Harry Potter shot out of bed unceremoniously in the middle of the night and wiped the sweat off his face; his scar was burning painfully. He knew at once through his scar that Voldemort was extremely happy about something; but what was it? He tried hard to recall the images in his mind that were connecting with the pain in his forehead: He was sitting on a high backed chair, surrounded by at least a hundred death eaters. Where did he get all those Death Eaters? Harry thought "Well, my loyal servants, it seems that the first part of my plan has worked wonders; the two new recruits have opened the letters and they will be joining us very shortly; unless they wish to be murdered, and soon; a third recruit will also be coming to us soon" hissed Voldemort evilly. The circle of Death Eaters all laughed as one until a familiar voice spoke up: "My Lord, when will they be joining us?" it was the familiar drawl of Lucius Malfoy. "The first shall be joining us in a few days, she will be initiated and will begin training. The second will also join us in a few days as well; they will be training together and hopefully before the end of August, they will be among you in my inner circle. These recruits possess great power and I will stop at nothing to make sure that they will remain forever on our side. My third recruit will most likely take awhile to come around, however."

Who was Voldemort talking about? Harry decided not to dwell on that too much; he really didn't like to dwell on many things these days, not since his godfather Sirius Black had died. That was one thing, however, he could not stop dwelling on. Ever since it had happened, he tried to distance himself from everyone else. The Dursleys had just about completely ignored him ever since he came back from King's Cross; which suited Harry just fine, although he suspected that they were ignoring him in the fear that he would call Moody, Tonks or Lupin on them. He mainly just stayed in his room only leaving to go to the bathroom, his Aunt Petunia would shove his food under the catflap in his door (he had requested her to do it). Sometimes, Harry would be prone to periods where he just lay flat on his bed lost in his thoughts; thoughts such as If only I had studied Occlumency harder, Sirius would still be alive! Or he would lose himself in thoughts of the prophecy How the hell am I supposed to be the one to kill Voldemort? I can't even shut my god damned mind to Voldemort! It was like this every single day of the summer break; even letters from his best friends couldn't cheer him up; even though Ron and Hermione wrote to him regularly, he felt that he didn't even want anything to do with them. How they could not blame him for putting their own lives in danger?

Meanwhile; a few miles away in downtown Surrey, a tall girl with dark black hair stepped out of the shower to get ready for bed. Cho Chang was a very pretty girl who was in her last year at Hogwarts. However, she had quite a few other things on her mind recently; she had heard of what happened at the Ministry of Magic a month ago and while she was glad that some of Voldemort's supporters were locked up; she couldn't help thinking about Harry for some odd reason. True, they had a pretty good falling out in the last month or so of the term; she still wasn't sure that she could stay mad at him or Hermione Granger for that matter. If it weren't for Marietta spilling the beans to Umbridge about the D.A., they would have most likely been able to keep it up. The lessons were actually fun and Harry was a great teacher, she had to admit. Of course, it was also thanks to this that she had achieved 112% on her Defense Against The Dark Arts final exam and catapulted her to the top of her year; not only that, she was also one of the top three students in the school along with Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. Of course, she could have probably achieve that on her own; she wasn't the top in her class six years running for nothing. She decided that she would take a chance in writing to Harry, at least to apologize. Only problem was, she didn't know his address!

Don't be so stupid Cho! she chided herself; her owl was a terrific tracker and could probably find Harry if she asked it to. Well, it's worth a shot! she thought as she took out a piece of parchment and carefully began to write:

Dear Harry,

I know that I am the last person you would expect a letter from, seeing as how we had a pretty good row at the end of the term. I just wanted to write this letter to tell you that I am sorry. I know that you most likely will toss this letter aside because you probably don't believe me at all; and I can't say that I don't blame you. But before you do, please hear me out! I was still a little upset that your friend Hermione Granger used that strange jinx of hers, whatever it was after our argument, but I got to thinking.

I know that you are angry at Marietta for selling us all out and also you must be still be angry at me for sticking up for her, but truth be told; if our roles were reversed, I am sure you would still stick up for your friends. Anyway, that's not why I'm writing; like I said, after our row, I got to thinking about what Marietta had done. I have to tell you now that I really did enjoy being apart of the D.A. and I am sure if Marietta had kept her mouth shut we could have kept it up; you really were a great teacher! But back to the point; after wards, even though she was still in the infirmary, she kept going on about how she did the Ministry a great service and that her parents were going to be rewarded for it.

I asked her if she even cared in the slightest about screwing up the D.A. and our chance to learn real Defense from someone who faced Voldemort before; and she said that she didn't give a damn, she could care less about you and your "make-believe fantasies" about Voldemort and that she did not for one single moment believe that Voldemort was back. Well, this set me off; and you think we had a good row? Not even!

I flat out told her that if you and Dumbledore believed it; then I believed it and that was that and besides, you told me yourself that he was the one who murdered Cedric; I am inclined to believe it then! I told myself that I have been to hard on you; always talking about Cedric when I'm sure you did not want to relive that particular night, and I am sure that me crying all the time was a bit annoying too!

The truth is, Harry; I really did like you a lot and I was honestly upset after our row, I wanted to get to know you better instead of just the Boy Who Lived. I guess that I should stop there, I feel like I am going to ramble on some more; I guess that all I wanted to say was: I'm sorry for losing it with you, I wish that I could have realized what Marietta actually did and exactly how she felt about you before I confronted you. I really hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me; if not, I completely understand. I would at least hope that we could have a bit of a truce between us.

Cho Chang

That looks good she thought as she tied the parchment to her owl's leg. "This is for Harry Potter, make sure you find him!" she commanded as the owl hopped of its ledge and began flying away. Little did Cho know, that very same Harry Potter lived a stone's throw away, thus she was surprised when she woke up the next morning to see her owl pecking away impatiently at her window with another parchment tied to its leg.

"Wow, you must be faster than I thought!" Cho praised the owl and then did a double take when she saw that Harry actually lived just outside of Surrey! Weird! she thought as she opened the envelope up to read the letter. She was a bit nervous, as she did not know what to expect him to write; she figured that he would probably be very angry at her still so she began to read, expecting the absolute worst; but what she read had made her cry:

Dear Cho,

You're right; you are the last person that I would have expected owl post from. Needless to say, after our row, I was greatly inclined to just toss your letter in the bin. However, my curiosity got the better of me, so I did read your letter. I want you to know right now that I am accepting your apology, I couldn't possibly stay mad at you forever; although, now I am positive that I will never forgive Marietta! I had no idea that she felt that way about me and Dumbledore. I still do not know what jinx it was that Hermione used, but no offense, I hope it stays with Marietta. I am also touched by the fact that even after all that, you still thought of me as a good teacher; and I could not help but notice that you scored the highest of your whole class on your DADA exams! I will not take any credit for our member's successes on exams, O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s. That was not the main point of the D.A.; it was to protect you from what could happen if you came across a Dark witch or wizard.

As far as the whole Cedric thing goes, I am sorry if I seemed insensitive about it, but you pegged it; I didn't mind talking about him, but I did not want to have to go through with retelling that night again; it was a very painful night (not only seeing Cedric die, but being put through the Cruciatus Curse twice). I know now exactly how you must have felt about someone close to you dying, as I have also just recently lost someone who was very close to me just a month ago. I'm sure that by now, you've heard about the events at the Ministry; well, I was somewhat involved in that battle (not by choice, but such things are never by choice). I'm sure you have also read about Sirius Black being on the run? Well, he was my godfather and he never committed the crimes for which he was accused. My parents saw it fit to appoint him as my guardian in case something happened to them; he would take care of me. They also knew that Voldemort was after them so they had a secret-keeper to hide their location. That was Sirius; but at the last moment, Sirius requested that they switch with another friend, Peter Pettigrew. He figured that since he was from a dark family line, that he was too likely. They never figured that Peter would betray them.

Well anyway, Sirius was framed and was in hiding since then. I finally met him in my third year and instantly, he became the father that I couldn't remember. Last month, his own cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange murdered him right in front of my own eyes. I do not know how close you and Cedric were, but in the time that I knew Sirius and was around him, I couldn't be separated. Now that he's gone, I don't have anyone else who could possibly fill that void. Anyway, you should have never gotten the idea that I thought your crying was annoying; I have been doing quite a bit of it myself; it is a natural part of grieving and we are truly human when we can experience these pains (as Dumbledore told me). Getting your letter and seeing that you wish to make up and possibly rekindle our friendship has given me a ray of sunshine in one of my darker periods.

Looking forward to actually getting to know you better,

Harry

Cho held back tears as she noticed the last paragraph had been most likely smudged by tears. He was put through the Cruciatus twice? He saw Cedric get killed? No wonder he didn't want to talk about it! she thought. Well, she took the risk and it was worth it, Harry forgave her and she forgave him; maybe there was hope after all!

Cho decided that what they needed to do was to talk about these things and get to know each other more. After all, if they were going to be friendly again; they really had to be open with each other. She took another piece of parchment and scribbled another note to Harry on it:

Harry,

Thanks for accepting my apology, you don't know how much it meant to me! I noticed by your reply, that you also lived in Surrey (yes I live in Surrey too). I wondered if you would maybe like to get together to hang out, I know of some really good muggle clubs and shops in downtown. It would help to take your mind off of things; and on that topic, I am so sorry about your loss! While Cedric and I were close, it seems as though Sirius Black was like another father figure to you and that sort of loss is a very tough loss to take! I know this because my uncle was killed by Death Eaters a few years ago; he was also like a second father to me. If you would rather not take me up on the offer, I would again understand. Either way, please send my owl back with a reply as soon as you can! If you do agree, how does the 25th sound?

Cho

Harry had indeed been caught off guard by the sudden appearance of that strange owl on his window ledge, even more so when he saw that the letter was from Cho. So it was a near miracle that Harry didn't have a heart attack when the same owl came back with a reply less than an hour later. No way it could've made the delivery that fast! he thought to himself as he pulled off the parchment and began to read. At first, his jaw dropped; Cho Chang lived in Surrey? No wonder the owl is so fast! Once Harry had finished with Cho's letter, his mouth was again hanging open. She wanted him to get together with her; go to clubs (whatever that was); he pondered for a moment what he should do. True it would get his mind off of more unpleasant things, but how would he get out? Oh well, the Dursleys won't give a damn about me being gone for the night! he thought to himself. That settled, Harry decided that he would accept her offer; after all she had extended the olive branch and now wanted to go out with him, even if it wouldn't be considered a date. Besides, she had gone through a painful loss before, so Harry felt that they at least had that in common.

Harry quickly took out a spare piece of parchment and carefully wrote down a response:

Cho,

You're welcome; and sorry for that loss (even though it was a few years ago, I know it probably takes a while to go away). I would love to hang out with you on the 25th, it would probably do me good to stop moping around and get on with my life! I do not know my way around Surrey, so how about I meet you at the edge of town; it's not too far from where I live and anyway, it sounds like you already know your way around! How does 7:00 P.M. sound? Look forward to seeing you then!

Harry

Harry was now in high spirits, he hadn't felt this happy since before the events in the Department of Mysteries unfolded. Immediately, Harry looked around for something good to wear; he silently cursed the Dursley's for forcing Dudley's old clothes on him. However, he remembered that he had been shopping in Hogsmeade the last time he was allowed; he had got himself a few nice shirts and a couple pairs of slacks. At the time he wondered why he did it, but now he was extremely pleased with himself at his foresight. He shuddered to think of what Cho would say if he showed up wearing clothes that were at least three times to big for him! However, little did Harry know that on that very same night, two of his best friends were going to betray him in the worst possible way.