OR DIE TRYING: CHO CHANG'S SIXTH YEAR
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
9. Serious
A/N: OotP went into greater detail about the Ravenclaw Quidditch team than any of the previous books; as a result, some of my Original Characters from "Or Die Trying" will have to be dismissed, modified or otherwise accounted for. In this case, the Reserve Chaser formerly named Leigh Caporeale is now named Torrance "Torture" Chambers.
xxx
As Cho left Transfiguration--her last Thursday class--and headed toward Ravenclaw House, she could vaguely hear rolls of thunder outside the castle walls. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team would meet after dinner, but there wasn't likely to be any practice tonight.
Roger confirmed this at dinner that night, as he walked around the table talking to the members of the team.
"We're in the Common Room after dinner," he told Cho. "No flying tonight, but at least we can get the changes straight."
"How many changes?"
"Only a couple, and most of the Reserves have had some experience. I think the side'll be as strong as we ever were."
"That's good to hear," Cho smiled. Roger went on down the table, leaving Cho to eat in a calm state of mind--calmer than she'd been all week.
After dinner she walked back to the Common Room, where she saw the team gathering near the bay window. As she sat on a divan she could hear the rain ticking against the windows.
Before Roger could say anything, though, Chaser Pablo Molina stood up. "Sorry to do this to you, Rog, everybody, but I can't be on the team this year."
Davies seemed to lose control. "WHAT HAPPENED??"
"My O.W.L.s happened. They were pretty far below what my parents expected, and they told me to sit out a year. Get my priorities straight, they said."
"Fine for them, but what are we supposed to do? We've already lost one Chaser and the Keeper to graduation."
"Sorry."
"Fine, then. I'll try to get us a few hours this weekend if the weather breaks, or even if it don't. Meanwhile..." He looked around the room. "We have the same Beaters and Seeker, and that's something. I'll let you all know about this weekend once I've talked to Hooch. Cho and Pablo, stay here for a bit; otherwise, that's all."
The others drifted off. "Right," Roger said to the two remaining players, "how do we get out of this?"
Cho spoke up: "A couple of seasons ago, those times when I was in the hospital wing, didn't we use Chambers as a Chaser?"
"He wasn't half bad," Pablo answered. "But his play was better in the first game than in the second. I don't know if it was nerves the second match or overconfidence the first."
Roger shook his head. "I think it was all the difference having to play Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Chambers just wasn't ready for that greasy lot. But we've got the whole year for him to get ready. Do you think he can do it?"
"No doubts," Pablo nodded. "And, Rog, I'm sorry about this."
"Well, what your parents don't know, eh? I want to see you at practices, and be ready as a Reserve. And bring your marks up; I won't be around next year to keep you on your toes."
"Fair enough; thanks." Pablo went upstairs to his dormitory, leaving Cho anmd Roger alone in the Common Room.
Roger looked steadily at Cho. "Truth, now; are you up for the season?"
"Truth? I'll have to tell you tomorrow. Right now, I don't know. It's so long since I've been on a broom for any reason."
"Not good enough. You're going to have to be serious and commit to this year before I let you back on the team."
"What's that supposed to mean--commit? When haven't I been serious? Have you ever seen me skive off of a practice?" Cho was on her feet and shouting at Roger. "I have ALWAYS given maximum effort as a Seeker, Roger Davies, and don't you forget that!"
"Sorry, Cho, but I can't just take your word for it. There's been talk already of you dosing yourself with Cheering Charms--"
"That was just on the train! Since then I haven't--"
"And of what's been happening to you since then: the nightmares, the crying fits. Will you sit back down, please?" Cho hadn't realized that she was still pacing; she sat down. "Look, I'm not saying any of this to be mean. I can't imagine what you've gone through since the Tournament, and I don't think I'd want anyone to go through it. But you're too good a Seeker to lose to something like this. I'll put you on the Reserves for the year if this is going to get in the way. But I need you to stop and think about it, and tell me the truth. Tell me as the Seeker I know you are."
Cho looked at Roger for a minute. She tried to keep any emotion at all off of her face, but Roger could tell she was going over the problem in her mind. When she spoke, it was in a detached manner. "If you want an answer this minute, I can't give you one. You'll have one by the weekend."
Roger stood up, looming over Cho. "As long as I have one, then." He went up to his own dormitory.
Cho stayed seated for another minute. She didn't move a muscle or make a sound, until she took a deep breath and muttered to herself, "To Hell with ritual, then." She got up and walked out of Ravenclaw House.
xxx
Nobody was in the school's Quidditch stadium, which had been restored after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The giant hedges that turned the pitch into a maze were gone now, and the grass was as smooth as if it had never been disturbed. All that disturbed it now was Cho Chang, out on a rainy Thursday night with her Comet Two Sixty in one hand, and the Golden Snitch in the other.
She'd expected to have to use the Alohomora Spell to break into Madam Hooch's office to get the Snitch, but it was unlocked. Hooch probably thought that nobody would bother anything on a night like this. Cho smiled to herself, thinking of one of the near-disasters that visited "Dangerous" Dai Llewellyn: the year he lost half of his body hair when hit by a bolt of lightning.
Cho didn't give it a thought. If lightning were to strike me, she reasoned, it would have done so by now. The moment she thought it, she realizes it was absurd, but she didn't care. I have to find this out now!
She threw the Snitch up into the rainy darkening sky as hard as she could, waited a count of ten, then mounted her broom and pushed off. At once she was back in her old routine without even thinking about it: scanning as best she could for some sign of the elusive Snitch. The entire sky was moving, filled with drizzling rain, yet she was looking for one different, tell-tale movement...
There! Just below! In the time it took to think it, she'd closed the gap and came within inches of the Snitch before it zipped away. She followed it as best she could, but lost it in the gloom. So she rose up again, and, as she did so, saw the Snitch also rising, over to her left. She waited, then slid quickly left and grabbed the Snitch.
Three more times she chased the Snitch around the stadium, flying for the first time in over a year, flying until she couldn't see a thing for the darkness. Still, she was able to spot the Snitch and close on it swiftly.
It was there: her talent as a Seeker. It hadn't abandoned her.
As she returned the Snitch to Madam Hooch's office, Cho smiled. It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she ran back to the castle.
xxx
By the time the Sixth Year Ravenclaws had Defense Against the Dark Arts--their last class on Friday afternoon--they'd all heard from the other students about what to expect from Dolores Jane Umbridge. They all knew that, while she had tried to make an example of Harry Potter and did not yet know whether she had succeeded or failed, her dominion over the students was no longer challenged.
So it was with general surprise that, after she had assigned a period of silent reading, a voice interrupted: "Begging your pardon, Professor Umbridge."
Umbridge looked up to see a Chinese girl with her hand raised, and the rest of the class staring at her.
"Yes, Miss, er, Chang?"
Cho stood up. "It doesn't seem sensible, ma'am, for us to read about protective spells and never try to use them. Particularly now, when He Who Must Not Be Named has returned."
Umbridge looked down indulgently, as if Cho were a child describing an encounter with an imaginary playmate. "We've been talking with Mister Harry Potter, have we?"
"No, ma'am. He told us what had happened last year, at the Tournament..."
"Stop right there, Miss Chang." Umbridge rose from her desk and walked to the front of the class. "The Ministry has been investigating that unfortunate incident, and, while no conclusion has been announced yet, knowledgeable Aurors have ruled out any possible involvement of You Know Who."
"They're wrong, then. Headmaster Dumbledore said so, too."
"Wrong, are they, Miss Chang? Which is it, then: am I lying to you, or is the Ministry lying to me? I trust, by the way, that you have evidence to back up your claim."
Cho had no evidence, and was sure that Umbridge knew it. Her face burning, she slipped back into her chair, her eyes staring at the desk top.
"As for the Headmaster, far be it from me to criticize a wizard who, while quite powerful in his prime, seems to have picked up a few delusional notions lately. I'll say no more, and let the facts" (she stressed that word) "of his recent demotions speak for themselves. For now, you will do your reading."
Cho looked down at the text, not seeing it at all through her burning eyes. She's right, Cho thought bitterly; I challenged her when I wasn't ready. I should have had proof, but the only one who has it has drawn detention for talking about it. Somehow, somehow, I will fight that woman. I will not let her keep torturing Harry Potter. And I will not let her and the Ministry bury Cedric as the victim of an accident!
But by the end of the class, Cho still hadn't worked out in her mind how she would do any of this. Too angry to eat, she didn't bother going to the Great Hall. Instead, she walked swiftly to her dormitory, threw down her bookbag, and started writing a scroll home:
"Dear Mummy and Daddy:
Our Dark Arts professor is a joke!"
She went on to list every rumour she'd heard of Umbridge, and described Harry's torture as graphically as she could. It took an hour, but, when she was done, she rolled up the scroll, tied it to Quan Yin's leg, and watched as she flew south toward London.
The writing calmed Cho down; she realized, as she watched her owl fly away, that she was very hungry. She went down to the Great Hall, where students--so many of them mere children--were eating and talking and laughing. Cho watched and listened to it all as if it were quite new to her.
That night, she dreamed that she was again in the Quidditch stadium. Again it was a rainy night, but she was there with Cedric, both of them on brooms. No matter how she tried to fly toward him, he flew faster and higher, until he vanished into the night sky.
Cho awoke from the dream with a face wet with tears. It seemed to be about midnight; the others were asleep. Cho went to the lavatory, washed her face, then went back to bed.
xxx
to be continued in part 10, wherein a surprise waits for Cho in the Owlery.
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
9. Serious
A/N: OotP went into greater detail about the Ravenclaw Quidditch team than any of the previous books; as a result, some of my Original Characters from "Or Die Trying" will have to be dismissed, modified or otherwise accounted for. In this case, the Reserve Chaser formerly named Leigh Caporeale is now named Torrance "Torture" Chambers.
xxx
As Cho left Transfiguration--her last Thursday class--and headed toward Ravenclaw House, she could vaguely hear rolls of thunder outside the castle walls. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team would meet after dinner, but there wasn't likely to be any practice tonight.
Roger confirmed this at dinner that night, as he walked around the table talking to the members of the team.
"We're in the Common Room after dinner," he told Cho. "No flying tonight, but at least we can get the changes straight."
"How many changes?"
"Only a couple, and most of the Reserves have had some experience. I think the side'll be as strong as we ever were."
"That's good to hear," Cho smiled. Roger went on down the table, leaving Cho to eat in a calm state of mind--calmer than she'd been all week.
After dinner she walked back to the Common Room, where she saw the team gathering near the bay window. As she sat on a divan she could hear the rain ticking against the windows.
Before Roger could say anything, though, Chaser Pablo Molina stood up. "Sorry to do this to you, Rog, everybody, but I can't be on the team this year."
Davies seemed to lose control. "WHAT HAPPENED??"
"My O.W.L.s happened. They were pretty far below what my parents expected, and they told me to sit out a year. Get my priorities straight, they said."
"Fine for them, but what are we supposed to do? We've already lost one Chaser and the Keeper to graduation."
"Sorry."
"Fine, then. I'll try to get us a few hours this weekend if the weather breaks, or even if it don't. Meanwhile..." He looked around the room. "We have the same Beaters and Seeker, and that's something. I'll let you all know about this weekend once I've talked to Hooch. Cho and Pablo, stay here for a bit; otherwise, that's all."
The others drifted off. "Right," Roger said to the two remaining players, "how do we get out of this?"
Cho spoke up: "A couple of seasons ago, those times when I was in the hospital wing, didn't we use Chambers as a Chaser?"
"He wasn't half bad," Pablo answered. "But his play was better in the first game than in the second. I don't know if it was nerves the second match or overconfidence the first."
Roger shook his head. "I think it was all the difference having to play Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Chambers just wasn't ready for that greasy lot. But we've got the whole year for him to get ready. Do you think he can do it?"
"No doubts," Pablo nodded. "And, Rog, I'm sorry about this."
"Well, what your parents don't know, eh? I want to see you at practices, and be ready as a Reserve. And bring your marks up; I won't be around next year to keep you on your toes."
"Fair enough; thanks." Pablo went upstairs to his dormitory, leaving Cho anmd Roger alone in the Common Room.
Roger looked steadily at Cho. "Truth, now; are you up for the season?"
"Truth? I'll have to tell you tomorrow. Right now, I don't know. It's so long since I've been on a broom for any reason."
"Not good enough. You're going to have to be serious and commit to this year before I let you back on the team."
"What's that supposed to mean--commit? When haven't I been serious? Have you ever seen me skive off of a practice?" Cho was on her feet and shouting at Roger. "I have ALWAYS given maximum effort as a Seeker, Roger Davies, and don't you forget that!"
"Sorry, Cho, but I can't just take your word for it. There's been talk already of you dosing yourself with Cheering Charms--"
"That was just on the train! Since then I haven't--"
"And of what's been happening to you since then: the nightmares, the crying fits. Will you sit back down, please?" Cho hadn't realized that she was still pacing; she sat down. "Look, I'm not saying any of this to be mean. I can't imagine what you've gone through since the Tournament, and I don't think I'd want anyone to go through it. But you're too good a Seeker to lose to something like this. I'll put you on the Reserves for the year if this is going to get in the way. But I need you to stop and think about it, and tell me the truth. Tell me as the Seeker I know you are."
Cho looked at Roger for a minute. She tried to keep any emotion at all off of her face, but Roger could tell she was going over the problem in her mind. When she spoke, it was in a detached manner. "If you want an answer this minute, I can't give you one. You'll have one by the weekend."
Roger stood up, looming over Cho. "As long as I have one, then." He went up to his own dormitory.
Cho stayed seated for another minute. She didn't move a muscle or make a sound, until she took a deep breath and muttered to herself, "To Hell with ritual, then." She got up and walked out of Ravenclaw House.
xxx
Nobody was in the school's Quidditch stadium, which had been restored after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The giant hedges that turned the pitch into a maze were gone now, and the grass was as smooth as if it had never been disturbed. All that disturbed it now was Cho Chang, out on a rainy Thursday night with her Comet Two Sixty in one hand, and the Golden Snitch in the other.
She'd expected to have to use the Alohomora Spell to break into Madam Hooch's office to get the Snitch, but it was unlocked. Hooch probably thought that nobody would bother anything on a night like this. Cho smiled to herself, thinking of one of the near-disasters that visited "Dangerous" Dai Llewellyn: the year he lost half of his body hair when hit by a bolt of lightning.
Cho didn't give it a thought. If lightning were to strike me, she reasoned, it would have done so by now. The moment she thought it, she realizes it was absurd, but she didn't care. I have to find this out now!
She threw the Snitch up into the rainy darkening sky as hard as she could, waited a count of ten, then mounted her broom and pushed off. At once she was back in her old routine without even thinking about it: scanning as best she could for some sign of the elusive Snitch. The entire sky was moving, filled with drizzling rain, yet she was looking for one different, tell-tale movement...
There! Just below! In the time it took to think it, she'd closed the gap and came within inches of the Snitch before it zipped away. She followed it as best she could, but lost it in the gloom. So she rose up again, and, as she did so, saw the Snitch also rising, over to her left. She waited, then slid quickly left and grabbed the Snitch.
Three more times she chased the Snitch around the stadium, flying for the first time in over a year, flying until she couldn't see a thing for the darkness. Still, she was able to spot the Snitch and close on it swiftly.
It was there: her talent as a Seeker. It hadn't abandoned her.
As she returned the Snitch to Madam Hooch's office, Cho smiled. It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she ran back to the castle.
xxx
By the time the Sixth Year Ravenclaws had Defense Against the Dark Arts--their last class on Friday afternoon--they'd all heard from the other students about what to expect from Dolores Jane Umbridge. They all knew that, while she had tried to make an example of Harry Potter and did not yet know whether she had succeeded or failed, her dominion over the students was no longer challenged.
So it was with general surprise that, after she had assigned a period of silent reading, a voice interrupted: "Begging your pardon, Professor Umbridge."
Umbridge looked up to see a Chinese girl with her hand raised, and the rest of the class staring at her.
"Yes, Miss, er, Chang?"
Cho stood up. "It doesn't seem sensible, ma'am, for us to read about protective spells and never try to use them. Particularly now, when He Who Must Not Be Named has returned."
Umbridge looked down indulgently, as if Cho were a child describing an encounter with an imaginary playmate. "We've been talking with Mister Harry Potter, have we?"
"No, ma'am. He told us what had happened last year, at the Tournament..."
"Stop right there, Miss Chang." Umbridge rose from her desk and walked to the front of the class. "The Ministry has been investigating that unfortunate incident, and, while no conclusion has been announced yet, knowledgeable Aurors have ruled out any possible involvement of You Know Who."
"They're wrong, then. Headmaster Dumbledore said so, too."
"Wrong, are they, Miss Chang? Which is it, then: am I lying to you, or is the Ministry lying to me? I trust, by the way, that you have evidence to back up your claim."
Cho had no evidence, and was sure that Umbridge knew it. Her face burning, she slipped back into her chair, her eyes staring at the desk top.
"As for the Headmaster, far be it from me to criticize a wizard who, while quite powerful in his prime, seems to have picked up a few delusional notions lately. I'll say no more, and let the facts" (she stressed that word) "of his recent demotions speak for themselves. For now, you will do your reading."
Cho looked down at the text, not seeing it at all through her burning eyes. She's right, Cho thought bitterly; I challenged her when I wasn't ready. I should have had proof, but the only one who has it has drawn detention for talking about it. Somehow, somehow, I will fight that woman. I will not let her keep torturing Harry Potter. And I will not let her and the Ministry bury Cedric as the victim of an accident!
But by the end of the class, Cho still hadn't worked out in her mind how she would do any of this. Too angry to eat, she didn't bother going to the Great Hall. Instead, she walked swiftly to her dormitory, threw down her bookbag, and started writing a scroll home:
"Dear Mummy and Daddy:
Our Dark Arts professor is a joke!"
She went on to list every rumour she'd heard of Umbridge, and described Harry's torture as graphically as she could. It took an hour, but, when she was done, she rolled up the scroll, tied it to Quan Yin's leg, and watched as she flew south toward London.
The writing calmed Cho down; she realized, as she watched her owl fly away, that she was very hungry. She went down to the Great Hall, where students--so many of them mere children--were eating and talking and laughing. Cho watched and listened to it all as if it were quite new to her.
That night, she dreamed that she was again in the Quidditch stadium. Again it was a rainy night, but she was there with Cedric, both of them on brooms. No matter how she tried to fly toward him, he flew faster and higher, until he vanished into the night sky.
Cho awoke from the dream with a face wet with tears. It seemed to be about midnight; the others were asleep. Cho went to the lavatory, washed her face, then went back to bed.
xxx
to be continued in part 10, wherein a surprise waits for Cho in the Owlery.