Forever Mine, Forever Yours
Chapter Four: The Champions
A/N: Again, love to my reviewers and the people who have added me to their Favorites! I never cease to love you all. And, just a special thank-you to my beta-reader, Jason, because without him, my chapters would have 100x more grammar problems than they already do, haha.
Disclaimer: I happen to own nothing. Absolutely nothing, except for… well, you know the drill.
Roger Davies had taken the cancellation of the Inter-House Quidditch Tournament rather badly, which had been expected. However, nobody had expected Cho Chang to take it just as badly, or worse. She yelled loudly in disbelief in the Great Hall, until her brunette, curly-haired friend Marietta jerked her down and shushed her, though she was clearly still seething. She retired early, unable to take the cheer of the Common Room, kicking an armchair on her way, startling a Second Year who had been reading a book on it. When her roommates had walked tentatively into the room, there was a dent in the side of her trunk, and her curtains drawn shut. Even Marietta didn't dare bother talking to her.
For Cho, the only way she could properly defy her mother was through playing Quidditch. Everything else her mother had full control over; at least, what she could control from home. She sent constant letters to Cho, reminding her to do this and that, telling her daughter to write everything that was happening at school. Cho had no choice but to respond. When writing her mum a letter had conveniently slipped her mind in her Second Year, a Howler appeared instead of her typical letter. She couldn't lie either, her mother had requested monthly progress reports from each of her teachers. Cho could hardly see why she needed her to write her letters when she got everything she needed from the teachers, but apparently, her mother liked to know what she thought of it.
With great joy, Cho would pen out her Quidditch matches, knowing this was the one aspect in her life her mother had no control over. Truth be told, her mother had tried. Howlers screamed at her constantly in her Second Year, telling Cho what a dishonor Quidditch would bring her family. Far from embarrassing her out of it, the Howlers strengthened her resolve, and showed the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team that they had a girl who would not give up.
Her mother especially hated it when Cho got injured. A pretty face, that's all Cho was for her mother. A pretty daughter to marry off to a good, Chinese boy. That was her mother: old-fashioned, still stuck in China though she was in London. What she feared the most was that no respectable Chinese boy would fall in love with a face scarred by Quidditch, or a face broken by a Bludger.
Cho couldn't really care less, and she would daydream sometimes that she became terribly disfigured in a Quidditch match, and her mother mourned over her, realizing that her daughter was a human after all, and all the wrong she had caused in the girl's life. But that was exactly what it was. A dream. And now she had lost her only weapon against her mother. Quidditch. The woman would find out soon enough; she found out everything, whether Cho told her or not. She would pester her everyday that this was for the better, so that now she could concentrate fully on her studies so she could support her family once her parents became old. Cho wasn't sure she could stand it.
The whole next day, Cho went about briskly to her classes, refusing to sit next to Marietta, who seemed bemused at first, but seemed to accept it later, sitting next to someone else instead of her friend. Cho needed time away from simpering friends, so she could mull over things herself. By the end of the day, she had cooled down some; the anger and disappointment of the loss of the single weapon she had against her mother had faded, and she lay in her bed, reading.
"Hey… er… Cho?" A curly brown head had appeared at the side of her bed.
"Yeah?" Cho asked, closing her book.
"I er… just wanted to check if you were okay, is all."
"I'm fine now, why?"
"It's your mum, isn't it?" Marietta crawled up onto Cho's bed and Cho moved back to give her friend some room.
"Isn't it always?" Cho remarked bitterly. "She's never going to get off my back for this one. Well… I don't even have to tell you, do I?" she smiled ruefully. Marietta flashed her the same, her curls bouncing as she shook her head this way and that.
"Well, if you mum ever gets out of hand or anything… You know where to go."
"I know. Thanks Mare."
"Hey, don't worry about it. That's what friends are for."
The two girls embraced, and Cho propped her book back open, when she noticed that halfway through getting off her bed, Marietta had stopped.
"Oh. And Cho?"
"Yeah?"
"That thing… on the train…"
"It really was nothing, Mare. If anything else happened, you would definitely be the first to know," Cho reassured. Marietta looked a little more at ease, as she grinned and snapped on a sleeping mask, hopping under her covers. Cho returned the smile and followed suit, closing her book and slipping under her comforter.
School seemed to have it's own agenda, moving along so slowly that Cho could barely stand it. Her mother constantly sent her letters, thinly veiled gloats that Quidditch was now cancelled, and that Cho would have to concentrate fully on studying for her O.W.L's, to which Cho would have to pen out a civil response. These usually ended up so sugar-coated and dripping with sarcasm that even her mother, who usually had a hard time locating such things, noticed, and sent her a letter teaching Cho proper etiquette.
Truth be told, Cho wasn't sure what she would do without her friends, who were eager roping her up in animated conversations that would take her mind off of things. However, with the Triwizard Tournament drawing nearer, and the date of their new arrivals drawing closer, school moved, if possible, even slower, though when the students from both schools arrived, the clock driving the school seemed to have broken and gone haywire. Suddenly, things were going very fast indeed, everyone in a flurry about who was entering and who wasn't…
"Did you guys hear about Sally Fawcett?" Mandy grinned.
"Oh yeah, I heard her talking today about it during History of Magic. She tried to pass Dumbledore's Age Line to enter her name into the tournament," Lisa chortled.
"Really?" Cho asked, wide-eyed. "With an Aging Potion?"
"How else?" Lisa laughed. "She's was for it though, I knew Dumbledore wouldn't be dumb enough to fall for an Aging Potion."
"What happened?"
"She sprouted a beard." Cho, Lisa and Mandy laughed, but Paige, buried in her book, was not listening, and Marietta just scoffed.
"What about the people from the other schools?" Marietta asked, leaning in.
"Yeah, could you believe Viktor Krum was there?" Cho sighed. "If he's not the Durmstrang Champion, I don't know who'll be." Marietta sent Cho a withering look that clearly said, You know that wasn't what I meant, to which Cho grinned knowingly.
"Ooh, what about the boys in Beauxbatons? A lot of them were really cute," Lisa giggled. "And they sit at the same table as us too."
At this, Mandy rolled her eyes and planted her hand over Lisa's mouth. "Shut it," she remarked. "You know you can get any guy you want to." Lisa's eyes were glittering, and Mandy withdrew her hand immediately, with a disgusted outburst, wiping her hand on her shirt. Everyone else smothered laughs, though Mandy and Lisa were the two laughing the hardest.
"Who do you reckon is going to be Champion in Howarts?" Mandy questioned, looking thoughtful.
"I say Moskowitz from Ravenclaw, and the Hufflepuffs have a lot of faith in Diggory," Marietta concluded after some thought.
"That sounds about right," Paige agreed, finally looking up from her novel. "But O'Reilly has a pretty good chance too."
"That's the Seventh Year, isn't it?" Lisa asked. "In our House?"
Paige nodded. "Yeah, that's him."
The moment they finished discussing who would be entering, a group of First Years came clambering through the hole, and were halfway to the chairs an arm length away from theirs, when their eyes landed on Cho. With some hushed, fervent whispering, they sent terrified glances at Cho and scuttled off to the other side of the common room.
"What on earth…?"
"What, you didn't know?" Paige smiled, watching the First Years go. "They're terrified of you. Ever since you went crazy after the first day back."
"Oh, really?" Cho asked, sounding rather amused. "That's it?"
"And that Second Year whose chair you kicked calls you 'the mad Asian girl who's obsessed with Quidditch," Marietta said knowingly, watching as they took the less comfortable armchairs at the corner of the common room.
"Is it almost dinner yet?" Mandy asked, looking around anxiously.
"Really, we just had lunch," Marietta said impatiently.
"Er… why don't we just… go do something, to pass time," Mandy suggested. She seemed on edge, and was obviously exploding from the prospect of the Champions being announced soon. Paige immediately propped her book back up on her lap, reading, while the other three, (Mandy was too worked up to think properly), considered.
"Wizard's chess?" Cho suggested. Cho was terrible at the game, but Mandy, despite her exuberance, was quite good. Mandy readily agreed, and the two played a rather exciting game, in which Cho managed to get a check on Mandy that was reversed in less than three turns to a checkmate. Mandy seemed quite relaxed after the long game, having won, despite Paige helping Cho out then and there. Paige, who was brilliant at chess, won every time Mandy challenged her, no matter what the other girl did. The games were actually fascinating; the two gave the game all they had.
The five friends wound down, Paige, reading, and the other four, chatting idly by the fire. Halfway through her book, Paige set it down, looked again at her watch, and smiled.
"Well, look at that, it's dinner."
Mandy resembled a rocket that had just gone off. She shot up, the relaxed nature snapped away, her face a mask of complete and utter excitement. "Is it really?" she asked, grinning. "It's dinner?"
When Paige nodded, Mandy let out a whoop, and tried to rushed down, dragging the four with her. They were one of the earlier people there, though there were quite a few seventh and sixth years staring anxiously at the Goblet of Fire. Mandy insisted on getting seats as close to the front as possible, she herself taking the seat at the end, grinning as hard as ever.
The Great Hall filled up earlier than usual, though the food bloomed on the plates, same time as always. Mandy, who usually ate in large, fast quantities, only picked at her food. Cho too, found herself eating more slowly and less than she usually did. Even with the chatting of her friends around her, the feast took longer than she had ever remembered it too, and the food, rather than being delicious and exotic, tasted plain and bland, and she found herself constantly staring up at the Goblet.
The plates cleared. Chatter rose up at once, only to be quelled the moment Dumbledore stood on his feet.
"Well, the Goblet is almost ready," he said. Mandy whispered something to Lisa, looking elated and impatient, and even Paige, the calmest, most rational girl Cho knew had the same expression painted over her face. "I estimate it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber, where they will be receiving their first instructions."
Everyone seemed to hold their breath as the candles were extinguished, easily making the Goblet the brightest thing in the room. Time moved agonizingly slow, and Cho heard Paige mutter, "Do something!" under her breath.
Tension rose, and finally, was released when the Goblet's fire changed from white-blue to red. Parchment, burnt at the edges spewed out of the flames. Catching it with one hand, Dumbledore read, "The champion for Durmstrang… will be Viktor Krum!"
Cho grinned, clapping. "I knew it," she told Marietta, who feigned a contemptuous look.
Attention turned back to the Goblet, until the whole Hall was, once again, silent. Eyes looked intently at the blue-white flames and widened when it turned red, and another bit of parchment propelled out of the Goblet, leaving a trajectory of smoke in it's wake.
"The champion for Beauxbatons… is Fleur Delacour!"
A girl radiating beauty stood up from Cho's table, walking to the front, smiling from ear to ear, which simply made her more breathtakingly beautiful than ever. Shaking her long, silvery hair, in a way that made quite a few boys stare vacantly at her, she disappeared into the room. Cho wouldn't have known… perhaps the girl was made out of stronger stuff than she had realized. Her first impression of the Beauxbaton champion had been that the girl was rather stuffy and pampered.
However, she didn't linger too long on this, as the Hall suddenly was blanketed with a deathly silence that seemed to drip quiet excitement from it's walls. Cho's mind was spinning, the Hogwarts champion… Who was it going to be…?
The fire turned red. Cho held her breath.
"The Hogwarts champion," Dumbledore read, though painstakingly slowly. Paige and Marietta had both seizedone arm each and were squeezing nowthem very tightly. "Is Cedric Diggory."
Cho grinned, and stood up with a whoop, shaking off her friends' hands. Shrieks and cheers filled the Hall, louder than all the others combined, as the entire Hufflepuff table, and quite a few Ravenclaws stood and stamped and cheered for the boy as he made his way up, smiling considerably. When he had reached the teacher's table, he turned. For a moment, Cho's eye locked onto his. His grin, if possible, grew, and Cho returned it as he disappeared into the room. Even after he had left, the cheering continued, though Dumbledore let it carry on until it died down.
"Excellent!" he said enthusiastically. "Well, now we have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-"
The Goblet's fire had turned red again, and Dumbledore stopped, looking at the spectacle, clearly befuddled. Chatter rose through the Hall, in confusion. He paused, reading the piece of parchment he had caught. Cho looked at him in bewilderment. What did the fourth parchment mean? Had something gone wrong?
Dumbledore frowned, and read, in a voice that betrayed his own amazement. "Harry Potter."
Cho's blood ran cold.