CHO CHANG'S EIGHTH YEAR
By monkeymouse
NB: JKRowling built the Potterverse; I'm just redecorating one of the rooms. And one of the great things about JKR telling the story from Harry's point of view is that stuff could be happening all over the wizarding world that Harry isn't aware of.
Rated: PG-13
Spoilers: Everything
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7. Return
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Cho found an empty compartment, which was no surprise since fewer students went home for the holidays this year than in the past. She hoped to be alone for most of the trip, but after a few minutes Orla Quirke walked into the compartment. She was a Fourth-Year Ravenclaw who had tried out for the Quidditch team the year before.
Cho felt trapped for the moment, but she figured that she could bluff her way through a general conversation for a few minutes, then excuse herself and move to another part of the train. She didn't have much choice.
"So how were your holidays?" Orla asked.
"Pretty quiet, just the family mostly." Cho had no idea how Sara Anand's family had spent the holidays, but hoped that this sounded convincing. "How about you?"
"Well, you can pretty much imagine, right?"
That wasn't much help. "Well, as I said, we didn't even get the Prophet most days. The weather was so awful."
The train jerked forward and began its hours-long journey to Hogsmeade. Orla looked at Sara, opened the trunk on the seat beside her, pulled out her wand, and aimed it at Cho. "Who are you, really?"
Cho half-smiled. "What gave me away, then?"
"Mainly your not mentioning that the Anand family spend a weekend at our house because of some sort of infestation in theirs. We were all in close quarters; the real Sara would have known that."
"My bad luck. Orla, I'm Cho Chang."
Orla didn't lower her wand. "What happened to Sara?"
"She tried to sneak onto the Express, but I convinced her to let her mother find her. I need to get out of London for a while."
"And you couldn't have just bought a ticket?"
"I couldn't risk having anyone know it's me. Something happened in Diagon Alley. That's really all I can tell you now."
"Something involving the Ministry?"
"Yes; please don't ask for more details."
Orla set her wand on her lap. "How are you going to deal with security?"
"Has Hogwarts gone beyond passwords?"
"Literally. We got to school in September, and it was as if the school itself grew new security layers around the Houses; to protect the students, y'see. I don't know how it knew to do that, but it did."
"You don't think the new Headmaster did it?"
"Absolutely not. For one thing, the changes keep him out, too. He has access to Slytherin, Dumbledore's old office, the Potions dungeon, and that's about it. The Carrows can get into the common areas, but not much more."
"Maybe you'd better tell me about the Carrows."
"A wizard named Amycus and his sister Alecto. Both are very nasty. Amycus teaches Dark Arts."
"I'm surprised they still want students to defend themselves."
"You weren't listening. He teaches Dark Arts. He expects students to cast Unforgivables."
"Good Lord, that's worse than I thought."
"Alecto isn't much better. She's there to teach Muggle Studies, which is just a lot of anti-Muggle toss. The same stuff Umbitch was shoveling two years ago."
"I take it you don't approve."
"I take it you haven't heard that the Army is back together."
"WHAT?"
They both looked quickly at the compartment door; the curtains were still open, but the corridor seemed to be empty. "You've got to watch that," Orla said. "The Army is a sore point with Snape and the Carrows. They probably have orders from the Ministry to put it down."
"Is, erm, someone still teaching Defense to the students?"
"If by 'someone' you mean Potter, no chance. It's all he's worth if he sets foot back in Hogwarts now. No, the Army has moved on to 'direct action', as they put it."
"What does that mean?"
"Little acts of disrespect and resistance. No serious vandalism and nothing like what the Weasley twins did on their way out the door, but small things."
"For safety sake, I'm not going to ask if you're in the Army…"
"Well, I'm not, although Ravenclaw is well represented. Still, it's the Gryffindors who pull most of the stunts and take the risks, seems like."
"How do you know who's in the Army if you're not?"
"After school began you could figure it out. Some students had to do repeated detention, or worse, and a lot of them were in Potter's old crowd. Or somebody would show up to class with a face full of bruises. You could figure out who'd done it and why."
"Wait! Snape is beating students?"
"Not Snape, I don't think. He can shake you up a treat, but that's about all. The Carrows are much worse. Only thing that keeps them in bounds is if the student is a half-and-half or a Pureblood. But Merlin help the Muggle-born. There aren't even supposed to be any at Hogwarts any more, but they keep finding them out."
Just then they heard the witch with the trolley coming. Cho regretted not having even the price of a pasty, but Orla saw Cho searching her pockets and told her, "Just curl up at the end of the seat and pretend you're asleep. I'll pay for your lunch."
"That's too much to ask."
Orla pulled her conical witch's hat out of her trunk; since her head size was slightly bigger than Cho's it completely covered her face. "Glad to do it. You're still something of a celebrity in Ravenclaw. Now kip it; the Polyjuice should be wearing off soon."
Cho realized that it was almost an hour since she took the potion, so she pretended to sleep while Orla bought sandwiches from the trolley. When it had moved on, Orla drew the curtains of the compartment.
Cho took off her hat; she now looked like herself again. "I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea."
"Not if you can do one thing."
"What?"
"Look around Hogwarts. See what the old place has become under the Ministry. Then go back and tell the parents. Owls are searched, coded messages are decoded, the Floo is monitored, and every attempt to tell the truth is sussed out. The Ministry really wants to paint its own picture of Hogwarts. Don't let them get away with it."
Cho didn't hesitate to answer, "I swear it—on my life."
xxx
Cho didn't know how long her Polyjuice would have to last, so she was glad to be able to remain herself in the compartment. Besides, only a few students knocked on the door looking for Orla, or just for something different. Cho covered her face with her hat and pretended to sleep, except when Terry Boot, who was now a Prefect, knocked on the door.
"Hullo, Orla," Terry said as he quickly entered the compartment and shut the door. "Some of the younger Slytherins are messing about with other students, and wouldn't mind me when I tried to stop it." He sat heavily on the seat opposite Cho's. "Would Sleeping Beauty there mind if I rested here for a minute?"
"She wouldn't mind at all," Cho said, smiling at Terry as she lifted the hat.
Terry looked first stunned, then fearful. "Are you mad, woman? You're out of Hogwarts; what are you going back for?"
"I forgot my scales in the Potions dungeon. Terry, I can't tell you why, but it seems more and more that it's something I have to do. Is it true the Army is back?"
"Not so you'd recognize it. The ones in charge aren't here, which is odd but understandable. I mean, this is the N.E.W.T. year for Harry, Hermione and Ron, but they seem to be doing the Grand Tour. Staying one step ahead of You Know Who, I expect."
"So who's in charge?"
"Pride of place goes to Neville Longbottom, if you can believe that. He's really come into his own, and so has Luna Lovegood. Still mad as a March hare, of course, but she hasn't been afraid to get out there and do things. And Ginny Weasley."
The sandwich Cho had eaten started pounding on the walls of her stomach. After their argument Harry had stopped seeing Cho, but hadn't been seen with any other girl. Not that there weren't lots of willing candidates, but Harry stayed alone—until the day Cho walked in on Harry and Ginny snogging in the grass near the lake. She didn't need to be reminded of that just now.
"Orla started to tell me about the new security."
"No fear," Terry smiled. "I expect we can get you around that easy-peasy. It's just that, for now, you're needed outside of Ravenclaw House. Would you be willing?"
"For the Army?" Cho smiled. "Anything."
xxx
"How has Professor Flitwick been during all this?"
Even though the curtains were drawn and the lamps lit—since it was hours after sunset and the Express would arrive at Hogsmeade within the hour—Terry glanced yet again at the door to the compartment. "Officially, he's supposed to follow Snape's lead and advise us against supporting the Army. Unofficially, well, it's amazing how well he's able to change the subject if the topic gets round to the Army. He's been able to keep Snape at wand's length all these months. I'm sure he's spoken with Sprout and McGonagall."
"That leaves Slytherin. Snape can't still be Head of House as well as Headmaster."
Orla spoke up; "No, he let that honour go to Slughorn, who's still teaching Potions as well. And I'm not sure, but I think even Slughorn looks down his nose at the Carrows."
"Slug would look down his nose at Merlin himself," Terry smiled, "if he thought the man's robes were crooked."
"But, if something happened, something changed, could we count on Slughorn?"
"To do the right deed for the wrong reason? Horace Slughorn's greater good has always been Horace Slughorn. But he might support the students against the Ministry, if it came to that. He'd favour Slytherin, of course, but, truth to tell, he's dim rather than evil."
The train gave a jolt; they were slowing down and would be at the station in a few minutes.
"Drink up, Cho," Orla said, "and stick with Terry for now. And come by Ravenclaw when you can. We'd love to see someone again who knows what's happening. All we get is Potterwatch."
"Get what?"
"The wireless program," Terry said. "You don't know?"
"We hardly ever listen to the WWN."
"You are in for an education, then."
Cho knew she'd have to sort it out later. She drank the Polyjuice, and, when the door opened the seat was again occupied by Sara Anand.
xxx
Students had always regarded the sledges as one of Hogwarts' nicer features. Used to carry students to and from Hogsmeade Station in the winter months, they seemed to move on their own. Of course, Cho had learned what the older students knew: that they were pulled by Thestrals kept by the school. Cho realized that she could see the Thestrals now: she had watched the Fogglys die at the hands of her father. Was that really the only way to save her oldest friend, the Muggle-born Penelope Clearwater, from being arrested and dragged off to the Ministry and who-knows-what…
The night was nearly pitch-black, and Cho realized that she still couldn't see the Thestrals, and certainly didn't want to see them. Besides, a bitter cold wind was blowing, and the students weren't thinking of the sledges as nice in any way. They just wanted to be out of the weather as soon as possible.
Once she was back in the castle, Cho found a group of Ravenclaw students and tried to hide in the middle of them. This was easy to do since Sara was rather short. However, when they got to Ravenclaw House, Terry Boot grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.
"And where are you off to, then?"
Cho's bad luck; Argus Filch was in the corridor just past the entrance to Ravenclaw.
Terry spoke up: "Miss Anand was telling me on the train that she did her homework early before leaving, but left it in a classroom. I'm just going with her to fetch it, to make sure there's no funny business."
"What's funny is that funny business just seems to follow certain students. If I get it in my head that you're one of those students…"
"No fear, Mister Filch. We'll be up to the Divination classroom and back in a tick."
Filch didn't say anything else, but clearly was thinking something unpleasant. Fortunately, a grating meow was heard down the corridor; Filch's cat Mrs. Norris was complaining about something. He went off to check, and Terry and Cho quick-marched down the hall, heading for the Room of Requirement.
"How much do I need to know about the new passwords?"
"Nothing for now. We need you as a healer; have you done much of that?"
"My O.W.L.s were good and my parents are herbalists. What's this about?"
"The Carrows caught a Ravenclaw writing something rather nasty on the wall of a corridor just a couple of days ago, during the break. Maybe he gave them some cheek into the bargain. All I know is, they beat and cursed him more than usual. He's in a bad way, and we don't dare send him to the hospital wing, and the Carrows don't dare send him back home because he's Pureblood. He's not supposed to be the enemy, y'see."
"You don't mean Madam Pomfrey is in with the Carrows?"
"Not at all. But if she saw what he looked like, she might ask questions that, well, would bring their anger down on her, and we don't need that."
"So what's been done for him?"
"Not much, I'm afraid. We have someone with him now, but you'll have to stay with him twenty-four hours for the first day or two, I expect."
By the time they got to the corridor where the entrance to the Room of Requirement could be found, the door was not only visible but slightly ajar. Still, Terry gave a couple of light knocks on the door, which were returned from within. The door then opened to reveal Anthony Goldstein, another Ravenclaw. Also in the room was a table piled with bottles of herbs, potions, philters, beakers, and other tools of the herbalist. At the far end of the room a figure lay on a cot, face turned to the wall, unconscious.
"Can you help us out then, Sara?"
"She can," Terry interrupted, "but it ain't Sara. It's Captain Chang."
"Really?" Anthony took Cho's hand and shook it vigorously. "Damned glad you could help us out here. We've been able to keep him from getting worse, but we've no idea how to make him better."
"Well, if security is such a problem, I suppose I could be locked in here for a while. By the way, who am I getting locked in with?"
"Michael Corner. One of us will be by sometime tomorrow. Thanks again!" With that, Anthony and Terry were out of the room, and the door vanished.
Michael Corner. The gods had this planned as some kind of a joke, Cho thought. Michael had approached her several times over the years, acting friendly and polite. However, after a few weeks of that, he seemed to be possessed by something neither friendly nor polite. Cho had to use spells on him to make him stop mauling her, but this only made him sour and hostile toward Cho.
Of all the students to be stuck with, Cho sighed to herself. As she approached to get a better look at him, her nose told her one other thing. Michael had soiled himself, and nobody had bothered to clean him up.
If Cho could have left Hogwarts that minute, she would have, despite her promises to help. Couldn't they have told me some of this on the train? Did they really feel they had to trick me into caring for him? What now?
Cho remembered Harry talking about the Room of Requirement. She started walking back and forth in front of the spot where the door had been: I need help. I need a book. A book on how I'm supposed to undress a boy who has been very rude to me, and wash and dry him in a rather intimate place when I really have no interest in him in that line. I know what I must do, but it's dealing with him afterwards that worries me. I really need some guidance.
And then, a slim book rose up out of one of the bookcases and slowly glided through the air, settling at Cho's feet. It was a play by Shakespeare, a Muggle whose name and words were even familiar to the wizarding world. She picked up the book, which was the text of "Henry V," and noticed that a page was bookmarked. She turned to that page, and noticed that the words on one page glowed.
This was the guidance the Room of Requirement had to offer? Cho pondered the words for a while, then realized that she understood their meaning. She just didn't like the idea of it. But she also knew that she, like Michael, had no choice in the matter.
xxx
To be continued in part 8, wherein Cho and Michael listen to Potterwatch and say what needed to be said long ago …