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 that you don't 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 firmly. "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 for him," Cho
said. "And I always will."
"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 for once. In chapter 5, Cho meets with Sirius and more.
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. A reviewer told me that it's for a fantasy-based game.
Have you seen Starling's picture
of the Hogwarts students yet? If not, then I order you to go to http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/i/z/izcovich.
