Hello all!!! I am SO sorry about this delay...I got a really bad case of writer's block. Sorry!!!
So, I've had a couple of reviewer who kindly asked me to slow down, so this :points down: is the result! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!!
HUGE thanks to all the people that reviewed this fic last time: Sheen Rox (as always:D), Amy.Lee.Rox., King Jasbon, Chang Kuei, FLifeanddream, diggorykid, AutumnKate, and Avatarfanx2!! You all rule!!
Disclaimer: Basically, if you've read about it from the books, I don't own it. That belongs to J.K. 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 6: Reality
Molly Weasley had only just woken and was starting to prepare breakfast when there was a loud pop of someone Apparating and a series of pops following it. Mrs. Weasley tensed and pulled out her wand. Walking cautiously to the source of the sound outside, she readied herself for attack.
The first thing she saw when she got to the back door was a boy with the silvery hair of the Malfoy family holding a limp girl who looked very much like Cho Chang.
Screaming with horror, Mrs. Weasley fired a hex right toward the boy. Draco managed to dodge it just in time.
"Mum! Stop!" Ron yelled, "It's just us!"
"What's going on here?"
"What's all the screaming about Mum?"
"Yeah Mum, there are easier ways of waking us up you know!"
Mr. Weasley, Ginny and the twins had scrambled to the back door at Mrs. Weasley's scream. They all froze at the sight of Draco carrying a limp girl, Harry holding a fainting Cho and Ron with a supportive arm around a teary Hermione.
"What happened?" Ginny broke the tense silence.
"We'll explain later, but first I think we need to give Meilin a decent burial," Harry said wearily.
"Meilin? As in..." George trailed off, looking at Cho.
"Oh you poor dear!" Mrs. Weasley hurried over to Cho and enveloped her into a hug, "Come, let's get you to bed, you've had such a big shock..."
Cho shook her head, "I want to stay with Mei," she whispered
"Oh, I guess it's all right then. Everyone hurry inside the house." Mrs. Weasley said, wiping her eyes and becoming her usual bustling self again.
Everyone filed into the house, but Mr. Weasley held out a hand to stop Draco.
"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" he growled.
Draco glared at him coldly, "I'm here because this girl refused to let me die inside the Dark Lord's house and cared enough about me to get me out against everybody will. Does that answer your question, sir?"
Mr. Weasley was taken aback, "I won't allow a Death Eater inside my house!" he persisted.
"Dad?" Ginny appeared at the door, "Just let him in Dad. If he does anything funny, there are still eight of us against one of him. Besides, if Harry obviously trusted him this far, couldn't you do the same?"
Mr. Weasley hmphed and went inside without a word.
Ginny sighed, "Come on Malfoy, before he changes his mind."
Draco narrowed his eyes and was about to ignore her when he remembered Meilin's sweet nature. Swallowing his pride, he paused as he passed her at the door.
"Thanks," he managed to choke out.
Ginny stared at him in surprise, then gave a small smile, "You're welcome."
--Later—
Between Harry, Cho, Ron and Hermione, the whole story of how they had rescued Meilin and how she had killed herself came tumbling out quite quickly. When all that needed to be said had been said, there was a long, deep silence.
"So what now?" Ron ventured, "Are we going to kill Him yet?"
Professor McGonagall stood up, "No, none of us is clearly ready to take on You-Know-Who yet. Especially not you, Mr. Potter," she said when Harry was about to protest.
"She's right Harry, we're not ready to launch an attack." Hermione agreed, "I know you want to avenge Meilin and her family, who doesn't? But we need to think rationally right now. We can't just barge in there and start destroying things, we'll all be dead within an hour."
"Agreed. What we need to do at this moment is prepare. I will do what I can at Hogwarts. Meanwhile, the rest of you should start working on your spells and such," McGonagall said briskly, "I bid you all a good day." With that she was gone.
"I think we're ready enough," Harry grumbled as he, Ron, Hermione and Cho went up to bed.
"And how do you think you're going to beat him Harry? Poke him with the sword?" Hermione asked indignantly.
"I know how to use the sword alright?" Harry said defensively.
Hermione snorted, "Honestly Harry, are you blind? You killed Nagini out of the pure luck that you had two spells to freeze it. You won't be so lucky with Voldemort."
"I would've figured it out somehow!"
"Of course Harry, of course. The next thing we know we'll have to drag you out again because you were doing something to get yourself killed!"
Harry glared at her then turned on his heel and slammed the door to Ron's room.
"Just great, Hermione. How am I supposed to get into my room now?" Ron said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh do shut up Ronald!" Hermione said on the verge of tears. She ran into Ginny's room and locked the door.
Ron turned to Cho, "You're not going to run off too are you?"
Cho shook her head, "I'll try talking to Harry. I think you should do the same with Hermione."
Ron nodded, "Well, here goes!" he puffed out his chest and went to Ginny's door.
Cho sighed, walking softly to the door, Harry disappeared behind. She listened for a moment. Hearing nothing, she knocked gently.
No answer.
She knocked again, "Harry? It's Cho. Can I come in?"
There was a defeated sigh, some footsteps and the door opened, revealing a very tired looking Harry. He stood aside to let her into the room, then closed and locked the door.
"Ron likes orange," Harry said in answer to her shocked gaze at the orange walls.
Cho looked at him, "Yes, I see that."
"So what did you want to come in for? Are you going to tell me I'm not ready to take on Voldemort too?" Harry asked bitterly.
She closed her eyes to stop the threat of tears, "You really think you are?"
"I don't know!" he cried out, frustrated, "I'm supposed to have a weapon that he doesn't know about, but I don't even know if I have it yet! Everyone's depending on me to defeat Voldemort. I'm trying so hard, but people still don't think I can do it!"
"Are you trying to kill him just because everyone is expecting you to?" Cho asked, surprised at the sudden outburst.
There was a short silence, "No," Harry shook his head, "I want to kill him because he killed my parents and he keeps trying to kill me. I want to keep my friends safe. As long as they are around me, they are potential victims of Voldemort. That's why I want to kill him."
"You are such a hero Harry. That's your nature, but you need to realize that even the hero needs help. Hermione was right in trying to bring you back to reality. You want revenge. And believe me when I saw I want it too. You-Know-Who killed my entire family in less than a week. How do you think I feel? I loved my family more than anything in the world and he took it all away from me in a week. You think I don't revenge? Of course I do! But I'm not ready to do it, and I know it. Neither are you. Maybe it's just because I'm a Ravenclaw so I think through everything before I do it. And you being a Gryffindor, you can just do it without thinking because you're brave enough. Does it matter? I don't want to lose you too Harry! You're all I have left! If you went rushing into something like this without being prepared and died, I...I..." Cho trailed off, tears filling her eyes.
Harry wrapped her in his arms comfortingly. Her words swirled inside his head.
"Don't leave me Harry," she sobbed, "Please don't you leave me too."
"I won't Cho," he murmured, "I won't go anywhere without you."
"Good. Because I swear, if you go off and leave me, I'm going to follow you no matter where you go." She hiccupped.
He looked at her and wiped away her tears with his sleeve, "You cry too much you know that?"
"What do you expect me to do? Laugh because my family got killed?" she said, eyebrow raised.
Harry chuckled, "You got a point there."
"As always," Cho leaned her head against his chest again.
There was a comfortable silence while they just stood, holding each other.
"Cho?" Harry said presently.
"Hm?"
"Thanks. You really gave me a lot of sense."
She looked up at him and smiled, "I'm a Ravenclaw. We do that a lot."
Seeing her smile made Harry's heart melt. How long has it been since he had seen such a sweet smile on her lovely face? He bent his head, seeking her lips.
She returned the kiss. It began as a sweet, chaste kiss and gradually began to grow more and more passionate. Their tongues danced around each other's as they pressed themselves closer and closer, trying to consume each other.
A distant crash and a shriek of anger broke them apart. Breathing hard, they stared into each other's eyes for a long time.
"Think we should go see what happened?" Cho breathed.
"Harry James Potter! You open this bloody door right now or I swear I will hex you like I hexed Ron!" Hermione shrieked through the door.
Harry groaned, "What did I do now?"
"Er...be an arse when she was only trying to give you some sense?" Cho offered, grinning.
"Oh, right." He blew his bangs, "I am going to die."
Cho gave him a small push towards the door, "Then you had better open the door before Hermione blows it off."
Harry took a deep breath, "Here we go."
He opened the door wide and prepared to yell the Shield Spell.
"Finally mate! I thought you died in there!" Ron said, chuckling.
Harry stared at him, "Hermione didn't hex you?"
Ron grinned, "Nope. Ginny came to my aid just in time, right Gin?"
Ginny scowled, "No, Ronald. I didn't move at all. Malfoy managed to deflect it."
"Malfoy?" Harry stared at Draco, who wore his typical smirk.
"What? I almost regret saving him there. It would've been quite entertaining watching Weasley being hexed by Granger," Draco drawled.
"Hey!" Ron said indignantly.
Hermione was staring at Draco in shock, all the anger wiped off her face, "You called me 'Granger' and put no insult in a sentence!"
Draco glanced at her and shrugged.
"I think it's high time we all go downstairs before some more violence ensues," Ginny said, giving Hermione a worried look.
"I agree!" Ron dashed down the stairs ahead of them, clearly trying to put some distance between him and Hermione.
"So what happened exactly?" Cho asked, confused.
"Ronald tried to break down the door and managed to destroy the book Hermione was reading at the moment along the way. Hermione shrieked and tried to hex him and Draco deflected the spell right when we turned the corner and saw Hermione looking ready to kill with her wand raised," Ginny explained.
"Oh...wait, 'Draco'?" Harry glanced suspiciously at Ginny and Draco, "What are you not telling me?"
"Oh please Harry, let's just go down now. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley is expecting us by now." Cho said quickly, pulling towards the stairs.
"But-"
"Come on Harry!" Cho interrupted. She grabbed his hand and began to drag him away from the flushing Ginny. Over her shoulder, Cho gave Ginny a small wink, then disappeared down the stairs.
"Reparo!" Hermione muttered, then went after them. The broken door and destroyed book magically put themselves back together so it looked as if nothing had happened.
Draco turned to Ginny, still smirking, "'Draco'?"
"It was a slip of the tongue alright? It won't happen again!" Ginny said defensively, her face flaming.
He shrugged, "if you say so, Ginerva." Then, he too disappeared down the stairs, leaving Ginny staring in his wake.
--That night—
The night was still in the Weasley household. Not a soul was stirring, everyone was sleeping quite peacefully it seems. Except one.
Cho Chang was sitting in front of the fireplace, watching the dying embers. Tears streamed down her face as she fought to stifle her sobs. She hugged her knees, feeling lost. She supposed she should go to Harry, but he had so much on his mind. Their 'talk' earlier had confirmed that. So she simply sat there, trying to comfort herself, crying silently for her lost family.
"Hey..." a soft voice called behind her.
Cho quickly wiped her eyes and turned, "Hey Draco." She gave him a small smile.
He sat down next to her, "Been crying again?"
"No..." she swallowed, "Maybe...yes."
He said nothing. Nor was he looking at her. He too was watching the dying embers.
"I just...it just finally sunk in that my whole family is gone," she whispered, "And I'll never see them again. I can't expect Wei to come rescue me from people who bully me. I can't expect Meilin to come to me asking for advice on boys and parties and friends. I can't expect to hear my parents to greet me when I come home and tell me how much they love me and how proud they are of me. It's all sunk in at last"
Still, Draco said nothing. It seemed as though he wasn't listening to her, but he was.
When she began to sob openly, he awkwardly patted her shoulder much like he had done to Meilin a few days earlier.
"Meilin didn't want you to cry," he said after a while.
She sobbed harder, "I just miss her so much! My little baby sister! She was always there for me, no matter what! Even when Mother yells at me, Mei would still be on my side."
Draco sighed, "You know, I miss her too. I mean, she didn't know me at all. She didn't know about all the bad things I did and yet she still cared about me. She didn't want me to get hurt. It's strange, but I cared about her too. I would've protected her from anything and in the end...I couldn't..."
"She really liked you a lot," Cho whispered, her sobs subsiding, "She really did."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I could tell. Mei never looked at anyone the way she looked at you, not even all those boys she used to fancy."
They were quiet for a few minutes, just sitting in each other's company.
"Think you should head back upstairs. If anyone catches us down here together, I'm dead," Draco said presently.
Cho nodded and got up, "Aren't you going?"
Draco shook his head, "No, I think I'm going to sit for a bit longer."
"Alright," Cho turned to the stairs, then looked back at him, "Thanks Draco."
He shrugged.
"You know, you're a lot nicer than you make people think."
He looked at her, his face expressionless. She smiled, waved, then went up the stairs.
Draco stared after her for a while longer. After convincing himself that she was safely in the bedroom, he quietly crept out the back door.
He walked for a bit, but before long, he came to a small pile of freshly piled dirt. At the foot of a pile was a small stone. He knelt in front of it.
Here lies Meilin Chang.
January 18, 1994-December 28, 2007
A beloved daughter, sister and friend
Watching over us from above with love
Draco gently brushed his thumb over her name. He smiled at the memory of her.
"You left too soon," he whispered accusingly, "You cared to much for others, and not enough for yourself."
There was a soft breeze, ruffling his hair.
"I miss you. You showed me what it was like to be cared about. What have you done to me? Everyone says I've become nicer and it's all your fault," he smiled as the wind breeze became a little stronger, as if in answer to his voice.
"Not that it would concern you. This is what you wanted all along wasn't it? For me to show my feelings and thaw that icy exterior?"
The wind lulled, making everything still once more.
"I have to move on. But you'll always be here," he put his hand over his heart, "You've fought and won for it, and there you'll remain."
He closed his eyes and felt the breeze caress his cheek, "Good bye, my Meilin."
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So how was it hmm? hehehe, I know the whole DracoMeilin thing was a little awkward, but please keep in mind that what Draco feels for Meilin is NOT romantic love. It's more like...brotherly love. Remember in the other chapter he thought of her as someone to protect and shield and stuff? THAT HAS NOT CHANGED! Meanwhile, how Meilin feels for Draco is more like...puppy love...you know? Just to make it clear...
Please review :D