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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15. The Battle of Hogwarts
Just as Cho got to the top of the stone steps leading into Hogwarts, she could see Professor Flitwick at the base of the steps, working one charm after another to protect the school. When she was halfway down the steps she saw him stop and look up into the night sky.
"Professor! Wait!"
She didn't look up; she didn't have to. But she had to make sure that nobody tried to hex her parents.
"Miss Chang…"
"My parents, Professor. They've come to help."
As she spoke with Professor Flitwick, Cho kept one eye on the two figures floating down out of the midnight sky. Cho had never even knew her parents owned such clothes. Her father wore a blue outer robe with a white robe underneath; his outfit was completed by a dark blue skullcap on his head and the sword of Lu Dongbin fastened to his belt. Lotus wore a violet-colored outer robe with a pale blue robe underneath. She carried the sheng of He Xiangu in her arms, but there was so much material in the sleeves of her robe that she could have carried the sheng there.
"Erm, Professor," Cho said, after finding her voice, "These are my parents, Xiemin and Lotus. Mummy and daddy, may I present the head of Ravenclaw House and Charms Master, Filius Flitwick."
Cho's father stuck out his hand and Professor Flitwick shook it. "Sorry we haven't had a chance to meet before now. Aren't you the author of "Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments?"
Cho had no idea her father even knew that. As soon as he said it, Professor Flitwick's face lit up like a sunrise. "A youthful effort; very youthful. It's kind of you to mention it."
Lotus likewise shook his hand. "Cho has had nothing but good things to say about you and Ravenclaw House."
"Yes, well. I have nothing but fond memories of your daughter, and I wish we could share them some other, happier time. But, if I don't get some more protective charms in place…"
"Understood, Professor," Chang Xiemin said. "Good luck to you."
"Good luck to us all," the professor said, as he dashed onto the lawn waving his wand and calling out spells.
As soon as he was gone, Cho's parents turned to her. Lotus was at her coldly formal worst. "After what happened at Gringotts this morning, I would have thought you'd stay close to Diagon Alley. What possessed you to come here?"
"It was a summons, from Dumbledore's Army. I couldn't stay away."
"You're saying Harry Potter's here?"
"Well, he is now. The summons came from the Army's interim leader, I guess you'd say; Neville Longbottom."
"We don't need all of this storytelling," Lotus said huffily. "Isn't the school supposed to be under attack? We didn't dress like this for a fashion parade, you know."
At that moment, flashes of light and muted explosions came from somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. It was midnight. The war had begun.
"Well, Cho," her father asked, "you certainly get a voice in this. Stay here or go to the forest?"
Cho couldn't help but feel proud that her father trusted her judgment in this. "The forest. It'll be hard for both sides, but the further we can keep the Death Eaters from Hogwarts, the better."
"Good decision." With that, the elder Changs began a brisk run toward the forest, leaving Cho in her school robes barely able to keep up with her parents, who seemed to almost fly over the grass.
Once they were in the forest, they were only able to move about fifty yards in when a roar off to one side and the crack and rustling of a falling tree brought them up short. In the darkness, they could still make out too easily the silhouette of a giant, standing twenty feet tall, with a dozen Death Eaters moving with it, using the giant for cover as they cast curses in all directions.
This was when the elder Changs brought out their weapons. Mister Chang swung his enchanted sword in the direction of the Death Eaters; five or six of them lost limbs or their heads before they realized they were under attack. The giant, however, seemed not to feel any of the blows.
Those Death Eaters not cut down at once tried to find where the swordsman was. Missus Chang gave a cold smile and began to play the sheng. She set them spinning as if they'd been hit with a Tarantellegra, and they found themselves being moved toward each other, where, again, the sword of Lu Dongbin made short work of them.
Still, the giant seemed unfazed by these weapons, and, once the Death Eaters who surrounded him were cut down, he looked around to try to find the enemy.
"We need to pull back!" Cho whispered harshly to her parents. "At least until we figure out what to do next."
The night was dark enough, and the giant was tall enough, that he couldn't see the Changs in retreat. They slipped into a moraine in the forest where they could hope for shelter while they figured their next move.
Cho's father wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "I don't like hiding like this, but I'm foxed," he said. "I never fought a giant before, and I don't understand why the sword isn't working."
"There weren't giants in China, then?"
"Long ago. There's a legend of one giant who tried to find where the sun went at night, but he died from exhaustion chasing the sun day after day. It was his foolishness killed him."
"This one doesn't seem to be a fool," Lotus muttered.
Just then, there was a rustling in the brush. The Changs didn't even have time to react to it, when through the brush burst a centaur, carrying a bow and arrow. He turned and fired three arrows in rapid succession; as they hit their mark, a howl went up.
The centaur turned toward the Changs. He just looked impassively at them, saying nothing. Cho noticed that he seemed to have cuts or scratches over much of his body. "Do you need help?" she asked.
The centaur answered in a voice that, despite the urgency of the moment, was as slow and soft as a falling leaf. "This was done by bushes and brambles. If it had been done by the werewolf I just killed, I would not be speaking to you now."
Something about the voice triggered a memory in Cho. "Professor Firenze?"
"And you are the girl who said Divination was rubbish."
"Professor," Cho interrupted, "I'm sorry to cut this short, but you see we have a giant problem. Do you know how we can deal with the giant?"
The centaur looked unblinking at the Changs for about a minute, not saying a word. When he spoke, it was with the soft, otherworldly voice Cho remembered from their first encounter. "How high can that sword reach?"
"I don't know, truth to tell," Cho's father said. "I've always fought level with my enemy. I suppose I could go up ten feet without losing control."
"It would help if the giant were immobilized."
"I can help with that," Lotus said.
"So can I," Cho added.
"Then you must strike at all sides of the giant. If you hit him only on one side, he will just become used to the pain and recover. You need to get on my back."
Cho was stunned. From what she knew, centaurs were a proud race, and refused to be considered beasts of burden; and here one was asking to be used like a draft animal. "Are you quite sure, Professor? It seems rather…"
"At the moment, nothing matters but the safety of Hogwarts and everyone in it. If we win this night, there will be time enough to deal with wounded feelings. We must hurry."
Chang Xiemin, with an agility Cho did not expect, leapt onto the centaur's back, holding onto the centaur as best he could with one hand while the other wielded the magic sword. Lotus, for her part, played the sheng in an effort to keep the giant immobile. She was aided in this by Cho, who called up a Swan Patronus that flew near the giant's head and shoulders, causing it to be distracted. The giant kept trying to swat at the Patronus, forgetting the sword-wielding man on the centaur for the moment.
It was a mistake. As the giant was distracted by the Swan Patronus and held immobile by the music of the sheng, the swordsman riding the centaur swung again and again. He opened cuts in the giant's stomach, ribs and back. Professor Firenze added his arrows to the damage done by the sword. They kept this up for ten minutes before the giant started feeling the pain and loss of blood.
Mister Chang finally saw one of the signs he was looking for: the giant staggered, unsteady on his feet. Firenze, followed by Lotus and Cho, made for the moraine, and got to its shelter just as the giant fell on his face, causing tremors that made them all lose their balance. It took another minute for the giant's raspy breathing to turn to a death-rattle in its throat.
After a minute of silence, Cho's father turned toward the centaur. "Couldn't have done that without you. You have my undying thanks."
"As a stranger to Hogwarts and to my kind," Firenze replied, "I thank you as well. I need to check on my tribe now. I hope we meet again after the battle."
Before any of the Changs could reply, the centaur turned and galloped into the forest.
"We'd better head back to Hogwarts," Mister Chang said after another minute. "Don't think less of me, but I'd just as soon fight someone a bit closer to my size."
"I don't want to repeat that, either," Cho said.
They walked for about fifteen minutes before they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They only took a few steps across the lawn before Cho realized that, despite the dark of night, she could see into the Great Hall. Holes had been blown in the walls with such force that it was essentially open to the sky. Lit torches burned on the few standing walls, lighting up the scene inside; wizards and witches passed in front of the gaping holes with wands that cast their own glow.
"We missed the battle," Cho said.
"Speak for yourself," Lotus replied.
Cho couldn't see everything going on at Hogwarts, but she could hear it. The sounds carried, and they were distressing. People wept and screamed and moaned over the injured and the dead. Names of victims were shouted out, but not their whole names; thus, Cho had no true idea yet who had been killed than night.
She hadn't taken three steps toward the castle when Cho felt a hand grasp her shoulder; she turned, her wand raised to defend herself. It was pointing right between her mother's eyes.
"Sorry, mummy," Cho said sheepishly.
"That's one time I'm glad your reflexes aren't so good," Lotus smiled.
"I'm glad this isn't happening during Quidditch season," Cho smiled back.
Lotus led her daughter to the base of the stone steps at the castle entrance. James was already waiting there, wrapping a bandage around his upper left arm.
"Daddy, are you all right?"
"Of course; I'm right-handed, after all. I can still handle this." He briefly held up the sword of Lu Dongbin. "I just wish I didn't have to carry it into battle at all," he sighed.
"I'm glad you did," Cho said, "and I'm sure Professor Firenze is, too."
"I'd like to know more about him," Lotus said, with a lilt in her voice that told Cho her mother had something specific in mind.
"Well, I don't know much, really," Cho said, thinking back on days she'd thought were forgotten. "After the Tournament, and Cedric, I decided Divination was rubbish and never took it. Wait for it, mummy!" Cho said, since her mother looked as if she wanted to interject. "Anyway, later that year, Umbridge sacked Professor Trelawny, the Divination master, and Dumbledore hired Firenze to teach it. I think he knew how terrified Umbridge was of centaurs." Cho smiled to herself for a moment. "One day I wandered into his classroom. I was still tearing myself up over Cedric, and he said something to me; I can't even remember what now, exactly. But the terrors left me after that."
"A wise man," Cho's father nodded.
"Not everyone sees centaurs that way."
"Dear, you should know by now about appearances," Lotus said. "So many times people take what they see as real, even if it's an illusion."
"On that subject," James started, then fell silent. Through the cool night air it came again; the voice of the Dark Lord.
"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery."
The voice was so cold, and sounded so close, that Cho and Lotus couldn't help but feel fear rise up. Chang Xiemin saw this and spoke up: "Translation, This fight wasn't the doddle he expected."
Lotus looked stunned, but Cho couldn't stop herself from giggling. She knew her father had a wry sense of humour, but this was the last place she expected to hear it.
"You have sustained heavy losses."
"Just not heavy enough for my side to keep on."
"If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one."
"Not that I'll have anything to do with it, of course."
"I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste."
"Especially mine, which is looking more and more likely."
Lotus was now also trying very hard not to laugh.
"Lord Voldemort is merciful."
"And Minister Thicknesse is brave and virtuous."
Cho muttered: "The toad." Her parents stared at her in surprise.
"I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured."
Lotus looked at the others. "Shall we? Merlin knows they need a healer for those who are wounded."
Cho nodded, but before she could say anything else, the voice started up again.
"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you."
Cho thought, also as if talking directly to Harry: Be careful; it's bound to be a trap.
"You have permitted your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences."
Cho's father again muttered under his breath, with deadly seriousness this time; "They'd be fools to believe that. His forces won't wait."
"This time I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."
The Changs stayed where they were, not moving or speaking. Yet somehow each knew what the others were thinking. Lotus looked at her daughter, more searchingly than she ever had before. "We all heard what You Know Who just said about Harry. So we have to ask: how well do you know him?"
Cho realized that this was a question with dozens of others packed into it. She could be careful, or she could be honest.
"Well enough to have dated him for a few months. We walked each other to and from classes. We talked about our day, our families, our hopes for the future."
"Families?" Lotus arched an eyebrow.
"That was Harry. He would go on about how beastly his Muggle relatives would treat him. Like he was trying to work himself up to hate them, but … he couldn't. Not enough to, you know, do anything to them."
"Good." Lotus had closed her eyes, yet seemed to be looking at something, or reading an invisible book. After a minute, she opened her eyes. "Cho, think about this next question, and answer with complete honesty. From what you know of Harry, can he go on a quest within himself? Can he find the center of himself, see what it says, and learn from it in the time remaining?"
"Mummy, do you really expect him to understand our ways?"
"I thought at least you would understand," Cho's father said. "What have you learned this year from your mother?"
Cho knew that this was no longer about walking on teacups or holding a note on a flute.
"There are many quests Harry can take," Lotus said, "and those many quests are really one quest. He has minutes to see and feel and know what many adepts back home took years to understand. Take and push him out of your heart, Little Horse, if you love him; because you love him. Push him out so that you can see him as he is."
As much as Cho wanted to remember the good times she'd had with Harry, she knew she wasn't being asked to remember those. This was about Voldemort; this was life and death.
Cho sat for a minute with her eyes closed, trying very hard not to think about Harry, yet keeping him in her mind. She wasn't there with him; she just looked at him.
After another minute she opened her eyes. "I saw him."
"And?"
"And he is an old man in the body of a young man. He's been on more quests and dwelled in more labyrinths than I ever will. All I know about his future is that he has one." Cho started to lose her composure. "He's going … going to be … all right."
Cho was on the edge of bursting into tears when Lotus took her hand, squeezing it tightly and looking squarely into Cho's eyes. They seemed to hold a silent conversation until Cho's father spoke up.
"Hogwarts, then," he said, standing and stretching. "The wounded need us." Together the three of them climbed the steps into Hogwarts.
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To be concluded in part 16, wherein the battle is ended…