The News is Told

(A/N: Sorry I haven't updated this in a while. The same goes for my Star Wars fic (I really need to finish that) Anyway, here's another little chapter for this, though I'm not sure if it'll be as long as the others. Still, hope you like!)

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The Changs jolted upright as the car stopped violently, Cho once again darting out of her sleep. She blinked sleepily, wondering how far away from Hogwarts they were now. It was so strange, she couldn't even remember dosing off, and by the way that things were going, it seemed that her parents had mostly been arguing all the way there.

She hit her head back against her seat, her head spinning. She hoped that she hadn't dreamt about Cedric again. How embarrassing it would have been if her parents had heard her – she knew that she talked in her sleep. It was an annoying habit of hers.

"Why do we have to drive all the way home?" Mrs. Chang was complaining. "You know fully well that we could have taken brooms - "

Her husband cut her off as he pointed with a dubious finger out of the window. It was raining slightly, and her miffed expression didn't help solve the argument one bit, nor make it any better.

" – Or Floo Powder if necessary," Mrs. Chang finished clumsily, not wanting to be the one struck down in the conversation. "No-one can see us now, dear. We may as well easily have been able to manage."

"There's always the risks," Mr. Chang had snapped back gruffly.

"That's all you ever go on about, those bloody risks! Sometimes you can be so mistrustful it's unheard of!"

Cho remained in her seat, trying not to listen. She hated it when her parents fought like this, usually it was over nothing and it generally happened when a lot of pressure was at hand. Oh, it was never anything serious, just the occasional disagreement. But still, she didn't want to hear them at it while she just lay back and could do nothing for it.

It stopped after a minute or two, Mrs. Chang finally giving in due to the fact that they had started off now and were almost home already. But on the way back she kept a very sour face, pursing her lips as if expecting a rematch or another topic to comment on.

Cho gazed out of the window, watching the gentle rainfall past the glass. Her eyes wandered to the cloudy sky, where if she looked really carefully she could see Cedric's face smiling at her. There were his eyes, and his handsome smile. He was watching her still.

How she wished that she could reach out and touch him…hold him. She thought back to the Yule Ball and how he had kissed her on the last dance before they left for bed. His presence comforted her and made her feel welcome. They had made plans to stay together over the holidays and they had decided on so many things, Cedric had once said how his father had really wanted to see her.

Her parents had wanted to see him too, but were they for the right reasons? They had heard of his victory in the last year's Quidditch match (Gryffindor against Hufflepuff), and how that he had beaten Harry Potter in reaching the Snitch. They had been so delighted when they had heard of the Ball, for they knew Amos Diggory well and all were good friends.

Her mother went on about betrothal, in which Cho felt embarrassed again.

She let her thoughts wander again, but this time back to Harry. She also remembered that night that Cedric won the match, Harry fell from the sky and into a faint. He had fallen at least fifty feet, even she had been amazed. And worried.

His broom – his Nimbus Two Thousand had fallen head smack into the Whomping Willow. It had been destroyed, and the look on his face remained in her head still today. How she wanted so much to at least give him a hug, to wipe the disappointment off his face.

But still of Cedric…she wished time would go backwards for one night.

"You're very quiet, Cho," her father noticed. "Is everything all right?"

Breaking from her thoughts, Cho nodded slowly. "Yes, Dad," she whispered, hoping it sounded as cheerful as she wanted. "Everything's fine."

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They had arrived home not long afterwards, Cho locking herself in her room and empting her belongings, ignoring her parent's remarks. Though on the bright side, now that they were at home they had settled down a lot more, and weren't arguing for long.

Being rather neat with her things, she had taken her time. Already she was close to tears from the discovery that she'd found, a letter that Cedric had written to her. She couldn't even remember what he had written about now, but she had opened it, seen the name at the bottom and quickly folded it up again, hiding her sobs.

It now lay forgotten on her cupboard.

Once her unpacking was finished, she had made her way downstairs, where her mother was already preparing lunch with her wand. Her father was busily reading 'The Daily Prophet', looking very interested in the Quidditch League results.

Feeling the silence, Cho went and sat in her own corner, not wanting to mope but finding nothing else to do. She had instantly wanted to go and contact her friend Marietta Edgecombe, as soon as she had got home – in fact; she had promised her that she would.

But she didn't feel as if now was the perfect time. Settling back into her chair, she tried to keep out of conversation as much as possible. But it didn't last long.

"Are you pleased to be home, Cho?" her father asked.

She nodded. "Yes, Dad."

He put down his paper and stared at her. "You don't sound very happy."

"Sorry, Dad."

"You were very quiet on the way back too, as I noticed," he said. "Normally you get so excited to be home and are always telling us about your year. Today you've hardly said three words to both of us."

"I know, Dad. I'm sorry, Dad." Cho wondered how long he would keep it up.

"How's Cedric, sweetheart?" her mother called from inside the kitchen. She was busily wiping down her wand with a cloth as she entered the sitting room, for she had been preparing some form of sauce.

Cho stifled a groan.

"Cho? Did you hear me?" her mother asked, her voice louder in case she hadn't heard.

"Yes, Mum," Cho replied.

"I said how's Cedric doing? I thought you would be talking our ears off about him on the way back, but obviously not. He hasn't dumped you now, has he? Not Cedric Diggory!" Now her voice sounded appalled, as if the idea of someone dumping her daughter was preposterous.

Cho shook her head, forcing back tears. "No, Mum. He hasn't."

Mrs. Chang suddenly brightened. "Ah, I knew he wouldn't. You two look ever so cute together, Cho. Those pictures you sent me after the Ball were beautiful. You should have sent me some in your dress robes, they would have been – Cho, honey – what's the matter?"

For at that final mention of Cedric, Cho had broken down into tears. This brought her parent's attention towards her straight, and her father dropped his paper to sit next to her, putting an arm around her back.

"Cho, love?"

"What's up? Is anything bothering you?"

"Oh, Mum…Dad!" Cho wept into her hands, not bothering to push her Dad off. "Just shut up! You don't know! All the way back home you've been trying to get me to talk about Hogwarts…what if I don't want to? Haven't you noticed that I didn't really want to talk?"

Her father shrugged. "We caught up on that hunch, yes. But we thought that you were upset because you were leaving, and that you had such a wonderful time this year."

"We never thought it would disappoint you like this, Cho," her mother agreed.

"I'm not disappointed!" Cho sobbed. "I'm miserable! Everything's gone wrong!"

Now her mother joined her too, putting her arms around her daughter and whispering endearments to her. "Oh, my girl…he has dumped you, hasn't he?" she coughed out.

Cho shook her head madly. "No! Of course not, I've told you that!"

"Then what has he done, Cho? Because you were fine a while back and I know it involves him somewhere. So what has he done? What's he said?"

"Nothing!" Cho exploded into more tears.

Now her father looked furious. "You tell us, Cho! Because you're obviously upset about Hogwarts, and I know you've spent most of your time with him there, so what's happened?" he made as if to get up from his seat, seeing red. "I'll contact Amos and find out if I have to! If his boy is causing trouble with my daughter, I'll find out soon enough - "

Suddenly horrified, Cho shook her head again. "No, Dad."

"Why ever not?" her mother demanded.

Cho felt her throat close up and stop her voice. This was the moment…they hadn't heard about what had happened at all the last year and now it was up to her to tell them. They had to know the truth before word got out in the papers and the sympathy came piling on. She might as well face it now. Breathing back a feeble sigh, she looked up into the faces of her parents.

"Because…because…oh, Mum – Dad, Cedric's dead!" she wept, hiding her face.

There was pure silence. Cho couldn't stand it. She could only hear the sound of her own crying and she wished that someone would speak. She could feel her parent's eyes boring into her, and the looks upon their faces she could only picture.

"Say something…please," she whispered.

The next sound she heard was her mother breaking down into sobs. She glanced up and watched as she covered her mouth with her hand and sat down beside her daughter, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She gasped in horror and appeared as if she didn't want to believe it. "Cho…sweetheart…" she croaked.

Her father was none the better. He had gone very white and had slapped the heel of his hand to his head. They had always believed their daughter, it wasn't often that she lied and she certainly wouldn't be so depressed about nothing. "You're serious?" he said.

Cho could only nod.

"How?" her mother choked out.

Now Cho's words stuttered. Her family never used the Dark Lord's name, it had never been done for their family, and she didn't think she could find the nerve to say it. So instead, she went the other way. "It was…him, Mum," she muttered. "He – Who – Must – Not – Be – Named. He killed Cedric."

"But he's dead, gone!" her father shouted, looking confused.

"He left us ages ago!" Mrs. Chang joined in.

But Cho shook her head, feeling her tears build up. "Not as we thought, he's come back! Oh, he's come back – please believe me! I know it sounds out of the ordinary, but he really has! Dumbledore said so on the last day…oh, don't look at me like that – it's the truth!"

Cho knew they would take her seriously. They had always followed Dumbledore.

Now her mother wailed, almost a scream as she hugged her daughter fiercely.

"Cho! You're telling us he was at the school!" her father nearly bellowed.

"Love, you could have been killed!"

"No!" Cho sobbed back, "He wasn't there! Something happened, I don't know what! It happened on the final task of the tournament, Cedric was going to win, Mum – I knew it! But he…came back dead, and Harry was with him - "

But this was too much for her parents. Still floundering, her father quite stumbled out of the room. "I'd better contact the Diggorys and give them our sympathy," he said hoarsely. "What they're going through I'd never know! No wonder Amos wasn't there at the station!" And with that, he almost tripped into his study. The door slammed.

"Oh, Cho!" her mother carried on. She was still crying. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I wanted to!" Cho burst out, her eyes feeling sore. "I couldn't! You all seemed so happy, I couldn't have a scene like this in front of everyone…in front of Harry! You should have seen how sorry he looked, Mum – everyone did! I had to walk around the past few days hiding from all of the faces!"

Mrs. Chang took her in a hug, feeling her daughter's weeps racking her body. "But Cedric!" she pressed on, "What did he do to anger You – Know – Who?"

"Nothing, that's the point!"

Cho couldn't understand why Cedric had been killed. She didn't even think that there was a reason for it, he hadn't done anything after all. It had just been unlucky…Cedric had been unlucky. Everything that night had gone so horribly wrong for her.

"What was all this about Harry Potter, love?" her mother suddenly said, her eyes burning at the thought of his part to do with Cedric's death. "Why was he involved?" she knew well of what had happened all of those years ago and couldn't help thinking he had something to do with it.

"Mum, leave him out of it," Cho snapped. "He didn't have anything to do with it."

Her mother was silenced. Until she wept again.

"But Cedric was such a nice boy!" she went on. "He was so polite and handsome, oh, my girl – I feel ever so sorry for you! You had planned to do all of those things together over the Summer, you wrote me and told of it, didn't you? Oh, Cho…"

Cho felt as if she were bursting and ready to break any second. "I LOVED HIM!" she screamed through burning tears and squeezing her mother as if it were the only thing left to keep her alive. This was the worst year of her life, the worst time she had ever felt. How was she ever going to get through this? All of it?

Even from into the study, both could hear the miserable voice of Mr. Chang, choking on his words as he planned out his letter.

"We can't say how sorry we are…how devastating it must be for such a loss. You have our deepest sympathy for the death of your son, Cedric Diggory…"

To be continued

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(A/N: I thought this chapter might be a nice line up for the one before. Yes, I know it's upsetting, I always imagined how Cho would feel when she got home. Please review if you want and I'm sorry for such a late update on it. Thanks!)