For those who guessed the next chapter was Cho's, you were right. We get to see how Cho is faring this summer.

CHO XII

She woke up late this morning. Cho knew it was late because the sun was already high in the sky. Her parents were already gone to work. She knew because yesterday, her father offered to stay with her today and she refused. Cho tried to push aside this thought, as it would remind her of the reason why her father wanted to stay with her today.

She pushed away the covers of her bed and got to her feet. She had to do something. Anything to not remember, to not think. Anything to not crumble into a thousand pieces. She changed for the day. She had not done so every day since summer began, and again she tried to not think about it, for it would remind her of the reason why she sometimes remained in nightclothes and pyjamas the whole day. She then went to the kitchen and prepared some breakfast. She ate without appetite, but forced herself to focus on her spoon scraping the bottom of her bowl, and the crunching sounds of oats as she swallowed them. She avoided looking at the calendar.

She brought the dishes to the sink. For once in a very long time, she decided to wash them. The sound of the flowing water helped to soothe her nerves. The warmth of the boiling water made her feel better.

"OUCH!"

She gripped something cutting in the water, and emerged her right hand from the soapy liquid, bleeding. She went to the sink in the bathroom and tried to clean it the best she could, then put a plaster on it. She cursed being unable to perform magic. This was the last summer when she wouldn't be allowed to perform magic outside Hogwarts. When the plaster was in place, she gripped each side of the sink and looked down into it. She slowly raised her head, until she began to see her face in the mirror hanging over it. She looked away immediately, refusing to see her reflection in the glass. She went to the living room and seized the first thing to read she could put her hands on. Reading was one of the things she tried to do recently to distract her mind, with very limited success.

The thing she seized happened to be the latest edition of the Daily Prophet, the one her father must have read this morning and abandoned in the living room before he went to work. Before Cho could think about it, she looked at the date of today, which was indicated in small letters at the top of the front page.

July 24, 1995.

She stayed there, unmoving, staring at the front page. She ignored the article, the title, the photo, even the name of the newspaper. She only had eyes for the date. Now that she set eyes on it, she couldn't look away. She couldn't escape reality.

She gulped. At the same time, one single tear escaped her left eye and slowly ran across the socket of her eye, her cheekbone, her cheek, her chin, to finally fall towards the paper she gripped with despair. And then it broke out.

She burst into tears. It was too much. She threw the paper away, put her hands over her face, whining, and let herself drop to the floor. She didn't drop into the couch or an armchair. She slowly dropped herself literally onto the floor, and cowered against the legs of the couch, hiding her face between her legs.

A month ago, to the day, Cedric had died.

She remembered every detail of that day. They were written into her memory with permanent ink. She remembered the smile he shot her right before he walked into the maze. Cho had not been particularly worried back then. Cedric was wounded in the first task, but he came out unscathed from the second one. Cho felt confident that her boyfriend would come out fine from the third task, injured at worst, and that they would celebrate after the Triwizard Tournament was over. She thought he could win. As the night had advanced, Cho watched Fleur Delacour, then Viktor Krum emerging from the maze, stunned, and then professors heading into the maze. She began to worry, like everyone else. And then, after a very long time, Cedric had come back.

Cho felt that something was wrong from the moment Cedric and Harry reappeared with the Triwizard Cup. She ran to their position, but couldn't get a good view of them, as they were surrounded by professors and other students, many taller than her. When she finally got a glimpse of Cedric, she screamed like she never did before as her eyes could only confirm the whispers she heard but refused to listen to prior to reaching the body.

Cho had lived in a bubble ever since that day. She barely spoke to anybody, barricading herself into her dormitory for most of the remaining term. Cedric's parents had allowed her to see his body before they brought it back to their home. His mother told her how much Cedric had written to them about her, how much she meant for him, which only made her even more heartbroken.

She spent most summer afterwards hidden inside her parents' home. Every day was a journey through hell. Sometimes, she didn't want to wake up from her bed. Even when she got up, she refused to leave the house. Nothing tempted her. It was as if life itself had been sucked out of her. Neither the prospect of flying on her Comet or seeing her friends enticed her. Some had written to her since the holidays began, but she answered none of them.

This summer should have been so much different. Before the third task, she and Cedric had made plans to visit each other. They literally wanted to spend their whole summer together. The year had been too short to spend much good time. Cho had been preparing and going through her O.W.L.s, while Cedric himself had little free time between the Tournament and his duties as Prefect. Cho had wanted them to enjoy their free time as much as they could during summer, before they returned to Hogwarts in September, when Cedric would much likely not only have to prepare for his N.E.W.T.s, but also to resume his duties as captain of his Quidditch team, and as Head Boy, if Cho was right in her expectations. July and August should have been the best months in Cho's life. Instead, they were the saddest and most horrible ones. Not an hour went without her thinking of Cedric and seeing his lifeless body on the grass of Hogwarts' park.

Cho cried all the tears of her body. She cried so much each day that she wondered how she could produce so many tears. This morning, as she emptied her eyes, she asked aloud a question she never stopped asking herself since June.

"Why? Why did you have to die, Cedric?"

Saying his name was painful. She groaned again and cried further, but tears came in droplet by droplet now. Her cheeks creaked under the salty water that dried on them.

Cho ignored how long she remained cowered on the floor. Even the notion of time was blurred in her mind those days. After a while though, she heard the fireplace light up. Green flames appeared. Cho didn't bother to get up. Her mother or father was probably coming to check on her, but she didn't feel like talking or showing any semblance of doing well. She appreciated their efforts to comfort her most days, and she regretted that they failed, but today she didn't want any comfort. She didn't feel like she deserved any. Cedric should be alive. How could she try to be happy exactly one month after his death?

"Cho!"

She heard quick footsteps stopping in front of her, and someone leaning over her. She looked over her legs and saw the face of her friend Marietta.

"Look at you," she said, looking desperate. "What a sorry state you're in. Come on. Sit on the couch, at least."

Cho let her friend almost force her up, and then dropped herself into the couch. Marietta took place next to her. Cho didn't know how her best friend found herself here. In fact, she didn't really care. She didn't care about much today.

"Your father sent me a message. He said you would need company today," Marietta explained, providing answers to questions Cho didn't bother to ask. "He told me I could use the Floo Network to come."

Cho barely nodded to give Marietta the impression that she cared about those details.

"You haven't been responding to my letters," Marietta went on. "I was worried about you. We all are. Our friends have been writing to you as well, and even Roger. He wrote to me to get news because he didn't receive any answer from you."

Again, Cho nodded slightly. She didn't look at Marietta. She looked at her feet.

"Your hair is really a mess." Cho didn't have much time or concern for her hair lately. "Come. We're going to make them better."

Her best friend accompanied her to the bathroom. Cho followed her without a word, as if she was under an Imperius Curse. Marietta brought a chair with her, made Cho sit on it, then proceeded to brush her hair until it was completely smooth. It took her a lot of time.

"Here. Much better," her friend told Cho. She made her turn on her chair and look at herself in the mirror.

Cho knew she was pretty. It wasn't necessarily the most important thing in life, but beauty had its advantages. However, her appearance degraded during summer, as she neglected herself. Last time she looked at herself in the mirror, her hair was in such a state of mess that she thought it would be impossible to untangle it. Now it looked exactly like before. But the rest of her face was not as shining. Dark circles surrounded her eyes. Her face was almost as pale as that of a ghost. Looking at herself now, if her hair had been arranged into pigtails, she thought she would look like Wednesday Addams.

"Don't you agree?" Marietta said, displaying a forced smile in the mirror.

Cho didn't react. Marietta's smile slowly faded. She put aside the brush.

"Come. I'll prepare some tea for us."

A few minutes later, she was sitting in front of Marietta at their dining table, a fuming cup of dark liquid in front of her. She didn't feel like drinking tea either, but she forced herself to take a sip.

"I know it's not easy, Cho," Marietta said. "I… know you must feel horrible right now. Is there something I can do? Let me help you, please. I'm your friend."

"How could you help you me?" Cho asked after a while, not answering right away.

"I don't know. Just be there for you, I guess."

Silence settled again.

"Do you know how he's dead?" Cho then blurted.

"What?" Marietta asked.

"I have nightmares. I see him die. In all sorts of ways. I don't even know if he died one of those ways."

"Cho…" Marietta said tentatively.

"Do you think he was afraid? Did he suffer? Did they torture him? Or did they just stab him in the back, when he wasn't waiting for it?"

Cho wondered how the boy she loved died. She wondered if he had thought about her in his last moments.

"Cho… What happened to Cedric… It's a terrible tragedy… I can't even…" Marietta trailed off.

"Do you think Dumbledore is right? That it was… You-Know-Who? It was him who killed Cedric?"

Cho had heard Dumbledore's speech before they left aboard the Hogwarts Express. She was terrorized by the idea of this man's return. Like everyone else in this country, she grew up hearing horror stories about him.

"Cho…" Marietta began. "You-Know-Who is gone. He's dead. You have no reason to be afraid."

"Then… Who killed Cedric?"

"Cho, I don't think someone murdered Cedric. He just… died in the maze, because of the creatures and traps within it."

"Then how? How did he die? Why won't anyone tell us? Why won't anyone tell me?"

It was one of the things that ate Cho alive day and night. She didn't even know how Cedric died.

"Cho… It was an accident. Look, they must not have placed enough safety measures during the third task. They should have done better."

"But how did he die? Was it one of Hagrid's skrewts or…"

"Cho, stop that!" Marietta pleaded. "It's useless. Do you really think it will make you feel better to know how Cedric died precisely? He's gone."

Cho stared at her best friend. She felt tears rolling on her cheeks again. Marietta seemed to regret her hard tone instantly.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding truly regretful. "I know it must be hard, Cho. But I don't believe it will make things better for you to wonder how Cedric died. And even less thinking that You-Know-Who did it when he's been dead for almost fifteen years. Try to remember Cedric as he was. Try to remember the good moments, the happiest moments you shared with him."

Cho looked down at her cup of tea. "I wish I could." She gulped, retaining some tears. "I think about him all the time."

"It's normal. You loved him," Marietta said in a very soft voice.

"I still love him," Cho whispered, still looking down.

Marietta waited a little before she said something. "I remember when you went to the Yule Ball with him," she finally said. "You looked so cute together. You should have seen the number of girls who were jealous of you."

That brought a thin, short smile on Cho's lips. Indeed, Cedric had always attracted the attention of girls. Cho had felt so lucky. He could have chosen any girl he wanted, and he chose her.

"And the jealous stares didn't stop after the ball either," Marietta continued. "There was no way for you to go somewhere without at least one girl who looked at you as if she wanted to rip your eyes. But Cedric… He only had eyes for you."

The short smile was a little wider this time.

"Even I got jealous of Cedric." At that, Cho stared at her friend in utter surprise. She smiled wickedly. "I thought he stole my best friend. She no longer had time for me."

A very, very short chortle was produced. Laughing had become something so foreign to Cho that she wondered for a moment who else in the room may have produced it, before she understood that it came from the depth of her own throat.

"But nothing could beat Roger. When it comes to being jealous… I think he might have been jealous of himself for going to the Yule Ball with Fleur."

Cho gave a real laugh this time. It wasn't long, but it was real.

Marietta went on to tell Cho about everything she knew was going on with their friends during summer. The two girls eventually ended up playing chess while discussing. It helped Cho to focus on something while having a light conversation for the first time in almost an entire month.

"Do you remember Penelope Clearwater? I heard she married a Muggle," Marietta said.

"I remember her," Cho replied. She participated little to the conversation, saying the bare minimum, but still saying something. Instead, she focused on her next movement. She advanced her bishop.

"Well, I must say that I'm surprised. I thought she was with one of the Weasleys. You know, the one who always took himself too seriously. The Heasd Boy from the previous year." Cho nodded as Marietta moved forward one of her pawns. "My mother crossed his path the other day. He works in Cornelius Fudge's office now. He seems to have made his way since he left Hogwarts. I think he's been gone for only a year, and he already works directly for the Minister of Magic. Although for his family, it seems to be another story. I hear his father has been stuck at the same position for centuries. There are rumors that they don't get along very well."

"I guess he's not as fascinated by Quidditch as the rest of his family," Cho said on an even tone.

She knew the Weasley family fairly well. The year that Cho arrived in Hogwarts, Charlie Weasley was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and their Seeker. She didn't have the chance to play against him, but he influenced her when she chose to try the position of Seeker. She was impressed by his prowess on the pitch. His two twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, played as Beaters for the same team. Cho had faced those two, and they were formidable opponents. Cho also saw their sister, Ginny, a few times. Cho remembered her participating to the selections last year, when a Quidditch match was organized between Hogwarts and a mixed team of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and she remembered that the girl was quite talented as a Chaser, even though she didn't make it into the team. Cho had the feeling that this girl might become a Quidditch player as well someday. There was only one Weasley that she could tell she didn't really appreciate, and it was Ronald Weasley, the youngest brother. He always behaved hostile towards her, for reasons that were unknown to Cho. He also happened to be one of Harry's best friends.

"Did you hear anything about Harry recently?" Cho asked her friend then.

Immediately, Marietta's traits hardened. "Well, that's not complicated. You only need to read the newspapers to hear about him," her best friend replied dryly.

"But did you hear anything about him from anyone? I mean, do we know what he is doing right now?"

"No idea. We're not in his little circle of friends. Checkmate!" Cho groans. She lost again. "If you want, we can play another game. Why not Exploding Snap?"

"No. I'm fine with chess." Cho didn't really care what game they played right now. She was more interested by something else. As they put back into place their pieces, she resumed asking questions to Marietta. "So, no one heard anything about him directly? Not even on the Quidditch team?"

Maybe some of them contacted Harry. After all, since the common practices of over a year ago, the relation between players of the teams of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were very good. Cho got along very well with some of them.

"Not that I know of. But anyway, like I told you, we just need to read the newspapers to hear about him."

"He's the only one who was there when Cedric died." Cho advanced her first pawn.

"Yes. Too bad he didn't tell us what happened to Cedric, instead of his stupid story that You-Know-Who would be back," Marietta said as she moved one of her own pawns forward.

"Are you sure that he's lying?"

"Read the Daily Prophet, Cho. He's lying all the time to get attention."

"What the Daily Prophet writes is not the Harry I know."

Cho had stopped to read the Daily Prophet in part because of this. Not only did the journalists and the Ministry refused to tell what truly happened to Cedric in that maze, they also presented Harry as someone unstable, looking for glory. That was contrary to everything she knew about Harry as she got to know him over the last two years. It was a cruel, unfair depiction of him. That night of July 24, Cho had been heartbroken by Cedric's death, but she also noticed Harry and the horrible state he was in. Whatever Cedric faced in that maze, Harry did face it as well and he barely made it out alive. So she stopped reading newspapers when they almost suggested that Harry was responsible for Cedric's death. If there was one thing Cho was sure about, it was that Harry was innocent in all this. She refused to believe that he caused Cedric's death with how desperate and broken he also looked after the third task.

"I went to see him, you know," Cho then said. "Right before the departing feast last month."

The last day of the term, before the feast in Cedric's honour, Cho has gone to find Harry. For the entire time before the feast, after Cedric died, she avoided him. She couldn't face him right away. Furthermore, Dumbledore had ordered them to leave Harry alone. But on the last day, she decided she wanted to talk to him. He was the only one who knew exactly how and why Cedric died. So she kept her friends away and went to search for him. She found him on the walking bridge, but he wasn't alone.

"And? What did he say?" Marietta asked.

"I didn't get to talk to him. He was… busy," Cho replied.

He was with Susan Bones. Looking at them together, Cho lost all courage to ask him about Cedric. Seeing Harry with his girlfriend reminded Cho of everything she had with Cedric, and that she lost. No longer would they hold hands. No longer would he take her into his arms. No longer would he kiss her. So she had walked away and didn't see Harry since that day.

"Busy," Marietta snorted. "Yeah, I figure. Anyway, I don't think it would have made you any good to talk to him."

Cho wanted to protest, but a part of her agreed with Marietta. A part of her was telling her that she should stay away from Harry. It wasn't because of the supposed lies that the Daily Prophet said he kept saying. She didn't believe those journalists anyway. No, it wasn't that. Only…

She chased away that thought. She didn't want to think about that. Cedric had died only a month ago. So Cho went back to focusing on their game of chess, and she didn't talk further about Harry of the whole afternoon.

Marietta remained with her the whole day. She only left when Cho's father arrived at home. Her mother was still at the Ministry, and of course her father could not tell Cho what her mother was doing.

"She's not even telling me what she's doing, Cho," her father explained as he began preparing dinner. Her mother would only come back late. Cho, however, knew that her father was lying. Sometimes, when she got to bed and her parents believed she was asleep, she heard them discussing her mother's job. It happened rarely, but it gave Cho a certain idea about what her mother might be doing and the place where she worked.

"I wish you could tell me more about your job, sometimes," Cho told him.

"We can't, Cho," her father said, apologetic. "Your mother works at the Department of Mysteries. Everything they do is a secret. She cannot tell anybody. As for me, I'm informed about sensitive operations the Aurors are conducting. I cannot tell about them either."

As he spoke about Aurors, something came to Cho's mind. "Do you still work with Lily Potter?"

"Oh, yes. I see her every day. Though I cannot say that she's been looking very good lately. I think all those articles in the Daily Prophet are affecting her."

Cho supposed this was no surprise. "Have you heard anything about her son? Harry? I didn't have news from him lately."

"I'm afraid not. We haven't been talking a lot. She seems pretty busy. At least, she keeps working."

He seemed relieved as he said so. Cho regretted that even her father could not tell her anything about Harry. She wondered what he was doing right now. She felt like she needed to talk to him. Marietta's visit somehow got her out of her lethargy. Cho wanted answers. And Harry was the only one who could provide them.

Her parents looked happy in the evening. Cho often sat silently at the table then went to her bedroom to hide there after dinner, but she stayed with them a little tonight, and talked. However, by the time she went to bed, she felt exhausted. She collapsed into her bed, without changing clothes. And she cried. Whenever she was left alone, her thoughts would drift to Cedric, and she would cry. The day might have been different, but this night proved just as difficult as the preceding ones.

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Next chapter: Susan