David Korhol and the Rise of Chaos

David looked down at his paper from his desk. His eyelids felt so heavy. Why the hell did he wait till the last day of summer holiday to write his report for Arithmancy, David thought to himself. About 7 Butterbeers, 5 cups of coffee and books that David couldn't even recognize anymore were all strewn across his highly polished wooden table. A single lamp lit the area, David left most of the lights off because Samir was asleep on the bed that was on the other side of the room.

"How the hell does Samir do this so easily...?" said David sleepily as he began to put his hand over a book called "Arithmancy for Those Who Don't Really Care About Arithmancy." David had a knack for a lot of subjects, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and he was at the top of his year for Muggle Studies. However, Arithmancy was one thing that David simply didn't understand.

Two more days until that train back to Hogwarts. Two more days until he's back with all his friends at Hogwarts back to his studies and Quidditch. David, Samir and David's Parents were going to Diagon Alley tomorrow and get their supplies tomorrow. Then, the day after that, off to King's Cross Station and the Hogwarts Express. David thought lazily as he lied on the surprisingly comfortable textbook.

David was going into his 6^th Year at Hogwarts, along with his best friend Samir. David was a burly sort of boy, fairly trim, he had hair that he rarely attended to and freckled skin. David loved Hogwarts, he was glad to be going back. However, it always seemed to be striving to be going home when he was at school and school when he's at home. David lived with his parents, of course, both of his parents worked at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Experimental Charms. David wasn't really interested in their work though, he was simply fascinated by Muggle Studies, and it was his favorite class in school. David lived in London, a few blocks from The British Museum, in a flat on Homer Street. London was a good town to live in, David enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the huge muggle-filled streets. He often found himself in awe of just the huge scale of the Muggle world. Almost everyday during the summer holidays David walked to the British Museum. He and Samir usually went there, David went for the Muggle Artifacts, Samir, who was a history buff, shared David's fascination with muggle artifacts, but not to such a large degree.

Samir was the closest thing to a brother David had, short of being actually related. Samir lived with David, in the same room to be exact. Samir's parents were immigrants from India, Calcutta, to be precise, however, Death Eaters had killed them shortly before the fall of He-who-must-not be-named. In their Will, they left Samir in David Korhol's parents' guardianship. They had become close friends before they had died. Samir had fine, black hair, which he usually kept under a beat-up old hat for a Quidditch team in India, The Calcutta Cobras. He was about half a head taller than David was, thinner, but not as muscular. He had pale blue eyes and a pierced left eyebrow. Both David and Samir were in Ravenclaw, both of them Beaters for the Quidditch team.

David's mind simply lingered on what Hogwarts will be like, he had missed it so much. He got to see so many more of his friends when he was at Hogwarts then he did when he was at home. He was looking forward to playing Quidditch, there was little chance to get to play it in the city. The familiar train-ride to Hogwarts, the Sorting Ceremony and Professor Dumbledore's annual speech about staying out of the Forbidden Forest were a mere 2 days away, but, the clock has recently decided to move as quickly as a blind slug. David thought of the Hogsmeade visits and the twisted hallways, lazily, his mind slipping away. He closed his eyes and visioned the Hogwarts ghosts and the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Quite suddenly, David felt a hand on his shoulder. "No, Professor Flitwick, I wasn't sleeping, honest," David said sleepily

"Uhhh...David. Get dressed, we're going to Diagon Alley." said a somewhat deep voice with a light Indian accent. David opened his eyes the widest they could go.

"AH CRAP," shouted David, suddenly exactly aware of what happened, "I HAVE TO WRITE MY REPORT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL ASLEEP! I HAVE NO TIME!"

"David, calm down. I finished your report for you. Get dressed, we're leaving in 10 minutes," said Samir.

"Jesus Christ, thanks," said David, "I promise I'll write your next Muggle Studies paper for you," said David, walking to his dresser. He threw on his jeans and a loose white T-shirt. Samir was already dressed, he had on a white T-shirt and a pair of dark green cargo pants, along with his usual Blue Cap with a neon green cobra on it. David walked into the kitchen, David's parents were up and about. David's Mom handed him a breakfast burrito and handed David a key.

"Okay, here's your Gringotts key. Take out enough to buy your and Samir's supplies, don't forget you need a new wand and pick up some extra quills and parchment. Your list is on the counter. Your father and I have to go, love you, bye," said David's mother. She was obviously in a rush, walking swiftly across the kitchen stuffing parchment in her briefcase as she looked desperately around for a quill. David's mother, Gale, was about 40, she was average height and was a bit round, with dark brown hair that was very slowly becoming whiter. Just as she had pulled out her wand to apparate to the office, David's father walked in. His dad, Benjamin, was fairly tall, with scruffy sandy-blonde hair. He wore thin, square glasses and at the moment appeared to be wearing robes that hadn't been ironed in a fair while.

"Hello, David, make sure to pick up some extra parchment, we're running low," his father said smiling, carrying his briefcase and pulling out a wand. His father seemed considerably more prepared than David's mom, who had just apparated out of sight.

"Okay, Da," said David in a monotone kind of voice.

"See you at dinner." Said Mr. Korhol as he dissapparatd out of view. Samir and David sat around the kitchen table, quietly eating toast. David was slowly getting more and more awake at the passing moments. The Breakfast Burrito helped.

"So, David, when do you want to go to Diagon Alley?" said Samir, biting into a piece of toast.

"Eh, I dunno," said David, taking another bite out of his burrito, "Do we wanna walk? We have time."

"Yeah, I guess, it's only 3 or 4 blocks."

"How we gonna get that stuff back?"

"Oh, I have an idea!" said Samir, a grin of self-satisfaction growing on his thin face, "How about we put all the things we buy into a large trunk, and transfigure the trunk into a dog and walk the dog on a leash back home?"

"I have a better one," said David, a grin growing on his face, the game was on, it was now a contest to see who could think of the most bizarre way of transporting all their school supplies back to the house. David and Samir had petty games like this all the time, for no reason, but it was fun to see who was superior in a particular area. "How about I transfigure all the things we bought into balloons and pretend I'm a muggle balloon salesman?"

"No, no, no. How about I buy a toy car at a muggle shop, engorge it, and then we drive it back home?"

"Okay, okay, okay, how about we do this," started David, but he never finished that sentence. Just as he was speaking, a loud crash was heard from the other room. David and Samir looked up, Samir pulled out his wand (David had lost his wand last year when his wand exploded trying to perform a charm for his exams.) They cautiously moved from their seats to their feet, their adrenaline was slowly growing, they had learned some potent curses in 5^th year and were ready to use them. They moved as quietly as a mouse across the paneled kitchen floor and stood against the wall that led into the living room. David held up his index finger to Samir. They both mouthed simultaneously, "One, Two, Three!"

"Expelliarimus!" yelled Samir at the top of his lungs as David ran to the fireplace and picked up a poking spear and raised it as if it were a broadsword. A wand flew from a black figure's pocket to Samir's free hand.

"Who the hell are you?" said David, raising the poker to point directly at the figure. The figure coughed, looked up and screamed. A horrified, womanly scream let out from the figures mouth, they obviously had frightened her.

"Calm down," said Samir, throwing both the wands on the couch and walking towards the figure. He quietly placed a hand on her shoulder, she looked up with deep blue eyes shining through her ashen face and robes.

"David! Samir! Thank God it's you!" She hugged Samir, covering his clothes in suet, "I was on my way to Diagon Alley and I thought I saw it, but, I got out to early and then you guys gave me such a fright, I'm sorry." She sounded extremely relieved to be seeing them. However, David felt extremely awkward, he hadn't recognized her yet. Samir looked over the girl's shoulder to David, Samir looked equally puzzled. She pulled back off Samir and looked over to David, smiling, he recognized her.

"Cho?" Asked David in amazement.

"Yeah, I hate Floo Powder! I was just on my way to Diagon Alley, to get my things," said Cho, significantly more collected than she had been a few moments ago. "Well, this is awkward, but, where am I, exactly?" She asked now realizing that she had no idea what part of the country she had been dumped into. Cho, though, not at the moment was a striking girl, she had shoulder length black hair that she often kept in original styles with deep blue eyes and oriental skin, she was easily one of the prettiest girls of the school. David and Samir were good friends with her, they talked often, they were in the same year and the same house, and not to mention all three of them were on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"Oh, we're in London, a few blocks from Diagon Alley, walking distance," said Samir as he brushed off suet from the back of her robes.

After a most of the suet had been beaten off Cho's robes and she had gotten a chance to wash her face, they walked off to Diagon Alley. Cho, Samir and David briskly walked out of the Korhol's flat. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Cho realized she was still in her robes, they waited for a few moments as she changed into muggle clothes in the bathroom. She stepped out of bathroom in a navy blue skirt and a white blouse. Considering that she had been just been covered in suet, her clothes were very clean. David made a quick check that he didn't leave his Gringott's key in the flat. It was there, David felt relieved, he walked towards the door and the doorman bowed David, Samir and Cho out. They walked out onto the narrow London side street, Homer Street and walked south, towards Diagon Alley. They discussed how they were anticipating the upcoming school year and the latest events of the wizarding world.

"So, I hear the Ministry has been cracking down on the shops in Knockturn Alley?" said Samir, glancing at his watch.

"Yeah, my parents went down to Diagon Alley yesterday and they saw raids being done in three shops in Knockturn Alley," said Cho

"Three? Really?" asked David.

"They aren't messing around," said Samir, "Fudge is getting real worried, a bunch of parents have been pelting him with owls ever since Dumbledore told us last year that Cedric was killed by..." Samir stopped, seeing the David run his finger across his neck frantically to signal to Samir to shut the hell up about Cedric. David cleared his throat to try and break the awkward silence that had overcome them.

"Sorry," Said Samir, his face as pale as death, he looked terribly guilty.

"Oh. It's all right, not your fault," said Cho, "It's just been hard. You know? It was just, real, those history books, they always tell you how some troll or dark wizard killed some number of people. But, you never know, that pain, that pure anger that people felt. It's hard to explain, you know?" said Cho, "It's, ummm... been," Cho faltered, the words obviously weren't coming to her.

"Hard?" said Samir, in a would-be-helpful kind of voice.

"Hard doesn't begin to describe it," continued Cho, she was on the brink of tears, "the heart is made up of four chambers, and all fours are doing their best to rip me apart. Nobody else knows and they odd thing is, nobody ever will." Her face grimaced, obviously struggling with the memories.

"He was a good man," said David, simply unable to think of anything more clever or helpful.

"Was," Cho said. David was starting to feel his stomach begin to curl and slowly twist, just when it mattered, he had to say the wrong thing.

"Yes," said Samir, looking at Cho, "he was. I never and I don't think anybody ever has seen him act without the ultimate valor, honor and fair play. He always acted like that, always, he embodied those qualities. He was a good man. But he will always be known as a man of those qualities and that makes him more worthy of respect than his killer," he spoke with zeal that both of them considered the conversation closed. Samir looked at Cho with a look in his eyes David had rarely seen. His look almost spoke for him, his eyes told Cho that he was sorry, but, it's over and done with.

They continued towards The Leaky Cauldron, passing large muggle bookstores and coffeehouses, before reaching a small pub between one enormous white building and another. The trio of Ravenclaws entered the pub and waved to a few fellow Ravenclaws and a few people from other houses. They wasted no time however, the walked right through the pub and into the small courtyard that looked to the unsuspecting eye that there was only one entrance to. Cho walked up to the wall and tapped that specific brick with a light tap and the wall opened into it's mighty, sturdy looking arch.

The street was one of the most full David had ever seen it. It was quite a scene to behold, the entire alley looked as if it were an ant colony. However, it didn't look as though all the people on the street were out shopping. In the street, many wizards, dressed in black, draping robes, stood at fixed locations, quietly eyeing all the people on the street. David was fairly sure who they were. They had to be the added security that so many witches and wizards had rallied for in the summer holiday, it had been all over The Daily Prophet. They looked rather intimidating; they reminded David of the dementors that had been stationed in David's 4^th year. They wore long, flowing robes, the only difference was that they had no hood and the obvious lack of powers that were exclusive to dementors. They stood looking over the crowd, most of them were a bit taller than most of the crowd.

"Not exactly giving us a whole lot of privacy are they?" said Samir in a would-be-casual sort of voice.

"Big Brother is watching," said David.

"Huh?" said Cho, looking utterly confused.

"Oh, it's in this book that I read once, the government invades everyone's privacy to 'be safe' and instead of the government protecting them from the evil, they become the evil," said David, describing the plot of the classic George Orwell novel, 1984. They walked down the street, looking into the windows of the various shops. The stores seemed unusually tidy and neatly ordered.

As they passed Quality Quidditch Supplies, David looked down a narrow little side street that looked into Knockturn Alley. Just as he did so, he saw one of the guards drag a pale, thin wizard against the red bricked wall. David slowed down and listened in on the conversation.

"Tell me or it'll be Azkaban for you," said a gruff voice that came from the guard.

"That's...That's...but...I...can't..." said a feeble sounding voice.

"TELL ME and I'll forget all those items we found in your shop" said the first voice.

"But...I don't know," said the second voice, just as he did David moved against a wall to listen more carefully, Samir and Cho seemed to have gone on, not noticing his disappearance. David accidentally knocked a brick from the wall and it fell to the ground in a clatter. The conversation David had overheard was brought to an abrupt halt, sensing they obviously didn't want this to be a public matter. Without a word, David sped off to join up with Samir and Cho.

"Where have you been?" Said Samir in a puzzled voice, as if he only now realized he had been gone.

"Not now." David said, not sure if this was the wisest thing to openly discuss in an open place.

"So, off to Gringotts then." Said Cho, gesturing all of them to follow her to the wizard bank.