Chapter 14: What Happened…
"What do we do now?" Harry asked, quieter than he had meant to be.
"First thing's first," Azar
answered, walking over to Cho and taking her wand, "Do you think you can tie
her up?"
Harry stared, still trying to
get over the shock. He hadn't even
heard her.
"Never mind, I'll do it." She brandished her own wand, muttering something under her breath. Cho was soon bound tightly. Azar walked over to Harry, putting her arm around his shoulder.
"You okay?" she asked.
Harry nodded slowly. "I can't believe it was her…"
Azar didn't ask what he was talking about, knowing he didn't feel like telling her right then. "Do you want to carry her up to the castle, or wait here? They had a search party looking for you, so help should be here soon."
"A search party?"
"Yes. Hermione set out the alarm that you were in danger. Don't know how she knew. A bright girl, that one. I overheard Dumbledore in the halls organizing the whole thing and decided to do a bit of searching myself. Mom always said I had a keen sense of intuition."
She turned around, lifting her wand in the air. Red sparks flew from it as she called, "Yo, somebody! We need help!"
Then a loud, screeching noise came from the wand, one like that from a firework. It was not long before people began appearing. Hagrid was the first to make it to Harry. He held him in a bear hug so tight that Harry was sure he was a goner. Dumbledore, Connerly, and very teary-eyed Ron and Hermione soon followed, along with a variety of other professors.
"Since the subject of our search has been found, I request that all of you head back to bed," Dumbledore said almost immediately, "Except for Mr. Weasley, Misses Granger and Zundel, and Professors McGonagall and Connerly."
Hagrid was all set to protest, but Dumbledore gave him one of his infamous looks, and the man shuffled back to his hut. Without another word, Dumbledore magicked up a stretcher underneath Cho and led the small procession. Harry followed right after him, Ron and Hermione on either side. Azar was not too far behind them and the two professors brought up the rear.
As they made their way down the corridors, Harry glanced at Connerly, wondering why she was there. There was a look of determination on her face that looked strongly familiar… They entered a room that Harry had never seen before. It was nothing special. There were a few chairs, a table, and a lamp, but the rest of the room was empty.
"Have a seat," Dumbledore said, "Mr. Potter, we'd like to know what happened."
Harry began with Cho convincing him to go for a walk. The whole group was silent as he explained, though Ron's eyes grew noticeably larger at certain points. When he finished, Dumbledore caught Connerly's eye and nodded. Connerly turned to Cho and began examining her.
"Don't touch her bracelet!" Harry cried out, causing Connerly to freeze, "It's a double person portkey."
"Thanks, Har- I mean, Mr. Potter," she smiled.
She touched the bracelet with her wand, muttering something. Then she slid it off Cho's wrist and placed it on the table. "And now it's a harmless bracelet," she announced.
Turning back to Cho, she began muttering more spells, each time expecting a reaction. When one never came, she turned toward Azar.
"May I ask what spell you used on Miss Chang, Miss Zundel?"
"No spells, just a good old fashion blow to the kisser," Azar grinned, giving a small demonstration with her fist.
Connerly smiled slightly. "Well, she's not under any dark arts' spells, Unc," she said, turning to Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Catherine," he said, sighing deeply.
"Wait. Unc? He's your uncle?!" Azar exclaimed.
"Well, not quite," Dumbledore answered, "She's my great-great-grandniece."
Normally Harry would have been very inquisitive about this, but tonight he had other questions to ask. "How did you know to search for me?"
"I believe Miss Granger can answer that best," he said, smiling at the girl.
Hermione blushed. "Oh, it's nothing special really. I was the only one there, after all. Well, except you, Harry, but you were unconscious so of course..."
Ron coughed.
"Oh, yes. Back to that. It wasn't until Ron jogged my memory tonight that I realized what had been bothering me about Cho. Ron mentioned that Cho probably wasn't going to try and drown you again. That made me think of the time she did almost drown you and I realized something. When you woke up, Cho was saying how sorry she was for almost killing you. Yet, I hadn't told her what she had done. People under the Dream Controlling curse don't remember what they did."
"My one blunder, and it's caught by Miss Know-It-All."
Everyone jumped at hearing Cho's voice. She had evidently woken up. Clouds seemed to come into Dumbledore's blue eyes. "Misters Potter and Weasley, Misses Granger and Zundel, I think it is time for you to go. Our interrogation may take a while," he said coolly.
Before anyone could move, the door burst open. In sprang Sirius Black, looking extremely drained. When he spotted Harry, his whole face seemed to give a sigh of relief. He ran up to the boy, embracing him.
"The moment I received an owl that you were missing, I rushed over here. Thank God you're not dead! Don't do that to me, Harry! Where were you?!"
"I'll explain it to you later, Sirius," Dumbledore intervened.
"That escaped murderer!" Azar suddenly burst out, snapping her fingers. Everyone stared at her.
"I knew I had seen you somewhere," Azar said happily to Sirius, "and I just remembered. You're that escaped convict that there was a bunch of hullabaloo about a couple of years ago. You know Harry?"
"I'm his godfather," Sirius said unthinking, wondering who in the world the girl was.
Azar laughed. "Boy, surprises never stop in this place."
McGonagall interrupted, clearing her throat. "I really must insist that the students go off to bed now."
"Do you want me to come with you, Harry?" Sirius asked.
"No… No, I'll be all right," Harry answered in the same dazed voice he had had since he found out about Cho.
The three other students got up, going to the door. Harry was about to get up too, but stopped. "May I ask her something, Professor Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore nodded slightly. Harry took a deep breath. "I must know, Cho. Last year, did you like Cedric Diggory?"
Something flashed behind Cho's brown eyes, something beyond the fury that shone in them.
"I cared for the boy. He just found himself on the wrong side of things," she said quietly, then raised her voice suddenly, "If you hadn't been so damn noble, he'd still be here! You're the one who killed him!"
Harry blanched, his eyes heartrending. It was Azar's turn to be furious. She ran up, fist ready to connect with Cho again, but Ron quickly stopped her.
"Don't listen to her, Harry," she said through gritted teeth, "Voldemort fed her that load of duff so she'd be loyal."
Before they could exchange more words, Connerly guided the students out the door. "Go back to your dormitories now," she said gently, "Tomorrow we'll know more, but you must get a night's rest."
"What will happen to her?" Harry asked.
An anger flashed in Connerly's eyes that made it very apparent she was related to Dumbledore. "The resistance already has a place for captured supporters. She'll be taken there."
"And what about Malfoy?"
"Yes, what about him?"
"Voldemort knows he told. There's no telling what they'll do to him."
A small smile graced Connerly's face. "Don't worry, Mr. Potter. We also know how to protect turncoats."
The four friends walked down the hall in silence. Ron looked like he was about to say something once, but Hermione nudged him in the ribs and he didn't say a word.
"Well, this is the way to the Ravenclaw tower," said Azar as they reached a fork in the corridors, "I guess I'll see you three later."
She started walking off. "You guys go on," Harry told Ron and Hermione, "I have to speak to Azar."
He trotted after the girl. "Azar?" he said, gently touching her shoulder.
"Yes, Harry?" she asked, turning around.
"Thank you," he said softly, "You saved my life. If it weren't for you, Voldemort's wish would have come true."
Azar took him up in a friendly hug. "He's gonna have to blow out a whole lot of candles before he can wish you away, Harry."
They were silent for a while, then Harry spoke up.
"Hey, Azar. You do know about me, don't you? My past, I mean," Harry asked.
"Of course."
"Did you know about me the first time we met?"
"Yes."
Harry paused. "Then why didn't you look at my scar? Why didn't you ask about it, like everyone else? Even Ron glanced at my scar when we first met."
"Well," Azar lingered a moment, "I figured you had had enough of that. I know I wouldn't like people looking at me as though I'm some fascinating animal or asking about an event that I don't even remember."
Harry nodded, giving a sigh. "Thank you. So many people admire me for just living. I hate it."
Azar nudged his jaw softly with her fist. "Chin up, Harry. Someday you'll be known for something more. Your friends see it now. There's a marvelous person under that scar."
Patting his back, she headed the opposite way. Harry smiled slightly, then went to catch up with Ron and Hermione.
~*~*~
A/N: One more chapter to go. I figured why not do a proper thanks to you all:
Jess: What are you talking about a bit unrealistic?! Wasn't it a bit unrealistic that Scabbers turned out to be
one of Voldemort's supporters? Ooh, got you there. J/k ^-^
Lady Grizabella: Thanks! I'm sorry to say, but we don't know what happened that evening after Harry left
until I write about Harry's 6th year. ^-^
Mollie KL: Thanks! (go me! go me! j/k)
Dickens: Wow, thanks! I love your name, btw. Charles Dickens was very cool.
Herm: Here's the next part! I didn't hurry as much as I should have, though.
Jedi Cosmos: I love evil twists. I normally have at least one in any of my stories. ^-^
VMR: Thanks. Nothing will ever stop me from writing, either!
Malfoy's Best Friend: Thanks, too!
Sweets: Wow, thanks! Can't believe you stayed up to read it. That's an awesome compliment!
Rachel: Yep, almost. I'm glad you weren't expecting Cho to be evil. I wasn't either, for a long while.
Abbey: Azar!!! Yeah, I'm glad she's cool. And she should get even better.
Lily Potter: You're an awesome writer yourself! And someone noticed James speaking through Harry. I think
I'm going to build on that in the next fanfic…
Jona: Man, that was a lot to have in just a few days. ^-^ Thanks, Jo!
Potter fan: I promise I will!
Well, thank you all!
Be excellent to each other!!!
-Ady
