Chapter 9: Misinterpretation

Cho's cousins were beside themselves with joy. This would be their first trip to Diagon Alley, or really, to any place with magic, except for Cho's house in Motherwell.

They had just finished drinking their glasses of Butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron, and were listening to the patrons talk about how just thirty minutes before, The Harry Potter himself had passed through the door, on his way to Diagon Alley.

Cho's stomach was churning, and she was having mixed emotions about seeing Harry. On the one hand, she wanted to see him more than anything else in the world, hoping to once again rebuild the connection lost last year, but he had also broken her heart that year, and she was still hurting. She was also sure that he remembered that it was Cho's fault that Marietta had betrayed the DA. Even if she did meet him, what could she say to him? She would be afraid to speak, for fear of saying the wrong thing again. And what if he were with his girlfriend, Hermione Granger? There were so many things that could possibly go wrong, and let's face it, Murphy's Law had been a constant in Cho's life every day since the end of her fifth year. She was trying to go over everything that she wanted to tell Harry in her mind.

Hello, Harry. I'm really sorry about Marietta, please forgive me. Marietta and I don't talk anymore. Please, take me back." No, she thought, too needy, and so what if she didn't talk to Marietta anymore? The damage had already been done.

Harry, are you still giving DA classes this year? I'd love to join. Just me, I mean. No, he'd never let you back in after what happened.

Um, Harry…would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade on the first weekend trip? Oh yes. He'd love that, after their disastrous first date last year.

Harry…I really am grateful for what you did at the Ministry last year. I never doubted you, and I'm proud of you for your courage." No, I sound like an annoying fan girl, Cho thought. Oh! Just put him out of your mind for once, Cho. I mean…after all…Diagon Alley is a huge place that's filled with people right now. The chances of running into Harry are about a hundred to one.

"Hey, Cho. Do you think we'll get to see Harry Potter?" asked Ling.

"A hundred to one!" Cho burst out nervously.

"Huh?" Sally stated, taken aback. Cho looked at her cousin's surprised expressions.

"Oh, I…sorry. Um, I think the chances are about a hundred to one. I mean, Diagon Alley is a big place, and there are a lot of people. I think we'll more likely not see him. Sorry," Cho said.

"Oh, come on Cho, if it's an alley, how big can it be?" asked Ling.

Good question, Cho thought.

"Um, yes. Shall we go?" she asked her cousins.

As the trio made their way to the back of the pub, Sally happened to glance back at their table and saw the glasses they had been drinking from dissolve in front of her eyes.

"Wow, wicked," she said to herself. She then continued to follow Cho and Ling to the back door that opened into a small courtyard surrounded by a brick wall.

Cho looked at a piece of parchment she had taken from her pocket, and then took out her wand and tapped it in several places on the wall.

Suddenly, the bricks seemed to fold on one another and a street on the other side was revealed. It was full of people in both normal clothing, and people with robes, cloaks and pointy hats.

Cho turned to her cousins with a smile. "Welcome to Diagon Alley. This way, please." Cho's cousins followed her down the crowded alleyway and listened to people talk about how Harry Potter himself was somewhere in the area.

Everyone was in a festive mood, and the place had never seemed more alive to Cho. She led her cousins to the first shop on their left, Stationers. Cho looked for some parchment, quills, and ink bottles she would need for the school year. Sally and Ling were not too impressed with this store, but Cho knew the owner, Mrs. Pickton, very well, as this was one of her favorite shops in the alley.

After she had finished with her purchases, Cho led her cousins to the cauldron shop. Sally and Ling moved around the store, taking in the diverse types of cauldrons. There were standard black ones, and brass ones with handles, and silver cauldrons that looked very expensive, at twelve gallons a piece.

Ling came up to one black cauldron alone on a table that had a spoon in it, that was stirring by itself. She looked at it in awe.

"One of our best sellers, that is," said an old woman in a velvet green robe, and black witch's hat. "Colman's self stirring cauldron. You don't even need to cast a spell; they've all already been pre-charmed. Just add whatever ingredients you need, and it cooks it to the right temperature in a matter of minutes. And all for only thirty galleons!" the woman finished proudly.

"Awesome! This would be so much cooler than our microwave at home," Ling exclaimed. The woman gave a confused smile.

"Micro what?" she asked Ling.

"Our microwave at home. It's not half as cool as this. How much are seven sickles in pounds?" she asked the woman.

"What's a microwave? And what are pounds?" asked the woman, even more confused.

Ling almost believed that the woman was joking, but remembered that Cho had said that some members of the wizarding world had never seen some Muggle items before.

"Well, a microwave is like a special cauldron for Muggles that cooks, and reheats food. And a pound is the type of Muggle money for the United Kingdom."

"Oh, fascinating," said the woman honestly. "But we don't take Muggle money here, you'll need to go to Gringott's to get your money exchanged," she said politely.

After Cho and her cousins had looked around for a bit longer, they headed to the Apothecary, where witches and wizards bought their potion supplies. Ling and Sally looked around at all the oddities, which included jars of herbs, buzzard feathers and vampire fangs. Cho was showing Ling some of the herbs used in healing mixtures when they heard Sally suddenly scream from another part of the store.

"Ewwww! Disgusting!" she shrieked, horrified. Cho and Ling ran up over to see what was wrong.

"What is it, Sally? What's wrong?" Cho asked, concerned.

"It's horrible, all the sick stuff they have here! Just look at some of these things. Beetle eyes, snake liver, bat dung, and loads of other horrible stuff," Sally exclaimed with a shudder. Cho looked over the shop's wares, not being able to see what the issue was. It was all just standard items for important potions people used every day.

"Well, Sally, you really need all this stuff if you want to make particular potions. For example, spring-vertal potion, which when drank, allows you to jump twice your normal distance, needs to have a healthy supply of Newt tails in it. And beetle eyes are very useful in a lot of healing potions," said Cho.

"Oh, it's just that…well, it's all still kind of disgusting, like when we have to dissect a frog in biology class. Are we getting anything from here?" finished Sally.

"No, not this time. I just thought you and Ling might like to see some of the shops."

Cho and her cousins made their way down to a towering, snowy-white building with burnished bronze doors. Sally and Ling looked up at it, amazed.

"This is Gringott's. It's run entirely by goblins. They were nice enough to give my father a job here. He works as an accountant, and this is where you can get your money exchanged for galleons, sickles, and knuts. I'm not sure what the exchange rate is right now, though."

"Cho, aren't goblins dangerous monsters?" Ling asked.

"Oh, no, Ling, that's trolls you're thinking of. Goblins are magical creatures. Some are good, and some are bad, just like Muggles and wizards," Cho explained patiently.

"Cho, will you exchange our money? I haven't the foggiest idea how to do it," Sally pleaded.

Sighing, Cho took her cousins' money, and stood in the exchange que until it was her turn at the window. A particularly old, angry looking goblin with razor sharp teeth, and pointy ears looked down at her. Cho recognized him as Bolbokie Glute, her father's boss.

"Good day, Miss Chang, and how can I help you?" he asked in sneering Goblin, a language that Cho had learned to a small extent while helping her father during the summers at their home in Motherwell. Mr. Glute was not being impolite; it was just the culture of goblins to be vicious sounding in mannerisms and speech.

Cho responded in broken goblin that she was fine, and needed to exchange Muggle money for wizarding money.

"Miss Chang! Your Goblin is getting worse! Perhaps you should take Goblin as an elective at school this year," Mr. Glute grumbled.

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Glute, but Hogwarts doesn't offer Goblin, and I've got two electives already this year." She continued in Goblin as Mr. Glute strained to understand a few of the words.

"They don't offer Goblin at Hogwarts? I would have thought more of a school with such a prestigious reputation. Tragedy, but at least you know some goblin and that puts you above most of the other people who come in here as far as I'm concerned," he grumbled. "All right, let's see the Muggle money. The exchange rate today is three sickles and two knuts for every one pound note, and one galleon for every ten pounds, two quid," said Mr. Glute.

"Oh my! It's gone up, just since last month," Cho said, surprised as she handed in her own money and her cousins' money.

"Yes, but we're doing very well, and that's all that's important, of course. Normally, it would take you a long while to get it, but seeing as your father has put in a lot of extra work lately, I guess I can have your money brought up to you. Wait here while I have someone fetch it. But don't expect this treatment all the time. I wouldn't want you to get too cocky," Mr. Glute said sternly.

"Thank you sir, I'm very grateful. I'd already run out of wizarding money by the time I left Stationer's. Um, Mr. Glute, do you think that I could go say hi to Dad for just a moment?" Cho asked eagerly in broken Goblin.

Glute gave her a look of disgust. "No. Your father has far too much work to do to waste it with an attention seeking little school girl." He sneered again, and turned his back on her and walked away.

Cho knew it was noting personal; she had met too many goblins in her life, and knew that they insulted even their friends. And the Chang family was about as close to friends with some of the higher positioned goblins at Gringott's as a human could get. But she was still disappointed that she wouldn't get to see her father until he took her to King's Cross for her last ride to her school on the Hogwarts Express. When a goblin said no, you didn't ask a second time. And Mr. Glute's offer to have someone bring the money to her was a very kind gesture, coming from a goblin. Her father must be winning a lot of friends over at work.

After collecting the money and handing it back to her cousins with the information on the exchange rates, Cho and her cousins continued down Diagon Alley, window shopping.

Finally, they came to Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC. "Oh, Cho! We've got to go into this one!" begged Sally.

"Oh yes, please! It would be the best shop yet! I need to pick out a wand for when I go to Hogwarts. You know, to practice."

Cho smiled. "All right. But Ling, you have to be at least seventeen to use magic at home. And you won't be ready for a wand until you turn eleven."

"Alright, but at least it won't hurt to lo…" Ling stopped as she saw an athletic looking girl with curly brown hair, in blue jeans and a black sweat shirt that said "The Weird Sisters" on it sneaking up behind Cho. When the girl realized that she had caught Ling's eye, she put her finger to her smiling mouth to indicate that Ling should not give her away.

Ling looked back to Cho, and continued, still watching the girl sneaking up behind her. "Well, I was just saying…that …it would be ok…to look…" she stammered, trying to keep her eyes off the girl, so Cho and Sally wouldn't turn around.

"What's wrong, Ling?" Cho asked as her cousin stammered, distracted. An instant before she turned to see what had warranted Ling's attention, an arm reached around her neck and pulled her head down to the person's waist.

"Monkey Shine!" shouted the girl's voice as she took her free hand and proceeded to rub the top of Cho's head with her knuckles in a rough, painful, but playful way.

"Ahhhh, cut it out Beverly!" Cho shrieked in annoyance.

Cho finally broke free of her friend's iron grip. After a few seconds of recovery, Cho rubbed her head. "Why must you always do that? It hurts."

"Oh, come on, Cho. I was just kidding, and you know that's just what I do," Beverly said in a thick Welsh accent. Cho smiled.

"Well, it's really good to see you again!" said Cho as the two of them hugged.

Cho turned to her cousins, who were giggling at her misfortune. "You two, this is my good friend Beverly Jones. She's in my house at school. And she does this all the time," Cho said, pointing to her mussed hair. "Beverly, these are my cousins, Sally and Ling," she finished.

"A pleasure to meet you both. Cho's told me so much about you these last few months. My dad and brothers are Muggles, too," Beverly said with a bright smile.

Sally and Ling both shook Beverly's hand and introduced themselves. After a brief but pleasant conversation about how long Cho and Beverly had known each other, Beverly wanted to know where their next stop would be.

"All right, girls, where to now?" she asked, in high spirits.

"We were just going to look at wands in Ollivander's. Have you ever been in there?" Ling asked.

"Sure, once. Everyone knows that Ollivander's is the only place to buy the best wands. I bought my wand there." Beverly pulled out an eight inch birch wand, and held it up for them all too see.

"Too amazing!" gushed Sally. "Can we see some magic?" she asked pleadingly.

"Of course. Unlike young Cho here, who's going to have to wait until October third, I'm a legal adult, who's not restricted by silly laws like no use of underage magic. Poor dear," Beverly finished, pulling Cho to her to give her a sarcastic pity hug.

"Hmmm. Lets start with something simple. Lumos!" said Beverly as she held up her wand, and a bright light shone from it. "But that's simple really, and I'm sure Cho's father has already showed you two that." she said. Sally and Ling nodded. "Yes. Well, did he ever make a rock into a frog?"

"No, but we'd love to see it," said Ling, as Sally nodded eagerly in agreement.

Beverly bent down and picked up a cobblestone off the street. Holding it in her hand, she aimed her wand at it. Then, she said the correct spell to morph it into a small frog. She showed Cho's impressed cousins, and let the frog go.

"Too bad Harry Potter, or Marietta Edgecombe aren't here, or I could show you two how to make slugs come out of someone's mouth with a really cool jinx I learned in my second year," she said with a mischievous grin.

Cho suddenly got defensive. "Beverly, that's not funny. Haven't you heard? Harry saved us all from You-Know-Who. You should be more respectful," she said quickly.

"I thought you didn't believe the papers, Cho. Only when Potter's put in a good light, I suppose, hmm? Well, I remember what he did to you last year, and I say the papers were right about him the first time. The Boy Who Lived or not, I don't trust him after what he did," Beverly finished with heat.

"Look, Beverly, it was probably my fault. I messed everything up for everyone last year. Even the Quidditch game, because…" Cho moaned.

"Cut it out, Cho! I'm tired of you being so down on yourself. If you were such a bad person, you wouldn't have so many friends supporting you. And I wonder when the papers were right about Potter, last year, or this year. Well, anyway, I'm sorry that he hurt you, but I'm glad he's out of your life. He is a bad person," Beverly finished angrily.

"No, he's not," Cho said. She noticed her cousins' looks of shock, and felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

"Cho, what is she talking about? You said you didn't talk much to Harry Potter last year," Sally said suspiciously.

"Um…well actually, he…um, the thing is…" Cho stammered. Beverly gave Cho a look of disappointment, and turned to address Cho's cousins.

"The thing is that Harry Potter is a pretentious git. He dumped Cho fifteen minutes into her first date to go out with another girl last year, and sent her crying to Nancy Cromwell and I. She would have gone to that wanker, Marietta, but she was busy helping out as a teacher's aide. Anyway, he was treating Cho…"

"Beverly please… damn you've got a big mouth!," Cho said, almost in tears. Beverly relented, seeing her friend in so much pain.

"All right, sorry. I won't talk about it anymore," she said, throwing up her hands.

"Oh, let's just look at the wands. All right?" Cho snarled as she stormed into the shop.

When the others entered, they saw Mr. Ollivander watching Cho as she stood in a corner, with her face to the window.

"Well?" said Mr. Ollivander. Beverly looked at Cho's cousins, and then back at Mr. Ollivander.

"Um, they would like to try some wands, please," Beverly said. She then whispered in Sally's ear. "Look, you two take a look around and I'll talk to Cho for a few minutes. I'm afraid I really upset her. That Potter is a touchy subject with her."

Beverly went up to Cho and attempted to put a comforting arm around her, but Cho brushed it away. Sally and Ling then watched Cho walk out the door, as Beverly followed her.

"And what type of wand would you two be interested in?" Mr. Ollivander asked politely.

Sally thought for a minute.

"Well, Cho said her wand had a Pegasus hair in it, so may we try one of those?" she asked. Ollivander's smile lit up his silvery eyes.

"Ah, a Pegasus hair wand. Now, that is rare. I believe that I've only sold three of them in my career. But I happen to have a few around here somewhere. Let's see now…" He trailed off as he looked for the wands amongst the boxes, and finally found one.

"Ah, here we go. Six inches, Pegasus hair. Give it a try, flick it," he said, handing it to Sally.

Sally waved it around, to no effect, but asked to try a few more.

After the third one, Mr. Ollivander spoke. "Unfortunately, my dear, you may be a Squib. The wands don't seem to be working for you," he said apologetically.

"Oh, no. That's my father. He's a Squib. I just need to find the right wand, so I can use magic and go to Hogwarts, too."

"Ah! I see, your mother is the family member who can use magic," he said, thinking now he understood how this girl who seemed to possess no magic managed to enter Diagon Alley.

"No, our mum's a Muggle dentist. Our brother, cousin, and uncle are the wizards."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm afraid that some people just can't use magic. The magic has to come from within you, and the wand is just a conductor. At any rate, you look around sixteen, and if you had any magical ability, it would have been discovered long ago. It's too late for you to attend Hogwarts now, as you start the first year at eleven."

"Oh, I see. Your turn, I suppose, Ling," Sally said, disappointed.

Ling took the wand from her sister's hand and waved it around. As she did, the boxes on the wall rattled, and looked as though they were about to fall, but stayed where they were. She tried this with a few other wands with the same result.

"Well, I see that you have some magical ability, but you're not quite ready yet. When you turn eleven, remember we'll be here waiting for you." Mr. Ollivander smiled.

Sally and Ling walked out the door of the wand shop to find Cho crying on Beverly's shoulder as she gave her a comforting hug.

"Are you all right, Cho?" Ling asked.

Cho rubbed her eyes and sniffed.

"Yes, I'm fine. Look, Beverly's going to take you two to the Quidditch shop now. I've got to pick up something at a joke shop for a friend. I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour," she replied quietly.

"But Cho, why don't you take us to the Quidditch shop? I mean you play it. Don't you want to see all the cool stuff in the shop?"

Cho bit her lip, to keep from tearing up again.

"No, I…I don't play anymore. Just please go with Beverly, and I'll meet up with you in an hour. You'll have fun." She gave a smile that everyone could tell was forced.

Cho walked down the alley towards Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Her eyes were starting to dry, and she saw a familiar boy standing in the alley, with circular glasses, messy hair, and a scar the shape of a lightning bolt.

Cho gasped and ducked into a doorway in front of one of the shops. She peered around to make sure she wasn't seeing things. No doubt about it. It was Harry. He was with two people, one of which was the famous Auror, Mad-Eye Moody, and a woman that Cho thought might be Harry's aunt.

Okay Cho, just relax, she said to herself with labored breathing. You've got to do this, just go up and grovel at his feet and beg forgiveness. No! Don't be daft. She shook her head. Um…just go up and say hi. Just go up and apologize for Marietta, and ask him out. Ask him if he wants to have tea. Ask him how he is. Damn, I can't think of anything to say. "Harry I love you!"

She smacked herself in the head. No! Okay, just ask him out for the first Hogsmeade weekend. I mean, the worst he can say is no, right? No, the worst he can do is bite my head off again. Hey, Harry, have you see the Muggle movie "James Bond"? My cousins have it on DVD. No. OK. Enough. You're just going to just go over there and apologize and ask him out. Okay. Here we go.

Cho walked toward Harry, her heart beating rapidly, stomach churning, and legs wobbly. She was getting ever closer to him, but he hadn't caught sight of her yet. Soon, she was only about fifteen feet away. Out of the corner of her eye, someone came running up to Harry and gave him a tight hug. "Hey, Harry! Look what my parents gave me money to buy."

Cho recognized her as Hermione Granger, Harry's girlfriend, at least that's what she thought.

God, I'm stupid, Cho thought as her heart sank, and she ran in the opposite direction before she could hear any more. Of course, he would be here with his girlfriend. Face it Cho, you've lost him forever. What chance have you got against her? She's pretty and smart, and not crying all the time. Why would Harry want you? she said to herself with tears in her eyes. She headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to wait for Beverly and her cousins, and reflect on how much she hated herself.