Chaser 2 of the Appleby Arrows - uflesh940
QLCF Season 9 Round 6
Prompt: Explore a certain pairing, romantic or not. (Cho Chang x Lord Voldemort)
3. [emotion] Surprise
6. [object] Glowstick
15. [emotion] Guilt
Title: In My Way
AN: Note how Voldemort's name changes over the course of the fic.
Cho stood in the stands, patiently waiting for the end of the third task. The second and third tasks were both very well designed: all the main action was hidden away.
The first task had been a disaster, everyone saw the champions struggling to survive against a set of dragons. Who wanted to see that? It was terrible! The second and third tasks were infinitely better. Simply define the starting conditions, add in the champions, and enjoy socializing for an hour. Later, the champions would emerge, one by one. Input, time, output. Exactly how the wizarding world liked it. Nice and simple, set things up and wait for the results.
What she was not prepared for, however, was when Harry Potter emerged at the end of the third task, holding Cedric's dead body. The entire stadium was thrown into a panic. She stared as one Harry Potter, looking rather ill prepared for the situation, handed Cedric off to some ministry officials.
She kept staring at Cedric's still, unmoving body. It was like a magnet, she couldn't look away.
Suddenly, Cedric's father, Amos Diggory rushed onto the scene, grabbing at Cedric's unmoving body, desperately feeling him for a pulse. Amos' rather large body got in the way of her view of Cedric, and she never saw his body again. Amos… Cho clenched her fist. He had been in her way.
A couple of days later, while her parents were off on business, she walked over to the fireplace, threw in some green powder, and stated "Diggory residence". In a flash of green flames, she was in Cedric's house. She wasn't sure why. Maybe she wanted some closure. Maybe she wanted something else entirely. She didn't know. She walked down the corridor, towards Cedric's room.
Upon reaching the door, she paused, but pushed it open. The room wasn't empty. Amos Diggory, surrounded by empty bottles of fire whisky, lay hunched over a pile of Cedric's mementos. Cho took a closer look, vaguely disgusted with the man. She then noticed something else. Amos had thrown up over Cedric's things.
Cho kicked him. Amos' body was barely moved. She kicked him again, with more force. Amos rolled off Cedric's things, dousing his shirt in vomit. Cho stomped on his chest, earning a pained groan, so she stomped on his chest again. Her foot impacted various spots on Amos' body, breaking bones, bruising skin, and tearing clothes.
When she had finally calmed down enough to stop, Amos was dead. She stared. What had she done! She had killed Cedric's father! She felt tears pricking her eyes.
"Surprising," said a voice. "I didn't expect someone else to get to him first."
Cho whirled around, and came face to face with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
"So what are you going to do now?" he asked.
Cho didn't quite know the answer to that either.
"Now that you've put everything back into a natural looking position, and removed the blood, you'll have to dispose of the body," You-Know-Who was saying. "The general procedure for situations like this to toss the body into the fireplace, and start a Floo connection to general waste disposal. General waste disposal drops the item into nothing, which is to say, everything, and many people use it to dispose of unwanted objects. It should be suitable for our purposes."
Cho nodded numbly, and began hoisting Mr. Diggory's body into the fireplace. "General waste disposal," she intoned, and the body was drawn up into the Floo network, never to be seen again.
"Very good," said You-Know-Who. "At this stage, I would usually send up a Dark Mark, but that would be a bit premature, given the current position of the Ministry. However, I think you've definitely done enough to warrant this." He pulled out his wand, and tapped Cho's forearm. A magical tattoo, the Dark Mark, uncoiled itself on her skin.
You-Know-Who laughed. "I'll have to prepare you more at a later time. Stand by for my summons." He disappeared.
When Cho had been summoned, she had expected a gruesome initiation. Perhaps an attack on a muggle settlement. Definitely not this.
The Dark Lord, disguised by a couple of glamours, continued talking. "-which is why I generally start out a fight with a killing curse. People can either defend against them, or they can't, and if they can't, you don't have to waste any additional time, and if they can, you get an early warning that you're facing a dangerous opponent."
"Were you planning on using it to kill Amos?" asked Cho.
The Dark Lord nodded. "The Killing Curse is a remarkably effective tool for killing. I hardly need any other curses, especially with the likes of Diggory. Did you see how the man looked after the task? He would've built himself back up, with the sole goal of avenging his son. He was in my way."
Cho nodded. And somehow, she understood.
"And you also used the Killing Curse on Cedric?"
"That was all Pettigrew," said the Dark Lord, "though he did so on my orders."
"Peter Pettigrew?" asked Cho. "Wasn't he dead?"
The Dark Lord stared for a second, and then broke out laughing. "That's actually a very long and interesting story. You see…"
Cho clambered out of the water beside Voldemort, shivering, before casting a quick drying charm on herself, after seeing Voldemort do it a couple of seconds earlier. Together, they walked into a dark cave. "Lumos," muttered Cho.
"You'll need a free wand," said Voldemort, and handed her a thick glass tube filled with some green glowing fluid.
Cho took the glow stick, and muttered "Nox", before putting her wand away, as Voldemort took out his own glow stick. Both of their sticks illuminated the smooth cave wall.
"Cho, it's time I tell you about Horcruxes," said Voldemort.
"I did it," said Cho, "I made my own Horcrux."
Voldemort gave a proud smile. "Excellent. Who was it?"
Cho beamed. "I killed Potter for you!"
Voldemort's expression twisted into utter fury. "Potter was supposed to be mine to kill!"
Cho's face fell.
"Crucio!"
Cho dropped to the ground, screaming in agony. Voldemort lowered his wand a couple of seconds later, when a glow stick rolled out of her pocket.
"You still have that?"
"It's my Horcrux," sobbed Cho.
Voldemort stared, guilt settling in his gut. He knelt down, wrapped his arms around Cho, and lifted her into an embrace. Cho quietly sobbed into his shoulder, and hugged him back.
A couple hours later, Dumbledore's death was being mourned in wizarding Britain, and Voldemort had gained another Horcrux, this one being identical to Cho's.