Quillian: Thanks again for the review, and thanks for the mention about Luna and Cho: )
EnlightenedKing: Cho is naïve. That's actually cannon though. But she has a reason that she cannot tell Harry about what's going on. I've learned from friends that in traditional Chinese culture that you don't talk about family problems with other people, and am incorporating it into the story. Cho is Scottish, but inherits some of the characteristics of her first generation Chinese-Scottish parents. She has a strong sense of duty to her family, and remains mostly quite about it, but if she didn't feel obligated, she would rather talk to people about what's bothering her. Voldermort is still at large, and prepping up for things to come, but he is not actively killing people just yet. After his defeat at the Ministry of Magic, he has to fall back and regroup his remaining forces. He's not even in the UK right now, which also has Dumbledore away from Hogwarts often in order to look for him. Marietta's club? Well I guess I would describe it as a junior Hitler youth type thing. Part of a larger entity that is not really based in the UK, but across the channel in Western Europe. It's not based on being white like the Hitler Youth was, but on the purity of a person's magical linage. But that doesn't stop Marietta from being racist to Cho because of her ethnicity. Marietta isn't the leader of the whole larger society, just a very brilliant and evil girl trying to further it's ends, and policies. If you'll remember in OOTP Sirius Black said that their were not a lot of pureblood families in the UK, so I'm putting a large number in Europe and other places.
Froggie2: Thanks for a really good review, and I'm glad that you liked the whole thing about Luna consoling Cho. Usually Cho takes up for everyone else, but she needs someone's shoulder to cry on as well sometime. I hope you like this chapter.
SolidSnake19: Thanks for the review. I'm actually trying to keep the story fresh. I just hope that I can. I have a beta reader now that will eventually fix all my chapters, so things will get better in the grammar regard soon:) Hope this chapter is to your liking.
Chaos666: Thanks again for reviewing. Well actually the dueling lessons are over, so fake-Seamus will not be leaving anymore points for that. But he did get a bad grade for sleeping in class. More likely though you'll see the Ravenclaws get mad at Cho for sleeping in class.
youngbull68: Really? A lot of people don't respond to comments that people leave for them? I thought that everyone did. It's only fair if people are going to review your story. That's a good idea to practice your friends writing style on these boards. It probably was my IMDB post that you linked to, as my signature is the story that introduced me to fan fiction. Check my favorite stories for "Follow Your Heart", great story! I don't think that I could write anything significant on my own, as I would want to write about the British Military, and have too little knowledge on that. Also there is just no time. I'll be happy to finish this. When your friend gets his story up, let me know, and make sure he puts Cho in it:) You Gotta have the Cho ;)
Tiyuri: Thanks for all the mail on my myspace. I hope you get your first chapter of your Harry/Cho fic up soon, and I cannot wait to read it.
Hello again everyone. I'm sorry that it took so long this time, but it's been crazy busy, and my computers been acting up. I just haven't had a lot of time, but I'm going to try and step up the process for upcoming chapters, with time compression. Well in this one we find out why Cho hasn't told Harry what's been going on, and Dumbledore makes a guest appearance. (Yea!) Also a person shows up that really makes one of the characters very pissed off. Um I have a great love of Helicopters, but cant describe them to well in print, so if you wanted a better idea of what is being seen by the characters, look up (Bell Jet Ranger III) under a Google image search, or rent the movie "Blue Thunder" and look at the basic police chopper to see what it looks like. Clearly this is not a very good chapter, but I just haven't had a lot of time. I'll try to do good on the next one. Hope you enjoy, and thanks again for the reviews:D
Chapter 36: Cho's promise
Cho Chang leaned against the chest level wall of the astronomy tower. A cold Scottish wind blew her long flowing hair to the side, and she rubbed her arms to warm them. She has started coming here for a couple of hours every evening after school because it was one of the loneliest locations in the castle. There were only three other students on the tower. A Huffelpuff boy and girl who were making out in a corner that blocked out the wind, and a Slytherin boy was looking through one of the many permanent telescopes on the tower and writing something down in a notebook. She had been avoiding Harry and didn't know why. Especially when she wanted to be with him more than anything in the world. She needed to be in his arms, to be held by him, to feel safe from all her troubles, to forget for a short time about all her grief. But she couldn't, because she couldn't talk about what she needed to with him. She was so confused about so much. She wanted to tell Harry what she had been doing that night in the potions class, but had promised her father that she wouldn't talk about personal family matters with anyone, and she was already telling Luna, so she had already broken the promise once. Why did her family have to be so secretive about such things? Whenever any of her friends had family problems they would let it out, and she could comfort them, and help them as best she could. But not her. Because of some silly superstition about it being bad luck to discuss it with non family members that her family held she couldn't let it out. How little Harry must think of her now. How could she tell him about everything? She knew that he was annoyed at seeing her cry all the time, and she wished that she could be strong like her parents. But she wasn't strong. She had always been so easily hurt by things, and let all the little things get to her. Even before Cedric's death she had been brought to tears at the smallest things. And now she reflected at how useless she was. She lost the Quidditch cup for her house last year, accidentally brought a sneak to Harry's DA classes, and now she couldn't even use the Jinxing torso to help her mum.
Cho had planed to take Luna's advice and only use it once a week, so that she could get more sleep, and concentrate on her homework. But a few days after Harry had caught her in the class Professor Pinefield had discovered that several potions had been stolen from the class, and had announced that they were going to put a house elf in the room at night to make sure that no one broke in again. Well actually the potions had not been stolen, but the contents of the bottles had spilled out on the floor when Cho had flung them off the table in frustration. She was under the impression that Professor Pinefield suspected her, as she now refused to allow her the use of the jinxing torso anymore after class, and seemed to give her suspicious looks every so often.
Now Cho spent most of her time after class in the Ravenclaw common room in a lonely corner. She was withdrawing from her friends, and she didn't even know why herself. She just knew that her heart hurt terribly, and that she wanted to not exist, to not hurt anymore.
Early last night she had flown on her broom outside the window of the potions lab, to see if it was true about the house elf. It was, Cho saw her sitting at one of the desk sipping on something in a goblet, and she knew that she could never again use that room to find her mother a cure. She would have to think of something else. Cho raised her head and watched the Slytheren boy and two Hufflepuffs leave the tower. She looked at her bewitched watch. Six thirty. Only three and a half hours before curfew. The sun was starting to go down. She decided that she could wait another fifteen minutes, and then go to do her homework. She looked across the dark forest wondering if she should again break her promise to her father and tell Harry about her mum, and why she was in the potions class that night. Cho put her hand to her chest and felt the love-protection charm given to her by her father. She remembered her duty to her family, the promise that she had made. No, she couldn't tell Harry, it wasn't about what she wanted. Cho would honor her promise to her family, and not say anything to anyone but Luna. She wouldn't even tell her except that she felt she had to tell someone or she would go insane.
Cho reached in her pocket and took out the letters that she had received that morning. The one from Ling, and Sally explaining about how they had almost gotten trampled at a football game when a riot broke out between their fellow Hammers fans, and some Liverpool supporters. People were throwing rocks, and Molotov cocktails, (Bottles filled with petrol with a rag hanging out to light, that would explode when thrown.) at each other, and the police had to come in with fire hoses and tear gas to get everything under control. But that it was all ok in the end because Westham beat Liverpool three-nill. Cho shook her head knowing that she would never understand the fanaticism of football fans. As usual the parchment was signed the notorious Sally and Ling. Cho then reached in her pocket for the second letter. She pulled it out and read it over again. It was from her father, and it said that her mother had only gotten worse. More Chemo, more radiation therapy, and more experimental drug test. Cho was seriously thinking about leaving Hogwarts soon. It didn't seem to matter if she could do magic anymore. She needed to be close to her mum. She could live amongst muggles if she had too. Her uncle's family were muggles, and many of her friends were muggleborne. It would be worth giving up everything to be with her mum. She was certainly not doing her any good here, and she wasn't really any good at anything anyway. "Maybe I don't belong here anyway," she thought. She felt her Ravenclaw crest with her hand and remembered what a terrible mistake the sorting hat had made. "Those of wit and learning… not me." She said out loud to herself.
"Really Miss Chang? Well I happen to know that Professor Flitwick has another opinion on that." Said a deep voice behind her. Cho spun around surprised to come face to face with someone she never expected to see again.
"Hhh… Head Master! I, didn't know you were up here sir." Cho stammered. Albus Dumbledore looked around the tower and walked up beside Cho gazing over to the dark forest, the howling wind blowing cold in his face. He looked down at her.
"Well I always like a nice cool breeze. It was a trifle hot in my office, so I came up here to cool off." He smiled. Dumbledore looked at Cho with an unreadable expression. "Interestingly enough I was actually going to speak with you soon, so it's very convenient that you're here." Dumbledore said casually. Cho raised an eyebrow.
"You… you were going to see me?" She asked concerned.
"Yes, it seems that professor Flitwick has been very concerned about you, as have your other Professors. It seems that you've been sleeping in class a lot, and that your grades are again doing very poorly. You know a head master tries to get to know as many of his students as he can, but I regret to say that we've only had the privilege of meeting once before, and that was under very unsatisfactory circumstances if you'll remember," Dumbledore finished. Cho lowered her eyes remembering the incident from her third year that got her sent to the Head Masters office. She looked up at him with a frown.
"I remember head Master; I'm sorry about what happened. I… I'll study harder… and I…" Cho stammered.
"Miss Chang. I like to let the students know that they can come to me if any of them have a problem. I would like to know what is troubling you, because you seemed to be catching up for a while, and then began to regress again in the last few weeks. What is wrong?" He asked concerned.
"Nothing, I just… I'll try harder, really!" Cho said shakily.
"Are you sure that there is nothing that you want to talk about Miss Chang? Nothing at all?" Dumbledore asked. Cho nodded her head, but she did want to tell him. She wanted to tell anyone who would listen and it was killing her to keep it inside, but it wasn't her choice. She had to keep it bottled in. Cho was feeling boxed in and started to edge past the head master over to the entrance, but not losing eye-contact. Dumbledore looked at her firmly.
"Well Miss Chang. I'm afraid that you're going to have to improve soon or we cannot graduate you. Now I know you don't want that do you?" Cho bit her lip to keep from tearing up. She looked at Dumbledore with a grim face.
"I want to go home." Cho said sadly, as her eyes fell on something small rising over the dark forest, and she heard a chopping sound coming from far away that she could just hear over the wind. Dumbledore shook his head.
"I hope you don't mean that Miss Chang. There is still time to bring your work up too speed, but you have to put all your effort into it. You have to forget about everything that's going on outside, and work on your studies. Now I need to ask, is there anyone that you confide your problems too? Anyone that you can talk to, to help you through things?" Dumbledore asked a distracted Cho. The object over the forest was getting closer and the chopping sound louder, and more familiar. Cho could almost make out a shape, a large body with a rotating device. It was a few hundred feet up and approaching slowly, almost in slow motion. Cho looked back at Dumbledore.
"I… tell all my problems to my friend Luna, Head Master." She said in a thick Scottish accent, and turned to look over his shoulder at the approaching object. Red lights flickered from the tail of the object, a strobe light flashed on and off from the top, and the sounds of the rotors were now more audible. Dumbledore put a hand on her shoulder, and looked at her very seriously.
"Well Miss Chang, if you don't want to talk to me, about what's bothering you, I'll just have to accept it, but I ask because I wonder if it is related to your late night, clandestine visits to the potions class these past few weeknights." Dumbledore said as he watched Cho Chang's almond shape eyes widen to full circles. Her mouth dropped open, and she unconsciously stepped back a few paces.
"What… what do you mean Head Master?" She asked, her face turning pale. Dumbledore looked at her casually.
"Now Miss Chang. There is no use denying it. Funny thing about these walls here at Hogwarts, they carry a lot of memory, and the most recent ones are the freshest memories of all. Sometimes those memories can be recreated in a room, by the masters to see if a student has been involved in some unauthorized activity. I think that you, your head of house and I need to have a chat in the potions ro… Miss Chang what are you staring at?" Dumbledore interrupted himself seeing Cho quite distracted. Cho lifted up her finger past his shoulder as a loud chopping sound filled the air.
"The helicopter!" Cho said. Dumbledore swung around to see a muggle helicopter flying over the castle toward them. It made a high speed pass over the tower and Cho and Dumbledore watched it pitch up, climb, turn left and hover for a moment. The helicopter had a sleek design and the main and tail rotors spun at incredible speeds. The helicopter was white with brown vertical stripes that ran the length of the fuel-silage, and Cho could make out a black tear drop symbol painted on the side. The aircraft circled the castle a few times and then hovered nest to the astronomy tower only a few meters away from Cho and Dumbledore. Cho could see a search light under the nose of the aircraft, and a megaphone under the bottom, between the skids that it used for landing gear. The chopper turned to face Cho and Dumbledore and she could see two people inside. One man, who was younger, was in a grey flight suit, wearing aviator glasses and some sort of head piece device with earphones, and a microphone, and the other, a much older man with a pointy goatee, wearing wizarding clothes, including reddish velvet robes, and also wearing the strange headpiece that covered his ears like earmuffs, and had a protruding microphone that he seemed to be speaking into. The man wearing the robes was smiling and appeared to be waving at them. Cho wasn't feeling like smiling, and the loud chopping of the rotor blades were deafening, but she managed to wave back. She looked back at Dumbledore, who wasn't waving at all. In fact the headmaster had a look of deep hatred on his face and his hands were balled up into fist. Cho had never seen the head master so angry before. She had never seen anyone so angry before. The helicopter rose up suddenly turned on its axis, pitched its nose down and flew off toward Hogsmead. Dumbledore turned back to Cho.
"Miss Chang. I have to go now. We will continue this discussion another time. He turned and rushed off toward the stairs of the astronomy tower and disappeared. Cho backed against the wall and slid down. How could the Head Master know that she was the one who was sneaking into the lab at night? She was in real trouble she thought. She looked up again at the open sky.
"Why had the head master been so angry about the muggle helicopter?" She knew that most muggles couldn't see Hogwarts, but she was sure that this aircraft had a wizarding person in it. She shook it off. It doesn't matter, she had bigger problems. She might be expelled. Was it better to confess that it was her and not explain what she was doing, or was it better to keep denying that she was the one who spilled the potions? That must be the reason that she was found out. But how did they know it was her? Maybe she should just leave school now before she got expelled, and brought shame to her family. She wanted to be with her mother anyway. Should she pack her bags tonight? No, just go do your homework she thought. Whatever happens, you have no control over it. Just do what you should have been doing all along, and try to study.
The next day (Dinner):
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, and held up the earring and stared intently at it. Its wearer had definitely bewitched the room by the North Tower. It was a very distinctive piece Harry thought. It was in the shape of a star, and had a small British roundel in the center, like the ones on the wings of Spitfires from WW2. Harry wondered if Cho was the one who left it in the room. She was behaving strangely, and avoiding him lately. He had caught her doing something, but he didn't know what. Was it Cho that was wearing the invisibility cloak that night? Was she somehow still involved with Marietta Edgencombe? He didn't know, but the thought depressed him. Harry didn't want to believe that Cho was going against him, but she was behaving so strangely that he had to consider it. She was doing something with the Jinxing Torso when he found her, and she had a book that she wouldn't let him see. Harry closed his eyes, and thought. "What are you up to Cho, and why can't we talk about it?" Harry asked himself. He looked over at the Ravenclaw table to see her eating some sirloin steak, with the same sad look on her face that she had since Cedric had died. "Why are you still grieving over him Cho? You have to get over his death. How can you still be so traumatized by it?
"Harry, I need you to come with me for a minute." A soft voice from behind him stated. Harry turned around in his seat to see a cute girl in a Slytheren uniform smiling at him. Harry smiled at her.
"Hello Fiona, what's up?" Harry asked. Fiona grabbed his arm and gently, but firmly guided him away from the Gryffindor table, and over to a corner of the room where about eight people from all four houses were gathered.
"Harry I want you to meet my friends, these are the most popular students in Hogwarts, aside from you that is, and their parents have a lot of pull in the wizarding world," Fiona said proudly. She introduced Harry to all of them, and stated what their parents did, and how much money that their parents made, and what luxury items that they possessed. Also she went through who their ancestors were, and described famous ancestors in history. Harry was surprised to find that now all were purebloods, and that Fiona, although she was in Slytheren didn't have a problem with that. Fiona also told Harry of her family and how she lived in a large estate in Cambridge. She bragged about her wealth for sometime, between chats that Harry had with her friends. Harry did notice that Cho was not among the group. Odd he thought that if these were the most popular group, than why wasn't she here. Cho did seem to have a lot of friends, he remembered from his previous years. After the chat Fiona lead Harry out of the great Hall to a quite corner of the castle. Harry was glad to be away from the others, because something about most of them rubbed him the wrong way. They seemed to be a really snobbish group, talking of how many hundreds of thousands of pounds, or galleons that their family's made per week. Everything seemed to be about how liked they were, and how everyone wanted to hang out with them. Fiona stopped in a dark corned and turned Harry to face her. She smiled, and kissed him, obviously over her shyness around him.
"They're all very happy that were going out together Potter, naturally though, my friends are not surprised. I mean you being who you are, and I being who I am. I'm sooo happy to be going out with The Boy Who Lived! It only makes since. I mean I'm really amazed that we didn't come together sooner. But naturally you can understand that last year we couldn't be, but that's all in the past... Harry had to stop her in mid-sentence.
"Whoa, wait. Why couldn't we get together last year Fiona?" Harry asked. She smiled at him.
"Oh Harry, last year everyone thought that you were insane. You know that I couldn't have gone with you then. I was afraid that you were going to hurt someone. Well that's what the papers said." Fiona said in a casual voice. Harry was a bit offended that she thought that last year, but most people did he supposed.
"And now?" Harry asked. Fiona gave him a passionate kiss that made him dizzy.
"Now you're The Boy Who Lived again. Now I'm your loyal fan." She said as she pulled her lips away from his. Harry looked at her seriously.
"And how loyal are you?" Harry asked. Fiona smiled even wider.
"To the end Potter. I'll always believe in you. And I can help you to become even more popular. Those people I introduced you to are going to be the most influential people in the wizarding and muggle world one day. There a better class of people, just like us. Not just because their rich, but because their popular. Oh! That reminds me, I have something for you Harry!" Fiona said digging in her pocket, and pulling out a heart shaped locket with a gold necklace. She opened the locket to reveal a picture of herself in the right hand side, and a picture of Harry on the left. "Now you see, just like the one that I'm wearing so that well both know how lucky we are to be together. We also need to start sitting together at every meal possible. It's important that were seen together." Fiona boasted.
"Why is that so important?" Harry asked. Fiona laughed happily.
"Because silly, it will do wonders for our popularity. Were two of the most popular students in school, and together were even going to be even more popular. That's the most important thing in this school you know, popularity." She said with determination. Harry looked at her, not exactly believing himself. She seemed a little shallow.
"Why is that important?" Harry asked. Fiona smiled.
"Let me ask you this Potter, how did you feel last year when almost no one would speak to you?" Fiona asked. Harry sighed.
"Miserable!" Harry said flatly, remembering just how unpopular he was.
"Well there you go!" Fiona said.
"Um, is Cho Chang in your group?" Harry asked suddenly. Fiona laughed hysterically. "What's so funny?" Harry asked not getting the humor. Fiona looked up at him giggling.
"Oh Harry of coarse not why would she be?" Fiona asked.
"Well she is one of the most popular people in school, and she does have a lot of friends." Harry said.
"Well that's just why Potter. I mean Cho Chang will hang out with anyone. My group prefers a more select people. The right kind of people. I mean we can't be seen hanging out with just anyone can we?" she finished. Harry started to grow a little hostile.
"Look if your one of those bloody Purebloods who look down on people who are not of completely pure magical linage…" Harry began to shout as he pointed an accusing finger at Fiona, who was taken aback.
"No, no Harry! I'm a half blood myself. Look I meant something else. Look I didn't mean to upset you, it's just that, well I'm very select in my friends, and I don't want to be friends with everyone. There are certain people who don't quite fit in, and well, I don't like to be around them. But it's not about the pureblood thing. I mean how could it be? You and I are both half bloods, and some of my friends are Muggleborn. I'm talking about popularity Potter. I'm talking about not hanging out with people who would make you uncool in the eyes of others. For instance, look at Draco Malfoy. I don't hang around him or his friends because their fathers are Death Eaters, and no one likes them for it. That was good advice that you gave me to stay away from them." Fiona stated finishing her long rant about the importance of popularity. Harry was a bit turned off by the idea that Fiona wouldn't hang out with someone because they were unpopular, but she was so cute that he decided that he would thy to change her mind about it later. She was right about one thing though, he did want to continue to be popular, especially after last year, and mostly because of it. Fiona recognized the upset look on Harry's face, and kissed him again. "Ahhh, look Potter, I didn't mean to upset you, lets talk about something else. Or better yet, let's find someplace more private and do more than talk. Harry became aroused at the suggestion, but had already made prior commitments.
"Wow, umm that's tempting, but I already promised my friend Hermione that I would help her with making decorations for the Yule Ball. She's having trouble with her boyfriend, Ron Weasley, and wants to talk about me helping get them back to gather. Well actually, back together." Harry finished. Fiona looked surprisingly happy.
"That's wonderful Potter!" she said excited.
"It is?" Harry said confused.
"Of course, you need them as your friends; they are famous from the Battle at the Ministry last year. Very Popular people. Not as popular as you, but definitely the right kind of people. Everybody knows them." Fiona finished.
"Well I guess, but that's not the reason that we're friends. We've been friends since our first year. I don't hang out with them because they are popular or not." Harry said.
"Of coarse not, that just shows that you have a natural talent for picking the right kind of friends." She smiled. "Look, it's good that your spending time with them, maybe when we go to Hogsmead they can meet my friends, and we can all get together. I'd love to meet them. It will look good for us all to be seen together. It will just confirm our social standing." Fiona said happily.
"I guess." Harry said without much excitement.
"Well look Potter, if your going to do that I'm going to see a couple of friends about plans for a party. Oh! Some fellow Slythern's are having a party in one of the dungeons on next Friday night, keep that night open for me. Sneak out of your dorm at around eleven that night, and meet by the statue of the Mina tar in the third level dungeon. Were all meeting there? And tell your friends Weasley and Granger to come as well." She said, and kissed Harry goodbye. Harry looked at his watch and turned to head back toward the direction of the Gryffindor tower, where plans for the Yule ball were being held in an unused classroom. He wasn't officially on the committee to decorate, but wasn't spending enough time with Hermione lately. He was curious to know how Ron and Hermione were dealing with each other in the meetings, as both of them and Luna Lovegood were all helping out. It was going to be an interesting two hours he thought to himself.