Chapter 5
Tenpin Bowling
"Didn't wait that long, did you Potter? Of course, I didn't think you would."
Harry looked up, as the accusing voice rang all around him. "I..I don't know what your talking about." He said furtively. "Wait for what?"
"Just got rid of him, and now your getting ready to take over aren't you. I would expect something like that from Lord Voldermort but the famous Harry Potter..quite a surprise if you ask me. Of course, you were never above taking things from other people now were you?"
"What? I.." Harry looked around in the darkness, searching for the voice that was haunting him. "I don't know what your talking about!"
"You don't? I suspect it was just a coincidence then, that you made Cedric Diggory take the trophy with him. He was perfectly fine with you taking it by yourself. But you had to be so noble didn't you Potter? You had to get him killed…"
"That..that wasn't my fault!" Harry almost screamed.
"Now tell me Potter…you can't really believe that. Cedric wouldn't have died if it wasn't for you. And how do you repay his memories? You didn't even go to his funeral. All your doing now is dreaming of his girlfriend….if I didn't know better Potter, I would have sworn you killed him yourself."
"I..Cho has nothing to do with this!" Unable to get away from the voice that seemed to stretch everywhere, Harry began running.
"Well look at Potter..always running from something aren't you Potter. First, you run from Lord Voldermort. Than you run from the Dursleys. Than you run away from Cedric. And now you run away from Cho. Cowardly little Potter running away from Cedric after you killed him."
Horrified, Harry put his hands over his ears "I didn't do it! It wasn't my fault!" Sobbing from the guilt that was overwhelming him. "Yes, I did feel jealous! But I didn't do it on purpose."
"Admit it Potter! You just couldn't take Cedric could you? Here you thought you were the most famous and popular person at Hogwarts, but then Cedric came along didn't he? Popular, handsome Cedric, the secret crush of all the girls…plus..he had Cho didn't he…you just couldn't get over that fact could you Potter? And now that he's gone, your taking over aren't you? Not wasting your time are you? Living with Cho now aren't you?"
"I..I…" Terrified Harry backed away as a shimmering image slowly rose and floated to him. "No..your..your dead…"
Cedric Diggory smiled maliciously. "Is that what you thought, or what you hoped Potter? I hear you've got plans for Cho now that I'm gone…"
"Cedric..you can't possibly believe…I mean…you were there..you know I didn't.." Harry looked plaintively at Cedric. "You have to believe me, I wouldn't..I couldn't…"
Cedric Diggory merely kept looking at Harry, his gaze seemed to burn a hole through Harry's chest. "You…killed me. You ran away! And now all you can think about is Cho?! The Cho that I loved?! You are selfish, you are malevolent, and you are nothing like the hero many believe you to be Potter. To me, you will always remain, a self-centered, egotistical, stupid boy."
To his horror, Cedric Diggory slowly changed, his handsome, accusing face becoming longer and paler. Hissing evilly, the countenance of Lord Vodermort leered at Harry. "More in common than I had thought Potter. Getting rid of Cedric like that was a stroke of pure genius. Perhaps you should become a Death Eater…yesssss…."
Harry woke with a start, a blur of images confronting him. He instinctively went for his glasses, which were propped up by a nearby dresser. Slowly, the images before him came into focus and he found himself in a strange and unusual room, far different than the one he usually occupied. Confusion filled him, and he struggled out of bed, before the awareness of where he was filled him. Cho's room? He looked around curiously, finding himself in a large, pink bed, surrounded by stuffed animals.
The walls were filled with posters of several Quidditch teams, a singing group calling themselves the ChudleyBoys, and group photos of Cho with her friends and family, beaming and waving at him. Harry sank back into the pink bed, disturbing one of the teddy bears who smacked him on the head in bleary annoyance before settling itself near a different pillow away from Harry.
Harry rubbed his eyes as he pondered about the dream, and Cedric. Guilt was starting to build up in him again. Why was he having these dreams? It's obvious why you're having them Potter… he shook his head violently. He hadn't killed Cedric…yet, he had been jealous of him. The hardest part about Cedric's death was that it was almost as if someone had granted him his secret wish. He had been so intensely jealous of Cedric and his relationship with Cho that he hadn't really seen Cedric as a real person. All the times Cedric had helped him, how nice Cedric had been to him….
Had Lord Voldermort been right then? Was he really the same? Although he hadn't told anyone, one of his greatest fears was that he was destined to be a Dark Wizard. After all, his fears weren't quite unfounded. In his first year, the Sorting Hat had wanted to put him into Slytherin, a house that turned out more Dark Wizards than any other. In his second year, he had learned that he was a parseltongue, and what was worse, Lord Voldermort had seemed to transfer some of his powers to Harry when he had given Harry his scar. And now…now he was largely responsible for Cedric's death, all because Cedric had gotten to Cho before he did…
Lying flat across the bed, his head accidentally resting on the same, irksome teddy bear that had hit him, Harry's thoughts were interrupted as the door swung open, and a very irate Fleur walked into the room, her silver hair flashing in the darkness.
"Zee has slept for vour hours!" She said almost accusingly.
"Four hours?" Harry asked, still rubbing his eyes.
"Zee should get dressed. Cho..is..waiting for vou."
"Cho? Waiting for me? Why?"
"Zee was promeesed a tour." Fleur said, her hands on her hips as she looked at him. "So zee is getting one. Howevea…" She paused, as she finally noticed the confused and worried look on his face. "Iz somet'ing wrong 'Arry?"
"Hm..oh….no, no…" Harry said quickly, his mind still on Cedric. A tour of Latrinval? With Cho? Should he go? What difference did it make? It wasn't as if she felt the same way he did. And he was interested in a Wizard City. "Tell her I'll be right down…"
Casting one final look at Harry, Fleur nodded before walking off, closing the door behind her. Harry got up from his bed, ignoring the angry yip from the indignant teddy bear as he got to his feet and looked around for his trunk, his thoughts now on Cho. What if she did feel something for him? She never would have if Cedric was still..alive? And who's fault had it been that he had died? Yours of course, Potter, why do you even bother to ask?
Opening his trunk, his eyes wandered to the scrapbook that Hagrid had given him his first year, right after he had defeated Lord Voldermort for the second time. Inside, were many moving pictures of Harry's parents. He opened it carefully, and looked inside, at the happy faces of the two people who had cared for him so much. He had never known them for Harry's parents had died when he was very young, saving him from Lord Voldermort. How he wished they were here now to give him advice.
Putting the scrapbook carefully back into his trunk, he tossed on a robe, and walked quickly down the stairs, trying to hide the tears that were making it rather difficult for him to see.
* * *
Cho grinned at Fleur, who refused to look at her as she fixed her long, black hair. A dozen of her outfits were strewn on Fleur's bed, and makeup was tossed haphazardly on a long table, as Cho scrutinized herself, butterflies flying in her stomach. How could she be so nervous? It wasn't as if he felt the same way she did. They were just going to go out, and she was going to show him some of Lavosier's more interesting sights.
"Zou are dressing up quite a bit for a zee leetle boy who is just a friend?" Fleur suddenly said, looking at her with a piercing gaze.
Cho laughed a bit nervously as she looked at Fleur, her eyes shining with a mixture of excitement and affection at her normally carefree friend. "He is just a friend.." She insisted at once. "I'm just going to show him some stores, and then maybe we'll go bowling. It's exactly the sort of thing you would do with Roger…and you told me he was just a friend."
"Roger ees…" Fleur began, her beautiful face turning a tinge of pink. "very nice…"
Roger Davies was the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain who had asked Fleur out the previous year. Fleur had been so attracted to him, that Cho had to deal with her constantly telling stories about how Roger had done this, or how Roger had done that. Cho, who was the Ravenclaw House Seeker, counted herself as one of Roger's friends, but even she could only take so much of Fleur's compliments about him before becoming ill.
"His nose is rather big you know.." She began teasingly, as she carefully applied lipstick.
"Ees nose is not big!" Fleur almost shouted indignantly. "'Dat Potter boy..ees…ees..hair is..most..ruffly and unattractive!"
"Ruffly and unattractive?" Cho grinned, feigning shock. "Well…I'm at least a little lucky that Harry doesn't have Roger's..well..problem…"
"Ees what?!"
"Well it isn't really my place to tell you but..Roger looks rather like a…" Cho started to mime squeaking noises at Fleur's confused face. "You know…a rat.."
"Ee does not look like a rat!" Fleur shrieked, throwing a pillow at Cho.
Cho ducked just in time still grinning. "Temper temper…"
It was probably lucky for her that the door opened at this moment, Fleur looked angry enough to choke Cho to death. A very bewildered Harry Potter walked into the room, having been attracted by all the noise. Cho snorted barely containing her laughter as his lost expression, and Fleur's furious one. "So Harry.. " She smiled up at him. "Fleur and I were thinking about showing you the sights…this is your first time in Latrinval isn't it?"
"Oh…sure…" Harry attempted a weak smile.
Cho grinned at Fleur who had turned bright pink. "You'll have to excuse me while I dress…not that I have much to hide from touchy-feely little Potter here do I?" With that, she left the room, exploding into laughter
* * *
Moments later, the three of them were sitting on the corner of a flashy café. Plates of treacle fudge, and chocolate puffs, along with pumpkin juice and vanilla shakes were piled along the corner. The only person who hadn't seemed to have overindulged was Fleur, who was complaining about not being able to fit into her dress robes again, to anyone who would listen.
"I've never seen anything quite like this.." Harry said, still awe-struck at the glistening city surrounding him.
"Well Latrinval certainly is one of a kind…" Cho smiled. "Mother and Father were most eager for me to come and see it. It's so beautiful isn't it…." She looked around as all the lights above them swirled around creating an unusual
"Yes..yes it is…" Harry was no longer staring at the city around him however, he was looking rather intently at Cho. Cho noticed this, and avoided his gaze, looking at the table. "I..I mean the lights…they're what's so…beautiful..not that I wasn't talking about the lights before..I mean...." Quickly changing the subject, Harry looked at Fleur, who had finally decided to indulge in a small chocolate puff. "So Fleur, how did you and Cho become roommates?"
Taking a small, delicate bite of her pastry, Fleur made a face before putting it back on the plate. "Too 'eavy..just like the food at 'Ogwarts..ouie…how will I survive?" Waving her hands distractedly at Harry's question she hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It vas after the Triwizard Tournament..after Cedric..died.."
An uncomfortable silence soon settled onto the table, as Cho and Harry started wrestling with their guilty thoughts again, both unable to look at each other. Fleur, sensing that she had stirred the pot, looked at them both, and concentrated very hard on her half-eaten cream puff. "I was..zere to comfort her…and..we became friends…zes, Cho has been vewy good to me.."
Looking up finally, Cho smiled at Fleur. "Most people..zey don't like the fact that I'm part-veela..except the boys and they don't really care. I didn't zave many friends..so when Cho's parents wanted her to go to Latrinval, Zhe invited me to be her roommate for the summer. Zhe even convinced Dummydore that I would be a good choice for a Professor at 'Ogwarts."
Another uncomfortable silence as Harry and Cho looked away from each other once more, and Fleur had run out of things to say. At that moment, a bright, purple light settled on a sign nearby that red Tenpin Bowling! More fun than you'll ever need! Nearby a small picture of a man was winking and smiling at them, carrying a large bowling ball.
"Zee tenpin bowling! Wee don't have them at Beauxbatons. Wee must go try it." Fleur exclaimed, more to break the tension than anything else. Cho glanced up at the sign, and some of the color seemed to be returning to her face, while Harry seemed grateful for the interruption if anything else. "Come on!" Fleur said impatiently, as she grabbed both Harry and Cho and dragged them down the street.
Weaving themselves around the crowds of witches and wizards, they made their way towards a building Harry would have sworn was larger than Hogwarts itself. Shaped like a giant bowling pin, it stretched up higher than the eye could fathom. Every now and then, a loud crash could be heard resonating from inside the building. As the group walked towards the entrance, a tiny voice rang out shrilly "You have to pay to get in you know!"
Astonished, the trio looked about, not finding anyone or anything around them.
"Down here!"
As one, all three of them looked down. Harry gazed upon one of the most interesting creatures he had ever seen. About as large as a pixie, that was the only characteristic that it had in common with the woodland creatures. A tail longer than its body, and a gleaming, mischievous face, the creature was looking up at the three of them with narrowed eyes. Small wings that didn't seem to get much use were covering most of its body while a golden necklace lay across it's chest, with a nametag that simply read Roger. "You'll have to pay or I'll have to do tremendously EVIL things to you. Things you wouldn't tell your grandmother about." With that, it broke off laughing.
"Zee imp…" Fleur said in disgust, while Cho seemed about as fascinated as Harry did. "Zee are very…disgusting creatures…"
"Hey Sweetheart, just because I may be disgusting and EVIL doesn't mean we can't go out sometime eh? Your looking pretttttty fine." With that, the Imp gave Fleur a little wink, flap. "I promise I'll save the more EVIL HORRENDOUS things I can do until morning eh?"
Cho and Harry both hid smiles as Fleur turned away in horror. Glancing at the creature again, who was now carrying a small pitchfork and threatening Harry with it, Cho grinned. "How much do we have to pay?"
"Ohhhh…me being as EVIL as I am, you'll have to pay a tremendously EVIL and UNFAIR sum. Forty galleons each!" The imp chortled at its own words, clutching its sides with laughter. Poking Harry with its pitchfork, it glowered up at them.
"Forty galleons? That's ridiculous!" Harry protested. He had brought all the money he had saved from the year before, but even that was nowhere near enough to cover the charge of entering.
"Ridiculous?!" The Imp frowned; Harry's choice of words displeasing it. "Ridiculous?! ROGER is not RIDICULOUS! Roger is TREMENDOUSLY EVIL!" With that, the Imp stabbed Harry rather viciously in the foot. Luckily for Harry, not only was Roger tremendously evil but his pitchfork happened to be tremendously dull. Giving Harry an unpleasant leer, the Imp laughed louder than ever.
Cho who had now spied a group of five older wizards merely walk past the Imp into the building, glared at the Imp now. "How come you didn't charge them?"
"Oy! Don't try to change the subject!" The Imp snarled, snapping its teeth. "Forty galleons or your not getting in! Although you…petite can get a discount, if you know what mean.." The Imp wrapped one of it's wings around Fleur's leg.
"Oh..zee horrible creature!" Fleur shrieked, shaking her leg violently trying to dislodge the Imp.
"Stupefy!" A green light flashed, and the Imp was tossed back violently. It hit the wall of the building with a resounding thud, before slumping to the ground unconscious. Next to them, a tremendously large wizard hurried toward them wand out. Much wider than he was tall, Harry almost got the impression that he was looking at a small planet. Even Dudley couldn't compare to this man's size. The wizard looked down at the three of them, and then at Roger.
"Aye, me finally finds me Roger!" The wizard bellowed, swinging a fat arm towards the fallen Imp. Stuffing Roger into his robes, the wizard gave Fleur an apologetic look. "Sorry missy, Imps be hard 'nough ter control normally, but Roger be a bit of a troublemaker." Patting the pockets of his robe the wizard looked quizzically at the three. "'Ope he didn't cause you too much trouble now did he?"
"Zee Imp…" Fleur began angrily, brandishing her own wand at the large man. "Zee Imp izz very…"
"Bit o' a miscreant ain't he? Nothin' to be afraid of though, miss. Lookin' a bit delicate though you are….mighta touched some nerves eh?" With that, the wizard's great beard shook as he bellowed with laughter in front of Fleur, who was turning redder by the second. "Well..me broom be waitin'…" The man said before Fleur could retort, and with that, left.
Harry, who was curious to see what kind of broomstick, could possibly carry a man that large, was dragged into the building by Cho and Fleur. His thoughts about the man were soon forgotten, for he was inside one of the most spectacularly decorated and palatial rooms he had ever been in. It was as if all of the space in Hogwarts had been fitted into one room, and then stretched out just a little bit further. Colorful bowling pin designs were etched across the walls, and loud, raucous music was playing from every inch of the room, filling it with intense noise.
If Harry thought there were a lot of lights outside in the city, it didn't compare to what was inside. It was as if somebody with a lot of paint had gone berserk, and splattered the entire floor with a multitude of colors, that kept moving, so you were never quite sure where you were. Walking over to a unoccupied bowling alley besides a group of boisterous teenage wizards, who seemed to have taken an interest in Fleur, Cho and Harry stood there looking at each other, one apprehensive, the other awe-stricken at what he was seeing.
"So..would you like to bowl?" Cho said, smiling at him. "It's not all that different from Muggle bowling…"
Harry looked carefully. It didn't seem to be all that different from bowling. Not that the Dursley's had ever taken him, but one rainy day during school, he had been allowed to try his hand at it. The only difference seemed to be that the pins were all different sizes, and the ball was twitching. Used to magic now however, Harry noted with satisfaction that these things didn't surprise him as much as they would have before.
"Sure…" Harry grinned picking up a small, reddish-orange ball from its slot, which was decorated uncomfortably too realistically like a dragon's maw. Immediately, Harry was pulled so hard, he was yanked right off his feet. Sliding haphazardly down the lane, that turned out to be much longer than it looked, he finally sat on the ball and got it under his control. Hearing a familiar laugh behind him, he gritted his teeth, struggled with his ball, and turned around.
"What..is…so..funny?" Harry gasped, finding it hard to breathe.
"Nothing." Cho said, giving an impish smile.
I'll show her…Grabbing the ball, fueled with sudden righteous anger, Harry gave it his best toss down the lane. To his surprise, the ball flew faster than he could have possibly thrown it, bounced down three of the lanes, hit the ceiling, came back down, and bounced back into his lane, before utterly destroying all of the pins into tiny little pieces.
"Ha!" Harry said, panting with exhaustion. "I did it!" He didn't notice however, that quite a lot of people were staring at him, and Cho wasn't the only one laughing now.
"Um..sorry Harry, I should have explained the rules.." Cho said between bouts of laughter. "Your not..supposed to knock down any of the pins…"
"What?" Harry paused for a moment, confused. "But then…"
"Your supposed to miss them all, Harry." Cho grinned. "That's how wizards and witches play the game…I forgot that muggles do it the opposite way."
"That's not very hard though is it…missing them all.." Harry scoffed a bit. Shaking his head a bit at the absurdity of this, Harry walked back up to the ball slot, ignoring the amused look on Cho's face. "I mean..all you have to do is not try.."
Stalking back over to his lane, yellow-green ball struggling in his hands, he fumed as he heard Cho call out behind him.
"Sure you don't need any help now Harry?"
Biting back a sharp remark, Harry simply closed his eyes, and let go of the ball. Grinning as his opened them again, his expression soon turned to that of shocked disbelief. Instead of staying put like it should have, his ball had simply soared awry zigzagging down the lane. Making it easier for the ball, the pins moved and arranged themselves into one large circle and threw themselves at the ball. Before he could say Strike! he had knocked down all the pins once again.
Biting back another laugh, Cho couldn't help but notice how cute Harry looked standing there, hair all awry, looking as exasperated as he had ever looked. Stomping his foot on the ground, he stalked over to her, and she was careful not say a thing for fear of breaking out into peals of laughter. Finally, after a short silence, she grinned up at him.
"Well..it's not supposed to be easy…"
"You try it." Harry retorted, turning away from her.
Smiling to herself, she gave Harry a light pat on the back before clutching a small pink ball from the rack. Whispering to it, she relaxed. Concentrating as she stared at the pins, which had arranged into a circle once again, she let fly with more skill than strength and watched carefully. The ball dodged as pin after pin tried to sacrifice itself upon the ball's heavy weight, but Cho had been confident when throwing. She managed to miss all but one of the pins, which had desperately pushed one of its brother pins towards the ball as a diversion before being squashed itself.
Grinning up at Harry, Cho casually flipped her hair. Sitting down besides him now, she grinned even more widely, when she noticed that he still wasn't looking at her. Judging from his expression though, he had been watching.
"So…care for me to give you some free lessons?"
"Sure." Harry accepted sullenly as he again stood up.
Cho giggled. Oh this was going to be fun! Harry regained most of his cheerfulness when a vendor stopped by selling souvenirs. He had brought just enough to buy them both of them silly little hats shaped like bowling pins, which lit up and yelled Strruuuggggggannnnnooodle! on command.
Now both looking immensely silly with great big bowling pin hats on their heads, Cho had to smile at the both of them. Grabbing a ball from the rack, she motioned for Harry to do the same. Walking over to the lane, she concentrated once more. "The trick is.." she began "to do the exact opposite of what you would do in the Muggle World. You want it to be able to fool the pins. Throw the ball in a way so that it'll miss most of the pins..some wizards try zig-zags, others do little circles……" Just as she let go however, she was startled with a sudden flash of light, and a high pitched voice screaming Strruuuggggggannnnnooodle!
The ball she had just thrown soared past her, and without a moment's hesitation, smashed into each and every one of the pins. She spun around and looked at Harry, who was wearing a rather guilty smile on his face, putting his hat back on his head. "Um..it went off..on accident.."
Grabbing Harry by the hem of his robes, Cho pulled him close to her. "Really funny, Potter. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to cheat…" Suddenly conscious of how close they were to each other yet again, she stared at him, his emerald eyes making contact with her light brown ones. "Um…" She said, letting go suddenly. "You try it…"
Holding a tiny purple ball self-consciously close to him, Harry merely nodded. Following her instructions, he thought of a path that would carry his ball dangerously close to most of the pins, but not actually touching any of them.
Flashing Cho a overconfident smile, he walked over to the lane, and carefully rolled the ball. Falling flat onto the lane, it rolled forward for about three feet, before flying back into Harry's hand. Desperately, he tried to throw the ball down the lane, but unfortunately, the ball didn't want to let go. "Cho! I..I can't…" Harry began hearing peals of laughter behind him.
"Oh Harry…" Cho said. "Your so..hopeless…."
The rest of the evening was spent in much the same fashion.