January 24th
Finally caught up with Harry in the Great Hall. Dating outside your house can be quite prickly sometimes. I mean... where do you sit? With your fellow Ravenclaws or with your boyfriend? Did I just say boyfriend? I think I did.
We made a compromise and sat nearer Harry's friends for today. I was telling Harry that perhaps we should try and arrange meeting times via the Protean Charm...like with those coins we used for the DA. But he had a much better idea in store for me.
"I've got a surprise for you." He whispered to me.
He carefully pulled something out of his school bag and placed it into my open palm. It was a little round compact with a silver mirror inside it. I stared blankly at it.
"It's a two way mirror," he took another one out and clicked it open, "I figured we could use it. I've got one and now you have one...they're a bit like walky talkies from the Muggle World except that you can see and hear me whenever you want."
I watched the grey cloud smoke unfurl in the glass. Slowly Harry's face emerges from beyond it. I waved to him even though he was standing right in front of me. He waved back.
"I didn't even know these existed." I said marvelling at it.
"Neither did I until Sirius gave me one last year but I ...smashed that one. I wasn't in a very good mood that day." He looked a little sad but quickly his eyes were bright again, "But look now we can talk whenever we want."
I sighed and started playing with my food, "It's kind of romantic don't you think?"
He rolled his eyes at me, "Cho..."
"Well it is... we can have midnight talks... I can say goodnight to you ...This is so sweet."
"Well I think about you..." Harry noticed Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan sniggering at him so he added a quick, "sometimes."
He smiled and pocketed his own mirror away.
"Shall I prolong your agony a bit more and give you a thank you kiss?" I said raising my eyebrows at him.
He turned round to check if Dean and Seamus were staring. They weren't.
"Ok...but hurry!" He leaned forward and I planted a brief kiss on his lips.
And then we were back to normal. It wasn't like we wanted to keep it a secret but I am aware that I'm probably Harry's first girlfriend...well I don't think he's been with anyone else since last year...anyway I think the whole idea of relationships are completely new to him and so he is self conscious about everything. I don't mind though.
"OWL POSTS" someone shouted from one of the tables, "WATCH OUT!" All eyes darted to the ceilings and watched as a flurry of owls dived down towards the tables.
A Daily Prophet fell into Harry's hands. The headline read – Wizard Disappearances and Violence Rises. You Know Who back at work?
Hermione grabbed it from under his eyes. She was scanning the paper rapidly, "Department of Magical Law Enforcement reports the numbers of missing wizards and OPEN wizard on muggle violence has gone on the rise... ... Wizarding community ...alarmed."
She looked up, "This is what happened when You Know Who's first rose to power...according the DMLE it's all under control but I don't believe this at all."
There were always too many conflicting reports and then denials that I never knew quite what to believe anymore so. I had given up on newspapers for a while...She threw the paper towards Harry, I wasn't sure but I thought I could that her eyes were on the brink of tears, "This is it you know..."
Ron touched her arm, "The Ministry will do everything in their power to protect the people."
"Don't be so naïve Ron,...this is different." She said looking quite fearful at Harry. But he continued eating his lunch quite calmly.
"Harry... we're running out of time." she said trying to pull his plate away from him.
"Don't you think I know all this?" Harry put his fork down, "I know...but there's not a lot we can do except keep looking."
"What do you mean?" I said trying to make eye contact with him, "Are you in some kind of trouble?"
"It's nothing," he sipped his drink, "Now let's back and enjoy our lunch."
I looked at Hermione and Ron and from what I could see they didn't seem happy at all.
January 25th
I'm so glad the curtains for my bed are so thick... Why? Because I spent a large portion of last night talking to Harry using his two-way mirror it must have been about midnight when I flicked open the mirror and started talking into it.
"Harry? Are you there?... Or are you asleep?... I'm so sorry if you are..go back to sleep sorry...I wasn't thinking..."
Harry's face appeared in the little reflection of the mirror, "I'm awake."
I could tell he must have been drifting off at least. He already had bed hair and he wasn't wearing his glasses.
I just wanted to hug him right then.
"Nice stripy pyjamas!" I whispered quietly.
"Hey you can talk," he said, "what about that birds nest attacking the back of your head?"
"I'm sorry for waking you up...but you did buy this thing for a reason."
He rubbed his eyes and leaned on his elbow, "You just want to have that midnight talk...then you are going to tell all your friends and squeal about it in the morning."
"You know me so well." I said.
Then we talked about all sorts of nonsense for an hour. Then I asked him...I guess it's quite a typical girl question but I always like to know...
"Harry... When did you realise that you liked me again? In the girlfriend sense..."
He sighed, "Do I have too?"
I flashed him a look.
"Ok ok...well after last year I didn't know really how I felt about anything. Including you. I mean...I know I loved the idea of you. But you were just an idea. I never expected that something would happen. And when it did... it wasn't what I was expecting...it was kinda horrendous."
Not exactly the sweeping romantic epic I was expecting, "It wasn't that bad... we had good times...didn't we?"
"Come on...I didn't know you at all. I didn't understand you. I mean we talked and stuff but...there were so many things that were happening and you just seemed to get lost under it all. But then after Sirius died. Something changed...When we first talked to each other... at first I thought, maybe I just wanted to see you because I was grieving and I knew you would understand. And when we eventually did talk you made me forget about the bad things. It was like you were showing me that maybe life really could get better...even after death. But then it dawned on me...it was even more than that...I think it was when Marietta found out... I realised I still wanted to keep seeing you and no one was going to get in the way. Not if I had anything to do with it."
I felt a warm glow buzzing around my heart.
"Then on firewhisky day. It was just one moment...you put my coat on for me and I remember thinking that I wanted to count all the freckles on your nose and that I should do it now otherwise I'll never get that chance to do it again. Then I made sure I smiled at you. I did it so many times that night so you'd know I liked you again but you looked at me like I was really stupid."
"I'm so sorry!" I said laughing into my duvet, "but you were really drunk."
"Yeah so" he began mumbling, "I hope I don't have to keep convincing you...you know..."
"Yeah I know." I said to Harry, "I know exactly what you mean."
"ARGH!" he shouted suddenly. I couldn't see what was going on in the mirror.
"Harry what's wrong?" I said.
There was a moment of silence. But then I heard him...he chuckled faintly...
"Nothing...got a bit of a fright... it was just Ron telling me to shut up and go to sleep."
"Alright I better let you go then." I said sleepily.
"Yes...see you." He said.
I pulled the duvet up around me, "Goodnight Mr Potter."
And then I heard him say quickly, "Goodnight Miss Chang!"
I yawned, closed the two-way mirror and let my head fall back softly against my feather pillow.
February 4th
So I've been quite tied up studying again for NEWTS. That's all I seem to be doing these days so it was a nice surprise to see that Harry was also in library too. He had himself hunched over a big dusty book. I couldn't resist trying to creep up and give him a fright.
"What are you doing?" I said quite loudly. He jumped and then his hand fell against his chest and breathed heavily.
"Don't do that!" he said laughing. I sat myself down next to him and looked the book he was reading. I don't remember what it was but it seemed quite advanced stuff for a 6th year student. I certainly didn't recognise any of it from last year.
My finger traced down the page,"What's...Occul…."
But Harry shut the book firmly, "It's nothing...I'm just trying to find something for my homework but it's not on this page...so I guess I'll have to keep looking."
"What is it? Maybe I could help you." I said.
He started standing up and packing the book away into his bag, "Nah...I'm a bit bored of doing it actually... hey do you want to go look at the Giant Squid? I heard it had babies."
My eyes lit up, "Aww that's so cute...ok let's go."
We had sat ourselves by the edge of the lake... Harry had his arm around me to keep me warm from the cold.I think we spent a couple of minutes trying to catch a glimpse of them but the water is so deep and murky that we gave up very quickly.
We spotted Draco Malfoy walking with Crabbe and Goyle. He gave us a really dirty look and kept just walking.
"He's just jealous," said Harry angrily.
"No I don't think that's it." I said.
"Draco may be an idiot but he knows a pretty face when he sees one," said Harry.
That made me smile. I turned to Harry and looked at him thinking about how much I wanted to see him without his glasses again so I took them off his face. His eyes were straining to see me.
"How bad is your vision?" I said holding the lenses in front of my eyes.
"I guess it must be hereditary," said Harry, "My dad wore glasses..."
I put the glasses onto my own face and looked at him.
He laughed, "I wish I could actually see what you look like. I bet you look stupid."
I took them off quickly and handed them back to him, "Why don't you go for a crazy pair like the ones Rita Skeeter wears?"
Gosh, he had nice eyes. Not that I hadn't noticed before but now I could see them more clearly. They were startlingly green like tiny pieces of sparkling jade. Then I noticed he was staring at me.
"What?" I said.
"You do realise it's your last year don't you?" he said.
"Yes." I shifted uncomfortably, "Doesn't mean we have to stop seeing each other."
"Of course not. It's just that... I'll miss this."
"Don't talk like that." I said fitting myself under the snug of his arm.
We relaxed and then we kissed for a while. Suddenly out of nowhere he pushed away from me violently. I fell back onto my hands. What had I done?
He had his back turned to me but he was clutching his head. I could see his face now, grimacing with pain.
"Harry?" I said shouting, "Harry, what wrong?"
His eyes were tightly shut.
"Harry say something to me!"
He was still and quiet but his eyes were open and tortured. I pulled his hands gently way from him. I could see his brow was glistening with sweat so I brushed away his hair and then I saw what had been hurting him...
It was the silver scar
The bolt of lighting...
The Mark of You Know Who.