Disclaimer: I wrote this when I was 12 to 13 in 2003. Harry Potter is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. Everything else is © to me, or its respective owners.
Chapter Nine: A Friendship Broken
On a late November day, during break, Cho was in the girls lavatory and was toweling her hands dry. The lavatory door swung open, and several girls could be heard chatting away. Cho paid no attention to it, until she heard Harry's name mentioned. She hid in one of the stalls just as the girls came around the corner to the very spot where Cho was seconds before.
"Now that Harry Potter…he's really something…" said a girl.
"But it's a pity we can't have him…he's with that Chang girl…" said another.
"But you know, over the years, we've watched Potter grow, and I mean, look at him now! He's drop dead gorgeous!"
"Well yeah…I mean, Harry is really good looking, but he's in love with Cho. That'll never change." Parvati said.
"I've personally had fantasies…I have to admit it…" Lavender said quietly.
"Ooh! Here's something really good! I heard that Chang and Potter had a little fun in the summer!"
"What do you mean?" Lavender asked.
"What I'm saying is that…oh…I can't say it…well…it involves a bedroom ok?"
"You're saying that…that Cho and Harry…?" Parvati asked, shocked.
"Yeah! Exactly!"
"Well…you all are idiots! Haven't you seen the ring on Cho's finger? She's obviously engaged to him! I wonder when they're going to get married…" Lavender said.
"How sweet! But I also must say…I heard a rumor…a bad one…" Parvati said, her voice suddenly losing its girlish height and dropping to a low serious tone.
"What is it?" The girls chorused.
"Cho will kill me if she knows I said this…but I heard…she's going to have Harry's child…" Parvati whispered.
Cho couldn't listen to it anymore. She left the stall and strode forward.
"Enough already! Enough, I say!" She snapped.
The girls saw her and backed away.
"You…you were listening? How much did you hear?" Lavender asked.
"All of it! Even the bit about you fancying Harry!" Cho said angrily.
"Cho, we're really, really sorry." Parvati said.
"You know what? Your apologies are useless to me! I can't believe all of you! Parvati, Lavender, consider yourselves my enemies."
With that, she ran out of the bathroom and down the hall, and into a corner against the wall, and broke out into tears and sobbed softly.
"Do you think the rumors are true?" Lavender asked.
"I don't know…" Parvati answered.
Harry was walking down the hall, looking for Cho, when he heard someone crying. He ran down the hall and saw Cho sitting with her back against the wall, and hugging her knees.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked her.
"T-they know!" She choked.
"Know what?"
"About what happened during the summer! And everything! The secrets I've been trying to keep from everyone!"
"But how could they know?"
"They heard they were rumors. But no one knows except all of our friends…someone's broken their silence…but who?"
"I don't know…but we can find out later. I've been looking all over for you. I was so worried."
"I'm sorry…"
"Hey, don't worry about it…just don't do that too much ok?"
"Alright."
With that, he helped her off of the floor and onto her feet. He put an arm securely around her waist and they walked down the hall to the common room…
Unknown to them, they were being watched. The pair of eyes that watched them welled up in tears. A red-headed girl ran away in tears. She had heard the rumors in the bathroom, and heard Cho confirm them herself. She couldn't believe it. She ran all the way out to the grounds and into a small area that students didn't pass by much and cried there.
The break ended and everyone went to their next class. Harry, Cho, and Ron headed up to the North Tower for Divination. They took seats on the poufs at the very back of the class, and saw Lavender and Parvati walk in. Cho glared at the two of them menacingly. She dug into her bag and took out the diary that Harry had gotten her. The diary would write whatever was on her mind for her without having to write it herself. All she had to do was open it. She opened her diary, and stared at it for a moment, and the silver quill that came with it began to whiz across the page. The room was pretty much silent except for the sound of the quill scratching angrily at the parchment pages. The quill lay flat and the diary closed and locked. Cho put it away, feeling much happier than she was a few minutes before, and then Professor Trelawney's misty voice rang out from the front of the room.
"I sense many secrets flitting about…terrible secrets…and-"
She gasped, then continued.
"And the secrets are about someone in our class…"
Lavender raised her hand.
"Miss Brown?"
"Professor, what you are sensing are just rumors. And they're about Chang." She said.
Cho's fingernails scraped angrily at the desk.
"About Miss Chang?" Professor Trelawney asked, sounding horrified. "What ever could the rumor be?!"
"Oh nothing of much importance…it kind of involves Potter too…" Parvati added helpfully.
"Mr. Potter too?!"
"Yes, Professor! The rumors are dreadful!" Lavender wailed, in a fake pained voice.
"My child, this burden must be difficult to bear! Please, tell me!"
"Why do you need her to tell you? Why don't you just use your Inner Eye and read her mind?" Cho asked coldly.
The whole class looked up at her.
"Miss Chang! This is unusual behavior!"
"You may think so, but I believe my behavior is perfectly rational…considering what Brown and Patil said about me in the lavatory before class."
"Miss Brown! Miss Patil!"
"That's a lie! You were listening in!" Lavender snapped.
"You weren't minding your own business! You should've stayed out of our affairs!" Parvati interjected.
"Well I wasn't the one who was stupid enough to not look around and make sure the one you were talking about wasn't in the same room! I wasn't the one stupid enough to talk about Harry at the top of their voice! And I wasn't the one stupid enough to say such awful wretched things about your friends!" Cho screamed at them.
"Well…at least I wasn't the one that was stupid enough to go have a fun tumble with Potter during the summer!" Parvati and Lavender screeched.
"Keep your fat mouths shut! That's a lie!"
"Don't deny it Chang! You know it happened!" Parvati said in a mocking voice.
"Shut up!" Cho shrieked.
"How's this to shut you up?! We're not the one's stupid enough to be having Potter's baby!" Lavender taunted.
'Don't do anything. Or else it'll prove it's true…' Cho thought to herself angrily.
"Oh we got you now…" Lavender said, pleased with herself.
"Pathetic isn't it, Lavender?" Parvati asked.
"DON'T SAY THAT WORD!" Cho screamed.
She was on her feet and didn't even realize it.
"Oh yeah, you've got that thing where you can't stand the word 'pathetic'. What's up with that anyway? It's just a word…" Lavender said evilly.
"It is not just a word. It is much more than that. It means pain and anger to me. It means suffering and sadness. It means much more than you can ever imagine!" Cho said, trying to remain calm.
Her voice shook with anger. She slowly sat down again, and clutched her stomach. Harry looked at her in concern.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine…" She replied softly.
"Well…lesson dismissed!" Trelawney said, her voice no longer airy or light, but high and squeaky and full of shock and fear.
Everyone left the classroom, and the whole class except Lavender, Parvati, and Ron surrounded Cho and Harry.
"So is what they said in there true?" Seamus asked.
"Shut up." Cho replied.
"Is it true?"
"Shut up."
"So was it fun?"
"Shut up!"
"Did it seem worth it?"
"Shut UP!"
"Are you having a boy or a girl?"
"Shut the hell up!"
"Are those two girls just making it all up?"
"Yes, now shut up."
"Was it enjoyable?"
"SHUT UP!!!"
They fell silent, and Cho, Harry, and Ron walked away quickly and met up with Hermione, Akira, Liam, Angela, Alicia, Nick, and Alexa. Whitney, Tom, Draco, and Alyssia joined them a few minutes later.
"I heard the rumors!" Whitney said.
"Yeah well, I'm not exactly having the best day today as you can see…" Cho replied.
"What rumors?" Angela asked, her eyes darting around suspiciously.
"Oh about Cho. How she's engaged, and what she did during her summer…" Whitney answered.
"I've heard those too!" Angela exclaimed in shock, clapping a hand to her mouth, her olive green eyes widening.
"We've heard them too…" Alicia, Nick, Tom, Draco, Alyssia, Akira, Liam, and Alexa admitted glumly.
"Great! The whole school knows! My day only keeps getting better and better!" Cho said sarcastically.
She ran to the seventh floor and screamed the password at the fat lady then ran up to her dormitory and hurled her bag at the carpet and flung herself onto her bed and screamed into her pillow and started to cry.
Akira and Hermione followed her and ran after her and into the seventh year girls dormitory.
"Cho, aren't you going to come to class?" Hermione wondered.
"No…tell Hagrid and Tai that I'm not going to lessons because I don't feel well…" Cho replied through her pillow, her voice slightly muffled.
"You have to go! You'll be missing an important lesson! Today we're learning about phoenixes, and Hagrid would probably like to borrow Lumé!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yeah well…I'm not…going…you can take Lumé, and go to class. But I'm not going." Cho said.
"You're the only one that can control her! Well…the only one that would be present in the class to control her." Hermione persisted.
"Aki and Tai can control her too…but she'll listen to anyone if they're my friends."
"Cho, please, I'm really worried. What's wrong? Please tell me. I'm your sister!" Akira pleaded.
"Look, just go to class. You both are going to be late."
Cho muttered something in Chinese to her sister then took out her wand and conjured some tea. Akira and Hermione took this as a hint and left. They had five minutes to get to their next lessons. Both of them tore down the spiral staircase and out the portrait hole and down seven flights of stairs.
"Lumé!" Akira whispered.
Instantly Lumé appeared at Akira's side.
'What will you be needing Aki?' Lumé asked.
"I need you to help us get to class. Take me to Herbology, and Hermione to Care of Magical Creatures. Drop me off first, and obey Hermione until I come back from Herbology. When you drop Hermione off, stay there and become your phoenix form. Understand?" Akira explained.
'I understand.' Lumé replied.
"Good." Akira said.
Lumé took both of the girls hands and they flew out the door and to the greenhouses. She dropped off Akira, then flew over to Hagrid's cabin. She dropped off Hermione, and remained there. The students oohed and aahed at her, then she turned into a phoenix and perched herself on Hagrid's garden fence.
Hagrid came out of his hut and saw Lumé and admired her for a moment.
"Tha's a very nice phoenix. Who's is it?" He asked.
"That would be the Chang family's phoenix, Lumé. Cho let me borrow her." Hermione replied.
"Speakin o' which, where is Cho anyway?"
"She's not coming to lessons today. She's feeling ill."
"Ah…well, I hope she feels better…"
Hagrid approached the class and rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"Thanks to Miss Chang, we've got a very rare phoenix to study today. Hermione, would you mind fetching young Miss Chang? You know, Akira?" Hagrid said.
Hermione nodded, but Lumé vanished and reappeared with Akira at her side.
"Uh…so why am I here?" She asked.
"Yeh'll be helpin' us with the lesson today." Hagrid replied.
"Oh. Cool." Akira said, with little enthusiasm.
"So jus' go ahead and tell the class 'bout yer phoenix." Hagrid said, looking very excited.
"Er…right…anyway, this is Lumé. She's a gold phoenix. She has two forms. A woman and a phoenix. She's been in the Chang family just recently. My late parents got her just before Tai, my older brother, was born. She was fully grown when Cho was born, and has aged like a normal person. So she's just a little older than Tai is. She's got really unique powers. But I can't exactly say it…oh yeah, you already know about the Angel's Prophecy…so anyway, when she sings the Phoenix Song, Cho changes into the angel of light, a.k.a. Angel Serenity, and Rochelle, turns into the angel of darkness, a.k.a. Angel Genesis…now um…she'll obey everyone that are friends of everyone in the family. But if one of us in the family doesn't like you, Lumé might attack. So just be warned. So who wants to pet her first?" Akira explained.
Hermione, Ron, Harry, Tom, Whitney, Draco, and Alyssia all stepped forward. Akira smiled at them and motioned for them to come over.
"Thank you for volunteering." Akira said brightly.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Ron asked.
"Just pet her. I know for sure she won't hurt you. I think that she might listen to Harry the most though…because it depends on the feelings of all of us. And well, Cho is in love with Harry, so that's a strong emotion, and Tai and I both consider him a friend, so we have positive feelings about him too, but Cho's emotion overrules ours. Heck, Harry might be able to control her! But I'm sure all of you will pretty much be able to control Lumé." Akira answered.
Gently, each of them stroked Lumé's golden plume. Her feathers were like silk, and shined in the bright afternoon sun. Everyone petted her except Lavender and Parvati. When it was their turn, Lumé shrieked a cry of warning.
"Lavender, Parvati, back away, real slowly…then-" Akira began.
Her words were lost as Lumé shrieked again and swooped down towards the two girls.
"No! Lumé! Stop! Don't!" Akira screamed.
Lavender and Parvati were running through the students and were trying to get to the castle. Lumé followed them, and Akira ran after the three of them.
"Lavender! Parvati! Do NOT run!" Akira shouted.
But Lavender and Parvati didn't listen and kept on running. Akira rolled her eyes, then ran quickly and jumped onto Lumé, making the bird fall out of midair. Lumé scratched Akira's face with a golden talon, making Akira release her and letting her fly away towards Lavender and Parvati. Akira had a gash on her cheek that was bleeding badly.
"LUMÉ! STOP!!! STOP IT!" She screeched.
But Lumé didn't listen. She kept going after Lavender and Parvati. The two girls stumbled and fell, and Lumé positioned herself into an attack formation, and the two girls cowered, knowing that it would be the end.
"STOP!!!" Akira yelled one last time, hoping her phoenix would listen.
"Iru de heion, sukoshi tori! Iru de heiwa, sukoshi tori! Musubu anata no kanjo! Iru de heion ima, sukoshi tori…iru…de…heion…" came a voice.
Akira turned around and saw her sister. She took a look at Lumé. The phoenix had stopped moving completely.
"Lumé, do not harm them. Leave them be." Cho said.
"Cho!" Akira exclaimed.
"Aki." Cho replied.
"What did you use on her?" Akira asked.
"It's the Japanese calming spell. The words say 'Be at peace, little bird! Be at peace, little bird! Bind your emotions. Be at peace now, little bird…be…at…peace…'" Cho explained.
"I knew that! But that was amazing…totally awesome." Akira said beaming.
"Lumé." Cho called.
Lumé flew over to Cho's shoulder.
"Heal Aki's wound." She said, pointing to the cut on her sister's face.
Lumé nodded and cried a few pearly tears, and the wound was healed.
"Go to the forest. Remain there until I call for you." Cho said.
Lumé chirped a note of understanding and flew off.