Revealed Passion
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize. They belong to Rowling. All I own is the plot and some unrecognizable things
Note: This story will be a romance between Harry and Cho. At first I was going to make this story a ONE-SHOT but I don't think it will be good enough because I tend to put details in my story. So instead of a one-shot, this will most likely turn into a short story consisted of three to four chapters. This is my first try in Romance so spare me . Now let's delve into the story…
Chapter 1
A pair of obsidian eyes blinked lazily, trying to seek light in the barely illuminated room. The room was pitch dark if not for the dim early sunrays which came through the folds of the curtain covering see-through glass panels which covered a fourth of the room wall. There was also a set of ventilations in the corner of the glass panels, letting the morning summer wind breezed through it, moving the curtain gently. The little amount of rays revealed a face of oriental origin, a girl who would seem to be fourteen or fifteen judging by the face, but really, Cho Chang was seventeen.
It was still early in the morning, but the Chang family had a habit to get up very early. Instead of having a family time during the evening, the Chang's preferred to have their family time in the morning, drinking Chinese home-brewed tea. This did not happen without a reason. The Chang family opened a Chinese Restaurant, both for muggles and wizarding folks. The Chang's Diner had four outlets throughout United Kingdom. Each outlet was hold by a family member respectively. Before opening up the restaurant for traditional Chinese Dim Sum, the family members would either apparate or floo to the main branch and they would spend their morning together.
Cho was the last daughter of the Chang family and she had been trusted to manage a new branch of Chang's Diner located in East London. That morning had been a good one for Cho although her sleep was disturbed by her usual nightmare. After waking up from her nightmare, she would directly meditate and try to calm her mind. She would then be able to sleep soundly until the morning. Shaking her head once, Cho got up and went to the bathroom to cleanse and get dressed properly in traditional Chinese Qipao.
The sun had gotten higher outside but it was still very early. Cho left her quarter that located behind her restaurant and went to the kitchen to wake up her attendants. She asked three of them to clean and prepare the restaurant and two others to prepare the kitchen so that it would be suitable for cooking dim sum. After getting everything under control, Cho went back to her quarter and took the floo to the main branch, as her restaurant and quarter had anti-apparation ward set up.
Cho arrived gracefully in her two feet, not stumbling even a bit, in the hearth of her parents' quarter. She went to the living room and found it deserted. She was not surprised, though. As the youngest daughter of the family, she had the responsibility to brew and serve the tea for her elders. She prepared the tea masterfully, following every steps that were drilled into her since she was old enough to understand.
First, Cho took five Gaiwan made of Yixing clay, cups with saucers and lids, one for each member of the family, namely her father, mother, two brothers, and herself. And then she continued on with boiling some water, boiling the tea wares, adding the tea leaves, rinsing and draining the tea leaves, adding water until two third of the Gaiwan, and putting the lid in place. As she finished the fifth cup, the remaining family members arrived. Both brothers apparated in while the Chang's patriarch and matriarch entered through the large mahogany door, which was the entrance of the living room.
All five of them sat circling the round table, each with a Gaiwan in front of them. They greeted each other in customary Chinese greeting, "Ni hao," and sipped their own tea for a moment. Every individual remained silent for a moment, relaxing and enjoying the taste and the aroma of the brewed tea.
They remained that way until the head of the family, Tong Chang, said, "We've passed another good morning. Let's celebrate this happy moment with a toast."
Everyone raised their Gaiwan and yelled the Chinese word for toast, Ganbei.
After the toast, the conversation flowed nicely, ranging from trivial matters to serious ones. Of course, everything spoken here was in Chinese. Although the Chang's had lived in England for a few generations back, they never let tradition fell and did a good job keeping it up.
Cho's study was brought into the conversation. Despite her being seventeen, Cho still had a year left to complete at Hogwarts. The family decided that Cho would need to finish her education and while she was away, her brothers would manage the East London branch for her. The problem being dealt with, the morning meeting for that way was closed with another 'Ganbei' and Cho's brothers and parents left respectively to open up and prepare business. Cho left, however, to clean and put away the tea equipments. After she was done, she also went back to her quarter by floo.
The Chinese girl spent her day as usual. Cho monitored the restaurant while doing her job as the cashier. She would also converse with customers occasionally, asking for comments, critics, and suggestions. Her restaurant was closed during the afternoon, only to be opened again in the evening. During these vacant hours, Cho did her Hogwarts assignments, reviewing her study so far, as well as advancing through the seventh year books.
Since she arrived from Hogwarts, everyday was like that to her. Cho cut all contact with Marietta Edgecombe after the incident of Dumbledore's Army. Marietta had been her only close friend so far. However, Cho didn't regret doing that. After all, she always placed family above all. A friend lost, she'd still have her family.
Cho was frequently bothered by her dreams at night. Almost every day Cho would end up dreaming about Harry Potter, the boy whom she made disappointed. Cho had not been able to understand her feelings, even then. During her fifth year, she had had a crush towards the Boy-Who-Lived, but then Cedric asked her out to the Yule Ball, and she simply could not resisted. Cho started to forget her crush and fell in love with Cedric instead.
However, her relationship with Cedric did not last long. Cedric was killed during the end of the year, leaving Cho very devastated. The next school year, Cho was still grieving the lost of Cedric. But her past crush came around and asked her out. Once again, Cho could not reject the proposal. She began to earn her feelings towards Harry back but her grief over Cedric had not been gone yet. That was what caused her to cry when Harry kissed her. She felt like betraying Cedric.
Back in her dreams, Cho and Harry was spending some good time together. But then everything seemed to change and Harry slowly morphed into the figure of Cedric. Through her dreams, she realized that her grief over Cedric had not gone yet, and she knew, she had to do something to end it soon, very soon.