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

9. Holiday for a Seeker

Shortly after that first game, Professor McGonagall began circulating the list for those who would be staying at Hogwarts through the Christmas holidays. Cho put her name down immediately to stay.

"Can't believe you love this drafty old place THAT much," Gurney Ingletor said the night before the holidays in the Common Room. Most of the First- Years were there, including the two cats, who had learned by now that they had the run of Ravenclaw House, but that the rest of Hogwarts could be rather dicey.

"Believe what you like, then," Cho smiled, "although I do love it here. The fact is, my parents will be out of town for the holidays. They're visiting China; their first time back in years."

"Why din't they want you along?" Jan asked, sitting on a sofa with her cat on her lap.

"I think they wanted to get the lay of the land. The Muggle government in China is a lot worse than England's for witches. Some times it's better than others, or so I gather. Anyway, Mummy said they were going to see some family, who I wouldn't know in any case, and they wanted to spend time with each other."

"'Spend time with each other', eh?" Giulio Grimaldi asked with raised eyebrows. "So what names do you fancy, Cho?"

"Names?"

"Sounds like you're going to be competing with a little brother or sister."

"Give it a rest," Vincent Krixlow said. "They don't need to travel halfway round the world just to put some scones in the oven."

The others laughed. Cho blushed Gryffindor crimson, but not just at what they were saying. She tried to work out how she was born, and what her parents would have to have done to bring that about. As a child she accepted the statement that she grew inside her mother as such; now, for the first time in her life, her imagination was filling in the gaps.

"Anyway, there's sure to be others staying here," Letitia said. "What about you, Raisa?"

The Iranian girl nodded. "My parents are also taking a trip. They are making what is called the 'Witches' Hajj.'"

"What's that, then?"

"A pilgrimage, visiting places mentioned in legends of the sorceress Scheherazade. What you call the 'Arabian Nights' is a history of some of the greatest magic of the East. The pilgrimage starts in Cairo, goes to Basra, Damascus, Baghdad."

"Baghdad, did you say?" Penny interrupted. She was up on the ladder retrieving a book on Mexican dragons; "something light" to read on vacation. "The Muggles are massing for a war there now! Is it safe, do you think?"

"Those lands have never been safe, for witches or Muggles. But my parents will have many powerful wizards with them on the Hajj. They'll be protected."

"Well, you two can keep the Grey Lady company for the hols, but I have to get back to the Smoke," Diana Fairweather said. "My parents are taking me to see a Muggle play in the West End, and Ignosius at the Really Old Vic." Enflammus Ignosius was the greatest wizarding playwright of the Elizabethan period, and his rollicking comedy "Fetch Me Familiar Off Yon Muggle's Roof" was his best-loved work. "I just don't know how the faculty can stand it, living up here month after month."

Vincent stretched his feet toward the fireplace. "No doubt Hogsmeade has its compensating attractions. Any of you been yet?"

"We can't go unless we're Third-Year; you know that," Libby Foggly said.

Giulio started whistling tunelessly and examining his fingernails.

"Wouldn't put it past yeh ter sneak over; nor Vincent neither. Tryin' ter compete wi' the Weasley Twins, are ye?" Jan picked Coriander up off the sofa, and the two of them went up to the dorm.

The others seemed by one consent also to want to go up to their dorms to finish packing. They'd be taking an early train to get back into London while there was still a little daylight.

"Cho?"

It was Penny, just stepping down from the ladder. They were the only two in the Common Room now.

"So you'll be here over the break?"

"I'd be home alone if I went back to Diagon Alley. Besides, I thought I should experience this place over Christmas at least once."

"Well, you won't exactly be alone, you know." Penny looked around before she spoke again. "The Quidditch team is staying over."

"What, all of them?"

Penny nodded. "Roger and Mackie were a little upset about the loss to Slytherin."

"And well they should be! They could have won easily, but they let Slytherin scare them off."

"That's Flint's doing."

"No, it's our fault, because we let them scare us. If they want the Cup, they'll have to risk a few bumps."

"Cho," Penny giggled, a bit frightened by Cho's passionate outburst, "it's only a game."

"That's certainly the way they play it. They should be more serious."

"All I meant to say was that they'll be around over the break, and you might want to stay out of their way."

"Not to worry, Penny. I don't want to bother them-at least, not until I'm on the team."

xxx

On Christmas morning, Cho woke up to the sight of presents at the foot of her bed. She hadn't been sure that her parents would send anything at all.

She looked over at Raisa's bed; the drapes were still shut. Cho went down to the edge of the bed and looked at the top of her trunk. There were several small parcels there, plus a small box with a larger envelope, on which was written, "Open This First!".

Cho opened it and found a letter inside:

"Happy Christmas Cho!

This will be the first Christmas we have ever spent apart. I realize that it was not possible this year, but I wish you could be with us in China; seeing this land and meeting its people-even the Muggles-would tell you more about your family and your heritage than I ever could in words. Besides, I'm sure that there are interesting things to do at school."

Oh, very interesting, thought Cho, if you don't mind writing a ten-scroll essay for Binns on the Spanish Inquisition.

"As to your gift this year: we are giving you something you cannot yet have. These last few weeks we have sent numerous owls to your Madam Hooch and Headmaster Dumbledore. They both assured us that what we wanted to do is highly irregular, but they both also had to admit that your abilities as a flier could not be denied.

Madam Hooch tells us that you have done all of your training on a used Comet 260, and that you and the broom seem to bring out the best in each other. Continue using that broom and, when your First Year is over, the broom shall be yours."

Cho couldn't help it; she shrieked with joy. She re-read the paragraph, clutching the letter as tightly as if it were the broom.

Raisa poked her head through the curtains. "Are you all right?"

Cho rushed over to Raisa's bed. "It's wonderful! A broom! I'm getting my own broom!"

"But you're a First-Year."

"I don't get to keep it until the year is up, but it's going to be mine! Really mine!"

"Congratulations!" Raisa beamed, before ducking her head back behind the bed-curtains.

Cho practically bounced back to her bed, then realized she hadn't finished reading the letter:

"Of course, we don't have to tell you that a great deal of responsibility comes with owning one's own broom. We consider you mature enough to shoulder the responsibility, to fly properly and safely, to provide proper maintenance et cetera. Toward that end, we have enclosed a few other trifling gifts. However, as your parents, we still must reserve the right to call you to account if you grow reckless or neglectful of your broom."

That was her mother exactly, Cho sighed. The only person on earth who could give you a gift and slap you with it at the same time. She unwrapped the other gifts from home, finding a broom maintenance kit and several books on Quidditch, including (Cho had to laugh out loud) "The Broom Gets All the Credit."

xxx

Christmas Dinner was a wonder at Hogwarts. The food was marvelous and never-ending, the company was magical and entertaining. Professor Flitwick was even more giddy than usual. One of Cho's Christmas crackers exploded in a silent cloud of swallows, who fluttered about the dozen massive decorated trees throughout the Great Hall. Another popped open to reveal a magnificent lacquered hair-comb.

When she got back to her dormitory, hours after the banquet had begun, she set her gifts down on her trunk with the others. She had eaten carefully, sampling everything but gorging on nothing (well, only one or two things). She had to make allowances for her final present, which she could only use the next day. Excitedly she re-read the letter for the tenth time:

"Now that you have your broom and all this time over the holidays, it would be a shame not to put both to good use. Please wait until Boxing Day to use what's in the box, and bear in mind that the entire Ravenclaw team has elected to stay for the holidays. Be sure to set a good example to the boys and don't keep all the equipment for yourself. I'm spending the holiday in Majorca, but I expect to see some progress when I get back in the New Year.

Hooch"

In the box were two keys. She recognized them both-one was to Hooch's office, the other to the Quidditch equipment.

xxx

Snow started falling before dawn on the 26th and was still falling after the noon hour. Roger Davies and Mackie Culligan, who had seen Cho Chang at the Christmas dinner but sat with the team, didn't see Cho at lunch, and were glad not to be bothered with her any more than necessary.

As they walked to the Quidditch Stadium a little past one, they realized that the wind had picked up and the snow was falling harder.

"No practicing in this weather," Culligan sighed. "Let's go back an' tell the lads."

"Hold up!" Roger's eye had caught that the door to Madam Hooch's office was slightly ajar. He ran in to investigate-or ran as fast as the drifts would let him. A few minutes later he came back to Culligan. "We've been robbed! The Quidditch."

Mackie held up a hand to silence him, then pointed Roger toward the Astronomy Tower.

They could see a small lone witch flying patterns around the tower.

"Your thief, I think."

"What's she playing at?!"

"I think it's called Quidditch," Mackie answered drily.

"In all of this?! She's mad!"

"She'll be happy to hear you tell her. Off with you, then, boyo."

"Mackie! I don't want to deal with her."

"Well, somebody has to and it's my decision who, innit?"

"Do I have to bring it all back here?"

"No; just make sure she does."

So Roger Davies made his way through the snow back to Hogwarts, then all the way up to the Astronomy Tower. He was fairly winded when he opened the hatch to the tower's platform. There, quite literally frolicking through the air on a Comet 260, was Cho Chang. The chest of equipment was up there, and he noticed that only the Snitch was missing.

"What are you doing here?!" Roger called out to her.

"Practicing!"

"You took the equipment!"

"Madam Hooch said it was all right! Read the letter!"

Roger noticed a parchment in Hooch's handwriting, allowing Cho to use the equipment on Boxing Day. "You'll put it all back, though?"

"When I'm done!"

"And when is that?"

"In another hour."

"How long have you been up here?"

"Since ten!"

"You mean you've been out here three hours?!"

Cho suddenly turned to the right and swiped her hand through seemingly empty air. When she landed on the platform, it was with the Golden Snitch in her hand. "Sorry; lost track of the time."

"Why are you doing all this?"

Cho ran to the edge of the tower and climbed onto the parapet. She straddled her broom, threw the Snitch straight up as hard as she could, and joyfully yelled back over the wind to Roger: "BECAUSE I'M GOING TO BE A SEEKER!" Then she stepped off of the parapet, allowing the updraft to carry her toward the Snitch.

Roger simply shook his head as he went down the steps back to Hogwarts. "Or maybe," he said to himself, "you'll catch pneumonia out there and save the rest of us a lot of trouble."

xxx

to be continued in part 10, wherein Peeves plays a very rude trick, Cho sings a very moving song, and Professor Quirrell teaches a very important lesson.