Chapter 4
Latrinval
Conscious of the fact that Cho's arms were around him, and that she was laughing with exhilaration, Harry couldn't help but smile, although inside he was seriously worried. Two times before, he had been accused of using magic at the Dursleys where he was forbidden by law to do so, and had almost been expelled. He was worried about what might happen to Cho, who had just not only made his roof explode, but turned his Uncle into a toad. Slowly however, his worries seeped away and he could not help but enjoy the flight. He had spent far too long cooped up at the Dursleys, and this breadth of freedom revived him.
"Er..Cho?"
"Yes Harry?"
"Where exactly…are we going?"
"Oh!" Harry heard a faint giggle behind him. "Oh yes, I forgot to tell you..here let me steer."
Conscious of the fact that they were literally hundreds of miles above the ground, Harry must have blanched pale white for he could hear Cho laughing behind him. How exactly was she going to steer if he was still in front?
"Trust me…"
Taking a tremendous leap of faith, he let go of the broomstick and closed his eyes tightly. Cho swung about, and grabbed the forward end of the broomstick from him and without warning started a tremendous plunge towards the Earth. Not unlike how Harry would act if he had spotted a golden snitch in Quidditch, she steered the broomstick into a free fall at appalling speeds.
Harry gave a little yelp as images of the previous summer's World Quidditch Cup came to his mind. He could remember seeing Krum diving down towards the Earth, Ireland's seeker close behind. What it had been called, the Wronski Feint? All he remembered now was that Krum had pulled up just in time, while Ireland's seeker had slammed painfully into the ground. Images of him and Cho experiencing the same fate came to his mind, and he looked frantically backwards.
"Cho!..you can..go slower y'know.."
He could barely hear her reply through the whipping wind all around his ears, although he thought her laugh in gaiety. Petrified as he was, he couldn't help but be impressed with Cho's bravery, and her expert handling of the broomstick. These feelings didn't help him much however, as the endless puffs of clouds finally parted before them, and Harry could see that they were headed straight for a tree.
"Choooooooo we're going to crashhhhhhhhh!"
Another nervous laugh resounded behind him, and Harry hung on for dear life. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm going to live. Be positive Potter. It was getting more and more difficult to be positive however, as the tree got closer, and closer, and closer. Ohmigod, this is going to be worse than when I crashed into the Whomping Willow. He suddenly stared at the tree in horror. Ohmigod I hope that tree doesn't fight back. Although I'm sure Madam Pomfrey could re-grow anything I broke…
Madam Pomfrey was a talented school nurse who worked at Hogwarts. She had once re-grown all the bones in Harry's hand, and Harry had learned to trust her medical expertise ever since. Just as he was beginning to see death in his eyes, Cho spun the Firebolt around again. Losing his balance, Harry was thrown rather awkwardly to the ground still clutching Cho who had fallen with him. The fact that they were again holding each other did not seem to embarrass Harry anymore. He stared at the ground, never seeing anything quite so beautiful in his life before, and Cho was more than a little amused when he started hugging great bunches of grass.
"I knew you couldn't keep up with me flyboy, probably haven't even been on your broomstick all summer have you?"
Harry was much too relieved to be able to think up a quick retort, but even Cho could see the red of indignation mounting on his cheeks. He spun around angrily, and pointed his up at her finger accusingly, his entire body shaking. "We..we could have been killed!"
She just gave him a rather lopsided grin, and then knelt besides him. "Oh come on Harry…" Her voice softened a little and her eyes filled with concern as Harry seemed to be still shaking with genuine hostility. "Please don't be mad..I was just …"
"Showing off!" His voice rose rather high as he was provoked, and he continued glowering at her, his eyes flashing. Cho was suddenly filled with remorse, as she quickly took his hand in her own. She hadn't meant to scare him, Cho had thought that as a seeker, Harry wouldn't have been so easily frightened. She looked into his face worry etched on her brows, before noticing something rather suspicious about the way Harry was acting. He seemed to be having a rather hard time breathing, and his face was quite red, not from fear, but from….
Cho abruptly pushed him back onto the ground just as he erupted into laughter. This time it was Cho who was glaring at Harry. Normally, any astute Ravenclaw could have picked up on Harry's acting, for Harry was not a talented actor by any means. However, there was something about Harry that made her hang on his every word. She scowled at him furiously, making a motion with her robes as if she was brushing off tears.
"How can you be so insensitive?!"
Harry's happy laughter suddenly dropped several octaves lower, and he coughed a bit uncertainly. Hiding her grin as she continued to wipe at her eyes with her robes, she shook with exaggerated sadness. "After all I did for you…how could you be so..so…" She struggled for the right word, all the while containing her laughter.
"Cho..I…." Harry began still confused.
"So… vile…" Cho continued, her voice breaking. Luckily for her, Harry merely took this as another sign of impending tears. "After all I did!"
"Cho..I..really could never thank you enough. The Dursleys are so beastly, and the way you stood up to them….I mean..."
"Chooo..I could neeeeverrrr thank you…" Cho repeated in a sing-song falsetto. "Except by hurting you of course. Oh, the great Harry Potter….so righteous, so brave, so …so…" She continued shaking, although she was finding it increasingly hard to hold in her laughter.
Harry seemed mortified that his little joke could have hurt Cho this bad. Desperately wondering how it had all gone so wrong, he didn't notice that Cho was merely doing the same thing Harry had been doing earlier, acting. He awkwardly took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Cho..I mean it..I could never tha-"
He never even finished his sentence for Cho had started guffawing loudly, interrupting him. His face turned beet red when he realized she was not in fact, crying, but laughing at him. Furious at himself, he pushed her away from him, scrambled up, and pinned her.
Her eyes twinkled up at him in bemusement, but Harry's heart had stopped beating. Time seemed to move unusually slowly. His glasses had fallen somewhere in the grass but he didn't notice. All he could see at the moment were Cho's lips. How he longed to brush his own against them. He stared into her brown eyes, his devotion to her overriding his basic instincts. He moved closer, knowing that he would regret it if he kissed her. But he couldn't bring himself to stop.
Cho looked up at him, eyes still twinkling with laughter. She let him pin her, playfully looking up at him. Blushing a bit, she noticed how intently she was looking at him. Her lips trembled as he moved closer and closer to her. Would he do it? How would she feel about it? Would she regret it? What about Cedric? Was Harry thinking the exact same thi-
"Cho! Vouz scared me very much you silly leetle girl!" Cho cringed just as she heard her roommate's strident voice coming from up the hill. She glanced up with exasperation as Harry turned away from her and got up abruptly. Kiss me! She wanted to scream at him.
"Oh..and..'Arry..oh my..I..eez this is bad time?"
Harry was rummaging through the grass for his glasses as Cho sat up, and picked them up for him. Very gently, she put them on for him, and for the first time, he could see just how red Cho had become. His own cheeks were burning, and he turned quickly away, and looked, to his surprise, right at Fleur Delacour's worried face.
"Oh I…" Harry began.
"Er..we were.." Cho continued.
"Flying…"
"And…er…a bird..yes a bird hit us…"
"Oh yes..a big white one..it was horrendous Fleur…you should have heard Harry screaming."
Harry was now glaring at Cho who was again hiding a smile. "Oh but Cho had the presence of mind to free-fall on the broomstick."
"Because Harry fell, of course…I was trying to catch him…you really should have heard him screaming.."
"'Arry? Cho?" Fleur tried to interject.
"Not that it would have made any difference, you couldn't catch anything with the way you fly."
"I caught you didn't I?"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"'Arry?! Cho?!" Fleur started waving her arms frantically.
"Oh I'm sure you're just so impressive on your little Firebolt, flyboy. The girls must love you."
"At least…at least.." Harry sputtered unable to think of anything.
"'Arry?! Cho?!"
"What?!" They both turned shouting at Fleur, Cho still nursing her secret smile, while Harry seemed to be genuinely raging.
"Your trunk..ees falling."
Harry looked up just as a shadow fell on his face. He had forgotten all about Hedwig. Their furious dive down must have exhausted her when she had tried to follow. He could see her now, flapping her wings frantically, barely able to keep the trunk upright. He shielded his face with his arms as fast as he could, just as Hedwig uncermoniously dropped the heavy container onto his head.
Cho and Fleur both watched, as Harry Potter, Quidditch and School Champion, defeater of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fell again to the ground, for perhaps the fourth time this very day. Trunk firmly implanted on his chest, Harry seemed to be having some trouble breathing, and was turning a deep shade of blue. Waving his arms frantically, he gestured toward Cho and Fleur, who immediately ran towards him. With all three of them pushing and pulling, they finally got the chest off him.
"Tha…thanks…" Harry gasped, still struggling for air.
"Don't mention it." Cho replied, her smile only becoming wider as Harry glared at her. It didn't last too long for he couldn't help but smile after all that had happened to him in the past few hours. They looked into each other's eyes, and Cho could feel herself getting lost in his, her smile waning a bit as they continued to stare at each other. Fleur looked at Cho, and then at Harry sensing that this was a private moment. She coughed to get their attention.
Startled, Cho and Harry both reluctantly looked at her.
"Well..maybez wee should take 'Arry home? Before zee Muggles come?"
"Oh right!" Cho grinned, suddenly grabbing Harry's arm. "Come on! Your going to love it at Latrinval Harry, it's so…beautiful." Harry didn't resist as Cho pulled him along. Fleur followed closely behind them more than a little suspicious that there was something going on between Cho and Harry that they both wouldn't admit. As they walked around the empty field, Harry's face became blanker and more confused.
"I thought you said you were living with your roommate.."
"Zhe is. I'm am her new roommate. My sister an' I are transferring to 'Ogwarts."
Harry thought back to how Fleur had been complaining about Hogwarts the year before. During the Yule Ball, she had seemed especially rude about how she felt about the school's decorations, it's food, even it's students. What could have possibly changed her mind? Fleur seemed to be able to read his mind.
"Zee…headmaster…Dimmydore?"
"Dumbledore." Cho corrected chuckling.
"Sorree …Dumbeedore waz impressed with how I handled the tasks." She beamed with pride and Harry smiled at her. She had handled them very well. Probably better than he had, considering he had a lot more help than she did. "He offered mee a position at Hogwartz…I graduated you zee…" Harry had forgotten how much younger he had been than all the other school champions, it had never occurred to him that Fleur was going to Hogwarts for a job. "I will be teaching historee." Fleur finished proudly, her silver hair flashing in the sun.
"Finally, maybe I won't fall asleep in that class anymore…" Cho said grinning, and Harry nodded, sharing her distaste for Professor Binns, who was quite the bore. They continued walking, and stopped near a white fence.
"Zwell…here we are."
Harry stood there, more confused than ever. The only thing around them was a desolate, empty field, devoid of any sign of civilization. He was more used to wizards congregating in crowded areas like London, and he thought back fondly to Hogsmeade. Letting go of Harry's arm, Cho knelt carefully near the fence, and pressed her palm onto one of the wooden slates.
To Harry's great surprise, a hole opened up where he was standing, and before he knew it, he was sliding down what seemed to be a large tunnel. Cho and Fleur were right beside him the long, tumultuous slide bringing them deep underground. Cho almost seemed to be gliding, and Harry couldn't help that she looked graceful even under these conditions. Fleur however did not seem to be enjoying herself. Her face had turned pale white and she looked rather sick.
Harry gasped as the slide opened up to reveal literally thousands of buildings the like of which he had never seen before. There were round ones, which resembled giant beach balls. There were ones that were shaped to resemble wands. There were ordinary stone ones, and midnight black structures. There were castles that dwarfed Hogwarts in size, and palaces that would have made Uncle Vernon green with envy. In the air, witches and wizards were flying about in the air, hurrying along to unknown tasks. But what was most noticeable to Harry was how bright everything was. It seemed that everywhere he looked, bright, multi-colored beams of magical lights were sweeping about illuminating things at random. As Harry gaped at this large, underground city, while Cho smiled at him.
"Welcome to Latrinval, the City of Light. And my home coincidentally." Cho said, grabbing Harry's arm again and pulling him along. "Come on…."
Fleur emerged behind them, having somewhat recovered from the slide. "Zee ride..always makes mee sick.." She said, smiling weakly at them both.
But Harry did not seem to notice. A wizard city! Wizards had cities? Of course they would, Harry thought berating himself. Things like that shouldn't surprise him anymore. Everywhere he looked, there were wizards and witches of all shapes and sizes. Nothing he had seen before in the Magical World had been quite this…crowded. A purple light swept downward accentuating streets packed with shops. Potion ingredients, wands, broomsticks, spell books, and anything else Harry could have possibly imagined were all there. Signs in languages he had never learned were lit up in neon, and every now and then a whoosh could be heard as large griffons and packs of owls soared overhead.
"Gilderoy Lockhart's latest novel, Magical Mental Institutions and Me! Get it here first!"
"Excuse me sir, would you like to buy a nice suit of armor?"
"You young lady look like you could use a nice love potion." (Fleur blushed at this.)
"Get your Exploding Eye Powder here! Limit one per customer!"
Harry hardly seemed to notice that Cho was carefully steering him away from the crowd and towards a modest building on one of the city's many streets. It seemed to be made out of colorfully, stained glass. She opened the door carefully, and almost had to drag Harry in with her. "I'll give you a tour later..you look exhausted and need to get some rest, I'll make you a..."
Harry walked into Cho's home only to be greeted by two figures. The first, he recognized as a very perturbed looking Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. Standing right next to him, wearing a serious expression, was none other than Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. His heart sank as he stared at Fudge's angry stares at Cho, and his stomach sank as it dawned on him why the two of them were there.
"Finally…" Cornelius Fudge said, looking down at Harry and Cho. "And just what have you been doing? Do you know the trouble you've caused. It's all over the papers, it is!" Holding up a copy of the Wizards Weekly, Harry could make out the headline. Harry Potter Escapes Muggles With Secret Love. "And you young lady are not allowed to use magic under any circumstances during the summer vacation unless it's an emergency…as you well know!"
"But-" Cho tried to explain.
"Was it an emergency?!" Fudge almost yelled, his arms waving in the air. Harry had never seen Fudge so worried or out of his element as now. Usually, the jovial Minister of Magic was very kind to everyone he met. He was good at what he did, if a little narrow-minded. The rise of Lord Voldemort, which Fudge had refused to believe, finally seemed to have taken its toll on the man. "You could have all been killed! There is a reason we wanted Harry to stay with his aunt and uncle. And now with You-Know-Who rumored to be on the prowl again we can't have underage wizard and witches blowing roofs off houses!" He finished furiously.
Dumbledore put his hand softly on Fudge's shoulder, which seemed to have a calming effect on him. "Why don't you let me handle this Cornelius…" As Fudge finally turned away, furiously shooting looks at Harry and Cho, Dumbledore looked at them both, eyes twinkling. "Why don't you tell me exactly what happened."
Before Harry could stop her, Cho related the events of the past few hours to him in a calm if somewhat angry voice. As Dumbledore nodded appropriately at certain points in her story, his mustache twitching. "So you see Headmaster, I had to let Harry stay with me for the rest of the summer. His uncle was just so beastly! He would have taken all of Harry's stuff away, he might not have even let Harry come to Hogwarts. You understand don't you?"
"One more thing if you please, Mrs. Chang.." Dumbledore began. "What exactly were you doing at Harry's house anyway?"
Harry hadn't thought it possible that Cho could have turned any redder than he had seen her before. She faltered, not knowing what to say. "Um…she wanted to ask me, Sir. About..Cedric…" Harry replied tentatively.
"Ah…you were very close to Mr. Diggory if I remember correctly.." Dumbledore finally said after a pause, looking sympathetically at Cho. "Yes..well, be that as it may. Underage wizards aren't supposed to practice magic in the Muggle World. Ministry agents have already been sent to your neighborhood Harry, and are changing the memories of those who saw Mrs. Chang.." He paused as Cho continued to blush. "For lack of a better word, blow your roof off. They are also attempting to turn your Uncle back into what he was…I must warn you however, with Lord Voldermort's rise, you would have been much safer there." Harry noticed how Fudge, Cho, and even Fleur winced at sound of Voldermort's name.
Cornelius Fudge shot Harry a concerned look. "You see Harry..your muggle relatives…dislike magic…" Harry didn't think dislike described quite how the Dursley's felt about anything out of the ordinary. "This dislike has made it unusually difficult to cast magic at your home, as Mrs. Chang might have noticed. Dumbledore here has put up powerful wards that make the Dark Arts almost impossible to practice at your home…"
"However, since you insisted on leaving with Mrs. Chang, I must insist that you stay here with her until the start of the term. Latrinval is a city full of wizards, it is unlikely that you will be in any danger. You must not however, wander off by yourself. Fleur, I'm entrusting you to take care of them both." Dumbledore looked at Fleur, who had stayed silent through most of the talks. "If there is nothing else, I'll see you all in a few weeks."
"Surely Dumbledore, there should be some punishment! She..she..blew a roof apart for Merlin's sake." Fudge sputtered indignantly.
"Come Cornelius, we have more important things to worry about right now. I haven't been in Latrinval for quite some time. I'm looking forward to seeing it's sights."
"Too much hustle and bustle if you ask me.."
With that, the two men walked out, although Fudge seemed very reluctant to go. Cho looked very relieved as they left, and sank onto her knees, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh Harry…I'm sorry, I didn't want to get you in trouble.."
"Cho…I.." Harry got down besides her and ran a hand through her hair. Relishing how soft it felt. Feeling as if a dozen quaffles were in his stomach, he leaned close to her. "Don't cry Cho…it's not your fault…it's mine. If I hadn't hid you in the closet.." Cho smiled sadly at him. She always had trouble breathing when he was that close to her. She paused as he ran his hand through her hair again, looking deeply into Harry's eyes. Oh..what she would give if she could only admit his feelings towards him. Why did she feel so nervous when he was around her?
"Hmph! If zee two of you are going to sit there all day, I'm going out!" Fleur scowled, her eyes flashing at them both. Tossing her silver hair casually back she shook her head. "Imagine you Cho, having zee nerve to do tvhat! Your crazy! Jus because I'm your friend, don't expect to pull something like that in my class!" Placing her hands on her hips, she left them both, her slender form disappearing into another room, still muttering about the trouble the two of them could have gotten into.