HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

Once the riot subsided, the other wizards gradually returned to the camp.

Ron and Ginny spotted Mr. Weasley in the distance and returned to the Weasley family tent.

After a while, West returned, carrying a house-elf in his hand.

"Blink?" Harry asked in surprise. "What happened to her?"

Shining was tossed aside by West, tears streaming down her face from her large eyes, her body trembling slightly.

West didn't answer Harry's question. Looking at Harry, he asked in a deep voice, "Harry Potter, where's your wand?"

Harry was startled and hurriedly reached into his pajama pocket, only to find it empty. "Uh—could I have left it in the tent?" He stood up, intending to go out and look for his lost wand.

"No need to look anymore," West said, his face darkening as he held out his hand. Harry's wand lay in his palm. "Do you know that someone used your wand to fire the Dark Mark?"

Harry's eyes widened. "How is this possible? Who stole my wand?"

West glanced at Sparkle, who was still crying. "Then you'll have to ask her."

Hermione, who was comforting the poor house-elf, looked up at the question and asked, "What does this have to do with Sparkle?"

"The wand is in her hand. Barty Crouch doesn't believe she fired the Dark Mark, but she disobeyed orders and has been fired by Crouch."

West said, walking over to Snape, taking his hand, and frowning, "Why is it so cold?"

West cast a warming spell inside the tent, wrapping Snape's hands in his palms.

"Sparkle? You stole my wand?! In the box, didn't you?" Harry demanded.

"It wasn't Sparkle who did it!" Sparkle screamed, her cries growing even louder. "Sparkle didn't steal the wand! Sparkle doesn't know anything!"

West recounted what had happened.

Hermione was furious upon hearing this. "Crouch has gone too far! Blink has a fear of heights! It's only natural for her to run away!"

She turned back to comfort Sparkle, "Don't be sad, Sparkle, you made the right decision to leave the Crouch family."

"Oh, Hermione, if you can't speak properly, then don't speak at all." Draco shook his head helplessly.

Sure enough, upon hearing Hermione's words, Gilgamesh cried even more heartbreakingly. Hermione, at a loss for what to do, tried to comfort her.

"I injured a few Death Eaters," West told Snape. "They were torturing a Muggle family." He wasn't entirely telling the truth; the Death Eaters he had enchanted with dark magic were more than just "injured."

"Mr. West, the righteous one," Snape said sarcastically, but there was no hint of disapproval in his tone.

"If it wasn't Sparky, then who stole my wand?" Harry asked, puzzled.

West looked at Gilgamesh, his face impatient. "Stop crying. No matter how much you cry, you're not going back to Crouch's house. Tell me, who planted the Dark Mark?"

Startled by West, Shining's sobs subsided, and she weakly said, "Shining doesn't know..."

"You couldn't possibly not know," West interrupted her cruelly, continuing on his own, "It was Barty Crouch Jr. who did it, wasn't it?"

Snape frowned. "Barty Crouch Jr., wasn't he already dead in Azkaban?"

Shanshan paused, her eyes darting around, nervously clenching her fists. "No, it wasn't the little master who did it..."

West made a casual bluff, and it actually worked, which made him laugh.

"I suspect Barty Crouch Jr. isn't dead, is he? How did Barty Crouch Sr. manage to rescue him? By faking his death?"

Flash let out a loud sob, and then Apparated and vanished instantly.

"What exactly happened tonight?" Draco stood up. "I need to go find my parents..."

"Just stay put, they'll come looking for you." West's words brought Draco back to his original spot.

Hermione, still shaken by the image of the green skull in the sky, thought, "Why have the Death Eaters suddenly started making moves? Just to disrupt the Quidditch World Cup?"

“Of course not, Hermione,” West said. “Don’t you think this is a great opportunity? To build momentum for Voldemort’s return and, at the same time, to test the Ministry’s attitude—a very successful attack, and the Ministry will definitely do everything in its power to downplay its impact.”

Hermione quickly realized what West meant, "Oh my god..."

Draco's face turned pale. "Are my parents in there too?"

He didn't even get a reply from West. He covered his head, sobbing slightly, "No wonder they wanted me to go with Harry..."

Harry was completely confused, but he didn't forget to comfort Draco, hugging him tightly, "It'll be alright."

After a while, the Malfoys arrived, looking exhausted.

"Mom! Dad!" Draco broke free from Harry's arms and rushed to his parents' side.

Narcissa hugged Draco and kissed his white forehead.

Lucius sighed, "Thank you for taking care of Draco for us. Tonight has been a complete mess."

The Malfoys stayed for a while and then left.

"Hermione, you're coming back to the manor with us tonight," West said.

Hermione still looked a little uneasy, but nodded immediately upon hearing this.

Back at Somerset Manor, Harry took Hermione to her room.

West's exhaustion was almost impossible to hide; after all, he hadn't slept all night.

"You should go and rest," Snape said.

"Hmm..." West leaned on Snape's shoulder, taking advantage of his sleepiness. Snape stiffened and, as expected, did not push him away.

"Severus, I'm scared...you sleep with me..." West whispered.

"Don't you want to look at what you're saying?" Snape asked, with a look that said, "You're really delusional."

"Okay, goodnight, Siever."

Snape nodded and felt a passionate kiss on the side of his neck.

This really angered the giant bat, who shoved West away with an incredulous look on his face.

West stood firmly, his face no longer showing any signs of sleepiness, a smirk playing on his lips, and quickly made his escape.

"Vest!"

Snape was genuinely angry and ignored West for the next two days, ignoring West's tantrums and outbursts until West swore he would never do it again.

Hermione had been holed up in Somerset's library for the past couple of days, and now, having finally managed to come out for breakfast, she was indignantly complaining to Harry: "The house-elves have been abused for so long! I can't believe it!..."

Harry didn't approve of mistreating house-elves, but when it came to freeing them, he still shook his head. "Hermione, they don't want to be freed. Look at Brilliant, how much she's suffering now."

"But Dobby yearns for freedom!"

Dobby is special.

"They should at least be paid, right?!" Hermione said, grabbing Amy. "Amy, do you get paid?"

Amy blinked her big eyes. "Amy gets ten Galleons a week."

Hermione and Harry gasped.

“However,” Amy added, “many house-elves don’t get paid, and Amy is just one of the very few. But, Miss Hermione, even if you offered them a salary, they wouldn’t accept it.”

Hermione was puzzled. "Why is that?!"

"I've made up my mind, I'm going to start SPEW! Harry, you'll be my first member!" Hermione slammed her hand on the table.

Harry nearly choked on the pumpkin juice. "Spew? What's that?"

"Idiot! Of course it's the House-Elf Welfare Promotion Association! So, how about it, do you want to be the vice president?"

"...Um...not really..."

"Then it's decided."

"Um?!"