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
33. The Last Minute
If you had asked Cho about it at the time, she would have denied-quite strongly-that it was anything like a "date". If you had teased her about it, she might have Hexed you with a week's worth of uncomfortable maladies. She didn't really think about it much, and when she did, she considered it an "understanding".
After that visit to the hospital wing early Sunday morning, Cho felt much more at ease, in spite of living in a castle with a monster who still didn't have a name and who could still attack at any moment. She had seen with her own eyes that Penelope and the other victims of the monster didn't require any care, medical or otherwise, and were actually "in storage" until the mandrake roots were fully mature. They were watched over by Professor Pomfrey; Professor Sprout tended the adolescent mandrakes, who were now dressing up their pots with black draperies and writing depressing poetry. Adulthood was not far away.
When Cho saw Penelope Clearwater, she lost her fear of the unknown. Knowing that Penelope was being watched and protected made life more bearable. She was one of the few who moved through the heavily guarded halls of Hogwarts almost oblivious to the gloom and dread.
But there was also her "understanding" with Cedric Diggory. For the next few weeks, Cho showed up at the hospital wing at 1 a.m. Sunday; Professor Flitwick would always let her in and leave her to sit with Penelope. Then she'd leave the hospital wing, and there in the corridor, waiting to visit Justin Finch-Fletchly, was Cedric Diggory. After their first late-night meeting, realizing that they were both on the same mission, Cho stopped trying to tease or tweak the Hufflepuff Seeker. They even exchanged pleasantries, if only for a minute or two in passing.
It was on her third visit that Cho seemed livelier than she had been in months.
"It's almost time!" These were the first words out of her mouth to the unmoving, frozen Penelope Clearwater. "Sprout says the mandrakes should be ready any day now. Then you'll be back! It's funny; when I put it that way, it just seems as if you've been away on a long vacation. You'll be coming back with souvenirs, and maybe pictures of wherever you've been. You won't of course; or maybe you will. I don't think any of us really knows what it's like to be petrified the way you are. Can you hear me, I wonder. Do you dream? Or are you being tortured in some corner of your mind that we can't see yet?
"If you can hear me, Penny, I'll know about it quick enough. Mainly because I've been calling you Penny, like the old days. All I know is, when the potion is ready, I'm going to be there in the hospital wing. I want you to see a friendly face when you get back from your vacation."
Cho almost danced down the aisle between the beds and out the door. Cedric wasn't there. She waited for a few minutes, vaguely bothered that Cedric was late, and vaguely bothered that she was vaguely bothered.
Ten minutes after his time, with the sound of his bedroom slippers flapping on the stone corridor floors, Cedric came running up.
"Overslept?" Cho grinned mischievously.
"In a manner of speaking," Cedric grinned, blushing. "I dozed off over my Arithmancy notes. Monster or no monster, I still have my O.W.L.s coming up, and I'm hopeless in that class."
"So am I," Cho admitted. "There's no rhyme or reason to it. You can just keep juggling and re-juggling numbers until you get an answer you like. Chinese divination is much more exact."
"I hope so, but I don't know. Trelawny doesn't teach that until Sixth Year."
"Well, it should be much easier for you." She started down the hall.
"See you next week!" Cedric called after her.
On an impulse, she turned and called back, "Probably not!" Then she was gone.
Why did I do that? she thought as she made her way back to Ravenclaw. I don't really enjoy teasing him, so why do I do it? Just to hang onto a bit of myself, I suppose; the Ravenclaw Seeker part of me. That part hasn't had a thing to do all year, and it won't until November, at this rate.
xxx
Friday morning, Cho was gathering her books as the end of Charms approached. Charms had never been her easiest class, but Professor Flitwick was head of her House, and besides, he was willing to bend the rules of the hospital wing for her. This made it a pleasure to work all the harder in his class.
Instead of the bell, however, they all heard the voice of Minerva McGonagall, who had been acting as Headmistress since Dumbledore had been forced to resign after the last attack:
"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please."
"Nice touch that, 'please,'" Vincent Krixlow muttered. "Pretending it isn't an order."
"Do you think it's another attack?" Raina asked.
"Only one way to find out, isn't there?" Vincent ran on ahead, leaving the others to try to catch up with him. But with his head start, and the other classes soon crowding the halls, the others soon lost sight of Vincent. They got to the tapestry, gave the password ("feldspar"), and passed through the bookcase and into the Common Room.
Vincent was sitting halfway up the library ladder. The ladder, however, wasn't against the bookcases but was blocking the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
"What's the idea?" Pablo Molina demanded.
"Obviously, something happened. The only reason they could have to send us up to the dorms is to keep us from finding out what happened. I don't know about you, but I want to find out for once what's going on around here, and the only way we'll get any answers is if we meet them all together."
By now other Ravenclaws were arriving. "Get off it, Krixlow," Roger Davies said.
"Gladly, if you can tell me what's happened just now. I want answers."
"And I want to get to the loo. Put that up."
"When I get my answers."
"What you'll get is my fist in your conk. Move it!"
"Stop it!" Before she knew what she was doing, Cho was standing between the two. "You've made your point, Vincent. Let him pass."
Before he could do so, though, Professor Flitwick came into the Common Room. "Why aren't you in your dormitories?!"
"We're waiting for you," Vincent said calmly, not moving. "What's happened now?"
The room fell deadly quiet. Flitwick didn't have to stand on a table or raise his voice this time. "My instructions are to tell you to go upstairs and pack your things. You're all going home on the morning train tomorrow."
"But what about the mandrakes? What about the potion?" piped up a Second Year girl.
Cho's mouth had gone dry, and she could barely ask Flitwick, "This isn't another case of paralysis, is it?"
It was all Flitwick could do to keep his voice from breaking. "A First Year Gryffindor was apparently kidnapped, and taken into the Chamber of Secrets. I don't think she's dead yet, but there's not much hope."
"Who is it?" Erasmus Skiddle asked.
"Ginny Weasley."
"BALLOCKS!!"
Everyone turned to look at Vincent Krixlow. "All the attacks have been on Muggle-borns, right? Except for Nick, and he was probably just an accident. But the Weasleys have been wizards for generations. This just doesn't make sense!"
"That has occurred to us also, you know," Flitwick said. "And I'd take points off for your language, Mister Krixlow, except that you're obviously upset. Besides, there's talk of closing Hogwarts because of all this, so what's the sense of points now? Now that you know all that we know, go up to your dorms and pack. I believe the house-elves will bring food to the various Common Rooms." He turned to go.
"Professor!"
The word was out of her mouth so fast that Cho hardly realized she had spoken.
"What is it, Miss Chang?"
"I, er, was wondering. Who's going to pack Penelope Clearwater's things?"
"Ah, yes. Well, we still intend to administer the potion tonight; Professors Sprout and Snape will prepare it as soon as they have notified their Houses. I'm sure she'll be up and able to pack her own things sometime late tonight. One of the few pieces of good news in this whole sorry mess. Forgive me." Flitwick was losing his composure, and practically ran out of the Common Room.
That seemed final. Everyone felt completely deflated as they went upstairs to pack. Nobody spoke, except for Raina, who interrupted her packing at noon to say her midday prayers.
When they were through, and she was rolling up the rug she used for her prayers, Libby Foggly said, to nobody in particular, "What's the point? They're closing Hogwarts."
Raina didn't acknowledge Libby's remark, except to say, also to nobody in particular, "Some things are still bigger than Hogwarts."
Cho had packed only half of her books, and none of her clothes, when she simply stopped and sat down on her bed. Closing Hogwarts meant only one thing to her: the complete end of any hope of playing Quidditch, maybe for the rest of her life.
No: her Quidditch days were not going to end before they'd even started. She was the Ravenclaw Seeker; she didn't come all this way just to go into the books as "the LAST Ravenclaw Seeker." She strode to the door.
"Where yeh goin', then?"
"To get my broom."
The other girls knew never to challenge Cho in matters of Quidditch. She went down to the Common Room, where the house-elves had indeed laid out a cold meat and trifle buffet. A few students picked half-heartedly at the meat; the sweets were untouched.
She was practically through the bookcase when Cho heard: "Stop! Where are you going?"
She turned to face Roger Davies. "To get my broom. Want to come along?"
Roger hesitated; Cho turned and left. Roger dashed out just before the bookcase closed.
"Like Flitwick said," he sighed, "they can't exactly take points now, can they?"
The two of them walked through the deserted halls. Even the paintings found business elsewhere, as they passed rows of empty frames.
Finally, Cho, still looking straight ahead, said, "Why did you come, really?"
Roger paused a minute before answering. "I wish I knew. I could get the broom on the way out tomorrow, or just leave it. It's just a broom, after all. Is yours worth risking your life for?"
"If just being here means I'm at risk, I'd rather spend the time doing what I want. Anyway, I want to find Madam Hooch. She's the only one who's ever given me a straight answer."
"That's not fair, Cho."
"And if you're going to take every little remark personally, then please go back to Ravenclaw. I'll be fine."
"Yes you will, and I'm going to make sure of that."
"Why? Did I say I wanted you to be my bodyguard? You look to your own skin." She started walking again. "Besides," she added bitterly, "we're losing our team. Why should I matter to you?"
"Because you just do, damn it all!" Roger had to run to get in front of Cho to stop her. "It wasn't a simple thing to put you on the team; it was more than just the stroke of a quill. I had to change my way of thinking about a lot of things, and not just Quidditch. And, well, a lot of it had to do with . . ."
"YOU TWO!"
Snape.
"Get back to your House now!"
"What about my broom?"
"Were you planning on flying home ahead of the train? Look at that!" Snape gestured dramatically toward a window in the corridor. They could see what he meant. The sky was literally black with owls coming and going, notifying families of the closing.
"I wouldn't recommend flying on your own. Your brooms will be collected and distributed before you leave. Now get back to your House before something happens."
"Fat lot you care, you and your Slytherin friends."
"I'll ignore that under the circumstances, Miss Chang, but I strongly urge both of you to return to your House now. Professor McGonagall has far too much to deal with already, without having to discipline a couple of impudent young pups."
Cho clearly wanted to answer back; Roger grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and pushed her back toward Ravenclaw.
After a few steps, she shook herself loose from Roger's grip. They walked most of the way back in silence. Just at the tapestry, though, Cho stopped and turned toward Roger. "You saved me from myself back there. Why didn't you let me tell Snape what I really thought of him?"
"Because now he doesn't have anything to lose, either. I'd hate to see him with his back to the wall."
For the first time that day, Cho smiled. "Thanks." She still made no move to enter the House. "What do you think will happen to us? I mean, where else can we go?"
"There are other schools. My folks will probably want me to stay in Wales, and your folks will want you near London."
"That hardly seems fair, Roger. We could have been a great team. All of us, I mean."
Roger looked as if he was trying to make up his mind what to do or say next. "Let's just get in, then. We can talk later tonight."
xxx
After that, though, Cho stayed in the Common Room, reading through books almost at random, although she kept coming back to "The Broom Gets All the Credit". Eunice Murray had gotten her this far, but didn't seem to have much to say now.
Until page 146:
"That game against Chudley was the worst. It seemed that, for once, they could do no wrong. Their Chasers got past our Keeper at will, while we didn't do much of anything. And every time I saw the Snitch, their Seeker was already in pursuit of it. But as long as it kept getting away, the game wasn't over, and neither was my role. I just had to remember that we were in it until the final minute, and any minute could be the final minute.
"At last, with the Cannons up 140 points on the board, I saw the Snitch making a dive for one of the Chudley hoops. Without even thinking about where I was flying or what would greet me, I sped toward it. So did the other Seeker, but I couldn't worry about that. I pushed myself there as fast as I could, grabbed the Snitch, and won the game by ten points."
After that, Cho stayed in the Common Room, no longer reading but clearly waiting for something. If anyone asked what she was waiting for, she would simply say, "the last minute."
xxx
What Cho was waiting for came around midnight:
"Your attention, please!" echoed the voice of Minerva McGonagall, with a tone nobody in Hogwarts had heard in months. "It is my great pleasure to announce that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets has been slain, and Miss Ginny Weasley has been recovered unharmed. Furthermore, the mandrake potion is being administered to those in the hospital wing. The decision to close Hogwarts has been rescinded. So stop your packing and report to the Great Hall for the biggest feast you'll ever see!"
Cho stayed seated, with a satisfied smile, as the rest of the House rushed through the Common Room. Roger stopped just long enough to ask, "Did you know something about all this?"
"Not really," she smiled. "Talk to you later."
"You will indeed, Miss Seeker." He smiled back as he joined the crowd rushing to the Great Hall.
When they had all passed, though, Cho went off in another direction: toward the hospital wing. As she went, she saw Hermione Granger rush toward, then past her, heading for the Great Hall as if she were trying to outrun time itself.
Now Cho started to run, too.
"Be there, Penny," she whispered; "please, still be there."
As Cho rounded the last corner, she saw someone standing in the corridor in front of the hospital wing door: Percy Weasley. Cho backed into an alcove as the door opened. There stood Penelope Clearwater. She took one look at Percy, then literally threw herself into his open arms. They held onto each other hungrily, they kissed each other fervently. There was clearly no one else on earth. Finally, they broke their kiss and went off to the Great Hall. They never saw Cho.
But Cho watched them, and felt something as she watched them-something she had never in her life felt before. It wasn't jealousy of Penelope, because Cho didn't want Percy. But now she wanted to, longed to, mean as much to someone as those two meant to each other. And she felt it with what could only be called a warm glow in her chest, coming from somewhere near her heart.
xxx
to be continued in part 34, wherein Cho finally, but unofficially, makes her debut as Ravenclaw Seeker . . .
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
33. The Last Minute
If you had asked Cho about it at the time, she would have denied-quite strongly-that it was anything like a "date". If you had teased her about it, she might have Hexed you with a week's worth of uncomfortable maladies. She didn't really think about it much, and when she did, she considered it an "understanding".
After that visit to the hospital wing early Sunday morning, Cho felt much more at ease, in spite of living in a castle with a monster who still didn't have a name and who could still attack at any moment. She had seen with her own eyes that Penelope and the other victims of the monster didn't require any care, medical or otherwise, and were actually "in storage" until the mandrake roots were fully mature. They were watched over by Professor Pomfrey; Professor Sprout tended the adolescent mandrakes, who were now dressing up their pots with black draperies and writing depressing poetry. Adulthood was not far away.
When Cho saw Penelope Clearwater, she lost her fear of the unknown. Knowing that Penelope was being watched and protected made life more bearable. She was one of the few who moved through the heavily guarded halls of Hogwarts almost oblivious to the gloom and dread.
But there was also her "understanding" with Cedric Diggory. For the next few weeks, Cho showed up at the hospital wing at 1 a.m. Sunday; Professor Flitwick would always let her in and leave her to sit with Penelope. Then she'd leave the hospital wing, and there in the corridor, waiting to visit Justin Finch-Fletchly, was Cedric Diggory. After their first late-night meeting, realizing that they were both on the same mission, Cho stopped trying to tease or tweak the Hufflepuff Seeker. They even exchanged pleasantries, if only for a minute or two in passing.
It was on her third visit that Cho seemed livelier than she had been in months.
"It's almost time!" These were the first words out of her mouth to the unmoving, frozen Penelope Clearwater. "Sprout says the mandrakes should be ready any day now. Then you'll be back! It's funny; when I put it that way, it just seems as if you've been away on a long vacation. You'll be coming back with souvenirs, and maybe pictures of wherever you've been. You won't of course; or maybe you will. I don't think any of us really knows what it's like to be petrified the way you are. Can you hear me, I wonder. Do you dream? Or are you being tortured in some corner of your mind that we can't see yet?
"If you can hear me, Penny, I'll know about it quick enough. Mainly because I've been calling you Penny, like the old days. All I know is, when the potion is ready, I'm going to be there in the hospital wing. I want you to see a friendly face when you get back from your vacation."
Cho almost danced down the aisle between the beds and out the door. Cedric wasn't there. She waited for a few minutes, vaguely bothered that Cedric was late, and vaguely bothered that she was vaguely bothered.
Ten minutes after his time, with the sound of his bedroom slippers flapping on the stone corridor floors, Cedric came running up.
"Overslept?" Cho grinned mischievously.
"In a manner of speaking," Cedric grinned, blushing. "I dozed off over my Arithmancy notes. Monster or no monster, I still have my O.W.L.s coming up, and I'm hopeless in that class."
"So am I," Cho admitted. "There's no rhyme or reason to it. You can just keep juggling and re-juggling numbers until you get an answer you like. Chinese divination is much more exact."
"I hope so, but I don't know. Trelawny doesn't teach that until Sixth Year."
"Well, it should be much easier for you." She started down the hall.
"See you next week!" Cedric called after her.
On an impulse, she turned and called back, "Probably not!" Then she was gone.
Why did I do that? she thought as she made her way back to Ravenclaw. I don't really enjoy teasing him, so why do I do it? Just to hang onto a bit of myself, I suppose; the Ravenclaw Seeker part of me. That part hasn't had a thing to do all year, and it won't until November, at this rate.
xxx
Friday morning, Cho was gathering her books as the end of Charms approached. Charms had never been her easiest class, but Professor Flitwick was head of her House, and besides, he was willing to bend the rules of the hospital wing for her. This made it a pleasure to work all the harder in his class.
Instead of the bell, however, they all heard the voice of Minerva McGonagall, who had been acting as Headmistress since Dumbledore had been forced to resign after the last attack:
"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please."
"Nice touch that, 'please,'" Vincent Krixlow muttered. "Pretending it isn't an order."
"Do you think it's another attack?" Raina asked.
"Only one way to find out, isn't there?" Vincent ran on ahead, leaving the others to try to catch up with him. But with his head start, and the other classes soon crowding the halls, the others soon lost sight of Vincent. They got to the tapestry, gave the password ("feldspar"), and passed through the bookcase and into the Common Room.
Vincent was sitting halfway up the library ladder. The ladder, however, wasn't against the bookcases but was blocking the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
"What's the idea?" Pablo Molina demanded.
"Obviously, something happened. The only reason they could have to send us up to the dorms is to keep us from finding out what happened. I don't know about you, but I want to find out for once what's going on around here, and the only way we'll get any answers is if we meet them all together."
By now other Ravenclaws were arriving. "Get off it, Krixlow," Roger Davies said.
"Gladly, if you can tell me what's happened just now. I want answers."
"And I want to get to the loo. Put that up."
"When I get my answers."
"What you'll get is my fist in your conk. Move it!"
"Stop it!" Before she knew what she was doing, Cho was standing between the two. "You've made your point, Vincent. Let him pass."
Before he could do so, though, Professor Flitwick came into the Common Room. "Why aren't you in your dormitories?!"
"We're waiting for you," Vincent said calmly, not moving. "What's happened now?"
The room fell deadly quiet. Flitwick didn't have to stand on a table or raise his voice this time. "My instructions are to tell you to go upstairs and pack your things. You're all going home on the morning train tomorrow."
"But what about the mandrakes? What about the potion?" piped up a Second Year girl.
Cho's mouth had gone dry, and she could barely ask Flitwick, "This isn't another case of paralysis, is it?"
It was all Flitwick could do to keep his voice from breaking. "A First Year Gryffindor was apparently kidnapped, and taken into the Chamber of Secrets. I don't think she's dead yet, but there's not much hope."
"Who is it?" Erasmus Skiddle asked.
"Ginny Weasley."
"BALLOCKS!!"
Everyone turned to look at Vincent Krixlow. "All the attacks have been on Muggle-borns, right? Except for Nick, and he was probably just an accident. But the Weasleys have been wizards for generations. This just doesn't make sense!"
"That has occurred to us also, you know," Flitwick said. "And I'd take points off for your language, Mister Krixlow, except that you're obviously upset. Besides, there's talk of closing Hogwarts because of all this, so what's the sense of points now? Now that you know all that we know, go up to your dorms and pack. I believe the house-elves will bring food to the various Common Rooms." He turned to go.
"Professor!"
The word was out of her mouth so fast that Cho hardly realized she had spoken.
"What is it, Miss Chang?"
"I, er, was wondering. Who's going to pack Penelope Clearwater's things?"
"Ah, yes. Well, we still intend to administer the potion tonight; Professors Sprout and Snape will prepare it as soon as they have notified their Houses. I'm sure she'll be up and able to pack her own things sometime late tonight. One of the few pieces of good news in this whole sorry mess. Forgive me." Flitwick was losing his composure, and practically ran out of the Common Room.
That seemed final. Everyone felt completely deflated as they went upstairs to pack. Nobody spoke, except for Raina, who interrupted her packing at noon to say her midday prayers.
When they were through, and she was rolling up the rug she used for her prayers, Libby Foggly said, to nobody in particular, "What's the point? They're closing Hogwarts."
Raina didn't acknowledge Libby's remark, except to say, also to nobody in particular, "Some things are still bigger than Hogwarts."
Cho had packed only half of her books, and none of her clothes, when she simply stopped and sat down on her bed. Closing Hogwarts meant only one thing to her: the complete end of any hope of playing Quidditch, maybe for the rest of her life.
No: her Quidditch days were not going to end before they'd even started. She was the Ravenclaw Seeker; she didn't come all this way just to go into the books as "the LAST Ravenclaw Seeker." She strode to the door.
"Where yeh goin', then?"
"To get my broom."
The other girls knew never to challenge Cho in matters of Quidditch. She went down to the Common Room, where the house-elves had indeed laid out a cold meat and trifle buffet. A few students picked half-heartedly at the meat; the sweets were untouched.
She was practically through the bookcase when Cho heard: "Stop! Where are you going?"
She turned to face Roger Davies. "To get my broom. Want to come along?"
Roger hesitated; Cho turned and left. Roger dashed out just before the bookcase closed.
"Like Flitwick said," he sighed, "they can't exactly take points now, can they?"
The two of them walked through the deserted halls. Even the paintings found business elsewhere, as they passed rows of empty frames.
Finally, Cho, still looking straight ahead, said, "Why did you come, really?"
Roger paused a minute before answering. "I wish I knew. I could get the broom on the way out tomorrow, or just leave it. It's just a broom, after all. Is yours worth risking your life for?"
"If just being here means I'm at risk, I'd rather spend the time doing what I want. Anyway, I want to find Madam Hooch. She's the only one who's ever given me a straight answer."
"That's not fair, Cho."
"And if you're going to take every little remark personally, then please go back to Ravenclaw. I'll be fine."
"Yes you will, and I'm going to make sure of that."
"Why? Did I say I wanted you to be my bodyguard? You look to your own skin." She started walking again. "Besides," she added bitterly, "we're losing our team. Why should I matter to you?"
"Because you just do, damn it all!" Roger had to run to get in front of Cho to stop her. "It wasn't a simple thing to put you on the team; it was more than just the stroke of a quill. I had to change my way of thinking about a lot of things, and not just Quidditch. And, well, a lot of it had to do with . . ."
"YOU TWO!"
Snape.
"Get back to your House now!"
"What about my broom?"
"Were you planning on flying home ahead of the train? Look at that!" Snape gestured dramatically toward a window in the corridor. They could see what he meant. The sky was literally black with owls coming and going, notifying families of the closing.
"I wouldn't recommend flying on your own. Your brooms will be collected and distributed before you leave. Now get back to your House before something happens."
"Fat lot you care, you and your Slytherin friends."
"I'll ignore that under the circumstances, Miss Chang, but I strongly urge both of you to return to your House now. Professor McGonagall has far too much to deal with already, without having to discipline a couple of impudent young pups."
Cho clearly wanted to answer back; Roger grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and pushed her back toward Ravenclaw.
After a few steps, she shook herself loose from Roger's grip. They walked most of the way back in silence. Just at the tapestry, though, Cho stopped and turned toward Roger. "You saved me from myself back there. Why didn't you let me tell Snape what I really thought of him?"
"Because now he doesn't have anything to lose, either. I'd hate to see him with his back to the wall."
For the first time that day, Cho smiled. "Thanks." She still made no move to enter the House. "What do you think will happen to us? I mean, where else can we go?"
"There are other schools. My folks will probably want me to stay in Wales, and your folks will want you near London."
"That hardly seems fair, Roger. We could have been a great team. All of us, I mean."
Roger looked as if he was trying to make up his mind what to do or say next. "Let's just get in, then. We can talk later tonight."
xxx
After that, though, Cho stayed in the Common Room, reading through books almost at random, although she kept coming back to "The Broom Gets All the Credit". Eunice Murray had gotten her this far, but didn't seem to have much to say now.
Until page 146:
"That game against Chudley was the worst. It seemed that, for once, they could do no wrong. Their Chasers got past our Keeper at will, while we didn't do much of anything. And every time I saw the Snitch, their Seeker was already in pursuit of it. But as long as it kept getting away, the game wasn't over, and neither was my role. I just had to remember that we were in it until the final minute, and any minute could be the final minute.
"At last, with the Cannons up 140 points on the board, I saw the Snitch making a dive for one of the Chudley hoops. Without even thinking about where I was flying or what would greet me, I sped toward it. So did the other Seeker, but I couldn't worry about that. I pushed myself there as fast as I could, grabbed the Snitch, and won the game by ten points."
After that, Cho stayed in the Common Room, no longer reading but clearly waiting for something. If anyone asked what she was waiting for, she would simply say, "the last minute."
xxx
What Cho was waiting for came around midnight:
"Your attention, please!" echoed the voice of Minerva McGonagall, with a tone nobody in Hogwarts had heard in months. "It is my great pleasure to announce that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets has been slain, and Miss Ginny Weasley has been recovered unharmed. Furthermore, the mandrake potion is being administered to those in the hospital wing. The decision to close Hogwarts has been rescinded. So stop your packing and report to the Great Hall for the biggest feast you'll ever see!"
Cho stayed seated, with a satisfied smile, as the rest of the House rushed through the Common Room. Roger stopped just long enough to ask, "Did you know something about all this?"
"Not really," she smiled. "Talk to you later."
"You will indeed, Miss Seeker." He smiled back as he joined the crowd rushing to the Great Hall.
When they had all passed, though, Cho went off in another direction: toward the hospital wing. As she went, she saw Hermione Granger rush toward, then past her, heading for the Great Hall as if she were trying to outrun time itself.
Now Cho started to run, too.
"Be there, Penny," she whispered; "please, still be there."
As Cho rounded the last corner, she saw someone standing in the corridor in front of the hospital wing door: Percy Weasley. Cho backed into an alcove as the door opened. There stood Penelope Clearwater. She took one look at Percy, then literally threw herself into his open arms. They held onto each other hungrily, they kissed each other fervently. There was clearly no one else on earth. Finally, they broke their kiss and went off to the Great Hall. They never saw Cho.
But Cho watched them, and felt something as she watched them-something she had never in her life felt before. It wasn't jealousy of Penelope, because Cho didn't want Percy. But now she wanted to, longed to, mean as much to someone as those two meant to each other. And she felt it with what could only be called a warm glow in her chest, coming from somewhere near her heart.
xxx
to be continued in part 34, wherein Cho finally, but unofficially, makes her debut as Ravenclaw Seeker . . .
