OR DIE TRYING: THE STORY OF CHO CHANG

By monkeymouse

NB: JKRowling built the Potterverse; I'm just redecorating one of the rooms. And one of the great things about JKR telling the story from Harry's point of view is that stuff could be happening all over Hogwarts that Harry isn't aware of.

Rated: PG

Spoilers: Everything

xxx

20. Victory and Defeat

The sun rose early on Friday, 5 June, 1992, but Cho rose even earlier. She watched it make its cautious way over the hills surrounding Hogwarts with an excitement so palpable she could almost taste it. The last exam had been the day before, and ordinarily one would have expected all of Hogwarts to sleep in for a day or two. But there was still the match for the House Quidditch Cup: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw on the 6th.

Cho was as anxious for the 5th to begin as if it were Christmas morning. This was the last day before the championship; only time for one more practice. Ravenclaw had the stadium in the morning; Gryffindor in the afternoon. Culligan didn't want to waste any daylight; he told the team to have breakfast at 5:00 and be at the stadium ready to start play at 6:00.

Cho wasn't even sure why she was so keyed up; she wasn't playing. She'd actually talked Culligan out of letting her play. Why? This could have been her chance.

Because she understood disappointment, and hated to think Culligan would spend any time at all regretting his decision not to play.

Cho had just pulled a top on, and had pulled her very long hair free of the neck. She had just started brushing it when there was a knock on the dormitory door, followed a second later by Penny Clearwater's head looking in.

"Didn't want to wake everyone," she whispered, loudly enough for Cho to hear. "They want you in the Common Room now."

"They?"

"The whole team. Something's up."

Cho quickly finished getting dressed and dashed down to the Common Room.

Roger Davies was standing in front of the fireplace. Apparently he and the others had been waiting on Cho, and he didn't look too pleased. "Now that we're ALL here, Mackie, tell."

Culligan stood up. "You know about yesterday; me and the Bludger." The Ravenclaw team had actually had to cut their practice short when an especially hard-hit Bludger punched Culligan's shoulder blade. Nothing was broken, but the pain continued into the night. "I was up at dawn, the shoulder still smarting, so I went round to the hospital wing and asked Madam Pomfrey for some liniment. Only she kept me waiting in the corridor; wouldn't let me in. They seemed to be fussing with someone in there, and I thought they mentioned the name of 'Harry Potter.'"

"Cripes," Erasmus Skiddle said in amazement. "That would be too good to be true: Gryffindor playing without Potter!"

"We still don't know, though," Culligan went on. "One of us has to go back to the hospital wing to check things out. The problem is, Pomfrey is obviously trying to keep this under wraps. I mean, I was having a real problem with my shoulder, and she barred me entering."

Jenkins looked around. "Well, if someone wants to put a hex on me; nothing complicated or painful, mind you."

"I'll go," Cho interrupted. "I know Madam Pomfrey will see me. Besides, I wasn't going to take breakfast anyway."

"Fine," Culligan nodded. "Be as quick as you can and meet us at the stadium."

Cho nodded and was briskly off through the bookcase, up the steps, through the tapestry and headed toward the hospital wing. She arrived at the door before she quite realized it, tried the handle, and found it locked. She knocked, and Madam Pomfrey opened the door just a crack.

"Ah, Miss Chang. We have rather a handful at the moment, so I hope you don't mind telling me what's wrong from out there."

Cho averted her eyes. "Well, I'd rather not. It has to do with last September."

"Ah. Well. Just wait there a moment, would you?" Pomfrey closed the door to the infirmary, and could be heard having some sort of conversation. Finally the door opened and Madam Pomfrey motioned for Cho to enter.

The room was as she remembered it after her bone-breaking introduction to the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Only one bed of the dozen of so was occupied, and in this case was surrounded by screens. "What do you need to know, Miss Chang?"

Cho, who had nothing wrong with her, had to think fast. "Well, it's my, er, bust. I mean, after last September, nothing seems to be happening. Is that normal?"

"Bless me, of course it's normal. These things aren't continuous, by any means. They usually come in fits and starts. Nothing to worry about, especially at your age. Does that help?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey, it helps loads, thanks." She tried to be casual as she asked, "Who's behind the curtains, then?"

"Someone you're not supposed to know about. Now, if you'll get back to."

"It's Harry, isn't it," Cho blurted out; "Harry Potter?"

Madam Pomfrey eyed Cho very suspiciously. "What makes you say that?"

Think fast, Cho. "Well, we DO know each other and."

Cho let the sentence dangle, letting Madam Pomfrey make of it what she will. For a long minute the professor scrutinized Cho. Finally, someone else knocked on the door. Pomfrey looked at the door, then back at Cho. "You wanted to look in on him, then?" Cho nodded. "Well, he's still unconscious, poor boy. No saying when he'll come around. Probably be here for a few days, no matter what happens. He won't know you're there, of course, but sometimes a friendly presence does wonders."

At this point, Cho's mission was done. She could have excused herself and gone to the stadium, to tell the others what she'd learned. "I . I'd like that, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you."

With that, Madam Pomfrey went to the lone occupied bed on the ward and pulled back the screen. "Just take a minute or two; I don't know how long we can keep this a secret." With that, Pomfrey left the ward.

Cho sat down on the next bed and just looked at Harry's slight, still pajama-clad form, battered and bruised from his encounter in the dungeon the night before.

For the first time in her life, she was an arm's length away from one of the most legendary figures of the Wizarding World. She sat on the bed next to his, and never really knew afterwards if she actually said, or only thought:

So you are Ha Li Po Te; The Boy Who Lived. You hardly look the way I imagined you. I guess I expected someone older, stronger, more-I don't know, heroic, perhaps. But then, you were still a baby when you defeated the Dark Lord. Looking at you now, dead to the world, your glasses on the table, there's still something of the baby in your face. Are you dreaming, Harry? Are you dreaming of the parents you lost on that terrible Halloween night? You must miss them so; I can't even imagine it. Do you still long for a kind word, or a kiss on the cheek, or a bit of a song, or even just a hand to brush that hair out of your eyes.

Cho couldn't help what happened next. No sooner had the thought occurred to her than she found herself reaching over, gently pushing the hair away from Harry's forehead, revealing the jagged scar-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?"

Snape. The last voice any student at Hogwarts wanted to hear.

Cho quickly turned and scooted away from Harry's bed. Snap strode toward her, with Madam Pomfrey close behind him.

Snape looked as if he wanted to grab Cho's robes and pull her off the floor. Instead, he glowered down at her. "If you've done anything to harm Mister Potter--"

"You can see she hasn't," Pomfrey interrupted.

"Perhaps you aren't aware," Snape said, turning on Madam Pomfrey, "that she plays Quidditch for an opposing House. She would have her own reason to want Potter out of the way."

"Are you saying she had something to do with what happened last night? You're far too suspicious, Severus."

"And YOU are far too trusting. I shall speak to the Headmaster about the abysmal lack of security in the hospital wing. Now, as for you, Miss Chang- -"

But that was as far as Snape got. Cho had already run out of the room.

xxx

She ran all the way to the stadium. "What's the story?" Jinx Jeffries asked.

Cho was completely out of breath, but tried to speak anyway. "Potter's there. Something about the dungeon. He's unconscious; will be for days, she said."

"YES!" Davies punched the air in triumph.

"You oughtn't look so overjoyed about it," Culligan said to Roger. "He was attacked by something in the school. We could be next, or any other student."

"But you can't deny that we've just caught a break for tomorrow!"

"It still means nothing if we're not ready for tomorrow ourselves. So let's get this practice started, eh?" The Ravenclaws kicked off, including a still-breathless Cho, whose cheeks were a brilliant red, probably because of the wind.

Or perhaps because she recalled her moment in the hospital wing with Harry Potter.

xxx

The next day, Cho went through her ritual: brushing and braiding and spelling up her hair, trimming her nails, carefully eating her very small breakfast, reporting to the stadium to sit on the reserve bench.

She watched from the bench as Ravenclaw played as they had never played before. It wasn't just that Gryffindor was without its Seeker; Ravenclaw brought a spirit to the fight that surprised many in the crowd. The Chasers were fast and sure-eyed in their Quaffle-tossing; the Beaters kept the entire Gryffindor team at bay, including the Weasley twins. Both Keepers had to put in a full day's work during the one hour of play, but Wood of Gryffindor seemed the first to tire and miss simple saves.

And the Seeker duel was no duel at all. Gryffindor had been forced to bring back its pre-Potter Seeker, Henley Walsingham, who had spent the year on the reserve bench. Neither he nor Gryffindor were ready for him to play. So when the Golden Snitch was spotted, only one Seeker chased it as it darted and skipped in-between the players in the middle of the pitch. Culligan took more than one elbow to the body just trying to get close, but when Hooch's whistle sounded, it was Culligan's hand on the Snitch, and 380- 120 on the scoreboard.

Almost everyone in the stands cheered at the outcome. It wasn't just a show of support for Culligan and the Ravenclaws; it was a shout of triumph that, for the first time in seven years, some House other than Slytherin had won the Quidditch Cup.

That night, the Ravenclaw Common Room was jammed with students of every year; food appeared from nowhere and butterbeer flowed freely. But the high point of the evening was when Macarthur Culligan held the Quidditch Cup aloft and waved everyone to silence.

"As you can see, we've engraved the names of the seven players on this team. One of those is the name of your next Captain, Roger Davies, and I hope you show him the kind of respect and loyalty you've shown me during my time here." He paused slightly. "Because I can always come back here and kick yer arses if you don't." Everyone laughed at that, of course, but he waved them to silence again. "But if I could, I'd engrave an eighth name on this cup; the name of a player who didn't play in any of the games this year, but who helped turn this team around nonetheless and give us a winning year. But her name will be up on the Cup one day in its own right, and that's why I'm happy to pass the position of Ravenclaw Seeker into the very capable hands of Cho Chang."

Cho couldn't say a word; she could only smile at Mackie through tears of joy as the Ravenclaws cheered and cheered.

The smile, the euphoria, the cheers carried the entire House through to Monday the 8th, and the end-of-year feast. The Ravenclaws didn't even care that Slytherin had once again won the House Cup; they were only fifty points behind Slytherin in second place, and felt that they had given Slytherin a year it wouldn't soon forget.

The euphoria dimmed somewhat when, at the beginning of the banquet, Headmaster Dumbledore started assigning points to Gryffindor. Of course, they'd all heard the story by that time: how Voldemort himself was not only still alive, although a shadow of his former self, but had been in Hogwarts itself for over a year, attached to Professor Quirrell like a barnacle to a whale. Once again, Harry Potter had confronted the Dark Lord and lived to tell the tale-which was more than could be said for Professor Quirrell.

But it all seemed a little one-sided, all those points going to Gryffindor. "They should have given you points just for getting on the team," Letitia whispered to Cho; "look at what you had to suffer to do it." And it hurt that Ravenclaw was knocked down to third place after the new points were tallied. Still, it looked like the end of the Slytherin Dynasty, and Ravenclaw gladly cheered for that.

And two weeks later, with grades reported and dormitory rooms emptied and the Hogwarts Express rolling over the countryside toward London packed full of students, Cho looked out the carriage window at the woods and meadows, marveling at the year that had just passed, and relishing the Third Year that would soon come.

and remembering the feeling in her fingertips as she brushed a few stray hairs from the forehead of Harry Potter.

xxx

to be continued in part 21, wherein the Third Year starts with a shocking discovery and an impromptu discussion in the girls' dorm about what happened in the boys' dorm.