Dusk

Prologue

A sorrowful hush permeated every corner of the dormitory.

Cho alone sat in inescapable agitation, momentarily fixated by a dark, unidentifiable stain on the wall which had been drawn to her attention by a narrow beam of moonlight. Meanwhile the tension in the room grew louder, a pulse that nearly deafened her. Where were her tears? Lost on some bizarre emotional journey? Where were they when she needed them so desperately!

As the pulse grew louder Cho's frenzied thoughts tortured her, flashing by her, barely giving her a chance to comprehend them. A mosquito bite on her knee. Screaming and crying. The strangely comforting swish of tree branches dancing outside her window.

Harry Potter on the brink of hysteria, huddled on the ground. A flash of distant thunder... and her boyfriend motionless in his arms.

Another flash and she was back in the nerve wreaking calm of the dormitory, wishing that she would never again have to see another pitying stare from some supposed peer who had more than likely never been a part of Cedric's life. Pity only seemed to take the burning nausea in the pit of her stomach and suffocate her with it. Other people's useless concern agitated her, and the conversations frightened her- stories about the dark arts and...she quickly forced his name out of her mind.

The ring around her little finger glinted at her in an almost sinister fashion. The most a wizard that age could be expected to afford- such a small, worthless trinket! The beauty of the gift was lost to her now. Cedric's death had rendered it worthless and she would never again be able to glance at it and feel the thrill it once gave her. She removed it roughly and dropped it onto her nightstand.

"Cedric...Cedric...Cedric."

The drumbeat in her mind now pushed away all other thoughts. Her leg tingled and vainly, Cho tried to rub the circulation back into it.

"Cedric...Cedric...Cedric."

The voice was hollow and callous. No one had spoken his name so coldheartedly that day- from where in her wretched imagination did she manage to find something so dark and disturbing?

"He's dead! He's dead! Cedric Diggory's dead!" A new voice now, shrill and unnerving. Marietta Edgecombe was pushing her way back through the crowds, her face a mask of terror and disbelief. She then disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

Shadows flickered on the wall, and Cho gazed at them in fascination. It was on a night like this- windy and alive- that Cho and Cedric had first snuck out to meet each other. She wondered, fleetingly, if he was also thinking of the way he had held her as the first rays of dawn had crept over Hogwarts. Then she remembered that he was dead.

That was the cruellest thing of all. Cho's mind kept forcing her to relive her initial sense of shock and horror. How could she forget a thing like that! How? Why wouldn't her tumultuous thoughts concentrate on the events and let her come to terms with them?

"Cedric..." Cho muffled her head in her pillow, instantly falling into an anguished, exhausted sleep.

Thump. Catch. Thump. Cho had picked up a novelty sized Golden Snitch, clipped its wings and was throwing it against a wall.

"That's the way, Cho! You're doing great," Cedric called from beyond view.

She made no reply.

Thump. Catch. Thump. The Snitch bounced back to her outstretched hands. Every time Cho caught it she threw it harder, and with more venom.

She heard laughing. "Geez, Cho, you're a natural! My own girlfriend is caning me in Quidditch."

Again she made no reply.

THUD. She'd thrown the ball far too strongly that time. It sailed over her head and rolled into the shadows.

"I've got it, don't worry!" Cedric picked up the Snitch and walked into view. Cho's eyes widened in shock as the colour drained from his face and he crumpled to the ground...

Suddenly Cho was sitting, completely naked, in the middle of the great lake on the water's surface. A thick, grey mist obscured her view, and yet she could make out Cedric's figure on land.

"Harry likes you I think, Cho," Cedric shouted.

"What?" She had lost the power of audible speech. Try as she might, she could not shout back to Cedric and make him hear her.

"But that stuff about Fleur is a lie, Cho! She's nothing but a flirt!"

Cho stood up on the water's surface and tried to walk towards him, but she realised in horror that there were cold and slimy fingers gripping her ankles. She reached out to Cedric helplessly- she'd never really been suspicious of him and Fleur...

"I think you're the most incredible girl at Hogwarts!"

"Cedric- what? I..." When her voice came out, it was so muffled- why couldn't she talk to him?

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO THE BALL WITH ME, CHO?" Cedric's voice rang in her ears. The slimy fingers released their grip- the water surface broke beneath her, and Cho fell into her own, seemingly certain, dark and watery grave.

Cho awoke in what seemed to be a pool of her own sweat. Struggling for breath she suddenly felt cold. She wondered if she had a fever

"...Cho?" Professor McGonagall peered at her helplessly through her spectacles, her nightgown billowing in the breeze. "Close the window, dear! Its freezing."

Cho reached out and closed it confusedly.

"I...I heard you cry out. Dumbledore asked the teachers to stay closer to the students tonight," she said kindly, but not without some discomfort. "Can I get something for you? This must be...incredibly difficult."

It was Professor McGonagall who appeared do be experiencing difficulty. Cho blinked. "No...I don't need anything." She was amazed at how empty her voice sounded.

The old woman sighed. "Perhaps you had better have some tea."

Cho made no audible reply.

"Tea...yes, a good idea, I think." A steaming cup appeared in Professor McGonagall's hand. As she handed it to Cho, her own eyes had suspiciously misted over.

Cho stared at the lemon slice floating in the teacup, her stomach suddenly lurching painfully. Something so seemingly inconsequential had stirred, in her, a recollection that lay almost forgotten in Cho's memory due to its insignificance...

"Lemon?" Cho asked

Cedric grimaced. "Can't stand the stuff. No- none for me thanks."

Cho smiled as she stirred. "That's funny. I've never heard of someone hating lemon before."

"I've never been able to get over my disappointment with lemons," he explained. "I always thought they looked like a sweet fruit."

"Cho?" Professor McGonagall's voice broke memory into reality. "...Oh...oh, dear."

Cho was crying.

The tear drops were sliding down her cheeks and into the tea as she gawked at its dark, golden consistency. Professor McGonagall pried the cup from her clinging hands and placed it on the nightstand.

It was no use. Now that the tears were back, they were back with a vengeance! The exhaustion, the excitement, and the desperate need, the frantic need for release now took their toll. The floodgates had opened a choke and a gasp soon led to her sobbing louder than she had ever done in her entire life.

She would not look at Professor McGonagall; she would not be interrupted. She cried until her head felt as though it should burst, and the feeling cleansed her. But the pain still throbbed away relentlessly- and it would be some time before it subsided to a point where Cho Chang would be able to bear it.