DISCLAIMER:
See
A/N: I also liked this
chapter in
particular…
CHAPTER 39: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Ut voles med esse, it ero. I will be as you want me to be. –Plautus, Pseudolus (240)
Soon enough, Easter rolled around. Harry
felt a
little sad, knowing that it was unlikely for the Weasleys
to send him anything for Easter this year.
Two days before the start of Easter vacation, Cho
met
Harry in the halls, asking if she would like to spend the vacation with
her. (1)
"Sure," Harry said. "Where will you be?"
"Oh, this year, we won't be at our home in
"Meeting family and stuff?" Harry asked.
"Not really," she said, "More like hoping that Voldemort
is too busy in
"Ah, good point." Then he blinked when he realized exactly where he
agreed to go with her. "
~*~*~*~
Voldemort was in a very foul mood. Lucius was doing his best to recruit Death
Eaters from
other countries, but there were several problems. First of all,
pureblood
families were so rare these days; secondly, less people were willing to
join
him after finding out that his blood wasn't as pure as once thought;
and
finally, no one dared go up against Harry Potter, who was turning out
to be
almost unstoppable.
Wormtail may have destroyed a lot of Voldemort's plans, but fortunately, that's why
he had a
second base. It was smaller, but Voldemort
would have
to make do.
In the meantime, Voldemort decided to get
working on Bellatrix's newest
design…
~*~*~*~
After having worked it out with Cho’s
parents, they
agreed that Harry and Cho could travel via
phoenix
(more specifically, Ardeavis), and meet
them in their
apartment in London.
After Cho came in with her trunk
levitating behind
her, Harry put all the stuff in his office where it belonged and made
sure Ardeavis was ready to go as well.
Ardeavis shook his tail feathers, and as
Harry and Cho took hold, they all vanished
in a burst of flames.
They were now in an apartment in London. Cho's
parents came out of a room and greeted them. Cho
hugged her mother while Harry shook hands with her father. Ardeavis
whistled a hello, and the Changs all
greeted the
immortal bird.
"Anyway," Mr. Chang said, "We asked you stop by here first,
since we have a Portkey." He held out a
hat,
which all five of them took (Ardeavis
included). Once
again, they vanished.
~*~*~*~
A beautiful Chinese mansion, about three floors high, now loomed in
front of
them, as Harry now had to get used to the sun's different position in
the sky.
With a trill, Ardeavis flew into the
garden, which
the Changs had no problem with. (2)
"Chang Manor," Cho said. Harry walked with
them, up the stairs and into the front foyer. The house seemed to be in
tune
with nature, as plants were always growing around it. There were also
mountains
and a couple of rivers as far as Harry could see. The ornate doors in
front of
them were guarded by stylized Chinese statues of lions, which looked
menacingly
down at those who walked up the front steps.
As the group walked up to the door, Cho
told Harry,
"You need to remove your shoes first." Harry blinked, quickly took
his sneakers off, and left them at the door before following his hosts
in.
The lobby was a beautiful room, with sliding doors, polished wood,
staircases,
and even some decorative objects like paintings, statues, and swords.
Mr. Chang called out, "Panda!"
'Panda?' Harry thought curiously.
A house-elf appeared, wrapped up in an extremely long strip of cloth
that went
up to his neck, looking like an Egyptian mummy of sorts. There were two
black
spots around his eyes, sort of like those of a panda bear, which almost
blended
in with his soft brown nose.
"Yes, Mister Han?" he squeaked in a foreign accent (which made Harry
wonder if elves had their own version of Chinese).
"We will be staying here for a week, and we have a guest with us. This
is
Mister Harry Potter," he said, gesturing towards Harry.
The elves' eyes widened for a moment, but went through with his
obedience
nonetheless. "Yes, yes, of course. Mr. Potter, please follow me."
With an encouraging nod from Cho, Harry
followed the
happy little elf. His own room was on the second floor; it was
decorated with
model swords for decoration, scroll paintings of warriors and hunters,
and a
statue of a stylized Chinese lion. There was a futon on the floor,
which was
Harry's bed. A circular window showed an exquisite garden, with floors
blooming
and such.
"Thank you, Panda," he said. "I can set myself up from
here."
"Yes, glad to help, Mister Potter, sir!" he squeaked happily before
running back down. Harry took out his trunk and returned it to the
proper size,
and set up his clothes.
There was a knock at the sliding screen door. "Come in," he said.
It opened to reveal Cho. "Hi Harry," she
said. "You like your room?"
"Yes, thanks," he said, "I'm not picky, you know that."
Cho giggled. "So nervous, Harry."
Harry sighed. "I'm trying to get past that." He went over to the
window and stuck his head out. For early evening, it was still rather
warm and
humid. "How warm is it out there? This doesn't feel like early April to
me."
Cho grinned. "Oh, we're in
"Hmm," Harry said, taking in the beauty of the landscape as the sky
blazed warm colors.
"Care to go tomorrow?" she asked. "Come to think of it, I don't
even know if you go swimming."
"Not really, unless you count the Second Task during the Tournament,"
he said. "And that was because you, Fleur's
sister, my friends-" he realized what he was saying and broke off,
still
hurt by his friends' betrayal towards him.
Cho caught this and said, "I understand,
Harry."
Harry nodded. "Anyway, yes, I can go swimming tomorrow."
Cho smiled. "Perfect."
~*~*~*~
The dining room was like a giant work of art that one could walk
through, in
Harry's opinion. There were very ornate chairs, bowls and plates. It
took about
ten minutes to get used to using chopsticks, but with Cho's
help, he got the hang of it.
Talk wandered to school, although Harry told them in a sad way about
how
everyone swallowed all those lies. Eventually, however, everyone's
moods
lightened up when Harry told them about some of the pranks which he
felt were
appropriate to talk about at the dinner table. Mrs. Chang was trying to
stifle
her laughs, but her husband let his laughter escape.
"Anyway," Harry continued, "I hope you don't mind my phoenix being
in the garden? As far as I can tell, it's not as though he'll ruin it."
"Oh, not at all," Mrs. Chang said. "In fact, the occasional
phoenix has been known to fly through before."
There was a burst of song as Ardeavis flew
in and
gracefully sat himself on the back of an empty chair. "Well, not
through
the house, at any rate," Mrs. Chang added.
Cho poured some red tea for the phoenix,
which
eagerly drank it and whistled a thank-you. After Cho
stroked his feathers, he flew back out.
"Anyway, Harry," Cho said, "Feel free
to enjoy the gardens, or even our library, and if you get lost, just
call
someone for help."
Harry smiled. "Of course, Cho," he said,
"And it's not as though you have some octopus thing lurking in the
lower
levels of this house."
Cho blinked, and Harry added, "Right,
sorry. I
had to stay with Snape for a week, and he
had this
security squid thing in his dungeons. I got a little too close and it
dragged
me in."
Cho laughed along with her parents. "I can
assure you no such creatures lurk in this house," she said.
~*~*~*~
After dinner, while the sun was setting, Harry found the aforementioned
library. Unsurprisingly, most of the books, if not all of them, were in
the
Harry quickly came up with a solution. He retrieved his decryption lens
which
he received from Bill on his birthday and used that to translate the
Chinese
words into English.
The first book he had opened was an encyclopedia on Chinese magic. He
mainly
read it for the sake of reading. After shelving that, he then saw books
on
history, animals, plants, and even a few adventure novels. He flipped
through
them all, putting one book back, and picking another book at random.
He nearly dropped the next book he pulled out, which was what looked
like a book
of a very adult subject matter. Blushing as red as his scar, he quickly
put
that one back.
The sun had completely set now, and not wanting to cause any trouble,
he
called, "Panda!"
The house elf appeared. "Lost, Mister Potter?"
"Yeah, can you please lead me back to my room?"
Panda grinned. "Follow me, Mister Potter sir!" Harry followed Panda
back to his own room, and thanked the eager house elf as he left.
Harry went into his trunk to get changed for bed, and when he came back
out, he
saw Cho in front of the trunk, dressed in
an
embroidered green nightgown.
"Oh, hi Cho," he said. "Something
wrong?"
"No, just wondering about the trunk."
"I was walking through Diagon Alley one
day when
the shopkeeper of this luggage shop came up to me. Apparently, there
was this
trunk in possession that belonged to my dad's parents. Want to take a
look?"
"Sure," she said with a smile. As Harry slid back down to the bottom
of the ladder, he pointedly looked away, not wanting to see up Cho's gown.
Harry showed her around, and she gasped with wonder at all the
different
storage rooms he set up for all his different belongings. After giving
her what
Muggles would call "the ten cent tour,"
they returned back out and wished each other good night.
~*~*~*~
Early the next morning, back in England, Ginny was in the bathroom,
washing up.
While everyone else was asleep, she decided it would be a good time to
try out
the newest lingerie she brought in secret.
It was smooth, velvety black; for some reason, she thought that black
fit her
complexion. It showed some cleavage, and was decidedly erotic with the
knickers
from the suspender belt. Ginny had filled out quite fast, and for a
fifteen-year-old girl, she was unbelievably beautiful. (2)
'Let's see,' she thought, 'would Harry like this pose? Or maybe this
one?'
Ginny wanted to knock Harry’s socks off when the time was right,
whenever that
would be…
Just then, she heard something out the window. She quickly dashed over,
opened
it, and looked out. There was nothing there; was there?
Shrugging, she stuck her head back in and closed the window. Hearing
her
parents waking up one room over, she got dressed and ready for
breakfast.
~*~*~*~
Back in China and several hours later, Harry was just waking up to the
sound of
birds and insects in the garden. Getting dressed, he walked down to the
dining
room table. Pleasant conversation was made, and an hour after breakfast
(so
their food could digest), Harry and Cho
got their
stuff to go for a swim.
Harry walked down an elaborate set of stairs, down through the garden
and to a
small dock at the river's edge, where a raft was waiting. Cho
was already waiting there, wearing a green bikini swimsuit and lying on
a towel
on the raft.
Harry could feel the blush on his face rising a little. His hormones
also
surged a little, since he had never seen Cho
wearing
such minimal clothing before. (2) He
quickly shook it off as he carefully stepped onto the raft.
"It's not that, hot, Harry," she said, thinking that he was wary of
stepping onto it.
"No, it's just that I don't want to capsize the raft or anything."
"I'm keeping the raft magically safe, Mr. Potter!" Panda squeaked
from the rear of the raft.
"Oh, okay," he said as he hopped on.
Panda hopped off the raft, put a few more enchantments on it with
elfish magic,
and let the raft loose.
Harry's head whipped around as the raft drifted down the river, with
Panda
waving at them.
"He's using magic to keep the raft on its course," Cho
explained.
"Oh," Harry sighed, "Right, sorry."
The gentle sun warmed Harry's face, and he closed his eyes while lying
back and
taking off his glasses, listening to the water and the local wildlife.
A bird
sang, some animal moved through the bushes, the water bubbled, and a
gentle
breeze went through the flowers and trees. Harry could almost feel his
senses
expand as he listened to the surrounding area.
"Enjoying yourself?" Cho asked. Harry
nodded.
Cho ran a few fingers through his
hair.
"Doesn't this ever lie flat?"
"No," he sighed. "Don't think I haven't tried, though."
"Why is it so messy?"
"Because my dad kept messing up his hair to make it look as though he
just
got off his broom after a Quidditch match."
Cho laughed a little at this. Suddenly,
something
leapt out of the water and started biting at Harry by nibbling on his
shirt.
Harry let out a yell of surprise and quickly pulled his shirt off,
swinging it
around so the creature would come off. As it flew off, it looked like
some sort
of biting fish. It then collided with a tree with a squelching sound
and
disappeared into the bushes.
Harry held the shirt out in front of him; there were several tears in
it now.
"What was that thing?" he asked Cho.
Cho shrugged it off. "Not to worry, just
the
local fish. It won't happen again; trust me."
While Harry had several questions about the fish, he decided to take Cho's word for it. Suddenly, Harry heard almost
silent
giggling behind him.
'Crap,' he thought. He really didn't like being gawked at.
"Anyway, Harry," Cho asked, "When can
I get your calendar?"
Harry tried to make light of it. "I don't see that happening anytime
soon." He lay back again and closed his eyes, enjoying the great
weather.
The ride continued in silence for several more minutes like this as
Harry let
his hand trail in the cool water underneath the raft. He breathed
deeply,
taking in the aroma of the flowers that lined the small river.
"This place is excellent," he said. "Thanks again for letting me
stay."
"My pleasure, Harry."
He rolled onto his side to watch the passing scenery. Trees, grass,
flowers,
ground, water and the occasional animal all slowly drifted by, as if in
a
dream.
He suddenly felt something on his back. He twitched a little, until he
heard Cho shushing him. He calmed down as
he let Cho run her cool hand up and down
his back, which helped
him relax.
"Feeling better?" she asked after a few minutes of this routine.
He nodded and yawned. "Much," he said, "Thanks."
"You're so jumpy, you know that?"
"Being at the top of Voldemort's hit list
tends
to do that to a person," he responded gravely, as though it were the
most
obvious thing in the world.
Cho winced at the sound of the name of
Cedric's
murderer. Suddenly, Harry flinched, just realizing something.
"What is it?" Cho asked, slightly alarmed.
Remaining as calm as possible, he asked, "There are protective wards
around this place, right?"
Cho nodded. "Of course there are."
Harry shook his head, calming down somewhat. "I'm sorry. I just don't
like
me anyone being an open target just because I'm around. I'm always
trying to
shrug off the feeling that people get hurt or killed because I'm
around."
Cho tsked and
shook her
head. "No, no, it's because of Riddle that keeps happening. He'd
probably
want you to think that."
Thinking this over, he finally said, "I agree with you on that one."
"You want to know something, Harry?" she said, sitting upright and
looking him straight in the eye. "Once you're in the right mindset,
everything works like it should. When you're with friends that want to
help,
things go better. People need to help and be helped by other people.
That's an
advantage you have. You just need to think things through first;
psychology IS
a big part of war."
Harry nodded, taking all this in. "You know what, just to make
sure..." he put his glasses back on and cycled through all the
different
functions, looking around. There was nothing to be worried about. He
breathed a
sigh of relief and put them back.
"What was that?" Cho asked.
"I got certain functions installed on my glasses. X-ray, night vision,
telescopic... a whole lot of stuff." Harry could tell she noticed
because
the lenses glowed misty white when set to "X-ray," green when set to
"night vision," red when set to "infra-red," and dark blue
when set to "telescopic."
Harry offered them to Cho, who accepted
them. She put
them on and tried out the telescopic lenses down the river. "Hey, I
think
I can see the next village from here..."
After setting them back to the normal function, she handed them back.
Harry
thanked her and put them back. As they reached a big pond, he then
asked,
"Not to be picky or anything, but I think we forgot to swim."
She grinned her mischievous grin. "We're at the spot right now."
Before Harry could respond, she pushed him hard in the chest and off
the raft.
He fell backwards into the clear blue water with a SPLASH, and quickly
resurfaced, watching her laugh.
He quickly went back underwater and transformed into a lion and stayed
underwater for more than a minute; this was easier to do, since a
lion's lungs
were bigger than a human's. Harry was still a little twitchy, since his
cat
instincts were rebelling against this foreign water.
Eventually, Cho got worried and poked her
head
underwater to see what happened. Harry sprung straight up out of the
water. She
fell backwards on the raft and did a strange back flip off of it.
Harry purred with happiness as he quickly dried himself off. Cho popped her head out of the water and said,
"I
thought cats weren't scared of the water."
He transformed back and said, "I'm not a lion, and least by nature.
More
like a human in a lion's body, you know."
She laughed softly as he dived back in. "Okay, not a lion, but maybe a
lionfish," she joked.
An hour or so was spent with Harry swimming around, playing tag with Cho or exploring the pond. As the raft started
to move
again on its own accord, both of them climbed back on as it made a wide
turn
and began to head back for the manor.
They took turns drying off, since there was only so much room on the
raft
itself. Once they returned, Panda greeted them and lead them back to
the Manor.
Once back inside, Harry was able to get changed into normal day clothes
and
magically repair his shirt. That accomplished, he went for lunch.
~*~*~*~
Later that day (he was several time zones ahead of his friends back in
England), Ardeavis returned with Easter
goodies as
Easter gifts from the Weasleys and his
other friends.
Apparently, Draco was in the festive
spirit, because
he sent chocolate Easter eggs the size of ostrich eggs; when Harry
opened one
of them, a marshmallow bird chick popped out and started pecking him
and biting
him, much to the amusement of Cho.
Draco had also sent a copy of the book,
"The
Little Prince," by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
(3) (Thankfully, it was in English.)
Gabrielle Delacour had recommended it to Draco during the brief time he was at Beauxbatons.
Draco had also drawn images that were jokes
of the
first few illustrations in the book. The first drawing showed an
anaconda
eating a mammal; the second showed a bloated snake, which looked more
like a
hat; and the third drawing was a cut-away drawing of the second one,
showing an
elephant being digested by the snake. The joke drawings Draco
had made and sent replaced the mammal and elephant with the Gryffindor
lion;
Harry got a brief laugh out of this, even though he felt a little
queasy at the
idea of being eaten like that as a lion.
~*~*~*~
The next few days passed in a similar manner, with Harry getting on
fine with Cho. He read, swam, practiced
dueling, and even explored a
nearby mountain with her. Cho's parents
appreciated
having Harry around, saying that he made a good guest. Since he was
distant
family and he had saved Cho's life, they
had no
qualms about having him as a guest. They certainly didn't believe that
rubbish
either.
Friday dawned cold and windy, with gray clouds in the sky. Harry
clutched his
cloak tight as he walked through the garden, where the normally vibrant
plants
seemed to be huddling because of the chilly weather.
Harry turned around and went back inside to find Cho.
She was waiting by the door for him, and he accepted a cup of tea from
her with
thanks.
"Anything that warms you up," she smiled. "Anyway, care for a
game of chess?"
"Sure," he said. "I'll get my set."
"Actually," Cho continued, "I meant
the wizarding version of Chinese chess.
I'll show you
how to play." She took him by the hand and led him back to his own room.
Actually, Harry had no problem with learning something new. He quickly
sorted
out the differences between European chess and Chinese chess, and
enjoyed it,
even as he lost. He learned by trial and error, and he kept playing Cho until he actually beat her once. (4)
It began to rain shortly before lunch, but even with the adverse
weather, the
surrounding area held a strange kind of beauty as the plants and
animals of the
garden absorbed the water it needed to live and thrive.
Harry was leaning against the doorpost, gazing at the scene, letting
the sound
and rhythm soothe him. Panda approached him, telling him lunch was
ready.
The egg drop soup with wantons, combined with the steamy chicken and
noodles,
helped Harry warm up. Conversation turned to work for school; not only
did Cho give Harry a few points about
preparation for the N.E.W.T.s, but Harry
helped her out as well.
The afternoon passed in a blur of studying for both students. Harry was
positive that at this rate, he could do his end of year exams with ease
when it
came to that.
During dinner, Harry thought he heard something lurking outside.
Putting his
chopsticks aside, he cycled through the features on his glasses and
looked
around outside. There wasn't so much as a rat scurrying around outside.
"Something wrong, Harry?" Mrs. Chang looked up from her meal, looking
concerned.
"Nothing," he said, setting his glasses back to normal. "I
thought I heard something outside that shouldn't have been there. Sorry
I'm so
nervous."
"We understand, Harry," Cho reassured him.
"Don't worry; this house is just as well protected as Grimmauld
Place."
That was enough satisfaction for Harry. He tended to rate safety based
on
places like Gringotts, Hogwarts, and Grimmauld Place. Without further ado, he went
back to
eating his dinner.
~*~*~*~
Later that night, Harry was just returning to his room when he heard
something
on the floor. Stopping dead in his tracks, he quickly cycled through
his
different functions on his glasses. He saw what he was looking for,
which was
lurking under the bed; a scorpion. Actually, it showed up rather
strange on the
X-ray function, since scorpions are invertebrates and don't have any
bones.
He quickly conjured a cage and Summoned it into the cage. Halfway to
the cage,
however, the scorpion took on a human form.
It was Theodore Nott, in his Death Eater regalia. Harry gasped, and
then he
realized that it must have been Nott who had poisoned Professor Trelawny! [5]
A vial that dropped out of Nott's robes, and after recognizing the
bluish
liquid left inside, Harry's suspicions were confirmed; Nott, who wasn't
an Animagus, used Brevis
Animagus potion to do it!
Nott's wand was also pointing straight at Harry's heart. "Say one word,
Potter," he challenged Harry.
The seconds crawled away, and with a slight flick of his finger, Harry
caused
Nott's boots to catch on fire. While Nott did a crazy sort of fire
dance, he
still tried to use the Cruciatus Curse on
Harry.
Harry screamed in pain, although he had to admit it wasn't as powerful,
when a
voice suddenly shouted some unfamiliar Chinese magic from the door way.
Nott was thrown backwards out the window as though he was shot from a
giant
slingshot, which also took out some of the paneling. Harry whipped his
head
around to see Cho in the doorway, wand
poised. Mrs.
Chang said she would contact Dumbledore and the rest of the Order while
Mr.
Chang backed his daughter up.
"Thanks," Harry gasped, and becoming a lion, he leapt out into the
night.
It was still raining, and it meant that Harry couldn't pick up his
scent. A
green flash came out of nowhere, which Harry narrowly avoided. He
disappeared
into the shadows of the house, which was lined with those lion statues
which
Harry admired.
It occurred to Harry right then that even though Voldemort
was the only one who could kill him, other people could still do
countless
things to harm him. He'd have to talk that over with Dumbledore later.
In the
meantime, he had a Death Eater to fight.
"Where are you, kitty kitty?" Nott jeered.
Thinking fast, Harry blended in with the row of lion statues, taking on
a
menacing pose. Lightning forked the sky, casting shadows; Harry could
see Nott
slowly advancing, statue by statue. Perhaps by blind luck, Nott went
right past
him. Seizing his chance, Harry growled and attacked.
Lightning ripped the stormy sky at the same instant that Harry
attacked. Harry
saw Nott's fearful face, and Nott saw Harry's lion face illuminated in
a rather
terrifying way. Unfortunately, however, Nott quickly recovered.
Harry slashed at Nott's midriff, while Nott shouted, "Arieto!"
Harry was lifted off his feet, and reverted back to his human form in
midair.
Landing on the slippery ground, he went for his wand just as Nott
roared, "Avada Kedavra!"
Harry's mind worked like the lightning of the storm itself, thinking
off how to
stop it. Suddenly, he remembered last year in the Ministry of Magic.
Well, it
was worth a shot...
~*~*~*~
Cho rushed out onto the front foyer,
watching from
behind one of the lion statues, just as Nott roared the incantation for
the
Killing Curse.
Her scream of "Harry, NO!" was drowned by the rushing sound of
the curse itself. She saw Harry become a phoenix and take the hit.
Screaming in fury, she charged at Nott. He turned around just as she
delivered
a massive right hook to his jaw, nearly breaking it. She stunned him
and put
him in a Full Body Bind, just as a burst of flames occurred where
Harry-the-phoenix
was.
Mr. Chang ran out to do something about Nott as Cho
cast some more Chinese magic over the ball of flames, making a wide
dome
against the water. Stepping inside of it, she saw a pile of ashes where
Harry
was.
"Harry?" she whimpered, feeling ready to cry. There silence, other
than the dripping of the rain, which was starting to die off.
Just then, the pile of ashes shook a little as a baby's head popped out
of it.
There was a muss of black hair, a pair of vibrant green eyes, and of
course,
the telltale scar.
Mrs. Chang came rushing up to her daughter. "Cho,
what-?"
"He became a phoenix and resisted the Killing Curse," Cho said, starting to burst with happiness. The
baby looked
up at her and gave a toothless grin.
"Well, you can't deny he's cute," Mrs. Chang commented, smiling
wryly. Conjuring a cloth, she wrapped baby-Harry up and took him back
inside.
Remembering something, Cho retrieved his
glasses and
pocketed them.
~*~*~*~
Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Lupin
and a few other Order members hurried to Chang Manor as fast as they
could.
After Mr. Chang handed over Nott and his wand, Moody and Kingsley took
him back
to Auror Headquarters. This would also be
a good
thing, since it solved the question as to who poisoned Trelawny
a month or two before.
As Cho recounted the details of the final
confrontation, everyone gasped at the thought of Harry being hit with
the
Killing Curse again. But then again, since the prophecy stated that
only Voldemort could kill Harry, they
weren't all that surprised
in the end.
"So what happened to Harry?" Lupin
asked worriedly.
As if to answer his question, a baby's cry of delight came from a
neighboring
room. After exchanging confused looks, they all rushed in to see baby
Harry
(complete with diapers) being entertained by Ardeavis.
More than one jaw dropped as the Order members watched the unthinkable
scene in
front of them. Cho, on the other hand,
burst out
laughing at their reactions. "You should see yourselves!" she
chortled.
Baby and phoenix saw the group, and Harry looked worried for a moment.
Disbelievingly, Lupin stepped forward as
if in a
trance. "Harry?" he asked hoarsely.
Harry's adorable face split into a grin at the sight of his parent's
last
remaining friend. "Mooey!" he
squeaked happily.
Lupin's face twisted into a sentimental
look as
Dumbledore chuckled. "This is certainly an interesting twist of
events," he commented. "Think we should leave him at his relatives'
house again just to see their reactions?"
"Albus!" McGonagall scolded him. She
didn't find it very funny, since she had objected to the very idea to
begin
with more than fifteen years ago.
"Aw, look at the cute little cub," Tonks
cooed, walking up to him. "The little fledgling..."
Harry giggled at the sight of her spiky pink hair, and just to savor
the
moment, she cycled through her various hairstyles, which entertained
the infant
immensely.
"Kid's got a good sense of humor," the young Auror
concluded. "Think we should preserve a bit of photographic evidence for
later, just to entertain Molly?"
Harry suddenly sneezed, and he turned a lion cub. His adorable green
eyes only
added to the cute effect.
"Now that adorable," Cho
commented. She scratched him behind the ears and picked
him up, which he seemed enjoy as he snuggled against her, purring
contently.
Unless Snape was imagining things, he
could have
sworn he heard McGonagall make an "awww"
sound under her breath. 'Cat Animagi,' he
silently concluded.
After retrieving some fresh clothes for Harry, leaving the infant in
the
guest's room, fixing the broken window, taking a picture for
"photographic
evidence," administering some potion to help Harry grow back to his
proper
age, leaving the glasses on the bed, and shutting the door behind them,
they
allowed Harry to return to his proper size and get dressed.
A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal a fully grown and
dressed Harry,
looking rather confused and embarrassed. "You know," he said slowly,
"I actually knew what was going on. I don't think I want to go through
that experience ever again." Looking around at everyone's grinning
expressions (or smirk, in Snape's case),
he added,
"I don't want to talk about it ever again, either."
~*~*~*~
The next morning in England, the Daily Prophet's headlines declared
Theodore
Nott's capture by Harry Potter and Cho
Chang, along
with the revelations that it was he who poisoned Trelawny,
using Brevis Animagus
potion to become a scorpion.
In her own corner of her dormitory, Judy Arnold was shocked, to say the
least.
This whole time, she was sure that Potter had somehow poisoned her
beloved
Professor Trelawny! After Nott transferred
to Durmstrang, she kept in touch with him
via owl. She had
been lied to!
It really didn't matter. She still hated Potter, and soon enough, the
green-eyed brat would pay.
She opened up her trunk, and after making sure that her roommates
wouldn't
return anytime soon, opened up a magical, concealed compartment. It was
mainly
what Muggles might think of as a sort of
"mini-fridge." She enjoyed her last butterbeer,
and after disposing of that, she went back to making sure she had the
other
contents in order. They were all necessary in her plan to finally nail
Potter,
once and for all.
~*~*~*~
Before Harry left for Hogwarts with Cho
and Ardeavis, he thanked the Changs
for their hospitality, with the promise that he would return the favor
soon
enough, whenever he got the chance.
Ardeavis took them straight to Harry's
office. As he
and his distant cousin parted ways for their separate common rooms,
Harry met
the other Neo-Marauders, thinking about same more mischief to pull,
should the Gryffindors ever try to get
restless again.
Cho, in the meantime, couldn't wait to tell
the other
Ravenclaws about the duel with Theodore
Nott (or at
least, the Ravenclaws she could trust,
anyway).
~*~*~*~
In her dorm, Cho was telling her female
friends about
her and Harry fighting off Nott. They all giggled and "awww"-ed at hearing of baby
Harry. Cho couldn't resist telling them
about that;
it was too cute. Besides, in a strange sort of way, it made for an
interesting
switch; Harry was used to playing the role of the protective, caring
older
brother, and she was able to look out for him for once. It also made
sense,
since she was technically older than him.
Unfortunately, this would serve as a lesson to Cho
about the trustworthiness about anyone with even for the slightest love
for
gossip, for it all spread around the school within hours.
At dinner, Harry groaned in exasperation when Lavender, Parvati,
Padma, Pansy, Nora, and Daphne all nagged
him about
the incident, asking if it was true or not.
Cho, in the meantime, was walking into the
Great Hall
when he heard Michael Corner call out from behind her, "Hey, look, it's
crybaby Chang! Tell me, is it true you fed ickle
baby
Potter 'the natural way?' I'm sure he would have loved to see your-"
Corner was unable to finish his sentence, because Cho
moved in on him with alarming speed. Less than a minute later, she
straightened
out her robes and calmly walked into the hall; Corner was lying in a
heap on
the floor where he had been attacked, because Cho
had
kicked him in the groin, punched him in the jaw, and kneed him in the
gut.
On the side at the Gryffindor table, Ginny give Cho
a
thumbs-up, while at the Slytherin table, Draco-as-Roy mentally noted to himself that he
didn't have
it that bad when he made the wrong comment about Cedric Diggory.
During dinner, Ginny played a prank on Corner, seeing as Cho's
retaliation probably wasn't enough. So, Ginny went up to Luna as
to talk
to her, and on the side, she put a Perpetual Shrinking Charm on his
underwear
while no one was looking.
Soon enough after Ginny returned to the
Gryffindor
table, Corner's screams of pain could be heard throughout the entire
hall as he
fell out of his seat, grabbing his crotch.
Cho put a hand to her mouth and blushed while a
couple of
other “Harry-hating” Ravenclaws quickly
got him up to
the hospital wing.
"Let me guess, Gin," Harry's amused voice said in her head, "A
Perpetual Shrinking Charm on his underwear?"
"Bingo! Madame Pomfrey
will have to surgically remove the underwear unless she can guess the
password
to undo it."
"And what would that be?"
"Two Bludgers
and a broomstick."
"I don't get it."
"It’s a euphemism..."
"EWWW! Gin, I did
not need to know that, especially
while I'm eating!"
"Sorry…"
From the Ravenclaw table, Cho
gave Ginny the thumbs-up in return; the redhead nodded and smiled,
acknowledging the unsaid praise for the good work at pranking
the deserving git.
~*~*~*~
On the bright, sunny Sunday of April 19, Harry had something he wanted
to talk
about to Ginny. They telepathically agreed to meet in the Room of
Requirement,
where Harry gave Ginny access to his trunk, just in case of an
emergency.
Ginny went there the normal way, using her Invisibility Cloak. Harry
traveled
there from his Slytherin dorm as a
phoenix. After
locking the door and sharing a quick embrace inside, Harry granted her
full
access to the trunk and even showed her around.
It was an agreement based on faith, "should something ever happen,
Merlin
forbid." After spending the next half hour or so kissing and making
out,
they left the same ways they separately came.
Since Snape was his new guardian, he also
granted Snape access to the trunk, should
something go wrong. Snape agreed with
Harry on this, claiming that it was
"a wise move indeed."
Snape was also intrigued by the contents
and
compartments of the trunk. They were just on their way out when Snape's eye rested on the basic Dark Magic
encyclopedia.
With Harry's permission, Snape borrowed,
mainly for
curiosity's sake.
'Maybe I should take a look at it sometime,' Harry mused. 'Sometime.'
~*~*~*~
It was almost silent later that night as Harry did his prefect patrols,
he
heard the usual wailing from Moaning Myrtle's lair in the
usually-flooded
girls' bathroom. Deciding the be noble about it, he slipped inside.
"Myrtle?" he called out. A moment later, the moaning stopped as the
ghost floated through the door of the stall she normally inhabited.
"Oh, hello, Harry," she greeted him, smiling a little.
"Something wrong?"
"Oh, I overheard Pansy Parkinson talking about this Anit-Basilisk
Glare potion thing. I could have used it, huh?"
Harry sighed. "I suppose you're right, Myrtle. It was too bad that that
happened to you. It was horrible and terrible indeed."
Suddenly, with a sniff, Myrtle was smiling happily. "I never thought
I'd
hear anyone ever say that to me. How sweet of you."
Harry felt himself blush a little. "Oh, uh, thanks, I guess..."
With a broadening smile, Myrtle blew him a kiss. "Remember this, Harry;
never underrate those who care about you."
"Oh, thanks," Harry said, getting even more confused by the second.
"Why are you-?"
"People return as ghosts due to unresolved business from their lives.
You
helped me." Sounding more joyous by the second, she finally said,
"Good-bye, Harry. Have a nice life." With that, she dissolved from
her feet up, in silver specks of light. The last thing that remained
was her
smile, and those once-weeping eyes observing him over her glasses.
As Myrtle vanished from the physical world forever, Harry left the
somewhat-flooded bathroom, completely left to his own thoughts. (5)
~*~*~*~
It was almost silent later that night at the Ministry of Magic, about
the same
time as Harry's final conversation ever with Moaning Myrtle. A lone
Ministry
worker was at his desk, filling out reports. They were meant to cause
confusion, since his true boss was
the Dark Lord, and not the foolish
Minister of Magic.
He had been the one who tried to bribe that fat idiot, Vernon Dursley. He had been the one who contributed to Umbridge's deadly escapade at her trial, amidst
all the
chaos. He was the one who wanted to see Potter suffer for all the
trouble he
had caused to the Ministry. (6)
Just then, a mean-looking eagle owl flew in with a report for him. As
it flew
back out, the insider eagerly opened it up. 'Perfect,' he thought to
himself
with evil satisfaction. With unseen help from the Dark Lord, everything
meant
to work according to plan would work all in due time.
Dementors would be returning to guard their
human
prey soon enough...
(End of Chapter 39.)
A/N: Now, next chapter is where things really begin to get ugly…
(1) I have no idea how Easter vacation works in Great Britain.
(2) I don’t know all that much about Chinese architecture, so hopefully, my descriptions will still be fine.
(3) This is a good book, by the way! (Good movie, too!)
(4) Unfortunately, the only real major difference I can think of at the moment is the river dividing the two sides of the board in Chinese chess. (If anyone can tell me more, I’d really appreciate that!)
(5) Believe it or not, I have my own reasons for getting rid of Moaning Myrtle. You’ll see why next chapter…
(6) Can you guess who this guy
is?