Chapter 4: The Betrayal
Harry watched McGonagall walk Cho out of the Great Hall, presumably to McGonagall's office. Harry watched her anxiously. She looked back at one point with that same sad expression she had on her face earlier.
This can't be Sirius' fault, thought Harry. It's impossible. Sirius is on our side.
"Si--" Hermione began, and then she realized that Draco was still within hearing range. "Snuffles must have been framed," she said in a low voice. "There's no other explanation."
Ron didn't look so sure. "You have to admit it doesn't look too good, Hermione. The timing's too perfect."
"I don't believe in coincidences either, Ron," said Harry. "But I know that you trust . . Snuffles . . as much as I do. Hermione's right; someone framed him."
"What's all this you're blabbering about?" Draco blurted out.
So much for being tolerable, thought Harry. He was about to retort with another remark when he heard a familiar voice.
"Mind if I sit here?" They turned around and saw Lindsay McCourt looking solemnly at them. "I have information," she said.
Harry said, "Sure Lindsay." She sat down.
"My dad's the detective that the ministry sent down to investigate. It all points to a magical attack. Cho's parents are in the hospital at Hogsmeade and they've got the best security there. They're unconscious though. I'm sorry," she said.
"How do you think she'll respond to the news?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Not well," said Lindsay solemnly. "It's hard to be rational when it hits, literally, so close to home. Plus, no one has any idea which of You-Know-Who's goons did it."
"Or maybe it wasn't one of his goons," Ron blurted out. Heads turned towards him. "Well, there's a possibility," he said sheepishly.
"A small one," said Hermione. "It's always Voldemort." These days everyone used the name, especially because they were encouraged to.
Harry saw that the conversation was running thin and that it was almost time to leave for the next class, Potions. "Thanks for your help, Lindsay," he said glumly.
"Sure," she said and she left. Soon everybody at the table got up and lef the table.
Draco caught up with Harry and started talking to him in low tones. "I'm not dumb you know. This Snuffles guy was their secret-keeper, and you know this guy. Sounds like you recommended him, actually. If you get carried away playing the hero, it eventually catches up with you."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"I'm not done gloating. You see, you didn't deserve that girl in the first place. What was that you were saying about going out with her? Looks like you're out of the race."
"And you're in? That's a joke."
"Is it? If I ask Snape for a love potion, he'll ask 'How much do you need?'"
Harry was red
in the face and his fists were clenched. "Harry," said Hermione placatingly.
Harry looked at her. "We'll be late for class," she said. Harry left reluctantly,
knowing that this time Malfoy had the last word.
It was difficult for Harry to concentrate throughout potions. While Snape was warning them at the start of class about the hazardous chemicals they would be working with, thoughts of finding Sirius and trying to make things right with Cho kept racing through his mind.
"Potter!" Snape's voice snapped.
Harry snapped to attention. "Yes?"
"What was I talking about just now?" he snapped.
"You were talking about the hazards of adding too much cowbane to a mixture with saffron and soapwort." Harry had vaguely seen the ingredients that Snape had on his desk, and he was relieved that he had done a lot of reading over the summer, so that he could impress Cho. She would like it if he got better grades.
Snape was caught off-guard. "Yes, that's right. Or what will happen?"
"The cauldron would probably explode," said Harry unsurely.
"Ah," Snape began. "So the great Harry Potter finally decides to apply himself. I knew your parents; they were brilliant, you know. Head Boy and Head Girl. I saw your potential since the beginning, and I watched you waste it. Do you know how much energy and time I've wasted on students who now work for people with half their brainpower? Though you've obviously showed courage outside of class, I was beginning to think you too were a coward on the academic battlefield." Snape saw that everybody was looking at him. "Get back to work, all of you," he snapped, and he returned to pacing around the room.
"I'm not going to repeat the life of my parents," Harry said quietly to Ron and Hermione. "They loved me, but I'm still an orphan. I'd rather be alone all my life than have my child experience the same thing."
Ron and Hermione stared at him, obviously not knowing what to say.
"We have to find Sirius and see what he knows," continued Harry while they were chopping up saffron.
"You have to tell Cho that Sirius couldn't have done it," said Ron in a low voice.
"Find Sirius
first," Hermione whispered. "Then tell Cho what you know."
As soon as he was done with classes, Harry rushed to his room and wrote a letter to Sirius.
Sirius,
Where are you? Cho's parents
were attacked. Can you meet me as soon as possible at the cave? You have
to tell me all you know.
--Harry
He gave it to Hedwig, and Hedwig flew off. That night, Harry received a response.
Harry,
I don't know anything. I left the night that I became their secret keeper
and right now I'm checking up on the old crowd at Arabella Figg's house.
Lupin and
Mundungus Fletcher are here, too. I can be at the cave tonight, but I honestly
don't know. I didn't betray them, Harry. You know that I wouldn't. It hurts
for you
not to trust me, but I guess it's better for you to be paranoid. I should
be at the cave by 9 o'clock. Those poor parents. I hope they're still alive.
--Sirius
Harry read it, handed it to his friends, and dashed up to his room to find his invisibility cloak so he could sneak into Hogsmeade. The cloak was not there. Harry couldn't believe it. He raced back down to the common room and went up to Ron and Hermione. "Did any of you take it?"
"Take what?" Hermione asked.
"My invisibility cloak," he said in a low voice. "It's gone."
Ron and Hermione
shook their heads. The cloak had been stolen.
Harry decided to go anyway. He quietly found the statue of the old hag, tapped it on the nose, and left without being spotted. Eventually, Harry got to the cave and found that Sirius was waiting in his dog form.
Sirius transformed into his human form. "I had nothing to do with it, Harry,." he said firmly.
"I need proof," said Harry.
"Remus, Arabella, and Mundungus can vouch for my whereabouts at the time."
"Not good enough," Harry said firmly. "You didn't have to be there. All you would have had to do was tell a Death Eater where Cho's parents were, and they would have taken it from there."
"But you know I wouldn't do that!" Sirius exclaimed. "I cannot believe that you don't trust me!"
"I do," said Harry unsurely. "But I have to convince Cho that you're innocent."
Sirius half-smiled. "I thought you liked her."
Harry had slight feelings of relief that Sirius knew, because Harry had been meaning to tell him. But Harry was still angry and frustrated. "I need proof that you didn't contact anyone."
Sirius sighed. "I'll account for every minute. You left, and then I went into the forest to get some dinner. You forgot to get me something to eat," he added with a grin. "But don't worry about it," he said quickly. "Anyway, immediately after that, I mounted Buckbeak and left for Arabella's. The flight took four hours," said Sirius. "That would have been 1 AM here when I arrived at Arabella's. Everybody else was already there, but it was late. I also had, what's the Muggle word, jet lag." Sirius grinned. Harry found it frustrating and ironic that Sirius always seemed to be the jokester. "I knocked on the door, they let me in, and I fell asleep for 8 straight hours. I woke up at 9 AM, got breakfast, and then we all started planning. Later, I received your letter, replied, and left for this cave. That brings us to here."
"You didn't tell any of them about your new responsibility?"
"No. I wasn't sure that I even wanted to tell Lupin. It's difficult, you know, to trust. Especially if the person you trusted, Wormtail, ends up messing up your entire life."
"You're sure you didn't talk in your sleep or anything?"
"I slept as a dog. Sometimes I do that just to keep my transfiguration spell sharp. And dogs don't talk in their sleep, at least not in any language humans know."
Harry sighed. "Do you think Cho would believe us? I could try to bring her here, but I don't even know if she'll speak to me."
"What happened at dinner?"
"Cho wasn't there. I didn't really want to speak to her friends, either, because they probably hate me. Only Lindsay really trusts me, but I think it has a lot to do with her being new here. She's not a close friend of Cho yet. But I think she likes me, Lindsay that is. Oh, and Lindsay's dad is the detective in town, and he says that it was definitely a magical attack."
"What's the detective's name?"
"McCourt."
"Thought so. He's a good man, from what I've heard. I never met him. I hate a lot of the enforcement at the ministry, but I hear that this man is fair. What happened to David and Jen?"
"Unconscious still, I think. They're under heavy protection. There's no way you can see them. We haven't cleared your name yet."
"No. In fact, now there's more allegations for me to deal with. I think you have to bring Cho here."
"You're an escaped convicted felon who she barely knows. The day after her parents trust their lives to you, they're attacked and in serious condition. You've got an uphill battle to fight, Sirius."
"Story of my
life, Harry," said Sirius. They both grinned. "I can meet her tomorrow
night; that's easy. The hard part is getting her here."
The next morning, before breakfast, Harry went to the clearing in the Forbidden Forest to look for Cho. From a distance he saw her sitting on the grass as he approached. He continued to walk solemnly towards her until he was at the edge of the clearing. Then something he saw made him stop.
Her head was buried in her hands and he could plainly see that she was crying. Harry felt a sickness in the pain of his stomach as it dawned on him that Cho might have just become an orphan like him. Harry didn't wish orphanhood on anyone, especially not Cho. Before he knew it, Harry was quite close to her and tears were running down his cheeks. He still made no sound. At last, when it became too unbearable hearing her mourn, Harry dropped down to his knees some distance away from her.
She turned her head in his direction. "Harry," she said. "My parents . . . passed away. The doctors could only make sure that there was no pain."
Harry's heart sank and the guilt came flooding back to him.
"I trusted you, Harry," she continued. "Yesterday, I trusted my parents' life to the most wanted man in the wizarding world--a person I barely knew--because I trusted you. Today, my parents died."
"Cho--" Harry began in a sorrowful voice.
"But I still trust you," she continued solemnly.
Harry looked up, but couldn't think of anything to say. She was still beautiful, though she was still crying quietly and she had a pained expression on her face.
"My parents never hurt anybody," Cho continued. "They could fight, but they never chose to. My father wrote controversial articles in the weekly newspaper that criticized Mr. Fudge and the Death Eaters, among other things. But he always told the truth, and he tried to be fair. My Mom was a bit of an oddball. She's written long poems on snowflakes, houses, and peanuts." She half-smiled.
Harry chuckled nervously.
"They didn't deserve to die at such a young age. They had so many hopes and dreams and unachieved goals."
Harry wondered if Cho was now talking about his parents as well.
"Whoever killed them has no heart," she said solemnly.
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the forest and to their parents' voices in their head. Finally, Harry said, "I can take you to see Sirius. At the cave where we met earlier. At 9 PM tonight. Bring the sword if you like. If he's the one who betrayed you, the I will have no objections if you try to seek revenge." He paused and looked at her expression, but it revealed nothing. "I still believe him to be innocent," Harry continued. "Somehow, and I know this sounds crazy--because Voldemort can't find someone hidden by a secret-keeper unless the keeper talks--but I don't think that Sirius had anything to do with it."
Cho finally spoke. "This is so hard for me." She paused. "Tonight, I would like to see Sirius."
Harry hesitated, because he remembered something else that he wanted to say. "Cho, I'm sorry about Cedric. It's partly my fault that--"
Cho quickly put a finger to his lips and stopped him. "It's not your fault," she said.
Harry sighed. "I know that you . . . wept for him," Harry said.
"I still mourn him," Cho said. "And I always will. He was a good friend since our first year together at Hogwarts," she said. "You didn't kill him. In fact, you brought his body back to his parents at risk to your own life, and you offered to give your winnings to his parents."
"How did you know about . ." He trailed off.
"Cedric's parents and mine have been close. I will never forget him."
"But," Harry blurted out. "Did you . . . ever love him?"
Cho half-smiled.
"As a friend. The same way that Hermione, for example, loves you."
"Why does he care so much for her?" Hermione asked Ron in the Great Hall. She was eating breakfast with Ron and Ginny, but Harry was talking to Cho at a separate table in the corner of the Hall. They were talking about their memories of their parents. Ron and Hermione watched from a distance.
"Because she's beautiful," Ron said. "And fun. Well, maybe not right now. Right now she's mourning, but usually she's--"
"Perfect," said Ginny with some bitterness.
"Actually, yeah," said Ron. Hermione and Ginny glared at him.
"Harry always gets the best," said Ron without any bitterness. He shrugged. "We should be happy for him. The best broom. The best Quidditch ability. The best bank account. The best heroic accomplishments. The best girl. There's an obvious pattern."
"He hardly knows her is the point," Hermione said. "But he trusted her with maybe his greatest secret: Sirius Black. Why?"
"Because she could have kicked Bruce Lee's butt if she lived in the 70's," Ron said with some irritated sarcasm. "Does it matter? Look what it did to her in the end." He looked at their faces. "Well, maybe it wasn't Snuffles' fault." He paused. "Did you think that Harry would only trust Gryffindors? Don't try to analyze Harry's mind; he thinks differently from the rest of us."
"Actually, he's not that complicated," Ginny said. "He just helps people without thinking. That's why he's so different."
"It doesn't hurt that Cho's gorgeous," said Ron. He was still staring at her.
Ginny rolled her eyes, and then she started staring at Harry.
"Oh honestly!"
Hermione exclaimed. She groaned audibly, looked at Ron with a strange expression
on her face, and then resumed eating lunch.
A/N: A non-cliffhanger ending for this chapter. What will happen when Cho meets up with Sirius? Will Ron and Hermione finally have a serious talk? Which relationships are platonic and which relationships are not? Who took the cloak? Will Cho chop off Sirius' ear if he says the wrong thing? Find out in chapter 5. (Sorry; I used to read comic books).
The magical herb names were obtained from the creepy website http://www.quantal.demon.co.uk/saga/ooc/herbs.html#herblist. I found this relatively useful (for finding strange herb names) website on the internet. I am NOT a believer in any of that stuff, though the people who made the website apparently believe in it. I am a religious Catholic, as you may have suspected. You may have also guessed that I am an Asian-American. *People who are fed up with Cho groan*
Have you seen Starling's picture
of the Hogwarts students yet? That's how I picture Cho now. Again, the
address is http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/i/z/izcovich.