The Slytherin Proditio

Prologue

Snowflakes fell gently from the sky and formed a fresh cover on the lawn surrounding the Chang residence. The air was crisp and the delicate frost on the needles of a nearby pine tree sparkled like miniature diamonds. It was Christmas Eve and the Changs, who had just finished their meal, were settled comfortably in their living room. Cho's father, Li, was seated by the fire working on a crossword. Her mother was cradling Cho's baby brother Wei in a soft red armchair across the room.

Cho looked at her family from the bay window she was curled up against, glad to be home for the holidays. Some years she decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, but this year was Wei's first Christmas and she wanted to be with him for it; she never enjoyed her Hogwarts Christmases as much as the ones she spent with her family.

Cho pressed her palm to the windowpane and smiled as she felt the tingling chill run through her fingers and all the way up her arm. She thought of past Christmases of her childhood. The Changs were never into Christmas the way some families were; they saved their energy for the Chinese New Year. Nevertheless, Li unfailingly brought a small tree home every year on December 21 and the family would decorate it together. In previous years, Cho would put the star on top of the tree, but this year she had held her brother's hand and guided him as he did it. Cho started to trace lines on the inside of the windowpane as she contemplated the modest pile of presents under the Christmas tree this year; her family had recently come into hard times where money was concerned, but they had still managed to find presents for each other and she knew their holiday would be as happy as ever.

"Cho, would you mind pouring me some tea? My hands are full."

Cho snapped out of her daze and turned around to look at her mother, then nodded and got up to cross the room. As she passed her mother, she paused to look down at her little brother.

"He sure is growing fast," Cho said with a smile. She continued to the kitchen, where there was a steaming teapot already on the counter; her father must have made it. She took down a porcelain cup from the cupboard and had started to pour the tea when she heard a loud bang resonate from outside. Startled, Cho lost her grip on the teapot and spilled the scalding tea on her hand. Cho bit her bottom lip to keep from yelping and rushed into the living room just in time to see the window she had just been sitting beside shatter into a thousand jagged pieces, the designs she had drawn with her finger still visible.

Li immediately jumped to his feet and rushed to stand in front of his wife and child. Cho, frozen in the doorway, saw a black-booted foot step clumsily into the window frame and land on the cushion of the sill. The foot was followed by a short, stocky leg as a small man robed in black pulled himself through the window, carefully avoiding the sharp glass that jutted like teeth out of either side of the frame. The man stepped into the living room, leaving a muddy bootprint on the pretty floral design of the sill cushion. His black hood cast a shadow over his face, but Cho could tell from the way his back hunched and his round stomach that he was no longer in the prime of his life. With lightning speed, he reached inside his robe, pulled out a short wand and pointed it at her father. With a muttered incantation, silver ropes sprung from the tip of his wand and bound Li's hands behind his back. The short man then looked up and locked eyes with Cho and turned his wand on her. Cho, too shocked to move, felt as if an icy finger was running down her spine.

"Petrificus totalus," he muttered and Cho found her body become rigid in a wave that started at her feet and traveled upwards like an inverted shiver. Her arms and legs immediately felt very heavy, as if she were made of stone, and were impossible to move. She heard her mother scream her name and out of the corner of her eye, saw her father move to stand protectively in front of his wife and young child, whispering frantically in Chinese. Cho's mother hugged a sobbing Wei to her chest, breathing rapidly. Li shot a piercing look at the intruder as another black booted foot stepped into the window frame and a second dark figure pulled himself gracefully into the Chang home.

Unlike the first man, this one was tall and slender, with a long black wand poised between his thin fingers. He walked noiselessly across the room and stopped in front of Li, who was breathing in ragged gasps from panic and age. The cloaked figure reached up with one delicate hand and ran his knuckle down Li's cheek. Cho watched her father suppress a shudder and tried to lunge forward to help him, but could not due to her paralysis.

"Chang," said the tall wizard, tightening his grip on the wand in his left hand. "The time has come for you to make the sacrifice you owe to the most powerful wizard in the world. You will bow down before us for all the inconvenience you have caused the Dark Lord." His smooth voice had a vicious undertone that he was making no effort to hide.

Li, still protecting Cho's mother and brother, glared vehemently into the shadow of the dark man's hood and spat at his feet. "I bow to no one," he said, his dark eyes on fire.

"Actually, Chang, I was expecting you would say that," said the black figure quietly. "You always were the defiant one, weren't you?" He raised his left hand and pointed it at Li's heart as Cho's mother screamed and collapsed into tears. Cho desperately wanted to protect her father, but the spell had leaked into her blood like leaden poison and held her where she was. The shorter man was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, glancing nervously around the quaint living room.

"Hurry, we have to get back soon," he whispered. The taller man did not turn to look at his partner but kept his eyes focused on Li's anxious face.

"Fine. I'll do it now. Say goodbye to your family, slime." The tall man leaned into Li as if to kiss him, but instead lifted his right hand and drew back the hood just far enough for Li to see his face. The cloak blocked Cho's view of the intruder, but she could see her father's eyes widening until their whites were clearly visible. He drew in a quick breath.

"No," Li whispered, shaking his head slightly.

The cloaked figure muttered something under his breath, and a jet of dark blue light shot from his wand and into Li's heart. Cho wanted to scream as her father's face crumpled like a piece of parchment and he slid to the floor beside his trembling wife. Still clutching the young boy, Cho's mother glared up at the two men through a veil of tears, her dark gray hair matted to her forehead.

"You monsters!" She cried. "What have you done to him? What have you done!"

The tall one, who had pulled his hood all the way back up, turned to his partner and gestured toward the open window with his head. "Let's go; the Dark Lord awaits our arrival."

He turned on his heel and, without a backward glance, climbed through the window yet again. The short one followed him across the room and paused in front of the window, looking down at the immobile body of Li Chang. The short one twitched slightly and his hood fell back from his face. He looked at Cho again, death swirling in the blacks of his eyes.

In that fraction of a second, Cho realized that everything she had ever known during her seventeen years of existence was going to be drastically changed and that her fond memories of childhood were now mere ghosts that could never be resurrected. She was faintly aware of her mother crying out in despair and of Wei screeching in confusion. A slow, malicious grin spread across the small man's face.

"Merry Christmas," he whispered.