Disclaimer: The usual. None of the characters are mine, their all JK
Rowling's, but I'm not using them for profit, so it's all ok. I've been
getting some strange reactions about my pairing, but oh well. I find it
easy to write about these two.
Step.
Step.
The wet grass soaked the bottom of her robes.
Step.
Step.
Her breath formed a ghostly mist before her face.
Step.
Step.
She saw the shape forming before her again. So familiar, yet so horribly alien.
Step.
Step.
Cedric.
Her steps turned into a desperate run across the quidditch field. The tears on her cheeks chilled her face as they met the icy wind. He was so cold. Those hands that had once caressed her face so lovingly now lying on the grass stiff and abandoned like a piece of driftwood.
Cho woke up.
At least everyone else in the bedroom was asleep this time. It wasn't rare for one or more of the other girls to wake up when they heard Cho having nightmares about Cedric again. Throwing off the bedclothes, she brushed the tears off her face with the back of her hand and walked down the stone steps to the Ravenclaw common room. A walk will make me feel better, she thought, and crossed to the portrait of Gwendolyn the Greedy.
"Butterbeer," she whispered, and the portrait opened. The corridor echoed as she walked down it, silent though she tried to be. Deciding to go to the library to try yet again to find that potion for dreamless sleep, she turned left. To her horror, a figure was standing in the corridor in front of her.
"Who's there?" The figure asked. It wasn't Filch. It was the potions master.
"Professor Snape!"
"Miss Chang!"
"Sir, I'm sorry sir, I couldn't sleep, so I." she trailed off. Dammit. Once again, she has screwed things up for Ravenclaw. She wasn't sure how she could explain her way out of this one.
"How dare you. I thought you were an intelligent student, Chang. You know full well that students are forbidden to walk the corridors at night. You will have to be punished this time, so -"
"I had nightmares!" Anything to avoid getting points deducted.
"Nightmares?"
"About -"
"Cedric." It wasn't a question.
"How did you - "
"You think you are unreadable? You have been radiating grief since the start of the year." A feeling he knew too well. "I saw you with him last year. You were close."
Cho couldn't think of anything to say.
"Let me show you something." As long as it doesn't result in a punishment, Cho thought. Snape turned and led her down the corridor. He opened a wooden door, turned left, then right, and to another door, this time stone, which stood about seven feet high.
"Would you open, please?" The door swung open and the two walked into the room. The door shut of its own accord in a surprisingly quiet manner. Cho looked expectantly around the room, but only saw a puddle of water on the floor.
"What is this?" She asked Snape.
"Professor Dumbledore invented it during the time of He Who Must Not Be Named. It is used as a device to help those in misery. Look into it."
Apprehensive, Cho peered into the puddle. At first, she saw nothing. Then after a few seconds, faces began to form around her! Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, her older brother and her two closest friends, Padma and Marietta. All at once, though she couldn't explain it, Cho felt a deep sense of peace within her, and knew that she could sleep now. She turned around to Snape happily, and he, sensing her questions, spoke.
"When a person looks into it, it shows those living who care about them. The water transfers their love to the viewer, which makes it particularly comforting to those who are in the process of grieving."
"Thankyou Professor. Um - "
"Will I punish you? Not tonight."
"Why not?"
A pause.
"Because I know how you feel." He hoped that she hadn't heard the crack in his voice. "Come here as often as you like. I will make an allowance - Dumbledore will understand." He asked the door to open and left the room quickly before she could see the tears on his cheeks.
Step.
Step.
The wet grass soaked the bottom of her robes.
Step.
Step.
Her breath formed a ghostly mist before her face.
Step.
Step.
She saw the shape forming before her again. So familiar, yet so horribly alien.
Step.
Step.
Cedric.
Her steps turned into a desperate run across the quidditch field. The tears on her cheeks chilled her face as they met the icy wind. He was so cold. Those hands that had once caressed her face so lovingly now lying on the grass stiff and abandoned like a piece of driftwood.
Cho woke up.
At least everyone else in the bedroom was asleep this time. It wasn't rare for one or more of the other girls to wake up when they heard Cho having nightmares about Cedric again. Throwing off the bedclothes, she brushed the tears off her face with the back of her hand and walked down the stone steps to the Ravenclaw common room. A walk will make me feel better, she thought, and crossed to the portrait of Gwendolyn the Greedy.
"Butterbeer," she whispered, and the portrait opened. The corridor echoed as she walked down it, silent though she tried to be. Deciding to go to the library to try yet again to find that potion for dreamless sleep, she turned left. To her horror, a figure was standing in the corridor in front of her.
"Who's there?" The figure asked. It wasn't Filch. It was the potions master.
"Professor Snape!"
"Miss Chang!"
"Sir, I'm sorry sir, I couldn't sleep, so I." she trailed off. Dammit. Once again, she has screwed things up for Ravenclaw. She wasn't sure how she could explain her way out of this one.
"How dare you. I thought you were an intelligent student, Chang. You know full well that students are forbidden to walk the corridors at night. You will have to be punished this time, so -"
"I had nightmares!" Anything to avoid getting points deducted.
"Nightmares?"
"About -"
"Cedric." It wasn't a question.
"How did you - "
"You think you are unreadable? You have been radiating grief since the start of the year." A feeling he knew too well. "I saw you with him last year. You were close."
Cho couldn't think of anything to say.
"Let me show you something." As long as it doesn't result in a punishment, Cho thought. Snape turned and led her down the corridor. He opened a wooden door, turned left, then right, and to another door, this time stone, which stood about seven feet high.
"Would you open, please?" The door swung open and the two walked into the room. The door shut of its own accord in a surprisingly quiet manner. Cho looked expectantly around the room, but only saw a puddle of water on the floor.
"What is this?" She asked Snape.
"Professor Dumbledore invented it during the time of He Who Must Not Be Named. It is used as a device to help those in misery. Look into it."
Apprehensive, Cho peered into the puddle. At first, she saw nothing. Then after a few seconds, faces began to form around her! Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, her older brother and her two closest friends, Padma and Marietta. All at once, though she couldn't explain it, Cho felt a deep sense of peace within her, and knew that she could sleep now. She turned around to Snape happily, and he, sensing her questions, spoke.
"When a person looks into it, it shows those living who care about them. The water transfers their love to the viewer, which makes it particularly comforting to those who are in the process of grieving."
"Thankyou Professor. Um - "
"Will I punish you? Not tonight."
"Why not?"
A pause.
"Because I know how you feel." He hoped that she hadn't heard the crack in his voice. "Come here as often as you like. I will make an allowance - Dumbledore will understand." He asked the door to open and left the room quickly before she could see the tears on his cheeks.