Cho won't stop crying.

Her friend, the redhead girl whose name has slipped my mind, keeps patting her on the shoulder, rubbing her silky black hair and whispering kind words into her ear, just as the Hogwarts Express takes off from Kings Cross. I try to do the same, try to cheer her up, but everything I say seems to come out wrong.

The 'hey, at least I'm coming to Hogwarts for the first time', somehow spins into 'Cedric will never be at Hogwarts again!' and 'I think mum and dad will be sad if you're sad on your first day' becomes 'Cedric will never have a first day again!'. It's clear nothing I say can help, so I stop, allowing the redhead to do the consoling.

Cedric has become somewhat of a swear word in my mind, given the way I cringe every time I hear it, hear the way it breaks my sister's heart every time she says his name. There's a horrible, selfish part of me that wants to tell her to stop being sad, that she had the whole summer to be upset and shouldn't today be about me?

I quickly shove that part of me away, suffocating the tiny voice until it's entirely gone. I've never been the important child, that role has always belonged to Cho, and taking it away from her while she mourns would be cruel of me.

Even if it is my first time at Hogwarts…even if I should be the center of attention for the first time…

Merlin, how horrible am I? My sister is grieving, and here I am, wanting the attention on myself. What is wrong with me?

Her redhead friend barely looks at me, and calls me Meilee, instead of Meiqi, which Cho doesn't correct her on. I wonder if she even heard, or maybe she simply doesn't care.

I assume the first, because I don't want to think that Cho might be not bothered enough to so much as correct her friend on her sister's name. In the back of my head, the tiny voice returns, informing me that Cho must rarely talk about me, if her friend can't get my name right.

It's fine, I tell the voice. I was sick, so there was never anything to talk about.

"Hey, Meilee, could you go to the Trolley Witch, and get us some cherry balls?" The redhead asks, tilting her head and plastering on a grin.

Cho says nothing, simply wiping her tears away. She has to have heard it that time, but she shows no signs of it, not even a frown or a glance in her friend's direction.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." I say, happy to have an excuse to leave the compartment, even if it means I have to spend the very little money I was given by my parents on candy that isn't even for me. Well, maybe they'll share…

I slide out, shutting the door behind me and stepping into the halls, where I spot the Trolley Witch at the end of, near the very back. But as I step down the hall, a flash of yellow catches my eye, and I turn to the side.

My legs nearly give out, as my eyes lay upon Cedric Diggory, in an otherwise empty compartment, reading a copy of the Daily Prophet with a keen interest.

Abandoning my quest to find the Trolley Witch, I waste no time stepping inside, in an attempt to confirm Cedric isn't really Cedric, that I'm hallucinating. Because there's no bloody way I've seen not one, but two dead people in the span of an hour.

When I slide the door open, Cedric looks up, eyebrows raised. "Cho?"

"No…" I begin, taking a step towards him. "Are you Cedric?"

"That would be me." He grins, setting the newspaper to the side. I feel my heart plummet to the ground, and bile build in my throat. Oh Merlin, I'm really…he's really…fuck. "Who are you, then? You look an awful lot like my girlfriend."

"Oh, er, I'm Cho's sister. Meiqi."

"Cho has a sister?" His brow furrows together, and despite the situation I'm in, where I'm quite literally seeing a dead person, I feel my heart break ever so slightly. Does Cho not talk about me? This is not one, but two people who don't know who I am, two people awfully close to Cho. I don't expect her to go on and on about me, but I'm her bloody sister. Surely her boyfriend ought to know I exist.

"Yeah…" I bite down on my tongue as I feel stupid tears build in my eyes. Stupid, worthless tears, that have never done a thing for me. Stupid, selfish, horrible tears, because my sister has a dead boyfriend and I'm more concerned about myself than her grief.

Except her boyfriend isn't dead, because he's right in front of me, staring at me through concerned eyes. "Are you okay, Meiqi? You look a bit…ill."

"I'm fine." I insist a bit too quick, the bile returning as I ogle at Cedric. Cedric, who is not dead, or is dead but is still here somehow. Just like Knife-Neck, he doesn't seem to be aware that he's dead, simply smiling like he hasn't a care in the world. "Tell me, Cedric, have you talked to my sister at all, lately?"

"Not really. I think she might be avoiding me. Is she? I mean, if anyone knows, it would be her sister, right?"

"Heh…" I run a hand through my hair, the same shade of black as my older sister's. "Er…maybe you should try harder, at talking to her. A little persistence, you know? Maybe then she'll see…er…yeah."

"Who the hell are you talking to?" A boy is standing in the doorframe of the door I forgot to shut, in my haste to see Cedric.

I rise from the velvet booth and onto my feet, panic seizing my chest. "No one. Nothing."

The boy blinks through startling grey eyes. "You talk to yourself a lot, is that it?"

I turn back to where Cedric is sitting, smiling pleasantly, like absolutely nothing is amiss. Can he see the boy in front of me as well? Or am I the only one he can see - like how I'm clearly the only one who can see him? "Something like that, yeah…"

"Do I know you?" The boy has a cockiness in his tone, though I can't imagine where it came from, considering the nature of our conversation is seemingly pleasant-ish. "I haven't seen you around before."

"Er, no. I'm new. I'm Meiqi."

"Meiqi…" He eyes me up and down, like he's sizing me up. "Are you from a different school, then?"

"Something like that." In this moment, I decide this boy doesn't need to know why I'm new to Hogwarts, that I've spent the better part of ten years on a hospital bed, inches away from death. He can assume I'm from a different school. It doesn't make it a lie if I don't correct it, right? "Who are you, then?"

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." He lifts his chin, a small smirk sliding onto his slightly parted lips. "Fifth year. Slytherin."

"Same. Well, fifth year, that is. I don't know my house yet, obviously." I'm rambling. Shit, why am I rambling?

He's clearly amused by this, as he raises his eyebrows, taking a step backwards. "Brilliant. See you in class, Meiqi."