A/n: Hi there! So readers, this is my first entry into "The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition" that I've joined, and I've incorporated a few things in.
Chaser 1 optional prompts used: #4 "Do not regret growing old. It is a privilege denied to many." – Anonymous
Chaser 2 optional prompts used: #1 Mirror.
Chaser 3 optional prompts used: #5 Dialogue: "We can't do that!"
Pairing (same as Captain): Cho Chang/Cedric Diggory
Style: Friendship.
Looking back on her life, Chang thought it was less than acceptable. Childhood brought nothing more than friendships and irrational crushes, leading up to a devastating war. Not to mention fourth year, when Viktor Krum died during the TriWizard Tournament. She would never forget him.
Technically she was now considered an adult, peaking at the ripe age of eighteen, yet she was still attending school. In a world now devastated by the aftermath of war, the Ministry found it very important for each and every young adult to complete their schooling- even the Hogwarts eighth years, which by all rights shouldn't necessarily need to return to school. Yet there they were, wandering aimlessly through the halls, attending scarce classes to finish off their credits and goofing around more than anything.
Cho was a good student- perfect in fact. Her grades might never match Hermione's, but she did everything she was told and never skipped a class. All her work was in on time, and she attempted to not joke around in class. It wasn't too hard to ignore the laughs, not when she found it so hard to laugh herself. War had dampened her spirit, leaving her feeling less than joyful. Few people brought rays of light to her life now.
More often than not she found herself sitting amongst the trees near the edge of the forest, letting the shadows consume her and make her feel at home. She was hardly herself anymore, feeling lost and incomplete now that so many were dead. An abyss hand opened up in her soul, swallowing her emotions. When she could prevent it, she didn't display any emotion at all.
Yet there was one face who stood out in the world of bleak people, one person who actually wanted to keep her from drifting into a pit of darkness. His fiancé, Hannah Abbott, did not necessarily like all the attention he paid her, but she knew there was nothing to concern herself over. He was nothing more than a friend, and a shared kiss during fourth year proved that to them long ago. Romance could not exist between them.
He kept her grounded. And she feared that once school ended and he moved away with his upcoming-bride, that she would float away once her leverage disappeared. If nothing in else in the world, she needed a friend.
Cedric knew it to, and just like any other day, he found her in the shadows.
"It's dinnertime you know," he said, standing a few feet away from her semi-hidden form. To any other student she didn't appear to be there, but he knew her tricks. She wouldn't stand completely hidden in the trees, for she liked to be able to view something other than bark. One side of her body would stand out against the shadowed branches, and he always searched for the ghost of a human outline when looking for her. "It's time to come in."
"I'm not hungry," Chang replied stiffly, turning her nose up at the very idea, just like she did every day. "I want to remain out here."
"But then you won't be able to spy on Harry," the man said, causing her to blush. By all rights he should be out of school by now, but the war and the Order held him back from graduating on time. It seemed to work out in their favor, however. Her cheeks turned red at the comment, just as he knew they would. The shadows couldn't hide her blush, not from him. "And I would so miss watching you ogle the boy!"
"I don't ogle!" she snapped, horrified at the idea. "I merely… admire."
"For minutes on end with a dazed look in your eyes." He ran a hand over his face, and when it moved away he had a dazed expression on his face. At that, she rushed from the branches and hit her friend playfully. "I do not look like that!"
"You might as well," he replied with a grin. "Now let's get to the Great Hall already; I'm famished."
Despite her depressed mood, Chang waggled her eyebrows at him. "Or we could do something… daring."
"Oh, really now? And what's your idea?"
Stepping closer, she grinned at him. "We could be total rebels and stay out here, hide in the trees like I've been trying to and even… skip dinner."
Cedric immediately looked mortified at her idea. "We can't do that! Whatever will I do without my food?"
Chang laughed, shaking her head. "Stop that; you're beginning to sound as bad as Ron Weasley."
"Yeah, he is pretty in love with food."
Grinning, they fell into step beside each other. No one could ever say that Cedric was incapable of brightening Cho's declining happiness, especially when she ended up being the one that made jokes in the end.
They were good for each other; they balanced each other's moods, making each other bearable for other people to handle.
Sitting in her room, Cho fingered the details adoring her new hand mirror. It was a present Harry gave her not long ago, making her heart flutter as she opened the expensive gift. Since the war ended and he had a falling-out with Ginny, he and Cho continued to have a bouncy, almost-relationship. He still hadn't asked her out yet, so she couldn't really call it one.
But Merlin help her, he was yummy to look at. She hoped it was only a matter of time before they really did date. Maybe then the darkness encasing her thoughts would disappear, letting honest joy in to stay. She could only hope.
Refocusing her attention on something other than the lovely item, she focused on the pictures at her bedside. In one she posed beside Hermione, the picture taken just before they arrived that year. Both strikingly beautiful, it always amused the girl when she would draw her attention away from the main focus of the picture to the bystanders caught during the snapshot, several looking on without shame. They were a good looking set of friends.
After spending some time with Cedric in the library laughing and trying to have a good time, she retired to her room. Despite all the good in her life, the bad memories crept in whenever they pleased and dragged her mood back down into the abyss. She wasn't exactly pleased with it, but it was a fact. And she had to accept it.
Life would get better as the space between the war and present time grew, Chang was sure of that. Reaching out hastily to grip the mirror and pull it to her chest as she laid down, the girl tried to convince herself of that. After all, all she could do was trying.
Platonic, that was the best word Chang had to describe her progress with Harry. Slow, pointless, and getting nowhere all defined what was happening, but platonic really defined it. She felt some form of chemistry with him at least, but the man's heart still yearned for the lost love of Ginny, a girl who would not accept him. They were stuck in a hypothetical love triangle- or line, one where Chang wanted Harry, Harry wanted Ginny, and Ginny wanted so oaf over in Hufflepuff. No one seemed to be winning out in this conundrum.
Yet her failing relationship with Harry wasn't surprisingly the biggest worry Cho had. Her birthday had just passed the day before, and now she felt even more withdrawn than before. This birthday brought no happiness, no joy, and aside from Cedric no one even attempted to throw her a party; her mood swings were well known.
"You're not leaving until you eat this cake Cho!"
"I don't want cake," she moped, turning away from her friend. "I want to be left alone."
"Bollocks! No one wants to spend their special day alone, least of all you. You spend more time than most people, and I refuse to let you sulk alone when you should be reveling in turning another year older! Now eat the cake; I demand it! I made that myself, and if you don't eat it you're really going to hurt my feelings."
Smiling lightly, she stuck her fork into the slice before her and took a quick bite, immediately fixating on how very moist it was. "There now, I'm eating the cake, so you can stop dramatizing things."
"Me, dramatize? Ha! I do no such thing!"
"Sure you don't, Cedric. You don't have a big head from all those adoring fan-girls that have survived since fourth year, now do you?"
"Of course not! Now you're making me out to sound like Malfoy." They both shuddered at the name, their equal distaste for the boy having been a topic of conversation between them on more than one occasion. How could anyone be so arrogant?
"Don't worry Cedric, I would never place you in the same ball field as Malfoy; you two are completely different people. There are no similarities between you." She took another bite of the cake. "Now don't think I'm eating this because I like it. I'm merely appealing to your desire that I consume it. Mark my words though, I'll only eat one!"
"We'll see if you're still saying that once you finish," he grinned cheekily. "No one can resist my baking skills."
"I was doing fine until you forced me to eat this!"
"Please woman, I did no such thing!"
The experience brightened her mood about aging slightly, even if she really wasn't looking forward to growing old. It felt wrong to keep moving on in life, knowing that she left so many people behind who would never see another birthday. Lavender Brown, Seamus, even some of the Slytherin's… they were all gone, and she felt inconsiderate towards their passing's by allowing herself to celebrate her birthday.
Chang had a guilty conscience. Since giving up the location of Dumbledore's army in fifth year, she had always felt guilty and ashamed of her actions. Throughout the war she tried to make up for it, and even now she felt silly for what she did when she was younger. Dolores was awful, but now she thought she should've just handled her. Cedric was part of that group, as were Harry and his friends, and she let them all down.
And guilt always followed her. From her actions, to the friends she lost, Cho always felt bad about something those days, even growing old.
"We're going on a walk."
"You can go on a walk. I'm going to stay right where I am."
Cedric frowned. "It's a beautiful day Cho, and I refuse to watch you sit here all day. Yesterday I took Hannah to Hogsmeade, and today I'm taking you on a boring walk around the grounds. You can't complain about it; we'll even stay far away from the trees."
She made a face. "Again, I'm going to stay right here."
"No," he argued, snatching her arm by the elbow, forcing her to stand up unhappily beside him. "You're coming on a walk. Enough with this moping!"
Cho grumbled as he dragged her outside, her book remaining behind her with Hermione at the table in the Great Hall. At least it wouldn't be taken, but Chang didn't want to brave the blaring lights of day when she could cocoon herself up in a corner of her room and rest in her misery. But Cedric was determined to get her out of her depression, and forced her to follow him outside. Only once he had cleared a decent amount of distance between the castle and their designated spot did he drop her arm.
"There now, we have sunshine. You can't be upset in the sunshine."
Cho shook her head, bemused by his constant positive behavior. Perhaps that was why they got along so well those day; he was lighthearted and full of life, and she was dreary but in touch with reality. They balanced each other, and kept one another from doing stupid things.
"I can try," she challenged, sitting on the nearest rock. Crossing her arms tightly in front her of, he sighed.
"Why are you so uptight about things sometimes, Cho? The past is the past, and instead of moping around because you survived but lost people, you should be rejoicing in the fact that you still get to live."
"There's no reason to rejoice about anything. Voldemort is dead, and although we will thankfully never suffer from this kind of attack again the death toll will forever hang over this country. Thousands of people are dead Cedric, and that can't be ignored."
Groaning, he sat beside her on the rock, running his fingers through his hair. "It won't be ignored Cho, but that's not what I'm getting at. Everyone lost someone during the war, and each one of us will remember the dead. You don't have to sit in this pit of misery because of the fallen; they died proudly, with a cause. You can't reside in depression forever."
"I won't," she said stiffly, "Just until the proper amount of time has passed."
"And what would the proper time be?" he asked, frustrated. "We're not some bigoted Pureblood oldies! There's no 'proper amount of time'. It's whenever you personally decide to let the pain in, so you can weep it back out. I know your father was one of the initial people killed early on last year, but you can't hang on that moment forever. It's tragic, I understand, and it's not something you want to accept, but it's reality. And he wouldn't want you wallowing on his and other people's deaths for the rest of your life. It's time to start moving on Cho. This isn't healthy."
"Shut up Cedric, you don't understand!" she hissed, turning away from him.
"I don't understand?" he asked, speaking to her back. "You think I don't? I lost my friends too Cho, you saw me break down over them. My mother was tortured and then killed. I know your pain, okay? But I'm not allowing it to consume my being."
"Then you're heartless."
"No, I'm human. I take the pain in and greive, and then I force myself to get up and move on. Do you think this is any easier for me than it is for you? I don't like having my birthday pass and know my mother wasn't present, and that she's buried six feet under." He shook his head, ignoring the fact that she was still turned away. "It hurts, I get it. But it's almost been a year since the Final Battle Cho, and you can't hold onto these feelings of hurt forever. You have to learn to let go."
"No."
"Aging isn't a bad thing you know. Your father and your friends would want you to live your life, not hold onto the past. Growing up is a part of life."
"I don't want to grow up!" she huffed. "I don't want to be older than my friends! I don't want to grow away from the dead!"
They sat in silence for a moment then, her words sinking into them both. For a moment she thought she sounded foolish, silly, and like an idiot, but what Cedric said next wasn't anything mean like what she expected. She actually thought he was growing tired of the conversation until the next moment.
"Growing old is a blessing," he muttered, hopping off the rock. She was watching him now with large eyes. "Do not regret growing old, Cho, it is a privilege denied to many. We should be relishing in life and not burdening ourselves with the past! If you're afraid of growing up and growing apart from the people that you lost, then don't think of it that way. Think of this as living for the dead. You have to live your life Cho. Maybe you can make the deceased proud in the process."
She watched him, black hair blowing in the wind, replaying his words over in her head. Passion filled his voice, an undeniable urge lingering there to get her to see his point. And now she was.
Standing, she took up a place at his right, bowing her head as the sun attacked her eyes. He glanced her way, wondering what argument she would pose now. "Maybe… maybe you're right."
He was startled. "I am?"
"Maybe…" she muttered, pressing a finger to her lips. "Maybe there's a hint of truth in your words."
To that Cedric smiled lightly, deciding to take her words as acceptance for the time being. Standing there on the castle grounds, the sun beating down on them, he felt his spirits lift. If nothing else, he was making progress with the girl's horrible depression; he was going to make his best friend's life bright again.
A/n: Short and sweet. Without the an's and break-lines the story is actually 2,811 words I promise! Review if you would like.