Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.

Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. Canon typical abuse & background manipulations are included in here as well as reference to a canon character death (Cedric Diggory). There is also referenced racism as well as genocidal violence in the form of denying a non-white child placed with white guardians opportunities to connect with the culture of their birth. Please exercise understanding of personal sensitivities before and during reading.

Author's Note(s): So I've fallen in love with the idea of Cho Chang as a Buddhist. Interesting thing, though, is that both Buddhism & Hinduism use mandalas as a part of their cultures. Also, if you blink, you may miss it, but Harini has had her cultural heritage stolen from her (because the Dursleys did squat about making certain the Desi child they were raising had opportunities to connect with it) and it is referenced briefly.

Challenge/Competition Block:
Stacked with: QL (Season 8); MC4A
Team (Position): Wigtown Wanderers (Keeper)
Round Info: Season 08 – Round 07
QL Prompt(s)s: Write a character that expresses their culture through art.
Individual Challenges: Inevitable; Gryffindor MC; Ravenclaw MC; Magical MC (x2); Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Ethnic & Present (x2); The 3rd Rule; Lovely Triangle; Ship Sails; Setting Sail; Hold the Mayo; Gender Bender; Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Sentinel; Gwen's Checklist [Intelligent Harry]; Skittles [Asexual (Any)]; Short Jog; Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift
Other MC4A Challenges (Prompt): SpB [4E](Blossom/Flower); TrB [5E](Applied Phelobtinium); SuB [1A](Gold); AU [2A](Sentinel/Guide); Hunt [](); Ship [Sp Medium 1](Admiring the View); Chim [Arcadia](Gender Bend; Pining; Gold); Fire [Med](Shades of Sapphic); Garden [Chore List](Drawing/Painting)
Representation: Desi & Fem Harry Potter; Buddhist Cho Chang; Sentinel Harini/Guide Cho; Dead Cho/Cedric/Harry
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): Lovely Coconuts; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Second Verse (Bechdel Test; Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Sneeze Weasel; Middle Name; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Brooms Only; Clio's Conclusion; Lock & Key; Three's Company); Chorus (Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Fizzy Lemonade; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn); Demo 1 (Lyre Liar; Corvid Brain; Under the Bridge; Over the Hills; Civil Disobedience; Easy Zephyr; Casper's House; Bad Beans;); Demo 2 (Surprise!; Abandoned Ship; Sitting Hummingbird)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: Terse (Terrarium); SN (Rail; Spare); LiCK (Poppy; Amaranth; Tansy); FR (Evolution; Satisfaction); O3 (Oath); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Enfant)
Word Count: 1470

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Lotus Blossoms
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Sometimes, Harini thought the reason that she couldn't sleep regularly like the other girls in her dorm was simply the stress of that came along with being the Girl-Who-Lived. The epithet did come with a lot more stress than reasonable, after all. She wasn't completely oblivious to the number of boys who followed her around laughing and shoving at each other. While Colin had certainly calmed down over the years, he wasn't the only student who had snapped pictures of Harini.

Oh, and the whole genocidal megalomaniac who was trying to kill her was stressful in its own right.

That theory didn't include how restless Harini got once night had settled over the castle. The dorm wasn't much larger than the Dursleys' living room and sharing with four other girls made it seem smaller. Yet it was still larger than Dudley's second bedroom, and compared to her old cupboard, the crowded dorm room was as cavernous as the Great Hall. It left her feeling exposed and even more vulnerable than when Wormtail had tied her to that headstone.

"Take my body back," Cedric had said when he had been released from Voldemort's wand during the duel. "Take my body back, and tell Cho that I love her. I never got the chance to say it, and she deserves to know."

Harini jerked out of sleep. Cedric's voice echoed in the way that nightmares always did for her. Even worse was how strong the memory of delivering Cedric's last message lingered around the edges of Harini's awareness. Cho had been silent in the wake of it while Harini had braced herself for tears or screaming. Then she had folded into herself even as she had raised her chin as if daring the world to prove her wrong.

"Of course he loved me," she had declared with the glint of tears in her brown eyes. "I am amazing."

They had spoken only a few times since that conversation. That was mostly because Harini had been awkwardly avoiding her. She knew that she wasn't good with helping people with anything emotional. She could barely handle Ron and Hermione's everyday emotional shifts. And it felt... wrong, somehow, to force herself into Cho's space when she knew the other girl was grieving. No matter how much she agreed with her being amazing, he would always be the reason that she was alone.

Harini should never have insisted that they take the Cup together.

If she hadn't, then Cedric would still be alive.

Harini could no longer stay in her bed. The restlessness was too great. She shoved aside the suddenly itchy sheets and stood. The stone floor felt like ice beneath her bare feet. She could smell the Bertie Botts Beans that Lavender and Parvati had been trading earlier, but now the smell was making her gag. Harini barely remembered to grab her invisibility cloak from her trunk in her rush to get out of the dorm.

Like always, the cloak sent a tingle through her as it settled from being swung onto her. Most of the time, Harini barely noticed it. Yet tonight it didn't fade away as it usually did after that initial tingle. Instead, it settled into her bones like the warmth of a banked fire or like the brief moments when Hermione forgot herself and would hug her so tightly she could barely breathe.

People so rarely hugged her, not like they did each other. That was fine. Well, not fine, but Harini understood. She was different than others. She knew that well enough from how she was treated over the years. She may not fully understand why the Muggles hadn't liked her much, but she did understand that the whole Girl-Who-Lived thing was divisive. Wixen either loved her beyond reason or they hated her to the same extreme. There was no middle ground.

She prowled the empty corridors. She didn't even see Peeves causing issues. She didn't dare wander down the corridor by the Defense classroom. Last thing she needed while blatantly breaking curfew was to draw Umbridge's attention. McGonagall would have her head for not keeping it down like she had told her to. So she steered her path back upwards towards the territory around Ravenclaw Tower, and away from the minor danger.

Harini froze as she turned a corner and spotted her.

Cho was kneeling in a pool of moonlight that spilled from the large open sections behind her. She was focused entirely on whatever task was before her. As Harini moved closer, she could see the precise lines of sand on the ground. As she watched Cho continued carefully pouring out more of the brilliantly colored sand.

Even washed out by the paleness of the moon, the design was vivid. Each sweeping curve met at a sharp point. Each line and spreading plane of color carefully constructed. It was like a geometric version of the water lilies Mrs. Number Six had in the pond in her back garden. Looming over the design as she continued to work, Cho was just as dynamic, all inky black hair and shimmery skin turned golden under the Hunter's Moon.

She was just as beautiful as the art she was creating on the ground.

She was amazing and breathtaking.

Even from down the hall, Harini could smell the light floral scent that always clung to Cho. Harini had always loved it even though she didn't recognize which flower it was. Something inside of her always seemed to settle whenever Harini caught the scent lingering in spaces after Cho had left. It had been the same with the traces of honey that Cedric had always left behind.

"The word mandala means circle," Cho said into the night. She didn't look up from her work nor did she pause. Drawn as if along a string, Harini drifted closer. Cho flicked her gaze upwards as Harini took off the invisibility cloak that had done nothing to hide her from the Ravenclaw. "The design itself is meant to symbolize the palaces which rest within all of our souls. Most people are not aware of theirs, and if they walk those halls at all, it is only within a dream that they forget upon waking."

"It looks like a flower," Harini whispered, not knowing if she wanted to be heard or not but saying it anyway. Cho finished with the color that she was using and set it aside to start on another.

"The lotus is a powerful symbol in its own right," Cho explained. "I do not know much of your Hinduism, but in Buddhism, it is wisdom made tangible. A connection, if you will, of the physical and the spiritual worlds. Just as the lotus rises out of the muck and water, so too shall we out of grief and strife."

"I don't have a religion," Harini corrected automatically. For the first time, Cho faltered, looking up at Harini in surprise. Something twisted inside of Harini, forcing her to shift nervously under that incredulous gaze. "Is that the flower you smell like?"

"You smell flowers around me?" Cho asked. Her cheeks flushed pleasantly even as her eyes shimmered with more tears. Harini didn't know if she was happy or upset for causing such a reaction. "I didn't realize. No wonder you don't want to be around me."

"But I do," Harini almost shouted. She curled her arms around herself, cold now in just her thin nightgown and bare feet. She knew how she had to look standing there. Aunt Petunia had always had sharp words for the ugliness of Harini's dark tan skin. Harini could never compare to Cho's golden beauty. She whispered the words desperately. "I do want to be around you."

Cho abandoned her sand art far too easily for the effort she must have put into it. On nearly silent feet, she crossed the space between them. Then with extra care, as if she believed that Harini was an easily frightened cat, she wrapped her arms around Harini. Her chin rested on the top of Harini's head.

Just like with her invisibility cloak, Harini felt a tingle go through her before settling like warmth in her bones. Harini felt something relax inside her, settling as even more of that perfect floral scent filled her lungs. Cho hummed as if in acknowledgment of it but just continued to hold her. Like it was far away, Harini could hear something else humming itself into existence.

"You are amazing," Harini breathed against Cho's neck. It felt like a confession of something more. Harini wouldn't have been able to say what she had confessed if asked, however, and Cho didn't question it.

A gentle breeze swept across the mandala behind them, smearing the colors as it began to dismantle the piece of work just as designed.

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An Ending
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