AUTHOR'S NOTE Sorry about the LONG delay! My life has been crazy in so many different ways. Forgive me? And remember, Narini is the offspring of Nagini.

Thanks go out to my faithful beta, Lauren.

DISCLAIMER Michelle belongs to a different story that I wrote called Red and White. Other than that, all characters belong to JK Rowling.

It took two days and nights of excruciating, never-ending boredom to drive Cho to pick up Gadding With Ghouls. The first time, she skimmed it recklessly and tossed it aside after an evening. The second time, she dragged it out, reading only one page an hour.

She had reached the sixth chapter ("How I Rescued Wilhelmina Harker IX While Tied To A Stake") for the second time when her door burst open. Quickly, she scrambled off of the bed and stared at the Death Eater in the doorway.

"She wants to see you," Marcus Flint said.

Cho rolled her eyes. "That the only phrase you know?" she asked sarcastically.

He responded by grabbing her roughly by the elbow and dragging her from the room. Soon, she stood impatiently before Bellatrix again. "Hello again, little Orderling."

"Nice of you to let me out of my cell, Bellatrix," Cho retorted.

Bellatrix clucked her tongue. "Now, now, girlie, that's no way to talk about your home!"

Cho narrowed her eyes. "This is not my home."

Bellatrix shrugged indifferently. "Maybe not now. But it was once before and it will be again. I can wait."

With a snort, Cho replied, "I never figured you as a patient person."

Behind Bellatrix, a few of the Death Eaters gasped. Cho stood her ground, inwardly cringing as Bellatrix slowly grinned. "You always were a feisty little girl. Glad to see that Dumbledore hasn't managed to charm everything out of you."

Something in the way Bellatrix was watching her made her wonder. "Why would Dumbledore want to charm me?" she asked.

"I don't know really why he did it," the female Death Eater said offhandedly. "Dumbledore didn't feel the need to inform me of his rationale. But he didn't want you to remember something, I suppose. After all, what are memory charms for?"

Cho suddenly felt cold. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Bellatrix laughed, her high voice steeped with a maniacal tone, and rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't! That's why it's called a memory charm! I thought little Potter only accepted smart people into his playgroup."

Blushing, Cho kept her eyes on Bellatrix. "You're lying."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Bellatrix said easily. She brightened. "I'm sure you'd like to get back to your reading now."

'Anything's better than you,' Cho thought contemptuously.

Bellatrix's features darkened. "Never learned Occlumancy, I see. Best not to think that way girlie, or you'll make me mad."

Cho felt a chill race down her spine. Marcus Flint all but pushed her back to her room and slammed the door. Shaking, she sank down on her bed.

A memory charm. Bellatrix had said that Dumbledore put a memory charm on her. "It's a lie," she muttered darkly to herself. It had to be. Dumbledore would never do that. She fought back the prickly beginnings of tears that always came with thoughts of their late headmaster. She lay back, convincing herself that it was all a trick, or more likely, a psychotic head game.

Yet there was a tiny part of her that couldn't let the idea go. It was almost as though she was waiting to hear the words out loud in order to find out if they were true.

"No!" she said as she stood and furiously began pacing. "Dumbledore wouldn't do that to me! He wouldn't do that to any of us!"

But she was unable to convince herself. Angry and lonely, she flopped back onto her bed and snatched up Gadding with Ghouls. She didn't care how Lockhart claimed to rescue Wilhelmina Harker IX while tied to a stake, but there was nothing else to do. The book managed to take the edge off of that nagging thought of memory charms.

But her reprieve didn't last long. A single sentence she read jumped out at her immediately. She pressed her nose to the book and reread it several times. In her excitement, she unconsciously began to read aloud.

"Wilhelmina was imprisoned, being guarded by an exceptionally large troll. I of course knew the perfect incantation with which to distract him, but was myself tied to a stake and under the watchful eye of a particularly articulate giant. Wilhelmina had unfortunately received an Obliviate curse and could not remember how to best defeat her captor. I had to lead her to break her own memory charm."

Cho had to put the book down. Harry and Ron had regaled everyone with stories of Gilderoy Lockhart, usually being rewarded with raucous laughter. However, Cho did remember that the one and only thing Lockhart was good as was the memory charm. It was only natural that he would know how to break them.

She read the passage that followed, in which Lockhart so kindly explained the exact steps in breaking the charm. It didn't sound all that hard. She was without her wand, but it didn't matter. She had to know the truth and this is the only way.

In the living room turned throne room, Bellatrix Lestrange smiled.

…

The kitchen in 12 Grimmauld Place was a depressing sight. Tonks stood behind Remus, absent-mindedly stroking his hair. Seated on either side of the long table were Harry and Gabrielle, joined by Ron, Hermione, Luna Lovegood, and Hagrid. No one said anything for a long time.

Finally, Hermione said resolutely, "What's the next step?"

Remus sighed heavily. "I'm not sure there is one."
"Are we supposed to give her up for dead?" Gabrielle asked angrily.

Tonks immediately turned her fierce gaze on Gabrielle. "We want Cho to be found just as much as you do!" she snapped. "Don't you think Remus is doing everything he can?"

"It's been days, Tonks!" Ron pointed out. "We don't even know if Cho's dead or alive!"

"We're doing everything we can!" Tonks shot back. Hermione put a hand on Ron's arm to stop him from arguing further. Likewise, Remus quietly asked Tonks to calm down. The kitchen fell back into uneasy silence.

"What about the book?"

Everyone turned to look at Luna. "What book?" Ron asked.

"The Hogwarts book, of course," she answered.

"What's the Hogwarts book?" Gabrielle asked.

Remus meanwhile looked suddenly hopeful. "The Hogwarts book! Of course! Well that would certainly answer one question."

"Remus," Harry said. "What are you talking about?"

"The birth of every magical child is recorded in an ancient book kept at Hogwarts," Hermione explained. "Then the Headmaster or Deputy Headmaster checks it every year to see who's turned eleven so that they can send their letter." Her voice turned exasperated. "Are you ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?"

"The book is enchanted to record each student's death as well," Remus added before Harry or Ron could answer Hermione. "It could tell us for sure whether Cho is still alive or not."

Everyone was silently afraid of the same thing. For all they knew, the book had already recorded Cho's death.

A loud crack startled them and Bill Weasley leaned against the doorframe. "Any luck?" he asked. The long faces he was met with answered for him. He sank down next to Luna "Still nothing."

"That's not exactly true," Remus said. "The Hogwarts book should be able to tell us at least if she's still alive."

Bill looked around the table and made a face. "Well?" he asked exasperatedly. "Why are we still here?"

At his word, everyone seemed to wake up and got to their feet. "I'll stay behind," Remus offered. "Just in case someone else finds anything."

The others nodded. Harry paused at the door. "Good luck," Remus said. Harry gave him a small, sad smile and followed the others upstairs. Remus heard a succession of loud cracks as they left for Hogwarts and then silence

…

The village of Hogsmeade was quiet. It was a different place now than when Harry was in school. The war had effectively destroyed it and it had never recovered.

Madam Rosmerta, after failing to properly help Draco in his first mission from the Dark Lord, had been murdered. The Three Broomsticks had been closed ever since. The Weasley twins were successful in buying Zonko's but sold the building when Hogsmeade proved an unsatisfactory location. Only Honeydukes remained open, but seldom did students shop there anymore.

They all stood in the middle of the street for a moment before Bill spoke up. "Come on. We have a job to do."

Dutifully they all turned their backs on where they used to spend carefree weekends and headed for the castle. "I haven't been back here in a while," Ron muttered.

"None of us have," Luna said with a shrug.

They trudged on in silence. The large door opened and Michelle stood waiting for them in the entrance. "I just heard from Remus," she said as she ushered everyone inside. "And I've notified the Headmistress. She's waiting for you in her office."

"Thanks Michelle," Bill said.

She smiled. "No problem. I hope you find good news."

They headed up the stairs. It wasn't long before they saw the magnificent stone gargoyle of the Head's office. Current Hogwarts Headmistress Sinistra stood before it waiting for them. "Harry," she said warmly. "It's good to see you. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances."

He smiled sad. "So am I. Can we look at the book?"

"Of course. Follow me." She turned to the gargoyle and said, "Cassiopeia." It sprang to life at her word and they followed her up the rotating stone steps.

…

Cho sat sobbing on her bed. It was true. She'd followed Gilderoy Lockart's instructions and immediately been assaulted with a series of bright memory flashes. It was the beginning of the charm being broken.

She had never felt so betrayed in her entire life. The first thing that she'd seen was Dumbledore approaching her. She was a young child. There was sadness in his eyes as he pointed his wand at her and said, "Obliviate." She wanted to believe it was a trick, but her heart knew better.

Dumbledore had done this to her. He had stolen part of her life from her and the life she led now had all been a lie! Fresh tears broke out. She cried out not only her anger and pain over Dumbledore's betrayal but also her guilt over being so mad at the man who had given his life to protect her and the other students.

In a burst of emotion, Cho threw Gadding with Ghouls savagely across the room. It would be easy to blame Bellatrix Lestrange or even Lockhart for helping her, but she couldn't. Some part of her knew that she'd walked into a trap, that Bellatrix wanted her to break the charm for her own twisted purpose, but Cho didn't care.

The pieces of her memory were coming in frenzied waves, nearly overwhelming her. There wasn't much she could sort out, try as she might. She thought she recognized the bedroom she was in and wondered if Bellatrix had been telling her the truth about having been there before.

Taking deep breaths to try and stop her tears, Cho focused all of her energy on sorting through the images assaulting her head. The more she calmed down, the easier it became to make some sense of everything. Soon she remembered something about a baby and a fairy princess costume. She remembered wandering through a cornfield late at night and looking up at a huge billboard.

It said, "Welcome to Smallville, Kansas, The Creamed Corn Capital of the World."

…

Bellatrix sat alone in her throne room, Narini coiled in her lap. Bellatrix stroked her head absently and the snake hissed with pleasure. "Soon, my dear," she murmured. "It has started. Soon the girl will go searching for her parents and family and when she does?"

Narini lifted her head irritably as the petting stopped. She snapped her jaws. Bellatrix laughed and looked into the snake's eyes. "When she does, she will lead me right to Kal-El's doorstep."