Bloody Valentine

Bloody Valentine

There he was.

Standing right outside her door.

'I have to do this. I have to tell her.'

'I-I can't.'

He knocked and stepped in as a smiling face appeared at the door, but the smile vanished as soon as he said, "We need to talk."

Cho stared at him suspiciously, but replied with a fragile "ok."

Harry sat down and searched for words to explain what he had to tell her...

Oh my love, please don't cry.

Harry couldn't keep this from her any longer, but he couldn't bear to see her cry. That night...that fateful night...she had cried. She had cried too hard too long, he had wanted to smash the windows to drown out her sobs.

Yes...she deserved to know the truth.

I'll wash my bloody hands and we'll start a new life.

"Cho, I need to talk to you about...something."

'SOMETHING, that was all that he could bring himself to say. He had buried it a long time ago, but he was ripping open the wound again to expose it to her.'

'She loves me, it's OK. I'll tell her the truth, and we'll go on with our lives. We can get through this together.' Harry was trying to convince himself of this so furiously that his has felt like it would explode with thoughts and memories...

I ripped out his throat, and called you on the telephone to take off my disguise.

He remembered that night all too well.

He had met him in the middle of the maze, very close to the championship cup.

That's where Harry had lost it. Finally, all those feelings of hatred and jealousy had overtaken him and consumed his soul in the last task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Harry Potter had silenced the wonderful Cedric Diggory. He had beaten him once and for all. He had laughed that night, laughed long and hard. Then everything was quiet, deathly quiet. It had taken Harry a few seconds to realize the extent of his deeds.

He had taken a life.

But, then something happened that was even more distorted. He didn't care. What's more, he was glad, glad that he had taken a life, glad that he had beaten his enemy.

He had comforted her that night...in the hospital wing. He had betrayed her, and he told her it would be all right. He knew it would never be all right.

Just in time to hear you cry. When you mourn the death of your bloody valentine, the night he died.

She had cried that night.

Cried. Cried so much that he had wanted to rip his ears off to avoid the pain he had caused her. He had heard it echoing in his dreams...her sobs...Cedric's screams...his own laughter.

When you mourn the death of your bloody valentine, one last time. Oh my love, please don't cry. I'll wash my bloody hands and we'll start a new life.

'She loves me, it's OK. I'll tell her the truth, and we'll go on with our lives. We can get through this together.'

I don't know much at all. I don't know wrong from right. All I know is that I'll have you tonight.

'I may not be as smart as a Ravenclaw, but I got the girl, didn't I?' Harry chuckled inwardly at this.

'But at what cost?' a small voice argued.

'The cost of a life that we are all better off without!' Harry shouted inwardly banishing the small, innocent voice.

How many times had his inner demon won the battle now? His innocence was all but spent. He had hated Cedric every since he first met him. Always better looking and better than him. But he had gotten what he wanted: Cho, and Cedric was out of his way for good.

He had her tonight, and soon forever, and that's all that matters.

There was... police and flashing lights. The rain came down so hard that night

He could still see the lights of the curses being broken and monsters being tamed. All those lights from various wands trying to get a glimpse at the scene, and gasping as they saw the limp from of Cedric. God, the rain had started so suddenly, it was like it was trying to pound him into the ground and drown him in his crime. Everything became a blur after that, until Cho snuck into the hospital. He came out of the maze and told his lie in a rage of emotions; it was the only thing that came to mind. Cho had kept him from the next one-way ticket to St. Mungo's; she was the only stability for months to come. She had distracted him from his dreams and thoughts...and that rain...that unearthly rain...

The headlines read, "A Lover Died". No tell-tale heart was left to find.

The curse left no trace. Harry was free from blame. He buried Cedric with the rats.

'He deserved no better, for he had stolen Cho and betrayed me.'

Everyone was gossiping. Malfoy and Dumbledore were convinced that the Dark Lord had risen. Only Harry knew the truth. No matter what everyone else thought, it didn't matter. Cho was his and Cedric was defeated.

When you mourn the death of your bloody valentine, the night he died.

When you mourn the death of your bloody valentine, one last time. Oh my love, please don't cry. I'll wash my bloody hands and we'll start a new life. I don't know much at all. I don't know wrong from right. All I know is that I'll have you tonight. Tonight...

'Ya, I'll have you tonight.'

He dropped you off I followed him home. Then I stood outside his bedroom window.

'He took you to the ball. Not me. It should have been ME! I loved you more than he ever could. That night I snuck to his dorm. It wasn't very hard since his window is on the bottom floor, stupid Hufflepuffs, probably afraid of heights. I might have killed him then and there if I hadn't heard Filch.

Standing over him he begged me not to do what I knew I had to do 'cause I'm so in love with you.

'Right before I killed him...he begged and pleaded with me to spare him, just like a true Hufflepuff wuss. But I knew Cho would never be truly mine while he lived, and he deserved to die, he had to die. He had to pay for everything: for looking better than me, for being better at quidditch, for beating me at quidditch, for being a champion, for deceiving you into liking him.

When you mourn the death of your bloody valentine, the night he died.

When you mourn the death of your bloody valentine, one last time. Oh my love, please don't cry. I'll wash my bloody hands and we'll start a new life. I don't know much at all. I don't know wrong from right. All I know is that I'll have you tonight.

"Harry, are you O.K.?" Cho's voice broke through Harry's thoughts and snapped him back to reality. Cho had been sitting silently and patiently for what felt like an eternity, but had only been a minute.

"I'm fine." Harry lied.

Cho had watched his face twist into a thousand emotions unconsciously while they had been sitting there...she knew he was not fine.

"You said we need to talk..." her voice had become cautious and guarded as if not sure whether to be scared or not.

"Oh yes, umm..." Harry trailed off.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell her.

"We haven't talked all day! How was your day?" He was a terrible liar.

"Fine."

There was a long, uneasy pause.

"I love you."

"I love you."

Harry had to have Cho...NOW.

They made love together in Cho's apartment.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning Cho awoke to find a messy letter laying limp and forlorn on the modern marble counter.

*Yawn* "Damn mailmen," she muttered.

She picked up the note, trying to distinguish the words through all over the tears and blood stained on the beautiful stationary. The messy penmanship suggested that the writer was shaking while writing the dispatch.

Cho's "Coffee- noun. A liquid substance used in the processes of waking up after a long night and staying up late." Cup shattered into tiny shards of finely crafted porcelain as it tumbled to the floor.

Dearest Love,

I love you. I killed Cedric Diggory. I killed myself. I'm sorry. I love you.

Love and Regret,

Harry Potter

Cho read the letter over and over again in disbelief.

As the realization finally swept over her mind that her first true love had been murdered by her fiancée, she muttered her last two words:

"YOU BASTARD"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cho Chang committed suicide one day after her fiancée, Harry Potter, was reported thave drowned himself in the rain.

The day Cho died was exactly twenty years after her true love had been betrayed by one he trusted, one she trusted.