Disclaimer: I do not own "Harry Potter". It is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. I wrote this story when I was 12 years old in the year 2003. So, "Half-Blood Prince" wasn't out yet either. It didn't exist at this point. Again, errors in spelling and grammar have been intentionally left in to preserve my skills as a young writer. This story is complete. This is a repost.
Chapter Twenty Two: Another Strange Disappearance
The next day was Monday, bone-chilling and bitterly cold, just as Cho felt still. Her cold bitterness lasted the rest of the month, and Cianna disappeared again on the last day of February, claiming another family emergency. March now arrived, and the bitter cold was slowly dying down. Cho still felt the bitterness, but not as much anymore. She would visit her brother often. The next Quidditch match was drawing steadily nearer, and lessons were just the usual, except Potions where Professor Snape was harsher than ever. The Gryffindors were losing points left and right, making Malfoy grin, Alyssia scowl, Whitney grit her teeth, and Tom just as happy as Malfoy. Today was a Tuesday on March 5th. The Gryffindors were having their usual Potions class with the Slytherins and their least favorite professor.
"Today we will be learning to brew poisons. Today's poison will be the trickiest to make…for some of you, this will be a simple task, for others, it will be a little more challenging…" Professor Snape said, his eyes flitting from Malfoy to Harry to Neville. "The poison is called the Basilisk's Venom. The drinker will die once it starts going down their throat. However, this poison may sound deadly, it really is not. There are several cures. St. Mungo's has some of the finest of remedies…the instructions are on the board. Get to work." The vile Professor added.
Cho was not in a happy mood and her hands shook as she measured her ingredients in her vials. It had been a little over two weeks since she had heard the angel of darkness's words. They still continued to ring inside her head, driving her mad. She started measuring her powdered basilisk fang and tipped it into her cauldron. Snape was busy inspecting Malfoy's work, and gave him twenty points for his work. Cho was slicing her mandrake roots into very thin pieces. Snape had moved from Malfoy over to Hermione.
"Miss Granger…what is this mess?" Snape asked.
"My Basilisk's Venom poison." Hermione replied, her voice quavering.
"Well…it's better than I expected of you…" Snape replied, moving to Ron.
Ron was already expecting the worst.
"Weasley! The poison should be green, not yellow!" Snape barked at him.
"Professor! He's come remarkably close!" Hermione protested.
"Granger be quiet!"
"But Professor! Please, just look at his work!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Ten points from Gryffindor or else next time you have an outburst, it'll be fifty and a detention for every Gryffindor first year through seventh!"
Hermione looked away and started staring at her feet. Snape had gone over to see Alyssia's work and was very pleased. He gave Slytherin another twenty points. He went over to Harry to inspect his poison.
"Potter! It's astounding! It's actually very close to the color it should be! But you forgot to add a beetle eye, which makes this nearly useless…Evanesco!"
Snape moved over to Goyle and started inspecting all of the Slytherins and giving them each twenty points. He then went over to Neville.
"Longbottom…I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hope up that you'd actually do something right today…but as I told Weasley, the potion should be green, and not turquoise!"
Cho had just finished and Snape was striding over to her next.
"Miss Chang…I would have hoped you would have done better…unfortunately, your work is just as good as Longbottom's has been for the past five years…it's just pitiful…pathetic, even…"
'Pathetic.' He had said the magic word to set her off. She overturned the table, making all the cauldron's and sets of vials break. She was in quite a temper.
"I've had it with you! Professor or not, you can't go around insulting us!!! You know that our work is better than your Slytherin pals over there, so you hate us just because your excuse for a student can't do anything right!!!" She screamed.
"Miss Chang! I will not tolerate such behavior from you! Fifty points from Gryffindor, detention tonight, my office!" Snape bellowed.
"YOU KNOW WHAT?! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!!! I DON'T CARE ABOUT CLASS OR ANYTHING!!! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN WHAT I HAVE!!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH PAIN IT IS TO BE ME!!! AND I'M NOT SHOWING UP FOR DETENTION!!! GO AHEAD, TAKE ANOTHER FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!!!" Cho shrieked at him.
She took out her wand and fixed all the things she had broken when she overturned the table, flung her bag over her shoulder then ran out of the dungeon, slamming the door so hard that it echoed and reechoed for several minutes.
Cho had run up the stairs into the Entrance Hall and ran out through the front doors and out onto the grounds. It was rain had started pouring out of nowhere and thunder rumbled and lightning forked across the sky. She ran under the oak tree and sat there, not moving at all, screaming. Screaming because she was so angry, screaming because she was in so much pain, screaming because she had done something stupid, screaming because of her parents death, screaming because of everything in the world was weighing her down.
Snape had dismissed class and Harry had found Akira and Tai in the hallway. He explained what happened in Potions, and Ron and Hermione were very willing to help, so the four of them went out in separate directions to find Cho. Ron was checking the Quidditch pitch, the Great Hall and common room, Hermione was checking the girl's dormitory, library, hospital wing, Tai was checking every hallway and stair case and secret passage that he knew that Cho had known about, Harry was searching the first floor and grounds, and Akira was checking every place that Cho would usually hang out.
Cho had stopped screaming, and she was hugging her knees and quietly sobbing into her shirt. Her anger had subsided, and now she was overcome by guilt and shame.
-
Dumbledore was in his office and he took out a long scroll of parchment. Tai, Sirius, and Remus were in the room.
"I have called you here to hear the prophecy itself. I know that you are very concerned that your sister has gone missing for the moment, but I'm sure the others will find her…now let me begin…" Dumbledore said, unrolling the parchment and clearing his throat.
"'Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear, Sealed with lies through so many tears, Lost from within, pursuing the end I fight for the chance to be lied to again.But through my tears breaks a blinding light, Birthing a dawn to this endless nightArms outstretched, awaiting me, An open embrace upon a bleeding tree, Whispering at night, Telling stories of the skies, And the stars and moon so bright. Listen to the devils howling in the distance, growling about how difficult it is to put humans in a trance. Listen to the wind, mumbling secrets in your ear…Secrets powerful, but ones not to fear. Listen to the trees towering above listen to their advice about romance and love. Listen to the world, and you will find, there are so many things you never thought of in your mind. Catch me as I fall... Say you're here and it's all over now... Speaking to the atmosphere...No one's here and I fall into myself...This truth drives me...Into madness...I know I can stop the pain...If I will it all away...Don't turn away...Don't give in to the pain...Don't try to hide...Though they're screaming your name...Don't close your eyes...God knows what lies behind them...Don't turn out the light...Never sleep never die...I'm frightened by what I see...But somehow I know...That there's much more to come...Immobilized by my fear...And soon to be...Blinded by tears...I can stop the pain...If I will it all away...Fallen angels at my feet. Whispered voices at my ear.. Death before my eyes...Lying next to me I fear...She beckons me…Shall I give in? Upon my end shall I begin forsaking all I've fallen.'" Dumbledore read.
"Wow…so that's the real prophecy?" Tai asked.
"Yes. Part of it. There is a piece missing at the end and the middle. They were missing thousands of generations ago, and are still missing today. Cho and the angel of darkness are the only ones who can locate the missing pieces…so I'd advise you all to find her as quickly as you can…" Dumbledore replied.
The three men rose from their seats and left the headmaster's office, walking right into Hermione and Akira.
"Any luck?" Tai asked hopefully.
"Nothing. She isn't in the castle…we've checked everywhere we could think of. Hagrid is searching the Forbidden Forest, and we asked the merpeople in the lake to keep an eye out for her…Harry and Ron are searching the grounds together…even the passage under the Whomping Willow, which they're doing now…" Hermione responded.
"We could try checking the Hogsmeade passage by the old witch's hump on the third floor…perhaps she's gone to Hogsmeade…" Tai suggested.
"If we do that, we'll be looking for her for days!" Akira said.
"Yes, but there is a chance. I'll go check Hogsmeade for her. Sirius, you stay here, check all the other passages." Remus said, walking off.
"Let's go." Sirius said hoarsely.
They all split up again, searching…it had been nearly four hours since they all had last seen Cho.
Cho had climbed into the oak tree's vast branches. It was still raining and she was peeking through the leaves watching as everyone tried to find her. She was soaking wet, but she did not care. She looked over at the Whomping Willow and saw two boys stumble out. One with flaming red hair, the other with messy jet black hair. They were none other than Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Three men and two girls walked over to them. Three had dark hair, two men and one of the girls. The other two, the other man had brown hair with gray in it and the other girl, had brown bushy hair. They were Akira, Tai, Sirius, Remus, and Hermione. Their hair and robes were getting soaked, but they were talking rapidly with each other. They split up again, and Harry started walking her way.
He sat under the oak tree, closing his eyes and letting the cold rain hit his face. He opened his eyes and looked to his left. It was Cho's bag. He looked around, searching for any sign of Cho. Then a hand reached from above the branches and pulled him up. His green eyes darted around and he was face to face with none other than Cho herself.
"So this is where you've been hiding…" Harry said quietly.
"Yes…before, I was under the oak tree, but then when you all started looking for me, you lot made so much noise I couldn't hear myself think, so I climbed up here, so I could get away for the time being…" Cho replied.
"If you wanted to be alone, why'd you pull me up here with you?" Harry wondered.
"I didn't want to be alone anymore…and I saw you coming…I've been watching you all day…" She answered.
"We were all really worried about you." Harry said concerned.
"You don't need to worry about me…all the time…" Cho said quietly, moving closer to him.
"I need to worry about you…" Harry replied.
"No…not all the time…" Cho said.
She moved closer and kissed him, passionately, and smoothing his hair down slightly. They started leaning off to the side, and a few thin branches gave away, and they both fell out of the tree in a shower of wood and leaves. The noise had roused Akira, Tai, Remus, Sirius, Ron, and Hermione. Tai and Akira rushed over and got there first.
"Good work, Harry. You found her." Tai said, chuckling weakly.
"Actually, she found me…" Harry replied.
He stood up and dusted himself off, then helped Cho up. She brushed the leaves and twigs out of her wet hair and dusted off her robes.
"Cho. We heard the prophecy. Dumbledore read it to us. He wanted us to find you so he could read it to you as well…but there's another thing…there are pieces of the prophecy missing…" Tai explained.
"And only you and the angel of darkness knows where they are." Sirius said.
"Don't you dare say her name to me!" Cho said fiercely.
"What's wrong?" Sirius, Remus, and Tai wondered.
"A little over two weeks ago…the angel of darkness showed up and was trying to make Kashya gain control of me. Cho and Harry were under their cloaks and saw the whole thing. The angel and I fought, but Cho took off her cloak and revealed herself to her enemy. They had a little row, and the Angel of Darkness started saying things…about pathetic. Pathetic about how our parents are dead, you know, stuff like that, and it really got Cho ticked…" Akira explained.
"And today in Potions…Professor Snape was examining the poison we were brewing today, and then he started saying something like 'Your work is pitiful…I would've expected better…but this is just as pathetic as Longbottom's work has been for the past five years' well, anyway it was along the lines of that…and the word, 'pathetic' just kind of pushed the magic button to make her go off…and she did…" Harry continued.
"Well, let's all get up to the headmaster's office…you'll all hear the prophecy. And the only person you can tell it to is Liam…while we're on our way, we should go get Mr. Merrick…" Remus suggested.
They nodded, Cho got her bag, flung it over her shoulder. They walked into the castle and ran into Liam.
"Mez, come with us." Akira said instantly.
He merely followed, and the group went up to Dumbledore's office, said the password and walked inside. Dumbledore was beaming at them.
"I'm glad to see that Miss Chang has been located…and that she is safe and sound…now, I am going to read you the prophecy…but it is missing two essential pieces…the middle and end…Miss Chang, you will need to find those two pieces…" Dumbledore said.
"How will I do that?" Cho wondered.
"Let your heart guide you…it is one of the few things you can trust…" Dumbledore replied.
He took out the parchment scroll and read the prophecy to them.
"Professor! I'm in it!" Akira exclaimed.
"Yes. You are…" Dumbledore said.
"The part where it says '...Fallen angels at my feet. Whispered voices at my ear.. Death before my eyes...Lying next to me I fear...She beckons me…Shall I give in? Upon my end shall I begin forsaking all I've fallen.' That entire part…it's about me…when the angel of darkness will try to persuade me to join her…" Akira recited.
"Indeed…" Dumbledore said.
"It's creepy…" Akira mumbled.
"Miss Chang, try to find the missing pieces…" Dumbledore said calmly. "Just follow your heart…"
Cho nodded.
'Follow my heart? But how? How can it guide me when I do not know which path to take?' She thought.
Closing her eyes, she let her mind focus on one thought, one goal. To find the missing pieces of the prophecy.