Previously on 'The Redemption'... Cho attends Harry & Ginny's wedding and decides to heed his advice.

Chapter 3 - Misdirection

With each step, Cho Chang felt the growing apprehension within her escalate. The trip to visit Hogwarts suddenly seemed very stupid considering she had no purpose here. Just what was she hoping for? That her ex-professors could somehow find her parents, bring back Cedric and solve all her life problems?

Without saying those words out loud, even Cho found it to sound terribly whiney and annoying.

Cho stepped up to the gates, resolutely making up her mind. She was already here; she might as well just go through with it. It would be nice to catch up with her teachers anyway; especially Flitwick who, at her graduation, had given her teary goodbyes as well as making her promise him that she would visit him occasionally. Gathering her courage, Cho aimed her wand at the gates and watched as a silvery swan erupted from the tip before gliding towards the doors of the castle with her message.

Within a few minutes, Cho saw a tiny figure heading towards her, one arm raised up in an enthusiastic wave. Professor Flitwick came into full view, a huge smile on his face.

"Miss Chang! What a pleasant surprise!" he cried, giving his ex-pupil a warm hug. Cho felt a small smile of her own spread across her face as she regarded the professor with fondness.

"I did promise didn't I Professor?" she quipped back.

"Call me Fillius now that you've graduated Miss Chang," he piped up before leading her up the pavement to where a Threstral drawn carriage was waiting. Cho felt a jolt of surprise when she saw the T hrestrals for the first time. She had always known they were there but seeing them gave her an unpleasant feeling she had associated with the cold touch of death. They looked like ghostly winged horses, their skin slightly sunken and molded to their bone structure. Their eyes were eerily perceptive looking, giving Cho the distinct impression that her textbooks were correct in saying that Threstrals were extraordinarily intelligence creatures.

Flitwick gestured for her to enter before hopping in himself, conjuring a small stool to aid him. When they were settled in the jostling carriage, Cho and the professor kept up an easy conversation that thankfully for Cho's sake, did not delve in too deep to her personal life or of her missing family.

The carriage eventually halted to a stop in front of the main entryway where Cho and Flitwick gracefully stepped off. Looking up at the ancient looming castle, Cho allowed the familiar flood of happy memories fill her in. She remembered her first day at Hogwarts, waiting nervously on those very steps to enter the Great Hall where she would be sorted into Ravenclaw. She remembered her excitement in attending her classes and how she would stay up every night just to make sure she knew the content for her lessons. She remembered the feeling of pure joy and pride as she was chosen to be the Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. She remembered the way Cedric had first noticed her after the match in her third year and how he had smiled at her warmly, his grey eyes sparkling and his hair an absolute mess.

Swallowing the bile that rose unintentionally in her throat, Cho chased away those thoughts and followed Flitwick in through the massive double doors, plastering a smile on her pale face.

Cho and Flitwick had just entered the castle when a red faced Ravenclaw boy ran up to them, gasping.

"Professor, Hodgens has got himself into a fight with Peeves again-" he said breathlessly as Flitwick sighed with annoyance.

"The third time this week…" muttered Flitwick, straightening his thinly framed glasses "Apologies Miss Chang but would you mind waiting for a moment while I sort this out? Feel free to roam the castle, I trust you remember the routes?"

Cho nodded in the affirmative and watched as Flitwick and the student rushed away up the stairs. Glancing around the castle, she determined that most of the students must still be in class with only a few stragglers left in the castle and the hall. Treading the familiar steps, her feat led her towards the general direction of Ravenclaw common room. En route, she noticed that much of the familiar tapestries that once hung on the wall were either replaced or empty. The stone statues were gone, the crumbling stone bases bearing their names barely visible through the cracks. The battle at Hogwarts had cost the old castle heavily but luckily many of the enchantments managed to hold the larger bits of the structure together, allowing renovations to be made more easily after the war.

Oddly enough, Cho felt herself drawn towards a stretch of blank wall on the third floor before remembering what it was. Her mind drew back to her 6th year and Dumbledore's Army, where they had used this magical room to practice offensive and defensive spells under the guidance of Harry.

She remembered that to enter you had to think of what you wanted the room to turn into and pace back and forth three times and then a door would appear. Would the magic only respond to exact thoughts? Or could it look into your mind and determine what you needed, much like the sorting hat? Curious as to whether the room still worked and deciding that Flitwick would not be looking for her anytime soon, Cho stepped up to the bare wall and began to pace back and forth.

But what did she want? What did she need? Were they the same thing for her? She wanted a better job, friends who understood her and family. She needed to forget the terrible things she had seen and start living her life anew.

She both needed and wanted a new beginning.

Suddenly, a completely nondescript wooden door appeared, its brass knob glinting slightly in the flickering torchlight used to illuminate the halls of the castle. Unthinkingly, Cho reached out her hand and grasped the knob, twisting it easily and swinging open the door to see the darkness within.

Cho stepped over the threshold, keeping her wand at the ready as her eyes took note of any flicker of movement. The door snapped shut with a loud click and Cho jumped in fright before surveying the area in front of her. She appeared to be in a study room of sorts, the walls lined with hundreds of colourfully spined books as well as a large oak table in the centre. Couches and armchairs that looked a lot like the ones she had at home were organised spaciously near a small grate where a fire roared merrily. It was a comfortable and warm place, but anticlimactic as to what she was expecting. She hadn't expected a life changing moment or anything nearly as momentous, but a study room?

Chuckling slightly to herself, Cho came to the conclusion that the Room of Requirement must have lost its touch since her school days. Stowing away her wand, Cho reached for the door knob, feeling a slight tingling sensation in her fingertips that wasn't completely unpleasant but felt a lot like being disillusioned.

She stepped out into the corridor, noticing that it seemed darker than it should be. She looked through one of the windows, the dark blanket of sky visible with a spattering of stars that shone brightly. Coming to the conclusion that she must have been in the room a lot longer than it seemed, Cho took off to find Professor Flitwick to apologise for her absence.

On her way to the teacher's staffroom, Cho saw a group of Slytherin girls who eyed her oddly. Feeling self-conscious, Cho wrapped her jacket tighter around herself as though protecting herself from their looks. One of the girls quirked their eyebrow at her but walked away, whispering to her friends.

Cho hurried her steps, vaguely wondering whether Hogwarts had changed its dress code. The skirts seemed longer, the charcoal grey colour of their jumpers lighter and the crest slightly different in design. They still wore the plain black robes on the outside though, the lining of it reflecting their house colour.

Finally, Cho arrived at the Teacher's staffroom after being held up by a moving staircase that refused to budge. Raising a fist, she knocked firmly, waiting for someone to open the door.

The door swung open to reveal a kind looking middle aged woman with flyaway blonde hair whom Cho did not recognise. "Hello dear, how may I help you?" she asked, her hand still poised on the door.

"Oh hello" begun Cho nervously "Is Professor Flitwick in here?"

The woman's' expression turned quizzical "There is no Professor Flitwick here dear. What did you say your name was?"

"Professor Fillius Flitwick? He teaches charms here?" prodded Cho, guessing that this woman very new to the staff of Hogwarts. Cho would have found it odd that she didn't know the other professors names but after the war, many teachers had retired or quit, leaving many new teaching vacancies for when Hogwarts re-opened. Cho wondered whether Neville was here too or if he was down in the greenhouses.

"There is no Fillius Flitwick here," she replied adamantly "Are you a student here Miss?"

At this stage, Cho was getting annoyed with the woman but indulged in her insanity out of politeness "Is Professor McGonagall or Sprout here? Or Madam Hooch?"

The woman was about to reply when a jovial voice in the background interrupted "Gertrude, who is at the door?"

"I haven't the foggiest," replied Gertrude, frowning "Albus, perhaps you could sort her out?"

Cho heard a shuffling of feet and the whisper of long robes as they trailed against the stone flooring. A tall auburn haired man came into view, his half-moon glasses and twinkling blue eyes shockingly familiar.

"Now, what did you say your name was?" he asked, his tone politely curious.

But Cho paid no attention to what he was saying, her mind only capable of conjuring two words.

"Professor Dumbledore?"