Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never were and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Author's notes:

Rejoice. I got this done in record time. (Record for me, it usually takes me about three weeks.)
Be warned! This is one of the highlight chapters, the reason why I rated this story 'R'. This chapter is a bit creepy, (at least that was my intention) and might make you nauseous in the end if you're the sensitive kind. So read it at your own risk.:)

Crookshank, you're concerned with Harry being so deeply in love with Cho that when he finally gets to love Hermione, she will never be an equal to Harry's first love. I admit that the story sure has progressed that way, but I got that problem worked out as well. When I finally get to the point when he will be together with Hermione, I promise he will be smitten with her, as we want him to be.

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Harry was certain that he was dreaming. He had to be dreaming! It was a hallucination that had been conjured from his grief! It absolutely could not be Cho standing there in a beautiful white all-covering nightdress, leaning against a tree and smiling at him! Cho was dead! Wasn't she?
'C-Cho? Is… is it… really you?'
Cho's smile disappeared and she looked anxious all of the sudden. 'I… I believe it is me. I feel like me… I think? I… I feel a bit confused.' Her face then grew even more concerned and worried. 'Harry, I must ask: Is it really you standing before me?'
Harry was surprised. Would a hallucination ask that kind of question? The tingling in the back of his mind increased. He didn't know what to think.
'Yes. It is I.' Harry finally decided.
'T-then what are we doing here? In this graveyard?' Tears brimmed in Cho's eyes. 'I panicked when I woke up. I was encased in a coffin inside that crypt… I was all alone and… and cold. Harry! What happened to me? I… I'm not dead, am I?' She asked, looking very afraid. 'Am I a ghost?'

'You… don't look like a ghost to me.' Harry said slowly.
'Is this… just a bad dream then?'
'Cho, I… I was told by Professor McGonagall that… that you died.'
'So if I am a ghost, then why am I freezing?' She sniffed, and held her arms close to her body. 'Harry, I'm so cold. Hold me. Please?'
The tingling in his mind, probably made from confusion he thought, began to feel like a buzzing. Was she or was she not dead? She didn't look like a ghost to Harry. The other alternative was that she really was alive! Could it be true? Harry didn't dare let his hope flare up. If she weren't what she appeared to be then he would be gravely heartbroken again. But yet she stood there, looking quite vulnerable, so lonely and cold. He had to find out! Cautiously he stepped forward, opening up his arms to invite her into his embrace.
Cho just as cautiously took her own step towards him, leaning into his chest, letting Harry fold his arms around her. His arms didn't pass through her. Her touch was cold, but that was explainable since she'd been outside in a chilly winter for he didn't know how long.

'I can feel you!' Harry gasped. 'You're not a hallucination, you… you're really here!'
'I'm… not to be considered dead then?' Cho asked hopefully.
'Cho, you're not dead! You're not dead!' Harry's heart swelled with such happiness that he swung her around in his arms. The buzzing was still in the back of his mind, but now he was certain that it was because of that he was happy. 'Madam Pomfrey must've done a very stupid mistake. I'm going to have a long chat with her when we go back to Hogwarts.'
'Oh Harry, do you know what this means?' Cho was now pushing Harry's back against the same tree she'd been leaning on earlier, and in turn she pressed herself against him. 'We can be together now, just like you wanted. Did you mean what you said? Do you want to marry me?'
'Yes!'
'Oh Harry.' Cho nuzzled her face to Harry's shoulder, rubbing her nose against his neck. 'We will be together forever. In fact, we'll be together… for all eternity.' She whispered and leaned in to rub her mouth against his neck. Harry knew she was going to kiss him, so he closed his eyes in anticipation… he could feel her cold breath against his neck as she opened her mouth.

'BACK, YOU FOUL CREATURE!!'
Harry wasn't sure what was suddenly happening. He thought for a brief second that as the shouting voice was heard, he also heard the distinguishable sound of a spray-bottle just below his ear, and his nose began registering an odd odour that he would have recognised if he had the time to identify it. But he didn't have the time to think about it, because Cho suddenly jerked away from him, covering her eyes with her hands and let out a terrible scream of pain. The frightening thing was that it sounded more like the shrilling shriek of a wounded animal rather than human. Harry instinctively moved forward to help her when the voice called again.
'No Harry! Stay away from her!!'
Harry spun around to face Cho's attacker, and his eyes went wide when he saw whom it was.
'P-professor L-Lupin?' Cho gasped, gazing between her fingers that otherwise still covered her face.
'Remus??' Harry gasped as well. 'You here? W-what are you doing…? Why are you…?'
But Remus Lupin ignored Harry. Instead he dropped the case he was holding to the ground and whisked out his wand from his robes. The spray-bottle was still in his other hand.
'You can't have him, young lady!' He panted. He had still to catch his breath after having run all the way from town. 'I won't let you!'

'Harry, help me!' Cho shouted. 'He's crazy!!'
'Are you out of your mind?!' Harry demanded, stepping in between Cho and Lupin's outstretched wand. 'Just what do you think you're doing?!!'
'Get out of the way Harry.' Lupin said in a low but serious tone. 'You don't understand…'
'No, I don't understand!' Harry said angrily, the buzzing pressure in his mind increasing slightly. 'I don't understand how you can of all the sudden drop in to this place and attack Cho unprovoked! I never thought that of you!'
'Harry, listen to me…'
'How could you do it? Why? This is Cho, a student you yourself taught, how could you…'
'It's not Cho, Harry!' Lupin cut him off. 'Not the one you knew! Cho Chang is dead!'
'Are you daft?? She's standing right behind me, alive!!'
'Harry, please…' Lupin looked troubled.

'Harry.' Cho said behind him. 'He's a Werewolf. And it's almost full moon tonight. He's crazed…'
'Yes.' Harry agreed. 'That must be it…'
'Don't listen to her!!' Lupin yelled. 'I'm still taking the Wolfsbane Potion Harry. I may feel the effects of the moon right now, but I'm perfectly sane!'
'You're not.' Harry snorted. 'Not if you think that she's dead when she's standing here alive.'
'Harry, she's no longer among the living!' Lupin explained in a rush. 'But neither is she dead…'
'What are you saying?'
'What I'm trying to say is…' Lupin then glanced at Cho. 'I can feel you in my head - you're trying to stop me from telling him… but you do not yet have the grasp on me that you need.' Lupin looked back at Harry. 'Harry, Cho's neither alive nor dead, she's undead! She's a child of the night! She's… she's a Vampire!!'

The night seemed still for a moment after Lupin's statement. Harry stared at the last member of the Marauders in disbelief, shocked by the accusation that had been delivered.
'You… you're mad!' Harry could only whisper. Lupin shook his head.
'No, I'm afraid I'm being quite serious. It wasn't just some kind of ill she took that led to her death. She'd been drained of all her lifeblood. Only Vampires can do that in a short period of time.'
'Harry! You can't believe what he's saying!!' Cho cried out in panic.
Harry didn't believe it, mainly because he didn't want to. He couldn't understand why Remus Lupin, a man he thought was his friend would betray him like this. The pressure in his skull gave another throb, a more painful one this time. Harry froze with fear as a thought hit him. What if it was his own illness? Was it his Stress-related Nervous Disorder that overwhelmed him again? He had after all been under a lot of pressure lately, going through Cho's apparent death, the tiresome train trip, and now Lupin's accusations. He mindlessly rubbed his hand over the back of his skull. Was he close to another collapse?

'Do you feel a buzzing pressure in your head, Harry?' Lupin then asked, and Harry looked up in surprise. 'It's her doing; she's trying to manipulate you! She's mentally planting subliminal suggestions in your subconscious mind to make you do her bidding. It's a form of hypnosis, similar to the Imperious Curse! She even tried to do it to me so that I wouldn't expose her, Vampires have the ability to do that!'
'Harry, he's out of his mind!' Cho cried again.
'You know that I would never lie to you, Harry.' Lupin took a step forward. 'Step out of the way. She's dangerous, let me deal with her.'
'Harry, he means to kill me! Help me, please!!'
Harry looked over at Cho. Her eyes were red and puffy after whatever Lupin had sprayed on her face, but they were also filled with genuine fear. He pulled out his own wand and pointed it at his former Professor.
'You're out of line, Lupin!' he growled. 'Get out of here! Leave us alone.'
'Don't make me fight you, Harry.' Lupin said nervously.
'Likewise. Get out of here, and don't ever come back.'

'Damn it!' Lupin cursed. 'Expelliarmus!'
Deep down, Harry hadn't expected Remus to actually throw a hex at him, so he was caught completely by surprise. He flew two meters away from where he was standing and landed in the snow on his back. His wand landed another two feet away from him.
'This ought to convince you!' Lupin said loudly, and then he said the last incantation Harry ever would have expected to hear from him, and least of all from a member of The Order of the Phoenix. 'Avada Kedavra!'
The frightful moment seemed to pass in slow motion for Harry when a green beam of energy flew from Lupin's wand and rushed straight at Cho. Cho gasped loudly upon impact, and then the blood pounded so loudly in Harry's ears that he heard nothing more, he even averted his eyes. Staring furiously at Lupin, he slowly stood on his feet again and began to walk towards the man who had killed his girlfriend a second time.
'You… you monster!' he whispered. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest and the only thing that was in his mind now was to claim revenge on the man he had thought was his friend. 'You murderer, you… Traitor!'

'Harry! Look at her!' Lupin yelled, his voice filled with fright and plead.
'I don't want to see her dead body.' Harry whispered. 'I want to see yours!'
'Harry, please! Look!'
'I'll kill you now…'
But Lupin would not let Harry near him. With a flip of his wand, he forced Harry to turn around to face the spot Cho occupied. And for the third time this night, Harry eyes became so wide that it hurt. Cho was still standing, still alive and looking bewildered, as if she didn't fully understood what just had happened. But her confusion was nothing compared to Harry's.
'B-b-but… I saw you… use the killing curse on her??'
'Yes Harry.' Lupin calmly said behind him. 'And it didn't work. The killing curse can't take her life because there's no human life to take. Because she is already among the dead. Because she is a Vampire.'
'Harry?' Cho said uncertainly.

Harry's mind raced, because the situation did not make sense anymore. He had personally seen the Avada Kedavra curse in action. Wormtail had by Voldemort's orders killed Cedric Diggory with it. Harry knew that there was no protection at all from it, no one could survive it. He himself had only survived it because his mother had died to save him; her love gave him a one-shot protective ward that reflected Voldemort's attack. But there was no way Cho could have such protection. Harry looked at her. He could see her eyes squint slightly together as she looked back at him, and he felt another throb of increasing pressure from the buzzing in the back of his mind. He remembered what Lupin had told him; of her planting subliminal suggestions in his mind, like the Imperious curse. And sure enough, the buzzing was nothing but a void in his mind, he could feel it now. The only other thing in the void was a voice: Cho's voice! It said: Protect me. Protect me! It was just like the Imperious curse, but how could Cho do that? She had no training do so, and especially not without a wand! No matter what Harry's feelings for Cho were, he could not ignore the facts of the impossible. He took a step back, away from her.
'What are you?' he gasped lowly.

Cho's face then creased into a mask of pure anger, and she shifted her furious glare from Harry to Lupin.
'YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!!' And with a shrilly hiss of rage, she simply took off, jumped the distance between her and Lupin and slammed both her and the unprepared man to the ground. Lupin lost both his wand and the spray-bottle in the attack.
'Damn bloody Werewolf. I'll kill you! I'll tear your throat off!!' she shrieked loudly.
Harry was completely petrified; he could do nothing but to stare at the struggling duo that wrestled on the snow-covered ground. He saw now that Cho's appearance had changed: her eyes were almost glowing, but he stared mostly at her mouth. It was wide-open in a snarl, her teeth bared. Horrifying teeth! Her corner teeth were now elongated, like fangs! Fangs of a Vampire! They threatened to sink into Lupin's throat had he not kept her away with one hand clasping her neck. But he only had one more arm to try to deflect Cho's two hands that now produced claws from her fingertips instead of nails. They scratched Lupin's face repeatedly, making him lose advantage. He was quickly losing the battle, because the bright semi-full moon had already weakened him severely.
'HARRY! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, HELP ME!!' Lupin yelled.

Harry pulled himself out of his stupor and quickly retrieved his wand. Trying to remember the little he knew about Vampires, he used the first useful incantation that came to his mind.
'Lumos Solem!' Harry shouted. A very bright beam of sunlight shone from the tip of Harry's wand and bathed the two strugglers with it. Cho let out another shrilly howl of pain that sounded more like a wounded animal rather than human, and she jumped off Lupin covering her eyes.
'Harry how could you?' Cho cried. 'I thought you loved me?!' Then she ran, faster than Harry thought possible and shut herself inside the Crypt she'd been buried in.
'Don't let her get to you!' Lupin panted. 'She only want you to feel guilty to let your guard down! It's the Vampires way!'
Harry walked over to the wounded man. 'Are… are you all right?'
'I wish there'd been a way for you to warn me of what you were about to do. You blinded me as well.'
'I'm sorry.' Harry said as he helped Lupin to his feet.
'Don't be, you saved my life. And I'll be okay after a moment.' Lupin said with a smile. 'Where did she go?'

'She ran into her crypt.' Said Harry sadly. He suddenly felt very tired. He had in a way lost Cho again. And the tingling in the back of his mind was still present.
'Then she went in there to hide, not to run. She wants us to come to her, not the other way around.'
'I can't believe this is happening… It can't be true…' Harry mumbled. He turned to Lupin. 'How did you know? How did you learn that Cho is… a Vampire?'
'Dumbledore suspected it.' Lupin answered shortly as he waved his wand across his face, mumbling some incantations and coagulated the blood Cho had drawn.
'Dumbledore?? But… he's not even in school?!'
'That doesn't mean that he has no idea of knowing what's going on at Hogwarts. He has his ways. When he received word that Cho had died mysteriously, her being drained of her blood, he grew extremely concerned. He sent me here to keep on eye on her grave to confirm his fears.
'Remus!' Harry suddenly exclaimed. 'Seriously you don't mean… that there's a Vampire at Hogwarts?!! Right now?!!'
'There's no doubt anymore.' Lupin said concerned.

Harry felt his insides become very cold. 'B-but… Who? And what does the staff do about it? They can't keep having lessons with a Vampire lurking about?!'
'As for whom: that's the problem with Vampires. We don't know who it is, they're experts with hiding under our noses. Could be anybody, even a student! And as for the staff, they can't realise it anymore.'
'Can't?'
'The Vampire, whoever it is have had the whole term to plant subliminal commands into the sub consciousness of the whole school, manipulating their minds to divert all suspicions away from the culprit.' Lupin sounded very bitter. 'By now the Vampire most likely have full control of all the teachers and probably some of the brightest students who could maybe expose him or her. Even though Cho died by blood-loss, the staff can no longer comprehend the reason behind it.'
'But if Dumbledore knows this is going on, why doesn't he come back?' Harry argued.
'He wants to, more than anything. But Fudge won't let him.'
'Why?'

Lupin sighed. 'I'll explain later. Now Cho is the one I have to deal with. I had planned to wait until tomorrow night when there's full moon to make my move, as the Wolfsbane Potion keeps my mind clear in the body of a wolf. I've spent the whole week I've been here to starve her, making her weak of hunger. You see Harry, Werewolf blood is unsuitable for a Vampire; therefore I had the best chance to defeat her, especially in my wolf-form. Sadly, your showing up here unexpectedly have ruined my element of surprise, she'll be expecting me now. It seems I have to make my move tonight.'
Harry said nothing, guilt overwhelming him. Lupin opened his case he'd dropped earlier and fished out two objects. Harry felt his bones chill again. It was a wooden stake and a mallet. Knowing from his lessons about Vampires in his third year: the most efficient way to kill a Vampire was to drive a wooden stake through the heart.
'Go back to town Harry. I'll see you tomorrow.' Lupin didn't add the word 'Hopefully'.
Harry watched his friend go to the Crypt that housed the deceased members of the Chang family before he called out to him.
'Remus. I can't let you do this…'
'She must be destroyed Harry.'
'Yes. But I can't let you do this… on your own.'

Lupin stared at the young man he considered his protégé. 'This is nasty business Harry. And with your affection for her… it wouldn't be advisable.'
'I have affection for her… that's why I'm going with you. It's my duty to free her.'
'You should also know something else.' Lupin went on. 'Fighting Vampires is extremely dangerous, because them being undead, they're impervious to most forms of offensive magic. You saw what happened with the Avada Kedavra-curse, it had no effect. Neither will any of the other stunning-curses. It's like trying to stupefy a corpse; quite futile.'
'I understand.' Harry only said.
Lupin saw that Harry was extremely determined to come along. Knowing that it would do no good to argue, he retrieved the spray-bottle from the ground and handed it to Harry.
'Don't hesitate to use it.' Lupin told him.
'What's in it?'
'Garlic juice.'

They proceeded to the door of the crypt. Before Lupin opened it, he asked the other: 'Ready?'
'As I'll ever be.' Harry answered, trying to swallow the lump that has formed in his throat. And then they stepped inside.
It was cold as a refrigerator inside the stone building, but Harry wondered if it was that cold he felt, or if it was the cold he himself produced. It was also very dark, they couldn't see much. Lupin found a lantern and lit it. None wondered what a lantern was doing in there, it was unimportant. There was no sign of Cho.
'She must be hiding in her coffin.' Lupin said lowly. 'Damn!' he suddenly said.
'What?' Harry asked.
'The nameplates of the coffins have been ripped off, I don't know which one's hers! It leaves me with no choice; I have to look inside all of them. Guard the door and be prepared for anything.'

Lupin moved reluctantly to the coffin on the far right of the crypt. Feeling disgusted of what needed to be done, he pointed his wand at the lid. 'Wingardium Leviosa.' He moved the lid a bit to the side and peeked carefully into the coffin. Lupin stiffened, let out a strangled gasp and quickly put the lid back in place.
'What?' Harry asked, being alert.
'I think I just found the man who disappeared.' Lupin croaked, looking a bit more pale than otherwise.
'Another Vampire?' Harry asked feeling terrified.
'No. This one was just a snack, his neck has been snapped off. As I said; to become a Vampire you have to be drained of all your lifeblood.' Shaking off the effect of the sight, Lupin went to the coffin in the middle. He repeated the process with the lid and looked inside. Lupin froze.
'Not another one?' Harry croaked.
'Not a victim. But both the shrunken mummified bodies of the grandparents, cramped inside one coffin to leave space to hide the pour soul she killed. Talk about violation of respect for the dead. But of course, that means nothing to a Vampire.'

Closing the lid, Lupin turned to the last Coffin on the far left: Cho's coffin. Harry was sweaty all over, his hands were shaking… but yet he was feeling cold inside out. Lupin gripped the stake and the mallet tighter in his hand and opened the lid with his wand. Harry wanted to look away; he even wanted to get out of there. But he stood rooted on his spot, he wasn't sure if he even was able to move for the moment.
Lupin leaned in over the open coffin. His eyes opened wide.
'It's empty! She's not in there!' he said. 'But where could…? HARRY, ABOVE YOU!!'
Harry had no time to respond to Lupin's warning before something heavy dropped from the roof to land on his back and knock him to the floor. Harry was stunned and he lost the spray-bottle, it flew somewhere into the corner out of sight.
None of the two realised it, but Cho had deliberately waited to make her move so that she could psyche them, making them nervous. She'd even planted a subliminal suggestion in Lupin's mind to make him go to the far right coffin first, knowing it would freak them out. Now that the moment of horror-filled anxiety had passed, she attacked, let go of the supporting beams that held the roof up and landed heavily on Harry.
'You're mine now, lover-boy.' She purred in his ear, and with terror, Harry felt two sharp pegs press onto his throat, threatening to puncture his skin. Cho was biting him!

'NO!' Lupin cried, crouched low and charged at Cho. His low poseur and momentum succeeded him to knock her off the young man and slam her with her back first into the wall. Not wasting the opportunity, Lupin tightened his hold on the wooden stake he still was holding, holding it as a makeshift knife and used all his might to throw his arm at her chest to stab her in her heart. But Cho's inhuman strength and speed got the better of him. She caught his wrist before he made contact.
'Not a chance, wretch!' she hissed and twisted his wrist. She grinned maliciously when Lupin grimaced in pain and was forced to drop the stake. Cho backhanded him hard in his face and sent him sprawling on the floor between two of the coffins. The wooden stake was now in Cho's hand.
'Say goodnight, Professor Lupin!' she said sweetly and raised her arm. She was going to do to him what he was going to do to her. With a shrilly hiss, she charged.

But Harry had now recovered enough to get on his own feet. Although groggy, he saw what Cho was about to do and, not thinking of possible consequences, caught her from behind in a full nelson before she could reach his friend. Using all of his strength, he pulled her away from Lupin.
'Don't be so anxious, my love.' Cho told him. 'Wait 'til your turn!' And then she just somehow shrugged him off her, sending him to the floor again. Being rid of Harry, she turned back to Lupin.
Harry had given Lupin the time he needed to re-arm himself. When Cho spun back towards him, he struck with the mallet at her hand that was holding the wooden stake, knocking it away. Unfortunately she responded with the same action, knocking away the mallet using only her bare hand. With flashing speed she snatched Lupin's throat with her other.
'Look into my eyes, Werewolf.' She hissed. 'It'll be the last thing you'll ever see!' and she began to squeeze. Lupin gasped for air and fought to pull away her hand from his neck, but it was like trying to pull away a steel-beam. He was quickly losing consciousness.

Harry saw everything that happened, and his mind was working furiously to find a solution. There was no point to try to stun her, because it would have no effect. He needed something that would at least temporarily neutralize the Vampire to give them time to recover. If he could just tie her up… That's it! He could tie her up! Pointing his wand, he mumbled the incantation and thin cords came out from the tip of it that immediately wrapped itself around the undead girl.
'What?' Cho let out as she was caught unprepared and her arms were suddenly pinned to her body. Lupin was free and greedily inhaled air again. Cho spun around and fixed her glowing furious eyes at Harry. 'You think a little piece of string will stop me?' she said angrily and flexed her muscles. Harry couldn't believe it. The cords were stretched to the bursting point, and he saw that they would give away any moment. How strong was a Vampire anyway?
'Not strings maybe…' Lupin rasped. '…but this will!' Quickly retrieving his wand he left on Cho's coffin, Lupin flicked it over the ropes Harry had produced and transfigured them into steel-wire. Harry knew that transfiguring something into metal, especially material that had already been made from magic was very difficult. Professor McGonagall wasn't to teach them that until next year. Fortunately Lupin seemed to master the spell perfectly. Cho was caught!

Finding herself trapped, Cho went into frenzy. Lupin knocked her onto the floor and pinned her there with his arms. Cho wriggled, tried to kick but even her legs were tied. She snarled, drooled and snapped with her mouth under Lupin's grip like a caged animal that went crazed.
'Harry, quickly!' Lupin yelled. 'Get the tools!'
'Accio Mallet. Accio stake.' Harry said and the tools flew into his hands.
'Okay, now comes the tough part!' Lupin said, straining to hold the screaming Cho to the ground. 'You must hold her pinned to the floor while I drive the stake through her heart! Come here and take my place!'
Harry found himself unable to move. He looked at Cho.
'Harry, what are you waiting for? Don't let your feelings overcome you! We must do this!!'
'I know. I'm just… preparing myself.' Harry said lowly. He walked over. 'Hold her down.'
'Harry?'
'I'll do it.'
'Harry. There can be no room for hesitation! You can't do it!'
'I can. I must! For her.'

Harry kneeled beside Cho. With a trembling hand he positioned the sharp end of the wooden stake atop of her chest. Cho screamed and hissed, snapping at Harry. But Lupin still held her down.
'If you are to do it Harry, do it now!' Lupin yelled.
Harry swallowed, finding it painful to do so. He took a very deep breath and raised the mallet. Clenching his teeth, pushing all emotions away, he struck the stake.
Cho's scream instantly changed character. She let out a loud blood-chilling cry of pain as the stake cracked her ribcage.
'Again!' Lupin yelled. Harry reluctantly struck one more time.
The stake penetrated deeper into her ribcage, and Cho screamed again. Please, just die. Just let it end. Harry thought. He knew he was crying.
'One more time!' Lupin yelled.
Harry sobbed. It was by sheer will power from his debt to Cho only that gave him the strength to raise the mallet one more time. Shaking all over, he struck a third time.

This time Cho didn't scream. She wheezed, and stopped struggling. Lupin let go of her and both he and Harry watched her. Before their eyes, the elongated Vampire-teeth shrunk back and the glowing in her eyes diminished. Cho's jaw trembled and she looked at Harry.
'H-Harry…?' she whispered. Harry knew by the way she looked at him that this was the original Cho that spoke to him. He took her hand that otherwise was still tied to her body. She actually broke out into a smile. 'T-thank you… for… e-everyth-thing…' she whispered. 'I… lo…ve… y…'
Cho's eyes closed, lips stopped trembling. Her head lolled to the side. Cho Chang was now truly dead.
'Thank you?' Harry said in disbelief.
'She thanked you for liberating her from her curse, Harry.' Lupin said. 'There is no pleasure with being a Vampire. But now she can finally rest in peace.' Lupin removed the steel-wire. She looked peaceful now that the Vampire in her was gone.

'If you want to Harry, you may go out if you like.' Lupin said gently. 'I'll put her in her coffin and clean up in here.'
Harry nodded, dropping the mallet and finally letting go of the dead girl's hand. Not looking back, he stumbled outside.
Back out in the cold, Harry's insides revolted against him now that his adrenaline was dropping. Although the buzzing pressure in the back of his skull was now gone, he had a nasty headache and his stomach lurched. Rushing to the nearest tree, he grabbed on to it for support and vomited. That didn't help anything. He wondered if it was natural that it suddenly was so quiet outside. His heart pounded violently in his chest and his head felt like it was going to burst. He was shaking all over, has lost all control of his body-functions. He regretted that he left his Worry-balls back in his room at The Laughing Swan Inn. And then everything went black.

Author's notes:

I hope I didn't make you guys fall off your chairs. I can promise you one thing: This is the last we've seen of Cho. Now she is completely gone and out of the story.

Important: There are many stories out there in the world that involves Vampires, and about every one of them differs from the other. My Vampires will therefore be my own makeup - working and acting how I personally feel they should work. I will go into deeper details of them later on in this story for you to understand better.
Some of you guys probably do not like Garlic as a weapon against Vampires. The truth is, I don't either. But one of Portkey rules were that we preferably should not contradict anything J.K. Rowling had written. And Garlic was mentioned in PoA, Page 204, English version.

Be prepared for that the next chapter most likely will take longer time again. Sorry.