Crash And Burn
Disclaimer: I don't own the HP characters. And for future reference so I don't have to do this again, I never will.
Author's Note: Thanks everyone for the reviews! I have a few ideas on how she plans on trying to get something to happen. Perhaps it has something to do with the potion? *Cheshire cat smile*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry, Ron and Hermione were pacing back and forth outside the hospital waiting for word on how Ginny was doing. Poppy had insisted on Harry and Sirius giving her some time alone to sleep and recuperate. With much protest, Harry finally consented when Sirius threatened to use a full body bind on him and tie him to a chair in the common room when he got there. It didn't make the fact that his Ginny was in the hospital wing, recovering from something that should never have happened. Explaining it to Ron and Hermione had been even more difficult.
He walked into the common room, head down, his face wet from the tears he had cried. Ron and Hermione saw this and just left him to himself for a while. They cuddled on the couch and the three sat in companionable silence. Finally, as the tension in the air reached a height and Ron decided to break it.
"Harry, you wanna talk about it," he asked, going over to where his friend was sitting and plopping down in the chair next to him.
Harry turned his head to look at him. "Yeah, but I'm dreading it."
"Why would you dread it," he asked, getting increasingly more worried about what he was meaning. He had just noticed that Ginny wasn't there, and seeing as how the two had been attached at the hip since they'd started going out, he figured it was something that had to do with Ginny. He was right.
"You saw what happened before Care Of Magical Creatures last week didn't you? I mean, the whole thing with Cho? And then a few nights ago when she came up to us outside the portrait hole? Well, obviously Cho isn't understanding what we're saying or she just can't get past us dating cause she attacked Ginny in the owlery after she sent off a message. Ginny fought back but she took a good beating in the process." He sighed, resting his forehead on his knees as he could feel Ron's anger radiating from where he sat.
"WHAT?!?! That…she…what the hell?!?! She attacked Ginny?! Where is she? How is she?!" Ron raged on and on and Hermione and Harry tried to calm him. It took Hermione jumping on his lap and kissing him to stop his rant. She jumped off as soon as she felt him relax and sat down next to him.
"Ron, you can't go see her now. If you could, Harry wouldn't be here. He'd be with her. What we need to do right now is talk to Professor Dumbledore and see if there's anything we can do to help keep her safe. That's all we can do." Hermione took Ron's hand in hers, squeezing it for reassurance. "Come on now. The three of us can go to his office and take care of this issue."
Harry sat there, staring at the fire as the two of them talked, wondering if he should tell them that Cho was a Death Eater. How could he do that? It'd send Ron off the hook, he'd send a note home to his dad, his dad would tell the Ministry, and everything would come out. He couldn't risk the safety of those close to him. Ginny was already in enough danger. He hadn't wanted her this close, but once it happened he couldn't let go, wouldn't let go. He sighed happily to himself. It was nice to feel love.
"Come on guys. Let's go talk to Dumbledore. He'll have a better idea of what to do than we will." He got up, Hermione and Ron following, going all the way to Dumbledore's office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dumbledore sat in his office, Cho on the other side of the desk, his disappointment in her evident on his face. He never expected any of his students outside Slytherin to go bad. He already knew which ones had the Dark Mark and watched them to make sure they weren't doing anything outside the schools, or inside for that matter. Now he had to worry about Cho. He couldn't believe it. In all his years he never expected she would go over to the Dark side, especially with the situation on Cedric's death.
"Cho," he said, a sigh laden with sadness following, "why? Why have you done this? You're a very bright girl. You're giving yourself over to a side that has no future. And after he killed Cedric?"
Cho smirked, very characteristic of those who followed him. "Well, I guess I surprised a lot of people. I'm not going to a side with no future, I'm going to the side with a future. You and your goody goody ways aren't going to solve any problems I have. And that bitch Ginny and bastard Harry are gonna pay for everything they've done to me. I will not be take lightly!" She could feel her anger growing, her face flushing, at the mere thought of Ginny and Harry together.
"I have no choice then Cho," Dumbledore said. "You will be moved to Slytherin house, taken off all activities associated with the school. You are banned from leaving the grounds. A marker shall be placed on you so we know at all times where you are and what you're doing." He put the tip of his wand on her forearm, muttering a spell. A bright jet of light shot out of the tip and embedded itself in her arm where the wand tip had been. "I reiterate, you will stay away from Harry and Ginny. You're only setting yourself up for an end that you won't want."
Cho stood up and went to the door, pausing for a moment before leaving. "You know, if Harry hadn't left me for that bitch none of this would've happened. Stop blaming me for this and try blaming the boy wonder. No matter though. Soon enough he'll know just how wrong he was." With that she left the office, leaving Dumbledore to contemplate how to keep her separated from Ginny and Harry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron, Hermione and Harry were walking down the hallway when they saw Cho heading back downstairs toward the dungeons. Harry gathered what Dumbledore must've done, and in some way he felt sorry for her. It was her own choice to attack Ginny and now she had to live with the repercussions of actions. Shrugging, he stood in front of the gargoyles, said the password, and the trio headed up the stairs to the office.
Harry knocked, heard "Come in you three" from inside, and entered. They each sat down in their respective seats. Dumbledore was about to speak but wasn't given the chance as Ron immediately set into his rant from before.
"Professor Dumbledore, I understand that you are very compassionate and understanding, but in the matter of my sister being attacked by Cho Chang I expect some very serious happenings. We saw her heading down the stairs. What is being done about this," Ron ranted, his face flushed in anger. Hermione was holding his hand, squeezing it to reassure him. It was all that was keeping him from flying off the handle and going after Cho.
"I assure you that this matter is being handled in the most severe way possible. Now, if you two will excuse us, Harry and I need to have a talk." Ron looked a bit insulted but did as he was told and headed out the door, Hermione in his wake. They waited immediately outside the door for Harry, hoping to catch bits of the conversation.
Dumbledore could guess what they were doing and used a Silencing charm on the room. "Alright Harry. Cho has been tagged, moved to Slytherin house, and has been strictly instructed to stay away from the two of you. Now, short of a Fidelius Charm, there's no way of keeping her permanently away from you two. You'll just have to be very careful. The school doesn't know of Sirius's appointment, at least not the whole school," he added, knowing that Ron and Hermione had probably been told. "If you like, you may go wait for Miss Weasley outside the Hospital Wing until Poppy says you can go in and see her. I'm afraid she will be there for a few days to monitor her. Sirius is keeping watch over her in his dog form. Nobody else next to the four of you, the professors, and Poppy know his Animagi form so this shall be a good arrangement."
Harry nodded his head. "I'm sure she'll be safe with Sirius watching her, and I'll be with her the rest of the time. I just hope nothing like this happens again, although I fear that this isn't the end of Cho's rage. It seems as though she thought we were dating. She knew I was only there for her after what happened to Cedric. I felt obligated. This is all my fault isn't it," he added, getting depressed about the whole thing. In his mind, it was true. He had driven Cho to the Death Eaters and Voldemort by following his heart and going with Ginny. Then he had a thought. "Oh no Professor! The prophecy! Is she…I mean, will she……be taken," he asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm afraid so. The only way to save her is for her to realize that her rage is nothing more than in her head. Professor Snape has long since had the Dark Mark removed, back in your fifth year when he discovered how. He has a sort of muggle tattoo there to make Voldemort think he is still loyal. He can help others too, but only if they ask. I'm sure Cho will eventually ask, but if she doesn't, I fear she won't be able to avoid the fate that awaits the rest of the Death Eaters."
Harry looked down, a touch of sadness entering him. He never meant for everything to go this way, but Dumbledore was right. It was Cho's choice to go to Voldemort. She could've handled it maturely and talked to him about her feelings, or even have asked him out when they were still friends. She preferred to string him along and eventually the affection he felt towards her had faded while the affection he felt towards Ginny grew. He smiled at the mere thought of her. He could picture her red hair flying behind her in the wind, her face bright with a smile, her eyes twinkling. He looked up at Dumbledore and smiled. "Can we go wait for her now Professor?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course Harry. If one of you would like to stay with Ginny tonight I shall arrange for this with Poppy. As I'm sure it will be you, this might be a good opportunity to arrange for your next Animagi lesson. You two will have a week off from the rest of your classes to give yourselves time to recuperate and gather your materials and get the potion off to a good start so you may do your first transformation. I shall be glad to see this. I hear you are to be a stag and Ginny is to be a winged horse? Just like your parents," he added, beaming with pride at the thought of the two of them.
Harry got up and headed to the door. "Thank you Professor…for everything."
"Anytime Harry. I'm always here," he added, watching his back as Harry left. He sighed, thinking about everything the two of them were going to face. He didn't expect Cho to give up any time soon yet somehow he hoped she would. It was disturbing any time to find that one of his students had fallen victim to the propaganda surrounding Voldemort but someone like Cho, who seemed so able to resist and was such a good student, and after everything she went through after Cedric's death…it was almost too much. He turned to Fawkes and numbly stroked his feathers as he looked out the window, watching some of the kids playing on the front lawn, hiding behind trees, using harmless spells to move objects in an odd version of Hide-And-Seek. He knew soon that they would be able to play outside the walls without worry about attack or kidnap, but from now until Yule's night, they would be in more danger than ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cho strolled down the corridors, heading back from her last trip to the Ravenclaw common room, her cauldron full of potion now in vials. She had enough made to keep her for a good three days, four if she watched herself. All she needed was help with whatever charm Dumbledore had used on her. She had to get it removed or she wouldn't be able to go through with her plan. And she had a pretty good idea of who could help her. How else did he get out?
Soon she was in front of the portrait of an anaconda curled around its prey, slowly squeezing the life out of it. She smirked at the picture and said "Draconis Mortem." Slowly the picture began to change. The snake's mouth opened wider and wider and revealed a doorway, a sort of tunnel into the Slytherin common room.
It was a cold, dark, damp place, with cold grey stone walls and a fire making a sorry attempt at burning. There were a few tables placed haphazardly around the room, themselves only slabs of crude woods lain across a few standing poles. It was a far cry from the comforts of the Ravenclaw common room, but to her she could've been in heaven. She was beginning to feel more and more like she belonged. As she scanned the common room and the few people who were in there others came out of the shadows. Soon she was surrounded by people patting her on the back saying "Congratulations" or "Way to go." She smiled and gladly accepted these compliments on her job well done with the Weasley girl. Then she took her place in the surrounding circle as Draco stepped forward to stand in the center.
"My fellow Slytherins, one has just joined our ranks that has done a great service to us and I'm hoping will do a great deal more for our cause. Some of you may have the Mark, some may not yet. However, Mark or not we are all united under the cause of Voldemort!" A rousing round of cheers went up. "No longer will we have to tolerate the old man's insolence, his inability to realize the true path we must all follow. There is no good and evil, only those who have power and those who don't!" Another round of cheers went up from the crowd. Draco's speech was insighting a great rush of excitement. He just hoped he could control them when the time came. "Cho, step forward." She did as she was asked, taking a place beside Draco, her chin held high in a regal sort of pose. The two of them stood together, looking around at the circle surrounding them. All looked at them as they would a leader. They were the pair to lead the Death Eaters of Hogwarts. "Cho is to be my partner. You shall all give her the respect you show me." They all pledged their loyalty to this pair and went about their business then, leaving Cho and Draco to sit in the chairs by the fire, to talk about Cho's plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Poppy's head peeked out from behind the door. "If I let one of you stay the night will the three of you please for the love of the gods stop pacing! You're driving me crazy!" With that she left the three of them to hash out who would get to stay.
"Ron, you should stay with her. You're her brother and she deserves you right now. You've grown up with her. You'd be best for her," said Harry, still a bit saddened by the whole thing. The more he thought about it the more he realized that he should've run after her. He knew better than to leave her alone with Cho on a rampage.
"I don't think I'm what she needs right now. What she needs right now is you Harry. She needs you to be there because she needs to know you haven't done anything stupid. Please Harry, just go with her. We'll come by in the morning," said Ron, hugging Hermione.
She leaned against him, smiling encouragingly at Harry. "Go on Harry. She needs you right now. I'll get the dirt later on you two," she added, a giggle escaping her. Ron looked down at her and Harry laughed, the first real laugh he'd had in a while.
"Alright you guys. I'll go with her. But you better be here in the morning. And Hermione, can you please bring Merlin and Hedwig here? I'm sure they'll help cheer her up," he added. Hermione knew it was more for his benefit than hers. Hedwig always cheered him up. And now that she had Merlin, the duo couldn't be separated.
"Sure Harry," she said. "Come on Ron. Let's go do that now. I expect she'll be up and waiting for them," she added. She and Ron headed down the corridor while Harry turned and entered the Hospital Wing.
Ginny wasn't in the greatest shape. Madame Pomfrey had Ginny's Pain Reliever Cloths all over her where the scratches, scrapes, and bruises were. Ginny herself had her eyes closed, one hand pressing a Pain Reliever Cloth to her forehead, the other to the back of her head where she had smashed into the stone floor. Her wrist was in a cast of sorts, making it hard to hold the cloth on her forehead. Harry hurried over to her side and took the cloth from her, holding it there and allowing her casted wrist a rest. She turned her head when she felt his hands there and smiled. "Hello hun. Here," she said, sitting up. "This is for you. It's more of a long story, but I'm sure your mum's taken care of the explanation inside."
Harry looked at her sideways, wondering if she was dillusional. "Ginny, my mum's gone. How could she have sent this?"
"To make a long story short, I saw her. She told me to write my mum and ask for the box she had sent her a few months before they died. This is what she wanted you to have. A gift of sorts. She knew she was going to pass. She knew she couldn't stop it so she made this for you. Please Harry, open it. Find out what she wanted you to know," she said, holding his hand with her bandaged one.
Harry stared down at the box, the rest of the world melting away from his. His only conscious feeling was Ginny's hand in his. It gave him reassurance, yet he didn't know how to take this. In his hands was his only gift he ever got from his mother, much as the Invisibility Cloak was his only gift from his father. He didn't know whether to jump for joy or cry from happiness. It saddened him a bit, knowing that this was his only link to his mother. This was all he would ever know of her. He cautiously reached down and tugged at the ribbon surrounding the box, letting it fall as it willed on his knee. He stared a bit more at the box, still hesitant about opening it. He suddenly felt his hand being squeezed and looked up at Ginny. "Go ahead," she said. "Open the box. You need to Harry. Your mother wanted you to have whatever's inside bad enough to hide it until you were ready. Go on," she said again, giving his hand another reassuring squeeze. He sighed and smiled at her, getting up and sitting on the edge of her bed as she sat up and leaned against his back, looking over his shoulder. He gingerly grabbed the lid of the box and slid it off revealing what was inside.
There was a note, sealing in an envelope, the handwriting on the front in a shimmering blue ink spelling out "Harry James Potter." He lifted the note and set it aside for the moment, lifting out the few things inside. First was a set of rings, what looked to be wedding bands of some sort. A simple golden band and a beautiful white gold ring with an emerald green sapphire set in the middle. Ginny gasped as Harry handed it to her and they both looked at them together. He turned back to the box and took out the next thing, an envelope that was a bit thick. He opened it up and found inside pictures of his parents from school, from home, from summers they'd spent together. He noticed on some of them from school that they were around the same spot. ~Perhaps Ginny and I will have to go to these spots.~ He handed Ginny the pictures and took out the other pieces of parchment. One appeared to be a deed. He looked a bit closer and saw it was for about twenty acres in the area around Hogsmeade. ~We'll have to check this out too.~ He kept sifting through the box. Little bits of things she left him. Then he got to the bottom and saw that it appeared to be a false bottom. He lifted the piece of wood to discover a bowl of sorts. He lifted it out, careful not to spill its contents. It was beautifully ornate with winged horses and stags running around the sides of it.
"Harry, is that a Pensieve," asked Ginny, the amazement and wonder evident in her voice.
Harry was struggling to keep himself from crying as he looked at everything around them, including the Pensieve. He reached up and grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers in hers. "Yes," he said, a bit shakily. "Yes it is." He set it down gingerly on the stand next to the bed, careful not to spill any of the contents, although he was pretty sure that he couldn't. Pensieves were supposed to hold everything in them, not letting them spill out or anything. He put everything else back in the box, careful not to disturb anything else. He set it on the chair and lay down next to Ginny. She rested her head on his chest, her cast resting next to her head, her hand playing with his hair as he played with hers, his arm resting around her. He sighed, looking up at the ceiling. She turned her head and lifted it slightly, looking at him. She moved up and kissed him on the cheek. "Harry, what's wrong," she asked, resting her head next to his on the pillow, her arm wresting on his body.
He turned over and looked at her, brushing her hair out of her face and kissing her forehead. "It's a lot to take in hun. Everything that's happened lately and now this. First you're attacked by some wacko who goes to Voldemort cause she thinks that somehow I cheated on her when we were never going out and now I get this package my mother sent to your mother before she died. It's like she knew she was gonna die. But how? How would she know something like this? And if she did why didn't she do anything about it," he asked, anger and sadness battling inside him. Tears leaked out of his eyes as he looked at Ginny, hoping she would have an answer for him.
She reached up and brushed away his tears. "Until I find out differently, I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that she did try. That's why she used the Fidelius Charm. But if something is meant to happen there's nothing anybody can do to stop it," she said, holding his cheek in her hand.
He turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand while taking it in his. "I knew I loved you for a reason. You can always cheer me up." He smiled at her, kissing her forehead again.
Ginny's eyes widened. Had he just admitted that he loved her? She looked into his eyes and saw them twinkling, his smile growing wider and wider as he watched her. She could feel herself smiling wider and wider as this thought tossed around in her head. "Harry," she asked, her words shuddering with the shaky breath she was taking, "did you say you loved me? Do you really mean it?"
Harry looked straight into her eyes, his whole face beaming. "Yes Ginny. I love you. And I mean every word of it." She gave a squeal of delight and grabbed the back of his head, pulling his mouth to hers in a searing kiss of love. Both of them were so involved with each other that they didn't hear the door open as Ron and Hermione entered, Merlin and Hedwig with them, Sirius bringing up the back. The three of them plus the two owls stood watching them, too startled to say anything. Finally Sirius started chuckling, trying his hardest to keep it back. Ron coughed rather loudly. "Ahem! When you two are finished," he said, watching with amusement as the two turned to face them. They looked back at each other, their faces turning redder than Ginny's hair, and started laughing, getting everyone involved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, Cho darling, what do you have in mind for the inseparable sweetness of Potter and Weasel," asked Draco, wearing his traditional smirk, hoping beyond hope that she couldn't see through his false demeanor.
"Just a little bit of potion that's gonna help me break the two apart." She smiled cruelly as she pulled out her flask that had the potion in it.
"Polyjuice Potion I take it then. So what are you gonna do," he asked, curious as to what she had in mind.
"You'll see. By the time I'm done with them not even a prophecy will be able to bring those two together." She laughed cruelly at this, as did the rest of the Slytherins around them. Draco suddenly stood up. "Well, I'm sure Professor Snape will be proud to know that you have a plan for this. I shall go inform him." He went out of the portrait hole and down the hall a bit to Snape's office. He knew he'd be there. It wasn't time for him to be in his staff room. He knocked and a short time later the door cracked open.
Snape peered out in the hall and saw that it was Draco. He immediately ushered him in, checking to see after he came in if anybody was there. Seeing no one, he went back in, using a Silencing Charm and a Super Lock Charm. He then turned to Draco. "What did you find out Draco," he asked.
"Cho has made or found Polyjuice Potion and obtained some of Ginny's hair in the fight they had. She plans on changing into Ginny and disrupting the two of them to the point where the prophecy would have no chance of surviving. You do understand that we must do everything in our power to prevent this from happening and monitoring when it does."
Snape nodded. "I suggest that you use school owls and warn them of what is to come. We must prevent Cho from succeeding at all costs."