This is the fifth part of my "Harry's and Cho's Christmas" –fic. I'll let it talk for itself!!! Read and review!!!
Cho tried not to look at the Gryffindor house table. She was sitting in the Great Hall, in the Rawenclaw table, having breakfast. She didn't feel hungry, though. She felt tired; she hadn't slept at all. The horror in the room of mirrors, and the faces of Cedric and Harry, had haunted her dreams, appearing as soon as she had shut her eyes. She felt so tired.
Cho glanced at the teachers' table. All of the teachers looked worried, except maybe for Professor Trelawney, who smiled happily, as through all of her dreams had come true. Professor Snape was talking to Professor McGonagall, and there was no trace of the usual rivalry in their faces. They looked like they were best friends, facing a deadly enemy, prepared to die for each other.
Cho tried not to look at the Gryffindor table, but she could not help glancing at it, looking for a trace of Harry. He hadn't come down for breakfast. She just wanted to look at him… No! She just wanted to see him, that's all. Just see him, nothing more. And maybe apologize, for what happened in the room with the mirrors. Cho nodded. Just see him, and apologize. Nothing more.
Just a quick glance more towards the Gryffindor table…
Oh, why did she have to care about him? She had loved Cedric, hadn't she? How could she forget him? Harry was just a little stupid brat, who had a stupid crush on her. Why should she care? She turned away, but soon again she found herself staring at the Gryffindor house table. "For heavens sake!" she muttered angrily and stood up, with the intention to leave the room.
Suddenly, Cho had a strange feeling in her chest. It was like a large weight had landed on her chest, not letting her breathe. It didn't hurt; it just felt… strange? She found no other word for it.
Cho's lungs began to ache for air, but the weight didn't move. She began to feel panic rising in her. "I must breathe!" she thought. She tried to say something, scream, anything, but couldn't. As through a thick glass, she saw Professor Dumbledore enter the room. She thought he looked worried, but couldn't tell for sure, the world looked misty and had darkened into grayish colors. She tried to breathe, but the weight on her chest only increased. She saw Professor Snape running out through the door. Professor Dumbledore was hurrying towards her, followed by Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. Cho's field of vision darkened into black, and little stars were swirling in front of her eyes. She couldn't stand up any longer; her legs wouldn't support her anymore. She was falling, but it felt like an eternity, before she hit the ground. Suddenly the weight on her chest exploded to pain. It felt like fire, or maybe melted iron or something like that filled her veins, and burned her to ash. She was burning; her lungs were on fire. As through a thick wall she heard Dumbledore's voice, saying "Voldemort."
Cho lost consciousness.
***
Dumbledore felt it. Someone new had arrived to the cabin. Someone new, someone evil. Voldemort was in the Shrieking Shack!
Dumbledore hurried to the Great Hall, to the teachers' table. "Minerva, Severus, I need your help!" he said. "Severus, we should be connected to the Floo Network any minute now. Go to the Shrieking Shack." Professor Snape left the room, running. Dumbledore turned to Professor McGonagall. "Minerva…" he began, but was interrupted by a concerning sight; from the corner of an eye, he saw Cho Chang, who was standing up, gasping for air. He turned around, running to her, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick following him.
Cho fell. She was wrestling, Dumbledore could see she was in pain. "Voldemort!" he said ignoring the uneasy looks he got from the people around him. "Poppy!" he shouted. "Come over here, please! Quickly!"
"Take her up to the hospital wing," Dumbledore ordered. Then he felt someone touch his arm. He looked around and saw Padma Patil.
"Excuse me," she said, "but I'm worried about Parvati…"
"This really isn't the time," Professor McGonagall interrupted.
"But she's missing," Padma insisted. "I asked Lavender Brown, and she said, that she hasn't seen Parvati today. And then she said, that Hermione Granger is missing, too, and Harry and Ron, so…" Her voice dried out when he saw the look on Dumbledore's face.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall.
"I'm sorry Padma, I don't have time with this right now," Dumbledore said. "I can assure you that I'll do everything to bring her back alive. Now, go to the hospital wing with Professor Flitwick. You could keep company to Cho Chang. Explain what's happened to her, Flitwick," he ordered, turned around and left the room, followed by Professor McGonagall.
"Now, come here," Professor Flitwick said gently. Padma followed him silently. She felt empty inside. Dumbledore's words hammered inside her head "…to bring her back alive…" It couldn't be that bad, could it?
"What has happened?" she asked Professor Flitwick, with a voice that trembled slightly.
***
Professor Sibylla Trelawney felt very pleased with herself. She had told the boy. She had warned him. He had ignored her warning, several times. He had been very stupid in doing that. She made a disapproving sound. She had warned him, and he had ignored it. He deserved his fate. Of course, it wouldn't have done any difference, when dying young was his fate.
She looked disapprovingly at Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper, who seemed to be close to tears. She had never liked him, he was just something like an experiment that had failed. She couldn't understand why Dumbledore was keeping that big, untidy… THING in Hogwarts, and even letting him teach here.
Hagrid suddenly seemed to realize that she was there. "Aren't yeh going out lookin' for 'em?" he asked. "I'd be, but Dumbledore said that I should stay here an' keep order here." Sibylla Trelawney snorted. Hagrid? Keeping order somewhere?
"It's no use," she told him. "They won't get there in time…" she was interrupted by Hagrid's howl.
"What do yeh mean 'it's too late'?" he bellowed. "They aren't dead yet" he howled, ignoring the heads that were turning in their direction.
Sibylla Trelawney lifted carefully her cup of tea. "It's his fate," she answered with a quiet, misty voice. "I have told him it over and over again…"
Again Sibylla was interrupted by Hagrid's bellowing. "Are yeh mad?" Hagrid rose up, and gave accidentally the table a hard shove, which caused the table hitting her, and making her drop the cup. When Hagrid left the room, she felt that her good mood was blown away.
***
Lord Voldemort snapped his long, skeletonlike fingers. Out of nowhere came robes that bound Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Parvati.
Voldemort laughed, a victorious, cold laugh. Harry thought that the worst thing about the laugh was that it wasn't insane. It was a cruel, bloodthirsty, icy laugh, and it belonged to someone, who had a very firm grip of reality. Of the reality, that would let him win.
"Well, well," said Voldemort softly. "Look who we have here!" He smiled. "Two of you I know, but the rest of you… Maybe you could introduce us, Harry."
Harry looked at Voldemort. He didn't say anything.
"The longer you speak, the longer you live," Voldemort added sweetly. Harry still refused to answer.
Voldemort stepped forwards, and leaned towards Harry. "The longer you speak, the longer your friends will live," he hissed. "I'm going to kill you last of all."
"Do you let them live if I obey you?" Harry asked, fighting to keep his voice steady.
"No," Voldemort smiled. Harry heard Parvati trying to stifle her sobs. Voldemorts smile grew broader. "But I'd really like to know who I'm killing. Answer me! Imperio!"
Again, Harry felt his mind being wiped away. The stronger voice woke in the back of his head, though. Harry threw the wonderful feeling of with a shrug.
"You shouldn't have let the false Moody teach me that," he said.
"Well, now I at least know, what you can," Voldemort smiled, but Harry saw irritation behind the smile. "He's someone I'd really like to discuss with you again. He was a faithful servant, Harry. If it weren't for you, he'd still be with me, act as my right hand."
"He wouldn't," spat Harry. "I saw his trial. He denied you. He denied you, to get out of Azkaban!"
Voldemorts smile died out. "You're lying," he said.
"I saw it," Harry answered. "In Dumbledore's Pensieve. Bartemius Crouch denied you in court."
"This discussion doesn't lead anywhere," Voldemort said abruptly. "If you won't tell, who these people are, I'll have to persuade you a bit. Crucio!"
Hermione started to scream. She was wrestling. Harry threw one quick glance at her. "She's Hermione Granger!" he yelled. Hermione stopped screaming, and lay gasping for breath and shivering. Ron looked at her anxiously. "The other girl is Parvati Patil. The boy is Ron Weasley," Harry finished.
"See? It wasn't that hard," Voldemort said, smiling again. "I'm delighted to hear, that you understand what is best for you. Let's see, who am I going to kill first?"
"Me?" asked a cold voice slowly from the fireplace. "Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" Voldemort fell heavily to the ground, bound by the curse, and his wand landed a few feet from him.
Never before had Harry been so delighted to see Severus Snape. Snape stepped into the room, and snapped his fingers. The ropes that had tied Harry and the others vanished.
"You have much to explain, Potter," Snape said softly.
"I'm sorry. Thank you, Snape." Harry looked, as he had never had to say anything worse. He turned towards Sirius. "I'm sorry," he said again.
Sirius didn't answer; he just embraced Harry tightly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," he said. "I was just so worried."
"I'm sorry, too," said Ron. "I shouldn't have run away like that." He refused to look at Hermione.
"I should never have taken you with us," Harry said to Parvati. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Friends?"
Parvati nodded. She smiled, but in her smile was something sad. Harry embraced her. "I know what you feel," he whispered, too quietly for the others to hear. "I'm sorry, but… you know I lo… like Cho Chang. But friends?" He then let go extremely quickly, as though only then realizing, what he was doing. Padma nodded. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "I'm sorry!" they all said at the same time, and hugged each other, laughing and crying at the same time.
***
Cho woke up in the hospital bed. "Where am I?" she asked.
Padma looked at her. Cho saw that her eyes were red, but she wiped her eyes when she saw that Cho was awake. "You're in the hospital wing," she answered.
"What's happened?" Cho asked.
"You had some sort of fit of fainting," Padma answered. "In the Great Hall, during breakfast, remember? Professor Dumbledore sent me here to keep you company." She then started weep again. "I'm sorry, I can't stop crying. Parvati's missing," she explained between the sobs. "She wasn't at the breakfast, and I asked Dumbledore, and he said… He said that she was with Ron and Harry and Hermione in the Shrieking Shack, and that You-Know-Who would be there…"
"You mean…"
"They don't know, if she's alive!" sobbed Padma.
"And Harry is there too?" asked Cho blankly.
Padma nodded. Cho felt empty inside. It was like she didn't have feelings any longer, until they suddenly returned, wiping away the shock. "No, not again!" she wailed.
Padma looked at her. Cho looked back. Then they hugged each other, crying. They knew that both of them felt the same.
***
Snape walked over to Sirius. "Thank you," Sirius said. They looked at each other, and then Sirius embraced Snape. He let go extremely quickly, though. "You arrived in time," he said shortly.
"I should maybe have let him kill you," Snape smiled. "Then we would be even."
"Can't we bury that old thing already?" asked Sirius, looking uncomfortable. Harry couldn't believe his ears, but Snape actually laughed, a heartily laugh. "It's forgotten," he said.
In a corner of an eye, Harry saw something moving. He saw Voldemorts hand grab his wand, and suddenly realized, too late, that a Stunning Spell maybe wouldn't hold the most powerful wizard of all time. "Shieldios! Imperio!" he heard Voldemort say, and, recognizing the Shield Charm, knew that the only thing that could touch Voldemort now, was the Avada Kedavra, and, when the rest of them were controlled by the Imperius Curse, he was the only one, who could act. He tried to say it, tried to act, but couldn't. He couldn't say the words, they refused to come. Harry Potter could not utter the Killing Curse, not even though it was a matter of live and death. Once he had done it, and it had once too many. He just couldn't.
"You're going to die, all of you," Voldemort laughed. "Even you, Severus!"
Harry realized, who Voldemort was going to kill, a second before it was too late. Throwing of the Imperius Curse, he flung himself in front of Parvati, at the same time as Voldemorts shriek echoed in the Shack:
"Avada Kedavra!"
Just one more part!!! But I really wouldn't have time right now… Would you mind, if I finish it in… let's say two or three weeks…?
Just kidding! I've already started working on it, and believe, it will be sad (I've already used lots tissues…) And after it, there will probably be an epilogue.
Two More Parts!!!
(Be a responsible reader, and review!!!!!!!!)