Characters: Cho, Marietta, Harry, Hermione
Summary: Cho will stand by Marietta. AKA Hell hath no fury like a woman who's had one of her friends disfigured then dissed.
Pairings: past Harry x Cho; Michael x Cho
Author's Note: Okay, yeah, I know, the view taken of Gryffindor house here isn't terribly positive. There are two reasons for that: I don't like Gryffindor very much today, and Cho probably doesn't like them very much after what happened to Marietta either. Also, Cho: I liked her best when she was defending Marietta in OoTP. She actually showed signs of having a backbone and a personality independent of mourning for Cedric, and screw you, Harry, because if something like that happened to one of your friends you'd be hopping to say it was wrong no matter what they had done. Finally, this is Cho's point of view; naturally some of the things happening in OoTP will look different from her perspective.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Mum always said 'Nothing so self-righteous as a Gryffindor'. Well, it's not entirely true. Not all Gryffindors are that way—I don't think anyone could call Neville Longbottom 'self-righteous' with a straight face—and you'll find that plenty of the students in other Houses are self-righteous as well.
Right now, though, I'm inclined to believe her when she declared self-righteousness to be a trait endemic to Gryffindor House.
Before you get to know me, I feel there's something about me you need to understand. I love my friends. I love anyone who will stick by me through thick and thin. They have my support and my loyalty, even if they don't do the right thing. I might condemn the action but I will never condemn them.
The most important thing, though? If you hurt my friend, I will never forgive you, no matter who you are.
-0-0-0-
Deep down, Cho knows it's her fault, as Marietta winds a balaclava over her face even though it's June and the heat is such that it can't possibly be comfortable. Marietta's gray eyes are downcast, as they almost always are.
Cho smiles in an attempt to be reassuring and puts a hand on Marietta's shoulder. "Come on, Marietta, let's go find a place on the train before everywhere's full."
Marietta nods, and walks close behind Cho all the way down to the train station, trying to avoid the gaze of everyone whose path they might cross. Especially the Gryffindors, who, unless Cho's imagination is playing tricks on her, shoot dirty looks in Marietta's direction when they pass. Cho takes the liberty of glowering right back, regardless of whether or not they're actually taking notice of "the traitor" as Marietta has so been dubbed.
She likes to tell herself that she isn't being so fiercely protective of her friend out of guilt. That's what Cho likes to tell herself, even though she also readily admits that it's partly her fault that Marietta has 'SNEAK' etched across her face. She'd pressured Marietta into joining Dumbledore's Army because she hadn't wanted to join and not have any friends with her. Marietta knew the DA was trouble and had just wanted to avoid the fallout she knew would come crashing down on anyone associated with it. In fact, Marietta had tried to get Cho not to join ("It's so dangerous. The only place that lunatic Potter can go is down, Cho."). Cho hadn't listened, and Marietta, trapped, had done the only thing she thought she could do.
A girl trying to save her mother's job doesn't deserve to be branded for it.
Cho's prepared for the long haul. No one's going to give her friend any more pain than what she's already endured.
-0-0-0-
She didn't deserve it; I know full well that Marietta didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve to have her face permanently disfigured and she has done nothing to deserve being ostracized by so many of our school. She shouldn't have to be going around wearing a balaclava in June and thick makeup underneath. Marietta never wore makeup before Granger hexed her; she didn't need it.
I will never understand how Harry can look at the situation and insist that there was nothing wrong with Granger's decision and behavior. Certainly, I understand why he would want to defend his friend; that's exactly what I was doing when we had our last row.
That still doesn't explain how, how can he possibly try to imply that Granger was perfectly justified in disfiguring someone and that I am some sort of weak-willed moral deviant if I don't feel the same way. Did Granger hex my face to read 'GULLIBLE' while I wasn't looking or does Harry just think I'm an idiot? The 'don't start crying' comment tends to make me think that he does think I'm an idiot.
Forgive me if I won't stand for that.
I suppose that this, in the end, is why I can't stand to be with Harry Potter anymore.
Yes, he and Hermione Granger are too close for me not to be suspicious of them. He's entirely too quick to defend her for their relationship to be just that of two friends and frankly, I don't know what was acceptable about him going to meet her just after we had a date. I'm not interested in sharing the man I date with anyone, let alone someone of the moral caliber of Darling Hermione.
Really the problem is Harry himself, and the fact that he seems to think that disfiguring someone simply for disclosing information is a "brilliant idea". Granger's the real sneak here; who hexes a parchment without telling the signers? The only reason the Edgecombes haven't taken legal action against Granger is because Marietta can't remember enough of the event to give testimony. I'd love to see Granger's face if she ever had to face up to the fact that she has to take responsibility for her actions too.
If he honestly thinks that my defending Marietta and not throwing her out in the cold just because she made a mistake makes me a bad person, then good riddance to bad rubbish. Harry would do exactly the same for one of his friends if they found themselves in this position, no matter what they had done. I still "like" him, sort of, but I just can't do this anymore. Harry Potter has shown his "quality", and I don't think I can stomach being with someone of his "quality".
I'm better off without him.
-0-0-0-
Marietta is allowed back into the dormitories one night and Cho immediately starts to try to get her to take the white linen face mask away from her mouth and cheeks.
Cho doesn't know exactly what's happened to her; Madam Pomfrey was deeply protective of her patient's privacy, and though she's heard nasty rumors from the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, Cho doesn't want to believe them.
"Just let me look at it!" Cho pleads with her friend. Marietta sits on the edge of her bed and Cho is crouched in front of her. "It can't possibly be as bad as you're saying."
Finally, Marietta relents. "Fine," she mutters moodily. Her clever hands start to go to undo the knots on her face mask.
As much as Cho wishes she could, she can't restrain the look of horror on her face when she sees exactly what Granger has done to Marietta.
'SNEAK.'
'SNEAK' written in scarlet pimples across Marietta's formerly unmarked face.
So Granger really is as vindictive as the rumors make her out to be.
After the horror dispels, Cho feels her face screw up in rage and disgust. "Of all the vile trickery," she murmurs softly, feeling bile rising in her throat.
Marietta relaxes a little at this.
In the conversation AKA the increasingly vitriolic rant AKA the catharsis of withheld emotions that follows, Harry Potter is called a "self-righteous hypocrite" on several occasions and the words used to describe Hermione Granger don't bear repeating; needless to say "High-and-Mighty Uppity Queen of Bitchdom" are probably the kindest adjectives used to append Granger's name. Eventually, the other girls in their year join in. They don't really care at all about the DA; none of them were in it. However, they all know that this was just low.
Marietta goes to bed feeling a little better than she did when she was discharged from the infirmary, and Cho knows she feels better.
-0-0-0-
They settle into a compartment with Michael Corner and Terry Boot. Cho has to admit; she made a better choice when deciding to go out with Michael than she did when dating Harry. Michael at least is considerate of her feelings and Michael doesn't try to make loyalty to one's friends out to be a vice. The same could not be said of Harry Potter.
Michael doesn't blame Marietta for telling Umbridge about the DA. Cho doesn't think she could have even contemplated going out with him if he condemned her too.
"So I guess we keep up a correspondence over the summer, huh?" Michael looks up from the Daily Prophet—scattered with images of Voldemort (You Know Who) and Harry Potter (The Boy Who Lived)—to smile at Cho. They don't live near each other; Cho lives in Scotland and Michael lives in Wales.
Cho smiles sweetly back and Michael looks away, blushing. "Gladly. I'll write every day, and tell you everything. And you, Marietta, and you, Terry?"
Terry smiles slightly ("Sure") and from beneath her balaclava Marietta nods, before going back to staring broodingly out the window at the scenery speeding by. A cauldron cake sits unopened on her lap.
It's not much of a start. Marietta still remains quiet, withdrawn and actively avoids conversation even with her closest friends. It's not hard to see that the disfigurement of her face has made her shy and insecure where she was once anything but. Cho squeezes her hand and goes back to talking with Michael and Terry.
Marietta was the only one of Cho's friends to stand by her when she couldn't even think of Cedric without bawling. Cho will be damned if she doesn't stand by her friend now, the opinions of certain Gryffindors notwithstanding.
Yes, Marietta was wrong; the stories plastered across the front of the Daily Prophet prove it. Cho doesn't care. Who cares if Harry Potter thinks her choice in friends is unwise? Cho knows he'd do exactly the same for one of his friends.
Wouldn't everyone?