Previously on 'The Redemption'... Orion Black has an agenda of his own and Abraxas Malfoy returns to Hogwarts.
Chapter 31- Intangible
The first time she noticed it was in Advanced Charms with the Hufflepuffs, where she was practicing conjuring an array of objects from the Professor's table with a partner.
"This is trickier than expected," sighed Katherine as she attempted to conjure a jug of milk "My mother makes it look so easy!"
Cho gave her Charms partner a small smile, watching as Katherine eventually succeeded and gave a loud whoop of victory. "Good job!" she complimented sincerely, before reaching to push the jug to one side. To her confusion, her hand went straight through it, catching nothing but slightly cool air. Cho tried again, swiping her very solid looking hand through the jug several times while her partner noticed nothing amiss.
"Come on Cho, have a go at the basket of gerbils!"
Cho paled, her hands shaking so much she hid them in the folds of her robes. "I-I'm sorry Katherine but I feel a bit ill all of a sudden. Could you please tell the Professor I've gone to the Hospital Wing?"
Katherine's eyebrows drew together in concern and her arm reached out to lightly touch Cho on the shoulder before Cho flinched back violently. Looking increasingly worried, she nodded "Of course. I hope you get better then."
Cho murmured her thanks before rushing out the door and forgoing her backpack. What if she couldn't pick that up either and Katherine saw? Quickening her pace, she sprinted to Dumbledore's office and all but shouted the password while hoping that he wasn't currently teaching.
To her luck and immense relief, he was in his office, pouring over rolls of parchment with a large eagle feathered quill in one hand. Upon her arrival, he raised a quizzical brow. "Miss Chang? Shouldn't you be in class?"
She tried to even out her breathing, although the panic threatened to overwhelm her. Not trusting her voice just yet, she showed Dumbledore her problem. Approaching his desk full of clutter, she tried to grab a sneakoscope, her fingers passing through it as though she was a ghost.
Undisguised interest gleamed in Dumbledore's eyes. "And when did this start happening?"
She swallowed hard, tears gathering in her eyes though she tried to keep them in "A few minutes ago when I was in Charms"
"And you haven't been able to touch anything since?"
She shook her head, letting the tears fall freely "N-Not any objects," she sniffed "But walls are still solid."
He leaned back, indicating the plush chair beside her. Lowering herself slowly in case she should fall right through, she sat down, feeling immensely relieved that she could feel the soft cushion beneath her.
He considered her carefully, watching her form which seemed very solid and real in front of him. "It seems like this episode is fleeting although it is hard to say what has triggered it Miss Chang."
"I do suspect however," added Dumbledore "That it may very well have something to do with why you are here."
With a swish of his wand, he conjured two cups of steaming milky tea, offering her one which she grasped tightly. The hot china burned her hand but she paid it no mind, relishing in the heat searing her palms.
"You mean time travel Professor?" said Cho, feeling her previous hysteria replaced with a heavy sense of fatigue.
"As we discussed earlier, time travel is notoriously temperamental. Have you heard of Eloise Mintumble?"
At the shake of her head, he explained "Eloise Mintumble was the only person who had been successful in travelling back in time for more than a few hours. She was trapped in 1402 for an entire 5 days."
A cold sense of dread washed over Cho as she voiced her question. "What happened to her?"
Dumbledore's expression turned sympathetic as he regarded the young woman in front of him. "When she returned to 1899, her body had aged five centuries and she died very soon after."
Her stomach churned. She had been at Hogwarts for months. Was her time up? While she had so desperately wanted to return to her time at several points in the last few months, she wasn't too fond of the idea of leaving her newfound friends and bypassing more than 50 years in a blink of the eye until she was an 70 something year old lady. Her life had become somewhat of a mess but she couldn't quite bring herself to leave it now that the idea could possibly become a reality.
Dumbledore's voice was gentle as he proceeded "While time travel has been unsuccessful in the past Miss Chang, you must remember that your circumstances are quite different. The Room of Requirement does not operate within the same parameters as time turners."
His words did little to console her. "So what should I do now?"
"Monitor when and where it happens if it does occur again," he recommended "We may be able to understand this turn of event better if we were able to recognise a pattern."
Cho nodded stiltedly, placing her cup down on her saucer "And if it were to happen again, may I come back here?"
Dumbledore smiled kindly. "Of course. But let us hope it's not a frequent trip shall we? Now pip pip, I daresay Miss Stevens may be concerned over your absence at lunch."
"Cho! There you are!"
Cho followed the sound of Arlene's voice midway down the Ravenclaw table, fighting against the current of students who had finished lunch and were about to make their way to their next class.
"Hi Arlene," said Cho, grabbing a green apple and thanking Merlin that she could feel the smooth texture against her skin. "How was divination?"
"Excellent," she replied, reaching beside her to deposit Cho's hefty bag in front of her, "Katherine asked me to give you this by the way. Apparently you were acting strangely and then left for the Hospital Wing midway through Charms?"
Cho hated lying to Arlene, especially when she knew the girl didn't believe her in the slightest. "Well, I was feeling unwell." she amended.
Arlene examined her friend's pale complexion, "Are you alright then?"
"I'm better now," said Cho before changing the subject, "Shouldn't we be heading to class soon?"
Arlene seemed to just notice of the almost empty hall around them, "I have a free period but you better get to potions before old Slughorn decides to punish you for it. I'll see you at dinner then!"
Cho bid her goodbye and quickly made her way to the dungeons although she was beginning to wish she had stayed in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the day. Although Cho had successfully dodged Riddle and to a lesser extent Abraxas for the last few weeks, she could find no way to avoid them in shared classes such as Potions and Ancient Runes. They kept out of each other's way although Cho could feel the burning stare of Tom and the prickly, unwelcome feeling coming from Malfoy behind her. They never made conversation with her, not even when Tom bumped into her last week causing her to spill dragon's blood all over his pristine robes. His lips thinned but he gave his shirt a quick "scourgify!" and continued on as though nothing happened, not even looking at her as she quietly mumbled an apology. Cho wasn't sure whether she had been grateful that he didn't want to talk, or a little bit downtrodden that he was so cold. After the incident, she had reprimanded herself for the rest of the day, reminding herself that she had told him to stay away and that he was no longer the Tom Riddle she had thought he was.
Struggling to catch her breath for the second time, she erupted through the doors of the potions classroom, turning a deep shade of red when she realised the lesson was already underway and very quiet as Slughorn explained something.
"I'm so sorry Professor," apologised Cho, "I got a little carried away with the time."
"No problem my dear girl but please be on time next lesson" said Professor Slughorn, "Turn to page 145 – we are brewing the Elixir to Induce Euphoria today."
Cho nodded, hurriedly getting her textbook out of her bag but managing to spill most of the contents on the floor instead. Some students sniggered as she dropped to the floor, and Cho felt her cheeks heat as she grabbed her quills and books and stuffed them into her bag.
A shadow appeared next to her, bending down and picking up an inkpot that had miraculously survived the fall. Startled, Cho turned towards the person as they wordlessly held out the inkpot. "Thank you."
Orion Black's eyes glittered, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips as he said nothing in return. Against her better judgement, her eyes flitted towards Riddle standing next to Abraxas who had a deliberately stoic expression.
Slughorn coughed, bringing attention back to the front of the classroom. "Please read the instructions carefully class. All those who successfully brew the potion will be invited to a private party in a month's time. Good luck!"
Cho had absolutely no interest attending Slughorn's party, especially given the fact that she knew Riddle would be in attendance. Would it be so very un-Ravenclaw-like to sabotage her own potion?
She set her cauldron up in the back where she could have a bench to herself. Laying out her potions ingredients, she realised she was short of one castor bean. Staving off the flames under her cauldron for the time being, she made her way to the storeroom.
She spotted the jar on shelf at eye-level. Reaching behind a few other stores of slimy looking objects, she went to grab the jar but found that for the second time in the day, her hand passed right through it.
Biting down her panic, she tried again and again, feeling nothing but seeing that her hand was still very much solid looking for the time being. She began to hyperventilate in the storeroom, feeling like she wasn't getting enough air in the dank room. It began to close around her, punctuated by the sounds of her own loud breathing and another voice that sounded so far away…
"Cho. Breathe." The voice commanded. The dizziness was still a thick haze until suddenly; she felt the pressure of two hands set heavily upon her shoulders. "Breathe Cho!"
She blinked, slowly coming to the realisation that she could feel those hands on her. "T-Tom?"
He immediately retracted his touch upon seeing that she was conscious again. When he saw that she looked like she was going to say something else, he abruptly turned around and exited the storeroom without another word.
Cho exhaled, waiting a few more moments to steady herself before walking out of the storeroom with the extra castor bean completely forgotten.
A/N: So, what do you think is causing Cho's ghosty moments? (sorry, that's a terrible way of putting it haha) And just what is Orion up to?
By the way, the mini story about Eloise Mintumble the time-travelling witch is legitimately canon! The story about time travel is over on Pottermore :)
As always, thanks for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following! I hope you all have a great 2015 and may all the fanfics you read be good ones ;)
Love,
DecoyDream x