Written for the 10 drabbles, 10 topics challenge on the HPFC forum. The prompt this time is a character study for Cho Chang. Though it might not be so much of a character study as an angst ridden piece.
At first she thought that it was a cruel joke. Cedric could not be dead, could he? As she tiptoed quietly towards the motionless body that lay in the grass, she realised that she had never seen Cedric so motionless before in all the years she knew him.
Her heart died that day, or perhaps it shattered, though she doesn't know the difference between dead and broken anymore. For all she knew, they were the same thing.
The summer passed by in a blur. She locked herself into her bedroom and cried, only getting out long enough to eat and relief herself. She was haunted by what was and what could have been and she hated herself, hated Cedric and most of all Harry. Her parents watched helplessly as they watched her sink into a depression, she never spoke to them. Her mother and father found out about what happened through a concerned friend of hers.
She didn't want to return to Hogwarts in September and had put up a fight with her mother. She didn't want anything to do with a place that before held such great memories. However, her stubborn mother packed her belongings into the trunk and ordered her to get into the car. She did so without saying a word.
Her first week at Hogwarts was a difficult transition. Everywhere she turned she expected to see Cedric, and when she remembered that he was dead, she would burst into tears.
It was Professor McGonagall that discovered her crying near the Transfiguration classroom one Friday afternoon.
McGonagall took a seat beside her and remained silent.
Finally, she broke down and told the professor everything. From the first year crush to the day Cedric died. She felt liberated and relieved.
"Losing somebody dear to us is unfair," said McGonagall after a brief silence. "But you must go on. You need to push yourself forward. Otherwise you'll sink into a very deep hole and won't be able to get back out again."