" Come on, Chang! Get your head in the game!" Roger shouted at Cho as she was once again almost pummeled by a bludger. Cho replied, " Sorry, Davies!"
Cho had a lot on her mind lately. It was hard, with Cedric… And then this new thing with Harry Potter. Not to mention this new club he was starting with his two best friends.
Roger looked at her sympathetically and said, " It's okay, Chang, but remember. If you don't start working a little harder, I may have to bench you." " I know," Cho said. " I'm sorry Davies. I really am." " I know you are, Chang," Roger said, flying back into the sky.
" Okay, let's get back practicing!" Roger exclaimed and all of Cho's team continued flying.
Cho was still the only girl on the team. The keeper was Darien Chase. The three chasers were Roger, Kevin Bradley, and Todd Fletcher. The beaters were Hal Adams and Nathan Williams.
They worked well together and for the past five years, the Ravenclaw Qudditch team managed to be in second to Gryffindor. They were doing pretty well and with Harry and the Weasley twins off the Gryffindor team, Ravenclaw had a good chance of coming in first this year.
Three hours passed and Roger finally blew his whistle. Hoping it was the whistle for the end of practice, Cho got ready to land when she realized that Roger was looking at the small blonde fourth year crossing the Qudditch Pitch.
" Oy, Lovegood!" Roger shouted. " What are you doing?" the team landed and approached Luna Lovegood who looked dreamily at them. Luna said, " I need to get up onto the roof. Can you guys teach me to fly?"
" Teach you to fly?" Hal asked mockingly. " The Furious Flying First Year?" It was legend of how Luna had managed to break five bones, injure three students, and make her broom spit fire in her flying lessons first year. She had lost fifty points for Ravenclaw.
Luna had always intrigued Cho. She was very calm, very unemotional, and very unique. Cho liked some of Luna's clothes (the less eccentric ones) and found the younger girl to be very interesting at times.
Of course, Cho never hang around Luna. The Cho that she had been before this year had been to obsessed with her popularity to do something that stupid. If any girl got wind that Cho was hanging around 'Loony Lovegood', her popularity would drop drastically.
As more of the boys began making fun of her, Cho had to envy that Luna seemed to care very little. Kevin asked, " Why would you want to get onto the roof, Loony?" " Maybe she wants to look for Crumply-Horned Snortfests!" Darien said obnoxiously, making everyone but Roger and Cho laugh.
The boys continued to make fun of her until Cho, before she realized just what she was doing, asked, " What time are you free?" Nathan turned to her wide-eyed. " You're not serious Chang, are you?" " I'm completely serious," Cho said simply. She turned back to Luna. " I have somewhere to be next Saturday afternoon, but I can do it Saturday morning."
Luna herself seemed surprised that Cho had offered, but Luna said, " That's good. Thanks, Cho. I'll see you at nine." With that said, Luna walked off. Nathan turned to Cho.
" Are you crazy, Chang?" he asked. Cho shrugged and said, " Possibly." She walked into the girls' changing room, the one place she could be alone.
Cho got somewhat paranoid in the changing room alone, and had been even more so since Cedric's death. It was dark and lonely, seeming ages away from the loud, rowdy boys' locker room.
Cho slipped quickly into a pair of skinny-legged jeans and a Tutshill Tornadoes shirt. She slipped on her high-tops and brushed her dark hair back into a bun. With a wave of her wand, Cho refreshed her makeup and walked out of the locker rooms.
It was both a blessing and a nightmare to be back at Hogwarts. Cho's mother, Akimi, had sent her to psychiatrist after psychiatrist and had taken all sharp things out of Cho's reach. Akimi, a muggle, didn't realize that if Cho had wanted to cut herself, she could have with her wand. At least at Hogwarts, Cho could escape that.
But at Hogwarts, there were too many memories. Cho and Cedric's first kiss. Cho and Cedric's first date. The first place Cho saw Cedric. Cho and Cedric's tree. It was all just hard to take in without Cedric there.
Cho made her way quietly up to the castle. She could hear the boys roughing around in the boys' changing rooms and a howl far in the distance. But her heart was silent.