world war one!au, muggle!au
captain for the falcons, writing my keeper's notp, harry/cho
1058
Cho remembered the day perfectly.
It was September seventeenth, 1916. She woke that morning, the same she would any other day, and decided to go on an early morning walk. The weather was perfect that day, warm, but with a constant breeze.
Cho just wished Harry was there to share the day with her.
Cho remembered the day, just like this one, four months earlier in May.
Fall and spring were so much better in Cho's opinion. They were the perfect mix of hot and cold.
Harry agreed with her.
They went on a walk together, trying to pretend that everything was fine.
It wasn't, of course. Everything was not fine. There was a war going on.
A world war.
Five months earlier, in January, a recruitment was sent for all men, ages sixteen to forty-one, to go and join the English army and fight in the war.
Cho almost panicked at the announcement, but Harry, her love, pointed out an essential word of the announcement.
All single men.
Harry and Cho were lucky; they were married.
Now, though, there was another call for more men. Married men.
Harry and Cho got married a year earlier. Harry was a married man. Harry had to leave for war.
Cho was going to lose her husband.
Everything was not okay.
Cho finished her walk and came home.
She decided to make herself a lunch. She made a simple beans on toast and set the table.
She realized, though, that she set the table for two people. She had also made enough lunch for two.
It was such a reflex to her, to have lunch with someone else with her, but not just anyone else. Harry.
But Cho was lucky.
She knew that some women got a knock on their door and a policeman coming to give the worst possible news: their husband was dead.
Nobody had knocked on Cho's door in many weeks, so she knew that Harry was still fighting out there. He definitely wasn't safe, but he was still alive and one day, one day when this stupid war was over, Harry would some back to her.
It was around two-thirty in the afternoon and Cho was just lounging around, reading a book, when there was a knock on her door.
Her throat constricted, but she refused to believe that it was the police.
With a mask of no emotion, she opened the door and her worst nightmare was standing there.
There were two policemen there, a man and a woman, and by the pained expressions on their faces, Cho already knew the news they were telling her.
Cho registered the woman officer's mouth opening, but she couldn't hear the words.
Everything went a little bit fuzzy and then it went black.
When Cho woke up, the policewoman was beside her and she was on the couch of her and Harry's living room.
Harry.
Cho refused to believe it.
She shifted her body so she was facing the officer as opposed to the ceiling, and searched her face for some sing, any sign, that her beliefs weren't true.
"Ma'am…" the police officer started to say.
"No," Cho croaked out, her voice barely a whisper. She was vaguely aware of the tears on her face.
The world seemed out of sync, now, knowing that Harry was no longer in it. Everything seemed slower, as well.
"Ma'am, I really am sorry."
Cho hated the look on the officer's face. Pity. Cho hated people pitying her. Ever since her father died, people would look at her with pity. People would say 'I'm sorry,' like it meant anything.
Most of the time, Cho just felt like shouting: 'WELL I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY. YOU DIDN'T CAUSE HIS DEATH. THE UNIVERSE OWES ME AN APOLOGY, NOT YOU.'
Even if she got the universe to apologize, how would that help? Her dad wouldn't be back. Her Harry wouldn't be back.
Her Harry.
How was she supposed to live without him? The past few months were hard enough, with him at war, never safe, never at home, but at least then he was going to come back. There was an end.
Now, he would never come back. Cho would never have a reunion. There was only death, when maybe, just maybe, she would see him again. Or not. Who knew what death was like, anyway? No one alive.
"Shhhh, shhhh," Cho was aware of her face on the policewoman's shoulder, soaking it with her tears. "I know, I know." The officer was making circles on her back now, trying to calm her down. Cho pulled away from the police officer.
"You know?" Cho said, indignantly. "How would you know? He was my husband."
The officer gritted her teeth, obviously annoyed with the question.
"This is a big war, hun. It took more people than just your husband, and it will keep on taking more."
That sobered Cho up.
Harry wasn't the only one lost. Other people have lost their family, their loved ones.
"That's not fair," Cho said, feeling very small. She knew that her sentence was stupid because nothing was fair in life, but still. Why should others have to lose their family members?
Cho cursed the war, she cursed the world, she cursed everything.
"I know. But what can you do? It's a world war. It might never end."
A crazy idea suddenly came into Cho's head.
"What if we joined the war?"
"What?"
"Well, how many women are fighting in the war? There can't be many women in the army. With more women, we might tip the balance."
"How would a few women be able to tip the balance?"
"England needs all its soldiers. They're forgetting half their population but just recruiting men. We have to do this. We could save other people from losing their families."
The officer nodded. "I see where you're going with that, but I'm afraid I cannot join you. I'm not going to quit my job unless they make me. But I will support you if you decide to do it."
"I'm going to do it. I'm going to join the army."
Cho knew she was dead, but she almost smiled when the bullet hit her chest.
She would die fighting for a good cause, and even better, she might be able to see Harry again.