Chapter 18: Crumble

"Love is a very funny thing to play with," Nassil began as he paced round and about the chambers of his master's abode. The room had been lit by torches placed on the walls of the room, making it dimly lit and giving off an eerie dark vibe.

"Strange enough, it is the one thing that makes and brakes humans- especially dragoons,"

"I must agree with you, Drow King. We can take this unfortunate couple for example," Lucius pointed to James who was still crucified and Lily who's bound by shackles connected to the wall. "Knowledge of your lover's suffering is indeed painful…" he continued as he approached James with a studded whip in hand. "but watching him suffer…" he gave James a lengthy slash to his side, making him howl in pain and in turn making Lily wail helplessly in the corner, "is priceless to the tormentor"

Nassil stopped in front of Lily as he stooped down and held her chin up to meet his gaze. "Without the two of you, you're son shall fail. He shall fall and become one of us,"

"Never!" she roared with all the spite in her body. The Drow King roared with laughter after hearing her scarred response.

"You humans are a pitiful thing to see. Just you wait, she will leave him. And he will suffer. And soon enough, he shall fall."

"Now, how about we start the teary-eyed farewells?" Lucius whipped out his wand, a manic smile painted on his face as he set his gaze on the crucified form of James"

"Avada…"

Back at Hogwarts

News of Cedric's returned has haunted the hallowed halls of Hogwarts for days. It had been 5 days since Professor Dumbledore has announced his return. Harry, still at a loss for words of what had just happened, had been seen wandering aimlessly through the corridors of the school looking awfully distant and deep in thought. Cho on the other had was torn. She would try her best to act as normal as she can whenever she and Harry were in public. But whenever they were left to themselves, it was awkward as hell.

Five Days Ago

"How did that happen?" Cho whispered to Harry who was sitting beside her in the Ravenclaw Table. "It must've been a dragoon who did that, am I right? Dragoons are the only known people to have such skill," she rationalized.

"It just can't be. There's something odd right here…" Harry muttered, still in utter disbelief as he continued to simply stare at the once fallen comrade who was now giving a small speech, explaining what he had experienced. This though was all a blur to Harry. He knew all too well that what he's saying is most probably a cover up.

As soon as the episode at the Great Hall was over, students went on with their own things. Harry and Cho immediately sought refuge in the privacy of the Room of Requirement. Upon entering the room, Cho went up to Harry and held him fiercely.

"I haven't been perfectly honest with you, Harry" Cho started as she decided that it was time that she told him about what she had been experiencing for the past few days. This clearly got his attention. "There was something constantly bothering me these past few days. But, I was never really able to put a finger on it. It felt like he was watching me, following me wherever I went,"

"And you didn't tell me about this?" he hissed, making Cho cringe a bit. He rarely took that tone with her. It was starting to worry her.

"I'm sorry Harry! I didn't know what to do! I didn't want to put more things on your plate to worry about! I told myself that it was nothing. But now clearly this isn't nothing at all!"

"You still love him, don't you?"

"Harry, I'm with you now, okay? That was two years ago. It was hard to let go, it still is but today isn't two years ago. Alright?

"I didn't hear a yes or a no." Harry's voice sounded cold and distant. He kept his gaze though; staring right into Cho whose eyes were now full of worry.

"Harry-"

"Just answer the question, Cho"

"I… I don't know" Harry broke off from her, taking steps backwards- away from her slowly. Cho tried to reach out to him, extending a hand to hold him again, but Harry simply dodged her.

"I need to take a walk. I'll see you later," with that, he left the room, leaving a teary-eyed Cho falling to her knees.

Present Day

It had been five days since Harry and Cho were seen together. It had been five days since Harry and Cho said something other than "Hi's" and "Bye's" to each other. It was starting to alarm their friends. But, they're friends knew nothing about what's going on between them. They could only second guess whatever it is that could be bothering the couple.

To make things worse, Harry had seen Cedric on more than one occasion approach Cho and initiate an animated conversation with her. It almost felt like 4th year all over again for him.

"Just talk to her already!" Ron bugged him as they walked through the corridors on their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They had spotted Cho with her usual group of friends talking in a corner near the entrance of their classroom.

"I wouldn't really know what to say once I'm there, Ron. I'd rather not make a fool out of myself," Harry muttered in monotone as he continued to walk towards their classroom, trying his best to avoid casting a glance towards Cho's direction.

"Now that's really stupid, Harry! Of course, apologize to her for whatever it is that you've done. You know, most of the time, the first move has to come from the man." Ron made a point. But to Harry, he felt that what he did was justified. What she told him five days ago was enough for him to doubt if what she felt for him was strong enough.

As they entered the classroom, the professor was still nowhere to be seen. A small group of students however were gathering around Eli who was playing a guitar while singing a song. The words of the song hit Harry.

Here's a letter to your pride
Our souls and hearts divide
How can this be?
We're beckoned to a lie
Leave uncompromised
How can this be?
Kill that memory

After Eli's little performance, the crowd applauded and started to disperse. Eli then saw Harry and Ron by the entrance of the classroom and motioned them to join him.

"You seem troubled, Harry." He said as he placed his guitar back in its case.

"Cho, they haven't been talking for 5 days, remember?" Ron eagerly piped in as Harry nudged him painfully in the rib before giving him a deathly glare.

"Ah yes, I've noticed that too. You're bothered by that Diggory boy, aren't you?"

Harry was about to reply but Ron beat him to it once more. "By Merlin's Beard! Of course he is! He's her ex-boyfriend after all!" Harry let out a grunt of frustration as Eli let out a light chuckle due to Ron's behavior.

"Is that the case? Well, there's only one thing I can say about that, Harry. She's with you now that's all that matters. If you let things get to you, then you'll really lose her,"

Harry let out a sigh. Frustration was starting to win the best of him. Nothing was really going right for him. He could only take so much emotional stress and now with other factors such as fatigue kicking in, he was approaching breaking point.

Somewhere in London

"Quick! Over here! There's something over here!" an auror called out to his companions who were also surveying the area.

It was one of the countless back alleys of London. It was already 11 in the evening and the search for Lily and James Potter was starting to look hopeless. The weather haven't been cooperative with their search as well. It had been raining since early in the evening, making their search efforts increasingly difficult.

The other aurors along with Remus Lupin rushed to his location and approached the place he was pointing. Remus made it a point to be the one to check what the auror found. His brain was now frantically trying to rationalize what was happening. 'No, this can't be. He won't do that this soon.' That was the last thing that he ever heard coherently in his head as soon as he saw what the auror pointed out.

The cold and lifeless body of James Potter, lying on the wet streets of London.

The Black Mansion

The whole process of bring back James' body to the Black Mansion was painful. Lupin could barely contain his emotions as tears would occasionally escape his eyes. The situation worsened as they reached the Black Mansion where Mrs. Weasley and the others were waiting.

"It is as we feared…" Kingsley Shacklebolt muttered to himself as Remus placed James' lifeless body on the couch in the living room. The members of the Order currently present to in the house then gathered in the room, shocked and heartbroken at what beheld their eyes.

"Dumbledore shall be here shortly. For now, we need to start the preparations for James' burial," Mr. Weasley announced.

"Who will be the one to tell Harry?" Mrs. Weasley inquired once she was able to calm down, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I think that would be my job…" Remus said. True, he was the best person to tell Harry, he knew perfectly Harry's capabilities and perhaps he could be the only one that could break it to him gently.

"The poor kid," Mrs. Weasley began as she began to sob lightly once more. "He got his parents back, and now they're being taken again. One by one…"

"We need to rescue Lily. Fast." Remus urged his comrades. "If we lose Lily as well, we will lose Harry," with that, Remus made his way to Hogwarts, praying to the heavens that everything will turn out well enough to keep Harry stable.

"Merlin help us…"

Back at Hogwarts

Harry had been thinking long and hard about what Eli had pointed out earlier. He had been missing Cho's company terribly and had been struggling for the past 5 days without her.

After dinner, Harry decided that it would be best if he confronted her already. Walking around the corridors, Harry found his feet dragging him to the Quidditch Pitch. It was empty and quiet as it should be. He welcomed the peaceful atmosphere that the pitch offered him.

Walking around, he saw two figures from a couple of distance away. They seem to be in a heated discussion as traces of raised voices could be heard from his position. What got to Harry's attention though was how immensely familiar those to figures were. His eyes squinted to make out whoever these two people were as he started to approach them. He stopped dead on his tracks when he realized who these people were.

Cedric and Cho.

"Leave him! I'm back! I came back for you!" Cedric argued as he stepped closer to Cho who wisely stepped back.

"No, I can't do this to him. He needs me right now. I can't… I need him too!"

"Don't you see it? You're basing your relationship with him with your needs! You don't love him!"

"That's not true!"

Harry felt his heart gently swell with pride as he heard Cho say those words. He felt much better compared to how he was feeling earlier. He decided to move closer and time his entrance.

"You're lying to yourself! If you love him then how come you told me that you couldn't even tell him that you don't love me anymore?"

Harry stopped once more. He wanted to hear this one.

"Fine you want to hear it? I'm not over you! Are you happy now?" Cho fell to her knees and started crying covering her eyes with her hands as she started to sob even more. "I couldn't tell him that because I know it'll break him. I just can't do that…"

Whatever positive mood that Harry got earlier was now clearly gone. He stood there, speechless and thoughtless as he watched Cedric kneel down in front of Cho and hugger her. Cedric raised her chin and kissed her gently. What broke Harry's heart was what came next.

Cho kissed him back.

In a fit of rage, Harry stormed up to the skies and flew as fast as he could, away from Hogwarts, away from all the pain.

AN: Gaaaaaaah! Sorry for the OVERLY late update! I experienced the longest writer's block in my life. Anyway, I will try my best to finish this whole saga and I promise I will edit all the grammatical errors in the previous chapters. Thank you so much to all those who reviewed. You guys gave me so much inspiration to actually start working again. I know this chapter is nowhere near up to par with the previous ones, I'm still working on how to take the rust of my gears. I really promise to get this done real quick! Comments everyone! Cheers! PS: The song there was from Inyo - Memory Kill