Betrayal of the Best Kind
Meet
By Draco664
Meet
It was early morning when Sirius and Dumbledore looked up and watched as Hedwig floated into the headmaster's office on silent wings. Harry's owl clutched a large vial in her claws, and had a letter tied to her leg. Sirius' excitement level dropped when he saw the sadness in the snowy owl's large eyes.
Dumbledore watched Sirius' face as he read the letter. A broad smile appeared initially, but he quickly became serious, and even a little frightened.
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked.
Without answering, Sirius threw the letter to him. "I have to go to him, Albus! He's not planning on returning, ever."
Dumbledore quickly scanned the letter. The headmaster stood, and looked Sirius in the eye. "He has specifically requested that you not contact him."
The look on Harry's godfather's face showed his obvious betrayal. Before he could make a word of protest, however, Dumbledore continued.
"He has said nothing of his other friends, however." Dumbledore picked up the fist-sized vial Harry had sent. "Since he has gone out of his way to acquire a truly remarkable amount of phoenix tears, it appears that he still has feelings for Miss. Chang." Dumbledore stared into the depths of the pearly, viscous liquid. "An incredible amount of phoenix tears. Yet another mystery young Mr. Potter has given us. If I didn't know better..."
Dumbledore regarded Sirius out of the corner of his eye. Sirius looked uncomfortable at Dumbledore's train of thought.
"So we, ah, get Cho to meet him? I'll go get her," Sirius said quickly, and sped to the door.
Dumbledore held up an ancient hand. "Just a moment, Sirius."
Harry's godfather stood at the door, obviously wanting to leave.
"Harry managed to escape from Azkaban. Managed to make his way from one end of the country to the other, in a short space of time. He cannot apparate. Doesn't use a portkey, or at least, doesn't use one with a traceable signature. He survived falling off a cliff. Now, less than a few hours after a raid on Voldemort's headquarters in London, where he was known to be staying, Harry has made his way to a cave near Hogsmeade, escaping detection when one of the most powerful wizards of all time didn't manage to."
Sirius swallowed. "Your point?"
"And now," Dumbledore continued, as if Sirius hadn't spoken. "Harry appears to have given Miss Chang the largest amount of phoenix tears I, or any other wizard in history for that matter, has ever seen in one place, which I must assume he has been given willingly." Dumbledore looked straight at Sirius. "He has a phoenix as a familiar too, doesn't he?"
Sirius smiled at the headmaster and gave a great sigh, feeling his heart rate slow in relief. "Very good, Albus. I am impressed. You are almost completely wrong, but that was a very good interpretation of events."
Sirius transformed and left the office, leaving an extremely baffled and bemused headmaster behind.
Dumbledore turned to his own phoenix. "Fawkes, that is one of the most irritating wizards I have ever had the opportunity to meet." He stood deep in thought for a moment. "Yes, even the Weasley twins don't irritate me that much."
Fawkes looked at his master, fluffed his wings, and shook his beautifully plumed head. Fawkes gave Dumbledore a trill of agreement.
Dumbledore turned and looked towards the doorway through which Sirius had just left. "Another thing, what in Merlin's name did he mean by 'almost completely wrong'?"
Since being discharged from the hospital wing following her return from Voldemort's lair, Cho had made it her habit to rise earlier than all her friends. It was the only way she could bathe in peace, without having the other female prefects gasping at her body.
Only Hermione had treated her with anything other than pity. Cho thought it interesting that while the other prefects had tried to sneak surreptitious glances at her scarred body, Hermione had insisted on examining her scars daily, in minute detail, to ensure they didn't get infected.
Cho sighed at the thought. Madam Pomfrey had been at her wit's end trying to heal the burns. Nothing had worked. It appeared that Harry's research into the branding curse was excellent, and that the brands could only be healed by the tears of a phoenix, willing given to and given by the brander. Ironic that an ancient curse could defy all modern magic healing methods.
Cho reached the female prefect's bathroom. Whispering the password, she entered the well appointed room. From Harry's stories about the events of the Triwizard Tournament, she could tell that this room was and exact mirror image of the male prefect's bathroom. The deep bath in the floor looked very inviting, but Cho knew she only had a limited time before the other prefects started arriving.
She made her way over to a shower, and turned on the tap. Checking the temperature of the water with her hand, Cho nodded in satisfaction and proceeded to undress. She folded her clothes and then entered the blasting water. Cho winced as the warm spray hit her still tender skin, though that was more pain than she felt when Harry had initially given her the brands.
A loud bark from behind her made her scream in alarm. Cho spun round to see a large, black dog, standing inside the door and looking at her with its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth.
Cho snatched a towel and covered herself. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" she hissed at Harry's godfather.
Sirius trotted around the bath and transformed with an enormous grin on his face. "What? You don't remember how you arrived back? It's nothing I haven't seen before."
"Shut it you." Cho said, wrapping the towel round her slim frame and tying it securely. "What is so important that you need to spy on a teenage girl in the shower?"
The grin hadn't left his face. "You think something needs to be important for any man to want to do that?"
"I can call Ginny around, I'm sure she'd just love to give you a matching eye."
"Yes, well," Sirius said as he straightened his clothes and tried to look serious. "I got a letter from Harry this morning, he has left Voldemort's employ. Rather spectacularly I understand."
"Is he alright?"
Sirius nodded, then frowned and shook his head. "The fact that he wrote a letter means that he is physically fine, but the contents make me think otherwise. Oh, he included a gift for you."
Cho frowned. "A gift? For me?"
Sirius nodded. "The biggest container of phoenix tears anyone has ever seen."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Cho yelled at him.
Sirius turned and prepared to change into a dog. Suddenly he was flying forward, his buttocks stinging. He landed face down in the bottom of the deep bath, and from the sound of it, breaking his nose in the process.
He clutched his nose, and looked up in shock to see Cho standing over him with a smirk on her face. "You know what that's for." she said, before locking herself in a cubicle to dress. Sirius just tried to stop his bleeding nose, wondering if Hermione was as violent as Harry's other two female friends.
Cho held up the vial of precious tears to her nose, inhaling the sweet, fresh scent. Before using the tears, she held out her hand. "May I see the letter he wrote?"
Sirius still had his head held back, Dumbledore's phoenix standing on his shoulder and crying onto his nose. He passed her the parchment. She read through Sirius' letter to Harry.
"Bambi?"
"A muggle movie about a baby deer."
"Ah, right. Son of Prongs." Cho then turned the parchment over and read Harry's reply, still smiling at the image of Snape screaming as something ate through his shoes.
Her face fell as she read how Harry finished the letter.
Cho looked up at Sirius and Dumbledore with worry plainly evident in her eyes.
"What is he planning? What does he think he has to do?"
Sirius looked at her, and shrugged his shoulders, but Dumbledore looked thoughtful.
"I believe, Miss. Chang, that he intends to challenge Voldemort."
Cho ran up the side of the hill. Sirius had taken her into Hogsmeade, and shown her the trail to take her to Harry's hideout. She had wanted Sirius to apparate there to talk to Harry, until he mentioned that Harry's letter asked that Sirius not contact him.
Now, Cho just ran. She stumbled occasionally and had bruises on her knees and shins to show for it. It seems to her that she had been running for hours. How far away was this cave?
As Cho rounded a rocky bend, breathing hard, an exhilarating musical trill sounded above her. She looked up and saw Dumbledore's phoenix, perched on an outcropping of rock over her head. Again the phoenix song sent shivers of delight through the small girl.
"Hello, er, Fawkes! Yes, that's what Harry called you. Have you seen Harry? Is he nearby?
The phoenix regarded her with piercing green eyes. After a moment of seeming indecision, the phoenix spread his wings and floated through a narrow fissure in the rock face. Cho followed and found herself in a cool cave with little light. An almost empty container sat in one corner and a tatty blanket lay next to it. Fawkes dropped a backpack on the floor and flew over to the container, where he began lifting things out with his beak, then dropping them on the floor.
Harry was nowhere to be seen. Cho moved over and helped the phoenix empty the container. There was little of interest in it, well, of interest to Cho, who had grown up in an apothecary. Bags of rare and magical powders lay next to bags of muggle and ordinary stuff. Once she emptied the container for Fawkes, the phoenix started putting the packages into a backpack.
Cho rolled up the sleeves of her robe and helped Dumbledore's familiar to fill the backpack. She was shocked at the size of the bag's interior. Someone had spent a lot of galleons buying such a large backpack.
Cho turned to face Fawkes when she was done, and saw the bird staring at the brands Harry had given her on her arms. She watched as the brilliant bird stepped closer and lay its head on her arm. A tear began to form.
Cho gently pushed the phoenix away. "Thank you Fawkes, but I have phoenix tears from Harry to use to heal my scars. The tears need to be given to me by the person who gave me these burns.
Cho looked around the cave. It had obviously been used in the last few days, scraps of food littered the floor in one corner, a fire pit held the charcoal remains of a recent fire. She looked back to the beautiful phoenix, still regarding her with its vivid eyes, eyes that seemed to look right through her.
"Looks like he has stepped out. Should I wait for him, do you think?"
With an almost human shake of his head, Fawkes turned and gripped the straps of the backpack Cho had helped to pack. With one last unearthly trill, the blood-red feathered bird launched itself at the fissure, and flew through it without difficulty.
Cho sprinted outside to follow, but the bird was no longer in sight.
Sighing, Cho pulled out the portkey Dumbledore had given her, and activated it.
Dumbledore looked up from his writing as Cho flashed into existence in front of him. He stood and smiled at her warmly. "Did you meet with Mr. Potter?"
Cho shook her head. "He wasn't there. I-" Cho stopped, staring at the scarlet and gold phoenix sitting at his perch. "When did Fawkes get back?" she asked.
Dumbledore gave her a look of polite incomprehension. "Get back, Miss Chang?"
"Fawkes was up there on the mountain, in Harry's cave."
Dumbledore smiled. "You must have been mistaken, Miss Chang. Fawkes has not left my office this morning."
Cho looked from the headmaster to the beautiful bird gazing at her serenely. "But, I, he was..."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with amusement and excitement. "Did you see another phoenix at the cave?"
"Yes. Though now I look more closely, Fawkes here has a lighter coat, the one I saw had darker red feathers, and less gold."
"Miss Chang, this is fantastic news. There are so few of them in the world."
"My parents once told me that the first sighting of a phoenix brings good fortune to the viewer."
Dumbledore nodded. "I'm not surprised. Can you describe the phoenix? His exact colouring?"
Cho nodded. "Apart from his plumage, which was mostly one solid blood-red colour, he had a streak of black feathers down the back of his head. His feathers almost glowed, he looked so colourful in the dim light of the cave. And the eyes the phoenix had were green, so very green."
Dumbledore's eyes widened at this. "Green? No phoenix has green eyes, Miss. Chang."
"Then wh-" Cho stopped. Realisation dawned in the eyes of both wizard and witch at the same time.
"Harry!" Cho shouted.
"Almost completely wrong!" Dumbledore shouted, and started to howl with mirth. Cho watched as the headmaster wiped tears of laughter out of his eyes. She had never seen professor Dumbledore like this. The ancient wizard fell back into his chair, holding his sides.
A grim trotting through the halls of Hogwarts had become a common sight recently. Even some of the other students that had no idea an animagus was in their midst had started referring to him as Snuffles. Sirius found this rather amusing.
He passed the pair of Gryffindor sixth-year girls, the pair that had fainted the day he had kidnapped Cho. They gave him a look of awe mixed with irritation. Last week, they had seen him in the Gryffindor common room, sitting with Ron and Hermione. Their announcement that he was 'the bringer of death and destruction' would have gone over better for them had Sirius not jumped on them, and covered both girls with a large amount of slobber.
The rest of the Griffindors had just about laughed themselves sick at that, and Snuffles had found acceptance there.
Now, even the other houses were calling him Snuffles. He supposed that it didn't really matter much any more. Since last nights raid, Voldemort's forces were in an uproar. If Sirius Black handed himself over to Arthur Weasley, the interim Minister would get the credit for the arrest of a dangerous fugitive, making it almost impossible for his detractors to convince others to stand against his permanent appointment.
The fact that he would now get a proper trial gave Sirius a sense of security that he hadn't felt in years.
Sirius reached the entrance to Albus' office, he could hear the headmaster laugh inside. Looking around to see if there was anyone nearby, Sirius transformed and entered.
The scene that greeted Sirius inside confused him to say the least. Dumbledore was holding his sides and laughing, while Cho had crossed her arms and was looking at the headmaster with an unamused expression.
Dumbledore was finally able to take notice of Sirius' entrance. "Ah, Sirius! Almost completely wrong indeed."
Cho whirled to face Sirius. She waved a delicate finger under his nose. "And you! Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't Harry tell me?"
"Um, tell you what?" Sirius closed his eyes at the lame comeback.
"That Harry is an animagus! When did you teach him?"
"I told you! I've never had enough time to teach him to be an animagus," Sirius protested.
Silence. Sirius' comment even managed to stop Dumbledore's laughter.
"Then how?" asked Cho.
Sirius sighed. From his robes he withdrew the Animagus Guide, and placed it on Dumbledore's desk. "That." He said flatly.
Dumbledore rearranged his glasses on his nose, and looked at the parchment. "This is the letter Harry's father wrote to him. Minerva and I examined it before he was sent to Azkaban."
Sirius snapped his head up and stared into Dumbledore's eyes. "You examined it too?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Of course. I had to make sure it was not magical."
Sirius grinned. Without taking his eyes from Dumbledore's face. "I'd say Harry and I are not the only ones keeping secrets." He pushed the parchment along the desk towards Cho. "Put your hand on your heart and say, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good', Cho."
Cho frowned, but complied. The familiar swirling of ink signaled the activation of the guide.
Dumbledore and Cho stared at the parchment as the writhing ink formed itself into words.
Mr. Prongs would like to welcome the latest young magical mischief-maker to find this guide.
Mr. Padfoot also offers his congratulations, and looks forward to assisting in more magical mischief.
Mr. Moony offers his condolences that you have to put up with Messers. Prongs and Padfoot during your tuition, but Mr. Moony would like to point out that the rewards are worth it.
"Hi guys, it's me. You were activated by Mr. Prongs, Jr's girlfriend," said Sirius
Mr. Prongs gives his most lavish praise to Mr. Padfoot for allowing Mr. Prongs, Jr to corrupt such a lovely young lady.
Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail all offered their own congratulations, and Cho blushed at the silent cheering the four Marauders gave her.
"This guide teaches you to be come an animagus?" she asked Sirius.
He nodded. "It started out as our notes, storing all sorts of library texts and so forth. After a while Prongs got the idea of using it as a tutor, since Wormtail was having trouble keeping up with our studies. We put our personalities at the time into it. We used the skills we learned from that to create the Marauder's Map."
"I see. Why did neither Minerva or I manage to detect the magic in it?"
Sirius wiped the guide, and passed it to Dumbledore. "You try activating it."
Dumbledore made the pledge, but the guide stayed obstinately blank.
"I haven't seen you on the Animagus registry, Albus. Naughty, naughty boy." Sirius grinned.
"Ah, so it doesn't work for people who are already animagi."
Cho looked at him in shock. "You are an animagi, sir?"
Sirius grinned with delight. "An unregistered animagus at that."
Dumbledore looked at the pair. "Who said I'm not registered?"
Sirius stopped smiling. "But, I've seen the list of registered animagi. There have only been seven this century.
Dumbledore kept smiling, not changing his expression at all.
"This century. You wouldn't be on that list, would you? You'd have registered in the late eighteen hundreds," said Sirius.
"There, that wasn't too hard, was it?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.
"Look, interesting as this is, we need to work out where Harry is. I need to convince him not to challenge anyone, let alone You-know-who, and to come back to us," said Cho.
Dumbledore nodded. He rose and walked over to a wall, at which he waved his hand. Immediately, the wall was covered in shelves filled with magical items. Another wave, and a different set of shelves appeared. Again and again. Dumbledore was obviously looking for something in particular. Sirius stood and asked what he had in mind.
While the two wizards were talking, Cho surreptitiously read the letter Harry's father had written when Harry was less than a day old. With tears in her eyes, Cho quietly folded the page and placed it within her robes. She turned back to the pair, watching them discuss the method of sending Cho to Harry.
Harry wiped the sweat from his eyes, and sat back on his heels. He was on the edge of a large forest clearing, and had finally finished carefully burying some of his creations. Overhead, muggle power lines entered and exited from a power substation a few kilometers from his position. He had spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect ambush spot, and this looked like one.
It didn't provide much cover, except for the trees. It didn't provide clear fields of fire, or even high ground. That didn't matter, because this was going to be a magical ambush. Mostly.
Harry opened his enchanted backpack and pulled out several pouches of powders. He carried them over to his 'workbench', a large fallen tree, with the top flattened by magic. Mixing them together, careful not to bump them or breath too deeply, Harry put the mixture into a large, but fragile pouch.
Harry smiled. One more defense done. He pulled out a plastic bag of short nails, and began fusing four of them together at a time to form basic caltrops. He was halfway done when a pop from behind startled him.
Harry spun, his wand drawn from his pocket before he could think. The person standing before him made his mouth go dry.
"Hello, Harry."
Cho appeared in a clearing, behind Harry, where he was working busily on something. Less than a second after her arrival, Harry gave a small yelp and spun round, his wand seeming to appear in his hand.
She smiled at him. "Hello, Harry."
He swallowed. "Hello, Cho. How did you get here?"
Cho walked up to him, and pushed his wand away to the side. "Sirius and Dumbledore managed to scry your location, by tracking the spells you have been using, and used a variation of a portkey to send me to you. Why didn't you show yourself at the cave this morning?"
"C-cave?" Harry stammered.
Cho smiled. "Yes, the cave in which you were trying to pack that backpack there as a phoenix."
Harry swallowed. "You know?"
Cho nodded. "Yes. Your godfather managed to keep it a secret for a while. Each time I brought up the topic that you may be an animagus, he rather skillfully persuaded me that you were not. Without lying directly either, he is a rather devious man."
"Yeah, well, he created a rather cool guide for me."
Cho nodded, and pulled out the Animagus Guide. "What is written on this is for you. Do you think your parents would want you to throw your life away like this?"
"My life ended when I jumped off that cliff."
"What? Harry, no!"
He waved her response away. "I've felt dead since that day. You killed me."
"No, no please, let me explain!"
"You think you could explain that? What I yelled at you when you were captured was true. You really hurt me."
"I know. I hurt me too. I desperately tried to hate you for what you did, but my heart just wouldn't let me. The pain of trying to betray my love for you made me say those things Harry. I will never let you go again."
"Cho, you don't understand. I'm not Harry. At least, I'm not the Harry I was. I keep having these thoughts, desires of hurting you. When I was branding you, it took all my will power to keep the spell from hurting you. Seeing you lying there naked, I wanted to take you, to rape you. I'm turning evil, Cho. I can't help it."
Cho placed her hands lightly on Harry's shoulders. "Harry, it is OK. I'd be upset if you didn't get desires to have me if I was lying there naked. But whatever you are going through, you are not turning evil."
Harry placed his hands on Cho's own, and gently removed them from his shoulders. "Please, just leave. I need to do one last thing, and I don't have a lot of time in which to do it."
Cho stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. At once she felt him stiffen, just as he did when she first hugged him. This time, she was almost shocked at the tone and definition of Harry's muscles under her arms. "I meant what I said, I'm not letting you go. Ever. I saw the look of compassion in your eyes when I was shackled to that table. I was petrified, but you managed to-"
Harry placed two fingers on her lips. "Enough. I can't go back with you. I'm having nightmares of you, telling me you hate me. I can't go through that again. Please, just go, and leave me."
Cho let go and stepped back, looking Harry in the eye. From her pocket, she withdrew the large vial of phoenix tears. "I haven't used this yet. I still have scars all over me. If you don't come back with me, I won't use it."
"What? Cho, you have to use it. I needed to get that to you before I finish things."
"I know that is what you thought. I don't want this if I can't have you."
"No. I can't take that chance. I might hurt you, or worse. I won't let that happen to you."
"Really?" Cho asked, and hurled the container at the nearest tree. It shattered on impact, the thick liquid in it oozing down the tree, absorbing into the bark. Cho looked Harry in the eye. "Now you have to come back with me. Either you need to get Fawkes to give you tears, or you need to give me them yourself. It doesn't matter to me, either way you come home."
"Home." Harry sounded so very wistful.
Cho again put her arms around Harry, luxuriating in his presence. She looked up, and stared into his beautiful green eyes. "I love you, Harry Potter."
"I love you, Harry Potter."
The words struck his heart, paining him again. Cho had said things that caused him pain on the cliff top, but what she said now almost made him buckle at the knees. He stared back into her deep, dark, expressive eyes, looking for that one tiny hint of trickery. Nothing. She was telling the truth.
He felt his mouth form words without being aware of it, saying something from deep within his heart.
"I love you, Cho."
Their lips met. Harry felt a hot, burning, cleansing fire race through him. Even the feeling of joy at holding Cho for the first time that day at the cliff top was nothing compared to the totally euphoric sensation coursing through him now.
He had told Cho to leave, she had told him she would never leave him again.
He had told Cho he had awful desires for her, she simply held him tighter.
He had given her one last gift, she had thrown it away because he didn't come with it.
She loved him, and he would never doubt it again.
Their kiss deepened. The love Harry felt for this young woman burned away all the hurt, the pain, the mistrust and the hate. One of the Harrys died, he was sure. Never again would he have a nightmare about not being loved. There was only one thing he was sure about now, more than anything else, he was loved by Cho.
For long minutes the pair kissed, their entire consciousness devoted to the other. Nothing else in the world mattered. They were together, they were in love, everything was just right.
Finally, they separated, and again lost themselves in each other's eyes.
"Thank you Cho. For saving me."
Cho smiled, her perfect face radiating nothing but love.
Before she could speak, a voice Harry knew all too well came from behind Cho said, "Hello, Harry. Ready to die?"
--