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
16. Winners and Losers
For the next two weeks, Cho felt something she hadn't felt in months. It wasn't exactly happiness or elation, but something similar. Even as she tried out her homework for Dumbledore's Army, or read over her notes hidden away in Slinkhard's text, she felt it but couldn't put a name to it. It went beyond satisfaction, went beyond the giddy daring of being rebellious against the orders of Umbridge (who Krixlow and several of the other Ravenclaws had taken to calling "Umbitch" if they thought they weren't being overheard). It took her two weeks to put a name to it:
Harry.
Not that her mourning for Cedric Diggory was over; far from it. He was still in her nightmares at least once a week. She even had names for them now: Coffin Dream, Third Task Dream, Carving Machine Dream. Just when she thought she could get it all down to a manageable system, though, along would come a new dream:
She had gone to the secret garden, which Cedric had kept behind the greenhouses. Cedric, who appeared so level-headed and unperturbed, was once subject to violent fits, owing to the pressures put upon him by his father, Amos Diggory. Madame Sprout, recognizing this, gave Cedric the garden for therapy, and it did its work. As Cedric grew into his Seventh Year, he kept the garden, and even shared the secret of it with Cho.
In this dream, however, Cho came into the garden to see it as she had the night of the Third Task: with every plant violently ripped from the earth and tossed about as if by high winds. She heard a step behind her, turned to greet Cedric...
only to find him turned into a werewolf, eyes glowing, mouth dripping with blood and saliva, a crazed rumble coming from his throat. Cho didn't have a chance to move as he pounced on her, sinking his fangs into her throat...
which was when she awoke, screaming in terror, not even realizing that Marietta had opened the bed-curtains.
"Still?" Marietta said sleeping.
"Sorry," Cho muttered. "I don't mean to do this..."
"I know," Marietta replied, sounding less than concerned as she brought Cho a small cup of the Draught of Peace. "Can you get your rest now? You want to be sharp for the Professor," she smiled.
Cho drank the potion, then settled back into her bed, a small smile playing across her lips. Both girls knew who the Professor was...
Harry.
xxx
The first meeting of Dumbledore's Army (a name Cho still detested) wasn't a ringing success for Cho Chang, but that was because of Harry. He seemed to make a point of avoiding Cho as he paced around the room, watching everyone but her try the Expelliarmus. She was convinced it was because she was doing it all wrong and he just didn't want to have to tell her so. She was briefly afraid of being so bad at it that he would actually tell her to leave the DA, chased out by the laughter of everyone in the room...
But the truth was far kinder than that. As nervous as Cho was around Harry, that's how nervous Harry was around Cho. But by the middle of the second meeting, they both seemed to realize that, whatever else happened, they wouldn't embarrass themselves horribly. Harry began speaking to Cho about her technique as if she were just another student--no, that wasn't quite right. There was always something under his words to her--she could sense it. It was like their chance meeting in the Owlery; they could talk about magic, Quidditch, anything else, and not feel nervous about making a stupid mistake.
It's happening at last, Cho would think to herself later, many times over the weeks. I wanted this for so long and it's happening at last. Harry's still the Gryffindor Seeker; he's still The Boy Who Lived...
but he's becoming a friend.
xxx
As they both got over their nervousness, Cho began to improve. She wasn't the brightest student in the group; if anyone earned that label, it would have been Granger. Always the know-all, always trying to take charge when Harry was clearly the leader. It was Granger who, after two meeting had to be rescheduled for Quidditch practice, announced to them all that she'd come up with a way to signal the next time and date of the meetings, and, oh, by the way, it involves an advanced Protean Charm, Seventh Year stuff...
Don't do this, Cho scolded herself. There might not even be an Army without her pushing Harry to it. Honestly, for someone who's done so much, Harry can be so reluctant to talk about what makes him so very special. He probably gets a lot of Boy-Who-Lived remarks, and even resentment if that Zacharias Smith is any indication. I hope his friends appreciate him, at any rate. I hope that they can encourage him and also keep him level-headed. I hope that I can...
At this point, Cho would look down at her desk or the table in the Great Hall or at her hands folded in her lap. She would feel her cheeks beginning to burn. She had spent years wishing for something impossible, and it was seeming more possible now than ever before.
xxx
So she went to the gatherings on the seventh floor, and watched while everyone basically started from the beginning with the Expelliarmus and moved up to higher level magic. Some moved quicker than others, and some would excel at one spell only to fall behind in another. Padma's sister Parvati had quickly grasped the Reducto Curse and pulverized a table with it, only to be stumped the following week by the Shield Charm. Some students mastered the Impediment Jinx immediately, and others spent all hour or longer working to get it.
Cho found herself working harder in the meetings than she ever had to do for Flitwick or McGonagall. She usually got through the evening all right, and once was even singled out by Harry for her Accio Charm, making the summoned book circle other students on its way into her hands. But she'd learned that the year before, and she knew she was just showing off. There had to be some special bit of magic she could claim...
The other Ravenclaws were only average in their performance. Corner was too busy trying to chat up Ginny Weasley to take in much of what Harry was saying, and Marietta, well, she seemed reluctant to try much of anything. Didn't she realize that their N.E.W.T.s were only a year away?
And then there was Luna Lovegood. And she had been, well, Luna since her first day at Hogwarts. The Sorting Hat had done right to put her into Ravenclaw; she picked up Harry's magical instructions quickly, effortlessly. He'd demonstrate and explain a particular Charm or Jinx, she'd get it right in one go--and then start babbling nonsense about improbably theories and bizarre creatures, all grist for her father's "Quibbler," no doubt. It was no wonder she was a Fourth Year, but still carried the book with her library card, her means of getting into Ravenclaw House, wherever she went. During her First Year it was taken off of the bookcase and hidden almost daily for a fortnight, until she decided to just carry the card. It never occurred to her to put an Anti-Theft Charm or an Alarm Hex or even a Spell of Invisibility on the book; sometimes she seemed to relish being treated as the Odd One Out.
Fine, then, Cho had decided years before; if you know this is going to happen and you won't change your ways to make it stop, then you're not my worry.
xxx
Cho's worries, besides classes and the Army, were about Quidditch. The season would start soon with Hogwarts's by-now-established grudge match: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. The Houses hated each other, the teams hated each other, and the Seekers especially hated each other--in fact, they seemed to revel in their hatred.
"They say Potter and Malfoy had it in for each other their first week," "Torture" Chambers said as they packed up after their last practice before the first match. The rains of October had limited their practices, but this early November night was dry but bitter cold, and their breaths steamed as they spoke.
Roger Davies nodded. "Since then, it's as if Malfoy saves his worst tricks for Potter. Hey, Cho, remember when he dressed up as a dementor?"
Cho looked at them, nodded her head, then turned away quickly. Her cheeks started to colour. That match had been an embarrassment to her; she's seen the dark cloak, panicked and turned away from the Snitch. Her first official match at Hogwarts...
...and also her first official match against Harry Potter.
It'll be different this year, she told herself. I'll be up against Harry again, maybe for the House Quidditch Cup. Then he'll see how much I really know. Maybe there are a few things I can teach him...
No matter what she thought about, it seemed, her cheeks continued to flush quite prettily.
xxx
Game Day dawned gray and cold, with yesterday's dew frozen to ice underfoot. Cho walked to the stadium with members of her House team rather than her dormitory mates. Except for Marietta, the girls hadn't been talking to her very much this year anyway, and she knew the team wouldn't bother her.
She only vaguely noticed that the Slytherins were wearing little crown-shaped badges, although they immediately reminded her of Draco's little trick from last year's Tournament: the "Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks" badges. She remembered how she thought that Cedric had something to do with them at first--how she'd argued with him... and froze in her tracks, choking back a sob. If she didn't get hold of herself, she knew she wouldn't even be able to enter the stadium.
Roger had been walking alongside Cho; he stopped and turned when she stopped. "Not taking another bad turn, are you?"
The whole school knew about her sudden fits of crying, although it wasn't half of what she was going through. Cho just shook her head. "Go on, I'll catch up."
As Cho stood on the path trying to compose herself, a river of students flowed around her. One of them with what looked like the head of a lion on her own head--Lovegood, of course--turned to Cho as if waiting to be asked a question. Then, after a few seconds, the Fourth Year shrugged, turned and dashed to the stadium.
What did she want? It couldn't have been about the Army, could it? We're not supposed to speak of it. Or was she trying to reach out to Cho in her misery...? Nonsense; she's never had a boyfriend; how could she understand?
Cho stayed rooted to the path until her breathing returned to normal and she could look up without tears in her eyes. As a result, she was one of the last ones into the stadium, and found a seat in the Ravenclaw section just as Madam Hooch was ready to blow the whistle.
The match was, in a word, harrowing. In the two years since the last match, Slytherin had replaced its two Beaters with a pair of deadly trolls, or so it seemed from their vicious Bludger-work. Gryffindor, on the other hand, lost its Keeper and was putting its hopes on yet another Weasley, Ron. But it seemed as if the family's Quidditch talent had run dry before he could get to it. Most of his save attempts were failures--spectacular, but failures.
But the match came down, as so many matches do, to the Seekers, and Malfoy and Harry ended up clawing at the Golden Snitch together, like two kittens at the same ball of yarn, before Harry--GOT IT!
And was immediately hit in the back by a Bludger from one of the Slytherin trolls.
Cho wasn't worried if Harry was hurt--Bludgers were nothing that Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix if she had to. What's important is that Harry--er, Gryffindor won. If Slytherin loses their next match after the New Year, they'd be out of the running, along with Hufflepuff, who surely couldn't find a Seeker to replace Cedric.
Cedric...
Cho was lost so deep in thought that at first she didn't hear any of the commotion on the field. She looked down just in time to see Madam Hooch throw an Impediment Jinx at Harry! What had she just missed?!
xxx
She and the rest of the house team found it all out in the Ravenclaw Common Room after lunch, as Padma Patil relayed what Parvati had told her twin.
"So, Umbitch decided that it was within the scope of the powers Fudge had granted her."
"You mean, she can ban them, for LIFE? Even after they leave Hogwarts?" Jenkins was incredulous.
"Unless someone wants to challenge her on it, and that would mean going against Fudge. If she says for life, that's what she means."
Roger Davies was in a comfy chair by the fire; he turned to Cho. "You know what this means?" Before Cho could even answer his question, Roger jumped up: "It means the Cup is OURS! It means you get to see your name on the Cup, Cho! And you, "Jinx", and all of you! She just handed it to us!"
"To Slytherin, more like," Vincent Krixlow answered. "If I didn't know she fancied Fudge, I'd say she did it because she fancied Snape."
"Whether she does or not doesn't matter. She's crippled the Gryffindors; they can't find quality replacements for the Seeker and both Beaters. We take Hufflepuff out in a few weeks--that'll be a doddle. Then it's just us versus Slytherin. We already know their tricks, and we're not about to do anything stupid like Potter did. Imagine him throwing a punch at Malfoy. You know better than that, right, Cho?"
The gleeful Davies never got an answer from Cho. She just sat staring into the fire, tears starting in her eyes. Everyone else assumed she was remembering Cedric again; they were wrong.
Harry, she thought; Harry. Your heart must be broken...
xxx
to be continued in part 17, wherein Cho takes to the pitch for the first time in two years...
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
16. Winners and Losers
For the next two weeks, Cho felt something she hadn't felt in months. It wasn't exactly happiness or elation, but something similar. Even as she tried out her homework for Dumbledore's Army, or read over her notes hidden away in Slinkhard's text, she felt it but couldn't put a name to it. It went beyond satisfaction, went beyond the giddy daring of being rebellious against the orders of Umbridge (who Krixlow and several of the other Ravenclaws had taken to calling "Umbitch" if they thought they weren't being overheard). It took her two weeks to put a name to it:
Harry.
Not that her mourning for Cedric Diggory was over; far from it. He was still in her nightmares at least once a week. She even had names for them now: Coffin Dream, Third Task Dream, Carving Machine Dream. Just when she thought she could get it all down to a manageable system, though, along would come a new dream:
She had gone to the secret garden, which Cedric had kept behind the greenhouses. Cedric, who appeared so level-headed and unperturbed, was once subject to violent fits, owing to the pressures put upon him by his father, Amos Diggory. Madame Sprout, recognizing this, gave Cedric the garden for therapy, and it did its work. As Cedric grew into his Seventh Year, he kept the garden, and even shared the secret of it with Cho.
In this dream, however, Cho came into the garden to see it as she had the night of the Third Task: with every plant violently ripped from the earth and tossed about as if by high winds. She heard a step behind her, turned to greet Cedric...
only to find him turned into a werewolf, eyes glowing, mouth dripping with blood and saliva, a crazed rumble coming from his throat. Cho didn't have a chance to move as he pounced on her, sinking his fangs into her throat...
which was when she awoke, screaming in terror, not even realizing that Marietta had opened the bed-curtains.
"Still?" Marietta said sleeping.
"Sorry," Cho muttered. "I don't mean to do this..."
"I know," Marietta replied, sounding less than concerned as she brought Cho a small cup of the Draught of Peace. "Can you get your rest now? You want to be sharp for the Professor," she smiled.
Cho drank the potion, then settled back into her bed, a small smile playing across her lips. Both girls knew who the Professor was...
Harry.
xxx
The first meeting of Dumbledore's Army (a name Cho still detested) wasn't a ringing success for Cho Chang, but that was because of Harry. He seemed to make a point of avoiding Cho as he paced around the room, watching everyone but her try the Expelliarmus. She was convinced it was because she was doing it all wrong and he just didn't want to have to tell her so. She was briefly afraid of being so bad at it that he would actually tell her to leave the DA, chased out by the laughter of everyone in the room...
But the truth was far kinder than that. As nervous as Cho was around Harry, that's how nervous Harry was around Cho. But by the middle of the second meeting, they both seemed to realize that, whatever else happened, they wouldn't embarrass themselves horribly. Harry began speaking to Cho about her technique as if she were just another student--no, that wasn't quite right. There was always something under his words to her--she could sense it. It was like their chance meeting in the Owlery; they could talk about magic, Quidditch, anything else, and not feel nervous about making a stupid mistake.
It's happening at last, Cho would think to herself later, many times over the weeks. I wanted this for so long and it's happening at last. Harry's still the Gryffindor Seeker; he's still The Boy Who Lived...
but he's becoming a friend.
xxx
As they both got over their nervousness, Cho began to improve. She wasn't the brightest student in the group; if anyone earned that label, it would have been Granger. Always the know-all, always trying to take charge when Harry was clearly the leader. It was Granger who, after two meeting had to be rescheduled for Quidditch practice, announced to them all that she'd come up with a way to signal the next time and date of the meetings, and, oh, by the way, it involves an advanced Protean Charm, Seventh Year stuff...
Don't do this, Cho scolded herself. There might not even be an Army without her pushing Harry to it. Honestly, for someone who's done so much, Harry can be so reluctant to talk about what makes him so very special. He probably gets a lot of Boy-Who-Lived remarks, and even resentment if that Zacharias Smith is any indication. I hope his friends appreciate him, at any rate. I hope that they can encourage him and also keep him level-headed. I hope that I can...
At this point, Cho would look down at her desk or the table in the Great Hall or at her hands folded in her lap. She would feel her cheeks beginning to burn. She had spent years wishing for something impossible, and it was seeming more possible now than ever before.
xxx
So she went to the gatherings on the seventh floor, and watched while everyone basically started from the beginning with the Expelliarmus and moved up to higher level magic. Some moved quicker than others, and some would excel at one spell only to fall behind in another. Padma's sister Parvati had quickly grasped the Reducto Curse and pulverized a table with it, only to be stumped the following week by the Shield Charm. Some students mastered the Impediment Jinx immediately, and others spent all hour or longer working to get it.
Cho found herself working harder in the meetings than she ever had to do for Flitwick or McGonagall. She usually got through the evening all right, and once was even singled out by Harry for her Accio Charm, making the summoned book circle other students on its way into her hands. But she'd learned that the year before, and she knew she was just showing off. There had to be some special bit of magic she could claim...
The other Ravenclaws were only average in their performance. Corner was too busy trying to chat up Ginny Weasley to take in much of what Harry was saying, and Marietta, well, she seemed reluctant to try much of anything. Didn't she realize that their N.E.W.T.s were only a year away?
And then there was Luna Lovegood. And she had been, well, Luna since her first day at Hogwarts. The Sorting Hat had done right to put her into Ravenclaw; she picked up Harry's magical instructions quickly, effortlessly. He'd demonstrate and explain a particular Charm or Jinx, she'd get it right in one go--and then start babbling nonsense about improbably theories and bizarre creatures, all grist for her father's "Quibbler," no doubt. It was no wonder she was a Fourth Year, but still carried the book with her library card, her means of getting into Ravenclaw House, wherever she went. During her First Year it was taken off of the bookcase and hidden almost daily for a fortnight, until she decided to just carry the card. It never occurred to her to put an Anti-Theft Charm or an Alarm Hex or even a Spell of Invisibility on the book; sometimes she seemed to relish being treated as the Odd One Out.
Fine, then, Cho had decided years before; if you know this is going to happen and you won't change your ways to make it stop, then you're not my worry.
xxx
Cho's worries, besides classes and the Army, were about Quidditch. The season would start soon with Hogwarts's by-now-established grudge match: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. The Houses hated each other, the teams hated each other, and the Seekers especially hated each other--in fact, they seemed to revel in their hatred.
"They say Potter and Malfoy had it in for each other their first week," "Torture" Chambers said as they packed up after their last practice before the first match. The rains of October had limited their practices, but this early November night was dry but bitter cold, and their breaths steamed as they spoke.
Roger Davies nodded. "Since then, it's as if Malfoy saves his worst tricks for Potter. Hey, Cho, remember when he dressed up as a dementor?"
Cho looked at them, nodded her head, then turned away quickly. Her cheeks started to colour. That match had been an embarrassment to her; she's seen the dark cloak, panicked and turned away from the Snitch. Her first official match at Hogwarts...
...and also her first official match against Harry Potter.
It'll be different this year, she told herself. I'll be up against Harry again, maybe for the House Quidditch Cup. Then he'll see how much I really know. Maybe there are a few things I can teach him...
No matter what she thought about, it seemed, her cheeks continued to flush quite prettily.
xxx
Game Day dawned gray and cold, with yesterday's dew frozen to ice underfoot. Cho walked to the stadium with members of her House team rather than her dormitory mates. Except for Marietta, the girls hadn't been talking to her very much this year anyway, and she knew the team wouldn't bother her.
She only vaguely noticed that the Slytherins were wearing little crown-shaped badges, although they immediately reminded her of Draco's little trick from last year's Tournament: the "Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks" badges. She remembered how she thought that Cedric had something to do with them at first--how she'd argued with him... and froze in her tracks, choking back a sob. If she didn't get hold of herself, she knew she wouldn't even be able to enter the stadium.
Roger had been walking alongside Cho; he stopped and turned when she stopped. "Not taking another bad turn, are you?"
The whole school knew about her sudden fits of crying, although it wasn't half of what she was going through. Cho just shook her head. "Go on, I'll catch up."
As Cho stood on the path trying to compose herself, a river of students flowed around her. One of them with what looked like the head of a lion on her own head--Lovegood, of course--turned to Cho as if waiting to be asked a question. Then, after a few seconds, the Fourth Year shrugged, turned and dashed to the stadium.
What did she want? It couldn't have been about the Army, could it? We're not supposed to speak of it. Or was she trying to reach out to Cho in her misery...? Nonsense; she's never had a boyfriend; how could she understand?
Cho stayed rooted to the path until her breathing returned to normal and she could look up without tears in her eyes. As a result, she was one of the last ones into the stadium, and found a seat in the Ravenclaw section just as Madam Hooch was ready to blow the whistle.
The match was, in a word, harrowing. In the two years since the last match, Slytherin had replaced its two Beaters with a pair of deadly trolls, or so it seemed from their vicious Bludger-work. Gryffindor, on the other hand, lost its Keeper and was putting its hopes on yet another Weasley, Ron. But it seemed as if the family's Quidditch talent had run dry before he could get to it. Most of his save attempts were failures--spectacular, but failures.
But the match came down, as so many matches do, to the Seekers, and Malfoy and Harry ended up clawing at the Golden Snitch together, like two kittens at the same ball of yarn, before Harry--GOT IT!
And was immediately hit in the back by a Bludger from one of the Slytherin trolls.
Cho wasn't worried if Harry was hurt--Bludgers were nothing that Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix if she had to. What's important is that Harry--er, Gryffindor won. If Slytherin loses their next match after the New Year, they'd be out of the running, along with Hufflepuff, who surely couldn't find a Seeker to replace Cedric.
Cedric...
Cho was lost so deep in thought that at first she didn't hear any of the commotion on the field. She looked down just in time to see Madam Hooch throw an Impediment Jinx at Harry! What had she just missed?!
xxx
She and the rest of the house team found it all out in the Ravenclaw Common Room after lunch, as Padma Patil relayed what Parvati had told her twin.
"So, Umbitch decided that it was within the scope of the powers Fudge had granted her."
"You mean, she can ban them, for LIFE? Even after they leave Hogwarts?" Jenkins was incredulous.
"Unless someone wants to challenge her on it, and that would mean going against Fudge. If she says for life, that's what she means."
Roger Davies was in a comfy chair by the fire; he turned to Cho. "You know what this means?" Before Cho could even answer his question, Roger jumped up: "It means the Cup is OURS! It means you get to see your name on the Cup, Cho! And you, "Jinx", and all of you! She just handed it to us!"
"To Slytherin, more like," Vincent Krixlow answered. "If I didn't know she fancied Fudge, I'd say she did it because she fancied Snape."
"Whether she does or not doesn't matter. She's crippled the Gryffindors; they can't find quality replacements for the Seeker and both Beaters. We take Hufflepuff out in a few weeks--that'll be a doddle. Then it's just us versus Slytherin. We already know their tricks, and we're not about to do anything stupid like Potter did. Imagine him throwing a punch at Malfoy. You know better than that, right, Cho?"
The gleeful Davies never got an answer from Cho. She just sat staring into the fire, tears starting in her eyes. Everyone else assumed she was remembering Cedric again; they were wrong.
Harry, she thought; Harry. Your heart must be broken...
xxx
to be continued in part 17, wherein Cho takes to the pitch for the first time in two years...