Cho Chang and the Goblet of Fire: An Alternate Fanfic
By monkeymouse
Based on writings by JK Rowling
Part Four: 27 June, 1995
xxx
Cho sat at her writing desk when she got up the next morning, and started listing everything she knew about Cedric's condition after the Third Task; that turned out to be precious little, and she couldn't get hold of the one person who would know best.
She didn't know where to turn now. Cedric's behavior was stranger than she'd ever known, yet he was no longer in the hospital wing. Had he tricked them into releasing him before he was ready? And if he was whole again, why hadn't he come to see her? Had something happened to him during that missing hour? And what had happened to Harry?
By the time she tossed the parchment aside and gave it up, breakfast was well under way. She went down, and saw the Patil twins in a corner of the Great Hall, discussing something quietly. Before she could reach them, however, one of the Patils walked briskly over to Cho. Because of the blue trim to her robes, Cho knew it was Padma, who was also in Ravenclaw.
"Cho, I was just going to come looking for you. Can you help us out?"
"With what?"
"With Cedric," Padma said, her voice dropping. "Something is very wrong with him. Ced was down here late last night for dinner, and then tried to get into Gryffindor. He actually got past the entrance, according to Parvati, and got as far as the Common Room until he got chased out. They shouldn't have let him out of the hospital wing, Cho," Padma sighed. "And now he'll be taking all his meals in Hufflepuff, I'm told. Apparently he worked out some sort of arrangement with a house-elf to bring food to him. Justin Finch-Fletchley called to Cedric just now in the corridor, asking some question or other; at first he didn't respond, looked at him as if he were a stranger, then picked up on Justin's question as if nothing happened. His nerves are still shot, I'm sorry to say."
Cho thanked Padma for the information, then ran out of the Great Hall. This was the limit; if no one else was going to act, she had to do something, and fast. But what? She went to the hospital wing, which was empty, as she knew it would be. So he was hiding out in Hufflepuff, and Cho feared, without even knowing why, that her asking Ced directly to come out and meet her would be met by some sort of excuse. What could possibly entice him out of Hufflepuff?
In that second, Cho had the answer.
xxx
There were only a few Aurors left guarding the maze. Perhaps they'd already found everything they needed to find, or could find, to explain what had happened. They didn't pay much attention to Cho as she made her way to Madam Hooch's office.
There were only a few members of the faculty whom Cedric would respond to without question, including the Head of Hufflepuff House, Madam Sprout, and Madam Hooch. She taught flying and was head of all things Quidditch at Hogwarts. Cedric's years as Captain of the team and Seeker was one thing he had in common with Cho. She had never tried to play a trick on Cedric or abuse her own dealings with Madam Hooch, until now.
Once in Hooch's office, Cho got a piece of parchment and took a QuickQuill from the holder on the desk. She touched the point of the quill to the parchment; it stood upright on its own. Cho knew that there was a spell that would cause her voice to sound like Hooch's, but she didn't know it and hadn't stopped to look it up; this couldn't wait.
"Dear Cedric," she started.
Cho looked at the parchment, and breathed a sigh of relief; the quill was writing in Hooch's hand. She went on:
"I am writing to congratulate you on becoming the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion. Although I wish I could have seen you playing Quidditch in this, your last year at Hogwarts, I am confident that you will have other opportunities to do so in the future. Before the term ends, however, there are one or two matters I would like to discuss with you, and time is at a premium. Please come to my office at five o'clock this evening. It will only take a few moments. Once again, congratulations, and I look forward to seeing you at five. Zenobia Hooch."
Cho looked over the letter; her first attempt at forgery. She had to admit that it looked good. She rolled up the parchment, snuck out of the office, ran up to the Owlery, gave an owl the scroll and told the owl to find Cedric Diggory in Hufflepuff House.
Done, she sighed as she watched the owl fly around the castle, looking for the owls' opening to Hufflepuff. Now I wait.
xxx
Cho made sure that she was near Hooch's office at four thirty. She didn't want to miss Cedric. Maybe he suspected something; maybe he'd already met with Madam Hooch and suspected that the letter was a trap. There were so many maybes that she hadn't let herself stop and think about; otherwise, the letter would never have been sent, and she couldn't wait around doing nothing.
At ten minutes until five, Cedric Diggory showed up at Hooch's office door. He had surprised Cho by coming through the forest, alongside the maze, where he wouldn't be seen. Either Cedric was no longer scared of the Forbidden Forest, or something had him even more frightened…
"Ced!"
He turned to face Cho, who came running up to him. His face was smiling, but his eyes had that look of horror she'd seen in the hospital wing the other day.
"Hi." Cedric's hand twitched as if he wanted to reach for Cho but was stopping himself. "Erm, look, do you mind waiting a tic? I'm supposed to see Hooch."
"No, you're not," Cho interrupted him. "I wrote that letter; you're supposed to see me."
"Oh."
"Cedric, I'm sorry about lying to you, but I don't know what's happened to you. At the moment, I don't want to know. I just have one favour to ask of you. I'd like to suggest doing something together that might make you feel more like yourself." To Cho's surprise, Cedric started blushing—deeply. "I meant quidditch!" she laughed. "I know it always helps me feel normal if I'm out of sorts." She pulled a snitch out of the pocket of her robes. "So, are you up for some one-on-one Seeking?"
Cedric seemed to run the suggestion over in his mind, as if looking for some hidden trap. He was never like that. Still, he probably thought that he had nothing to fear from chasing a snitch. "You're on," he smiled. It was the same smile Cho had known up-close for six months, but she couldn't let herself think about that now. She had to be sure.
Cho straddled her Comet; Cedric mounted his broom. Cho threw the snitch straight up; they watched as its wings hummed to life and it flew away.
"Ready, steady, GO!"
For the first time in months, Cho Chang was back in her element, with the wind rushing in her ears, robes flapping, her eyes scanning the area for the snitch while also keeping an eye on Cedric. She'd challenged him in part to see how he would fly; inside of thirty seconds, she had her answer, and the longer their duel for the snitch went on, the more it confirmed her opinion. Still, there was nothing to do now but finish the duel.
In just a few minutes, Cedric blazed past Cho in a powerdive, plucking the snitch out of midair to end the duel.
"Well done!" Cho gushed happily when they reached the ground. "That was a great catch!"
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun," Cedric smiled, running one hand embarrassedly through his flaxen hair. The other hand reached out, offering the Snitch to Cho.
Cho closed one hand around Cedric's wrist. The other hand had pulled her wand; she held the point of it just under Cedric's jaw.
"W--What is this?"
"Get on your knees and clasp your hands behind you."
"What the—"
"I don't want to hurt you, even by accident, and there's no telling what a wand'll do when it's this close."
Cedric did as she asked. "Will you please tell me what's this all about?"
"That's what I want to know. Whoever you are, you're not Cedric Diggory."
"But, but how can you say that?!"
"Because I've watched Cedric Diggory play quidditch. He's a fast Seeker, he's active, he stays close to the pitch and he always chases anything he thinks might possibly be the snitch. Just now, you spent your time high, you saw the snitch and pretended you didn't, and you went into a sudden high-speed dive to get it. As I said, I know how Cedric plays Seeker." There was a pause; when Cho next spoke, there was a catch in her voice. "And I know how Harry Potter plays Seeker."
When Cho said that name, Cedric's spirit seemed to give out. He slumped down, not looking up at Cho, who still had her wand pointed at him. "Nobody's seen Harry Potter since the Tournament four days ago. You had to be the last to see him, whoever you are. Now tell me! What happened?"
"Cho, I--" Cedric started to lift his head to look into Cho's accusing eyes, but he seemed to lose the strength to do even that. "I'm glad you figured it out. It's been getting so hard. I really think I'm going mad."
"What happened?" she repeated.
"You're not going to like what I have to say. I wish I never had to tell you at all, but you've almost guessed it. The fact is, I am Cedric Diggory. And I'm also Harry Potter."
To Cho's credit, she kept her wand pointed steadily at Cedric. But her head was shaking, her eyes wide with fear. "No. That isn't possible."
"For you and me it's impossible. Voldemort did this to me."
At this news, Cho let her wand arm drop. She was too stunned to do more than sink to her knees next to Cedric. "But how? Why? Who are you?"
"We--we touched the Cup together. It turned out to be a Portkey; but nobody knew. It took us to a cemetery where Voldemort came back to life."
"How could he do that?"
"He did something in a cauldron with the hand of one of his Death-Eaters, and a bone from the grave of his father, and--and some of my blood."
Cho lost her grip on her wand. "Then you really are Harry; that giant spider wounded your leg during the Third Task. But why do you look like Cedric?"
"It's all part of his plan. He wanted to buy time to flee the country, to rest up and get used to his new body. He means to start the war all over again. I have to tell Dumbledore!"
"You could have done that days ago; why didn't you?"
"Because--" Cedric started to cry, and hung his head. "Because I was afraid. I thought they'd blame me."
"Blame you because You-Know-Who is back?"
"Blame me because Cedric is dead."
Cho's expression seemed frozen. Actually, she felt panic rising in her; she thought that the universe had become frozen.
"Cho, I'm so sorry you had to find out like this," Cedric kept weeping, unable to look her in the eye. "But when we appeared, the first thing they did was capture us, like they knew we were coming. There wasn't time to defend ourselves."
"But, but You-Know-Who made you look like--"
"It goes deeper than that," Cedric interrupted. "He changed my body into Cedric's but he also kept Cedric's memories and feelings alive and put them in me, just before he--just before he killed Cedric. I've been trying to sort out what's him and what's me, but it keeps getting harder and harder."
"So you know that Cedric, when the Tournament was over, promised to..."
"I know Cedric wanted to kiss you. God, Cho, I wanted to kiss you. I've wanted to ever since the first moment I saw you, when Gryffindor played Ravenclaw last year. But Voldemort was able to get into my mind, and found out how I feel about you. And how Cedric felt about you."
Cho could sense where this revelation was headed and it terrified her, but she had to know. "So you know what Cedric and I ..."
"It's worse." Cedric's voice had dropped to a whisper. "I don't just know what you and Cedric did; I remember."
He was right; this was worse. Knowing that Harry knew, and felt, everything that had gone on between her and Cedric; Cho felt violated somehow. "Harry, please, tell me that you've had one other girlfriend, that you've held someone, kissed someone, even Granger. Please tell me I'm not the first person..." Her voice trailed off.
"I'm sorry, Cho," he finally said. "You were the first girl, the only girl I ever loved. Voldemort saw that, saw how you were someone we both had in common, and used it in his curse. He told me that, if I kissed you, I'd become Cedric only. Harry Potter would be truly gone."
"The only person who ever defeated him," Cho nodded, "and he'd destroy himself by chasing what his heart desired the most. Harry, where is Cedric?"
Cedric shrugged. "Probably still back at the churchyard, if they didn't destroy the body."
"Harry, you -- We can't let you stay like this. I can't be the one to let him have the victory."
"Even if it means you lose Cedric for good?"
"Harry, you--you say Cedric's been dead for four days now. That's it, then. I know that, that..." Cho's composure started to break, but she pulled herself together. "Cedric Diggory's gone, and there's no bringing him back. You're still Harry Potter, but you're also a trap, and I can't let either of us fall in."
They knelt together at the mouth of the maze. Cho never, never wanted anything more in her short life than to throw her arms around Harry-within-Cedric, in what might be her only chance to resolve the conflict that had stewed within her since before the Yule Ball, reconciling the two very different yet equally intense loves of her life... But she refused to allow herself to move. Maybe Voldemort lied about the spell; it didn't seem possible. But the cost of finding out was too high.
It was minutes before she spoke again. "Cedric, I mean, Harry," she began confusedly, "do you think Dumbledore could, you know, sort you out? Take Cedric's spirit and--"
"Release it? Not unless Cedric's body was here. Otherwise, that spirit would be worse off than a ghost."
Cho just looked down at her hands, folded in her lap, and sighed. Maybe he'd just taken away her last hope of saying something to Cedric, without meaning to. When she raised her head a minute later, she looked straight at Harry, and didn't seem to blame him for anything.
"We have to see Dumbledore. Now."
xxx
Despite the hour they went to Dumbledore's office, not even having a plan of what to do if he wasn't there. But he was; it was almost as if he'd been waiting for them.
At one point the Headmaster stopped Harry telling his story to gaze at him through what looked like a pair of opera glasses. Finally he bid them continue their stories. When they were done, Dumbledore looked as grave as they had ever seen him.
"Children, believe it or not, by wantonly toying with you Voldemort has also been toying with me. This is a message about what he intends to do now that he is reborn, and he believes I am incapable of stopping him. He may be right.
"He is dealing in the most foul and debased facet of the Dark Arts; so much so that we do not speak of it at Hogwarts, and we have no mention of it in the library. I will tell you only this: that, while most of our magic involves changing the physical world, Voldemort has set out to change his soul."
Cho shuddered. Only a few weeks ago she'd sat for her O.W.L.s, and her Muggle Studies exam included an essay on Faust and other such bargains involving Muggles and magic. This was turning into a darker atrocity than she ever could have imagined.
"It would be simple enough to restore Harry's body," Dumbledore went on. "But I wish you had come to me sooner; returning Cedric's soul to its proper body becomes harder with each passing moment."
"Excuse me, Headmaster," Cho interrupted, "but is there a chance…"
"Forgive me, Miss Chang, I should have been clearer. Cedric's memories must be returned to his body, even if his body is lifeless and cannot sustain them. They cannot bring his body back to life, especially if he was killed by an Unforgivable curse. If they stayed in Harry's body, they would only interfere with his own memories, and nobody can live two lives sanely. I am very sorry, my dear."
Cho glanced at Harry, who now resembled Cedric. He looked as if he wanted to say something, perhaps to express his own sympathy. But he turned his head away and said nothing.
Dumbledore spoke up again. "Perhaps the only good news to come out of what you have said tonight is that I now know who was responsible for this vile attack. I have to stop the responsible party now, and must first call on some Aurors to back me up. Once that happens, we can sort out Cedric's body and finally put matters right. In the meanwhile, I must ask both of you to wait here in my office. And touch nothing!" He was out the door before either Harry or Cho could reply.
No sooner was Dumbledore out of his office than Harry leapt up and started looking around the Headmaster's very large office, trying every cupboard and door he could find.
"Stop that! What are you doing?!"
"You heard Dumbledore. The longer it takes to bring Cedric's body back, the harder it will be to take his memories out of me and put them back where they belong. And I can't just sit here doing nothing!"
"Harry, please, don't. Don't look for, well, what I think you're looking for."
"Cho, I have to!"
"But you don't even know if it still works!"
At that moment, Harry tried a door to an anteroom; it was unlocked. He went inside. When he didn't come out again in a few seconds, Cho ran to the door. She saw Cedric Diggory standing before the Triwizard Cup. Harry disguised as Cedric was going to seize the cup, which could take him back to the cemetery where Cedric's real body might still be. But Voldemort might still be there, too. All Cho knew was that the two boys she most cared about had touched that cup four days ago, and one of them was dead. Now the other one—
"NO!"
Cedric was reaching for the Cup. Cho threw herself into the room, leaping to get Cedric to stop. However, in the instant she grabbed Cedric's shoulders from behind, Cedric touched the Cup.
Cedric and Cho and the Cup vanished.
xxx
continued in part 5: 28 June, 1995