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
Spoilers: Everything
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13. The Gathering Storm
Everyone watched in silence as Harry and Luna entered the cabinet. Neville closed the door, waited a few seconds, and almost as if he was a stage magician at the Palladium, opened the cabinet door again, revealing an empty box.
"How long do you think?" Cho asked Michael.
"No saying. I tried it a couple of times myself; once it took me to the Restricted section of the library, and once to the kitchen. It changes its route daily, but not to please you. You have to follow wherever it goes. We can only hope they won't be too far from Ravenclaw."
"And Luna can get Harry there, right?"
"You know her as well as any of us. Sometimes, well, she seems a few scales short of a dragon, but she's actually got nimble wits. Wouldn't have been Sorted into Ravenclaw otherwise."
"Can I ask you something, Michael?"
"Of course."
"Well, you were seeing Ginny Weasley for a while, and then me, and…"
"Did I ever have a go at Luna? Never, and for one reason: nobody ever gave me a guide for translating Luna into English." He saw the frown start to form on Cho's forehead. "Look, you have to admit: some of the things she comes up with are nonsense at best, madness at worst."
"That's as may be, but still, she's a very kind person and a Ravenclaw. It wasn't fair for any of us to just dismiss her."
"Well, there was a lot of that going around; still is. But it doesn't seem to have done her much harm"
"And what does that mean?"
"That she went through her kidnapping ordeal as if it was a spring shower."
"Kidnapping?"
"Hasn't anyone told you?" Cho shook her head. "And I guess it never appeared in the Prophet. Well, her father had finally started making sense in the Quibbler about Harry and the Ministry, so, in order to stifle the old man, they kidnap Luna on the way home for the Christmas hols. Took her right off the Express! They locked her up in the Malfoy family mansion, along with Ollivander…"
"He's alive, then!" Cho burst out. "Thank Merlin for that! I mean, his shop still looks like it was attacked by a mob, and nobody's come to claim it or anything."
"Well, long story short, Harry sailed in and got Luna and Ollivander out of there. Funny he hasn't surfaced again, although he is getting on, and if they did to him half of what they did to me…" Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath, perhaps to keep himself from shivering at the memory.
"He's probably best off hiding wherever he is."
"Except it's a bloody shame he can't help us out now. We could use a few hundred high-powered wands."
"I don't think that's the way Ollivander works. I remember when he sold us my wand."
"I think we all remember that, although I'm not sure now why it would be memorable."
"Just something novel, I think. Anyway, he spent a lot of time rummaging around in the back room before he brought out some boxes of wands. The second one I tried was exactly right; it felt perfect."
"And what was it?"
"Willow, eleven inches, with hair from a unicorn's mane."
"Sounds about right."
Cho almost giggled at Michael trying to sound like he was older than his eighteen years. "What's about right, oh man of the world?"
"Well, unicorns always seem to go together with beautiful maidens."
"Michael, that joke isn't especially funny."
"You'll notice I'm not laughing, either. Cho, please, listen to me." She noticed that Michael was looking at her with an expression she couldn't place at first. Just as the word 'wistful' suggested itself, Michael spoke again: "Don't worry, I'm not going fishing in the same old pond again. I know your heart is tied to another, for good or ill. And I wish you luck in that department; I really do. But, well, you have to know how pretty you are. You really are as pretty a girl as you are talented as a Seeker. And I know you don't deny one, so you shouldn't deny the other, either."
Cho was silent for a minute. She could never get used to moments like this; she almost panicked at the World Cup when Mackie told her how Roger Davies felt about her. Why was that…? NO! This was the worst time to worry about such things! Harry would be back soon, and the war against Voldemort would begin in earnest.
"Michael," she finally said in a soft voice, "you really have become a good friend, which is why I'll believe you when you say…"
"BUGGER!"
The rude interruption came from Fred Weasley. He was pacing angrily up and down the Room of Requirement. Cho looked at the clock and realized that Harry had been gone for fifteen minutes. "Neville, I don't like this."
"Look," Neville answered back, "we haven't heard any alarms or anything…"
"And you're saying we should wait? For what? We could be getting the rest of the Army ready now, so we don't waste time when they get back from their scavaenger hunt."
"Diadem hunt," Ron interrupted his brother.
"Thanks for the useless reminder, little bro." George started to round on Fred, and so did Hermione, but Fred shouted over them. "That's just what I mean, innit? We're not getting anything done here and we've lots to do with not much time to do it. So get on the Galleon and get the others here!"
"Fred, it's not as if it's a Howler," Hermione started, but George cut her off.
"And while you're at it, Neville, get your gran to round up the Order. Tell them about the Hog's Head tunnel, and that it's life and death." The room fell silent when he said that. "Well, it probably will be."
Neville crossed the room to work whatever spells he had to. Michael started to say something, but Cho stopped him.
"In all honesty, Michael, how strong are you? Can you fight at all?"
"Do you need me to?"
"I'm not asking as if I'm a Sergeant Magus. I'm asking as your healer, and your friend. How much can you handle?"
"I'd love a chance at the Carrows; get a bit of my own back."
"What if it's worse?"
Michael stopped a minute, looking down at his shoes. "I've had two bad attacks this year; you got me through the first one, and I'm still working on the second. At some point I'll just have to get out of harm's way, but I'm in the battle until that point."
"Michael, I know you're loyal to the Army, but you're no use if you're…" Cho couldn't say the word.
"Cho, believe me, if I have to pull back to Hogsmeade, I will. Maybe I can get my mum to help."
"Your mother?"
"Yeh. The only reason I haven't told her anything yet is because she'd pull me out of Hogwarts for letting myself get caught and being a stupid prat. Then she'd come back and have the Carrows hanging from the Astronomy Tower by their thumbs. I told you she's in the Department of Mysteries, didn't I? The things she knows…"
"GINEVRA WEASLEY!"
Four Weasleys were already in the Room of Requirement, and it was obvious that three more had arrived through the tunnel. The parents were trying to get past the knot of Fred, George, Ron and Hermione Granger blocking their way, while Ginny tried to hide amongst the others. Then, of all people, the Beauxbatons Champion from the Triwizard, Fleur Delacourt, came in, with the eldest son Bill Weasley, who looked much more the worse for wear than Michael Corner.
Molly was fussing over Ron, as she hadn't seen him in months. She was commenting on him growing so much taller (which he had), almost as tall as the twins (which he wasn't), and how he now really favoured his father's good looks (which the twins tried to tell her was a matter of opinion).
"I'll deal with you in just one minute," Molly Weasley started, but was interrupted by another voice.
"Right; who's in charge here?" The deep, booming voice could only belong to Kingsley Shacklebolt; he came out of the tunnel, closely followed by Professor Lupin.
"MY GRANDSON!" came a voice from inside the tunnel. Its owner appeared a few seconds later: an elderly but wiry old woman who despite the May weather was dressed in a green velvet coat that touched her ankles, with fox fur trim and an old-fashioned hat topped with a stuffed vulture.
"Gran!" Neville shouted. "You got my message, then?"
"Don't sound so surprised, boy. I just hope you haven't called us all here on a fool's errand."
"No chance, gran. Harry said You Know Who is definitely on his way here now!"
"Good; then we can finish this." Mrs. Longbottom started rummaging through her purse, ultimately producing a wand. "I have some scores to settle."
"Listen, Augusta," Mrs. Weasley started, "and no offense intended, but this lot could be more dangerous than you're used to…"
"Dangerous! This is a sad crop of Death Eaters, Molly. Thanks to me, Dawlish is still in St. Mungo's; who have you incapacitated lately?"
"Ladies, please!" Shacklebolt put himself between the two arguing women, which Cho thought was the bravest thing she'd seen tonight. "The past is prologue, as the Muggle said. Once Harry gets back from wherever, we need to contact the Heads of Houses."
Just then, more members of Dumbledore's Army arrived: all three of the Gryffindor Chasers. Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell came in almost together, but after a few seconds they were followed by Alicia Spinnett, and—this was the biggest surprise to Cho—with Oliver Wood in tow!
"Back in a moment, Michael," she said, "but I have to find out what this is about."
Oliver Wood was obsessed with Quidditch at Hogwarts, almost to the exclusion of everything else. If it didn't involve two Bludgers, a Quaffle and a Snitch, it just didn't interest him. He had graduated the year before the Triwizard, and found a spot playing for Puddlemere United, but, even if he had stayed the extra years, there was no way anyone would have thought to recruit him for Dumbledore's Army.
"Hello, Chang," he said with a friendly smile. "Didn't think you'd still be Seeking here."
"Erm, actually, I'm not; I got out last year. But seeing you here…" She left the sentence hanging.
"Yeh," Oliver chuckled a bit and (if Cho wasn't mistaken) he started to blush. "I was at my place and Alicia was, er, visitin'." The blush intensified. "Anyway, she'd told me about the Galleon some time ago, but when it went off tonight, well, Hogwarts expects every wizard, eh?"
Alicia interrupted. "You'd better go talk to Neville Longbottom; he's Captain of this team."
"Ah; right. Good to see Gryffindor is well represented." He worked his way through the growing crowd to Neville.
Before Alicia could say anything, Cho asked, "Visiting?" She didn't even try to hide her smile.
"I was asking him about vacancies for Puddlemere!" Then Alicia smiled, too. "Among other things. It's the oldest magic in the world, isn't it? As you know, I'm sure."
"Yes." She didn't want to talk about Harry; still unanswered questions there.
"They're saying Harry's here in Hogwarts?"
"Well, he was. Then he went off looking for, erm, something that used to belong to Rowena Ravenclaw; don't ask me why. He should be back soon."
No sooner did Cho say these words than the door opened, and Harry and Luna stepped in. Harry actually seemed in shock and slipped down the stairs to the floor. He'd been gone for—heavens, a half-hour! Didn't it occur to him that the Army would keep coming?
After exchanging a few quick words with Professor Lupin (as Cho still thought of him, even though he was no longer on faculty) and one of the Weasley twins, Harry climbed back up the stairs As soon as he did, the other twin yelled out "What first, Harry? What's going on?"
This was the question everyone wanted answered, and everyone there believed that Harry Potter had the answer.
"They're evacuating the younger kids," Harry shouted to the crowd in the room, "and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized."
Organized for what?
"WE'RE FIGHTING!"
That was all it took. Everyone in the room shouted as if a Snitch had just been captured. They rushed for the door trying to get to the Great Hall. Cho fought the crowd a bit to get to Luna, who might be able to supply a few details.
She caught up to Luna and asked, "What's going on?"
"All the statues are mobilised for defense. The Heads of Houses are on our side, and Headmaster Snape is off for parts unknown. Isn't it thrilling? I think we actually have a chance!"
Just as she finished her sentence, Lee Jordan appeared out of the mob heading toward the stairs, grabbed Luna's hand, and pulled her into the surging crowd.
That was rather rude, but Cho couldn't find time to worry about that now. She made her own way up the steps with the last of the crowd. It did satisfy her to look over her shoulder and see that Ginny Weasley was still being scolded by her mother, while Harry pointedly looked off in another direction.
She climbed the stairs, stopped at the door, turned back, and saw, of all wizards, Percy Weasley stumble out of the tunnel!
As Cho rushed down the corridor to catch up with the others headed toward the Great Hall, she only had one thought: I have to tell Penny about THIS!
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To be continued in part 14, wherein the war begins, and Cho summons some help…
A/N: Shacklebolt is quoting "the Muggle" William Shakespeare, who wrote in Julius Caesar "What's past is prologue; what's to come in your and my discharge." And Oliver Wood paraphrases Lord Horatio Nelson before the Battle of Trafalgar who signaled the fleet "England expects that every man will do his duty."