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 (The contents of this chapter may be considered unsuitable by some persons)

Spoilers: Everything

xxx

15. "How Wonderful."

The next day, Cho Chang awoke in the hospital wing from a dreamless sleep still feeling groggy. The first thing she did was roll up her left sleeve. She breathed a sigh of relief; there wasn't even a scar from the compound fracture. She then gingerly touched her rib cage, and seemed satisfied that Madam Pomfrey had done all that she promised. Her bones were properly mended. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was . wrong, somehow. An acrid smell hit her nose; a smell she couldn't place.

Cho threw back the bedclothes-

and screamed.

Madam Pomfrey rushed into the infirmary to see an hysterical, shivering Cho Chang crawling backwards up the mattress, away from a large dark spot on the bed.

"You missed something!" Cho was shouting. "I'm still hurt! I'm bleeding to death!"

Poppy Pomfrey didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She'd seen this happen so many times, each and every year. What can modern witches be THINKING? How dare they send their daughters off so unprepared? Well, she thought, I don't know about Chinese witches; maybe they're not supposed to talk about it, but still.

Aloud she said, smiling, "Yes, dear, you're bleeding, but not to death. Your mother's explained all this to you, hasn't she?"

"My mother?"

"Of course. Your menarche. Fertility, all that."

"Oh. Yes, of course. I just . forgot. The broken bones and all; I guess I just panicked. Feel a proper fool now."

Pomfrey could tell that Cho was bluffing. "That's all right then. Go and clean yourself up; I'll tend to the bed. And, Miss Chang, I do have a couple of special scrolls, just in case you need to refresh your memory."

"I'd . I'd like that. Thank you, Madam Pomfrey."

Cho knew that Pomfrey knew that Cho didn't know what was happening; she felt her cheeks start to burn. She jumped out of bed and ran to the lavatory, locking the door behind her. First things first: a bath. What about a new nightgown? Yes; the infirmary had some on a shelf next to the tub. But then what? She'd better read those scrolls.

During her bath she noticed, for the first time, hair starting to grow in her armpits. She'd asked her mother about that one time, as a child years ago, when her parents were getting ready to spend an evening out with a client of daddy's. "Mummy, will I have hair like that?"

"Yes, dear, when you're older."

Well, Cho thought with a bit of a jolt, I guess it's official: I'm older.

She looked down at her boyish body in the bath. Nothing much else seemed to have changed, except her nipples. They seemed to have swollen overnight to almost twice their ordinary size, and were very sensitive to the touch. Is this normal, she wondered; will they stay like that? I'd really better look at those scrolls from Madam Pomfrey.

An hour later, having taken those scrolls through an empty Common Room (the others being at lunch) up to her dormitory room in Ravenclaw and read through them all, she was writing a letter home:

"Dear Mummy:

Sorry to have to change my plans so suddenly, but I will be coming back to Diagon Alley for the Christmas holidays. Something has happened and I need to talk to you about it. (Don't worry, it's nothing awful.) Expect me on the 20th.

Cho"

Just as she was rolling up the scroll to give to Quan Yin, Jan and Letitia came in talking about a battle that had almost taken place between Coriander and Mrs. Norris.

"Cho! Wot're yeh doin' here?"

"Madam Pomfrey said it was all right to come back."

"Now it won't be a surprise, but we'll still get something special together for you tonight. We all want to talk to you about what just happened."

Cho's cheeks started burning again. "All who?"

"The whole House. You've become quite famous."

"Me, famous? Because-because THAT happened?"

"Well, it don' happen every day, does it?"

"But-how many people know?"

Letitia looked very lost. "We all know, of course; it's just been posted in the Common Room."

"Oh no!" Cho moaned. "Take it down, please! How could you leave it up there?!"

"Because it's big news, you becoming Reserve Seeker."

"What? Oh, THAT!" Cho sighed in relief.

"For someone who would have killed to get in last year, you're acting awfully queer now you've got it."

"Well," Cho said, blushing, "that's not the only thing that's happened to me lately. While I was in the hospital wing, I started, that is, my body started."

"Ye're changin', then?" Jan smiled. "Well, hurrah fer you an' welcome to the club!"

"So you're also."

Jan and Letitia both nodded. "O' course I had a small advantage, yeh might say, with two sisters just above me. I watched 'em go through it. Still, when it came to be my turn, they tried to scare me with all sorts o' stories. Like, how it was gonna hurt so bad yeh had ter drink this awful spider soup every month."

"You're lucky, believe it or not," Letitia said. "Mine happened this past summer, and my Mum just gave me a scroll; she said it's what told her all about it when she was my age. It was called 'How Wonderful You're a Witch', and the stupid thing didn't tell me anything at all!" She actually started to laugh at the memory. "Made it seem like being older was all about hearts and flowers and romance; didn't offer a bit of practical help."

"Yeh, I read that 'un," Jan nodded. "Some ol' witch in the Ministry wrote it, I think. Din't want ter offend anyone, so it ended up sayin' nothin'."

"Do you think this happens a lot?" Cho asked. "I mean, I had no idea what was happening at first, but Madam Pomfrey didn't seem surprised or anything."

"I expect there are lots of mothers, witches and Muggles both, who never talk to their daughters about this," Letitia sighed. "It's as if they're afraid of something."

"Yeh," Jan added, "but we all went an' got th' truth fer ourselves. Tha's what makes us Ravenclaw!"

Cho felt relieved as she tied her scroll to Quan Yin's leg and sent her back home to Diagon Alley. "Give me a minute to put on fresh robes," she told the others. "NOW I'm ready to see that notice in the Common Room!"

"Speaking of which," Letitia said as she left, "I saw an old book there the other day with some Hygiene Charms you'll need. I'll try to find it while nobody's looking."

"Yeh," nodded Jan, "an' le's hope Grimaldi ain't been writin' rude things in the margins."

xxx

The Great Hall was a very unusual place that night. Three of the tables were crowded as usual, but the fourth-the Ravenclaw House table-was never more than half full. Some of the professors wondered why, but Hooch and Flitwick had the answer. Students were stopping by just long enough to take food back to the Ravenclaw Common Room. There, most of the witches- and some of the wizards as well-were celebrating Cho Chang's place on the Quidditch team.

"Awful lot of fuss for someone who's only on the Reserve List," said Professor Sprout to Professor McGonagall. Still, she said it, and McGonagall nodded in agreement, with a blaze of delight in their eyes. Even though they were Heads of their own Houses (Hufflepuff and Gryffindor respectively), and would have to send their own players against Ravenclaw, they couldn't help but be thrilled that a barrier to witches that had stood for a century was finally gone.

Things had seldom been livelier in Ravenclaw's Common Room. There were some who couldn't have cared less about Quidditch but who welcomed the excuse for a party. But the witches were all rejoicing that Cho had done the seemingly impossible, getting onto the team. What's more, they all knew what Cho had been made to go through in order to land that spot; Captain Culligan saw to that. While he didn't name the names of the ones who caused Cho's injuries, his was the first hand to reach out to Cho when she came down from her dormitory.

"No hard feeling, I hope," he smiled, "and welcome to the team."

Cho didn't hesitate a second in shaking Culligan's hand. "No lasting harm done, Captain."

From then on, it was as if Cho had a room full of house-elves. The minute her plate looked as if it might be empty, hands rushed forward with more food. Her cup was never less than full to the brim. It was as if she'd already won the House Cup, and she hadn't even played her first game yet. It was madness; it was foolish.

It was wonderful.

xxx

That night, Cho was disturbed out of sleep by the noise of water running in the lavatory, of splashing and laughing. She looked around the suite; all of the other girls were fast asleep. Then who was in the lav? She didn't like the idea of facing down a possible intruder, but she got out of bed, grabbed her wand, and crept quietly to the door. When she got there, she suddenly thrust it open.

It was a small tub, and barely seemed to have room enough for one. But there were two women in the tub, sitting facing each other. One was Madam Hooch, whose body (what little of it Cho could see above the rim) seemed younger than her years. The other person, Eunice Murray, looked quite healthy, considering she'd been dead for fifty years.

"Hop in, Cho!" Madam Hooch called to her.

"Yes, do join us," Eunice Murray echoed. "You will one day anyway; you know what they say about us Quidditch girls." She laughed, and so did Madam Hooch. As Cho watched, unable to speak or move, the two women turned back to face each other, leaning forward, their lips growing closer.

Cho backed away, into the suite, and closed the lavatory door with a bang that was so loud.

that Cho woke from her dream sitting up in bed, her head clammy with sweat.

She was breathing in short, nervous pants, with her hand over her heart. Except that it wasn't. She realized that her hand was actually on her breast, two fingers unconsciously squeezing a swollen nipple through her nightgown.

Cho let go of her breast as if it were a hot cauldron. The nipple continued to poke against her gown.

"Damn," she muttered, "something else I'll have to research."

xxx

to be continued in part 16, wherein Cho (along with the rest of Hogwarts) gets to see why an exception was made in Harry Potter's case.