I don't know if many people are enjoying this story that much, but I really love the component of it, and if there are any Cho/Cedric shippers out there, I'd fully appreciate your support!
Chapter 7"Cecilia!"
It was Will.
"Oh, hey, Will." Cecilia merely mumbled. William Wood quickly caught up with his friend, catching his breath.
"What was that all about?" Will asked, curious.
"What was about what?" Cecilia said, not looking at Will.
"You and that You Know Who murdering your father." Will said, carefully observing Cecilia's face.
"I was curious about my father's murderer that's all. I mean, I never knew him, but still." Cecilia said, still not looking at him.
"Er…what's the point, though?"
Cecilia stopped.
"What?" she snapped.
Will seemed overwhelmed by Cecilia's sharpness, but quickly recovered.
"I mean, You Know Who, who cares about him? He's dead. That Harry Potter killed him. By finding those horcoos or something…"
"Excuse me?" Cecilia stared directly into Will's brown eyes. "Who cares? I care! He murdered my father! He's the reason why I don't know my father!" she said.
Everybody around them stared.
"What?" Cecilia snapped at them.
Will looked down to his feet. "I'm sorry," he said, genuinely apologetic. "You see, I wouldn't know. My father just plays Quidditch you know, we're not all that into those news." He said.
Cecilia nodded.
"Shall we go to lunch then?" Will asked cheerfully. "I heard we have our first flying lesson this Friday. I'm so excited. My father taught me the Feint." He said, in a higher tone.
"Oh my mum never let me on a broom." Cecilia said glumly. "Great Hall, it is," she said.
…………………
"Leaving so fast, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked, frowning. "You just arrived two days ago!" she said.
Harry looked at his old Transfigurations Professor.
"I have to go, Professor. Some unfinished family business, you know." He said, playing with his fingers. "I want to visit my parents' graves and my friends, too." He smiled. "Thank you for your thoughts, Professor."
Professor McGonagall smiled.
"If you must, Harry." She said.
"Oh it feels quite awkward now that you've grown into a man, Harry. I remember you in your first year. Oh so young, timid and confused." McGonagall looked at Harry in a way that he felt like blushing. Suddenly, tears began to form in McGonagall's eyes.
"Oh Harry!" she hugged him tightly.
"I was so worried for you, you know, an orphan who lived with those horrible muggles for 11 years, yet so young and innocent, not even expecting what kind of history you have! And on the first day of school, you were so timid, yet so determined I could tell." She sniffed. "Your mother's beautiful green eyes, Harry."
Harry felt very overwhelmed all of a sudden. "Thanks Professor," he grinned.
Professor McGonagall gave Harry a gentle tap on his shoulder.
"Well, I hope you will come back soon, Harry." She said, "Remember, if you need anything, just ask." She talked to Harry as if he were her very own son.
Harry nodded and smiled yet again. As he turned around to open the great big oak doors, there were warm tears in his green eyes.
……………….
There was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Cho asked, hurriedly reaching for the doorknob.
A wizard wearing black robes with a white beard stood, with his glasses askew. Something about his glasses struck Cho in a way that she started reminiscing.
"Hello, Miss Chang." The old wizard said, his blue eyes tinkling.
"Hello…may I ask…" Who was this old man?
"That will come later, Miss Chang. I shall pretend that I have been accepted into your house and will soon receive some hospitality." The wizard said, gently stepping into Cho's house.
Cho was bewildered, but decided to let the old man in.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Cho asked, curious.
"Why would you ask that?" the wizard calmly asked, sitting himself on the sofa.
"Well, you know my name pretty well, and I think I know someone who looks like you. I mean, there's quite a resemblance, you see…someone I knew very long time ago…" Cho murmured. "Some tea?" She had no idea why she was offering tea to an old man like this. This is crazy! She thought. What if he was some disguised burglar or something?
"I'm sorry," Cho said, turning around. "I need to know who you are. This stuff don't usually happen to me." She said, playing around with her gorgeous hair. "You know, unknown people visiting my house during a mid-day."
The old man chuckled.
"Clever and quick-witted, just like how a Ravenclaw should be." He said.
Cho froze in her spot. For a moment, the old blue-eyed man and Cho just stared at each other.
"How did you…" Cho started. Then, she felt as if something huge had hit her. Then a little too slowly, a feeling of terror struck her all over her mind.
"You! You..you, it's…" she pointed her finger at the man. "I know you! You're just…it's you-" Cho's eyes stared at the deep blueness of the man's eyes. She felt like fainting.
"I'm dreaming!" She said out loud. "Dum-Dumbledore!" she staggered.
"You're not dreaming, Cho Chang." Dumbledore said calmly. "And you are too quick for me, Miss Chang, yes, I am indeed Albus Dumbledore, the former headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He spoke as if he were referring to the weather.
Cho just stood there, completely shocked. She took some backward steps. "You're a ghost!" she asked, terrorized.
Dumbledore just shook his head.
"I'm not a ghost, well, a rather, I'm different from a spirit you are talking about. You see, no advanced potions can awake the dead, and the dead do not always come in a form of a hollow spirit." He said, "And I, am here for someone's desperate wish. Or rather should I say, a miss."
Cho did not stop staring at him.
"You see, when somebody has a wish so desired, and never, in their whole life, forgets to long for that one wish, the dead can come back to help the person, as long as he has known her very well." He said.
Cho closed her mouth.
"And I figured it was you, who possessed the most desperate wish of all wishes in this life of the wizarding world. Something you secretly long for, and never forgets." He continued, "It was as if there would be no more life in you if that wish was not fulfilled."
Cho blinked her eyes a few times.
"So you're here, back alive, to grant my wish?" she asked, feeling airy.
"Not alive," he said sadly. "No darkest and the most advanced magic could bring the dead back."
Cho looked down. "I know," she said.
"You had your hopes high for a second there, didn't you?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
A small 'yes' murmured out of Cho's mouth.
"That, in fact, is the most desired wish of all at this moment." He said.
"You mean, I have a wish that is most longed than of any others of this world now?" Cho asked, half confused.
"You know your wish, Miss Chang." He said, smiling lightly.
"My wish, what would that be?"
"Who is the one that you miss the most?" Dumbledore asked gently. "Your whole heart knows it,"
Cedric.
"I do," she said, tears forming in her eyes, "I just can't get over him! It's been 11 years Professor!"
Dumbledore plainly observed Cho.
"I sometimes dream about him!" she continued. "Right before he's going into that horrible maze! I know I can save him by stopping him, but he seems so happy I can do nothing but support him! And so many people around him, it's like I can never reach him- and – and he just smiles and waves at me and tells me to wait for him!" Cho finally broke into a fantastic sob.
Dumbledore waited for Cho to calm down, conjuring a cup of a tea out of thin air.
Cho finally calmed. "I'm sorry, professor-I – I just lost it for a moment, but you see, I think you know my wish by now-" she wiped her tears with a handkerchief which she just summoned into her delicate, white hand.
"And as I had stated before, I am here to fulfill your greatest wish. What would be your greatest wish, my dear?" Dumbledore asked, sipping silently.
"I want to meet Cedric." Cho said, almost in a demand. "I want to meet him!" she said, almost greedily this time.
"And so you shall." Dumbledore said.
Cho's face lightened up. "He's coming back? I can see him!"
"He's not coming back, as no dead can do, but" he said, pointing his bony finger, "You will see him, tonight. At eleven o'clock. You must come to the place where you and he first shared the first kiss." He said, getting up to leave.
"You shall have two hours of your time. And then, he will be gone forever." And soon, Dumbledore was gone.
The Great Hall, she thought.
