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

36. Ghost-Eaters

The further north the Hogwarts Express got, the darker the sky grew and the harder the rain beat against the window glass. Just south of the border with Scotland, the train made a quick stop at Snitter's Run to pick up students like Jan Nugginbridge who lived in the north. She rushed onto the train from the platform, with her cat Coriander bundled under her robes. After a quick drying charm to get rid of the rain, she went looking for Cho.

Jan found the Ravenclaw compartment with Cho, Penelope, Libby Foggly and Raina. The others had gotten restless being so close to Hogwarts, and were visiting other compartments.

"Here yeh are! How was China?"

"Wonderful; amazing. There's not enough time to tell it all again; I'll do it in the Common Room after dinner."

The moment Jan sat down, the lights went out.

"What happened?" Penelope asked.

"Wait!" Libby said. They listened; they could hear, then feel, the train coming to a halt.

"This isn't Hogsmeade," Raina said, with worry in her voice. "We're nowhere."

It was almost useless to look out the window. They were miles from Hogwarts, or Hogsmeade, or Snitter's Run, or any other sign of civilization. The rain only made the blackness even more absolute.

"Somethin's gone funny wi' the train, then?" Jan asked.

"Listen!" Libby shushed them, almost angrily. It was as if she knew something was going to happen.

Cho strained to hear or see anything. There was an angry voice in the corridor, further up the train, then the sound of compartment doors opening and closing. Someone was searching compartments one by one.

When that someone came to Cho's compartment-they still couldn't see a thing in the pitch blackness, but it was as if an emotion slapped Cho in the face. That was the only way she could describe it afterwards; a feeling that forced itself on her, telling her, "You will feel this." And what she felt was dread. It was the kind of profound gut-sick feeling she had felt when it looked like Ravenclaw would conspire to keep her off the team-only magnified a hundredfold. Whatever the feeling was, it felt like there would be no Quidditch ever again.

Then, as immediately as the feeling jumped onto Cho, it jumped away. It didn't leave her as she was before, though; she still carried an after- taste of sorrow and loss and bleakness. She wanted to throw open the window, stick her head out into the night, and let the wind and rain try to wash the awful feeling off of her.

And then, with a jerk, the train started up again. The lights came back on. Cho looked around the compartment; clearly, each of the other girls had been through a similar experience. Even Coriander, usually a fearless cat, was shivering in Jan's lap.

All were affected, that is, except Libby Foggly. She seemed to be excited by it all. "D'you know what that was?" she said excitedly, looking around at the others.

"I don't want to know," Raina quickly answered.

"That was a dementor; one of the guards of Azkaban."

"How do you know?" Cho asked. "We couldn't see anything."

"My father had to deal with one before; it was a security matter for his business. I remember the way it made me feel."

"You look right enough now," Jan said suspiciously.

"I learned how to get on with them. They're not really real, you know. They're ghost eaters?"

"What?" Penelope asked.

"They live off of thoughts and feelings. There used to be all different kinds. Like succubi and incubi, for instance; they live off of sexual feelings. But these dementors are the last of their kind left in any number, and that's because the Ministry uses them out at Azkaban."

"The prison, you mean, where that Sirius Black . . ."

Libby nodded. "I think they were checking the train for Black, although why they didn't check it at King's Cross is a mystery to me. What would they want at Hogwarts anyway?"

"Y'mean yeh know about those things, but yeh don' know about Black?" Jan sounded more than a little superior. Before she could say anything else, though, the train came to a stop. They were finally in Hogsmeade. "Tell yeh in the coach, then." Jan grabbed up Coriander and almost ran out of the compartment.

All up and down the train, students were doing the same thing. Not just because a long ride was over; they felt that, after exposure to the dementors, they needed to breathe fresh air and feel the rain on their faces-even though the rain came in sheets as hard and cold as a mountain waterfall.

Jan, Cho, Libby and Raina rushed into one carriage. Penelope excused herself to ride with her boyfriend, Percy Weasley. The others looked expectantly at Jan. "Well, yeh know the story o' Harry Potter. But there's one part hardly ever gets tol'. The Dark Lord come lookin' fer the Potters, y'see, but he had a hard time findin' 'em. They'd turned to their bes' frien' to be a Secret-Keeper an' not reveal where they were hidin'. Only, he did."

"Sirius Black?" Cho asked in a hushed voice.

"Aye. Gave 'em up; then attacked that other wizard and them Muggles."

"How do you know all this?" Libby asked.

"My da went to Hogwarts wi' Harry's parents. Seems they got into more than their share o' trouble when they were our age, but when they were older an' got out an' got married, my da says that a nicer witch and wizard ye'd ne'er find."

The rain had stopped during the carriage ride; they stepped out into a cold, damp night and onto the great stone steps leading up to the castle.

"One question, though," Cho started.

"Jes' the one, then?" Jan smiled.

Just then, they saw the Sorting Hat being brought into the Great Hall, but by Professor Flitwick. Usually this was the job of Professor McGonagall as Deputy Headmistress. Just one more odd circumstance to add to a very unusual first day back.

Cho was actually glad to see the usual number of new wizards and witches. After all the problems with the Chamber of Secrets and the school on the brink of being shut down, she half-expected parents to send their children elsewhere for a magical education. Still, the typical number of First Years-about fifty-was milling about, waiting to be assigned to one House or another.

At last, with the final new wizard Sorted ("Tindolini, Milo" "HUFFLEPUFF!"), and with remarks by Albus Dumbledore about the dementors being at the entrances to Hogwarts, the feast finally got underway.

"Those dementors are awful!" Letitia Groondy complained. "Make you feel like there's nothing but rottenness in the world."

"They're still looking for Sirius Black," commented Diana Fairweather. "Although that's a lost cause."

"What makes you say that?" Vincent Krixlow asked.

"They may be guarding the grounds, but who's watching the skies? What's to stop him sailing in on a broom some night? I've never heard of a dementor riding a broomstick."

"He'd make a lovely Keeper, though, wouldn't he, Rog? The other side wouldn't want to get anywhere near the goals." "Jinx" Jenkins tried to joke about the dementors to Quidditch Captain Roger Davies, but Cho suspected his heart really wasn't in it.

"Let's leave all Quidditch talk until tomorrow, shall we?" Roger replied. "Those things just leave the place feeling like . . ." He didn't even try to finish the sentence.

"So, Cho," Jan suddenly said, "you had a question?"

Jan had caught Cho with a mouthful of pork pie, and had to wait until Cho swallowed to answer. Worse, Cho realized her situation and started to giggle-as best she could with her mouth full-which just prolonged her inability to ask the question. Still, her muffled laughter was one of the few sounds of happiness returning to the Great Hall.

"I meant to ask," Cho finally gasped out, "about the Potters. What did the Dark Lord want with them particularly?"

"Well, they were an example, weren' they? They stood up to him, refused to join, an' gave others a reason not to join. With the Dark Lord it was all er nothin'."

"What was so special about them?"

"Ah, well, my father never really tol' me that bit. In fact, there's lots 'bout them days that he's never tol' me. He just says, 'when ye're older.' Well, I'm sendin' an owl straightaway tonight! If I'm ol' enough to put up wi' them dementors, I'm ol' enough to hear the rest of the story."

"Just remember the old saying," Krixlow said as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and rose to go to Ravenclaw. "Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Ta."

"Cheery little bugger. What's got his spirits up?" Diana asked.

Cho thought she knew. It had been almost two hours since her encounter with the dementor on the train, and the effect of it was finally gone. A good meal, good friends, familiar surroundings, warm fire; these things were enough to make one forget the dementors.

Almost.

xxx

to be continued in part 37, wherein the Boggart shows itself to Cho's class, and preparations for the Quidditch season are interrupted by two different gatherings in the Great Hall