Disclaimer: I wrote this when I was 12 to 13 in 2003. Harry Potter is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. Everything else is © to me, or its respective owners.
Chapter Three: True Colors
The car drove away from the two-story condo, and sped off towards London. The trip was very short, and they reached the Leaky Cauldron in minutes. Tai assigned rooms, and made several of them scowl at him for the pairings…Cho and Akira, Hermione and Alyssia, Tom and Whitney, Draco and Liam, Harry and Ron. The only good thing was that Cho and Harry's rooms were on the same floor. Akira had brought a CD/Radio with her and lots of CD's. The minute she got inside her room, she started blasting the music. Cho was very annoyed about it, and she ran to her bed and buried her head under her pillow.
August at the Leaky Cauldron was no better than July at the Dursleys. It was so boring. Akira kept blasting her music 24/7, and Cho was aggravated by it and she went outside of the small pub and into the newly created, spacious backyard. She would spend lots of her time there. Tai had forbidden her to get within ten feet of Harry, except at meal times, when they would sit nearby each other. The separation was making both of them a little less cheerful each moment they spent away from each other. Tai seemed satisfied, and then the Hogwarts letters arrived. Tai, Remus, and Sirius had decided to go shopping for everyone one week before September 1st, and left everyone else alone at the pub. Cho was outside again, and Harry found her sitting alone, in a light blue mini dress, her raven black hair whipping out behind her as the wind started to pick up. He sat next to her.
"Hey…" He said.
"Oh…um…hi…" Cho replied.
They had spent so much time apart from each other! It was so awkward talking to each other now. Harry took Cho's hand and she moved closer to him.
"You know that since my fifth year, I've loved you. So much…I mean it…I've always been afraid of the day I'd lose you, and I can't let that happen…I won't…You're the love of my life. And I just love you so much…I always feared the days when you got hurt or you were sad…and I love you…and there's only one thing left that I want to ask…" He said to her.
He pressed something into her hand. Cho opened her hand and saw a beautiful engagement ring. She cried, and then she touched his face, and pulled him closer. They kissed so deeply and passionately, for they had missed the feel of each other, the taste, everything. When they broke away, Cho slipped the ring onto her finger.
"I've missed you so much! And I really hate him. I really hate Tai…for trying to break us apart…everything…" She said.
"I've missed you too…but now, we'll be stronger than ever. He won't be able to break us up so easily…" Harry replied.
Before either of them knew what was going on with their desires, the pair of them had found that they snuck up to Cho's room, together, locked the door, and were kissing passionately. They weren't stopping any time soon. And luckily, Akira was downstairs with Liam, so Cho and Harry had the room to themselves. They broke away, and Cho slipped her dress off, and covered her chest with one arm. She wasn't wearing a bra, and Harry was about to look away, but Cho stopped him.
"No please. You do know what I'm getting at right?" She asked.
"Uh…yeah…but I mean…what about Tai?" Harry replied.
"Who gives a damn about him!" Cho said.
"But wouldn't it be kind of strange?"
"Please, I want to do this…"
She took Harry's hand into both of hers and held it to one of her breasts. Her bare skin was soft and warm to the touch. Then, it all just happened so fast…they were in bed together, one of Akira's CD's playing at high volume, and it seemed all the pleasure in the world had started flowing into both of them. It was heaven, Cho liked it, and she wanted more…
After several minutes, they were still at it, no one really noticing what was going on…that was…until Tai, Remus, and Sirius came back from Diagon Alley.
Tai had walked inside and was headed upstairs to his room and passed Cho's and heard the music. But he also heard something else…a moan…not of misery or pain, or anger, or anything…but of intense pleasure. He could hear Cho's voice whispering.
"No. She wouldn't…" He muttered to himself.
He kept hearing the moans, and he knew that his worst fear had been confirmed. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He got out his wand and tried to unlock it. No effect. Then he took a few steps back and started throwing his shoulder at the door to burst it open.
Cho and Harry heard the banging on the door. Quickly they turned out the lights, and Harry hid under the bed, pulling his jeans underneath to put on. Cho was running around, she turned off the music and put a towel on and was about to dive under the bed with Harry, when the door flew open. Tai stood in the doorway, and pressed the door shut, but it remained ajar. He couldn't see in the darkness of the room. He found the lamp and turned it on and saw Cho, crawled into a corner, hiding. He seized her wrist and pulled her to her feet.
"You little bitch! I've told you so many times not to do anything! And now look! Look at what not listening to me did to you!" He yelled, raising his hand.
His hand struck his sister's face, and Cho fell onto the floor. He pulled her up by her hair, making Cho cry.
"Why'd you do it?! Huh?! Why?!!" Tai demanded.
Cho didn't answer. Tai gripped his sister's wrist again, and Cho tried to get free. The more she tried, the tighter his grip became.
"If you won't tell me, I'll force it out of you! Now tell me, why'd you do it?!"
Cho still didn't respond. Tai's cheeks had red blotches on them.
"Fine! Go ahead and don't tell me! I'll find out soon enough!" He roared.
He gripped Cho's hair tighter and dragged her back a few steps, then swung her by her hair into the wall across the room.
"Noooo!!!!!" Cho shrieked, just before Tai had sent her flying across the room.
Tai angrily left and slammed the door. Cho had hit the wall, and the bedside lamp had broken, and showered Cho in glass. Harry crawled out from under the bed and ran over to her side.
"Cho, are you alright?" He asked.
The door swung open again, Tai in the doorway.
"I knew it was you." He said before Harry could even speak.
Tai raised his wand at Harry again. Harry raised his wand at Tai.
"I don't want you near her ever again!" Tai shouted.
Cho had a bad headache, and when the room came into focus, she grabbed her wand from a drawer without Tai or Harry noticing. She quickly changed her towel into a dress and slowly got up, and raised her wand at Tai, looking very much in pain, from her injuries.
"So…even after this, you'll still defend him?" Tai asked coolly.
"That's right…and you can go to hell for all I care. You're not my brother anymore. Because my brother used to be a carefree, fun-loving guy who wasn't so serious, or as abusive…My brother was a nice guy. But something's killed him. I don't know who you are anymore." Cho replied.
"I'm only protecting you!" Tai exclaimed.
"More like draining all the happiness and life out of me!" Cho snapped angrily.
"You still haven't learned yet?! Alous Remidvera!"
Cho fell out of the bedroom window, but pulled Tai along with her as she fell. Both of them fell out of the Leaky Cauldron and onto a muggle street in London. They dusted themselves off, and picked up their wands and raised them at each other. Several muggles were watching puzzled, and startled.
Cho very much hated her brother now. If only, she too, could strike him like he did her, then she'd have vengeance. Tai cast a spell at her, but she dodged it and ran so that she was right in front of her brother. She raised her hand in warning.
"You'd actually hit me? Cho, you don't have the guts! I'm your brother!" Tai said, laughing.
Cho tried to bring her hand down upon her brother, but she screamed in aggravation.
"See? I told you! You couldn't do it!" Tai teased.
Cho hit him at last. Right in the jaw.
"Aero Michaldelia!" Cho cried.
A blue jet of light flew from her wand tip and hit Tai in the chest. He was knocked backwards and he staggered, then cast memory charms on all the muggles that were watching them with amazement. Cho ran into the Leaky Cauldron and up to her room. She went into the bathroom to see how badly hurt she was. She had a cut above her eye, one on her left arm, and several small ones from being scraped with glass on her back. Harry had put on a t-shirt and he fixed the window, and started healing Cho's wounds. After five minutes, a large tawny owl tapped its beak on the window. Harry let it in and it landed next to Cho, and took off. Cho turned the envelope over and opened the letter.
"'Dear Miss Chang,
It has come to our attention that exactly ten minutes past six o'clock you performed a Defensive Knockback Jinx in an area inhabited by muggles and in the presence of several muggles. You have breached the Statue of Secrecy, and risked the exposure of our world. You are still an underage witch, and therefore, not of age to perform magic outside of the school. The magic reversal squad has been sent over to modify all the muggles memories. We know your elder brother, Tai Chang modified a few memories, but not enough. Please do not perform anymore underage witchcraft or sorcery. This is your warning. If you perform anymore magic, you will be expelled from Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic will have to destroy your wand.
Have a nice evening!
Mafilda Hopkirk
IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE
Ministry of Magic'" Cho read.
Harry took the letter and read it himself. Cho meanwhile, ranted angrily.
"Get expelled? Well the Improper Use of Magic Office can go to hell!" She shouted.
Harry laughed, which made Cho glare at him with a 'stop-laughing-or-else-you're-next' look.
"Oh lighten up!" Harry said, grinning at her.
Cho couldn't resist that smile. She smiled back at him, and Remus called everyone down to dinner. Cho and Harry sat together and Tai sat right across from the pair of them. They didn't speak to each other, but they spoke to the others normally.
"What's up with you three?" Akira wondered.
"I mean, we know you got into a fight, but why?" Alyssia wondered.
Cho could feel her nerves tense up, and her heart pounding.
"It's nothing really…" Tai replied coolly. "I just only caught them 'doing something.'"
"Is that so?" Remus inquired, mildly interested.
"Yeah." Tai answered.
"And what were they doing anyway?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Just walking down the same path as our little failure, Whitney…" Tai said with a light air.
Whitney was on her feet in a flash and she took out her wand and muttered a spell.
"If you forgot, or didn't know, today's my birthday…Cho, could you tell me…what happened?" Whitney said calmly.
Cho shook her head, and attempted to eat.
"Oh come on! It'll be fun!" Tai taunted.
"Well you know what Tai, shut up! Just because you fell in love when you were fifteen, and she had you child, doesn't mean you have to take out your anger on Whitney and I! You were the one that left her!" Cho shouted.
She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.
"I TOLD YOU TO NEVER SAY THAT TO ANYONE!!!" He roared, slapping her.
The table turned over and Cho was running away, and Tai tore after her and caught her at the banister.
"You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" Tai shouted angrily.
"Well, it's not my fault! You're the one that's acting this way!" Cho snapped.
"I'm acting in my right mind!"
"You only say that because you remember those long years ago, how I walked in, looking for you! And I was there when you told her goodbye! And you're just afraid that Harry is going to get afraid and leave me just like you left her because you weren't man enough to stay with her!"
Tai had pushed her backwards with great force and she fell onto the scrubbed wooden handrail at the landing, which broke under the force and weight, and she fell down toward another table.
Harry was running and he caught Cho and ended up sliding on the wooden floor, Cho in his arms.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Yeah." Cho replied.
With that, he ran up the stairs.
"What the hell are you doing?! She's your sister!" Harry shouted angrily.
"I can do what I want! I'm trying to teach Cho."
"Teach?! More like kill her! She's gotten more injuries in two hours than she has ever gotten in a whole school year at Hogwarts!"
"Quiet you!"
Tai pointed his wand at Harry's leg. Harry felt like something had cut him with a knife. He fell onto his knees, and looked at the wound. It was a long cut, that was very deep and bleeding.
"Petrificus Totalus! Tai, that's enough. It's bad enough when you hurt your own sister, but even worse when you hurt my godson. He has done nothing to you." Sirius said.
"Oh that's what you want to believe! You don't know what I heard when I was passing Cho's room this afternoon…" Tai said, calmer.
Cho had rushed up the stairs to Harry, and she took out her wand.
"Cura." She whispered.
The wound healed, and Harry stood up.
"Why don't you two tell everyone about your little roll in-" Tai began but was cut off.
"Silencio!" Harry muttered.
Tai's lips were moving, but no sound came out.
Whitney, Alyssia, and Hermione came over to Cho and each grabbed her arm and steered her away. Ron, Draco, and Tom did the same to Harry. The boys went to Harry's room, and the girls went outside to the backyard of the pub.
"So what was Tai talking about?" Whitney asked.
"I don't want to say it." Cho said firmly.
"Please. You need to tell us…"
"No…"
"Well, how about just Whitney?" Alyssia suggested.
"Fine." Cho agreed.
Alyssia and Hermione walked back inside, and Whitney gazed at Cho intently.
"I'm listening." She said.
"Harry, please, tell us." Ron urged.
"Why are you all so curious all of a sudden?" Harry demanded.
"Hey, chill out!" Ron said.
"Sorry…" Harry apologized.
"I think I know what it is…" Tom said.
"And what's that?" Ron asked.
"May I say it, Harry?" Tom asked.
Harry nodded.
"I think that Cho and him had a little fun…" Tom said.
"What do you mean?! Just say it in English!" Ron exclaimed, confused and irritated at the same time.
"Fun as in what Whitney and I did…that kind of fun…"
"You don't mean…?" Ron started, but he was lost for words.
"Yeah. Exactly. That's the one." Tom answered.
"So um…how was it?" Ron asked.
"What?!" Harry yelled in shock.
"How was it?" Ron repeated.
Harry punched Ron in the arm.
"Ow! That hurt!"
"Harry isn't required to tell us that…it's not like Whitney and I went around saying to you what we did on our honeymoon…" Tom said, annoyed at Ron.
"Cho, please, tell me." Whitney pleaded.
"Whitney…I'm…afraid…" Cho said, softly.
"Of what?" Whitney asked.
"I guess I'm not sure…"
Eventually, they were able to pry out answers from Harry and Cho, but they didn't make fun of them or anything, which was a great relief. Tai wouldn't speak to them anymore, and the rest of the week went by, pretty quietly. It was the last day of August, and everyone was having dinner. Tai was eating in silence, his eyes glaring at his plate. Everyone was having a happy conversation. Cho was silently eating, not feeling much like talking. Whitney was talking happily with Akira.
"Oh so you've noticed!" Whitney said.
"Yeah…" Akira replied.
Cho had her fork halfway to her mouth, when she dropped it back onto her plate with a clatter that made everyone look up, even Tai.
"May I be excused?" She asked.
She left the table without waiting for an answer and ran to her room.
"She's been doing that a lot…" Akira said.
"What?" Whitney asked.
"She's been really ill lately…for the past two days…I don't know why though…"
Tai was listening intently now.
"What do you mean, ill?" Whitney asked nervously.
"Like if she's got the flu or something…maybe the food here is bad…" Akira replied.
"You idiot! Akira! You don't know do you?!" Whitney exclaimed.
"Know what?"
Whitney smacked a hand to her face and whispered something in Akira's ear. Akira turned pale, and went stiff and fell off her chair. Whitney was on her feet and running upstairs after Cho. Tai knew this reaction. The worst had come. He had to stop his history from repeating itself on his sister…He ran after Whitney. Harry was about to get up, but Akira stopped him.
"Just stay." She said.
Harry remained sitting, wondering what had happened…
Whitney had just reached Cho's room and saw Cho in the bathroom rinsing her mouth out.
"Cho, are you alright?" She asked.
Cho jumped a little bit and laughed a little.
"Oh Whitney…you scared me…uh yeah…I'm fine…"
"No you're not. I know you aren't…something's wrong. And I know exactly what it is…"
"What're you saying?"
"That you're going to have his child."
"Leave it to you to know everything…yeah…and that's exactly right too…that's why I was afraid. I was afraid that it would happen…"
"You're afraid that if Harry found out, he'd go away, and you're afraid that if Tai finds out, he'll do something awful…"
"A bit too late for that, Whitney…" Tai said, coming out of a corner.
Cho gasped and ducked into a corner. Whitney stood and looked Tai straight in the eye.
"Whitney, move aside."
"No. Only if you promise you won't hurt her."
"Move aside, Whitney. I'm not going to ask you again."
"No. I won't."
"I'm sorry, Whitney."
He took out his wand and Whitney was forced aside and into the bedroom, and the bathroom door closed and locked with a click. Cho silently cried, and was hugging her knees. Tai sat on the bathroom floor with his sister.
"I'm still mad at you…but now…I'm disappointed…I know I've been a dick lately, and a total pain in the ass. I know…but I can't just stop seeing that memory when I was fifteen over and over again…I keep seeing her in you. You and her are like one in the same…and look, I'm sorry…I just didn't want you to have to go through all the pain I did when I was in my fifth year. I wanted to prevent you from following my footsteps and my mistakes…but I guess…it's in our blood…and I need to accept that…and Cho, I'm sorry…I'm sorry for everything…really…I am…" Tai said quietly.
Whitney had her ear pressed to the door, and she caught every word and she cried happily.
Cho looked up at her brother, and saw a tear fall from his eye and watched him quickly wipe it away.
"I just thought…that I could be a great example for you, and a great brother for you if I could only protect you from it happening to you…but I realize, that you're your own person, and it's your life, and I can't always be there to save you. So I'm accepting this, and I'm sorry for what I've become these past few weeks…and if you really love Harry, I won't stand in the way anymore…"
"R-really?" Cho asked.
Tai nodded.
"Tai!" Cho cried.
She gave her brother a hug, and Tai hugged her back. They broke away and Tai stood up and helped his sister to her feet.
"You take care of that little life in you. Take care of it good." Tai said.
Cho nodded, and Tai unlocked the door and opened it. Whitney, Tom, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Alyssia, Draco, and Akira were all looking at them. Harry walked over to her.
"Are you hurt?" He asked.
"No. I'm fine…and I'm serious, I'm fine." Cho replied.
"Cho is telling the truth. I was eavesdropping, I apologize…I wanted to make sure you were alright…anyway, Tai is accepting this all…" Whitney said.
"What do you mean?" The others asked.
"It means he's stopped being a emotionless jackass." Cho said.
Tai elbowed her lightly in the ribs.
"Hey!" Cho cried, elbowing him back.
Tai laughed and left the room.
"What the hell?" Everyone except Whitney and Cho wondered aloud.
"Harry, I have to tell you something…" Cho whispered.
"Alright, everyone clear out!" Whitney shouted. "And don't you try to eavesdrop! I'm putting a Sound-Proofing Charm on the door!"
Everyone grumbled and left the room. Whitney took out her wand and muttered a spell then closed the door. Harry was looking at Cho, concerned.
"What is it?" He asked.
Cho took her hands into his and kissed him and then quickly broke away from him, looking into his eyes.
"Harry, I'm with child…your child…" She said.
Harry grinned and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. They broke away and were kissing again, against one of the walls, Cho running her hands through Harry's hair, and Harry moving his hands across her back. Cho took his hand and led them under her shirt.
"I know you want to…so go ahead…" She whispered.
They were constantly moving from wall to wall, as they both kissed furiously. Finally, they broke away.
"Maybe we should stop now?" Harry suggested.
"Yeah…" Cho agreed.
"I'm really happy about it, you know?" Harry said.
"I was afraid that you'd leave me…" Cho replied.
"I'd never leave you. I love you so much, too much maybe…and if I were to leave you, I would no longer have a reason to live or breathe." Harry said.
They kissed goodnight and Harry went to his room. Ron's trunk was closed, and Ron was bent over Harry's trunk and putting his things in.
"Ron, you don't have to do that for me." He said.
"Oh hey! We were all wondering what was keeping you." Ron answered, closing the trunk. "I just finished anyway…Hermione nicely offered to pack Cho's. So it should be ready too…anyway, we should get some sleep…and what did Cho tell you that was so important?"
"Ron, you worry too much." Harry said.
"Well…yeah, I guess…goodnight then…" Ron said.
With that, they turned out the light and went to sleep.
Cho was looking out the window, then turned away from it, and went to bed.