifth step, hoping that there would be some hint to his sister being close. He could've sworn this was the way they'd come, but there would be no point in continuing to move if she too was moving.

He recalled just how torn and devastated his mother had looked, but this was his sister for goodness sakes. This was his— "ROMULUS!" A voice called out, and his head swirled around in the direction he thought he heard her.

But it was the wrong one.

Cara honestly didn't know where she was, and even returning back the way she'd come had proven awful. Her legs were scraped and red with blisters from getting knocked into a burn tarp.

"Harry!" The voice of witch had caused Cara to twitch her head in the opposite direction, and lock onto her friend. It was difficult when her limbs were fighting to rest, but she prevailed regardless.

"Harry!" Cara shouted, and the bloke had turned around. "Cara—What the hell—"

"We've got to get to the trees, it's where everyone—" He pulled her away from the crowd but this ultimately pushed them both into the stampede. And Cara had taken one hit to the floor and saw black.

And Harry was much the same, though his body angled over Cara's to ensure that she wouldn't get stepped on any more than he was.

Romulus staggered this way and that, but as the crowd died down and he was left with nothing more than the ashes and remnants of the tournament, he nearly collapsed in resting his feet. He couldn't even identify which division of tents this was anymore, nor could he easily return back to his family.

The only damnation he thought of is how this could all turn so horribly wrong so damn quickly. Just a distance away, he heard a bit of commotion and decided to buck up the courage and ask for directions, but as he caught the bloke kicking and wrecking the already damaged area. Romulus remained in the shadows.

The darkened man had pulled his wand and aimed it high into the air, casting a spell that the Lestrange son was ignorant in knowing. But to his defense, it wasn't in any textbooks, and nor would it be.

As the sudden appearance of a lightened skull had appeared, leaving Romulus to stare in wonder as to what it could possibly mean.

Until the final detail solidified it. The snake erupting out of the tongue had caused him to take the cautious steps back and trip to the ground.
No. Gods no.

Aurora had been speaking heavily with a dozen of Aurors who were waiting on a final decision on getting everyone out of harm's way.

"Roe, what's that in the sky? That there, with the snake?" Lori asked with a point of her finger, and Aurora had looked off to her daughter and nearly laughed—But another type of laugh had fallen out of her mouth, one that was mixed with sobs and disbelief.

That the possibility of a new aged promise had finally made its way back into their lives, that her children's safety was on the line because of their foolish mistakes.

Aurora had moved away from the Auror and stepped forward, looking at the Dark Mark as though it had been an unwarranted enemy instead of the old friend her husband was surely worshiping it as.

The children had been at risk once before, and once again in this very night. Aurora wouldn't allow for it to happen again.

She couldn't, not for her sake or theirs.

"Mum, what is that?" Lori questioned once Ronan couldn't provide an answer. "My worst nightmare, darling." She said, but didn't bring herself to look back on her children, not when she was scared beyond belief.

Not to mention that Romulus hasn't returned with Cara.

Romulus eyes continued to trail the snake's head as it looked around and shinef brightly into the air, and about a dozen paces away, Harry had finally gained consciousness and moved to start shaking Cara awake.

"Cara...Cara. We have to go." She coughed up a fair amount of soot and leaned onto an arm, bracing herself from the pain as she no doubly cracked her bad wrist.

Not to mention the awful scrapes that plagued her face. Together, both she and Harry managed to limp away. "We have to find my mum and siblings, they were in the pub and we left—I followed after Rom to go back to the tent to find mum."
"We'll get to the forest line, there'll be others. Surely there must be—" The sudden shouting of Potter's name had caused either Lestrange child to peek up their attention.
"Granger! Weasley!" She shouted, and Romulus had ditched his first approach with his wand at the ready, he ducked and swerved underneath countless structures before finally catching sight of the group of fourth years.

"...We've been looking for you for ages...We thought we lost you mate." Ron spoke completely out of breath, and Romulus sighed in relief.
"Cara." He whispered, and the gal had ditched Harry's side and the two siblings tackled one another. "Don't do that again, don't you ever bloody do that again, do you understand me?" He reprimanded right beside her ear, desperate for her to understand.

She nodded, tears making clear streaks in her dirtied face. She grabbed his hand and hurried him over to the rest of the Gryffindors.

"What is that?!" Harry gasped, looking at the luring image up in the sky. But before Romulus could respond, Harry's scar had begun to burn. Suggesting just how awful and evil it truly was.

"Best if we get back to the others as soon as possible...I caught Fred and George with Imara and the rest of my family. We just have to find—" Romulus' voice hadn't managed to surprise the sudden reveal of Aurors had apparented at all angles of the group.

"Stupify!"
"DUCK!" Romulus ordered, grabbing hold of Cara as she struggled to move her body without immediate force. They had continued to fire off until a voice of reason had caused them to halt.

"That's my son!" Arther Weasley proclaimed as he hadn't a care in world that he nearly pushed the man off his feet.

"Ron, Harry, Hermione—Are you three alright?" As Ron attempted to answer his father, that they had returned back this way in search of Harry. Romulus held his sister close as another wand had been stuck in their face.

"Which of you conjured it?!" The obvious lack of morals or lawful placement had caused Crouch to swing his wand back and forth between the lot of them.

"Crouch, you can't possibly—"

"Do not lie! You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!" The old coot called, and Romulus glared off to the ministry employee worked. And rightfully so, his family had enough trouble last year with Black and Aurors that he certainly didn't need this on his record as well.

"Crime?" Harry questioned, and the group's attention had turned back up to the sky, yet the wand remained lethally in its place.

"Barty. They're just kids..." Arthur pleaded, but it went unheard of. But Harry had asked once more. "What crime?" The aggravation and pain in his voice were laced with a lack of patience, as well as confusion.

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry...It's his mark." Hermione whispered, and Cara had curled further into her brother's chest. Actual tears gushing at the thought.

"...Voldemort...Those people tonight—in the masks—they're his too, aren't they? His followers." Harry questioned and Arthur confirmed the name of 'Death Eaters', making the Lestrange children shiver right beside them.

"There was someone before. A man...There." Harry deemed, gesturing up to the mark in the sky and then off to where he'd had seen an unknown figure cast the spell to create such a mark.

However the dirty looks from the other Aurors had caused Crouch to look at either Cara or Romulus with the same amount of questions.

"Pretty bold assumption for underage wizards, wouldn't you say? Crouch?... I know my rights." The man scowled and hurried off with the other dozen or so under his command.

Arthur had nearly broken his grim frown in hearing the young Lestrange showcase his knowledge on being blamed for something so atrocious, but it had made all the more sense. His name for one was heavily categorized with those who followed the Dark Lord prior to his downfall.

Regardless, he had walked the group back to the tree lines to find their families and nodded to his sons and daughter when he returned. Yet seeing the stressful face of Mrs.Lestrange had assured him one thing.

She wasn't a part of the horror this evening.

"Thank you." She said, and the man couldn't amount to say anything more than a nod. The raw emotion that was shown on the mother's face was enough for a lifetime.

Aurora had taken the moment to kiss either of her children's cheeks and look for damages. Romulus hadn't suffered more than a bit of inhalation and scorched robes. Cara, on the other hand, still clutched her wrist tightly. And there wasn't anything her mother could do to stop her nervous shaking. Ultimately it had been George to offer her a seat on a nearby fallen log and offer the support of warming her up.

"It's alright, you know. Whatever it was is gone." He offered, but Cara had looked up to him just as confused and conflicted until a firm shake of her had left her just as stoic as before.

"No, it's going to get worse. Much worse." And the young Lestrange daughter hadn't spoken a moment too soon as Aurora had decided that they were going to head home. She hadn't a care if it was the muggle way or not, but the Ministry had started to provide portkeys and they were near first in line to receive one.

Lorelei was adamant about leaving without her father, but the rest of her siblings had given the small white lie of 'he will meet us soon.' Yet Romulus could see the internal struggle of their mother wanting to remain calm for them.

But it was getting harder with each passing hour in the hospital. Not only were the burns going to take a while to heal, but they were awfully painful to each of them.
Not to mention Cara's near concussion and fractured wrist.

While they weren't the worse off, Aurora couldn't stop pacing back and forth as she waited for each child to be looked over and cared for. Even if the healers had been begging for her to be check, Aurora would not give in until everyone was taken care of.

Romulus didn't doubt that his mother's burns were much worse, right beside her damaged lungs and everything else in between. It had been a blessing that their father hadn't returned, as Imara was sure that her twin wouldn't hold back this time.

Even with their mother resting in the guest bedroom with Lori and Cara, the others were suspicious and shared their theories.

"Wouldn't father have told mother his plan?... She was in the tent alone for goddess sakes!" Ronan claimed, and Romulus was simply thankful his brother hadn't fallen into the trap of believing the goodness of their father's words.

His actions, as of yet, were speaking much louder.

"Mother would've killed him before he had the chance." Imara offered and yet the eldest of them was still silent. He hasn't spoken since mother had gone to rest.
"I'm not sure mother still isn't thinking that...Shouldn't we tell uncle?" Romulus, for the first time, looked up from the crouched position of his hands incased in front of his face.

Yet he gestured to the hand mirror in his lap.

"Waiting for a callback, it's late there." Ronan nodded and the three were still highly alert, undoubtedly traumatized for enjoying themselves in the height of chaos.

"Mum can't have any tonics, not when she's still trying to heal her hand. Father's fucked, and that's putting it lightly." Imara had a thought, but was interrupted by another. They needed to talk to Regulus and soon, and what better way to accomplish that is to talk to Opa.

Who could go off and speak with Regulus right then and there.

The three still awake had hurried to Aurora's study and knocked at their Opa's frame, only to get the bloke stumbling forward to sit in his designated seat.

"This better be important, I still need rest. Regardless if you think it's necessary or not." Orion hissed down below, but softened once he caught their trouble faces.

"What is it? What's happened?"

"The tournament was attacked. We think father's behind it." Romulus explained in the easiest of contexts and Orion hadn't a clue on what to say in regards to that statement. He had been just as off-guard as they were. "Where is your moth—"

"Mum passed out not too long ago, she and Cara got the worst of it. We've got a few burns here and there, but Cara's got a hurt wrist that needed mending. And Lori's a nervous wreck." Ronan had taken the lead in explaining the injuries, but it still did nothing to regain Romulus' state of anger.

"And where is that bastard of a man you call a father?"

"He hasn't shown his face, probably for the better considering mother and Rom are on the verge of cursing him to the high heavens." Imara's voice held no trace of humor or a lie, so when the room had fallen into silence, Orion sighed in damnation.

"I will inform Regulus, but you children should know that this is only the beginning. What your father is planning, I'm worried he will drag Cassiopeia down with him this time. Your mother hardly escaped the backlash, let alone the Azkaban sentencing...Now this rests on your shoulders." He regrettably spoke, and Romulus' huffed off to the side.

"Fucking brilliant, it was supposed to be a family vacation, and then father just happens to decide to cause a bloody terrorist attack." He spat, and Imara attempted to reach out for him.
"Romulus—"

"No Imara, this was exactly what we were worried about our first year when we learned that he was a Death Eater. He made us believe that he was passed it, but that scar on his wrist never changes, does it? They killed muggles! The same muggles that offered the land for the damn tournament! What does that tell us?" The rant had hit factors that Ronan hadn't taken into consideration, his mind had only thought to those he knew rather those who were killed.

It was too early for it to be in the paper just yet, but the details were trickling in slowly. And neither three of them were able to sleep, not in the off chance their father returned home.
Even then they were wondering what course of action would be taken then, what would their mother do...?

And the grim face Orion had given them only spoke of his assumption of what Aurora would do when the time comes.

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Date Posted: 11/13/2021

Time: 11:27

Words: 4216

Sorry for the long chapter, but there was no good place to divide it. Besides, Rabastan is royally screwed. Hopefully he has a plan to fix things with his family 👀😭