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 Two: I'll Keep Your Secret…But at a Price…
Lessons began the next day, everyone pretty tired from last night's events. Once they got to the Great Hall and sat down in their seats at the Gryffindor table, the first thing they all grabbed was a steaming mug of coffee.
Rushing to finish their food, they took a few rolls with them from the table and walked to their next lesson as they ate the food in their hands.
Cho was walking through the hall, and her bag split and spilled out everything she had been carrying. The others started to get on their knees to help her.
"No, you go on…I can clean this up in a minute…Just tell Professor Sprout I'll be a little late…" Cho insisted.
They hesitantly left her in the hallway, watching her picking up her books, now splattered with black ink, and gathering her quills.
Once they were out of sight, Cho was seized from behind, and pulled into a small space behind a suit of armor.
"What the-?!" Cho exclaimed, but broke off in shock.
"I'll keep your secret…but at a price…" Josh said.
"What do you mean?" Cho asked, her voice shaking slightly.
Harry watched as the greenhouse doors flew open, and Cho strode quickly into the classroom and threw herself into a chair next to Harry. She slammed her bag onto the table, causing an ink bottle to crack and leak. She scowled as she saw the ink show through her canvas bag.
"Just great!" She muttered angrily.
She whipped out her wand and repaired her ink bottle and removed the stain from her bag. She turned to Harry.
"So…what're we doing today?" She asked.
It was at that moment he saw it. A deep scratch on her face that was blood red and stood out on her cream colored skin. She reached into her bag to get a quill, and bit her lip, as if in pain.
'She must've hurt her shoulder or something, I guess…' Harry thought to himself.
But he couldn't contain his curiosity.
"What happened?" He blurted out.
"What do you mean by that?" Cho asked.
"You've got a scratch…on you face…and it appears that you've injured your shoulder as well…" Harry replied.
"Oh…well, you see, when I was picking up my things from the floor, I missed a spot of ink on the floor, so I slipped on it and fell. Then I cleaned myself up after that…" Cho answered. "I guess I was in too much of a rush to get to class, that I forgot to heal myself…"
Harry seemed satisfied with this answer, and didn't ask anymore questions except about the lesson.
'I just can't let him know the truth…' Cho thought. 'I can't let him know…and I will never let him know…'
During the rest of the classes that day, Cho said nothing. She wouldn't risk opening her mouth and accidentally spilling out a few things on her mind that Harry wouldn't be very pleased to know.
She was the first out the door of their last lesson (Potions), and she ate dinner quickly. After a small meal, she bolted out the Great Hall doors and headed to Gryffindor Tower. But she never was able to reach her destination. As she walked down the fourth floor someone grabbed her and shut her in a supply cupboard.
Harry, the others, and two young infants left the Great Hall wondering where Cho could be. They reached the fourth floor and someone with long raven black hair whipped past them, crying.
"Well…someone's in a rush…" Hermione snorted.
"Didn't you see?!" Whitney exclaimed.
"No. What?" Hermione wondered.
"Honestly! You're the smartest one out of us, and you have no clue who just ran past us?!"
"No. Who was it?"
"Gosh, Hermione! You're slower than a troll! It was Cho! Do I need to say it any plainer?!"
"Really?"
A tall seventh year Ravenclaw with brown hair and brown eyes walked past them. Harry seized his robes and shoved him against the wall.
"Davies! What'd you do to her?!" Harry yelled.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about Potter?! I didn't do anything to your girlfriend! Hell! I was just walking! Can I not walk in the halls of this castle anymore? Or do I have to learn how to become a moving puddle on the floor?" Josh replied.
"Right…sorry…" Harry apologized, releasing him.
Josh ran off to the Ravenclaw dormitory, and didn't turn back. Once out of earshot, he let out a long breath.
"Whew…That was close…" He whispered.
Cho ran into the common room, and into her dormitory and flopped onto her bed and sobbed into her pillow. After a while, she stopped crying and looked at herself in the mirror on the wall. Her eyes were red and puffy as well as streaked with salty tears. She sniffed sadly and dried her eyes and sat on her bed and drew the scarlet curtains so she could be hidden from view. The silence made her begin to remember what happened in the supply cupboard with Davies. A fresh wave of tears came just by the mere thought of the whole encounter.
She was plunged into darkness of the supply cupboard. Josh's familiar voice spoke to her.
"Hello Cho…we're going to have some fun…"
She shivered, and he moved closer to her. She tried the door. It was locked.
"No!" She wailed.
Josh grinned, and fiercely pushed her on the floor, going for her robes. Footsteps were approaching, and Josh scowled, then roughly pulled Cho to her feet and unlocked the door.
"We'll continue this later…" He said.
He kissed her, and Cho pushed him off and bolted out the door and ran as quickly as she could down the hall, and whipped past Harry and the others.
"Well…someone's in a rush…" Cho heard Hermione say just before she rounded the corner and ran to Gryffindor Tower.
She was snapped out of her reverie as the dormitory door opened, and Whitney, Alyssia, Akira, Hermione, Mercadez, and Lin (each child as held in either Whitney or Alyssia's arms) came into the room.
Cho didn't need to pull back the curtain to know it was them. She heard them whispering, and recognized their voices.
"Do you think she's there?" Alyssia wondered.
"She has to be. When we left for dinner, those curtains were open." Hermione noted.
"Cho? Cho, are you there? If you can hear me, please answer me." Whitney said softly.
The girls took a few steps closer to Cho's bed.
"Cho, it's me, Aki. Please, if you're there answer me. Whitney's got Lin here. Harry's really worried. Tai already knows, I sent him an owl, and he's also worried. Harry and Tai are in the common room downstairs, hoping you're here." Akira said.
They inched closer, and closer yet.
"Stop. Don't take another step." Cho said without realizing it.
"Oh Cho! Thank god! You're here! We weren't sure, and-well if you were here, we didn't want to bother you, and so we just crept in here…" Akira replied, breathing a sigh of relief.
"I know. I heard you come in." Cho said.
"Um…do you want to go downstairs?" Alyssia asked.
"No." Cho replied.
"Oh…well, ok…Hermione, go downstairs and tell Harry and Tai that Cho's here, that way they don't have to worry anymore than they already are." Alyssia said.
"Will do." Hermione said, opening the dormitory door and shutting it quietly.
"Lin…" Cho whispered.
"What's that? Sorry…I didn't hear that…" Alyssia said.
"Lin. Where is she? Where is my daughter?" Cho said, louder.
"Oh. I have her here." Alyssia replied.
"Give her to me, please."
Alyssia stepped forward and handed Cho a small bundle through the break in the curtain.
"Thank you." Cho said.
"Oh…you're welcome…"
Alyssia looked up at Cho and screamed.
"Cho! Oh my gosh! You're hurt! Are you alright? What happened?!" She asked, very worried.
Whitney and Akira walked over, opened the curtains, and looked too. Whitney was speechless. Akira had a look of utmost horror plastered on her face. Alyssia, Whitney, and Akira had taken seats on Cho's bed, surrounding her.
"Bloody hell…Sis…Are you ok?" Akira managed to say.
"Cho, you need to tell us…what happened. Who did this?" Whitney said very seriously.
"I don't know why you think someone is doing this to me! It's just my own fault! I keep falling, alright?!" Cho answered angrily.
"You're aren't this clumsy! Someone's doing this to you! Who?! Tell us who it is!" Whitney demanded.
"No one's doing this to me! And even if someone was, what makes you think I'd tell you?!" Cho screamed.
At that moment, Mercadez and Lin cried. The two mothers stopped their argument instantly and calmed their children. After the two babies were asleep, no one said anything.
"Out." Cho said finally.
"What?" Alyssia, Whitney, and Akira asked.
"Out! Get out! Get off of my bed! Leave me alone!" Cho said seething.
The three girls stood up and took a few steps forward, and turned around to see the curtains drawn quickly behind them.
-
On the following morning, Professor McGonagall announced that there would be a Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match. It was to take place on Friday. Many students complained for the short notice, and both teams were constantly practicing on the pitch, meaning Lin spent most of her time in Whitney's care instead of her mother's. But even when Cho did have free time, she spent as much time with her daughter as she possibly could. But somehow Quidditch practice seemed to always draw her away. Lin ended up spending the entire week with Whitney, but when the match arrived on a warm May midday, both teams were ready.