Hey all!! Here's chapter 2!! Hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long! hehe...please remember to review!!
Thanks to Chapter 1's reviewers Froggie2 and Sheen Rox!!! You guys are the best!!!!
Disclaimer: Basically, if you've read about it in one of the books, I don't own it, that belongs to JK Rowling. I also don't own the name "Meilin", that belongs to the anime Card Captor Sakura. I own the character though, I just borrowed the name.
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Secret of the Chosen Heir
Chapter 2: Discoveries
"Miss Chang?"
Cho looked up and forced a smile, "Mr. Weasley."
Percy smiled at her over his horn-rimmed glasses, "The Minister would like to know if you are ready for the Daily Prophet interview tomorrow."
"Just a few more minor adjustments and I will be." she replied, wishing he would leave.
"Wonderful, I will inform the Minister." He paused, "Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?"
She sighed, "I'm rather busy, Mr. Weasley."
"Oh alright then, I will see you later then Miss Chang." he turned and left.
Cho sighed again. She had been the spokesperson for the Minister of Magic for about 4 months now, ever since she was freed from the hospital after what she liked to call "The Incident". Percy Weasley had not left her alone since she started working there despite her older brother's many warnings to leave her alone.
"Cho!" her friend Marietta bursted into he office.
"Yes Marietta?" Cho asked wearily.
"Did you hear? Harry Potter hasn't returned to Hogwarts!" Marietta said enthusiastically, "And neither has his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger."
"Really?" Cho's ears perked up at the mention of Harry, "Who told you?"
Marietta shrugged, "It's rumoured all over the place."
Cho looked at her friend's heavily made-up face, "You'll do anything to find victory over Hermione won't you."
"Of course!" Marietta huffed, "She ruined my life when that spell took effect."
Cho was about to retort, but stopped just in time. She wasn't in the mood for a fight.
Marietta checked her watch, "Merlin, look at the time! I have to run! Merry Christmas Cho!"
Cho sighed when Marietta left. Right, Christmas, she had almost forgotten. She buried her face in her hands. She was so tired. She needed a break.
"Cho? Are you alright?" Wei breezed in with a stack of parchment.
"Yes Wei, I'm fine. Just a little tired."
Wei grinned, "Is my hard-working little sister complaining already?"
Cho glared at him, "I mever said that!"
"Whoa, little sister! I was just kidding." he smiled, "I came over to see if you're ready to go home yet. It's almost 7:00."
"You go on ahead Wei. I still have some more polishing to do." Cho said.
"Alright then. Don't wear yourself out on Christmas Eve Cho!"
"Bye Wei."
Cho turned back to the speech she had been preparing and started polishing it to sound as sophisticated as possible. An hour later, she stretched, satisfied with her work. She quickly put the speech in the Minister's mailbox and got ready to leave. She was just locking her office door when she heard muffled gasps from down the hall. Hand on her wand, she went to investigate.
She turned a corner and crashed into another figure.
"Oh sorry," she apologized quickly then stared at the person in front of her, "Harry?!"
Harry grinned, "Hey Cho!"
"What are you doing here?" Cho exclaimed.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing. I caught wind of the beautiful new spokesperson for the Minister and thought it would be you."
Cho rolled her eyes, "It didn't have to be me you know."
"No, but I had a 99 chance of being right," he smiled slyly, "And I was."
Cho laughed, "Alright fine!"
"And as an apology for crashing into you, how about going to dinner with me?" Harry asked, a twinkle in his eye.
Cho couldn't resist, "Oh alright. Let me owl my family first though."
She quickly scribbled a note on a piece of parchment and waved her wand. The parchement immediately folded itself into a paper airplane and flew off.
"That's going to find your family?" Harry asked in amazement.
"No, it's just flying to my owl." Cho laughed again at the look of wonder on Harry's face, "Shall we go now? Or are you going to stare after the parchment forever?"
Harry laughed, "Right, let's go."
Harry took her to a nice restaurant on Diagon Alley. It wasn't a very romantic restaurant, but nevertheless, it was a nice one. Harry couldn't stop watching Cho. She was even more beautiful than the last time they had met. She had a sparkle in her eyes and her hair looked softer and shinier. There was a flush in her cheeks as she laughed and talked with him and a look of genuine happiness. He could feel his heart racing just looking at her.
Stop it! He scolded himself, You already have a girlfriend remember? She's waiting for you at the Burrow! Even so, Harry couldn't help but wish Cho was his girl.
"Hey..." Cho's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Are you alright? You kind of zoned out on me."
"I'm fine." Harry said awkwardly.
They were quiet for a while.
"I heard you didn't return to Hogwarts this year..." Cho said presently.
Harry scowled inwardly, "Who told you that?"
"Marietta."
"Who? Oh...her..."
"Yeah...is that true?"
Harry paused and decided to tell her the truth, "Yeah."
"Why?"
At that moment, the food arrived. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for the opportunity to change the subject. For the remainder of the meal, the two talked about Cho's work, family, plans for Christmas and everything else. Harry carefully avoided the topic of relationships, but one question slipped through his lips before he could stop it.
"Are you still going out with Michael Corner?"
Cho looked a little puzzled, "No, I never actually dated him."
"Oh." Harry was relieved, so he still had a small chance.
"Are you still with Ginny?" Cho asked.
"Er...yeah.." Harry shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh." Cho's expression became unreadable.
They finished the meal in awkward silence. Harry tried desperately to get another lively conversation going, but failed.
"Thanks for dinner Harry," Cho said after Harry paid the bill.
"No problem Cho," Harry smiled, "I'll take you home."
"No, I can go myself. Shouldn't you get going to visit Ginny anyways?" Cho asked bitterly.
"I told Ron to tell his mom that I was coming to visit you first."
Cho was speechless, "Really?"
Harry nodded, and grinned to himself when she gave him a pleased smile.
"I'm Apparating though," she said doubtfully.
"Then, I'll just have to do a Side-Along Apparation with you."
She raised an eyebrow, "Someone is certainly stubborn."
Harry gave her a wide grin, "I know. Something I got from my dad."
Cho laughed, "Alright then, hang on."
With Harry holding firmly onto her arm, Cho Disapparated. When they stopped spinning, Harry heard Cho gasp and felt her weaken. He followed her gaze and stiffened. Hanging above her house was the Dark Mark.
With a small cry, Cho broke free from his grasp and ran towards the house.
"Cho! Wait!" Harry ran after her, his wand drawn.
She froze in the doorway and screamed.
Harry caught up to her and wished he hadn't looked. Wei was lying the doorway, clearly dead with a shocked expression on his face.
"No!" Cho sobbed as she bolted past her brother's body and into the house, Harry hot on her heels.
Moments later, they found Mr. Chang in the kitchen. His face was frozen with a look of pure agony. Harry mentally noted that he was probably tortured with a Cruiciatus Curse before being killed. Cho continued to run about the house and finally stopped when they found Mrs. Chang. She was lying in a pool of her own blood.
Cho was staring at the still form of her mother, tears falling freely down her face.
Harry knelt beside Mrs. Chang, looking for the wound and found it a second later. There were two large puncture holes in her chest. It looked as if she was bitten by a giant snake. Nagini. Harry thought darkly. Voldemort used Nagini to kill Cho's mother. His blood began to boil. I am going to kill him.
He looked at Cho. She looked as though she was about to collapse. Quickly, he went over to her and put his arm around her and led her out of the house, murmuring words of comfort.
"Cho, look at me. Cho?" Harry took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. Her eyes were unfocused and dark with terror and her face was deathly pale.
"Bloody hell Cho, come back to me!" Harry shook her. There was no response from her. She continued to tremble and shake.
Without thinking, Harry planted his lips on hers and kissed her hard. He could feel her freeze in shock, then soften lightly and kiss him back with just as much force. After a few moments, Harry broke away, breathing hard.
"Cho, I need to you listen to me." Harry said, resting his forehead against hers.
She nodded mutely.
"I'm going taking you to Ron's place. It's not safe here. We'll go there and decided what to do after we both calm down a bit alright?"
She nodded again.
Harry started to lead her further away from the house, but she pulled him back.
"What?" he looked back at her and found her staring at a piece of parchment on the ground near them.
Tentatively, Harry picked it up and swore as he read it.
I have your little sister. The parchment read simply, yet full of evil. There was no signature, but there was no need for one. The Dark Mark in the sky said it all.
Cho was still trembling. Harry knew she read the message too. He gritted his teeth, took her into his arms and Disapparated to the Burrow.
--The Burrow--
"Harry mate! We've been-" Ron stopped short when he saw Harry's furious face and Cho trembling in his arms, "What happened mate?"
"Voldemort attacked her family," Harry said through clenched teeth, "Get Hermione to take Cho to bed."
"No." Cho said faintly.
"Cho-" Harry began.
"No."
Harry sighed, "Alright. Tell your mom I'm here, Ron. And tell her Cho's here."
"Right, come inside while I go do that mate." Ron turned and dashed into the house.
"C'mon Cho," Harry murmured into her ear. Keeping his arms around her, Harry slowly helped her into Ron's house and sat her down beside the fireplace. After a few moments, Mrs. Weasley bustled out of the kitchen.
"Harry!" she enveloped Harry in a fierce hug, "How are you dear?"
"I'm alright Mrs. Weasley, thank you." Harry replied, "I'm afraid I can't say the same for Cho though."
"I've already contacted the Order. Remus and Tonks are in the ktichen and I think Minerva should be here soon." Mrs. Weasley said in a low voice after giving Cho a sympathetic glance.
Harry nodded and knelt in front of Cho. Her eyes were glazed and full of fear. They were almost black in contrast with her very cold white skin. He took one her hands in his. They were ice cold.
"Here, give her some of this, it should help her warm up." Mrs. Weasley handed a steaming cup of hot tea to Harry.
Harry put it in Cho's hands. She took it, but didn't drink, but continued to stare into the fire with unfocused eyes.
"Hello Harry." Lupin's voice came.
"Lupin!" Harry's eyes lit up slightly at the sight of the Maurader. If possible, Lupin looked even more disheveled than the last time Harry saw him. His smile was warm, but it didn't reach his eyes. They remained serious and weary.
After a few mintues, more of the Order arrived and Harry told them everything he could about Cho's family being murdered. There was a pause as everyone let the story sink in.
"What are we going to do?" Mrs. Weasley asked cautiously.
Professor McGonagall looked grave, "We need to rescue Miss Chang's little sister. But how, I don't know."
"I wish Dumbledore was here..." Hermione sighed under her breath to Harry and Ron, "He would know what to do, and even if he didn't, he would provide a sense of security."
"Yeah..." Ron agreed quietly.
There was a lot more discussion between the Order members, but Harry stopped listening. He was watching Cho. She had sat unmovingly in her chair the whole time with that same blank expression on her face. Eventually, everyone decided to continue the discussion at a later time and left. Mrs. Weasley sent them all up to bed and tried to give Cho a sleeping potion, which Cho refused silently. After trying for a couple more minutes, Mrs. Weasley gave up and put her to bed in Ginny and Hermione's room.
--Hours Later--
Harry couldn't sleep. He had tossed and turned for several hours, wide-awake. His mind kept turning to Cho. He wondered if she was going to be alright. He wondered if she was going to be her old self again. But most of all, he wondered how he was going to tell her how much he cared for her. Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and quietly got out of bed to check on Cho. He found the girls' room door open slightly. Peering in, he saw Cho's bed was empty. His breath caught. Quickly, Harry turned and ran down the stairs.
He sighed in relief. She was sitting in front of the fireplace, hugging her knees and watching the dying embers of the fire. He was about to go to her when someone whispered his name. He whirled around.
"Ginny?" Harry looked at her in disbelief, "What are you doing up at this time?"
She just looked at him, saying nothing. Then, she beckoned him to come with her and led him into a dark corner away from Cho.
"Ginny, what's wrong?"
"You love her don't you..." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
Harry was shocked, but he recovered quickly, "What are you talking about Gin?"
"Harry don't lie to me!" Ginny's voice broke, "If you love her, just say so honestly!"
Harry didn't know what to say. He had never meant to hurt Ginny like this.
"I mean," she continued, "We broke up already. You don't have to think that you are still with me."
"Gin..." he started slowly, "I-I'm sorry."
Ginny smiled at him through her tears, "At least you're honest Harry." she paused, "So I guess this is the true end huh?"
Harry winced at her words.
She stepped closer to him, "I won't forget the time we had Harry. I won't forget you." She kissed him lightly on the lips. He returned it.
"I'm really sorry Ginny." he whispered when they broke apart.
She shook her head and gave him a little push towards Cho, "She's waiting for you."
He stared at her speechlessly.
"Go!" she pushed a little harder.
He walked towards Cho in a daze. When he turned around again, Ginny was gone. Harry shook his head, attempting to clear it. Then sat down beside Cho and wrapped his arms around her.
"Harry?" Cho whispered faintly. She threw her arms around him and began to sob into his chest.
"Shh," Harry murmured into her hair, "It's alright Cho, it's gonna be alright."
"She's out there with- with Him! She's all alone Harry! What am I going to do!" Cho sobbed, clutching Harry's shirt.
"I know Cho," he said soothingly, "We're going to get her back. I promise."
Eventually, Cho's sobs subsided and her breathing became regular and even. Harry looked down at her and found she had fallen asleep. He sighed and cradled her gently, pulling her closer to him, leaning against the foot of a chair.
"I promise we'll get Meilin back Cho..." he whispered again, resting his cheek on her hair, "I promise..."
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Whoaaa, that's a lot happening for one chapter!! Let me know if it's going too fast!! And I'm really sorry to all HarryGinny fans. I'm a HarryCho fan myself and I had to break them up if I wanted to have my great desire of seeing Harry and Cho together, please don't hate me!!
Yes I realize Harry is being kinda a jerk, I didn't even realize what I was doing until I was done... . whooops...
Please review:D