OR DIE TRYING: THE STORY OF CHO CHANG

By monkeymouse

NB: JKRowling built the Potterverse; I'm just redecorating one of the rooms.

Rated: PG-13

Spoilers: Everything

3. Second Family, Second Home

At one point during the dinner, ghosts started appearing in the Great Hall, passing by (and through) the various tables-except for Ravenclaw.

"Where's our ghost, then?" asked one First-Year girl with a heavy Lake District accent.

Penny never stopped eating as she explained, "She hardly ever takes part in a show like this. You'll met her later, I'm sure."

Her? Cho and the other First-Years now noticed that the ghosts were predominantly male-a medieval monk here, an Elizabethan courtier there. Having a female ghost might be interesting.

Finally, with the meal over and the dirty dishes gone as quickly as the filled ones had arrived, Professor McGonagall rose. "Time to return to your Houses for the evening. All First-Years will stay seated and wait for the Prefects to show you the way to your Houses. It is truly a bad idea to try to find your way through Hogwarts on your own on the first day." The older students left, Penny smiling and waving again at Cho on her way out of the Great Hall.

A dark-haired, dark-skinned girl with a Prefects badge rose. "Right. I'll take you to Ravenclaw House in a minute. My name is Nita Paramenides, and they made me Prefect because I tricked 'em into thinking I had all the answers." There were scattered laughs among the First-Years. "Seriously, though, if you're having trouble with getting used to the place, whether it's the homework or the ghosts or being so far from home, just knock on my door. I'll help whatever way I can."

One of the first-year boys, Giulio Grimaldi, piped up: "Can you help me lose my virginity?"

"All I can do is wish you luck, mate," Nita answered back; "been trying to lose my own for years." The whole table was laughing now. "That reminds me; you First-Years better get used to something right now. There's damn little privacy in Hogwarts. Elves and ghosts are likely to pop up, right through the wall sometimes, and the pictures talk back to you, and every hearth is plugged into the Floo network. If you try to get away with anything--well, trust me, you won't.

"Speaking of no privacy, I'll take you to Ravenclaw and show you where you'll kip for the next seven years. Come on."

A dozen First-Years trailed along behind Nita, looking (Cho thought) like a parade of ducklings behind their mother. After what seemed a good half- mile walk up stairs and down corridors, they came to a massive tapestry that ran from the floor to the ceiling ten feet above them. It was in the style of an Italian Renaissance painting, and showed the goddess Athena with an owl perched on her shoulder.

"Most Houses have one password protecting them. So does Ravenclaw, plus a bit more besides. When you get to this point, you say the password. It changes every week, and this week it's." With that, Nita turned to the tapestry and raised her voice: "STRIGIFORMUS!"

With that, a corner of the tapestry curled itself back to reveal a short flight of stairs descending into the castle. The First-Years followed Nita down the stairs.

"Excuse me," one of the students asked, "but what was that password again?"

"Strigiformus; the biological order which includes owls. Sometimes we make the password a bit more complicated than necessary, but it'll keep you on your toes."

They had reached the base of the stairs, where the hallway was blocked by a bookcase.

"This is our second barrier, and after tonight you really won't have to worry about it. I want you all to take one of your books. I don't mean a schoolbook; I mean something you brought along to read just for the pure pleasure of reading it." Cho looked around; the other First-Years were simply nodding their heads. Nobody seemed to want to say that they hadn't brought such a book on the trip. Maybe that's how they know you're for Ravenclaw, she thought.

"When you get up to the dormitory, you'll see a card by your bed, like a library card. Sign your name to the card, put the card in the book, then remember to leave the book in the bookcase when you go down to breakfast in the morning. Once you've done that, all you have to do is touch the spine of your book to open the case when you want to get in. There's no passwords or anything about getting out. And you can change books at any time; several times a day if you like. Only remember to keep that card in whatever book you use."

Nita turned and touched the spine of a book whose title and author were written in Greek characters. At once, the bookcase slid to the side, like the automatic door at some Muggle shops. They all followed Nita inside, while trying to read some of the titles in the bookcase and maybe understand what kind of House they had been Sorted into.

All that speculation stopped when they entered the Ravenclaw Common Room. Cho just stood there, her mouth open, as she looked around a room that seemed almost as big as the Great Hall. There was a large fireplace--big enough to stand up in--with a fire that blazed brightly. On either side of the hearth were staircases, which Nita explained separated the boys dorms (left) from the girls (right). On the opposite wall a large bay window looked out over the grounds.

And everywhere: books. All the walls were lined with bookcases, right up to the ceiling. One student was even floating six feet above the floor on an enchanted ladder to reach a book on a top shelf. Books were piled up on tables, stacked in corners, lying open on divans or plush chairs, taking up all the available space on the window-sills. There were hundreds of books in the Common Room, yet none of them looked shabby or ill-used. Whoever had read them did so with respect, and even with affection.

"Hullo Roger!"

Nita had called out to the young man on the ladder; he grabbed the book he was looking for, and the ladder floated back to the floor. He was good- looking in a rugged, outdoors sort of way. Cho thought that he looked just the way a Quidditch player should look, with a face that was tanned and a little leathery, and hair bleached a shade or two lighter by hours in the summer sun tossing the Quaffle.

"Everyone, this is Roger Davies. He's Third-Year but he's just been named House Quidditch Co-Captain. Of course, you don't have to worry about that yet."

Without even thinking about it, Cho left the others and walked up to him, her hand out to shake Roger's. "I'm Cho Chang, and I'm going out for Seeker."

He didn't make a move toward shaking her hand; he simply held onto the book he'd gotten-a book about the Chudley Cannons team-gave a half-smile and said, "Got no openings at present, but thanks anyway." Then he turned on his heel and went up to his dormitory.

"Don't mind Roger; he's not usually that rude. Probably took one Bludger too many to the head over the summer." Everyone laughed but Cho; she kept staring at the stairs he'd just gone up, almost willing him to come back down so that she could prove herself.

She caught her own thoughts with a start. Is that what I want: to prove myself? Is that what the Hat meant? How would it know.?

She was brought out of her reverie by the rest of her class going up to their dormitories; Cho ran to catch up with the girls.

On the stairwell they passed a ghost: a very beautiful woman with ancient clothing and a melancholy expression on her face.

"Everyone, this is Ravenclaw's resident ghost. She's known simply as the Grey Lady. These are the First-Year girls, ma'am."

The ghost seemed to look into the eyes of all six new girls at once; Cho felt as if thin fingers were sorting through her thoughts, looking for something important. After a few seconds, the ghost turned wordlessly and glided down the stairs.

"She never says a word," Nita was saying, "and nobody knows her real name. I've often wondered about her story, but I've never been able to find out anything." She continued back up the stairs, followed by Cho and the others.

They found themselves in a large circular room at the top of the stairs with six four-poster beds. Each bed was on a platform slightly raised off of the floor, and was hung with heavy brocaded curtains. There was a pot- bellied stove in the center of the room; it wasn't connected up to anything, and Cho guessed that during the winter it would provide heat without needing to burn any fuel. Beside each bed was a writing-desk and a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. One door led to the lavatory that served the whole suite.

The animals were on their owners' beds, and they had been causing a bit of a commotion. There were, after all, four owls and two cats. One of the cats-pure black with luminous golden eyes-was growling at the screeching birds.

"Pywacket!" scolded the cat's owner. "You'd better behave if you don't want me to send you back home!"

Cho moved Quan Yin to her writing-desk and started to unpack her trunk. "Are the owls supposed to live with us, then?"

"If ye want yers to, I s'pose, but I don't think it's a good ideer," the owner of the other cat said. She picked up her animal-a seal-gray short- tailed Manx-and tossed it out the door and onto the stairs. "She'll be friendlier once she's done her business. My name's Jane, but ever'body calls me Jan."

"I'm Cho Chang; just Cho is fine. Where do the owls go?"

"The Owl'ry. Got a whole flock o' school owls, plus the ones people bring. I brought me cat Coriander fer company, mos'ly. If my family wants ter send mail, they got their own owls."

"Why do they call you Jan?"

"My initials. Jane Austen Nugginbridge. How 'bout you-yer name mean anythin' in English?"

"It actually means several things, depending on how you write it. I always say it means 'string of coral beads.'"

"Aw, that's pretty. Ye're not from China, then?"

"Never been, but my parents were born there. You're from the Isle of Man?"

"Yeh," Jan said sheepishly. "Between the cat and the way I speak, it's a bit of a giveaway."

There was a sudden scratching and yowling at the door. Jan ran to let Coriander back in. The Manx leapt into the room, sprang onto Jan's bed and cowered angrily in a far corner.

"Forgot to warn you," Nita said. "The custodian, Argus Filch, has a cat named Mrs. Norris, and they're both pretty bad customers. Mrs. Norris usually roams the halls at night; best keep your cat in the dorm after dinner."

Cho was the last to go to sleep that night. She stayed up an hour past the other girls, brushing out her hair and writing out a lengthy scroll for her parents telling about the train trip and her first day. As she tied the scroll to Quan Yin's foot, she looked the owl in the face, as if for the first time.

"Hurry back, Quan Yin," she said, "and don't be afraid. This is our new home."

The owl flapped off into the night. Cho turned to look at the darkened bedroom, lit only by moonlight, with curtains drawn on all the beds but her own.

In amazement she repeated to herself, barely above a whisper: "This is home."

xxx

To be continued in part 4, wherein Cho has the worst day of her young life at the hands of the worst teacher in the entire school; but help and a close friend come to the rescue.