The Kidnapping, Chapter IV
By JB Hannah
In the middle of a small clearing deep in the Black Forest, Cho Chang, bound to the trunk of a tree by thick cords, slowly opened her eyes. At first everything she saw was blurred, but her eyes quickly adapted to the midday light filtering down through the treetops above. She lifted her head and struggled against her bonds, but it was useless. Cho took to looking at her surroundings; all she could see was trees, until a rustling to one side caught her attention.

The man who had kidnapped Cho from the Great Hall walked into the clearing, a mad smile on his pale face. His hair was very untidy, his robes torn. But Cho recognized him immediately, and came very close to fainting again.

This was no Death Eater. It was her father, controlled by Voldemort--undoubtedly the Imperius Curse. Cho stretched against the ropes binding her and cried out, "Father!"

Her father turned to face her, the mad smile still on his face, but no matter how he appeared Cho didn't recognize his voice at all. "Your father cannot hear you now," said a high pitched, scraping voice, the voice of Voldemort. "He is completely under my control. Crucio!"

Cho's father raised his wand, and the spell hit Cho, who screamed again, but the castle was too far away for anyone to hear. When the wand was lowered, her head swam, and she fainted again.

The members of the Dumbledore's Army filed from the Room of Requirements; there was no need for secrecy as this meeting was held during the day. Soon, only Harry, Ron, and Hermione remained in the room, Harry standing at the front of the room and Ron sitting with Hermione on a table at the back. It was quite some time before any of them spoke.

"Do you think we'll be able to pull this off?" Ron said apprehensively.

"Of course," Hermione replied, taking hold of Ron's hand and squeezing it gently, though her voice was slightly shaky and uncertain. "Remember last year, when we went to the Ministry office to try and rescue Sirius?"

Harry walked over to Ron and Hermione's table and sat on a cushion in front of them. "The only problem with that was Sirius wasn't there." The memory of that night was still very hard on him.

"Harry...." Hermione looked sadly down at Harry. "If you dream really had been true, like the one about Ron's father, we would've successfully rescued Sirius, without him...."

She had paused, but Harry never let her continue. "C'mon, let's go down to lunch," he said, nodding at Ron, who took the hint and stood up, Hermione's hand still clutching his. "Good idea. Hermione, let's go."

By the time they reached the Great Hall for lunch, a good amount of the food was already gone and many students had already moved on to their commonrooms or their next classes. Only a few dozen stragglers and the other members of the D.A. were there. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took their seats near the end of the Gryffindor long table. Harry sat where he had last year, when he was going out with Cho, with a perfect view of her usual seat at the Ravenclaw table. He could almost see her sitting there, smiling at him as though nothing had happened, as though she hadn't been taken....

"Oi, earth to Harry!" Ron tapped Harry on the side of the head. Harry jumped, and realized that both Ron and Hermione were staring at him; apparently he had spaced out, thinking about Cho.

He stood up, leaving his salami sandwich untouched on his plate. "Hey, where are you going?" asked Hermione.

"I'm not hungry, I'm going up to the common room. I'll see you at Hagrid's," Harry said, then left the Great Hall for the portrait of the Fat Lady that guarded the Gryffindor common room. "Password?" she said coolly as he approached.

"Mugwump." The portrait swung forward and Harry climbed through the entrance and went up to his dormitory. There, he pulled out an envelope from his trunk and lay on his bed, looking at it. He opened the flap, revealing a piece of parchment and a photograph inside it. Harry took out the parchment, unfolded it, and began to read:

"Dear Harry,

Hi! How has your summer been so far? Mine's been
okay. Listen, Harry, I'm just writing to tell you I'm
sorry about how last year ended, and I want to apol-
ogize for arguing with you and acting like an idiot.
I know how hard it is for you to talk about Cedric,
after watching him die, but the reason that seemed
to be the only thing I wanted to talk about last year
was I just couldn't get over it. I have now, though, so
I hope you'll forgive me for how I acted last year.
Maybe we can get back together sometime?

Happy birthday. I miss you!
Cho."

Harry reread the letter many times over. Cho had sent it to him near the end of July, and he had kept it with him at all times since. Nobody else knew about the letter; not the Dursleys, nor Sirius, not even Ron. Every time Harry had come close to snapping and running out on the Dursleys, like he had in his third year, this letter had saved him. It was the way that the letter showed that Cho maybe really does care for him that calmed his mind.

Then Harry pulled the photograph from the envelope. It was a photo of Cho, taken for the family album that summer, smiling broadly and waving up at him. He smiled back at it and propped it against a crease in his bed sheets. If the letter calmed his mind, this photo completely emptied it of all distress. Something about seeing Cho smiling made him want to smile along with her....

The end-of-lunch bell rang, cutting off Harry's pleasant thoughts. He put the letter and photo carefully back in the envelope, which he then put in his pocket, grabbed his bag, and hurried out of the dormitory and through the portrait hole on his way down to Care of Magical Creatures.

"'Arry! Good teh see ya!" Hagrid waved as Harry approached his cabin. Most of their Care of Magical Creatures class (which they still had with the Slytherins) was there already. Harry quickly found Ron and Hermione near the front of the crowd and mouthed up at Hagrid, "I need to talk to you soon. It's important." He looked around to make sure nobody else saw, then looked up at Hagrid, who nodded. "Everyone 'ere, then? Let's get started. Today we're going to be working s'more on gettin' rid of magical household pests. Doxies, ashwinders, garden gnomes...."

A number of temporary habitats infested with the creatures Hagrid had described were set up behind his hut, and the students were split into groups and told to rotate between the different situations to practice handling each creature. Hagrid supervised from the garden gnome setup, and assigned Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lavender Brown, Pavarti Patil, and Seamus Finnegan to start there. This was good for Harry and Ron, not only because they each had a fair amount of experience with gnomes but also because Harry needed to explain their plan to Hagrid. This Harry did as he flung an extraordinarily chubby gnome across the garden and into the woods.

Hagrid listened intently as the plan was explained to him in an undertone. When Harry finished, he nodded and whispered back, "Thanks fer lettin' me know, 'Arry. I'll be expectin' 'em, make it nice an' easy for 'em to hide, get in, and get out."

"Thank you, Hagrid, I appreciate it." Harry smiled and stepped aside for Seamus, whose finger immediately attracted the teeth of the nearest gnome. There's nothing left to do, he thought. Now we just have to wait until nine o'clock....

However, as he would soon find out, it wouldn't be as simple as he had hoped, because as he walked away from Hagrid's hut at the end of the class, Draco Malfoy glanced back at Harry, an oddly satisfied grin across his face.