Chapter 3
Cho Chang
Harry trundled down the stairs early in the morning only to discover with faint surprise and extreme distaste that the entire Dursley family had congregated around the table. As usual, no one paid him the least of attention, although Dudley could be seen, eyeing him with just a little fear in his eyes. Ever since Harry had told the Dursley's his godfather was a dangerous magical criminal, they had avoided him more than they usually did. Uncle Vernon's formidable dislike of magic and his constant avoidance of it however, hadn't protected Dudley from growing a pig tail from his rear when Hagrid had come to visit. It had cost the Dursley's a pretty penny to have it removed at a private hospital. And just last year George and Fred Weasley had blown up Dudley's tongue until it was rouhgly the size of one of Uncle Vernon's belts.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were very careful to try to maintain a normal lifestyle, and that meant no magic, no wizards, and no mention of Hogwarts. Of course, if Harry wanted to talk to someone about his problems, he wouldn't have chosen any of the Dudleys. Aunt Petunia was a notorious neighborhood spy, relaying information about the distasteful mannerisms of her neighbors, while Uncle Vernon seemed to judge himself better than any of the men on the block simply because his car was bigger.
However, neither of them looked happy today, and Dudley looked even unhappier. Perhaps it had to do with the rice cake that Dudley had just finished pounding into pieces, perhaps it had to do with Aunt Petunia begging Dudley to stick with fat camp, and perhaps it had to do with Uncle Vernon getting extremely impatient with all of them. Whatever it was Harry could see that today, was perhaps not the best day to ask for too much out of the Dursleys. He would have to ask them about Cho later.
Not that it would have made a difference. He had no doubt that the Dursleys would simply refuse, then block all the doors, and watch Harry like a hawk any opportunity they could get to ensure than none of his wizard friends came over.
"Disgraceful…"
Harry looked up to see Aunt Petunia again peering out of the window, looking at one of the neighbors again he supposed.
"It's just disgraceful how they do that isn't it..even if they are newlyweds. You'd think they'd have the decency to show their affection inside the house where it belongs."
Uncle Vernon snorted emphatically, stating his opinion of the matters.
Harry shrugged and before he could stop himself retorted "I think that's how married people are supposed to act.."
As if they synchronized their movements, all three of the Dursley's turned their heads toward him angrily. Harry immediately put on his familiar innocent expression. It was an expression that had gotten him out of trouble many times before. Feigning stupidity often made the Dursley's less suspicious of him. He was a little surprised at himself at the moment. It was not very often that he chose to express his opinion in the Dursley household, for whenever he did, he was usually ridiculed. Uncle Vernon snorted again. "What would you know about married people?"
"Like any girl would be interested in him…" Aunt Petunina scowled looking at Harry. Her expression changed to that of utmost devotion when she viewed Dudley. "But little Di-Di doesn't have any problems does he? The girls are just lining up to date him!"
Harry was barely able to keep in a sharp laugh and coughed to hide it. Even the girls at fat camp had been disgusted at Dudley who was easily bigger then all the boys and girls there put together. Dudley scowled at Harry, but was both too tired and hungry to retort back.
"Tell us boy, how do you think married people should feel eh?" Uncle Vernon said, a superior smile crossing into his face.
Harry fought to control himself, hands tightening around the table. After all he had been through, he should have known better than to let the Dursley's comments get to him, but get to him they did. Uncle Vernon seemed to be able to pick up on this and smiled. "Well..you never can tell about those weirdos in that school you go to, I'd imagine they'd want to go with anyone even remotely normal. Even someone like you…"
Dudley exploded with laughed, vestiges of his rice cake flying from his mouth. Aunt Petunia was too busy scouring the neighborhood to take any notice, but Uncle Vernon was looking especially smug. Harry longed to take his wand and turn the entire lot of them into mice, and then letting Hedwig loose on them all. His eyes must have clouded over as his imagination took over for Uncle Vernon frowned a bit, bellowing "I asked you a question boy! Answer your superiors!"
Harry paused before formulating an answer "Well..I guess…er..they would be ..happy together..like you and Aunt Petunia. Er.. doesn't matter how you act really… as long as your happy together…" He stifled a grin as he continued, a thought coming to his mind "And..you wouldn't…hide things from each other..things like…going out…and maybe..disobeying rules and such..like..I don't know raiding the-"
"That's enough boy!" Uncle Vernon's eyes almost popped out of his head as his fat face reddened with anger. His eyes darted from Harry, to Aunt Petunia, not sure what to do next. Dudley who was slowly realizing what Harry was talking about, was looking very angrily at his father. "Well then..got to go to work..I'll be there to see you later Dudley, have fun at the camp.."
Obviously, Uncle Vernon was looking for an easy escape before Aunt Petunia got suspicious. Shooting one last murderous look at Harry, he left the room quickly.
Aunt Petunia still self-absorbed at the window, shook her head "Disgraceful.." she repeated, before turning her back, and looking at Dudley. "All done little Di-Di? Now that's a good boy..time to go!"
Dudley seemed on the verge of an uproarious tantrum, and Harry backed away from the table, not wanting to be hit by any stray objects. The strain of having to go to fat camp seemed to have finally caught up to his cousin and he seemed to be committed to staying behind at home today. Aunt Petunia however, was not going to have any rebelliousness today.
"Come along now, Di-Di..maybe we'll buy you a little ice cream before you go, just so you don't get too thin.."
With that promise, Dudley smiled, his fat face contorting with the effort of moving. He trundled up from his side of the table, and started to follow his mother. Harry had wondered why after all this training, Dudley had seemed to not grow smaller, but even bigger than before. It seemed the answer was staring him in the face. Enticing Dudley with sweet treats to go to fat camp where he would dutifully do no work would obviously not help him at all.
Aunt Petunia shot a look at Harry "Don't get into any.._trouble_ now..the house better be exactly the same when we all come back"
As the Dursley family left, Harry breathed a sigh of relief at the empty house again. Although Uncle Vernon had been lax to trust Harry at first to his empty house, he had agreed more readily when Harry had hinted that if Sirius could trust him, Uncle Vernon probably could too. So during the lazy afternoons, he was usually alone. The Dursleys left him with little food, no money, and expected him to stay home all day although they wouldn't have minded if he left and never came back. Harry wouldn't have minded either if had someplace to go.
He wondered if the Weasleys were going to invite him over again this summer. The Weasley's was Ron's family, and the only family besides Sirius that had cared for Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had always been kind to him, especially when they looked upon his scar. Ron's brothers, Fred and George were always willing to make Harry laugh. And Ginny, Ron's little sister, …well..Ginny was an entirely different story. However, considering that both Ron and Hermione were still in Germany and would probably be staying there for the rest of the summer, he found it unlikely that he would be able to leave the Dursley's early this year, to their mutual displeasure.
As he looked around the empty house, he heard the distinctive sound of a car door slamming, and the screech of tires as the Dursley's left. They house became eerily silent, and Harry wished more than ever that his friends were here, or at least that he had somebody to talk to. He wondered for a moment if there were any letters he had not written. Any books he had not read.
When Harry had told Ron and Hermione about his situation of being locked in the house all day, they had obligingly sent him things to keep him preoccupied. Ron had sent him so many books on Quidditch that Harry was beginning to feel like an expert on all the teams. Hermione on the other hand, ever mindful of the fact that Harry was doing any homework, had simply sent him a list of things they were to have accomplished before returning to Hogwarts. Harry had been confounded when he realized that he had only finished his Care of Magical Creatures homework so far. It might have helped that Hagrid had actually excused him from doing any.
Sighing with resignation, Harry set up the stairs towards his room, prepared to do the rest of his homework. Doing hours of Potions homework was not something he was keen to do, but he might as well get it over with sometime. As he opened his door, and sat down on his desk again quill in hand, he began taking notes, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead, as the summer heat bore down on him. The Dursley's among other things were also notoriously cheap, and wouldn't give Harry a fan even if he were dying of heat stroke.
Images swam along his eyes, an eye of a newt, a strange scratching sound, the tail of a unicorn, the toes of a satyr, and that same strange scratching sound. Harry hesitated for a moment and listened. The house was quiet.
"Probably just imagining things again.."
Probably not that healthy to talk to myself either. Continuing with his work now, he suddenly heard it again. This time, clear and unmistakable. A strange, scratching sound that was coming from his ceiling. He looked up now, but could see nothing that could possibly be making his noise. Frowning, and suddenly alert, he slowly crept toward the secret pantry where he kept his wand.
Scritch Scratch…
Opening it, Harry grabbed his wand, and pointed it, his hand shaking, towards the ceiling.
Scritch Scratch…
He tensed now, hoping that it was just a bird..
Scritch Scratch…BOOM!
A loud explosion rocked the air, and Harry was temporarily knocked off his feet as his entire ceiling seemed to open before him. Dust fell in large quantities, and he was temporarily blinded. As he stumbled around, he felt something heavy hit him in the chest, and he fell to the ground in a jumble of legs, arms, and feet. Struggling around looking for his wand, he felt something distinctively different. Smooth and slender, he could have sworn, if he hadn't known better that it was …
"Cho!" Harry exclaimed, turning red as he let go of her leg, and tried to get out of the jumble of arms, and legs, and feet that he had now discovered to be Cho Chang. Although he couldn't see her face from his position, he could hear her gasp. The more he struggled, the more it got worse, until finally, he was suddenly staring into the face of Cho Chang, his arms intertwined with hers.
"I…I.." Harry blushed even more.
"Was trying to stand up..I was too…" Cho Chang replied, turning even redder than Harry was.
"Oh yeah I'm sorry about that I..…"
"Erm.."
Simultaneously, they both looked up at the gaping hole that had been Harry's ceiling. Sunlight poured down on the two, and an angry squirrel peered in, squeaking at them for disrupting its nap. Harry's mouth hanged open at the sight of this devastation, and he could just imagine the fit that Uncle Vernon would have unless he did something to fix it really quick. His vision blurry, he reached around to look for his glasses and his wand.
"Repairo!" Cho Chang's wand leapt to her hand, and a thin yellow beam shot out. In moments, the devastation was cleared, the ceiling was back to normal, and Harry, was still holding onto Cho. He didn't seem to realize it, he was much more relived at Cho's expert spell-casting.
"Harry..not that I mind, but..if you could..let go, I would have a much easier time untangling myself from your legs.."
"Oh..I er..sorry…"
Cho Chang grinned slightly, still crimson, as they finally succeeded in disentangling themselves from each other. Her extraordinary beauty again struck Harry as he looked her over. Looking much less worse off than he was, her hair was tangled into cute locks all over her head, as she struggled with her hands to part the strands covering her head. She was wearing a low-cut robe, and seemed to be enjoying watching Harry squirm.
"Nice..spell…what was it?" Harry finally gasped out.
"Oh erm.." Cho blushed suddenly, no longer looking Harry in the eyes as she backed away. "It erm..wasn't anything..I.."
Harry grinned, suddenly realizing what Cho had done.
Cho continued to avoid eye contact with Harry, blushing even redder than before, when she noticed Harry's knowing look, she stuttered "I..I..didn't..know..how to get in, after you told me not to use floo powder, and I don't know how to apparate yet..so I just.."
"Blew the roof off.." Harry finished, still grinning.
"Well..yeah..I wouldn't have done it if it was easier to see you!" Cho suddenly said, her eyes filled with something not unlike bemusement. "The great Harry Potter ..I wonder how many wards protect this place."
"Not enough it seems.." Harry teased, still unable to stop smiling at Cho.
"Promise me one thing Potter.." Cho said leaning in close, in an almost conspiratorial whisper.
Harry almost backed away in surprise, his heart beating. He had harbored strong secret feelings toward Cho for a long time, and although they had exchanged pleasantries, they had never really talked. He wondered what she was going to say. How he was going to react. A dozen questions and answers raced through his mind like seekers on firebolts, and his eyes widened in anticipation.
"Wh..what..?"
"Next time don't grab my leg.." Cho finished with a flourish, she made her face a mask of consternation, shaking her head sadly at Harry. "You have so much to learn Potter, about the correct way to treat girls." She sighed even more sadly, as if the fate that awaited Harry couldn't possibly be any worse. "I mean..if you wanted to touch Potter, you could have asked."
"Wh..what?!" Harry started indignantly.
"Please..just ask next time Potter." Cho said, deliberately emphasizing Potter. Her eyes swept around the room, taking in the mess that Harry had been about to clean up. He had obviously, not expected her. His pantry, was half-open with all his Hogwarts gear, and she could see his Quidditch uniform, neatly laid near the bottom. She smiled somewhat remembering their first match, before looking back at Harry. "Um..Harry..your probably wondering why I'm here…" Her smile fell a little as she looked carefully at him.
Harry was still searching for words to express himself, however, he wasn't so busy that he would fail to notice the expression that was now appearing on Cho's face. He nodded his head.
"I know Cho.."
"You..know?"
"Yes..I do.."
There was a rather long pause between the two. Thoughts raced across Harry's mind. She wants me to begin. More fitting that way, since I was the last to see him go. As he stared at her, her smile slowly waned into a small grin, but he could see it was forced. Sadness was clouding her cheerful disposition, and although he knew that the long months of summer had been healing for her. However those long months could not have healed all her emotional scars completely.
One of the reasons Cho was so popular at school was because she was constantly cheerful and nice to everyone. The way she teased Harry about grabbing her was testament to that fact. However, even Harry could see that a profound change had taken place inside Cho's heart, and that the only person not to realize it, might be her. For all her teasing, and joking, she was hurting inside, more than she would admit to herself.
"To talk about Cedric..right?" Harry began tentatively.
Cho opened her mouth but no sounds came out, her grin completely disappeared, as a wave of sadness swept over her face. She seemed to crumple before him, the vibrant, energetic girl he had grown to love disappearing to reveal the forlorn, lost figure, one who had temporarily withdrawn into himself. She clutched his hand suddenly, and pulled him down onto the floor besides her.
"I..I..don't…want..to..drudge up painful memories for you if you don't want Harry.." Cho began hesitatingly. "When I saw you at the end of the tournament, looking as if you had almost died..I..well..and then I saw Cedric and I…"
With startling clarity, Harry remembered a long, pierced scream that had filled the air many months before. He looked with sudden recognition at Cho, her demeanor completely changed. Tears filling her eyes, she looked at Harry "I..I..just didn't know what to do..I..couldn't help…I was so helpless….I just watched them carry him away..I…oh..this is silly…"
Feeling more awkward than he had ever felt before, Harry looked as tears caressed the face of Cho. She tried to fight them back, but it was obvious that she had been fighting them back for so long. Why she chose to let them out here, was something he would never understand. Although he had certain empathy for people, and he was no Slytherin, he had never been presented with a situation like this before. He opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, his entire being, aching with the sadness that Cho was experiencing.
"Please don't cry Cho…" Harry began, just Cho put her arms around him, and sobbed into the side of his shirt. "It's ok..it wasn't your fault..if anything, it was mine.." Harry began bitterly. "Oh yes, Harry Potter, Defeater of You-Know-Who, all around nice guy, and murderer. Wouldn't that look good on a plaque?" The words spilled out like they never did before. He didn't know what it was about Cho, perhaps it was because she had come to share his sorrow over Cedric with him, but he wanted to share things with her. He wanted to be with her as long as possible. Most of all, he wanted to wipe the pain from her very soul if he could.
Cho looked up at him, her mouth open in surprise. "Harry..I..didn't know..I mean.." She wiped her eyes with her robe, water stains appearing on the once clean fabric. "Mr. Diggory wouldn't tell me any details, he just wanted me to know that Cedric had died heroically, the way he had lived. And then I asked Dumbledore, and he just shook his head sadly, and told me he didn't really know the whole story. I didn't know who else to ask, Harry. And then Hermione told me that you were all alone in the summer, so I'd thought I'd come over and…"
Trailing off she looked deep into Harry's eyes, and he felt his hearts contort into throes of guilt. He shivered a bit. You like this don't you. Fancy Cedric looking in on this. Fancy him seeing you two together, and fancy him seeing you with his girl. It hasn't even been that long yet Harry. Didn't wait very long did you Potter? It's almost as if you wanted to Cedric to die. You love her don't you Potter. But she doesn't love you, she loves Cedric. That's why she came. Not to talk to you Potter, but you don't care. You didn't even like Cedric…you don't even deserve Cho.
"Harry?"
Harry looked at Cho with a start, and avoided her eyes, moving slowly away from her. He glanced at Cho, his entire body aching before starting once more. "I..Cedric he…I..it was..very sudden." Very sudden. Wow, your really good at comforting people aren't you Potter. Yes, it was very sudden. I, Harry Potter, watched Cedric die, and now, I'm going to go after the one person who cared for him. Just because I'm Harry Potter of course, I can do no wrong.
"It was..very sudden. We were at the end of the maze, and Cedric saved me from a giant spider. He stunned it the same time I did, and it fell on me. He wouldn't..he wouldn't take the cup. He said it was rightfully mine. I was so selfish..the only thing I could think about was the adoration of everyone when they saw me holding the cup..I..so..I…"
Cho looked at Harry, who's eyes were downcast, and had moved a considerable distance away from her. She tried to smile encouragingly at him, but couldn't, her eyes brim with tears as she thought about Cedric. Cedric asking her to the Yule-Ball, Cedric rescuing her from the bottom of the lake during one of the tasks, Cedric lying near Harry, not a mark on him, eyes glazed over. It hurt her more than anything she had ever felt before, and yet, there was something about the way that Harry was telling the story that didn't seem right to her.
"So I took the cup angrily, and and pushed it into his hands screaming "Take it!" I couldn't think, I was so angry at his nobility, I was so jealous…and then as it whisked us away, I realized it was a Port Key. At first, we thought it was one final task. So we brought our wands out, and I let Cedric go first…I..was..scared..I .." He paused. "When Cedric saw the Death Eater coming for me, he shielded me from the Death Curse, saving me from death. I ran…there was no heroics in my actions, I just followed my instincts and I ran..I picked up Cedric, ran to the port key…ran as fast as I could.."
Cho looked at Harry, an horrified expression on her face. She felt sudden surges of anger, and she wanted to scream at him. Shake him and ask him how he could have done it. He had killed Cedric. He…suspicions rose in her eyes as she looked at Harry, who still would not look her in the eyes. Her quick mind finally deduced all the holes in his story. How was any of this related to the fact that Lord Voldermort had arisen again if Harry had just run away. And what about what Dumbledore had said at the end of the year. How Harry's bravery was reminiscent of any of the witches and wizards who had faced Voldermort before.
Obviously, he didn't want to tell her the truth. Perhaps he was protecting her from details that he thought would hurt her more. Or perhaps he was merely being stubborn. Cho had a sudden image of her forcing a truth potion down Harry's throat. Or perhaps…she looked at him again, watching his hands twitter nervously. Perhaps it was because he felt the same way that she did...
It was no secret among Hogwarts, that Harry had a crush on her. Harry's daily activities were reported by all the students on a regular basis, although most of it was unknown to him. And she had harbored secret feelings for him until she had met Cedric. They had been so right together, yet towards the end of their relationship, Cho had known that they could only be friends. She just didn't feel the way she knew she should feel if she was really in love. She had intended to let him down easy, but that opportunity had been taken abruptly from her when the Death Eaters had killed him.
What hurt her the most was that when she had found out, she had cared more about Harry than Cedric, as cold and heartless as it seemed. When she had found out that Cedric had died, she hid his feelings from Harry abruptly The guilt that she had felt over Cedric was overwhelming her. How could she care more about Harry when Cedric cared so much for her? He had tried to talk to her near the end of the year, but she had turned him away. Now she knew the moment she had been dreading was nearing.
"Harry..your not telling me the truth are you…"
Harry's mouth fell open and he met her eyes, struggling to make a sound.
"Your hiding something from me…"
He just kept looking at her, and she could see a small trace of moisture appearing in his eyes.
"HHHHHHHHAAAAARRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!"
Harry turned, and Cho could see surprise and sudden fear in his eyes. He glanced at Cho, up at the repaired ceiling, and then at the dust all around his room. "You've..you've got to hide!" He said urgently. He looked all around his room, and then started pushing Cho towards his closet abruptly.
"Harry if you think I'm going to…"
With one final shove, he succeeded in getting most of Cho inside, and then closed it abruptly. His mind raced as he heard the heavy footsteps that could only mean Uncle Vernon was coming up. Probably angry at the tone of his voice when he had called Harry. He raced towards his door, and grabbed the door handle just as Uncle Vernon did the same thing from the other side.
"What the big idea boy?!" The voice roared from the other side.
"I'm..I'm cleaning.." Harry replied lamely.
"I don't care if your cleaning or not!? Let me in! Now practicing any of that magic are you?" Uncle Vernon spit out the word with venom.
"No..of course not.." Harry soon realized it was going to be a losing battle. Uncle Vernon was almost four times his size, and sure enough, the door knob was slowly turning, and the door opened with a crash. Harry fell, for perhaps the third time this day, and stared up at his very red-faced, angry looking Uncle.
"Thought you'd get away from it did you boy?!"
"Um…" Harry had to think for a moment. Besides almost mentioning that Uncle Vernon had been raiding the fridge during the night, he couldn't think of anything that would have mad his Uncle this angry. "Er…no, quite right, I didn't think I would."
"NOT so NOCHALANT now are you boy?! Not so superior! Even your godfather can't save you! Now where are they?!" Uncle Vernon's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head as he shook his fist.
"Where…what?"
"Don't play INNOCENT with me, boy?! That kind of thing won't work on me! You think the neighbors didn't see the roof open up?! Thought it was rather queer when it just closed again! Where is your stuff! Your not to have it until.. you.. you…" He sputtered out the next words with intense venom. "You go to that school of yours again. Give it to me!"
Harry's heart sank. He should have realized Cho's dramatic entrance could not have been unnoticed. He had kept the Dursley's from taking the gear that he had from Hogwarts away for a some time now, simply by threatening that Sirius might drop by at any moment to pay him a visit. However, it seemed unlikely the same threat would work now. Uncle Vernon had reached the end of his short fuse, and making him even more furious by refusing, might have serious consequences.
"Er..right.." Harry looked around for a moment, wondering if a few scrolls and textbooks would be enough to appease Uncle Vernon. He started rummaging around for the textbooks that he didn't want anymore, just as Cho coughed.
An deadly silence filled the air for a moment as Uncle Vernon turned his head towards the closet.
"What..was…that?"
"Just my owl…it's flu season…"
Uncle Vernon wasn't about to buy that excuse however, he stalked right towards Harry's closet, and without thinking, Harry blocked his way. His small size dwarfed by the much larger size of the rampaging relative.
"You don't want to do that!…" Harry said very quickly. "There's..erm..some powerful magic there. Been practicing you see…opening that closet could turn you right into a toad.."
Uncle Vernon backed away horrified, before his eyes squinted suspiciously. "Thought you weren't allowed to practice magic yet. Underage, weren't you?" A smile devoid of any humor split his face. "Got something in there don't you Potter." He almost spit out Harry's name. "Something that probably blew my roof..don't want me to have it do you, boy."
Before Harry could react, Cho stormed right out of the closet and glared at Uncle Vernon, her wand brandished before him. Her eyes were narrowed with intense dislike, anger radiating from her like a fiery storm, she cried out "Is that how you treat Harry?!"
Uncle Vernon backed away, and Harry couldn't tell what he was afraid of more. Cho's sudden appearance or the wand she was pointing right at him. Before he could stop her, Cho began her tirade.
"Of ALL the insensitive, uncaring, cruel, and insipid people I have ever known, you have got to be the worst. I mean, we all know that Harry's mistreated during the summer, but this…" She shook with anger, and Harry couldn't help but notice that she looked rather cute when she was that red. "This takes the cake!"
Uncle Vernon was still backing away, faced with a confusing dilemma. Here was Harry's savior, someone who he could detest and hate without feeling guilty, yet she had a wand. And knowing Harry, she would be one of them, witches. Making her mad…well, he had seen what had happened to Dudley when he had made Hagrid angry.
"Don't you have anything to say?!"
"It's..ok, Cho. Your really just making it worse, it's been like this for a long time. The best thing to do is just to give him my stuff until the term starts, and it starts pretty soon doesn't it." Harry suddenly interjected, attempting to defuse the situation.
"No it's not ok Harry. Ho..how they could be so cruel to you after what you've been with, after..well…after knowing what your like.." At this she flushed a bit "Is..is..so stupid!" She clarified this with an emphatic stamp of her foot.
"Now see here young lady.." Uncle Vernon bellowed, gaining back a bit of his courage.
"Polymorphius!" Cho cried, before Uncle Vernon could even finished. Before Harry's horrified, and somewhat delighted eyes, Uncle Vernon became a thick shade of green. Without a tremendous whoosh, he was shrinking, and shrinking. His eyes were bulging out before, until, standing in a pile of clothes, giving an indignant ribbit, was a large, green, toad.
"Oh..that's..that's not…" Harry began..
"Come on Harry! Your staying with me, and I don't care what you say. Get your stuff."
"But I.."
"Go!"
Harry burst into action, emptying his pantry of all its things, and pushing them into his large trunk. Looking at Cho, who was looking as if turning Uncle Vernon into a toad was only the first thing she was planning to do, he grabbed her arm. "Come on, Cho…"
Casting one last angry look at the toad, Cho grabbed Harry's arms forcibly, and almost tossed him on his Firebolt. Raising her wand, she blew the top of Harry's roof again, creating a pathway, as she climbed on behind him.
Harry knew that he would get into immense trouble for this. Underage wizards weren't supposed to practice magic, and Dumbledore had told him to stay at the Dursley's until he called for him during the school term. He feared more about what Dumbledore might do to Cho, who had broken quite a few rules just now. But before he could ponder these questions, Cho suddenly pushed up with all her might, and the both of them soared into sky, a startled Hedwig flying behind them.