Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Collect Them All Challenge [Cho Chang]
Personal Horror
It was one of the calmer days of July, where the weather was good and the sun was shining brightly. Everyone was lazing around. It was as if the entire war had never occurred at all. It almost seemed like the people absent were merely busy with something or the other, like Cedric was just off doing a couple of things for his parents and Andromeda was taking care of Teddy because Remus and Tonks had decided to spend the day together.
The thought of them actually being dead was almost abnormal on a day that was as fair as this one. The knowledge of the truth still clung to the back of her mind but it was not an idea she wished to think about rather often. It was close to a pained memory she wished to suppress. A bad dream meant to be cast aside upon waking, unwanted and unnecessary, but the thought had already crossed her mind. The truth had already replaced the beautiful lie the weather had wrought.
She closed her eyes as the memories of the war flickered beneath her eyelids like an old record, a horror movie she was forced to watch on repeat at various times of the day. She remembered the horror , pain and anguish she had felt. She remembered watching as the walls of Hogwarts crumbled under the force of magic. It had been a horrible experience, one she had no desire to relive yet her mind believed otherwise. She relived it whenever her mind was given even the slightest opportunity to do so.
It astonished her now how everyone was able to be relaxed enough to play Gobstones on the grass where only months ago they battled for their lives. Did they not remember all the people they had lost to be able to laugh as they did? Had thoughts of why they had been able to survive when so many others had not ever crossed their mind?
Surely such thoughts had crossed their minds just as they were crossing her mind now, at odd moments when they found themselves unable to defend against their own mind, the moments when their guards were down just a little bit. They did not share it though, everyone kept their horrors to themselves not wanting to ruin the fragile peace they held onto.