Chapter 1
A diary sat alone on a table. It was a regular table and to be frank, a pretty regular diary. Black, no name on it, nothing written in it at all. It sat on top of an unpaid phonebill and had a sticker attached to it with a name and address.
Mrs Rivers sighed. When would that idiot postman stopped sending her the wrong mail? It was bad enough that he was rude, obnoxious and unreasonable, yet alone the fact that he couldn't do his job properly. Mrs Rivers had always prided herself on standards. And when those standards dropped, there would be hell to pay.
Like those neighbours next door. The Asian lot. Mrs Rivers didn't hold with Asians. Or any other race apart from white, middle class English for that matter. Mrs Rivers had turned her large nose, which resembled a squashed boil; up at them on the first day they arrived. This mail must be for them. They let their children run wild. She could have sworn she caught one of them flying on a broomstick of some kind the other day but she dismissed it to an overactive imagination.
She picked up the letter and tottered out of the house, her plump body moving as fast as it could as she stepped over to the fence, hearing noises in the garden.
"Here, you" she shrieked. ***
Cho Chang sighed. That damn woman was always screeching at her. All she wanted to do was relax this summer but this was proving difficult with her two older brothers home from Australia, where they both ran a wand shop and her younger sister to look after. The house was already cramped enough as it is and this woman's jokes about Asian's and cramped houses had almost driven Cho's usually pacifist mother, to the point of casting a curse in her direction. The Ministry, jumpy about Voldemort's return, would have crashed down upon then if they caught any signs of an illegal curse.
Voldemort, Cho thought, with a flash of pain passing through her heart. Cedric. She didn't understand. She didn't want to cry all she wanted to do was to understand why. Or that's what it was at the start. Until she knew she liked Harry.
When she thought about what a mess it had become, how that annoying, controlling prat of a boyfriend had been hanging around her all summer (no wonder the Weasley girl dumped him, she thought), it made her feel like crying.
"Yes, Mrs Rivers" she said as gracefully as humanly possible with that nightmare of a woman.
"A book" Mrs Rivers said, dropping the book over the fence into Cho's hands, careful not to touch Cho, her nose turned up so high anyone could have sworn it was in the clouds.
"Thank you" Cho said but Mrs Rivers had gone.
Cho looked at the diary quizzically. Who could have sent her this? Was it Harry? No, he wouldn't you stupid girl. You had a fight remember she thought, causing her eyes to nearly well up with tears. Blinking them back, she walked into the house, where her brothers Tiki and Lim were arguing with their stepfather about some business opportunity. Never missed a trick her stepfather. She liked the guy enough but sometimes wondered why her mother put up with him. She supposed it was because he's the father of little Alice. Her grandmother was, unfortunately, not speaking to the family after the divorce from Cho's natural father. She didn't hold with divorce but Cho couldn't really care less about her father. He was never there when she needed him. Mundungus, for all his faults, did try and listen to her. Ok, he liked the odd drink but nothing wrong with that. Mundungus being part of the Order took him away from spending time with Cho, which saddened her as Dung had become like the father Cho had never had.
She walked into her bedroom, shaking free these thoughts and flopped down on her bed. She opened the diary. Nothing was written in it. Cho frowned. That's strange, she thought. She picked up her quill, dipped it into some ink and wrote into the diary.
"Dear Diary "
She was about to write more when it faded into the page. Gasping in shock, Cho stared at the diary as a single word came from the diary onto the page.
"Hello?"
"Hi...My name is Cho Chang ", Cho wrote, taking care to write neatly. She waited and soon enough, the writing came back.
"Hello, Cho. Nice to meet you. My name is Mark Coleman. What brings you to my diary?"
A diary sat alone on a table. It was a regular table and to be frank, a pretty regular diary. Black, no name on it, nothing written in it at all. It sat on top of an unpaid phonebill and had a sticker attached to it with a name and address.
Mrs Rivers sighed. When would that idiot postman stopped sending her the wrong mail? It was bad enough that he was rude, obnoxious and unreasonable, yet alone the fact that he couldn't do his job properly. Mrs Rivers had always prided herself on standards. And when those standards dropped, there would be hell to pay.
Like those neighbours next door. The Asian lot. Mrs Rivers didn't hold with Asians. Or any other race apart from white, middle class English for that matter. Mrs Rivers had turned her large nose, which resembled a squashed boil; up at them on the first day they arrived. This mail must be for them. They let their children run wild. She could have sworn she caught one of them flying on a broomstick of some kind the other day but she dismissed it to an overactive imagination.
She picked up the letter and tottered out of the house, her plump body moving as fast as it could as she stepped over to the fence, hearing noises in the garden.
"Here, you" she shrieked. ***
Cho Chang sighed. That damn woman was always screeching at her. All she wanted to do was relax this summer but this was proving difficult with her two older brothers home from Australia, where they both ran a wand shop and her younger sister to look after. The house was already cramped enough as it is and this woman's jokes about Asian's and cramped houses had almost driven Cho's usually pacifist mother, to the point of casting a curse in her direction. The Ministry, jumpy about Voldemort's return, would have crashed down upon then if they caught any signs of an illegal curse.
Voldemort, Cho thought, with a flash of pain passing through her heart. Cedric. She didn't understand. She didn't want to cry all she wanted to do was to understand why. Or that's what it was at the start. Until she knew she liked Harry.
When she thought about what a mess it had become, how that annoying, controlling prat of a boyfriend had been hanging around her all summer (no wonder the Weasley girl dumped him, she thought), it made her feel like crying.
"Yes, Mrs Rivers" she said as gracefully as humanly possible with that nightmare of a woman.
"A book" Mrs Rivers said, dropping the book over the fence into Cho's hands, careful not to touch Cho, her nose turned up so high anyone could have sworn it was in the clouds.
"Thank you" Cho said but Mrs Rivers had gone.
Cho looked at the diary quizzically. Who could have sent her this? Was it Harry? No, he wouldn't you stupid girl. You had a fight remember she thought, causing her eyes to nearly well up with tears. Blinking them back, she walked into the house, where her brothers Tiki and Lim were arguing with their stepfather about some business opportunity. Never missed a trick her stepfather. She liked the guy enough but sometimes wondered why her mother put up with him. She supposed it was because he's the father of little Alice. Her grandmother was, unfortunately, not speaking to the family after the divorce from Cho's natural father. She didn't hold with divorce but Cho couldn't really care less about her father. He was never there when she needed him. Mundungus, for all his faults, did try and listen to her. Ok, he liked the odd drink but nothing wrong with that. Mundungus being part of the Order took him away from spending time with Cho, which saddened her as Dung had become like the father Cho had never had.
She walked into her bedroom, shaking free these thoughts and flopped down on her bed. She opened the diary. Nothing was written in it. Cho frowned. That's strange, she thought. She picked up her quill, dipped it into some ink and wrote into the diary.
"Dear Diary "
She was about to write more when it faded into the page. Gasping in shock, Cho stared at the diary as a single word came from the diary onto the page.
"Hello?"
"Hi...My name is Cho Chang ", Cho wrote, taking care to write neatly. She waited and soon enough, the writing came back.
"Hello, Cho. Nice to meet you. My name is Mark Coleman. What brings you to my diary?"