It was almost half-past midnight, and Cho Chang was devastated. She didn't really know what was going on around her, and didn't really care. As she sat behind a tree on the far side of the Hogwarts Lake, tears streamed from her almond-shaped eyes. Oh, God, she thought, what have I done? But as she sat, swimming in her own thoughts, a bright flash of ruby and emerald-colored sparks flew into the air above her. Three figures ran toward her tree, the only place she thought she'd be alone. As the figures approached, she realized she knew two of them- her fellow sixth year, Draco Malfoy, and her potions teacher, Professor Snape. The third man (if that was what he was) had a snake-like appearance about him, and she hadn't seen him before. The three tumbled into the nearby bushes before whipping out their wands.
"Who is that? Why is she here?" said the snake man, pointing at her with his wand. "What is she doing? Does she know? Is she with them?" Snape answered first.
"My lord, she's just a student from the school. She's only sixteen. We should let her go back to th-"
"Never mind the castle! She has seen too much; she's coming with us!" the man snapped back.
"What? Know what about who? Just let me go back to the castle, I swear I won't say anything," Cho said nervously. She had known Malfoy and Professor Snape since, well, year one. She also knew they weren't taking her out for ice cream.
Hours later, Cho woke up in a rather comfortable bed. Whoa, she wondered, where am I? Then it all came back: the battle at Hogwarts, Snape, Malfoy, and that other guy, the lack of ice cream, and her break-up with Harry. Oh yeah. THAT. Now, while she was sitting in this perfectly comfortable bed in this room, which looked very very old, judging by the state of the peeling wallpaper and the musty smell, someone entered the room. A familiar-looking blonde woman, who was extremely thin and pale, came in and began to speak.
"The Dark Lord and your, er, professor would like to have a word with you. Now. Downstairs," the woman said. Draco walked into the room as well.
"Come on, Mother, let's get her out of here," he snapped at the blonde woman in his drawling tone. He turned on his heel and left the room. Cho nearly fell out of the bed to catch him.
"Hey, Draco!" Cho grabbed his arm and forced him to face her. "I know we're not exactly the best of friends, but you mind telling me where we are?"
"I do mind, actually. So leave me alone."
"But-" Draco came to an abrupt halt and opened the door in front of him.
"Go in. You can still walk, can't you?"
"Yeah, but please tell me where the hell-" Draco pushed Cho into the room so forcefully she fell on her way in. She stood up as quickly as she could and walked in as slowly as possible. There were three people in the room besides herself and Malfoy, who was standing at the door- Snape, the snake-faced man, and another man whom was also new to her. The snake-faced man was sitting in a winged armchair in front of the fireplace. He turned to the third man and spoke in a harsh voice.
"Close the door, Wormtail. We don't want anyone overhearing us, do we?"
"Of course, master." He shuffled over to the door, gestured to Malfoy to move. The dry click of the lock came two seconds later.
"Where'd he go? He's not staying? Really, I mean, why can't he just be here for this little whatever-this-is powwow we're having? Seriously," Cho rambled on.
"Stop talking." The snake man spoke in a cold, strangely high-pitched voice. "We will talk, you will answer our questions. Clear?" Cho didn't answer him verbally but nodded her head, now too terrified to speak. She was, however, hit very suddenly by a wave of cold air from the door that had just banged open. She spun around to face the room's most recent entrant and let out a small gasp.
"Harry!" Her boyfriend—no, her newly-ex-boyfriend—who had just burst into the room, was the last person she expected to be, well, wherever this place was. All in the space of about three seconds, Cho went from feeling terribly scared to being more relieved than she ever had been in all her sixteen years on earth. Harry shot her a glance before raising his wand.
"Expelliarm-" he began to say, but the Dark Lord beat him to the punch with a wandless spell. Harry fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Cho didn't dare move, but she did muster up enough courage to speak.
"You haven't killed him, have you?" she said in a feeble voice. Scared beyond belief, she felt like a volcano was beginning to erupt in her stomach.
"No, we wouldn't do that to you just yet," Snape said with a malicious grin. "Malfoy will show you back upstairs." Snape flicked his wand and muttered a counter-curse to the full-body bind that Malfoy was in. He stood up, rather wobbly, but all the same started tromping back up the stairs. Cho followed obediently, wishing on her lucky stars that Harry would be okay.
Snape and Wormtail were putting the finishing touches on a batch of Polyjuice potion when the Dark Lord beckoned for them upstairs.
"When the potion is done, I want you to get a strand or two of that idiot boy's hair before he wakes up," Voldemort commanded. "I need to get answers out of the girl, and she won't talk to just anyone." He smiled to himself, knowing his plan was foolproof. He'd get answers, alright. To just about any question he wanted.
The next several hours Cho spent staring blankly at the wall opposite her bed, once again alone with her thoughts, still hoping that her boyfriend—no, wait, EX boyfriend (why did she keep doing that?)—was still in one piece. Harry was honestly the only thing she cared about at the moment. If only I knew he were- She was interrupted mid-thought by a soft knock on her door.
"Yeah?" she called out. The doorknob turned, and none other than Harry Potter himself entered the room. She was taken quite a bit by surprise. "Oh, God, Harry, I thought you might be dead!" She practically leapt off the bed and threw her arms around Harry's neck.
"Yeah, Cho, I'm fine, you needn't have worried about me. I was just concerned for your safety," he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder. "But we have to get you out of here, before something really bad happens." Cho loosed her grip around Harry.
"Like what? I've been dating you for the past year and a half. I'm kind of used to 'bad things' happening when you're around. I really am just glad you're okay." Cho leaned in and kissed Harry softly on the mouth. Something about him didn't feel quite right. Nah, thought Cho. You're just imagining it. They stood in the middle of the room, still in their hug position as Harry slowly pushed her toward the small bed that she had sat on before. As their kissing got deeper, Cho opened her eyes for a fraction of a second. Her eyes focused on Harry's forehead, but they were soon on top of the bed, as Harry reached and pulled up her skirt…
They lay on the bed, as tiny as it was, and Cho realized what had just happened. She briefly went over everything, suddenly realizing her mistake. She thought of the only moment her eyes had opened as they kissed, and realized how wrong something was. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked into the dark at Harry's forehead. There was no scar. Oh my God, she thought. What happened to his scar? Cho let out a small gasp as she realized what she had seen. The moment she let out the noise, Harry got up and grabbed his pants that lay in a pile on the floor. He did it without any words and ran out of the room, leaving Cho on the bed alone. As he pulled the door closed behind him, she noticed the tips of his fingers turning icy white on the handle. Tears began streaming down her face as the lock on the door clicked close. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Cho thought, Oh, God...what have I done
Top of Form
Bottom of Form