Cho sat in the dark corner, silent tears rocking her body, as she held tight to her four year old
sister Mina. She listened to drunken yells from her step father drifting down from upstairs. A loud
thud echoed through the house, and then there was silence. Silence so full it enclosed her whole
body and soul. She could feel it engulfing her, strangling her. Cho looked towards the door fearfully
as she heard heavy steps stumbling down the stairs. The door to the library burst open and Kuan-yin
Chang looked wildly around. Cho moved in front of Mina, praying he wouldn't notice them in the
corner, however his eyes swept the room thoroughly until he focused on the cowering girls huddled
together in the dark. "Whas wrong?" he said in a soft dangerous voice, his words slightly slurred as
he walked towards them. "Are you scared" he whispered running a finger down Cho's cheek. She
winced and closed her eyes. Please go away, please go away! She pleaded silently. "Because you
should be," he said, his face was so close to hers, she could feel his warm breath on her cheek,
smell the alcohol. "You will help me" No! She though, He can't control me, I won't let him! In a
moment of boldness she yelled, "I won't help you!", and then realized what she had done. As
quickly as her bravery had come it left, leaving her without anything. In a rage Kuan-yin grabbed a
wine glass, half full with liquid and chucked it at her. She gasped as it narrowly missed her and Mina
and shattered on the wall behind them. Without thinking she grabbed Mina in a rough hug and
dropped to the floor as glass shards flew at them, pricking her body and embedding themselves
deeply into her skin. The alcohol stung her open cuts. Mina, though, unharmed began wailing. Kuan-
yin shouted almost hysterically over Mina's crying, "You will help! Or suffer the consequences."
And with a pop he was gone.
Cho crawled over to where she had left her wand wincing. She pointed it at her arms muttering
unsectify and the glass flew out of her skin, and the cuts healed over leaving only faint scars. "Shush
Mina, its okay, he's gone." She said, forcing her voice to a calm and soothing tone. "Come here, did
you get hurt?" "Nuh uh," Mina mumbled shaking her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "Why does
step-daddy hurt us?" she asked. "I … I … don't know," lied Cho. Yes you do, she thought to
herself, it's because you refuse to help him, your doing this, hurting your family, its your fault, he
wouldn't do it if you helped him. She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head. "Cho where is
Kioshi? Is step-daddy hurting him too?" Cho felt her stomach clench when she thought about her 7
year old brother. She hadn't seen him since last week. She had no clue where he was.
Cho's eyes opened, and she blinked before realizing what had woken her. Three pairs of eyes
stared at her. She jumped up reaching for her wand, but it wasn't in her pocket like usual. She
heard a laugh and she saw in the dim light one of the men twirling her wand in his fingers.
"What do you want?" She asked hoping she didn't sound as scared as she was. Her whole body
was shaking, and her mind was racing, what was going on? She gasped as she noticed what they
were wearing, long black robes, hooded heads, and masked faces with only slits for eyes. It
couldn't be, they couldn't be, he – he – vol – he couldn't be back, it was just a few people playing
a prank. "Cho, we have a favor to ask of you." One said smirking as Cho took a step back, that
voice sounded terribly familiar. She had heard it once; she had heard it a hundred times. Her step
father spoke again, his voice low and rough "We need a little help with a little friend of ours; you
might know him, Harry Potter." Her heart leapt at the name of the boy whom she had been
thinking about ever since two years ago at the beginning of her second year at Hogwarts when
she had first seen him. "You see we need him for a little, let's say rebirth party, shall we? And we
need for him to have a special … um … friend to guide him and give him directions on how to get
there." Stepfather, death eaters, Harry Potter, and suddenly it clicked. They were trying to - , they
were going to -. Oh no. That explained why recently her stepfather had been leaving at odd
hours, acting more distant around the family, he had gone back, even though he said he
wouldn't, he had lied when he said he was changed. "I will never help you, hurt me as much as
you want, I still won't help you!" she exclaimed, and then flinched expecting the abuse she knew
they were capable of. But none came, only another cold laugh. "I have a feeling you will change
your mind." He said, and with that Kuan-yin roughly grabbed something and pulled it into her
view. "Kioshi!" She gazed in fear at her little brother. "We will give you a week to think it over,
though we know what your final decision will be, sleep tight." She leapt forward, but only fell
through the air. They had gone, and her brother was gone with them. What would she do?
Hurting her family was a totally different thing than just hurting herself. She just lay on the floor
sobbing.
"Cho?" a small voice broke through her thoughts. Cho looked down at her little sister, at least she
was safe for now. "Come one lets get you to bed." Cho said her voice shaking. "Can I sleep in your
bed tonight?" Mina asked. "I'm scared" "Okay," Cho said as Mina slipped her small hand into
Cho's. "It's okay, we'll be okay, we'll get through this." Cho whispered, more to herself than to
Mina.
Cho lay in bed unable to sleep. She listened to the soft breathing of Mina, lying next to her deep in
dream land. Her thoughts turned to Harry. His messy black hair, deep green eyes, and he's lopsided
smile that made her weak. Already at such a young age he was a hero to many. How could she help
to hurt him, when he meant so much to her, to the world. But as she felt her sister stir next to her,
she knew that her job was to protect to her family first. Pushing all thoughts of Harry out of her
head, she stumbled out of bed; her only consideration now was to keep her step-dad and his friends
away from her siblings. She fumbled around in the dark for a moment until her hands found a quill
and parchment sitting on top of her desk. Hastily before she could change her mind she scribbled
okay on the paper and clicked her tongue softly waiting for her owl Hayden to fly over. With shaky
hands she tied the note to Hayden's leg and let her go. What have I done was her last thought before
she sunk into the chair and fell into a fitful sleep.
