Mainly inspired by To Be a Slytherin, written by the absolutely amazing Morgana Deryn, this story aims to explore the central values of being a Ravenclaw.
"Ravenclaw" does not translate to "pompous arse that studies all day," contrary to popular belief.
This was also inspired by Moratorium, written by Darkpetal16. I usually don't write first person (I vastly prefer third-person), so it's a bit of a challenge for myself.
This fic aims to expose the potentially toxic environments created by family/peer academic pressure, partially based on personal experiences.
As I was born and raised in California, I apologize for my American English. I tried.
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Harry Potter is the (mostly) brilliant work of J.K. Rowling.
It took nearly a year before the first epiphany finally hit me and I realized I was in the world of Harry Potter.
In my defense, when one realizes that they had been reborn as a baby, I assure you that their first priority would not be recalling a captivating fictional novel series from their youth. The fact that I was reborn already had my mind whirring with all kinds of emotions and thoughts that wouldn't stop buzzing. If I had immediately learned of exactly where I was reborn, I doubt that my first few months adjusting to my new life would have been as smooth as they were.
The sheer boredom that accompanied being an infant hardly helped in distracting me from the wave of emotions and theories that occupied my waking thoughts. Lying in a crib gave a person plenty of time to think, and I spent most of that time mourning my past life and recalling my last moments (my death). Those kinds of matters were hardly the sort of thoughts that babies were supposed to contemplate, and I overheard several whispers about what a peculiar infant I was. I hardly cried and laughed, staying silent for the majority of my miniscule lifetime. The only people who could elicit a reaction from me were my parents: they had bestowed so much affection and attention upon me that it was hard not to love them.
But, despite the enormous amount of free time I was allotted, nearly a year passed before I finally caught on. After my discovery, I was so mortified by my obliviousness that I nearly wanted to strangle myself for not noticing sooner.
There were definitely some obvious hints that I definitely should've caught in the early stages of my infancy, from my mother tucking in the covers with a flick of her hand to my father's mysterious light shows to entertain me. But I hadn't caught them.
"Smart and quick-witted," hah. The irrevocable truth was that I was a dumbass.
My revelation came to me on the first of November.
It had been the wee hours of the morning when Father came rushing into my room, a blindingly bright grin on his face. Scooping me up, he could hardly keep his joy from leaking into his voice. He spoke quickly, almost as if the news he bore would disappear if he didn't tell me right away. "The word has just gotten out. At first I thought it was just a rumor, but then your mother got summoned to the Ministry and they wouldn't do something like that out of nowhere unless...unless it's really true."
Father's beam grew brighter. "He's gone! Thank Merlin, he's dead. Gone for good."
I had never seen my father so alive. He was a slightly dorky looking Asian man, wired glasses shielding his almond-shaped brown eyes from view. Usually, he kept himself properly dressed (dress robes, tie, etc.) Now, however, was another story. He was still in his nightclothes, looking absolutely exhilarated while still wearing fluffy bunny slippers. Raven black hair untamed and glasses absent, he looked as if he had been woken up in the dead of the night. (Which, in retrospect, was probably true.)
I stared at my father confusedly, like any other rational person with no semblance of understanding would do. A bit of drool trickled down my face, which Father immediately wiped off with a handkerchief he seemingly procured out of nowhere. "Deh?" I questioned, jutting out my bottom lip and tilting my head curiously.
For some reason or another, my father was completely overjoyed that somebody was dead. If I hadn't lived with him for a year, I would've labelled him a madman. However, I had lived with him for a year, and knew that my father could hardly hurt a fly...much less hold ill-will against a person who didn't truly deserve it.
"I'm so glad, Cho," Father breathed, cradling me to his chest. "Wait until Kiyoko comes home. She's been at the Ministry settling matters for the past two hours, but I'm sure she'll be back soon. We were both so worried that you'd have to grow up in this twisted war. But now that he's dead, you're safe. You'll be able to go to school and not have to worry about Death Eaters, or He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named, or Pureblood nonsense...or...or anything!"
He abruptly stopped rambling and instead chose to kiss my forehead gently.
"Dada?" I patted his cheek hesitantly. The action would've made any adult melt, and my father was no different.
Pressing a kiss on my cheek and lifting me into the air, he exclaimed jubilantly, "All hail Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived!"
It took me about five seconds to process his words before I, quite literally, froze. Running his words through my mind again, I tried to make sense of his words. My rational thought process seemed to have completely stopped in its tracks, for all I could do was stare at him in suspended disbelief.
...Harry...Potter…?
"The war is over, thank Merlin," Father murmured, almost sounding dazed. He stumbled his way to a chair, still holding me in his arms, and unceremoniously collapsed on it. "I never thought…"
Although my mind was still frozen, my ears managed to pick up the sound of a door squeaking open. Overwhelmed with an urge for normalcy, for comfort, I quickly perked up and exclaimed, "Ma!"
The door to my nursery opened as a beautiful, slightly frazzled looking Asian woman strode inside. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and unlike her usual prim appearance, her clothes were slightly wrinkled, as if she had put them on in a hurry. Although I could tell by the slight slump in her shoulders that she was tired, the woman's haggard expression quickly transformed when she laid eyes on my father and I. "Cho, Liu," she pronounced our names warmly, crossing the room and sweeping me out of my father's arms before I could even blink.
"It's really happening, Liu," my mother whispered in wonder, nuzzling her cheek against mine. "This isn't a dream?"
"If it were a dream, would you be able to feel this?" My father inched closer, wrapping his arms around my mother's waist. Mother giggled and swatted at my father's shoulder playfully, her eyes growing brighter as a faint blush dusted her cheeks. Father pulled her closer for a kiss. As they shared their tender moment, my nose scrunched together in slight disgust at the blatant PDA. Unfortunately, as a baby, there wasn't much I could do rather than stay squished between my parents' chests.
Ugh, I wasn't sure if the scene was cute or disgusting.
I attempted to worm my way out of Mother's grip, but it was too strong for me. The woman was strong, I'll give you that. The fact that I was still in a baby's body probably helped.
"...bah," I said helpfully, reminding the two that I was still here. They immediately separated, their joyous gazes instead focusing on me.
"I'm just so happy," my mother murmured, her grip on me tightening as she pulled me even closer. "Oh, Cho…"
"She'll be able to go to Hogwarts without needing to fear anything at all," my father said fondly, stroking my mother's hair gently. With one hand on her back, he steered my mother towards the chair for her to sit down. "Do you think she'll take after you?"
"I hope so," my mother snorted. "Hopefully, she doesn't inherit your brain."
"Hey," my father protested, sending her a wounded look and pressing a hand to his chest dramatically. He flamboyantly proclaimed, "I'll have you know that I was one of the most popular Ravenclaws of our year because of my stellar grades, dashing good looks, and jaw-dropping Quidditch skills."
"I seem to recall that I scored more points than you did in my first match at Hogwarts?" My mother challenged, raising her eyebrows amusedly. "You were a horrendous Chaser."
"Only in your eyes my dear, only in your eyes," Father chuckled.
Chaser? Hogwarts? Ravenclaws? Quidditch?
Annnnd that was the moment when everything really begun to sink in.
...Harry...Potter?
Not only was I reborn with memories of my past life: I was also reborn in the fictional world of Harry Potter. I was living in a world of werewolves that could infect me with one bite, of dragons that could kill me with a single blast of fire, and of ghosts and magic that only existed in fairy tales.
I was living in a world where one could summon dragons of ice and pillars of fire just by waving around a glorified stick.
Merlin help me.
.
.
Having been exposed to barely any human contact other than my parents for the past year of my new life, meeting so many new people at once was overwhelming. Logically, of course, my parents didn't expect me to actually remember any of these people's names, but the stubborn older side of me insisted that I had to at least try.
Thus, having recently acquired enough strength to walk (read: stumble) alongside my parents, I found myself at my mother's side as she greeted the numerous amounts of guests entering our less-than-humble abode.
"Kiyoko, it's such a pleasure to see you again," a dark-skinned woman exclaimed, sweeping my mother into a tender hug as I awkwardly loitered beside them. My mother chuckled, and after a few seconds, pulled back from the woman's embrace. She smiled, her eyes twinkling with joy as her eyes swept the woman's figure in one cursory glance.
"You look well, Celestina," my mother observed. "Beautiful dress, by the way. I think that sapphire blue really is your color. I don't keep up with the news as much as I should, but I've heard that you're still popular as ever."
"Such flattery won't get you anywhere, young missy," the woman, Celestina, scolded my mother. She nudged my mother playfully. "I want to know why you and Liu haven't attended any of my shows recently, despite my agent offering you two tickets several times."
"Sorry about that," my mother apologized, and I jolted as I felt her hand gently push me forward. "But we figured that we should spend our time with Cho right now." The Asian beauty paused for a moment to let the two of us observe each other. Then, she introduced, "Celestina, meet my daughter, Cho. Cho, this is Celestina Warbeck. Her father was an acquaintance of mine in the Ministry, and Daddy was friends with her back in their Hogwarts days."
Celestina Warbeck...if I recalled correctly, she was the famous singer that Molly Weasley adored.
"Hi!" I sent the woman a toothy grin, waddling forward to hug the woman's right leg. Celestina immediately bent down to her knees so she was eye-level with me, laughing and ruffling my hair playfully.
"Nice to meet you, Cho. Do you like the party so far?" Celestina asked cordially, lips tilting upwards a fraction as she detected the slight annoyance in my eyes as I glanced over at a boisterous group of men holding bottles of alcohol while guffawing loudly. Finally, I turned back to the woman and fixed her with an extremely serious gaze. I slowly nodded.
"Food," I answered simply, the disapproving frown on my face morphing into an innocent smile.
"Ah, a full word?" Celestina looked up at my mother with a questioning gaze.
"Her first word was 'Daddy,'" my mother confirmed with a mock-frown. She sent a quick glance over to where her husband was, mingling with some old school friends from Hogwarts. From what I gathered, they had invited almost all of their old acquaintances to celebrate the downfall of Voldemort. The guests had begun to show up at noontime, and even though it was now dark outside, the adults showed no sign of stopping. Men and women (wizards and witches) from presumably all over the globe (I had met a British ambassador from Brazil that had arrived by the Floo only a few minutes prior) had gathered to celebrate Voldemort's demise and Harry Potter's triumph.
Celestina let out a loud bark of laughter, her entire body trembling as she tried to stop the laughter that wracked her body. When her laughter had died down significantly, she managed to breathe out, "Kiyoko Sakata Chang, are you telling me that you let Liu Chang outdo you?"
"Her next word was 'Mama,' and it was only a few moments after," my mother defended herself weakly. I decided that now was probably a good time to cut into the conversation.
"Mama!" I beamed, hugging her. Immediately, my mother's fake sternness melted as she cooed and scooped me into her arms.
"Isn't she just precious?" my mother asked proudly, pinching my cheek. She presented me to her companion once again, cooing all sorts of terms of affection towards me as Celestina looked on, amused.
"If she takes after either of you two, I'd say she'll turn out more than just 'precious'. In a few years…" Mother's companion tapped her chin thoughtfully before an idea lit on her face. With a dramatic flourish of her hand, the woman said mournfully, "Ah, yes, I can just see it: Cho Chang, Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain and most attractive girl in the school. There's no doubt that she'll break the hearts of boys from all over England whenever she decides to settle down."
Annnnd that was when the second epiphany hit me.
"Cho Chang, most intelligent girl in the school," my mother corrected. "Assuming she takes after me more, of course. And don't you dare mention Cho with any semblance of a love life: it'll drive Liu berserk. I swear, that man would find a way to murder any poor lad that tries to talk to Cho, much less date her. What is it with—"
Although my mother continued to speak, I was zoning out and could only focus on the one name she uttered.
...Cho Chang?
It took me another three seconds before realization settled on my features. Although I once prided myself in my extensive vocabulary, my mind was so numb that it could only manage a simple:
...oh.
Brilliant, I was.