Cho Chang sneaked around a dusty pillar in the front hall of Hogwarts
School of witchcraft and wizardry. It was after hours. She was not supposed
to be out of her room at 12:37 in the morning. But she had an important
mission to accomplish, and she would go to whatever lengths necessary to
fulfill that task. She sneaked around another corner. She could see the
front door now. Cho stopped as she noticed something strange. There were
guards guarding the front door. What are they doing here? Cho thought to
herself. Her answer was soon revealed. The door was suddenly blown off with
a great, fiery explosion. Cho sneaked back into a small closet, but kept it
open a crack so she could see who had come through the door. She
frightfully looked as a tall, dark man with a black cape strode into the
Hogwarts hallway. "Kill them," he said in an evil voice. At that moment,
Dementors rushed into the room. They sucked out the souls of every last one
of the guards before they and a chance to pull out their wands. The man
walked towards the closet that Cho was hiding in. She quickly rushed to the
back of the closet and hid behind a few brooms. The dark stranger opened
the door and looked inside the closet. He was so close to Cho that she
could smell his rancid breath. She knew only one person with that breath -
Professor Snape, her former potion teacher. When Dumbledore had suspected
Snape's involvement with Voldemort, he had immediately fired him. As it
turned out, Snape had turned into a powerful dark wizard. He didn't notice
Cho in the brooms and left without a word. He walked down the right
passageway towards Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster's office. Cho
let out a huge sigh. She wondered if it was safe to go out yet. She had to
accomplish her mission. She looked out the door crack and saw two girls
walking down the hallway. Cho gasped. It was Hermione Granger and Ginny
Weasley. The two had become good friends in the last couple of years.
Hermione looked out for Ginny whenever Ron would tease her. She would
usually just cast a spell that would send Ron on the roof and make him late
for class. The two were walking down the Hogwarts hallway so late because
Ginny's owl had just broken its foot. They were taking it to Hagrid to care
for it for a few days. As the two walked down the hallway, Cho got an idea.
She quickly grabbed Hermione's cloak and dragged her into the closet. Snape
turned around. He saw nothing and continued to Dumbledore's office. "Cho?
What are you doing up this late?" asked Hermione. "Ginny and I were just
going to see if Hagrid could mend her owl's foot." "I'll take her to
Hagrid," she quickly said, "but I need you to do something for me first."
She took a letter out of her pocket and handed it to Hermione. "I need you
to get this letter to Dumbledore." she said. "It's very urgent." Ginny
looked confused. "All right," she said. "We'll be sure to take it to him."
Cho grabbed Hermione and Ginny's robes. "Please," she begged. "I need you
to deliver this letter to Dumbledore, or people could be killed. Go, now!"
The girls ran out of the closet and to the front lawn. They eyed the door
curiously. "Someone is going to be in big trouble in the morning," Ginny
said. "Why are we out here, anyway?" she asked. "Dumbledore's office is
inside the building." "Dumbledore is with Harry, remember? He had to go to
Harry's aunt and uncles to convince them to let Harry attend Hogwarts this
year." explained Hermione. "We have to send him an - " She stamped her foot
and sighed. "We can't send Dumbledore an owl! Your owl's leg is broken. And
by the look of that door, I'm not sure it's safe to go inside." Ginny began
to look worried. "Cho said that we had to deliver the letter! It is life or
death!" she said loudly. "Don't worry, we'll find a way." Hermione paced
the ground, thinking of a way to get to Privet Drive. " We could fly on our
broomsticks- no, too far. We could use a spell - maybe; Wait! Remember your
father's car that Ron crashed - " "Yes, yes yes." Ginny knew all too well
about that and how mad her father had gotten. "Well, what about it?"
Hermione's face lit up with excitement. "They took it out of the tree and
made it look like new again! They are returning it to your father soon.
It's right over here, in this shed, keys and all!" The girls ran across the
lawn to the small shed where Mr. Weasley's car sat. The door to the shed
was thankfully unlocked. As they opened the door, the smell of fresh paint
entered their nostrils. The car looked good as new. Maybe better than new.
It had a fresh coat of shiny blue paint. There were no scratches or dents
in it. It had taken Professor Dumbledore only a few moments to fix the
car, Ron and Harry a few minutes to completely lose the car, and three
years for the tree to finally lossen its hold on the car. "Wow!" said
Ginny. "My father is going to be so happy!" "Yeah," said Hermione. "We
won't crash it when we drive. Us girls are more careful than those silly
boys." Ginny gave Hermione a stern look. "NO," she said angrily. "I don't
want my father to get mad at me like he was at Ron." Hermione rolled her
eyes. "Come on, we won't scratch it," Ginny siged. "Could we at least read
the letter first?" she asked. "For all we know, Cho could just be telling
him that she doesn't want to be his girlfriend." Ginny was secretly hoping
that was the case. Hermione frowned at Ginny. "I'm sure it's more important
than that," she said. She raised her eybrow. "Didn't Cho say the letter was
for Dumbledore?" she smirked. "Ginny blushed. "But, I'll read it, and see
if it is worth the trip." Hermione opened the letter, making sure not to
tear the envelope. She knew Professor Dumbledore wouldn't want her reading
his mail. She unfolded the letter and started to read. She scanned the
letter cautiously. The further she read the letter, the bigger her eyes
got.
