Harry Potter's 5th year at Hogwarts started off dismally. The death of Cedric Diggory had left lasting impressions on everyone and the return of Voldemort caused heightened nervousness. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stuck closely together for they knew of the lurking dangers. They no longer were able to visit Hagrid. Even Draco seemed less evil. Draco wasn't the only person who was acting differently. Harry's crush, Cho Chang, seemed depressed and frightful. Harry knew that she had liked Cedric last year and obviously had taken his death very hard. With the encouragement of his friends, he worked up the courage to speak with Cho. She made polite conversation and soon Harry could hold it in no longer. He blurted out that he loved her and would do anything for her. Cho burst into tears and ran away, leaving Harry all alone. After a few months had passed uneventfully, the mood at Hogwarts lightened up a bit. Everyone began to feel happiness again. Every day after his Divination class, Harry hid by Cho's arithmancy classroom and followed her. One cold December day, however, he noticed that she was not in class and instinctly began to worry. However, Hermione came along and whisked him away to their next class. When Cho didnt show up at dinner that night, Harry became frantic. None of Cho's friends knew where she was either. That night Harry slipped on his invisibility cloak and went in search of Cho. As he was making his way through the castle, he noticed something was different about the Christmas decorations. The trees were artificial! Harry had never heard of such a thing as plastic Christmas trees! This must be the work of Voldemort! 'These trees are bogus!' Harry thought. He soon learned, after much investigating, that the trees were fake because a boy in Slytherin named David Erinsbro had claimed he was allergic to trees. Harry reasoned and soon concluded that David must be working for Voldemort! By befriending David, he would be able to rescue Cho. By pretending he was evil, Harry eventually got David to confide in him. Willingly, David led him into the Plastic Forest, Voldemorts lair. Harry immediately saw Cho assembling and fluffing fake Christmas trees. 'How dare these urchins enslave Cho! Who do they think they are?' Harry thought. He grabbed his wand and attacked David with the body-binding curse. Voldemort, in human form, appeared before Harry. Voldemort tried using the Avada Kedavra curse on Harry once more. However Harry shot the disarming charm first. Voldemorts wand flew out of his hand and Voldemort was thrust against the wall. Harry was confused as to what to do. He knew that using the Avada Kedavra curse was illegal, but since it was Voldemort he would probably be forgiven. Harry quickly made up his mind. He transfigured Voldemort into a plastic tree and grabbed Cho. They ran upstairs and got Dumbledore. Unfortunately, by the time they returned, Voldemort had disappeared. David remained, however; his body still bound. Together they took him upstairs where he was taken away by dementors. When they were alone, Cho turned to Harry. She realized that she loved him as well and gave him a kiss. Everyone in the school was proud of Harry and gave him more than scanty words of thanks.
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