Quillian: Hello again, and thanks for posting:) Semis is actually human, but sometimes Marietta has a habit of calling her shapes-shifter boyfriend by the name of the person who's form he takes, so as not to blow their cover. Imagine if he took the form of professor Snape and Marietta called him by her pet name "love" when other students were around. It would raise questions, like "Is Professor Snape having an inappropriate relationship with a student?" Anyway the real Semis Finnigan is under the castle grounds in a dungeon tomb.
Froggie2: Thanks, I really loved that review;) It was cute. More like that:) But the school year has just begun!
EnlightenedKing: Hi. Well he's not a vampire actually, but a shape-shifter. That there are bigger fish to fry is the exact reason that Marietta has gotten this far. Dumbledore spends a lot of time in Europe with most of the order looking for Voldermort, and his Death Eaters. So they have to be away from the school for a while. Yes about Marietta and the vampire attack, very good observation, but remember that the shape-shifter is not a vampire. The shape shifter has been coaching Marietta in her prejudice with insulting terms for Asians, but she already has the hate for hating people who are different, the shape shifter only gives her the terms. The shape shifter wants Marietta to succeed because it will cause Chaos in the magic world. I had at onetime toyed with making him immortal, but I didn't want to make him more powerful than Voldermort. I do want to bring Dumbledore into the story soon, but not to talk to Harry. I'm thinking of some ideas, but nothing concrete just yet, but not for talking to Harry. I never thought that you were flaming me:) Thanks for a great review post, and correcting me about who knew about you-know-who;)
Okay, I guess that I was mistaken about how many people knew that Voldermort was a half blood, but I do remember that Draco said that Cedric was the first mudblood to die, so I feel comfortable about having him, and Marietta be prejudice against half-bloods (You-Know-Who) excluded of coarse. So I'm going to go ahead with that. Since Death Eaters and the Order members are so secretive, I think that they will not spread it around. Oh! If I can post this link than you have to go to this sight. Very sad. But you have to see it. Get ready to cry!
http/media.putfile. com /Goodbye-My-Lover76
Well here is chapter 34. Chapter 34! What am I doing? Sorry… I just snapped. Well here goes some action stuff, and sad stuff, and the Harry not taking the advice from Hamlet stuff.
"This above all, to thine own self be true." The Queen. I hope everyone likes it. Fingers crossed for luck.;)
Chapter 34: The Jinxing Torso
Cho's POV:
Cho stood in the doorway of the Potions classroom listening to Professor Pinefield finish up with her students. When the bell had rang, everyone clamored to get out of the class and head to the next one. Cho walked in and nervously approached the professor, who looked up in surprise.
"Can I help you Miss…?" the Professor asked politely. Cho looked up at her.
"Um, hello Professor Pinefield, My name is Cho Chang. I had a favor I needed to ask you. Umm… well, you see I was wondering if I could do some work here after your last class using the Jinxing torso. I would be real quite, and not get in the way. I need to do some extra credit work for… um Defense against Dark Arts class, and… well Professor Snape doesn't have a Jinxing torso. So I needed to use the Potions class one… if I may." Cho said quietly. Professor Pinefield looked at her with curiosity.
"You want to use the Jinxing torso? Why doesn't Professor Snape have everyone doing the assignment?" Professor Pinefield asked. Cho thought for an excuse.
"Oh well, I'm behind, and well I need to catch up. He thought that I could practice by myself on the Jinxing torso. I mean if it was okay with you." Cho lied. Professor Pinefield looked at Cho suspiciously for a minute.
"And do you have a note Miss Chang?" the Professor asked. Cho fumbled for the non existent note for a few minutes, and then looked up at the Professor.
"Well I guess that I misplaced it, but I can go back and get it if…" Cho started.
"No need Miss Chang, I believe you. I recognize you from the great Hall. Professor Flitwick pointed you out when we were discussing his best students. Of course he said that you had some problems over the last couple of years, and your marks fell drastically. I have a few more classes today, but come after your last class is over, as I usually stay after about an hour correcting papers, and updating files." Professor Pinefield pointed to a large stack of papers that almost reached the ceiling.
"Professor Snape had his own system for keeping important files. I wish that I had some way of sorting out files, and being able to bring them up and correcting them very quickly." Professor Pinefield said.
"You need a computer." Cho said pleasantly. Professor Pinefield looked at her blankly.
"What's a computer?" she asked.
"It's a muggle device that makes things a lot easier. But there is too much magic at Hogwarts to use it." Cho said casually. Professor Pinefield gave a light laugh.
"I don't think that we have any reason to use Muggle devices. We need not learn anything from them." The Professor said. Cho frowned.
"Actually I have muggle friends and family, and I think that we could learn a lot from them." Cho said a little defensively. The Professor smiled at her.
"That didn't exactly come out the way that I had intended, I didn't mean to offend you Miss Chang. You can come back in a couple of hours, and I'll have the Jinxing torso out for you." She smiled. Cho returned the smile, thanked her sincerely, and left to her charms class that she would be late for. But it didn't matter, she would be able to use the Jinxing torso to try and find a cure for breast cancer, and she would be able to save her mother and so many other people. When she found the cure than she would share it freely with the world and no one, Muggle, or Wizard, would have to suffer such tremendous torment again.
Harry's POV:
Harry was having another bad day. He had been looking forward to Defense against Dark Arts Class all day thinking that he would be dueling with Draco Malfoy, but when he got to the pitch he found that it would be against the sixth years of Huffelpuff. Snape had said that he did it to give the Hufflepuffs experience fighting a skilled dueler, but Harry believed that Snape knew about the problems he had with that house, and wanted to further the animosity between them. At first like the day before Snape had random Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs square off. It wasn't much of a fight, so far, if it had been a match by points for each duel won Huffelpuff would be at three, and Gryffindor seventeen. Huffelpuff just wasn't a good house for accomplishment. Cedric Diggory was a bright light in an otherwise unsuccessful House. Harry had just been called up to the center of the Pitch after Semis was discovered missing for the second time in as many days. This time it had cost Gryffindor forty points, because Snape had talked to Madam Pomfrey, and Semis never went to see her. Snape was aggravated that a second day had gone bye and Semis had still not showed up. Harry stood ready for Snape to call his opponent.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley!" Snape called. Justin walked up and stood opposite of Harry. He had attended Harry's DA classes the year before, but now looked at Harry with an angry scowl. Harry was worried that he had lost some friends in Huffelpuff after the incident, and now he felt that Justin was among those who didn't believe him. Harry bowed at Snape's command, and wondered if he should let the Hufflepuff win. Maybe it would ease the tension of the Hufflepuffs if Harry took a fall. Okay Harry thought, I can afford to lose just this once. Just for the sake of the Hufflepuffs getting some satisfaction, and finally putting this all behind us. Snape stood up and shouted the countdown.
"Five… four… three… two… one, Go!" Snape screamed. Harry hesitated saying an incantation as he brought his wand up and Justin shouted a boil curse that missed Harry by millimeters. Harry fired back an Incendio curse, intending to miss, but Justin in trying to avoid where he thought Harry was going to fire stepped right into the incendiary charm that Harry had let lose, and was in turn hit with a blast of fire in his eyes that had him screaming, and crying in pain. Two Hufflepuff's walked the crying, blinded Justin over to the medical tent where Madam Pomfrey awaited him. Harry shook his head at his bad luck and began to step out of the center of the pitch.
"Where do you think your going Mr. Potter? I'll decide when you step down. Now prepare yourself for the next duel." Snap said in a rude tone. Harry looked at him with a mixture of anger, and frustration.
"Oh come on Professor, why do I have to go again. There are eight other students that have not gone yet." Harry complained. "Why don't you let them go now?" Harry asked. Snape gave him a hateful look, and told him rudely not to tell him how to run his class. Snape then called Susan Bones to the center and instructed the two of them to bow for the duel. They did and Susan gave Harry a friendly smile. Harry returned it and they prepared for the signal from Snape. Harry decided to go with an airburst charm, and say it slower so that Susan would be able to sound her off first. Snape counted down and screamed "Go!" Harry paused for a second and started to say airis concussionist, slowly to let Susan hit him, but Susan stammered to change spells in mid incantation, changing her mind which one to use. The hesitation caused Harry's spell to finish and Susan was blown off her feet by a strong burst of air, which hit her with such force that it knocked her back slamming into a crowd of her fellow Hufflepuffs, sending a couple of more people to the medical tent. She was taken to the medical tent clutching her stomach. "Damit!" Harry thought. It's hard to lose to a Huffelpuff. Harry knew that Snape was enjoying this, and wouldn't let Harry off until he had dispatched a few more Hufflepuffs, and become even more unpopular in the Huffelpuff house.
"Emit Walsh!" Snape shouted, and a very pissed off looking Walsh stepped on the mat facing Harry. When the two bowed, Emit gave the excessive bare minimum bow required. "Well this is it!" Harry thought nervously. If I let Emit hit me with something than Hufflepuff's revenge will be satisfied, and so will Emits. Harry readied himself, and Snape gave the countdown.
"Five… four… three… two… one, Go!" Snape shouted. Harry raised his wand but gave no incantation. Emit Walsh gave a mutation spell that caused Harry's entire face to move to the opposite side of his head. It was not painful but disorientating and Harry tilted his head back, now found himself looking down at his arse. He was ready to go to the medical tent when Walsh zapped a crate that someone had brought to sit on, and transfigured it into a bludger. Walsh sent it flying into the air with a levitation charm, causing the person who had been sitting on it to fall over. Before Ron and Hermione could get to Harry to take him to the medical tent Walsh sent the bludger crashing into Harry's back with blunt force, knocking his wand clear of him. Harry was knocked backwards, and since his face was now on the back of his head it slammed into the mats, busting his lower lip. Walsh continued quickly with a twisting charm that painfully coiled Harry's legs like a cinnamon twist. Harry started crying in agony from the pain as Walsh smiled at his work.
"Fell good Potter? How do you think that Cindy Miggins felt when you knocked her off her broom? I'm going to show you how it feels, you evil bastard!" Walsh yelled. He used a levitation charm to raise Harry about two hundred feet, ready to drop him. Hermione looked at Professor Snape.
"Aren't you going to stop him?" She asked. Snape gave her a scathing look, and continued to watch the match before him.
"Now you're going to feel some pain Potter! Now your going to suffer like my friend is in St. Mungoes. She's still in a coma, and they don't know if she'll get better or not. So now you're going to pay!" Walsh said as he used his wand to spin Harry around, making him dizzier.
"Walsh, you have to believe me, it wasn't me. It was Draco Malfoy! He was using Polly-Juice potion to imitate me. He used an invisibility cloak to hid my body! That's why I was in my school uniform so fast. Because I never went to the field that day. I know it was him." Harry said becoming nauseous from the spinning.
"Lire!" Walsh yelled. "You just wanted to take as many of our players out as possible so you could get the cup!" Walsh shouted.
"Damit Walsh, you're the worst team at Hogwarts! Why would I have to do that? You never win! I'm telling you it was Draco Malfoy using Polly-Juice potion, and an invisibility cloak. You have to believe me." Harry said. Walsh was angered at the remark about his team, and dropped his memory charm causing Harry to freefall to the ground. Suddenly Snape yelled out a cushioning charm of his own, and Harry landed softly on a yellowish charm a few inched above the grass. Snape walked over to Harry and cast a spell untwisting his legs. He looked at Ron and Hermione, and instructed them to take him to the medical tent to have Madam Pomfrey finish removing the rest of the jinx, and to have Harry report to his office as soon as it was done. Snap looked around at the students; some of the Gryffindors were in a shouting match with the Hufflepuffs about what had happened at the Quidditch match and what had just happened now. Many of the Gryffindors claiming that it was a cruel thing for Walsh to do, and many of the Hufflepuffs saying that Harry only got what was coming to him. It seemed a fight between the two houses was escalating when Snape yelled at everyone to shut up. He dismissed the Gryffindors first to leave class early, and go to their dormitories. When the Gryffindors had reached the castle entrance he then released the Hufflepuffs.
"Not you Mr. Walsh." Snape said in an authoritive tone. "You're coming with me to my office, and you're going to tell me in great detail everything that happened at that Quidditch Match." Snape said.
Harry's face slowly moved over to the front of his body, and settled in it's proper place. "There you go Mr. Potter, good as new, though you might be a bit dizzy from the experience for a while." Madam Pomfrey said.
"Thank you Miss." Harry said grateful. Hermione helped him sat up, and he looked at Ron who was feverously writing on some parchment with his quill. "What are you writing Ron?" he asked. Ron looked up from his work.
"I'm writing up Walsh. He's going to spend the rest of the year in detention after Dumbledore sees this. I mean we can't depend on Snape to notify him." Ron said angrily. Just then Justin Finch-Fletchley walked bye wearing shades and being guided by another Huffelpuff boy out of the tent.
"Finch-Fletchley… I'm sorry about what happened. Really." Harry said apologetically. The two didn't stop as Justin told Harry to piss off and tell that to Cindy Miggins. Soon Susan Bones walked up to Harry, having woken up from being knocked out. Harry also made an apology to her as well. She gave him a pat on the back and told him that there were no hard feelings, and that whatever happened at the pitch he was still the boy who lived. She also reminded him that he needn't apologize for zapping her, because it was a fair duel. She was then on her way out of the tent after Harry thanked her for her understanding. Harry looked back at Ron who was still busy writing Walsh up.
"Umm look Ron… if it's all the same to you, I'd rather let this one go. I mean… now Walsh has had his revenge I don't think that he'll do anything like that again, and if he tries I'll take care of it. Really I just think the Hufflepuffs that are against me will be satisfied now." Harry said. Ron looked up at him with surprise.
"Harry, Walsh basically tried to kill you. He needs to answer for it. He was way out of line." Ron stated.
"Look, I went to see Cindy Miggins the other day and… well she looked real bad. I just understand how Walsh was felling, and it was obvious that they were close. I just want to put it behind me, okay?" Harry finished. Ron gave a large sigh.
"Okay Harry, but I'll be watching him from now on. If he tries anything else than I'll zap him with the same thing he hit you with. Harry nodded.
"Fair enough. Now I've got to go to Snape's office for something. What I have no idea. Harry stood up and walked out of the tent, telling Ron and Hermione that he would see them in the Great Hall.
Harry sat in Snape's office waiting for the Professor to return. It had been ten minutes since Snape had told him to wait there. Finally Snape returned with an arm full of potions bottles, and sat them up on his desk. He looked at Harry with deep anger.
"Mr. Potter. Do you have any idea the seriousness of accusing another student of a crime without proof?" Snape said coldly. Harry nodded. "And do you know that you could be punished severely for making such false accusations?" Snape continued.
"Yes sir." Harry said.
"Then let me explain this too you Mr. Potter. You have accused a student in my house of impersonating you and attacking students on the Quidditch Pitch and hiding your body with an invisibility cloak. What proof do you have?" Snape continued. Harry though for a minute. What proof indeed. He looked up at Professor Snape.
"Well… Malfoy's had it in for me since I got to this school, and he has been harassing me every year." Harry said.
"Really Mr. Potter and that makes him guilty of impersonating you?" Snape asked.
"Well it proves that he had motive!" Harry said. Snape looked down at Harry with disgust.
"And I suppose that Motive is the only proof you need to convict someone?" Snape asked casually.
"Well… no but…" Harry stammered out, starting to lose his confidence.
"Mr. Potter, perhaps it might interest you to know that an invisibility cloak is not only very expensive, but that they are also very rare. Now does that sound like something that Draco Malfoy would have ready access to?" Snape asked.
"He's rich, and his father is a Death Eater. So yes. They would have the means to buy one, and they would have connections in the black market. I could see them getting their hands on an invisibility cloak." Harry stated. Snape smiled.
"Really Mr. Potter, Luscious Malfoy has not yet been brought to trial, and I would thank you not to convict a man until he's had his day in court." Snape said. Harry was getting frustrated at Snape. He was an order member, and he knew that Lucius was a Death Eater.
"I fought him at the Ministry of Magic last year. I know he was there. I can prove it." Harry said. Snape gave a small chuckle.
"Mr. Potter, no one is debating weather he was there or not. He says that someone put him under the imperious curse, and he had no control over his actions." Snape finished.
"Rubbish." Harry said. "He knew exactly what he was doing." Harry said.
"Well Mr. Potter, that's for other people to decide, not you. Now what can you tell me about these?" Snape asked as he pushed the bottles of potions on his desk toward Harry. Harry looked at them, as Snape named them off, and he recognized them as the ingreedance for making Polly-juice potion. Harry told Professor Snape as much. Snape pushed another bottle forward and said that it was the entire ready made Polly-Juice potion in Hogwarts. Snape gave Harry another cold look.
Now Mr. Potter, do you know what's missing from here?" Snape asked.
"No sir." Harry said.
"Nothing is missing from any of these bottles Mr. Potter. Nothing. I think that the papers may have been right about you last year, you're violent and delusional. Oh understand, I do what Dumbledore tells me, but I just want you to be clear on my personal opinion. And I talked to Emit Walsh; don't think that I alone have that view. Now go, and don't accuse my students of things you have no proof of, and don't try to pass the blame for your own violence onto my students either. Especially Draco Malfoy. He has enough on his mind without having to deal with you." Snape finished. Harry was outraged, he balled up his fist, but Snape was right. He had no proof… yet. Harry walked out of Snape's office wondering if Snape might be helping Draco, and wondering why Dumbledore trusted such a horrible person to be in the Order.
Cho's POV:
Cho Chang held one end of the Jinxing torso while Miss Pinefield held the other, and they both carried it over to the long table that had been sat aside for it's use. With effort they laid it in the center chest up. Cho looked it over once it was in place. The Jinxing Torso was a device used in magical classes to test potions. It functioned as a training tool in much the way the training dummies served as instruction devices at the muggle hospital that Cho had worked at. But this dummy was different. It was an exact replica of a male human torso from the waste up to the neck. The skin felt just like real human flesh, and it had exact copies of human organs. The torso had been created using numerous charms to allow students, and teachers to test the effects of potions, hexes, and jinxes on the human body without actually using one. The torso could breathe with actually lungs, and blood was pumped around inside and vital organs large and small functioned as if in a real body. Students in potions class used several finished mixtures on it to test how accurate their work had been, and at the end of a day on which it was used, the effects would be erased. But it was still an unfeeling inanimate object, and Cho was glad because she was going to test some potions that she had made to try and cure her mother's breast cancer. Cho had been able to make a few copies of cancer cells during a lunch hour that she had spent in the class. Now she was going to infect the torso and then try and cure it of its ills. She carefully applied some of the cancer cells, and let them sink into the torso, as everything did. Then Cho added some growth potion, and the cancer cells multiplied and settled in the chest of the torso. Because it was a magical learning tool the infected area glowed green so that Cho could see where she needed to apply the healing potion. Cho started with one that she had made from silver-weed and dragon scaled matched with some other minor ingrediance. The green glow recoiled at the effect of the potion sinking into the torso, but then expanded to its original size, covering the full chest area. Cho was not deterred, and tried another potion of beetle eyes, and lizard tails, and vicious oak sap along with some other odds and ends. The same result occurred and Cho started mixing another potion. Before long, Professor Pinefield started asking Cho if she was about finished, as she needed to close up for dinner. Cho continued to request five more minutes until the Professor could wait no longer. Cho begged more time, but the Professor would not hear of it, and almost had to push Cho out the door. She walked back towards the Ravenclaw dorm with an ever constant frown on her face. Suddenly in an otherwise empty hall she saw Harry and Ron walk toward her.
"Um, hello Cho, how are you felling? Harry asked, feeling uneasy about the events earlier in the great hall.
"Oh, I'm fine Harry, Mr. Weasley, How are you two." she said pulling off a false smile with all her effort. They both replied that they were well.
"Um, great, well Harry… did ya find out anything else about the match the other day?" Cho asked. Harry looked around to make sure that they were alone, and leaned toward Cho.
"I'm sure that it was Draco Malfoy impersonating me. I don't have the proof, but I'm sure that it wasn't really me at that match, not even under the imperious curse. I had a dream about the match, and it felt so real. I remembered everything about it. I remembered that the person who impersonated me, used my Quidditch uniform, and kept the real me hidden under an invisibility cloak. Now those are really hard to come bye. Draco has motive, and his family has money, and his father is a Death Eater. Also he's had it in for me for years. I know he did it. In my dream he used a spell to open the wall after he shed my Quidditch uniform that he was wearing. I was unconscious and still in my school uniform when my teammates found me. So I know that it was someone impersonating me, and not my body being used for the purpose." Harry stated. Cho could feel his hot breath on her face as he spoke and wanted to faint from the good feeling inside her. She took in every word but was dizzy. She looked up at him again with a sad face, and tried to stammer out the next words.
"Um, Harry… the thing is… you really don't remember what the other person did while they are impersonating you. I mean you're not supposed to remember anything if someone impersonates you using Polly-Juice potion." Cho said quietly. Harry was taken aback.
"How do you know that?" Harry asked innocently. Cho frowned.
"I just… I read about it. I read about the effects of it on people. It will be in your advanced potions book this year. But they didn't go over the chapter in my class last year, I just read it anyway. I think it was chapter thirty one." Cho said.
"Then how else could Malfoy have done it Cho?" Harry asked.
"I don't know Harry, but… he may have still used it, but maybe your dream was just a coincidence. Or maybe you have some special ability to know about someone taking control of your body, or mind." Cho finished. Harry pondered the idea for a minute. No, the Occlumey lessons with Snape were a total disaster last year, or had they been? In any event weather he was supposed to remember or not, he did, and even if there were no potions missing, he was sure that Draco must have gotten hold of some. He just had to find a way to prove it.
"Cho, um I was hoping that you and Hermione, and Luna could meet in the library tomorrow to try and find something out." Harry said. Cho's olive complection turned pale, and her mouth dropped open.
"Um, Harry can it be somewhere else? I mean I can't go to the library for lunch. What about by the lake, or the courtyard. Please Harry." Cho begged. Harry was taken aback by her attitude.
"Well Cho, I mean there are no books in the courtyard, or by the lake. That's what we need to study, and I've to put a new priority on getting some evidence on Malfoy. Cho thought hard for an alternative. She looked back up at Harry.
"Well what about the room of requirement?" Cho asked. I mean if we need specific books they will be more available there, and we won't have to search through so many others because the ones we need only. Cho said. Ron nodded his head in agreement.
"She's got a point there mate, less looking around, and no librarian looking over our shoulder." Ron said. Harry nodded his agreement.
"Alright, the Room of requirement it is. But why the wish to avoid the library Cho?" Harry asked curious. "I mean you're always there.
"I, I know, umm that's just it, I've really gotten tired of it. Please understand." Cho pleaded. Harry nodded. He was looking into Cho's sad eyes again, and dreaming about her warm, soft touch, wishing that Ron was not with them at the moment, and that he had not asked Fiona out to Hogsmead, and wishing that just now he could sort out why he was feeling that he wished that they were the only two people in the world. Harry smiled at Cho and everyone said they're goodbyes, going separate directions. Suddenly Cho had a horrible thought about the fact that You-Know-Who was still out there, and that he had tried to kill Harry many times. She looked back at Harry horrified at the thought of something happening to him. She became short of breath, and ran up to him.
"Harry! Harry wait." Cho shouted. Harry turned to look at her.
"What's wrong Cho?" Harry asked. Cho looked up at him with a look of fear, and asked if what the papers said were true. Harry nodded, but said that Voldermort was still out there. Cho asked if Voldermort was still after Harry for defeating him. Harry replied that he was, but that as long as he remained in Hogwarts that he was safe. Cho hugged Harry in a tight tearful embrace, and didn't let go for several minutes. When she finally did she looked up at him once more.
"Be careful Harry, please be careful." Cho begged. She wiped her face, grabbed her books, and ran down the hall as quickly as possible. Harry stood there watching her disappear around the corner. Ron looked at him curiously.
"Well mate, what's the story with you and Cho?" Ron asked. Harry turned to him with a sad face.
"Just friends." he said softly. Ron gave a smirk.
"You sure Harry? Because she seems to think of you as more than that." Ron said. Harry gave a sigh.
"Well, that what I think of her as, just a friend." Harry said.
"Than what's with the tear Harry?" Ron asked.
"She was crying when she hugged me Ron, she's always crying." Harry said sadly.
"Fine, but when she did, her face was on the left side of yours." Ron said.
"So?" Harry said confused.
"So what about the tear on the right side of your face?" Ron asked. Harry wiped his hand carefully over his cheek and looked at the small, salty drop of moister in his hand. He stared at it for a moment. Ron patted him on the back.
"You need a moment to yourself Harry; I'll be in the great Hall." Ron said, and left Harry to reflect alone, still looking at the testament of his lie to himself about how he really felt about the girl whom he had just held in his arms in a moment that he never wanted to end.