Cho Remembering

Cho sat at the café, sipping at her tea, just staring off into the traffic. It had been so long since she was able to just relax. Unfortunately, not even mint and vanilla, her favorite tea flavors, would ease her melancholies. And thus, she sat, remembering. Nine years since she graduated from Hogwarts. Five years since the end of the war, the war in which Voldemort lost all his power, forever. Four and a half years since Ginny was murdered by Draco Malfoy, for being the one who dealt the finishing blow to the Dark Lord. A solitary tear left her eye, forcing Cho to bring a finger underneath her glasses to wipe it away.

She remembered Ginny's funeral. She remembered holding Mrs. Weasley's hand throughout the whole ceremony. She remembered Harry walking with a cane up to the podium to speak; and remembered seeing tears unchecked on his face from his only eye left after the battle. She remembered Dumbledore's look; his eyes had finally lost their twinkle, replaced by such a heart-stopping sadess it was unbearable. On Dumbledore's left was McGonagall; she was holding a handkerchief to her eyes, trying to keep her sniffs quiet. Hagrid's wails were anything but quiet. Seated on Dumbledore's right he held a soiled wash towel up to his nose, blew loudly, and then returned to his wailing.

"...we have won the war against Voldemort," Harry was saying. His glasses with a black plate where his left lens should have been, hiding a useless eye behind. "But unfortunately... excuse me," He turned his head, pulled out a handkerchief and cleared his eye, then continued, "Unfortunately; this war came at such high costs. Mr. Weasley and Ron were both lost during the battle at Kent, along with Padma and Parvati Patil, Hanna Abbott, and Dean Thomas. Many other wizards and muggles alike have lost their lives in this war; everyone here has lost a family member or a friend. I...I wish I had something to say, that would bring Ginny back; that would bring everyone back. I don't," he said, the last two words in a meek voice.

At the wake Harry came up to her. He had loved Ginny as well. He led Cho into a secluded corner. Cho didn't know what to expect from this. Ever since Ginny's and Cho's relationship came into the open, Harry resented Cho. Harry's open hostility at first, had settled into just a cool manner whenever he was around Cho. When he finally turned around, Cho saw the tears in his eye.

"God, Cho, I'm so sorry," Harry cried. It wasn't the first time she had seen a man cry, she had seen many men cry since her graduation from Hogwarts. But the way that Harry was, it was as if he had nothing else to live for. Cho realized that he had loved Ginny as much as she did. At the beginning of the funeral Cho had promised herself that she wouldn't cry; in fact she didn't think that she had any tears left. But with Harry apologizing to her for Ginny's death, for the way he had been treating her, for everything, Cho couldn't help but let the tears come.

She felt the tears come.

No damn it! I will not cry! I will not! She said to herself as she brushed away another tear. The sun was out, in all its radiance. The clouds seemed to avoid crossing in the path of the sun's rays. And with the sun's presence the birds were out and singing their beautiful music. The world seemed to be happy. It just turned Cho's sadness into a bitterness to everything that was happy. How can anything be happy? How can this world just go on and act like nothing happened? Cho thoughts went on; bringing more tears to her eyes as she desperately tried to fight them back.

When she lowered her head to sip her tea, she saw a happy couple across the outside café. He had her hands in his; they were gazing into each others eyes. You could tell that they were in love... it was sickening.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, the kind that a ring would be kept in. When he presented her with it, she gasped and kissed him deeply. That was enough for Cho. She set down her half empty cup of tea, laid a few pounds on the table and left.

She wasn't sure where she was, just sure that sooner or later she would be home. Cutting through the park seemed like a good idea, so she left the road and took the path through the woods. It was cooler, darker, under the leaves of the trees. She could almost enjoy the early autumn colors of the leaves, almost.

She tried to avoid thinking about the love of her life. She tried to think about the good things that have happened. The incompetent Fudge had lost his position as the Minister of Magic, replaced by Percy Weasley; which was good. Percy, when not being an arrogant ittle ass, has come up with revolutionary new ideals and methods or governing the wizard world. And Percy had made peace with his family.

Hermione had been making wondrous new advances at St. Mungo's. She was even able to give Harry back the use of his left leg. He, in return, had given Hermione a diamond wedding ring. They have now been together for four years, married for two. They even have a daughter; Hermione insisted that they named her Ginny.

The tears return to Cho's eyes with her love's name to her mind. She chokes them back and keeps walking.

Professor Snape had died fighting the Dark Lord. He had died, in fact, saving Neville's life from Lucius Malfoy. At the end he had proven his loyalty to Dumbledore by ending Malfoy Senior's life. Neville, in turn, put an end to the Malfoy line by killing Draco; but he wasn't in time to save Ginny.

Cho couldn't keep back the tears this time. She finally realized where she was: a favorite spot where she and Ginny had always gone to. The saw the bench with the flowers all around it and the cobblestone walk passing by it. She saw the trees where she and Ginny would have picnics. She saw the lake in the center of the park where they would take boat rides. She saw the rose bush maze where Ginny had said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Cho. She saw Ginny's face so clearly, even with the tears obstructing her vision. She sat down on the cobblestone walk with the bench to her back, her head in between her knees, and cried.

"What's wrong?" came a small voice from her right. She looked up and through her teary eyes she saw a small girl in a floral print dress with a bouquet of flowers in her hand. Though she had brown hair, she reminded Cho of Ginny; innocence even when confronted with grief. Cho placed her age around four.

"Why are you crying?" the little girl asked.

A melancholy smile touched Cho's face as she answered. "I'm crying because the person I love is gone and I miss them a lot"

"Where'd they go?" the girl asked and Cho's smile became more genuine. The innocence of children was always a remarkable thing, Cho thought; they never can get enough of learning. Cho wiped her eyes before answering.

"They died," Cho said.

"I'm sorry," the little girl said to her. She seemed to become a little uncomfortable, but soon recovered to more talking. "I'm gonna marry a Prince and we're gonna live in his castle with unicorns and pretty ponies and we'll have servants and everything."

That last comment made Cho smile and give a small laugh, "That's good. I hope you find your prince."

"Me too," replied the girl, with a big smile. She looked over her should and saw a woman wave her to leave Cho alone. "I gotta go now. I'll see you later. Bye," she said with a small sigh, and she turned to leave.

"Before you go, can you tell me your name?"

The little girl turned around and said, "Virginia, but everyone calls me Ginny."

"Virginia!" came from the woman in the distance. And Ginny ran off.

"Goodbye, Ginny," Cho said in a small voice, more to herself than to the little girl who had ran off. "I'll always love you, you know that. But I can't keep dwelling in our memories," Cho continued softly, the tears unchecked as they rolled down her face. "I need to have a life. I need to do something. Something to be worthy of your love, your sacrifice. I... I need to live. I'm sorry my love, but you will have to wait a little longer before we can be together." And with that she got up, and wiped the tears from her red-rimmed eyes, and she set off towards her flat in muggle London, only a few blocks away from the Leaky Cauldron.

When she got in to her cramped four-room flat she set to making herself a cup of tea, even with the tea from the café still fresh on her tongue. The worn, white wallpaper of the kitchen was torn is some areas and faded to an unflattering yellow near the stove. Her owl, Sun, gave a soft call form her cage in her living room. Absent mindedly, Cho took an owl treat from its bow and ossed it to Sun, who caught it in her beak and settled down to the snack. Cho would let her out to hunt later in the night.

Cho finished making her tea and added some mint and vanilla and tasted it quickly. Hers was always better than the café's. She added a small amount of sugar and moved to her counter.

There were only a few things on the top of the counter; Cho was always a neat person. There was a piece of parchment, and an envelope with the Hogwarts Seal and emerald green writing addressed to her. Sitting next to it was an almost full bottle of sleeping pills. Under the sleeping pills was another sheet of paper, this one with black ink and spotted with tear stains. That sheet read: "I am at last going to see my love. Please do not cry for me."

Cho set down her cup of coffee and grabbed the sleeping pills and the letter. She walked over to the sink and poured out the pills, then threw the paper out into the dustbin. She then walked back to her tea and the final item on her counter. This was a letter, though its intent was a bit different from the one that she threw out.

Dear Ms. Chang,

It is my privilege to inform you that the position of Charms Professor at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry is now vacant. We have read your application you have sent a few years earlier and have come to the agreement that you would be most suitable for the position. If you are still interested in the position we request you send and owl with your acceptance no later than July 31 and your appearance at Hogwarts is required at the opening dinner on September 1.

I look forward to your reply,

Minerva MacGonagall

Professor Minerva MacGonagall

Headmistress

Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

Cho sat down and withdrew a sheet of parchment and her hawk feather quill. Dear Professor MacGonagall, she wrote, it would be my honor to serve as a professor with you and your colleagues at Hogwarts. I look forward to joining your honored ranks. Cho signed it and gave it to Sun.

"Take this to Hogwarts, and please hurry," Cho said, "It needs to be delivered tomorrow at the latest. Good luck Sun, I know you can do it." And with a quick embrace she let her Spotted Owl take flight. And then she set to packing up her things for her trip to Hogwarts. She threw her robes in haphazardly as well as her books and personal things. But on top she laid a picture very carefully, so not to break it.

It was a picture of the summer. It occupants were smiling and hugging each other, with an occasional wave or kiss. They did not have a care in the world. They were happy. It was a picture of Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley.