Chapter Two
September came to a close with rain and billowing winds. Ravenclaw assembled together the Quidditch team and we began our practice the very last weekend of September. It was our first practice without Cedric Diggory who was killed last year. Cho Chang, his girlfriend at the time of his death, mostly cried a lot and I ended up catching the snitch.
"Is it really necessary for her to cry all the time," Roger Davies complained to me in a whisper after the third practice of her bawling her eyes out.
"Have a little bit of sensitivity she lost her boyfriend almost four months ago." I tore off my blue robes that were soaking wet and shook some water from my hair.
"Can't you talk to her or anything? I mean you are a bit more experienced with guys then she is and you are the only other girl on the team."
"Yeah but I'm not going to be insensitive enough to force her to get over her dead boyfriend before she's ready to," I said with a frustrated tone. Davies could be such a man sometime. "Besides I don't have more experience when it comes to having dead boyfriends, thank god."
I jumped in the shower and let is pour on me incredibly hot but I was still chilled to the bone. When I finally got out the locker room was empty. I tossed my wet robes in the pile with everyone else's and grabbed my Nimbus Two Thousand before heading back to the common room.
My body was cold and I couldn't shake the draft. I'm sure my wet hair didn't help but I was ready to crawl into my nice warm bed…right after a warm supper.
The Great Hall was practically empty. Cho was sitting at the far end of the table closest to the head table. She was stirring her tea with puffy red eyes. I headed in her direction with every intention of giving her some words of wisdom but a hand reached out and grabbed my arm.
"Oh hey George," I said looking down at the owner of the hand. It was our first chance to chat since my detention with Snape.
"Hey Angela taking a seat." When it came between comforting a sobbing Cho or having a good laugh with the Weasley twins, what would you choose.
"Just coming back from Quidditch," Fred asked as I took a seat next to George and across from him.
"Yeah. You guys have been practicing for a couple weeks now haven't you?" Fred nodded and I turned back to George who had been watching me quietly.
"So how did the rest of your detentions end up?" He asked offering me a chicken wing which I took and picked at.
"Two days organizing the discipline records, a night cleaning the owlery, two nights washing every single armor the school has, and a night buffing up the trophy room. What about you?"
"I just had that one night. How big was our discipline record?" I snorted into my pumpkin juice.
"You and Fred had two separate folders that were overflowing because they were so thick. I think I might have spotted something about a toilet seat cover given to Harry Potter in your third year."
"Oh yeah I forgot about that," Fred and George said fondly. "Did it have the incident where we levitated Marcus Flint into the Forbidden Forest?"
"Probably, I didn't stop to read through it with Filch breathing down my neck. So when is your first game?"
"Gryffindor versus Slytherin the first Saturday in November. We still have a month to train but knowing Angelina she'll make it one hell of a month. Are you ready for the Hogsmeade fieldtrip next weekend?"
"Does Malfoy have a death wish? I need to stock up at Honeydukes." If there was one bad habit I had it was the very large sweet tooth. I ate enough candy in a week to open my own sweets shop and yet my teeth still remained perfectly straight, sparkling white, and cavity free.
"Yeah Fred and I need to stop at Zonko's and re…" he cut off quietly as Professor Umbridge walked by looking very pleased with herself. I had the biggest urge to trip her and by the looks of the twins they were doing all they could to stay seated.
"That toad is the probably the worst thing they let set foot in this damn school since Snape."
"She's worst then Filch," Fred agreed with wide eyes and I looked between the twins and busted out laughing.
"The only reason you don't like Filch is because he's banned all of your precious prankster items. Two thirds of the things on that last are because you two cause havoc with them."
"Yeah well not this year. Fred and I have a batch of something very special that Filch hasn't even heard of. They aren't banned and they are even more fun." The twins exchanged mischievous smiles and I was afraid to ask.
My eye caught onto Cho as she stood up and began walking out of the Great Hall. A guilty feeling washed over me and it got worse when I noticed she was crying.
"Anyway guys I better get going. I have a bunch of homework and it's getting late."
"Homework shmomewrk," Fred said waving it away. I chuckled knowing for a fact that the twins hadn't done any Defense Against the Dark Arts homework since we were in the same class. I highly doubt they did any homework. I waved goodbye to them and headed for the exit. I had just entered the Main Hall when someone called to my retreating back.
"Hey Angela." I spun around and saw George rushing to me. "Listen Harry Potter and his friends are doing this special kinda club for people that actually wanna learn how to defend themselves. There's a meeting at the Hogs Head during the first Hogsmeade trip next weekend. If you wanna join us it starts around midday."
"That sounds pretty cool, I'll check it out," I said and George nodded and returned to the Great Hall.
I headed back to the common room but when I got there I was surprised to see Cho wasn't in sight. I asked a fifth year, Padma Patil, and she said Cho hadn't shown up all evening.
Very curious and very confused I headed down to the library. Upon arrival I saw that it was very full, mostly of fifth years preparing for their O.W.L.'s, but no Cho. I swore loudly and Madam Pince, the old library, took a swat at my face and chased me out. The only other place I knew where to look would be the Owlery.
When I finally made it up to the tower I was greeted by the hooting of owl's including my own jet black on, Pixies, but no Cho. I was just about to give up and head back to the common room but on my way by the window I notice someone sitting against a tree near the lake. It was Cho and her shoulders were shaking bad enough that I could see if from this distance. Damn that girl needs to get over it.
It took me forever to get outside and I was surprised to see Cho still sitting at the waters edge when I got there. I walked up behind her and quietly sat down without saying a word. It took her a few sobs to realize I was there but when she did she didn't seem at all surprised.
"Some moments I feel like I have it under control and then other moments I feel like my whole world is crumbling out from underneath me. It's horrible."
"Well did you expect to be over it after only four months? You have a right to be upset still. If I was you I would do anything and everything I could to keep my mind off things. Join a club or find a boyfriend or something."
"You mean like a rebound guy?" Cho asked smiling through her puffy and tear streaked face.
"Well yeah I guess so. I mean I don't necessarily agree with having rebounds because…well…it's not really fair to the rebound guy, but yeah a rebound might make you feel a little bit better and it will certainly help you get over Cedric." Cho's eyes welled up with tears ago and I knew I had gone a little bit too far.
"Look Cho," I said putting a comforting hand on her shoulders, "why don't you try and look at it as Cedric and you broke up. He wouldn't have been at Hogwarts this year anyway." I stood up and brushed off my pants.
"Thanks for talking to me Angie," Cho said wiping her face. "I know everyone else on the team is starting to get a bit annoyed with all this crying and mopping around but I appreciate you giving me some ideas."
"Well if I can help you in anyway just let me know ok?" I headed back to the castle feeling much better about myself.
A/N: ok so I hope you liked this chapter. I know it was kinda slow but every story hits that part. Anyway I noticed a bunch of people had added the story to their alert list but no one has updated. I refuse to put up the next chapter until I have at least 3 comments.
