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 Twenty One: Disgrace to the Noble Name of Chang

"No. Stay here…the only one allowed to leave is Mr. Jennings. I'll deal with him later." Cho said quietly.

Akira finally realized that Whitney, Alyssia, Tom, Draco, Ron, Hermione, and Harry were in the room also.

"Ron, please escort Mr. Jennings to his dormitory. Have a seat Liam. You too, Aki." Tai said, also in a quiet voice.

Ron led Nick away and returned a few minutes later.

"Harry, please hold Lin for me, put a silencing charm on the common room, and a soundproofing charm on Lin and Mercadez." Cho said.

Cho gently handed him a small bundle, then Harry took out his wand and tapped the common room wall, then lightly tapped Lin and Mercadez with his wand.

"Thank you." Cho replied.

Akira could feel herself shaking. She knew what was going to come next. She stood, frozen with fear and anxiety.

"Sit, Aki." Tai said in a forced calm.

Nervously, Akira took a seat.

"Where were you?" Cho asked.

"Party." Akira replied.

"A party?" Cho repeated.

Akira nodded.

"Aki, I believe that party you got invited to this afternoon was scheduled to end around ten. I asked Professor Flitwick…and that's what he said. Do you know what time it is now?" Tai said.

"No."

"It's only…just past four in the morning on Monday May 3rd." Tai answered.

Akira gulped, and started wringing her hands in her lap.

'At least they haven't started shouting yet…' She thought.

"And if I might ask, why are you wearing that ridiculous outfit?" Cho wondered.

"The invitation said that's what I was supposed to wear."

"May I see the invitation?"

Akira nodded. With a shaking hand, she pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from her pocket and handed it to her sister. Cho read it, and when she lowered the parchment from her eyes, she was gritting her teeth angrily. She passed the invitation to Tai. He read it, and scowled.

"'Illegal items?'" Cho asked.

"Yes."

"Like what?"

"Muggle drugs and alcohol…and some other things…fire whiskey…"

"WHAT?!" Cho and Tai exclaimed.

'Uh oh…here they go…they're going to go on their shouting rant any second now…' Akira thought to herself.

"I don't believe it! This is nothing like you, Aki! Did you drink?! What happened?!" Cho demanded.

"Yes, I did drink…I danced with Mez…a lot…but more people kept arriving so we were packed in."

"What did you drink?"

"Just a few glasses of Sake…"

"SAKE?!"

"Yes…they had Sake there…"

"Did you pass out, any black outs or memory loss of the night?"

"No. I was awake the whole time…Honestly, you can't pass out from drinking a few glasses of Japanese rice wine."

"Sake is very strong…and if you drink enough of it, then you can pass out…"

"And the worst could happen…"

"What would the worst be?"

"Some freaky guy getting his jollies off of you while you're unconscious, that's what!"

Akira shuddered.

"EW! EW! EW!" Akira exclaimed.

"Well, welcome to the real world!" Cho said.

"Real world? Ha! Out of all three of us, I'm the only decent one! Look at yourselves for once! Tai, in your fifth year, you got your girlfriend pregnant, and you were scared and ran away! Cho, just last August, Harry got-" Akira started.

"Leave Harry out of this!" Cho snapped angrily.

"As I was saying…Harry got you pregnant, and you had your baby oh say…" Akira checked an imaginary watch on her wrist. "Two days ago!"

"Well, what kind of decent sister would insult their older siblings?!" Cho screamed.

"A sister that doesn't lie!"

"Are you implying that I lie?!"

"Of course you lie!"

"No I don't!"

"See, you're lying right now!"

"SHUT UP!"

"No…I've just got started! I'm not done with you yet, Cho…But it's Tai's turn to feel the sting of truth!"

"The sting of truth?!" Tai said.

"Yes. Open your eyes! You left your one true love! But you didn't leave because you were afraid! You left because you never did love her! You left because you used her!"

"I DID NOT USE HER! I really think the one here that really needs a dose of reality is you! Listen to yourself, Aki!"

"Well whose fault is it that Cho got kidnapped?! Whose fault is it that Mum and Dad are dead?! Whose fault is it that Cho turned out so bad?!" Akira shouted.

"I didn't turn out bad!!!" Cho shrieked.

"Oh yes you did, Cho…Tai, it's all YOUR fault Mum and Dad are dead! Your fault Cho got kidnapped! Your fault Cho turned out so messed up! You couldn't set a good example for her! But me…I turned out perfect in every way! Because Mum and Dad were the only perfect ones and they spent more time looking after me then they did for either of you!" Akira retorted.

"It's not my fault or Tai's fault. It's Voldemort. He's done all of this…" Cho said, calming down.

"Voldemort?! Why do you always dump the blame on the guy who's evil?!" Akira asked.

"Because it is his fault!"

"No, it's Tai's fault! Everything! That's why Mum and Dad looked after me more than they did you two because they had hope that I wouldn't turn out to be a screw up!"

"Oh yeah?! Well here's a reality check for you, Aki! You know why Mum and Dad looked after you?! Because they were in debt and you were born, and they couldn't support you! So Mum decided to get rid of you! She tried to drown you! I watched her! She waited until the dead of the night when Cho and I were both asleep! And she took you out of your crib and into the bathroom and set you in the tub and turned on the water and let it run. She sat and watched as the water level rose higher and higher, and still she didn't do anything. But I woke up in the night. I wanted a drink of water, and so I went into the bathroom with the glass I always have on my nightstand! And when I walked in, I saw Mum staring and watching you! You were up to your neck in hot water! And I loved you so much! You were my second sister! I did the only thing a brother could do. I saved you! I pushed Mum aside and I took you out of the tub and Mum was furious! I still remember her words to this day! 'Taichi! You've ruined everything! How're we supposed to live now?! I can't support this one too! It was going to be a quick and easy death for her! But you just had to be the hero, didn't you, Taichi?!' And I couldn't believe her! So I went and got some lame muggle job! Delivering the newspapers to the muggles. And eventually I saved our family. I got us out of debt. Hell, I named you! Mum didn't even care enough at the time to give you a name! I named you Sakura. Cho pitched in, and named you Akira. And Dad he grew to love you, so together the three of us named you Aki-Cho Sakura Chang! It was only later when Mum finally grew to realize she loved you back! There! The mystery is solved! Now you know!" Tai shouted.

Akira found tears streaming down her face.

"M-mummy tried to k-kill me? No! I won't believe it! Mummy loved us! All of us!" Akira said.

"Fine. Then don't believe it! Believe what you want!" Tai said, sighing.

"Well I'm going to bed!" Akira replied, storming off.

She ran up the stairs, and cried more. As Tai told the story, she could faintly remember being in a giant sea of water, and she saw her mother's face looming high above her, and she remembered the bathroom door being swung open, and she saw a younger Tai walk in, shove mother aside and pull her out of the great sea. She opened her dormitory door and flopped face down onto her bed, sobbing into her pillow. She felt a cool hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the eyes of Ginny Weasley.

"Oh hi Ginny…" Akira said, sniffling.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing…"

"Well, you just tell me whenever you want, ok?"

"Yeah…I will…"

Ginny was a really good friend. She always seemed to understand everything that she felt. Ginny was always so easy to talk to…it was almost like talking to Mez…

"So is what you said, true? About your mum almost drowning her?" Ron asked.

"Yeah…I never really wanted to tell her…but she had to learn it this way…" Tai replied.

"Uh…can I go now?" Liam asked.

"Oh yeah, sure…go ahead…" Cho said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand.

Liam quickly left the common room and went upstairs to his dormitory.

"All of you should get to bed…I'll be going to my quarters as well." Tai said.

No one argued. They merely went up to bed. Harry removed the silencing and soundproofing charms, then went up to bed himself. Tai left the common room and walked down the halls towards his office.

It was almost five in the morning by the time everyone went to sleep. The worst part about it, they had to go to breakfast and lessons in a few hours.