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
xxx
8. How You Play the Game
Everyone at Hogwarts always attended the Quidditch matches. It was a chance to watch some quick and skillful flying; it was a way of connecting with the wizarding world through the very sport that defined it; it was a thrilling way to watch young people in their prime test themselves to the limit.
It was also a way to skive off doing one's homework for a few more hours, but this was a given. It was also a given that, apart from homework, there was precious little else to do at Hogwarts. Visits to the nearby village of Hogsmeade were limited to Third-Years and older, and then only on certain days. Some students with common interests might band together to form clubs, but while these weren't officially sanctioned by Dumbledore and the faculty, they were at best tolerated, and they started up and died out rather quickly. And, as Nita had warned the Ravenclaw First-Years, there was always someone or something about to get in the way of a student in search of privacy. So Quidditch, apart from the attractions it held in its own right, was a popular, almost compulsory, part of life at Hogwarts.
Cho woke up on the morning of November 8, 1990 perhaps more anxious than anyone else at the school to watch the match. She was the first one out of bed, the first one to the Great Hall, the first one to finish what was a very light breakfast in any case, and the first one out to the Quidditch stadium. Of course, she had her own reason to be there: her weekly lessons with Madam Hooch.
Hooch was, as Cho's parents had found out, a thoroughgoing and highly professional flier. She didn't suffer any nonsense from the students in classes or on the pitch. She didn't approve of the Falmouth Falcons' tendency to add mayhem to the game. The pride of her pre-Hogwarts life was to play for two seasons with the Montrose Magpies, the same team that featured the great Seeker and Cho's idol Eunice Murray.
Of course, there's a limited number of moves one can perform all alone, but each Saturday morning Hooch would lay them out and Cho would fly them. By now, her flying was nearly flawless. So they also started talking strategy.
"Has it ever happened that the Snitch hides amongst the spectators?"
"More often than they like to tell, and you can't exactly expel a member of the crowd for Nipping. Although, usually, by the time a referee catches onto what's happened, the Snitch is out of the stands and back in play."
"Hard to imagine what a Seeker's supposed to do."
"Mostly, you try not to get Bludgered. That's the best time to go after a Seeker; when they're sitting and waiting for the Snitch to show itself. It's one thing if you're still Seeking; you're always on the move. If you ever stop, you're fair game."
"Do you think we could add some Bludgers to my practices, then?"
"You're very brave to suggest that, but I wouldn't want to do that just yet. Mostly, I'd need to find a Beater I could trust. I don't think we could enlist anyone who plays on a House team."
Cho thought about William Becksnee and Harry "Jinx" Jenkins, the two Ravenclaw Beaters. They were Fourth-Year and she heard that they had some solid experience, but she knew that they also believed in the tradition of "no girls on the Ravenclaw team".
"Maybe I can talk to a Reserve," Hooch was saying to herself; "they don't get to play much. Then there's faculty; I've heard Snape was quite a Beater in his younger days." Cho must have turned visibly pale, because Hooch smiled. "No fear, Cho. I wouldn't put you up against him. I'll think about it and let you know next week. That's all for now. Sorry to cut it short, but there's the game to prepare for."
Cho dashed back up to Ravenclaw for a quick wash and a fresh set of robes; then, she and her dorm mates were off to their first Hogwarts match.
They sat among other Ravenclaws; Cho was between Jan and Penny Clearwater, who she'd only been able to talk to a handful of times since the first day. The weather was perfect; just cool enough, with a few light clouds to keep the sun from blinding the players and spectators.
This year's Best Boy, a Hufflepuff named Harry Seagoon, amplified his voice in order to address the stadium:
"Good day, all, and welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year. The defending champions, Slytherin House, will be sending their seven against the team from Ravenclaw House. Both teams are a mix of the seasoned and new faces brought in off of the reserves, so it should certainly be an interesting match."
Cho thought that Seagoon sounded anything but interested. He was trying to affect the vaguely bored, hushed style of Muggle announcers of games such as golf or cricket, and he was doing far too good a job of it.
"The teams are now assembled on the field. Defending champs Slytherin in the green, led by Chaser Marcus Flint. In the blue is Ravenclaw, under Seeker Macarthur Culligan. They approach Madam Hooch, the Captains shake hands and -oh my, that was not a conventional handshake at all. Flint almost Cobbed Culligan with an elbow to the ribs during the handshake. Most irregular, but since the game hasn't started yet, I suppose that all's fair. Madam Hooch has the whistle to her lips, and ."
The game began.
xxx
It ended forty-eight minutes later with Terrence Higgs catching the Snitch for Slytherin. The final score was 400 to 290.
Jan had been bouncing up and down with excitement during most of the game, and Penny yelled herself nearly hoarse. Cho sat there, staring silently at the play, trying to keep track of the Golden Snitch as well as the players.
The Ravenclaw girls walked back to the castle as a group, mostly chattering about the game. When Jan tried to ask Cho about it, though, Cho would simply nod, agree with whatever Jan was saying, then change the subject. After lunch, Cho excused herself, saying that she had to finish up a report for Binns. She walked to the tapestry, said the password ("Mandragora"), and went up to the dorm. Raisa was just leaving to go to lunch; they smiled at each other as they passed on the stairs. This was considered progress.
Cho went to her writing-desk, and started writing on a fresh piece of parchment:
"Dear Mummy and Daddy,
Most of this letter will be about Quidditch. If you wish to stop reading it now and destroy it, I wouldn't object. But I have to talk to someone about what I've just seen, and I really have no one here whom I could tell what I am about to tell you.
I just got back from watching my first Hogwarts Quidditch match, and it was a COMPLETE and TOTAL PILE OF RUBBISH!! I'm sorry to be so blunt about it, but there's simply no other way to describe accurately what just happened.
The teams were from Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Both teams had some talented players, but both teams also had a couple of placeholders who could have been taken out of the game and never missed.
I don't know whether to be angry at the Slytherins or sad for them. They have some talent, and have apparently tried to cultivate it. Unfortunately, they seem to feel that they cannot have a victory without using every foul and trick they know to get to it. It started when the Slytherin Captain tried to injure the Ravenclaw Captain during the handshake, and it just got worse from there.
The team from my own House was far more ethical and no less skilled, but they didn't make the best use of the talent they had. I counted three opportunities when our Seeker could have gotten the Snitch, but instead allowed himself to be frightened off by a Bludger or an oncoming Chaser. Our Chasers were competent, and we were ahead on points when Slytherin caught the Snitch, but they also allowed themselves to be cowed at times and missed chances to run up the score. Our Keeper, named Davies, pretty much carried the team for most of the hour. Unfortunately, he was stuck in his position, and ought to be made a Chaser.
Mummy, Daddy, I remember your feelings about my playing Quidditch, and you may be wondering again why I am boring you with all of this detail. Unfortunately, there is no one else here to talk to about it. I still mean to try for the team next year, so it wouldn't do me much good to walk up to the Captain now and say, 'Here's a list of everything you're doing wrong'. In fact, I did something rather like that when I first got here, and have since learned that sometimes I am better off holding my tongue. Does it surprise you, Mummy, that your "impertinent little Horse" is learning discretion as well as Charms and Potions and Flying?
If I haven't done it lately, I thank you again for sending me to Hogwarts, and thus giving me a chance to see the world through the eyes of hundreds of other witches and wizards my own age. If I had stayed in London or in Diagon Alley, I might have learned some of what I now know about the academic subjects here. However, I should have missed out on lessons that cannot be taught in a book: lessons about cooperation and friendship, lessons about life in the greater world. I sometimes wonder, during the days and nights when I am studying or writing out assignments or gazing at the stars or dining with friends, whether some day I shall step off of the train at King's Cross and I shall have changed so much that you would not recognize me. But I don't think that day shall ever come. Even if you are riding clouds and I am riding a broom, we will surely know each other if we meet in the sky.
Write when you can.
Cho"
She took the letter up to the Owlery. Ravenclaw was the House closest to the Owlery, as if the Founders knew which House would make the most use of it. She found Quan Yin preening herself with her bill. She stopped when Cho entered, and waited patiently while Cho tied the scroll to her leg. A momentary nod, much like a Chinese bow, and Quan Yin was off, flying toward London.
xxx
to be continued in part 9, wherein Cho decides what to do about the holidays, but didn't count on Roger Davies being part of those plans.
By monkeymouse
NB: JKRowling built the Potterverse; I'm just redecorating one of the rooms.
Rated: PG-13
Spoilers: Everything
xxx
8. How You Play the Game
Everyone at Hogwarts always attended the Quidditch matches. It was a chance to watch some quick and skillful flying; it was a way of connecting with the wizarding world through the very sport that defined it; it was a thrilling way to watch young people in their prime test themselves to the limit.
It was also a way to skive off doing one's homework for a few more hours, but this was a given. It was also a given that, apart from homework, there was precious little else to do at Hogwarts. Visits to the nearby village of Hogsmeade were limited to Third-Years and older, and then only on certain days. Some students with common interests might band together to form clubs, but while these weren't officially sanctioned by Dumbledore and the faculty, they were at best tolerated, and they started up and died out rather quickly. And, as Nita had warned the Ravenclaw First-Years, there was always someone or something about to get in the way of a student in search of privacy. So Quidditch, apart from the attractions it held in its own right, was a popular, almost compulsory, part of life at Hogwarts.
Cho woke up on the morning of November 8, 1990 perhaps more anxious than anyone else at the school to watch the match. She was the first one out of bed, the first one to the Great Hall, the first one to finish what was a very light breakfast in any case, and the first one out to the Quidditch stadium. Of course, she had her own reason to be there: her weekly lessons with Madam Hooch.
Hooch was, as Cho's parents had found out, a thoroughgoing and highly professional flier. She didn't suffer any nonsense from the students in classes or on the pitch. She didn't approve of the Falmouth Falcons' tendency to add mayhem to the game. The pride of her pre-Hogwarts life was to play for two seasons with the Montrose Magpies, the same team that featured the great Seeker and Cho's idol Eunice Murray.
Of course, there's a limited number of moves one can perform all alone, but each Saturday morning Hooch would lay them out and Cho would fly them. By now, her flying was nearly flawless. So they also started talking strategy.
"Has it ever happened that the Snitch hides amongst the spectators?"
"More often than they like to tell, and you can't exactly expel a member of the crowd for Nipping. Although, usually, by the time a referee catches onto what's happened, the Snitch is out of the stands and back in play."
"Hard to imagine what a Seeker's supposed to do."
"Mostly, you try not to get Bludgered. That's the best time to go after a Seeker; when they're sitting and waiting for the Snitch to show itself. It's one thing if you're still Seeking; you're always on the move. If you ever stop, you're fair game."
"Do you think we could add some Bludgers to my practices, then?"
"You're very brave to suggest that, but I wouldn't want to do that just yet. Mostly, I'd need to find a Beater I could trust. I don't think we could enlist anyone who plays on a House team."
Cho thought about William Becksnee and Harry "Jinx" Jenkins, the two Ravenclaw Beaters. They were Fourth-Year and she heard that they had some solid experience, but she knew that they also believed in the tradition of "no girls on the Ravenclaw team".
"Maybe I can talk to a Reserve," Hooch was saying to herself; "they don't get to play much. Then there's faculty; I've heard Snape was quite a Beater in his younger days." Cho must have turned visibly pale, because Hooch smiled. "No fear, Cho. I wouldn't put you up against him. I'll think about it and let you know next week. That's all for now. Sorry to cut it short, but there's the game to prepare for."
Cho dashed back up to Ravenclaw for a quick wash and a fresh set of robes; then, she and her dorm mates were off to their first Hogwarts match.
They sat among other Ravenclaws; Cho was between Jan and Penny Clearwater, who she'd only been able to talk to a handful of times since the first day. The weather was perfect; just cool enough, with a few light clouds to keep the sun from blinding the players and spectators.
This year's Best Boy, a Hufflepuff named Harry Seagoon, amplified his voice in order to address the stadium:
"Good day, all, and welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year. The defending champions, Slytherin House, will be sending their seven against the team from Ravenclaw House. Both teams are a mix of the seasoned and new faces brought in off of the reserves, so it should certainly be an interesting match."
Cho thought that Seagoon sounded anything but interested. He was trying to affect the vaguely bored, hushed style of Muggle announcers of games such as golf or cricket, and he was doing far too good a job of it.
"The teams are now assembled on the field. Defending champs Slytherin in the green, led by Chaser Marcus Flint. In the blue is Ravenclaw, under Seeker Macarthur Culligan. They approach Madam Hooch, the Captains shake hands and -oh my, that was not a conventional handshake at all. Flint almost Cobbed Culligan with an elbow to the ribs during the handshake. Most irregular, but since the game hasn't started yet, I suppose that all's fair. Madam Hooch has the whistle to her lips, and ."
The game began.
xxx
It ended forty-eight minutes later with Terrence Higgs catching the Snitch for Slytherin. The final score was 400 to 290.
Jan had been bouncing up and down with excitement during most of the game, and Penny yelled herself nearly hoarse. Cho sat there, staring silently at the play, trying to keep track of the Golden Snitch as well as the players.
The Ravenclaw girls walked back to the castle as a group, mostly chattering about the game. When Jan tried to ask Cho about it, though, Cho would simply nod, agree with whatever Jan was saying, then change the subject. After lunch, Cho excused herself, saying that she had to finish up a report for Binns. She walked to the tapestry, said the password ("Mandragora"), and went up to the dorm. Raisa was just leaving to go to lunch; they smiled at each other as they passed on the stairs. This was considered progress.
Cho went to her writing-desk, and started writing on a fresh piece of parchment:
"Dear Mummy and Daddy,
Most of this letter will be about Quidditch. If you wish to stop reading it now and destroy it, I wouldn't object. But I have to talk to someone about what I've just seen, and I really have no one here whom I could tell what I am about to tell you.
I just got back from watching my first Hogwarts Quidditch match, and it was a COMPLETE and TOTAL PILE OF RUBBISH!! I'm sorry to be so blunt about it, but there's simply no other way to describe accurately what just happened.
The teams were from Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Both teams had some talented players, but both teams also had a couple of placeholders who could have been taken out of the game and never missed.
I don't know whether to be angry at the Slytherins or sad for them. They have some talent, and have apparently tried to cultivate it. Unfortunately, they seem to feel that they cannot have a victory without using every foul and trick they know to get to it. It started when the Slytherin Captain tried to injure the Ravenclaw Captain during the handshake, and it just got worse from there.
The team from my own House was far more ethical and no less skilled, but they didn't make the best use of the talent they had. I counted three opportunities when our Seeker could have gotten the Snitch, but instead allowed himself to be frightened off by a Bludger or an oncoming Chaser. Our Chasers were competent, and we were ahead on points when Slytherin caught the Snitch, but they also allowed themselves to be cowed at times and missed chances to run up the score. Our Keeper, named Davies, pretty much carried the team for most of the hour. Unfortunately, he was stuck in his position, and ought to be made a Chaser.
Mummy, Daddy, I remember your feelings about my playing Quidditch, and you may be wondering again why I am boring you with all of this detail. Unfortunately, there is no one else here to talk to about it. I still mean to try for the team next year, so it wouldn't do me much good to walk up to the Captain now and say, 'Here's a list of everything you're doing wrong'. In fact, I did something rather like that when I first got here, and have since learned that sometimes I am better off holding my tongue. Does it surprise you, Mummy, that your "impertinent little Horse" is learning discretion as well as Charms and Potions and Flying?
If I haven't done it lately, I thank you again for sending me to Hogwarts, and thus giving me a chance to see the world through the eyes of hundreds of other witches and wizards my own age. If I had stayed in London or in Diagon Alley, I might have learned some of what I now know about the academic subjects here. However, I should have missed out on lessons that cannot be taught in a book: lessons about cooperation and friendship, lessons about life in the greater world. I sometimes wonder, during the days and nights when I am studying or writing out assignments or gazing at the stars or dining with friends, whether some day I shall step off of the train at King's Cross and I shall have changed so much that you would not recognize me. But I don't think that day shall ever come. Even if you are riding clouds and I am riding a broom, we will surely know each other if we meet in the sky.
Write when you can.
Cho"
She took the letter up to the Owlery. Ravenclaw was the House closest to the Owlery, as if the Founders knew which House would make the most use of it. She found Quan Yin preening herself with her bill. She stopped when Cho entered, and waited patiently while Cho tied the scroll to her leg. A momentary nod, much like a Chinese bow, and Quan Yin was off, flying toward London.
xxx
to be continued in part 9, wherein Cho decides what to do about the holidays, but didn't count on Roger Davies being part of those plans.
