Chapter 3 A year to the day

Everything was ready and in place. I paced up and down not knowing where to put myself. It was a year to the day since we got married or in simpler terms our 1 year anniversary. To try and calm my nerves I turned on the radio, a strange muggle invention that plays music. A song came on that I didn't recognise and yet soon found myself waltzing round the deserted living room to.

At 5:55 I switched off the radio because harry was due any moment. But 6 o'clock came and went. So did 6:15. When 6:30 arrived a soft tap came from behind the curtained window. I walked over and opened it. Speckle, Harrys work owl, flapped through the open gap and settled himself on the empty coffee table with a letter clamped in his beak. I took the letter and ripped it open.

Dear Cho,

I'm really sorry but I'll be home really late. Don't wait up for me. I know it's our anniversary but sometimes work comes first. We can celebrate another day. Again I'm really sorry.

From Harry

The evening was ruined. All the planning, all the hard work, for nothing. Anger pulsed through my veins that I could not control. I ran into the kitchen and knocked every food filled plate onto the floor that I could reach. The smashing was a comfort to my ears. Leaving bits of plate and food strewn around the room I walked serenely back to the living room and turned on the radio. Then a song came on that filled me with sadness. It was called All by myself. The words vibrated round the room and into my head. I collapsed to the floor in floods of tears, not realising that blood was spurting from my hands after breaking the plates.

I felt myself being hoisted from the ground. I wanted to struggle away but didn't have the energy. Even though I was barely conscious I could still sense that more than one body was standing close to me.

The sound of a roaring engine brought me back from the dream. I didn't want to leave it but I just felt myself slipping away. All the happiness I felt drained the closer I got to the real world. Voices helped to prompt me along the path I didn't want to take.

"So you don't know how it happened," came an awfully familiar voice.

"No. I only know what I told you last night," Harry said.

"Are you going to say you blew her off to be with me?"

"I think you're insane. How could I say that? By the way I went round Ginny's last night instead of coming home for our anniversary."

Through a crack in my eye lids I saw him give her a loving smile. My smile. I could no longer pretend to be asleep. As I jumped up I saw the look of horror on both their faces. This gave me the push I needed to speak out.

"Do you have something to say, honey? I asked in a sugary voice.

"Maybe I should go," Ginny whispered while making a break for the door.

"NO! You will stay because you are involved. I have some questions for you."

Harry tried persuading me to let the ginger go but I ignored him. Ginny backed away into the wall furthest from me. But this move gave me power. She may be taller than me but as she pressed into the wall looking shocked I gained height and towered over her.

"Why were you with my dear husband last night?" I asked in a forced calm tone.

"We were doing stuff for work. The aura office is so hectic at the moment because we are trying to round up the death eaters that escaped," she replied, gaining back her usual strong voice and walking back to the middle of the room. She stopped next to Harry.

"Why didn't you put that in the letter?" Directing this question at him instead.

"Well...I...not important...stuff..."

"Just stop with the questions. The truth is at work Harry had a rough day and couldn't face coming home to an evening of love, passion and so forth. So I took him back to mine with his consent and we talked," spoke Ginny without a quiver. "He got a bit drunk and we ended up kissing..."

My mouth opened but no words came out. Thoughts were running through my head like wild fire. I needed to sit down but it would show as a sign of weakness and defeat.

"This d, doesn't m, mean a, anything o, okay," Harry stammered while trying to smile.

"Doesn't mean anything, doesn't mean anything! How could you do this? And you," I spat at Ginny. "You have wanted this to happen for ages. I've seen the way you look around him and the way you act. When we got married I thought it would stop but no, you just don't give up until you get what you want."

"Hey, that's not fair. I won't deny I love Harry because I know, you know and he knows it's true. But I would never intentionally wreck a happily married couple just so I might have the tiniest chance."

"Happily married? I never see my dearly beloved. When we got together again after the war I could imagine us growing old together but now, now I don't see us even lasting for another year. I've been waiting for this moment to come for months. I've been preparing but still the pain is unbearable. Will you please leave now?"

No hesitations were made. Ginny left straight away. Harry, on the other hand put his arms around me. I pushed him off. It made me feel sick knowing the hands that touched me had earlier been touching another.

"Didn't you understand? Go means go!" I screamed.

At the door way he turned back. "Cho"

I did not answer. When the front door shut I released the long hard shriek that had been building up inside me. I opened up the cabinet in front of me and drained the first alcoholic bottle I came to. It did nothing for the pain that was pulsating through my body but got rid of the images that had started to form in my head of a black haired man and a freckled woman kissing in a bed.